Hi, I was wondering if there’s a possibility to manually type in a chord in a progression, or do I always have to select it from a scales list? Best Erik
Hi Erik, welcome to the Scaler community! You can indeed enter a custom chord manually, without having to select it from a scales list. Here’s how…
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Click on any empty slot the custom chord pattern section:
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Then it offers you to select the notes for this custom chord, which you can do by clicking on the notes on the keyboard as desired.
- In the process, Scaler will offer you variations of chords related to the notes you clicked on.
I hope this is what you were looking for. And I must admit, I wish that one could just press notes/chords on the actual MIDI hardware keyboard, instead of being limited to using the computer mouse for this (feature request hint for @davide & @Ed1 
Cheers,
Bernd
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Perhaps I misunderstand, but doesn’t MIDI capture achieve what you’re looking for with regards to MIDI keyboard input? I sort of work that way often. Tinker on keyboard, find something interesting, put Scaler into MIDI capture mode, plunk out what I was doing one chord at a time and Scaler tells me what I was doing without any thinking on my part.
True. But as there is a mode where one can manually define the chord in the custom pattern , on top having this cool suggestive feature of related chords, it would seem natural to play it in on MIDI as well. No biggie, just saying it would make sense.
thx both and what a nice community this is with helpful replies!! I was sort of thinking more basically, perhaps like in this example. Say you have the chords/tablature of a song which you want to jam to on paper. It would be nice to just manually type in the chords in the pads from the computer keyboard (the letters of the chords) and take it from there. Best Erik
I do and I don’t see your point.
Most every song on God’s green earth has a set of chords that are mostly available simply by picking the Key, Major or minor, and then the mode.
After that there are variations and even suggestions on resolving from one key to another.
Picking from what is available in an orderly laid out fashion is most certainly faster than typing most any day at least for me.
I can type a steady 100 wpm, so if you can type faster than me ymmv. But I have to admit that slowing down and smelling the roses is, in fact, the way to go.
There are programs that allow you to type in the chords. And I don’t know what’s planned for Scaler in the near future. It may be possible to copy chords over from another program.
I’m not sure I want my coffee to be too instant in the mornings. I think working and getting results is a part of life I don’t want to miss out on.
Hey, AI, Write me a song! I think I would like to wait on that no matter how tempting it may become in the near future.
“jamming on paper”? I’d like to see that 
Regarding the instant coffee/AI analogy, for some of us who weren’t brought up with music theory, it is a blessing to have “happy accidents” supporting tools. I see a semi-auto-composer as a virtual band mate. When I can’t have other musicians around to jam with, a computational companion is the next best thing for inspiration (not for delegation of writing a whole song, of course).
I am also confused on why using computer keyboard to make music with. Unless you’re traveling with only a laptop not wanting to haul around (or afford) a separate MIDI controller.
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Cool. Just making sure you realized it is a possibility. It’s just a one more step I guess from what you’re describing.
I have had to on occasion create something sans even my little tiny USB MIDI keyboard. It wasn’t fun. Although usually it’s editing something I’ve done already, not creating from scratch. But theatre sound is an odd beast.
Guys we have some exciting developments here. Stay tuned something on the horizon in terms of easily selecting and imputing chord by chord.
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Here’s an example of why for you. I have a an 8 bar sample. Scaler can’t detect it properly and I can see that it’s incorrect. I know what the chords are: Gm, Gbdim, Bb/F, Bb7, Gm/C, Gb dim. Bb/F, Bb7,Ab/Eb, Ab9. So I played it in on a midi track using a piano sample. Scaler incorrectly describes it as being a gm lydian, or a couple of other things and mislabels the chords too. For example. Bb/F (G min. has two flats and is the relative minor of BbM) is labeled as A#/E#. To save time figuring out how to outsmart the software, I’d like to enter the chord progression manually, since I know the progression, the key, and music theory. I hope that makes sense.
You can do this, go to CHORD mode and start clicking notes on the Scaler keyboard and suggestions will come up or just keep entering notes