I’m using EastWest’s Hollywood Orchestra’s “Orchestrator” with Scalar and it works very well when using Scalar as a MIDI source. All is as expected. BUT! I have one question… I’d like to generate the four different parts from Scalar as four discreet midi tracks, so I can do further note editing in Logic. Is there a way to do this? THANKS.
Off the top of my head I can think of a workaround as I don’t think it’s possible to do directly within Logic. If you use Scaler as a MIDI FX plugin in Logic and the new ‘ Record MIDI to Track Here’ function in Logic 10.7.5 you can record the MIDI but it will be consolidated MIDI for all 4 instruments on 1 track.
The workaround requires owning Scaler for the iPad, as well as AUM and a MIDI sequencer like Atom Piano Roll 2 or Helium. You could import the Scaler state from Logic into Scaler on the iPad. Create 4 tracks in AUM for your 4 instruments and record the MIDI generated into the MIDI sequencer. Then export that MIDI to a file and put back into Logic. You can see how this would work in part (without the MIDI recording) in a post I made yesterday in #tutorials about Multi Out on the iPad with AUM
Some options for you to consider…
The answer will critically depend on your software, in that if you use Ableton it does not recognise MIDI channel when a VST is hosted by it. Scaler (or any other multi-channel source has to be hosted externally and then the MIDI fed into Ableton.
Otherwise, it’s pretty straightforward.
A key factor is whether you follow the simplest case, and route each of the Scaler channels to a different voicing (either in a multi-timbral synth, or N mono-timbral ones). This means you are relying on Scaler to perform the divisi role, but more importantly any one note can only be played by one synth voice.
If on the other hand you want to route say a C3 note on channel 2 from scaler to more than one voice (so that some note is followed by more than one instrument). You need something which can apply a rule to take the single outbound note from Scaler and then re-route that to 2 destinations.
This then will depend on the capabilities of your DAW or Scaler host (as the case may be). Ableton is maybe 15 years behind other DAW’s in this respect - I could do that on Cakewalk’s Sonar years ago.
I have just started the first video of a series on this topic, as I think there is many things to be done by manipulating and splitting Scalers progressions and songs as well as the divisi activity with multi-channel output.
In my early days with Scaler I experimented with taking the existing progressions and slicing them up horizontally with a ‘rack’ and re-routing them ; I now realise it’s easier and quicker just to apply rules to the MIDI stream, which you can do with the right app…
My post is here
and you can hear a trivial little example (item 3) here
http://starcluster.co.uk/obs/
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What DAW are you using. With Cubase it’s very straight forward.
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Thanks for the quick response! I’m using Logic, btw.
A key factor is whether you follow the simplest case, and route each of the Scaler channels to a different voicing (either in a multi-timbral synth, or N mono-timbral ones). This means you are relying on Scaler to perform the divisi role, but more importantly any one note can only be played by one synth voice.
I’m using the Voice Grouping function set to Dynamic in order to create the multi-timbral output. So yes… relying on Scalar to perform the divisi role. and I only need one note per channel.
I do not need to route a note to more than one voice.
I simply want access to each of the parts as discreet files so I can put them on tracks with their own midi assignments. Is that possible?
And yes! I have also taken Scalar progressions and sliced and diced them and it’s pretty cool, but it’s almost impossible to find the specific notes for the specific parts and it ends up being pretty random.
Very much appreciate your putting together a series of videos about this. Having the ability to take “sections” of Scalar output and route them to different instruments is incredibly powerful.
Oh man… just the thought of transferring data through iCloud between my Mac and iPad gives me a headache. I have had a ton of issues with that. I need to do this all on the Mac.
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What DAW are you using. With Cubase it’s very straight forward.
Logic
You don’t need to use iCloud just use Airdrop.
I quite often generate my first musical and Scaler ideas on the iPad. As I have licensed Scaler on both platforms I just swap Scaler states between platforms using Airdrop. Your OP had a unique issue and I can assure you the method I mentioned works as I have used it myself…
Once you have the workflow defined and practised a couple of times it’s relatively easy. More so than editing a complex MIDI pattern to separate tracks in your desktop DAW
Riiiight, airdrop, of course. So for less than $50 I can get AUM, Atom and Scalar for iPad and this will be a solid deterministic solution? If so, I’m in. And I’ll be asking you to get me over any humps that are bound to show up! Very cool, THANK YOU.
I use Cubase Pro user but the process must be pretty much the same regardless of DAW – create MIDI tracks assigned to the channels and record. If you want actual MIDI or Audio files from that, obviously, you just export and so on.
In Cubase we also have “Dissolve.” In Cubase a single MIDI track may be recorded with notes assigned to different MIDI channels with in that single track. That track may be then “dissolved” into new tracks per MIDI Channel. This was one workflow I used before the new multi-out function was added. I assume other DAWs provide similar features.