Using Scaler to add chord progressions to a melody, automatically?

Here’s what I am trying to do… I have a melody, of an existing song. Just the melody of the main voice, no backing chords/arpeggios. But I want to derive proper backing chords, given the scale of the main melody. For example, I have a song that is in F# minor. But I only have the main melody. Now I would like to create some backing chords, but not manually. I keep thinking now that I know the Scale, I should be able to lock in the Scale and somehow map the incoming melody notes to Scaler’s key binding to chords in the scale.

The challenge is that Scaler’s keybinding relies on C,D,E,F,G,A,B to trigger the chords I,II,III,IV,V,VI,VII in the scale. But the melody notes come in as notes in the F# minor scale. How could I remap the F# minor notes to C maj, in which Scaler’s key binding works?

I feel this should be possible, but it’s too early morning to think too hard. Perhaps I will end up answering my question later :wink:

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I wrote a content before, but I finally found that I understood it wrong.
Modify the article

When I bought my first version of Scaler, several years ago, I was just dreaming to find some back chords for melodies I played on guitar. I was and still am, first and foremost, a guitar player.
In the beginning, this was not possible, but Scaler developed its Audio plugin and I have now a kind of backing chords, but what you propose, @Bernd, is exactly what I need, but was never thinking about :slight_smile:

It this is possible, it would be the biggest improvement in Scaler (according to me).

I still believe that my favorite plugin should focus on chords and their use, not going further to sounds or so.
There are a ton of VSTs that do just sounds, and we all have bought or found free versions of many of them. The ones currently in Scaler are great for prototyping and many of them are excellent as a final instrument for our music but the essential in Scaler should stay chords - piano and guitar.
We probably do not need a monster VST that will contain everything. Just a one with perfect use of scales, chords, automatic backing… and maybe a few bells and whistles. It is called Scaler, not “ScalerAndSoundAndDrumsAndOrchestraAndIDontKnowWhatElse”.

So, the automatic creation of backing chords should be also in a group of “essentials”. Do not waste efforts to the stuff that is out of scope.

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Hi Bernd,
I don’t think you can do this automatically, but if you choose F# minor scale at Scaler and place its diatonic chords on section C, you can playing with them binding section C on your keyboard. You’ll have chords I,II,III,IV,V,VI,VII from F# minor playing on your keyboard C,D,E,F,G,A,B keys.
Most of the melodies will fit in some form of I, IV, V, I sequence.
You know, tonic can be I, III, VI, subdominant can be IV, II and dominant can be V, III or VII.
I don’t know if I said something that added some light to this discussion.

Maybe I made it sound more complicated than I meant it.
When I have a brief melody, in the scale of C major, say C,D, E, F, G, A, I want to be able to quickly assign chords of a certain kinds, say 7th. Scaler already knows the chords for C major (I,ii, iii,IV, V, vi)

All I want is that Scaler automatically adds the matching chords to the notes of my melody section, so aligned with C → C maj (or any variation I choose, say C maj 7). The Scaler menu and information is already there. And I can trigger those chords with key binding, except key binding starts at C2 (or other octaves, but the first chord is always triggered by C, even if the first chord is of a non-C based tonic, say if I have a melody in Eb min)

This doesn’t address every possible musical scenario, but it would be a great start to auto-accompany any melody with fitting chords to start with.

Does this make more sense?

Hi @Bernd

I could be missing something, but the “true scale” mapping should help for this workflow:

Screen Shot 2021-08-31 at 2.44.11 pm

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Nope, it was me missing something, that’s exactly what I was looking for. In what Scaler version did this feature sneak in? :wink:

Thanks for your gentle RTFM nudging :sunglasses:

I remember a Microsoft experimental tool some year ago, that was possibly your solution
The user had just to sing, hum or whistle a tune, and the tool was able to follow with its entire orchestra
It seems still alive, here