Chapter 8 - Chord Mode

Chord Mode is where you build, capture, and shape the harmony that drives everything else. - The chord chain (progression) creates the harmony across all tracks. - The chord rhythm provides the structure for the Chord Track.

The Chord Track itself aims to provide padding for your music, in the form of a rhythmic chord pattern or drone.

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Getting in and out

From Performance Mode, press CHORD to enter Chord Mode. If Chord isn't already the active track, the first press selects it and a second press opens the mode (Chapter 6).

CHAIN	RHYTHM	PARAMS
SUGGEST	PLAY / STOP	BACK

Press BACK at any time to return to Performance. The sequencer keeps playing throughout - Chord Mode is for editing, not for stopping.

A note before you dive in: most of what's interesting in Chord Mode lives in one of two sub-systems - the chord chain (the progression of chords) and the chord rhythm (how those chords play out in time).

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The Chord Chain

The chord chain is your harmonic timeline - the sequence of chords UNA cycles through as it plays. Build it, capture it from your keyboard, edit it link-by-link, save it, load it from a library. Each link in the chain has a chord and a duration; together they form the progression every other track will follow.

While you're in Chord Mode, the active chord chain is drawn as a blue horizontal strip across the top of the screen. Two details make it readable at a glance:

• Links are sized by length. Each link's width is proportional to its musical duration.
• A playback marker tracks your position. As the chain plays, the current playhead position is shown moving across the chain strip.

Press CHAIN to enter Chain Mode

The Chord Chain display

In Chain Mode the whole screen becomes a chain editor. What you see:

• The chain grid - a 4 × 8 grid of 32 links filling the middle of the screen. Each link in your chain shows its root note colour-coded by chord quality (major, minor, sevenths, and so on); unused links sit as dim, empty cells. The selected and currently playing links are highlighted.
• The link details of the selected link are shown above the grid. The root note, octave number, chord name** (Maj, min 7, sus4, and so on), and an inversion tag (1st inv, 2nd inv).
• An ON / OFF label at the top-right tells you whether the chain is currently driving the music.
• The selected link's duration, and position In the footer.

Rotate the CONTROL Knob to walk through the grid slot by slot; the card and footer update as you go.

Function	What it does
LOAD	Open the saved-chain library and pick one.
EDIT	Open Chain Edit Mode (length, link timing, swap a chord).
SAVE	Save the current chain to the library.
CAPTURE	Open Chain Capture Mode - capture a chain from MIDI input.
PLAY / STOP	Transport control.
BACK	Return to Chord Mode.

The CONTROL Knob in Chain Mode scrolls through the chain's links so you can see each chord's details. Each link is a chord; the screen shows the chord name and the link's duration in bars and beats.

Toggling the chain

Quick press the CONTROL knob to enable or disable the chain.

When disabled, the current chord plays continuously. Unless overridden from an external keyboard, this will be the last chord heard.

Capturing a chord chain from your keyboard

Capture is the fastest way to get a progression into UNA. Press CAPTURE inside Chain Mode and you're in Chain Record.

The screen controls:

Function	What it does
QUANTIZE	Quick-edit the snapping grid: press to select, rotate the CONTROL Knob to choose (e.g. ¼ bar, ½ bar). Each chord-change you play lands on the nearest grid line. Locked once recording starts. Capture also support Step Recording, in which case Quantize is labelled as TIME, which sets the length of each captured link.)
METRO	Toggles the metronome click during capture. Lights when on.
OPTIONS	Opens the Record Options mode (see below). Becomes UNDO during a step record.
ARM	Primes the capture. The label then walks through the take: START, WAIT during a count-in, END while recording, DONE when finished.
PLAY / STOP	Audition the existing chain before you record. Available before the take only.
CANCEL	Back out without writing anything. (Reads BACK before you arm.)

Record Options

Press OPTIONS to open the Record Options mode. Navigate the list with the CONTROL Knob, change a value by holding and rotating CONTROL, and press BACK to return to the Record screen.

