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ripchord-player

Ripchord Player

Ripchord is a free MIDI plug-in by trackbout.com. It's basically a MIDI filter that turns single notes into chords. The associated web site provides a public forum for sharing Ripchord presets, which are XML files with the extension .rpc (called “RPC files” here).

The full Ripchord plug-in provides a GUI to allow creating and editing RPC files. Unify's built-in Ripchord Player is a simpler version which can load and play RPC files, but not edit them. To load an RPC file, click the Open RPC File… button, navigate to the file, and open it. Once loaded, Ripchord Player works exactly like Ripchord, except with no editing ability.

Obtaining RPC files and making your own

You can get RPC files free from trackbout.com (you'll need to register), or if you're handy with a text editor, you can create your own. The first RPC file from trackbout.com, with chords from The Doors' 1971 hit Riders on the Storm, looks like this:

Riders On The Storm.rpc
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 
<ripchord>
  <preset>
    <input note="60">
      <chord name="E min" notes="64;67;71"/>
    </input>
    <input note="62">
      <chord name="A maj" notes="64;69;73"/>
    </input>
    <input note="64">
      <chord name="A min" notes="60;64;69"/>
    </input>
    <input note="65">
      <chord name="D maj" notes="62;66;69"/>
    </input>
    <input note="67">
      <chord name="D sus 4" notes="62;67;69"/>
    </input>
  </preset>
</ripchord>

(Click where it says “Riders On The Storm.rpc” in blue above, to download this file.)

The interpretation is:

  • MIDI note 60 (C3, middle C) plays an an E-minor triad (note-numbers 64, 67, and 71)
  • Note 62 (D3) plays A major
  • Note 64 (E3) plays A minor
  • Note 65 (F3) plays D major
  • Note 67 (G3) plays Dsus4

You should be able to create your own RPC files pretty easily by following this pattern. (For Unify v1.0.7 or earlier, see next section below.) The important thing is to make sure your XML open/close tags are correctly matched (e.g. <ripchord>…</ripchord>) and nested (as with brackets in a mathematical expression), and that you get the spelling and capitalization of tags exactly right.

Update 18 Feb 2020: XML format change

As of mid-February, 2020, the author of Ripchord changed the XML format slightly. The description in the previous section describes the NEWER format. Unify versions 1.0.8 and later can interpret either format, but if you are using v1.0.7 or earlier, you need to use the older format, which used the tag “KeyboardMapping” instead of “preset”, and “mapping” instead of “input”.

The older version of Riders On The Storm.rpc looked like this:

Riders On The Storm.rpc
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 
<ripchord>
  <KeyboardMapping name="Riders On The Storm">
    <mapping note="60">
      <chord name="E min" notes="64;67;71"/>
    </mapping>
    <mapping note="62">
      <chord name="A maj" notes="64;69;73"/>
    </mapping>
    <mapping note="64">
      <chord name="A min" notes="60;64;69"/>
    </mapping>
    <mapping note="65">
      <chord name="D maj" notes="62;66;69"/>
    </mapping>
    <mapping note="67">
      <chord name="D sus 4" notes="62;67;69"/>
    </mapping>
  </KeyboardMapping>
</ripchord>

Using Ripchord Player with BlueARP

Ripchord Player can be particularly useful as an input filter for BlueARP, because instead of having to play chords (and get the fingering exactly right), you can simply play single notes. (Note, however, that Xfer Records' excellent Cthulhu does all this and more for $39.)

ripchord-player.txt · Last modified: 2023/05/08 18:59 by 127.0.0.1