Phrase Morphing Tutorial

In this tutorial using phrase morphing is presented. This powerful feature means that when you place a 'source' and 'target' phrase in the composition, the phrases between the two will be composed automatically by RapidComposer so that there is a smooth transition from the source phrase to the target phrase. There are several options to control this transition. Usually there are many possible transitions, if you don't like the one offered by the program, pressing 'Regenerate' will create a different transition.

Step 1: Start a new composition.

Press 'New' under the 'Files' tab.

Step 2: (Optional) Assign the chord progression used in this tutorial.

Click on the 'Progressions' tab. Select 'C - Am - F - G' and drag it, drop it on the 'Line 1' tab in the structure editor.

Step 3: Add a new line.

Right click on 'Line 1' tab, select 'Add After' from the menu.
You will see this:

Step 4: Select 'Nylon Guitar' as the instrument.

Since we will work with acoustic guitar patterns, select 'Nylon Guitar' as the instrument.
Click on the track title to select it.

Under the 'Compose/Tracks' tab you will find the instrument selector.
Click on 'Preset' and select 'Nylon Guitar'

Note: you can choose a different instrument, but make sure 'Use Guitar Chords' is checked in the 'Track Hints' menu. This means that acoustic guitar chords will be used in this track.

Step 5: Add the source phrase at the beginning.

We will make a transition from 'FingerPicking4' to 'FingerPicking1' in this example.
Click on the 'Phrases' tab in the middle pane (next to 'Progressions'). Select 'FingerPicking4'. Right click in the 'Nylon Guitar' track around position 0, and select 'Add Phrase 'FingerPicking4' 'from the popup.
You will see this:

Step 6: Add the target phrase at beat 28

Important: Deselect the phrase we added by clicking on the empty part inside the track or by selecting 'Deselect All' from the context popup menu (right click). This is necessary because selecting a phrase in the database will replace all phrases selected in the tracks. (Right, not just the highlighted track, any number of tracks can have phrases selected. With just one click, you can replace all phrases!)

Now select 'FingerPicking1' under the 'Phrases' tab. Right click on the track at beat 28 and select "Add Phrase 'FingerPicking1' " from the popup.

Step 7: Resize the track vertically to see more details

Approach the bottom edge of the track under the track name with the mouse. The pointer changes to indicate vertical resizing mode. Drag the track bottom downwards to vertically zoom the track until you see enough details.

Step 8: Add the Phrase Morphing Generator between the source and target phrases

First deselect the phrase we added by clicking on the empty part inside the track or by selecting 'Deselect All' from the context popup menu (right click).

Select 'Phrase Morphing Generator' under the 'Phrases' tab. Right click on the track at beat 4 and select "Add Phrase 'Phrase Morphing Generator' " from the popup.

The phrase morpher automatically detects the source and target phrase. The source phrase is the phrase right before the phrase morpher, the target phrase is the next phrase that is closest to the end of phrase morpher. You can resize the phrase morpher, but you should not move it horizontally otherwise the reference to the source phrase will not be valid anymore. If there is no valid source phrase, the phrase morpher is removed automatically after a warning message.

The phrase morpher is added, extended to the next phrase, and is filled with generated notes:

You can press the 'PLAY' button to listen to the track.

Step 9: Change options and regenerate

Once you set up the phrase morpher, you can transpose or completely replace the source and target phrases. The phrase morpher will be recalculated in these cases. There are various options for the Phrase Morpher Generator. Select the Compose/Phrases/Generator tab. (Compose/Phrases is automatically selected when you click on a phrase.)

Options and explanations:

Quantization:	Horizontal note movement control. Specify if you allow notes moving in time and if so how they are quantized. Notes moving in time will change the rhythm, so if that is not what you want it is best to disable this option.
Vertical Movement:	Vertical note movement control. Specify if you allow notes moving vertically (becoming higher or lower notes) and if so how they are handled. Moving notes can be snapped to scale notes or semitones.
Pair Note Additions And Removals:	When checked adding a target note and removing a source note will happen at the same time as much as other conditions allow. This results a smoother transition.
Handle Chord Notes Together:	When checked chord notes with no offset will be added/removed together.
Apply Automatic Transposition:	Specify if transposition is applied to the generated phrases. When checked the highest note of the source phrase will approximate the highest note of the target phrase. This setting is ignored when guitar chords are used.

If you change any of the above options, the preview is updated. In this tutorial we disabled the 'Vertical Movement' and 'Pair Note Additions And Removals' options:
You can press 'Regenerate' if you want to see another transition. Pressing 'Apply To Selection' will replace the phrase in the composition:

Step 10: Done!

Congratulations, you have completed this tutorial. Please note that you can still edit the generated notes in Note Editing Mode, however the generator will turn into an ordinary phrase.