I’d love to see a quick master octave toggle on the main interface. Often I find when I route to an external synth it’s in the wrong octave or I just want to try hearing a progression up or down an octave just to test what works best for that sound. I’m going to be embarrassed if this exists and I’m just not seeing it, but I couldn’t find it, haha.
Ok, I’ll admit that I’ve had GAS for the past week and I am waiting on a new tenor (first tenor ever) sax arriving Monday, but your question intrigued me, so here goes…
Under Voice Grouping you CAN (sort of) alter the Voice (octave) Grouping in a number of different ways, which I initially found very intriguing:
There is Dynamic regular/standard, and plus one or plus two octaves (D, D+1, D+2) and you have 3 various Octage Range Groupings (C1-B2, C2-B3, C3-B4) and then Open Voicing, and Open Voicing +1 Octave.
Now, if that just quite doesn’t do it for you, and for whatever reason you are feeling a little adventuristic… (is that even a word?)
Once you have the chords you want, but the Octave is wrong (well, not really wrong, but what you stated earlier [your external synth’s octave is wrong]) …and now I’ve managed to confuse myself…
Lasso the chords (the whole lot at once) and click edit, OR click edit and then lasso the chords (the whole lot at once) …either way, you decide… Once you do this and all the chords are selected (lasso’d), when you click Octave - or + all the chords will switch (jump) octaves (up or down) together by the same amount.
So then, what happens if you’ve already moved individual chords up or down a number of octaves and they don’t all match? So, glad you asked! When you lasso and bump the chords up or down by + or - respectively, that initial interval is maintained.
In other words, selecting all of the chords and bumping octaves doesn’t make them all the same number unless they were the same number already to start with. I hope this all makes some sort of sense.
The real trick is unselecting them once they are all lasso’d. You can do that by starting a new lasso and not lasso’ing any of them.
Note: I don’t have capture software installed and I so-hate silent films with no sound. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but video at 30 to 60 fps is way overrated.
Thanks so much for going into such detail! I really just am hopeful for a quick one-step solution to speed up work flow.
I did know about one of those options, but it’s helpful to learn a new way! Thanks
In the meantime, I added code to the Reaper jsfx midi transpose effect to offer octaves, so I can just drop that in after Scaler and problem solved for now… Of course the regular transpose will work too, I just find myself going for octaves the most… Here’s a link to the code: https://pastebin.com/y8T3wC6Z
1 Like
This is how I do it, too. I often wondered why there was no simple octave option in that plugin.
ah, yes… EEL and Lua. I don’t know if PolyAT has been fixed:
ReaControlMIDI works for transposing, etc. I’ve been looking at Midi Madness 3 and PhraseBox for ideas. MIDI Sequencer Megababy is very interesting as is ReaSampleOmatic5000.
I’m really interested in seeing what Scaler3 holds for us in the near future.
I don’t know that a Global Octave +/- is in the wings for Scaler.
I guess what makes the most sense is that “the Synth” would have an Octave selection / Transpose function. Otherwise a pitching midiEffects plugin could be placed right before all synths that need a +1 Octave bump, etc.
Hopefully PolyAT and all other requirements are addressed properly when scripting. 
P.S. I am looking to get back into writing/arranging/production, etc. (yeah, all that!) My brother-in-law passed and I lost all momentum. Having a hard time getting back into the swing of things. Hopefully the new sax will help/work. I know that the FA-08, Genos, and all the VSTs didn’t have much of an effect so far.
I’m just hopefully breaking free from GAS. I’m so not looking at getting back into programming at all. Hence all of the lurking at PluginBoutique for a good Arp / MidiAI / etc. – any shortcuts to speed things along.
I really don’t feel the need for any more theory; and I play whatever by improv without worrying about what key, what progression, whatever. I play what sounds good to me and weave in and out without any hinderance.
Having said that: “So far SCALER is the best investment that I have made hands-down, bar-none”, and all of that kudos stuff! I feel that there is a lot on the table for Scaler3.
I plan on using Scaler to create and develop – lay out all of the differents midi parts that I require to my hearts content. I think Scaler will be the ultimate answer to breaking free.
MIK Captain/Odesi didn’t do anything for me! Scaler seems to me to be way more polished and refined.
I’m curious. I’ve seen a lot of videos online where the solution they have come up with is to feed an arpeggiator from scaler’s chord output. I’ve found better results from feeding the arpeggiator into scalar (in C maj), taking advantage of the lock keys to give me the scale notes + extensions. Am I missing interesting effects this way? I should note I’m very much a beginner.
Yeah, I guess it’s really about if they can work out the UI real estate for the buttons and weigh out the usefulness of it across the user base. For me it’d be a work flow reduction, but that’s just how I work. Maybe other’s wouldn’t use it, I have no idea.
Sorry to hear about your brother in law, tragedies certainly upset daily productivity, be sure to give yourself the time you need and don’t be too hard on yourself.
I’d like to address the other things you mentioned, but I don’t want to get too off topic in a thread for such a small feature request.
1 Like
Not to get too off topic, but I’ll take a stab at this. If I understand what you’re asking correctly, feeding an arp from scaler would inform the arp on which notes to play and in this case scaler would know the chord progression already, if set, and would give you proper scales. With an arp going into scaler, you’d have to be sure the pattern cycles at least once before all the chord can be known, and some arps can be set to some complicated patterns, and you’d want to consider things like how many octaves your arp is covering and if you want the chord data in scaler to contain all those octaves, etc. (IMO it’s not wrong, but it doesn’t seem like an ideal way to work, however if it works for you that’s all that matters. Though, I’d encourage at least trying the other way). If misunderstood or you have some more questions, I’m open to starting a topic in general discussion. I just don’t want this thread to get off topic.
Regarding the “lurking for good Arp”, have you tried RandARP? https://www.codefn42.com/randarp/index.html
That’s what I’ve been mostly relying on before I discovered Scaler 2’s powerful expressions. And I am still using RandARP in conjunction with Scaler 2 even. It lets you randomize various parameters that lets you play with the balance between deterministic and aleatoric sequences, and when you layer multiple instances, it comes pretty close to self-composing. I currently use Scaler 2 to feed chord progressions MIDI stream into RandARP, and from there you can MIDI trigger any other VST instrument of your choice (even back into another Scaler instance, if you like the sounds there)
I think they are the perfect complement. Check it out!
2 Likes
Seems like you’ve figured out a suggestion similar to what I was going to suggest. Most synths have the ability to bring them up or down at least an octave. In Tracktion’s Waveform there is a MIDI plug in which allows for transposition and has quick sections for +/- 1 or even 2 octaves. So I just throw one of those in and call it a day. Not that I wouldn’t welcome a handy button in Scaler I guess.
2 Likes