Critique

Critique tells you, note by note, why a section sounds the way it does. Run it on a passage that feels off and it marks the notes it cannot account for, with a label and a short explanation of what to try instead.

It is an analyser, not a fix. Nothing is changed; you decide what to do with the feedback.

When to reach for it

When you wrote a phrase, listened back, and something is bothering you that you cannot name. When you are learning to write melodies and want feedback on what makes a line work. And when you have just generated a melody and want to find the weak notes before you commit to it.

Running it

The section needs a chord progression first, because each note is graded against the chord under it. Without chords there is nothing to compare against, and the button says so instead of running.

Open the Improve pane on the compose toolbar and click Critique. The piano roll repaints: notes it cannot excuse get a red stripe along the bottom, and working notes are left alone.

Hover any note for the verdict. You get a heading naming the figure, a short explanation, and, on a flagged note, a list of concrete things to try.

The result clears when you edit a note, change section, or change the chord progression. Click Critique again to re-grade.

What the marking means

No stripe means the note is doing its job, whether as a chord tone, a passing tone, a suspension, an anticipation or another working figure. Hover it to see which.

A red stripe means the analyser could not excuse it. Hover for the reason and the remedy.

There is deliberately no middle band. Once the grader can account for a note it is working, and a third colour would only add noise. Marking is reserved for notes worth a second look.

The labels

Working figures

Chord tone. Part of the active chord. The safest landing.

Passing tone. A note outside the chord that you step into and step out of, walking between two stable notes.

Neighbour tone. A step away to a colour note and a step back. Adds something without leaving the chord.

Suspension. A pitch held from the previous chord into the new one, where it now clashes, then released by stepping down. Tension and resolution in two notes.

Anticipation. A chord tone of the next chord arriving just before the chord change, which pulls the line forward into the new harmony.

Appoggiatura. A strong-beat dissonance you leap to and release by stepping down. The leap followed by the resolution is what gives it its weight.

Escape tone. A step up to a colour note and a leap out to a chord tone. A lighter cousin of the passing tone.

Flagged figures

Each of these comes with a heading and a list of things to try.

Passing tone that does not land. The shape is right but the note you step to next is not in the chord. Step to a chord tone, or extend the run by one more step until it reaches one.

Neighbour that does not return. You stepped away and stepped back, but the destination is not in the chord either. Return to the chord tone you started from.

Accented leap with no resolution. You leapt to a dissonance on a strong beat, which is the start of an appoggiatura, but the next note does not release it. Step down to a chord tone.

Big jump that does not come back. A leap larger than a third needs a step in the opposite direction within a note or two.

Does not fit the chord. The note is outside the chord and the shape around it does not match any figure the ear accepts. Change it to a chord tone, or rewrite the notes around it so it becomes a passing tone.

Pending

The last note of an unfinished section cannot be judged until you write the next one, so it is marked pending. A trailing note is never blamed for not resolving yet.

Reading the feedback

A red stripe says the grader could not excuse this note with one of the figures it knows. It does not say the note is wrong. Real music breaks these rules constantly and sounds better for it.

A single isolated stripe is usually a wrong note, and the remedy is worth taking. Stripes clustered together are usually a phrase-shape problem, so look at the run rather than each note. A stripe on a note you love is a note you keep.

What it does not do

It does not change notes. It is analysis only, and fixes are yours to apply by hand or with the other Improve actions.

It does not grade rhythm. Critique is about pitch and shape, not groove, swing or velocity.

It does not model your genre. A blues melody and a hymn play by different rules, and the grader knows one set of figures. Tonal and modal pop both work; outside that, take the feedback with more salt.

It needs chords. Without a progression in the section it will not run.

Getting the most from it

Run it before you apply the other Improve actions, so you know which moments actually need work. Re-run it after each edit pass, since the result clears when you change a note.

Hover the notes that came back clean as well. Every chord tone, passing tone and suspension carries a one-line explanation of what makes it work, which is the cheapest theory lesson in the app.

Selection does not matter here. Critique always grades the whole section, which is unlike the other Improve actions.