The options are:

• INPUT MODE
• REALTIME - the default: play the progression live and it's recorded against the clock.

• STEP REC - (step record) add links to the chain one chord at a time; see below.

• QUANTIZE - the same snapping grid available as the QUANTIZE shortcut on the main Record screen. In Step Record this row is relabelled TIME, because it sets each new link's length rather than a snapping grid.

• RESPONSE - the note settle window (default 300ms). This can help tolerate fingers landing slightly out of sync; and be tuned to your playing.

Realtime capture

With INPUT MODE = REALTIME:

• press ARM to prime
• then either press START (for a 1-bar count in) or simply play your first chord - the moment notes arrive, UNA starts recording.
• Play the chord of your progression.
• While recording, a live bar counter appears on the screen so you can see how many bars your chain has grown to as you play.
• Press END to finish the capture.

The new chain becomes active immediately.

• CANCEL backs out at any point.

With METRO on, you get a count-in. Pressing START runs a one-bar click track before capture begins, so your first chord lands on beat one. If the sequencer is already running mid-bar, the count-in waits for the next bar line, keeping the take bar-aligned.

Capture is fairly forgiving, if you play late at the beginning of recording, or don't press end right on the bar, UNA will do its best to clean up. You can always edit the result.

Step-record capture

With INPUT MODE = STEP REC you build the chain one chord at a time, independent of playback or the metronome:

• Press ARM to start.
• Play a chord to add a link. Each new link takes the current TIME value as its length (1 bar by default).
• Change TIME between chords to vary link lengths - it only affects the next link added.

• Play the same chord twice in a row to extend the previous link by one TIME unit instead of adding a duplicate. (A rolled chord that takes a moment to form is treated as one strike, not two.)

• UNDO removes the last link you added.

• END commits the chain; CANCEL discards it.

Step Record never starts the transport - there's no clock and no metronome running, so you can take as long as you like over each chord.

The chord-name label. While recording, the screen labels the chord you're playing with both its root and its quality (e.g. "E min").

Capturing while the music plays. If you capture a new chain without stopping the sequencer, the changeover is clean: the last live chord rides out the current bar, then the new chain takes over on the next bar line - link transitions land on natural bar boundaries, so the melody stays in sync - and playback begins from the chain's first link, looping from there.

Editing a Chord Chain

From Chain Mode, press EDIT to enter Chord Chain Edit.

Function	What it does
TIME	Change the selected link's duration. Quick press to arm as a latch, then rotate the CONTROL Knob; or hold TIME and rotate the CONTROL Knob for a momentary edit that restores the previous function when you let go.
MULTI	Select a range of links instead of a single one - a "block." Hold MULTI and rotate the CONTROL Knob to extend the block outward from the anchor; or quick press MULTI to latch the multi-select on (then a plain rotate keeps extending). Quick press again to release.
OCTAVE	Shift the selected link's root up or down by whole octaves - the pitch class (C, D, E…) stays the same, only the register changes. Same quick-press-to-latch / hold-and-rotate pattern as TIME.
REPLACE	Swap the chord at the selected link - opens Chain Replace (below). Only the anchor link is replaced, even if a MULTI block is active.
APPLY	Return to Chain Mode. Edits save live as you make them, so this is really "leave with what you've got."
CANCEL	Revert the whole session - every chord swap, every time change, every octave shift, and the chain length - back to how it was when you entered Edit. It's a session-level undo, not a single-edit one.

Walking through the chain. With nothing else armed, rotate the CONTROL Knob to move the selection from link to link. The card at the top and the footer both update as you go.

Multi-select edits the whole block. Once you've built a block with MULTI, a TIME or OCTAVE change applies to every link in the block at once - a fast way to lengthen a whole section, or drop a run of chords an octave together.

Latch vs. hold. TIME, OCTAVE, and MULTI all use the same two-mode pattern. A clean quick press latches the function on until you quick press it off again - you can walk away and come back to it. A hold + rotate gives you a momentary edit that lasts only as long as your finger's on the button; release, and whichever function was active before comes back. Pick whichever feels right for the edit at hand.

