
Feeling Partner

What the music-making, computer-using community needs now are accompaniment generation pro-grams. Or so you would think fudging by the number which have been released over the past year or two.
Hot on the heels of Band-in-a-Box (ST User December '90), Freestyle (ST User February '92) and Improviser (ST User Music Aspects May'92) comes Feeling Partner. However, it goes one step further than the other accompaniment programs by having a built-in sequencer.

Protected
The program is supplied on a protected key disk. The files can be copied to another floppy or a hard disk but it must be present when you load the program.
The main screen bears a similarity to C-Lab's Notator - the Arrange window on the left and the Pattern window on the right of the screen. At the top is a mixer and in the centre are the transport controls.
Operation follows traditional sequencer format. You can record up to 16 tracks in a Pattern and then link Patterns together in the Arrange window to form a complete song. Edit functions include track, copy, paste and merge, and quantisation. You can transpose tracks and assign them to a Midi channel. When you link Patterns in the Arrange window you can transpose them here, too.
But Feeling Partner's main purpose is accompaniment generation and the sequencer has a role to play here, as we'll discover shortly.
As well as recording your own tracks you can insert one or more accompaniment tracks Into a Pattern. An accompaniment consists of six instrument parts - drums, bass, strings, guitar, piano and brass.
The accompaniment section is extremely comprehensive and has many features and options but it does require a little study to take on board. Essentially, there are 74 Styles which are divided into groups such as rock, shuffle, jazz, funk, samba and march.
The manual says there are 32 groups but there were only 15 in the program. Styles are loaded automatically when you boot the program so you can't load in new ones, although updates intend to offer a greater range.

Drum rhythms
A Style contains six instrument parts - the ones already mentioned. The only difference between the groups is the drum rhythms - the other parts are identical, although the manual doesn't make this dear.
The instrument parts in each Style are divided into Models whicn are simply variations of the basic rhythmic pattern of the Style.
Drum parts have one-bar Models, instruments Models are two bars long. Each instrument in a Style has a number of Models which varies from instrument to instrument and Style to Style, between two and 13.
Models are there to help you customise the accompaniment section. You can audition each 
Model using the Taste Model option (I wonder if some of these names are a result of the translation or if the translator had a sense of humour!). You can assign two Models to each accompaniment instrument. These are used in the Algorithm (hang on in there!).
The Algorithm window is where you actually construct the accompaniment. There is one Algorithm for each accompaniment instrument and these can be up to 16 bars long. You assemble an Algorithm out of the basic Style pattern, the two Models and bars of rests. This, you'll be pleased to hear, is very easy.
The Algorithm window shows a variety of two-bar combinations such as a bar of basic rhythm followed by a bar of Model two, two bars of rests and a bar of Model one followed by a bar of rests. You simply click and drag these icons into a 16-bar strip at the bottom of the window. This shows the order in whlch the patterns will play.

Rhythm extras
An additional feature for drum Algorithms is the ability to set the percentage of a drum break. This can add anything to a rhythm, from a few extra hi-hat taps to complete round-the-kit fills.
You can create up to 16 Algorithms for each instrument and each Algorithm is independent of the others.
It takes a while to become conversant with the way the accompaniment patterns are constructed - and to get to grips with the terminology - but the net result does give you enormous scope for customisation without actually having to construct the patterns from scratch yourself.
But if you want to, you can create your own Models. You do this by recording a few bars into an empty, track and selecting the Create New Models option. This will divide the track into two-bar Models and store them in the Model Library which you can save. This replaces the existing Library which, like the Styles, is loaded automatically on booting. On the cur-rent version of Feeling Partner, you can only create new instrument Models, not drum Models.
So let's put everything together and create an accompaniment. Begin by assigning suitable sounds to the six instrument parts. The mixer at the top of the screen can be used to alter three parameters - volume, pan and program number. The default settings are for the Roland MT-32.

