Does Scaler 2.5 have a feature where you write your own melody, Scaler detects the melody and then it suggests variations for your melody? Captain Melody has this feature and I was wondering if Scaler has it too. If it doesn’t, is there a feature that’s close to it in Scaler? So far what I’m seeing is that Scaler seems to only suggest new Chord progressions variations… or maybe I’m missing something?
Hi @arsnova and welcome to this Forum.
Scaler is a chord-oriented VST so it helps with chord creation, modifications and performances. Accordingly, it is does not do what you mentioned.
However, the option called Performances allow you to create a melody from the selected chords and, to be frank, there are many of them. You can then do whatever you need in MIDI track.
This is not a complete list of Melodies (because it cannot fit the screen without scrolling):
Scaler allows a lot of chord manipulations and this is amazing and powerful.
Maybe the Scaler Team decide to develop a new VST that will do more with melodies, but I don’t know whether this is planned or not. I believe this would not be a part of Scaler package if eventually developed.
Thanks so much for the reply! Ok noted, I guess I was right when I said that I didn’t think this feature existed in this plugin.
Speaking of Captain plugins, version 6 (aka “Epic” 
) is technically out. Though Captain Melody and Captain Beats are in transition.
Captain Chords now embeds patterns which are somewhat similar to Scaler’s Performances or Phrases.
are they still forcing you to be online while using their product?
Yes, and as a strategy it sucks.
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Agreed. Forgot about that part, as it’s so absurd. They don’t even make it so obvious when you install them.
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Thoughts on the new Captain Epic …
I’ve not had time to study the upgrades in any detail, but it seems to me at first glance it’s about functional additions and not conceptual change.
I’ve tried various of the products which purport to generate either progressions and/or melodic lines over the years, and non has particularly inspired me until Scaler. Scaler, IMHO, is also a musical education tool, not only from a dry theory perspective, but one in which the ear can connect with that theory. I am getting much better in sensing what sound some progression or an individual chord will make before hitting a key.
It seems to me there is a spectrum of approaches for such applications, with a die (as in ‘dice’) at one end and the ear at the other. The dice end uses algorithmic approaches coupled with randomness to generate a melodic line and the the other end not at all.
Scaler, as far as I can tell, is at the latter end. and instead the performances are musician crafted, not algorithmically driven. A Priori, this might seem restrictive, but because of the various parameters which can be combined, even on a fairly simple count (as I have written before) it’s moving towards a 7 figure set of variants,
Captain Chords does have have a set of pre-determined patterns for rhythms which are sometime handy for ‘4 to the floor’ things, but 99 times out of 100 I reach for Scaler.
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Well, it is rather unfortunate for their business growth. I am having a 12 hour transatlantic flight ahead of me, without internet. And I would have upgraded to the new version of an otherwise interesting product, if it would let me use it on an offline computer. so they effectively lose customers and revenue with this model. They are also not transparent about what exactly they have the software transmit over the internet and back to their servers. Bad policy in the age of information privacy laws and cultural sensitivities around that.
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Absolutely right what you wrote, Bernd. Everybody tries to protect their data these days, including myself, and then there is someone exchanging our data with their server. No way to buy such a product. Well, I don’t know their privacy policy but certainly I dont want to pay before I discover it. So, it’s a big no for me.
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We’re largely on the same page. Especially since the ends of that spectrum correspond to legitimate uses of “composition tools”. Those of us who’ve studied music might prefer the tools near the hands-on side, though there’s something to be said about rolling a dice and getting a serviceable pattern from which you can expand.
Conversely, people who’ve been given the impression that “music theory” is complicated and somewhat sterile might gravitate towards increased automation. In this case, the Captain Plugins might help more than other tools because of the way they’re connected to one another.
To me, much of this could happen in the DAW. Many of these tools have embedded “pianoroll” editors, which supplement the DAWs’ own. Makes for a rather strange user experience. Of course, Scaler isn’t quite like that. At the same time, its approach is also about superimposing a structure over another.
A few DAWs have chord tracks, including Tracktion Waveform which is available for free. My main DAW is Bitwig Studio, which doesn’t have chord tracks… and has powerful tool for generative and semi-generative composition. So I’d love it if Bitwig could add chord-savvy tracks to its flagship DAW.
Outside the desktop DAW, an approach I really enjoy is “chording” with AUv3 plugins in AUM, my favourite plugin host on iPadOS. Quite different from the pianoroll logic, though it also works with it.
Tonality and Suggester are both very useful, in that case. Much more hands-on than most. In fact, I’d argue they’re more hands-on than Scaler itself.
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