Cancelling out of a function first. If you have TIME or OCTAVE latched and you're done with it but not with the whole session, press CANCEL once - it just drops the active function without touching your edits. Press CANCEL again (with nothing armed) and that's what triggers the full session revert.

Chord Chain Length

To add or remove links from the chain press and hold the CONTROL Knob and rotate.

A chord chain can be anywhere from 1 to 32 links.

While CONTROL is held, the menu row switches into the LENGTH layout. Release the CONTROL Knob and the normal layout returns.

Note that, shortening the chain does not lose link information; increasing the chain length uncovers the existing links.

Replacing a chord in a chain

Inside Chain Edit, press REPLACE to swap the chord at the current link.

Chain Replace enables listening, so the easiest way to replace a chord is just play one: UNA detects the chord under your fingers and offers it as the replacement. If you'd rather pick from suggestions, SUGGEST opens the Suggest engine in substitute mode - it offers chords that fit the surrounding harmony.

When you've found the new chord, press BACK - the chord you're hearing is the one that's kept, and it's written to the chain as you leave. There's no separate APPLY step.

That means Replace has no "discard" button. Instead it gives you an undo pair on a single button:

• RESET restores the link to the chord it held when you arrived.
• Press it again - it now reads REVERT - to bring your replacement back.

So you can flip between the original and your new chord as many times as you like, before applying.

Deleting a link

The Chain Replace screen also has a DELETE action (shown in red). Press it to remove the selected link from the chain: the links after it shift forward and the selection moves to the previous link (it stays put if you delete the first link). If the chain has only one link, DELETE doesn't empty the chain - it resets that link to the default chord (C Major) instead.

Saving and loading chains

Pressing SAVE, from Chain Mode, allows you to store the current chain to the USER library.

• Rotate the CONTROL Knob to pick a slot.
• Press SAVE to commit, or CANCEL to back out.

Pressing LOAD, from Chain Mode, browses the library.

• Rotate to preview slots, press to load.

The loaded chain becomes active immediately and starts driving the music.

Don't forget that, in Chord mode, you can enable or disable the chain by quick pressing the CONTROL knob.

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Chord Suggest

If your looking for chord ideas to help build a progression, or alternative chords to vary your exist progression, UNA's chord suggestion engine can assist.

From Chord mode, press SUGGEST and UNA offers chord ideas that fit the current harmonic context.

Suggest comes in two flavours depending on how you reached it:

• From Chord Mode directly: "what should come next?" UNA looks at the chain you've built and proposes chords that lead well from where you are.
• From Chain Replace: "what could substitute here?" UNA looks at what surrounds this link and proposes chords that fit between them.

In the Suggest screen:

Function	What it does
SELECT	Open Chord Select if you'd rather build the chord by hand. (See below)
METHOD	Toggle between SMART (engine-driven suggestions) and DEGREES (diatonic chords I–vii° of the key).
OPTIONS	Open the Suggest Options page - set Key (Auto or pinned C–B), Mode (Auto, Major, Minor…), and Method.
PLAY	Audition the highlighted suggestion.
APPLY	Commit the highlighted suggestion.
BACK / CANCEL	Return without committing.

Rotate the CONTROL Knob to browse the suggestions.

The first eight PARAMETER Knobs are also wired as shortcuts: i.e. pressing Knob 4 jumps directly to suggestion 4.

• The DEGREES method offers exactly the seven diatonic chords of the current key/mode (I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii°).

• SMART uses UNA's engine to widen the field - borrowed chords, secondary dominants, common substitutions.

If the suggestions feel too "vanilla," switch to SMART; if they feel too unpredictable, switch to DEGREES.

Suggested chords will preview in real-time. Pressing APPLY commits the chosen chord and returns you to the previous mode.

