Casio releases iOS apps that let users play musical accompaniment to their favorite songs

ntttttttttttt

Casio Computer Co has developed two iOS apps — Chordana Tap and Chordana Viewer — that let users play musical accompaniment to their favorite songs. The apps are available on the Apple App Store.

Employing Casio’s proprietary Chordana music analysis technology, the apps can detect musical chord progressions by analyzing the frequency characteristics and temporal changes of an audio file. Users can then play along as an accompanist when playing back songs stored in an iPhone or other device.

The apps automatically select chords that most closely match the compositional character of a piece of music. The selected chords, however, may not exactly match the original chords, depending on the piece of music.

Chordana Tap works great for people with or without experience playing the keyboard or guitar, enabling them to enjoy accompanying their favorite songs simply by tapping the virtual instruments on the screen. Chordana Viewer helps musicians learn songs on a real-world instrument by reducing the time it takes to learn the chords by ear and making it unnecessary to write them out by hand.

By tapping a virtual instrument on the screen along with a musical accompaniment guide, users can play the chord progression of a song. Four virtual instrument sounds are available to choose from. A rhythm to match the song can also be selected.

The app guides the user through the song using a variety of color-coded chords. The system was designed under the supervision of Dr Noriko Nagata of the Department of Human System Interaction, School of Science and Technology, Kwansei Gakuin University.

The app is equipped with a function for evaluating the results of the performed accompaniment according to five musical styles: pop, rock, Latin, dance and jazz.