AlphaTheta ChordCat Groovebox and Chord Engine - SonicDEMO

video upload by sonicstate

"We're looking at the ‪@alphathetaglobal‬ AlphaTheta ChordCat, a compact eight-track groovebox. It has built-in sounds, effects, sequencing and the ChordCruiser chord-generation system. It runs on battery or USB, and includes USB MIDI, MIDI in/out/thru, stereo outputs and headphones.

ChordCat is more than a groovebox and has chord helper functions which makes creating riffs and arrangements pretty straightforward. Matt takes us through sounds, sequencing, chord creation, effects, pattern handling, performance controls and DAW integration.

The sound banks include basses, keys, leads, pads, guitars, plucks, mallets, brass, strings, stabs and drum kits, with the 4x4 X-Y pad used for auditioning presets.

ChordCruiser shows chord names and notes, works with key and scale settings, and offers further chord choices after each selection. Matt built a four-chord set, then recorded it into the sequencer. The sequencer records note length, allows step entry, and lets each step hold gate and velocity values.

We also cover delay, arpeggiator, reverb and chorus sends, track volume and pan, ducking, filter and amp envelope editing, plus automation recording.Pattern copy, direction changes, switchback, step shift, chaining, muting and soloing can be used to reshape the sequence.

ChordCat Manager works on PC and Mac for sequence import/export. ChordCruiser is also coming as a plugin only, with beta access via AlphaTheta.

UK pricing is around £239 -£250.

Key Moments
00:00:00 Introduction and hardware overview
00:01:54 Sound browsing and preset auditioning
00:03:07 Chord mode, scales and ChordCruiser
00:09:47 Recording chords and step editing
00:11:28 Delay, arpeggiator and per-step control
00:14:52 Drums, track levels and sends
00:20:15 Filters, envelopes and automation
00:23:32 Pattern variations, direction and chaining
00:29:44 DAW MIDI, ChordCat Manager, plugin beta and price"