While this post is about Studio One routing, the broader topic of real-time capturing and potentially re-processing raw Scaler midi is DAW independent
Have you ever wanted to record Scaler’s raw midi while you adjust it’s playback or Pad settings in real time, but found the process to be a bit…shall we say…opaque? If so, read on. If not, congrats on having a better grasp of the apparent than I did. 
I rely heavily on tweaking Scaler’s playback adjustments (while Scaler is playing) to induce large and small changes in how Scaler performs it’s magic. As an avid Studio One user however, I was always a bit stumped when I wanted to capture the resulting midi, usually relying on Scalers great midi capture function or some rendering gymnastics w/in S1. However, there is an easier, more direct way that I just missed. (For some reason, my keen sense of the obvious failed me this time.)
This requires swapping between 2 different routing setups (what I’ll refer to as Scaler Record / Scaler Playback), but I found it a small price to pay for the quick turn around. (Another option is to setup 2 Scaler tracks (record / play) and utilize Scaler’s Synch feature)
Scaler Record Routing - Studio One 5 Pro (To record Scaler raw midi and the adjustments made within Scaler in real time)
(on a track with Scaler VST loaded)
- Set your Instrument Output to None - A
- Set you Instrument Input to Scaler - B
- Now, when you Record in S1 (or you have Scaler’s DAW synch enabled) and trigger Scaler to play your pattern or looped chord, and you make adjustments during playback, you get all the resulting midi - C
Scaler Playback Routing - Studio One 5 Pro (To play that midi back through Scaler with or without Scaler’s Perform mode active)
See bottom for notes on Scaler playback of Scaler’s playback midi
(On the same track of a second track with Scaler VST loaded)
- Set your Instrument Output to Scaler - D
- Set you Instrument Input to All Inputs - E
- Now when you hit play in Studio One, Scaler will take that midi and play it using the current Scaler settings. Those settings will determine if you hear music or something approximating music.
The Art and Science of Recursion - notes on playing Scaler playback midi back through Scaler
Here is a thread on the topic, but in summary:
- Feeding Scaler it’s own output can generate some cool stuff and some less than cool stuff
- This is not about generating a bunch of random notes. Feeding Scaler it’s own output will let you combine and refactor well formed musical pieces in new and interesting ways
- Adjusting playback settings is the key to getting interesting and unexpected results
- PERFORM and Bind are the macro contributors to playback results, but each setting can make a difference
- Try starting with a x.05 playback speed sequence and then feeding the output back through Scaler while toggling Perform mode and Binding on and off.
- Try tweaking various Perform settings like Expressions or Quantize one at a time (you can use your computer keyboard to do this)
- Start simple, be patient, learn what the different settings do, and expect the unexpected.
It will take some trial and error, but cycling Scaler back through itself can create some pretty interesting and engaging content. Some of the midi is usable as is, while some can be thinned or stripped off and applied to things like bass lines or percussion. You may need to do a little quantizing as well. Regardless, using Scaler recursively is a lot of fun and is an unending source of those intentional happy accidents.