Never struggle for ideas or inspiration again with this clever MIDI detection plugin that can determine the key you are playing in and make suggestions as to where to go next.
Scaler, recently updated to version 1.2, is a plugin instrument capable of outputting MIDI as well as audio. It's designed to make finding chords and progressions intuitive and fun, with note detection, scale selection and chord suggestions all aiming to help you out when composing. The aim is to take the hassle out of coming up with new musical ideas. It's priced at £39.95 and runs in all major plugin formats.
Scaler can determine what key and scale you’re in and suggest chords that match your music, or it can inspire a tune from scratch by providing a set of initial chords in an unexplored key. With the onboard bank of 1,728 scales and modes including genre and artist presets, there’s more than enough to keep the juices flowing. A piano and three sampled synth sounds are built in for scratch work, so you can quickly get a chord progression together for export as a MIDI file entirely within it.
Features
Discover your music’s key and explore alternative scales and chord sets
Choose from hundreds of keys, and get the harmonic flavours of pro artists
Easily audition chords and find alternative voicings and common substitutions
Quickly build intelligent progressions by dragging chords into Scaler’s chord sequencer
Drag chords and progressions from anywhere in the plugin out to your DAW
Mike Huckaby: Yeah this is dope. Almost too dope
Carl Cox: As for Scaler, my life has just changed right there.
Once you’ve determined a scale, Scaler lays out basic diatonic chords for you to audition, and lets you take things further with dozens of chord variations and voicings to try out. Theory buffs can also get an insight into each chord’s harmonic function.
Ready to put together a progression? Simply drag and drop chords into Scaler’s sequencer, change up octaves and inversions, and record or drag the progression into your DAW.
New Features in Version 1.2
Humanise Velocities: the velocity of each note within chords is randomised to provide a more natural playing style.
MIDI Export Length: select length of MIDI notes for export and drag and drop.
Improved Progression Builder: Now handles up to 16 chords & chord progression is now played at DAW tempo.
Hollin Jones was classically trained as a piano player but found the lure of blues and jazz too much to resist. Graduating from bands to composition then production, he relishes the chance to play anything with keys.
A sometime lecturer in videographics, music production and photography post production, Hollin has been a freelance writer on music technology and Apple topics for well over a decade, along the way publishing several books on audio software. He has been lead writer at a number of prominent music and technology publications.
As well as consultancy, full-time journalism, video production and professional photography, he occasionally plays Hammond, Rhodes and other keys for people who ask nicely.
Hollin is Contributing Editor at Ask.Audio.
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