Peter Neubäcker, the German music software engineer responsible for the popular pitch correction Melodyne, has created a program called Direct Note Access (DNA) that can dissect a chord into individual notes so that the chord can be re-formed into something new. For music producers who use computers – which is just about all ofthem – this constitutes a major game changer whose implications forthe future of music are deep and widespread.

For example, Direct Note Access will make it possible to create an entire album's worth of guitar playing with a single chord, because it can re-form it into any other chord. Or, with the single click, a chord can be toggled between modes – major, minor, dorian, mixolydian and so on – in addition to transposing between keys. A string quartet can be recorded once, using a single microphone, and then a producer will be able to adapt what they played to another song long after they have left the studio. All of this is made possible by Direct Note Access' ability to separate a chord into individual notes (as depicted by the image above).

We've been fascinated by Neubäcker's Direct Note Access technology since hearing about it in April, and have pressed Celemony for more information about how it works. The company responded with a – video that depicts Neubäcker demonstrating its powers in a clear, understandable way.

Neubäcker's work on Direct Note Access began when a Melodyne user in Los Angeles complained that a marimbaphone solo he'd recorded contained a wrong note, but that the instrument had already left the studio, so there was no way to re-record it without incurring significant expense.



By inputting the specific notes he was trying to isolate into thesoftware, Neubäcker (pictured to the right) was able to associate each note's harmonics to its fundamental frequency, giving him a way to tease themixed-together notes in the marimbaphone solo away from each other. Then he pitch-shifted the offending note to where itshould be and sent the user back a sound file with the corrected marimbaphone.

The next step was to teach the software how to recognize noteswithout being told what they were beforehand. This was readily accomplished with the processing power of today's computers, andCelemony's Direct Note Access software started to take shape.

In what could be the most impressive demonstration I've seen in 11 years of covering digital music technology, Neubäcker recordshimself playing the guitar, uses DNA to separate the chords into sixindividual notes, and then plays them using a keyboard, all in a matterof about a minute.

While Melodyne enabled anyone to sing in tune, Direct Note Access'

effect will likely be far more widespread. Any one of us will technically be able tocreate a guitar-based song by strumming all of the openstrings on a guitar then editing the resulting chord to play whateverwe want. Talk about your democratizing technology.

Celemony's Direct Note Access will likely lead to a revolution in how music is made, although purists are likely to scoff at yet another technology that downgrades the importance of virtuosic talent. Others will surely see this as a natural progression in the ongoing musical fusion of human and machine.

Direct Note Access is slated for a fall release as part of the Melodyne 2 plug-in ($400). Here's what the program's interface looks like (the blobs represent individual notes that have been isolated from chords):

Do you believe in life after talent?

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Images courtesy of Celemony