Some errors

Here, I still found some errors

i believe someone on the dev team said this will be corrected in the next release

Haven’t been here in a long time.

Prior to Scaler 2.8, there was no such error.

Glad to hear it will be fixed in the future.

Hi @swingmix this was addressed in the Scaler 2.8.1 update. So make sure you update to that latest version.

My Scaler version is 2.81

Fewer errors. But there are still some mistakes. If you follow my Settings, you’ll find the error.

Thanks @swingmix you are indeed correct. There is still something strange going on with Scaler version 2.8.1. It looks like those oddly named double flat chords do revert to their correct names when added to Scaler’s C section, but this is something that will need to be addressed in the nest update. Thanks again.

HI Guys,

On a purely theoretical basis I am not sure that these double flats are incorrect. Gb Minor is the first chord of the G minor scale which is the aeolian mode of Bbb maj, not A maj, so I think the double flats are correct. Compare the two screenshots below

The notes of the Gb min are Gb Ab Bbb Cb Db Ebb Fb. Compare these with the notes of the F# min scale which are F# G# A B C# D E. The Bbb chord cannot be an A chord in the Gb min scale as the second degree of the scale is Ab and the chord Ab minor: the third degree, therefore, is Bbb. The A chord occurs in F# minor.

If you change the scale from Gb to F# this is what you get

So from a strictly theoretical point of view I would suggest that if the chord names change when they are dragged into the C section this is actually a bug as the Bbb maj should remain Bbb maj. and not be A maj.

This is good for those students who are using Scaler to learn music theory. However it may be confusing for composers who may not be working from more advanced music theory.

Son, in conclusion, IMHO please do not replace the double flats with enharmonic chords where the double flats are correct.

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However, Scaler 2.7 and versions before 2.7 do not have this problem.

This problem just appeared from Scaler2.8.

Then IMHO the earlier versions had bugs if they did not use the double flats for these chords. As I say in some keys the double flats are correct and if the chord name changes when it is dragged into Section C then this is a bug, although it does make reading the score easier.

It is worth noting that although a number of composers use Gb Major for their compositions it is not necessarily and easy key to read and the modes based on Gb are from different keys and each mode will have different key signatures, many of which will include double flats.

It is probably worth learning about modes and how they relate to scales.

For example the C Dorian mode is from the scale of Bb major and uses the notes C D Eb F G Ab Bb, and the chords are C min Dmin Eb maj F maj G min A dim Bb maj.

So referring back to your errors Gb dorian is a mode of Fb major and uses the notes Gb Ab Bbb Cb Db Eb Fb.

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I don’t understand what you mean.
Anyway, I want to be able to display the chord names properly, and that’s it.

To understand the issue I think it would be helpful to learn about the difference between modes and scales. As I said above

therefore Gb minor aeolian has the same key signature as Bbb major.

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Bbb

Why don’t you write “A” instead of “Bbb”?

If you write Bbb, that’s fine.

So instead of writing G, just write Bbbbb
And instead of “F”, just write “Bbbbbbb”.

A and Bbb are notes from different scales and hence the chords are from different scales. They sound the same and you play the same note on a keyboard but from a theoretical viewpoint they are different: they are described as being enharmonic. And this is the challenge for Scaler.

When I say

Remember that Gb minor uses flats in its scale, not sharps, so the relative major has to use flats in its key signature. Therefore the relative major cannot be A major because that uses five sharps. Now the only relative major for which Gb is the sixth degree is Bbb major. This is theoretical, but…

If you use Scaler simply to compose music without worrying about the theory then all you need to worry about is how it sounds and can it be easily played on an instrument.

However, if you are using Scaler to enhance your understanding of music theory, then it becomes important to understand that Scaler should use the theoretically correct notes and chords, and not to substitute enharmonic chords just because we are more familiar with the result (i.e. it should not substitute A major for Bbb major,). When considering this issue it is worth remembering that Scaler used to be described as an aid for learning music.

If you are in the appropriate scale and key then that is exactly what you should do, but I don’t know what the scale would be (answers on a postcard anyone :rofl:). And I doubt if anyone could read the score or play such music.

In most cases composers try to use a key with the simplest key signature and try to avoid using keys with double flats or double sharps, but some composers have used keys which include some notes and chords with double flats.

For example, IMHO it is better to compose in Ab major rather than G# major because although keys use the same notes Ab major only has 4 flats whilst G# major has 6 sharps and one double sharp! Another example is that composers usually prefer to write in G# minor rather than Ab minor because G# minor is the relative minor of B major (5 sharps) whilst Ab minor is the relative minor to Cb major (7 flats).

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BTW if you want to learn more about using modes than this is a good explanation on the Landr Blog.

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Well because writing Bbbbb would be silly and ridiculous. But if you really want the answer, it’s because every scale will have one instance of every letter between A and G. Someone, a long time ago decided that is how it will work and we’ve stuck to it. So you can’t have Ab and A in the same scale. You’re note names for any scale must only use every letter once. Of course there are going to be exceptions for when you have scales that only contain 5 notes. :slight_smile:

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or they’re chromatic :slight_smile: in which case you need to decide if using # or b is the answer :wink:

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OK, sure. This definitely falls under “I have better shit to worry about”, at least for me. :slight_smile:

The original question was based on applying modal interchange to a major sale (Gb major) and was querying why Bbb maj was suggested instead of A maj. I was trying to explain why Bbb maj was used in the Gb min mode, which is based on the Fb major scale.

You are correct that using Bbbb is a bit ridiculous, but actually there is a theoretical scale where the is the root!

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And my response was mostly snark to the original poster, who really suggested Bbbbbbb, I was just too lazy to type that many flat symbols. :slight_smile:

just my 2 bobs worth, i am really impressed with this piece of software, really amazing amount of work has gone into creating this

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