Scaler hyrbid performance workflows

Scaler 2 Tutorials
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I am struggling creating a workflow of quickly and easily adding parts for a song where the first stage is to play my own MIDI sequence of Chords in Scaler. I have been doing this by making a pattern and then binding the chords, and recording them into Ableton.

From this point on it’s becoming very confusing, with a mess of MIDI notes being a common problem, and slow progress. I can’t seem to find a good workflow. I’ve done the course which seemed great but I struggled to integrate the teachings into practice.

Please can you recommend simple workflows from playing your own rhythms of chord sequences, and for playing solo’s for external instruments whilst the sequences are playing

Thanks

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Although it’s not how they show Scaler being used in most of the tutorial videos, what I typically do it as you describe. Create patterns in Scaler. Sometimes I use the trigger notes to play out a rhythm and sometimes I just directly export those progressions into my DAW. And once I have all things I want to generate in Scaler in my DAW’s timeline. I close Scaler, turn off the track or tracks that have Scaler on it. And then I just work with the direct MIDI right in my DAW, just as if I was a great keyboardist who could just play all that MIDI in by hand.
That’s how I find Scaler to be the most useful. Help me with coming up with ideas or solving issues or just doing the things I don’t feel like memorizing because I’m too lazy to spend hours practicing. And then get it out of the way and do the stuff I enjoy and know how to do without it.
That’s my suggestion, maybe that would work for you. Or give you some ideas.

2 Likes
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Mmmm yes, thanks for your reply
It was my assumption that we would all be looking to export MIDI for use in our own instruments quickly in the creative process. I like that you are treating yourself as the great keyboardist that you are. It’s OK we don’t know scales =)

I need to do more work to find out what the trigger notes means exactly.
I’m also thinking, during playback of a pattern of chords, there must be a way to record our own played melodies that are bound by the chord extension keys without also recording the chord MIDI data.

I’m really interested in ways to use Scaler that encourage our own performances, guided by Scaler, that make the workflow fast.

For instance, in this video from DC, he plays a chord rhythm, and then adapts that performance to be more useful in Scaler. See below for his process

  • record a melody
  • Use Scaler to analyse key, choose a key
  • Bind the suggested chords and edit chords to preference
  • Play a sequence of chords, recording into DAW
  • Duplicate Scaler and legato the MIDI to make a continuous signal
  • Create further performances in new instances of Scaler

This works well, but I struggle to get the MIDI out of Scaler effectively when I want to play it by hand

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More or less the way I do it, too. Much of my effort is expended working around the sad fact that I can’t play keys at all. I’ll use Scaler to generate a pattern or melody, paste it into an instrument (strings alot of the time) and then change or modify the notes in the piano roll to fit either an idea I like better, de-mechanize the line or harmonize to a chord or chord progression.