So far we’ve been discussing theory through the lens of acquiring knowledge. Now, we’re about to round up a few pieces of software that know it all already, and can help you to get it right. Some of these tools will be able to suggest chords to fit into a progression, or a melody that will go over the top of what you have already, while some are just facilitators for getting your notes in order, or doing something you already know more quickly. Some of the tools we’ll cover could be thought of as entire ‘cheat codes’ or ‘easy mode’ for writing music, but that’s not quite the right way to look at them.
But this doesn’t mean that our new AI overlords have made a knowledge of music theory something that’s not worth having. In fact, getting your head around the concepts we outline elsewhere will help you to use these tools to their fullest extent, since you’ll know how to describe what you want them to do, and you’ll better understand how to speak their language.
‘Theory Tools’ isn’t necessarily an obvious category of plugin, and it’s probably not exactly something that Steinberg had in mind while laying out the VST concept. Today’s theory tools could take the form of anything from a visual reference manual, to a MIDI plugin that processes notes, right the way through to one that listens to audio tracks to determine a song’s key and then outputs MIDI, audio or drag-and-drop files for you to take further into the process.
While some may use theory