Sensitive controls
There is one slider for each of the 16 Midi channels and the current slider settings are shown as numbers at the top of the mixer. These are rather small and the slider controls rather sensitive so you have to tweak the controls carefully. If you use Midi Thru, the program will transmit on the channel of the currently selected track so it's easy to select the sounds and settings you want.
The drum note assignments are handled from a separate window. Again, the defaults are for the MT-32 but these are easily altered, too, by selecting a drum sound and clicking on an onscreen keyboard. Unlike Styles and Models, drum maps can be saved and loaded separately.
When you add accompaniment parts to new Patterns, they automatically use the settings you have already made.
Once the program is talking to your equipment you can put an accompaniment together. You can choose a Style on-the-fly, as they play. Use Create Tracks to insert the accompaniment instruments into a Pattern and select a Pattern length. Choose a couple of Models for the instrument and drum parts and then create Algorithms for them. The program has Modify Pattern and Modify Track functions which randomise the settings.
Next you have to record a Chord Track for the accompaniment to follow. The program recognises 12 chord types, stopping short at 9ths. Oddly, it doesn't recognise 6ths either or augmented chords which is a little more restrictive.
You have to physically record the chords into a track. You can edit them in the Track Editor but this is a rather simple event editor. You could insert chords here but it wouldn't be my idea of a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon. There is a quantise function but, again, it's rather basic, -although there is also an Auto Quantise function which saves you having to worry about the settings.
Having recorded a chord track, you designate it as a Track Driver. You can record several tracks of chords but only one can be designated the Track Driver at any one time. As the program plays, if it recognises a chord it displays the name at the bottom fight of the screen it's important only to record chords the program recognises otherwise the results won't be what you expect. I can't help but think a chord sheet would be a much easier option.

Toggle
To create a song, you construct a number of Patterns as described. Each Pattern appears in the Pattern List on the left of the screen. You can toggle this into the Arrange Song window where you can link the Patterns together. You can't offset Patterns in relation to each other to make one come in a beat late, for example, but you can loop them.
The program supports the Midi File Format so you can export the accompaniments to a more sophisticated sequencer and add the melody and other parts there. The program will even play the accompaniments as it saves them. It can also import files, which is very useful for working out the accompaniments to a melody you have already created in another sequencer.
The program can also be driven directly from a keyboard, in which case it will create accompaniments on-the-fly rather like portable keyboards which have built-in rhythms and accompaniments. You can assign a split point to the keyboard and use the left-hand section to form chords which determine the accompaniment, and the right-hand section for the melody.
There are three recognition modes which offer increasingly sophisticated chord and note analysis. As with chords tracks, you need to play the accompaniments with care to ensure the program interprets the chords correctly and plays them at the right time.
The accompaniment patterns are very good, but then with six parts to them they should be. The ability to customise them can make all the differ once between an "automatic" accompaniment and something which sounds a little more like it was designed especially for your music.
Don't underestimate the humble break/fill percentage setting, simply to vary the drums every four bars or so.
If you have formed the impression that Feeling Partner is not the most immediately accessible program, you'd be right. However, the manual contains a good Getting Started section and once you grasp the basic concepts operation isn't difficult.
There is a reference section which is ordered alphabetically (most reference sections are ordered by topic) but the manual really needs more diagrams.
Working with the package I did hat a few grumbles, and a few ideas came to mind. For example, when creating accompaniment tracks in a Pattern lot down on the screen, the list of instruments disappears off the bottom. The solution is to create them at the top of the Pattern and copy them to the higher numbered tracks.

Improvements
While the Models and Algorithms arrangement works fine, why not simply let the user drop any Model into any of the Algorithm slots? It would make the program much more flexible without making it any more complex.
However, the developers are working on an update (and, I believe, updates beyond this one are being planned) 5 you might expect the rough edges to knocked off very soon.
While Feeling Partner can be used an all-in-one sequencer/arranger program, you must bear in mind the limitations of the sequencer. However, where it scores over the competition by allowing you to run the accompaniment with the melody and/or musical arrangement it is intended to accompany.
The ideal combination is Feeling Partner with a dedicated sequencer which supports Midi Files. You can export the accompaniments into your sequencer and edit them further if you wish. This arrangement (sorry!) makes Feeling Partner the most powerful arranger program available for the ST.


Product Feeling Partner Supplier: Music Pro Imports (UK), 15 Gadmoor Gardens, Southfields, LONDON SWI 9 6NX Telephone: 081-7898641.  Price: 175


Atari ST User May 1992
