Using MIDI detect to populate the Pad view with the chords of a Performance

***Caveat - there is nothing documented (that I could find) that describes this drag and drop detection method so it could go away at any time post version 2.41

Quick Summary: drag chords outside scaler and then back onto scaler to trigger a detection that includes active performance settings. Use this detection to populate patters w/in pad view. Explore

While Performance’s w/in Scaler are fantastic as is, have you ever wanted to tweak them, use just parts of them or explore their progressions more closely? If so, did you know you can have Scaler do a "performance detect’ (my term not Scalers) on the chords when a performance is active and then use that to populate the Pad view. When you do you will have most of the chords you hear in a performance mapped across your keyboard. (I say most, because some of the performances use individual notes that you cannot access directly from detect mode - other than play them while A is bound)

While many of the detected patterns are not particularly useful in their default state, the often surface some interesting chords and progressions but they are spread out over the keys so you can tweak and play in alternative ways.

A sample workflow to detect the performance details (chords and notes)

  1. Clear Scaler’s State (Rt click on logo)
  2. Select C Maj Scale
  3. Select Perform / Accento @ x.05
  4. Lasso to select all chords in Section B (or click between 2 chords and Select All)
  5. Do a detect but don’t do it using the right mouse button…instead, drag but do not drop chords outside the Scaler UI and then drag them back over the UI and drop. (You could drop the file and then click and drag it back into Scaler) This will trigger a different detect but will give you the standard:
    image
    message…so say YES.

If you dragged and dropped as described, instead of just getting the chords {A} that you would get with a right click Detect, you will get the chords and notes used in the performance instead {B}.


Detect using right mouse button on chords in section B or C gives you the chords


“Performance detect” using drag and drop method (from sections B or C) gives you the chords (and sometimes notes) used in the performance.

To populate the Pad view.

Depending on the Performance you had active when you did your performance detect, you will likely see many more chords and notes (indicated by the now visible slider). You can play all these notes and chords if you bind section A, but you can’t do much with them in terms of tweaking or changing. This is why you might want to move them into patterns and use pad view.

To easily select all the chords, right click between a chord and select all chords
image

Now right click on a chord and select Add Chords to (##) (The # in () is the number of chords you have selected…in this case 28)
image

If you didn’t have any patterns loaded, Current Pattern will fill the 1st pattern and create as many new patterns as necessary.

Now, if you bind all the patterns, you have the performance mapped across your keyboard. Tap (or hold) one key at a time moving up the keyboard to hear a version of the performance.

  • Try with the PERFORM active and not active to hear some of the playback differences.
  • Try changing the performance selected or other settings.
  • Using playback, try playing with chord duration setting
  • Try doing a performance detect on a performance detection (with and without PERFORM on)
  • The permutations are pretty much endless.

A few observations:

  • At the end of the day, this is just another way to discover some potentially interesting stuff
  • Your results will vary across different kinds of performances
  • Some will yield only notes (how you might be able to use them)
  • Some performances will result in very low octaves…great for bass lines but you can also bump the octave before you do a detect.

There are countless ways to play with these new chords…hope you find some of them interesting.

3 Likes

It seems to me that you can just D&D from a Scaler to another Scaler without going outside
In Scaler 2.5 at least seems working

2 Likes