Pete, the actual question was "when does a chord become a non chord?" This implies attacking the problem in the reverse of your rephrasing.

Also, having worked with pro level gear and software in recording situations that demanded concrete times and zero crossing points at absolutes, I had a fairly good idea what I could hear sample-wise. I rechecked anyway as part of the method. There are some super ears out there that I've worked with who can nail down things to incredible degrees. I am not one of them, so I need a baseline.

I've never looked at the question from any angle until Bruce mentioned it. The question itself led me to others that I find much more attractive (see my earlier posts). In order to continue the search for these answers, I must determine the LOST CHORD point to the best of me ability in order to pursue them.

And, I told everyone I was tired when I continued on early this morning. I erred because of it. When I played the sample chords, I used as many as six notes and as few as four only. I was trying to limit the test to three note examples. I'm sure most are well aware that a diminished chord consists of four notes unless you want to get into implied tonality. I feel a little sheepish. I did say I was quite wary of my ability to step outside the nature of this path. I'm so anxious to determine the next phases I lost track of the procedure.

I'll still email the cut sections as .WAV files for anyone who cares to try a little pattern recognition. I think they still offer some valid inferences to the original pursuit.

Back to it a little later after I clean up a track or two from some more obvious types of work.