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Chord Select - Building a chord from scratch

If you'd rather build a chord by hand, the Chord Select picker lets you do just that. You can find it via the Suggest Mode (see above).

From Chord Mode, press SUGGEST, then SELECT.

Select Mode presents three scrollable lists:

• NOTE sets the root note (C through B).
• TYPE sets the chord quality.

• 42 types are available - every common quality from major and minor through 7ths, 9ths, sus, dim, aug, and a long tail of jazz extensions.

• POSITION sets the voicing.

• Voicing determines which note of the chord is on top - root position, first inversion, second inversion, etc. The number of available positions depends on the chord type.

Press NOTE, TYPE, or POS to select the active list, then rotate the CONTROL Knob to choose.

The current chord will preview live - you'll hear what you are choosing.

The PARAMETER Knobs are a shortcut for NOTE. Knobs 1–8 map to the white keys C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C respectively. Hold CONTROL and press a knob to select a sharp note.

Once you have what you want, APPLY commits the chord and returns to the previous mode; CANCEL discards.

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Chord Rhythm - how the chord track plays in time

Press RHYTHM from Chord Mode to enter Chord Rhythm mode.

Where the chord chain decides which chord is played; the Chord Rhythm decides when and how chord notes are triggered as the chord track plays.

2 Examples. a rhythm can be anything from a punchy 16^th-note groove to an Afro-Cuban syncopation - completely different feels for the same chord.

The rhythm is displayed as a block pattern (blue) and each block represents a trigger point in the rhythm loop.

During playback the current rhythm step is highlighted to show where you are in the loop.

Below are the Bar and quarter note markers (purple). Above, the current quantize grid (orange).

RHYTHM is disabled when the chord track is in DRONE mode (see below).

Function	What it does
LOAD	Load a starting rhythm pattern.
EDIT	Step-level edit of the current rhythm.
SAVE	Save the current rhythm to the library.
CAPTURE	Tap a rhythm in from MIDI input.
PLAY / STOP	Transport.
BACK	Return to Chord Mode.

Loading a rhythm

Press LOAD in Rhythm Mode to browse starting rhythms. Three sources sit on the top row:

• FACTORY - UNA's built-in library of rhythm patterns.
• USER - one of your own saved rhythms.
• GENERATE - a random rhythm; rotate the CONTROL Knob to roll a new one.

Rotate the CONTROL Knob to browse within the current source; each pick previews live so you can hear it before you commit. Press APPLY to keep the previewed rhythm, or CANCEL to restore the one you had.

Capturing a rhythm

Press CAPTURE in Rhythm Mode. The flow is similar to Chain Record but with one nice twist: UNA stores the inter-tap intervals in milliseconds while you play, and auto-detects a sensible quantize grid when you press STOP. You don't have to know in advance what subdivision your taps land on.

• QUANTIZE. Locked during capture; on STOP, it shows the auto-detected grid.

• After STOP you can rotate the CONTROL Knob to override the grid, and snap the step position to the new grid.

• METRO. Pre-record click toggle.

• LENGTH. Post-STOP, sets the loop length. Default is AUTO (the natural duration of what you played, rounded to the nearest quantize division). Override manually if you need to adjust.
• ARM → START → STOP → PLAY (state-machine).
• APPLY. Commit the rhythm. CANCEL.

While recording, a live bar counter appears on the screen so you can watch how many bars your rhythm has grown to as you tap.

Editing a rhythm step by step

From Rhythm Mode, press EDIT for step-level adjustment on the active rhythm.

• Rotate the CONTROL Knob to select a step (the first step is the downbeat and can't be moved).

• Hold the CONTROL Knob and rotate to move the selected step to a different grid position.

• Use QUANTIZE to change the snap grid you're moving on.

• Use LENGTH to change the loop length.

• Press APPLY to commit, CANCEL to discard.

Saving a rhythm

Press SAVE in Rhythm Mode to store the current rhythm to one of 16 user slots.

