Ask Chopy a question

Chopy doesn't only make changes: it also answers your questions about the open piece. It reads the notes of your sheet music, or of your MIDI in the piano roll, and helps you find your way around, understand how the piece is built and check that it holds together.

How do I ask a question?

Write it in the Chopy field, like a change request: there is nothing to choose, Chopy recognizes a question by itself. You can also click one of the suggestions shown when it opens, such as “What key is this piece in?” or “Give me 3 tips to practise it”. To find where Chopy is: Discover Chopy.

The answer arrives in a few seconds, under the Analysis label. It fits in a short paragraph: the answer first, then what shows it in your piece. Measure numbers are links: on the sheet music, a click takes you to that measure; in the piano roll, it highlights the notes of that measure.

What can I ask about the sheet music?

What can I ask in the piano roll?

In the piano roll, Chopy analyzes the MIDI track by track. For example:

• “Which track is the hardest to play?”
• “Where does the dynamics change?”: Chopy reads the velocity of the notes;
• “Which is the fastest passage?”

MIDI has no key signature: the key there is an estimate, drawn from the notes played. Drum tracks have no key, chords or range. Voice leading can only be analyzed on the sheet music.

In which language?

Chopy answers in the language of your question. If it isn't clear, it answers in the language of the interface.

Chaining questions

Chopy remembers your last two exchanges. After an answer about measure 4, simply ask “and what about bar 5?”.

If a single sentence asks for a change and a question, for example “transpose it to D major and tell me if it's playable on violin”, Chopy makes the change first. It then offers your question under its answer: “And my question: …”. Click it to ask it.

What Chopy doesn't do

• It only talks about the open piece. Another piece, a composer's life, a poem, code, homework: it answers “I answer questions about this score and edit it. Ask me its key, for example, or to transpose it.”
• It doesn't answer questions about itself: how it works, its instructions, what it costs. It also refuses requests to change role or to ignore its rules.
• After five such refusals within an hour, Chopy pauses for an hour.

The limits to know about

• The transcription may contain errors. Chopy analyzes the notes as they were transcribed: a misrecognized note can skew an answer. Listen to the passage, and fix the note if needed.
• A melody alone has no written chords. On a line with no simultaneous notes, Chopy answers “no written chords” rather than inventing some.
• Playability depends on the instrument. Chopy compares the notes with the range of the piano, violin, flute, alto saxophone, electric or acoustic guitar, bass, double bass and trumpet. For another instrument, such as voice or organ, it gives the lowest and highest notes, with no verdict.
• On a very long piece, Chopy analyzes only some of the measures, and says so in its answer.
• A question fits in one sentence, 300 characters at most.

Chopy can make mistakes. Check its answers against the sheet music.

How many questions?

Questions and changes share the same monthly plan: a question counts as one request when Chopy answers it. Refusals and the questions Chopy asks you to clarify don't count. See The Chopy plan.