Not a feature request as such, more of an enquiry since of course Scaler is already quite complex and I may have missed some existing option…
I recently purchased an excellent (IMO) instrument library of Indian percussion, which library happens to include melody instruments such as Sitar, Tampura, and Bansuri.
While I note that Scaler currently includes four scales that look (to me) to be Japanese or Asian, that’s it. And while I have been learning the keyboard a little, and find less use for standard key bindings in Scaler, in this instance I would really like to be able to bind my keys to one of the many types of scale used in Indian music.
Can this already be done via some form of user customisation perhaps? If not, it would be a very nice thing to have access to other “world” scales beyond western European plus the Arabic and Japanese(?) currently on offer.
I am not fully conversant with music theory (nor am I a member of the Scaler development team), but my understanding is that Scaler is based on the Western classical system of equal-temperament tuning.
The challenge for Scaler is that other “world” scales may not be based on equal-temperament tuning but may use micro tuning or, as in the case of Indian scales, just-intonation tuning, or some other tuning.
The next challenge then will be how to pass notes out of Scaler into other instruments given that most DAWs are also designed to process note messages using MIDI which is based on the Western classical system of equal-temperament tuning. So even if Scaler can be adapted to include scales using other tunings the issue is can your DAW process the note messages?
This is not to say that Scaler cannot include some other “world” scales beyond western European if they are based on equal-temperament tuning, just that it may be difficult to include scales that are not based on equal-temperament tuning.
Thanks - an interesting reply. Indian music is alien to me if I’m honest. I like the sounds, and indeed is why I decided to explore them.
I can completely understand what you say about intervals etc. However, if there’s any ‘salvation’ at hand it is that the instrument I purchased is from Native Instruments. As such I find all their products of a very high quality. Using their own sampler to host said instruments (and which sampler is entirely compatible with my DAW), they have already allowed for whatever mapping adjustments might be required insofar as I can ‘play’ all of such instruments via my midi keyboard i.e. the instruments like flutes and sitars already respond correctly.
What their plugin shows is that certain keys are coloured - suggesting a direct mapping - and other keys uncoloured - suggesting this note is not used in this scale for this instrument.
So, in post I was really looking for a way to take the mapping that already exists inside the plugin, and be able to bind my keys via Scaler in exactly the same way. This has the simple but useful effect of “killing” the physical keys on my piano that are outside the instrument’s scale. Yes, I could and should simply learn the mapped keys. In time I will, but one of the great benefits of Scaler is to be able to bind keys to a particular scale.
All that said wow… the world of Indian music - I say this as a Caucasian with NO education in music. Most of it isn’t even scored (that I can find anyway) and is about personal variation on a learned theme!