• Rotate the CONTROL Knob to pick a slot
• Press SAVE - UNA asks YES to confirm the overwrite or CANCEL to back out.
• Press BACK to leave without saving.

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Chord Track Parameters

Press PARAMS from Chord Mode to open the Chord Track parameters menu. This is where the Chord Track's full parameter list lives; including those not accessible via the PARAMETER knobs.

Drone Mode (CHORD vs. DRONE)

Inside PARAMS, the first item under the PRIMARY group is MODE. It has two values:

• CHORD (default): the chord track plays a rhythmic pattern - the rhythm you set in Chord Rhythm.
• DRONE: the chord track holds the chord as a sustained pad, ignoring the rhythm.

The drone only changes when the chord changes, the sequencer stops, you release all live-play keys, you change Octave/Channel/Layers/Pitch on the chord track, or you mute the Chord Track from the Mixer.

You can use the Mixer as a drone on/off, the chord snaps back cleanly when you bring it in.

DRONE is useful for ambient pad textures and for letting another instrument carry the rhythm while UNA supplies sustained harmony underneath.

While in DRONE, RHYTHM in Chord Mode is disabled - there's nothing rhythmic to edit.

Lock Octave, Lock Note, Lock Chord

Further down the parameter list, under the LOCKS group, you'll find three "override" parameters that pin the chord track's voicing; disengaging certain aspects from the current chord.

• LOCK > OCTAVE. Pins the track's octave to a fixed value (instead of inheriting from the chord chain). Use the ParamOctave knob as normal to set the octave position.
• LOCK > NOTE. Overrides the root pitch class. The chord shape stays the same; but the track's root note is forced to whichever note you've locked.
• LOCK > CHORD. Overrides the chord intervals - picks one of 42 chord types and forces that quality regardless of what the chord chain is playing, or your keyboard input.

The locks are powerful for compositional tricks like "every chord becomes a pedal-point on D" or "every chord plays as a major 7^th regardless of what the chain says."

They also apply to the Melody and Bass tracks (you'll find the same LOCKS group in their PARAMS menus), making locks a useful per-track override layer.

A safety detail: all three locks reset to OFF when you capture a fresh chord chain, melody, or bass line, so newly recorded material plays back uncoloured.

For a full reference to every Chord Track parameter - what it controls, its range, and how it differs from Melody/Bass - see Chapter 7 - Track Parameters. Chapter 7 also documents the RESET, LOCK, CATEGORY, PLAY/STOP, and BACK button behaviours inside the PARAMS menu.

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Worked Recipes - for Chords

The "capture a progression" recipe. Plug a keyboard in. Press CHORD on Performance, then CHAIN, then CAPTURE. Set QUANTIZE to 1 bar (press QUANTIZE, rotate CONTROL Knob). Press ARM. Play four chords, one per bar. Press STOP. Press APPLY - the chain is now active and the Melody/Bass tracks will follow it.

The "substitute one chord" recipe. You've got a four-chord chain but the third chord doesn't sit right. CHAIN → EDIT → walk to chord 3 with CONTROL → REPLACE. Either play the new chord on your keyboard (UNA detects it), or press SUGGEST for ideas. APPLY when satisfied.

The "drone pad" recipe. You want the chord track to hold a long pad while the melody dances over the top. PARAMS → select MODE → set DRONE. The Chord Track is now a sustained pad. Tip: Set GATE to a high value if you want the pad to slow release when chords change.

The "force every chord to a major 7^th" recipe. PARAMS → LOCK CHORD → set to MAJOR 7. Every chord in your chain now plays as a major 7^th regardless of chord input. Useful for getting a quick "everything sounds like Steely Dan" effect.

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What's next

Chord Mode controls the harmony. Chapter 9 covers Melody Mode - the track that runs over that harmony - and Chapter 10 covers the Stepper, where you can sculpt the melody step by step. Chapter 12 (Modulate) is also worth a visit once you've built a few chains: a slow filter sweep on the chord track, or an evolving rhythm pattern, can take a static progression somewhere unexpected.