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.

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>
  <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>

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. 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.

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.)