Plugin Boutique Scaler 2 (Mac)

Description

Scaler 2 is an inspirational and powerful music theory workstation that gives you access to a world of new ideas, expressions and melodies. With powerful detection of MIDI and audio, Scaler 2 can determine what key and scale you’re in and suggest chords that match your music. The plugin helps you discover the perfect melody with performance expressions, and can even suggest ways to change from one key to another.

If you already own Scaler 1, you can upgrade to Scaler 2 HERE.

Scaler 2 makes finding chords and progressions intuitive and fun! It’s a comprehensive but easy-to-use toolbox that will help anyone make better music.

Benefits

• Discover your music’s key and explore alternative scales, modes and chord sets
• Choose from hundreds of keys and modes, quickly build progressions in the sequencer
• Play melodic expressions, phrases, performances, sequences, basslines, melodies and rhythms written by professional musicians across various time signatures
• Establish your musical key and scale with audio detection as well as MIDI detection
• Create unique chords by searching & selecting from the circle of fifths or by entering note by note on your keyboard in Chord Create / Editor mode
• Chord Charts displays a guitar chord diagram for any chord and Fretboard Views allows you to explore the neck of your guitar
• Suggest Mode helps you add complexity and artistry to your chord progressions
• Discover chord substitutions that lend variety to your progressions and browse chord variations to get suspended, extended, dominant sevenths and jazz chords
• Experiment with Voice Grouping to spread notes across the keyboard and keep your chords within a certain range for voice leading
• Keys Lock helps you create emotive melodies by locking keys to your chords
• Modulation suggestions give you new ways to reach musical destinations
• Export MIDI to your DAW simply by dragging and dropping
• MIDI Capture lets you perform inside Scaler 2 and then export the results as MIDI
• Assign any VST / AU instrument to Scaler 2 to control your favourite synths or use over 45 internal electronic, acoustic and orchestral sounds
• Play and record one-finger chords and melodies using Scaler 2’s Bind MIDI function
• Generate bass lines adapted to your current scale and chords with Bass Mode
• Generate melody lines adapted to your current scale and chords with Melody Mode and Sequence Mode
• Change keys, performances, melodies and basslines on the fly by MIDI Mapping to your computer keyboard or MIDI Controller
• Get more natural-sounding melodies and expressions with the humanise and quantise function
• Navigate between modes and pages using keyboard commands or UI buttons
• Edit Modes for adjusting length, velocity, inversion, octave, timing and performances more per chord in a pattern
• Pad View helps you to arrange and play through multiple patterns and key switch between them
• Audition new progressions in context with DAW Sync playback and Auto Play
• Use the arpeggio or strum features to perform in real-time and synced to your DAW
• Chord editing and moving tools include lasso, drag n drop, replace and insert
• Sync multiple instances of Scaler to create a full track. Change one chord in the sync ‘leader’ and the all Scalers in sync ‘follow’ mode will respond.
• Multi Voice Output (Multi Midi Out) allows you to split each note of chords onto separate channels for complex arrangements.
• Chords can be played as passages which turns chords into subtle movements and grooves.

Content

• Over 200 artist chord sets from the likes of Carl Cox, MJ Cole, The Temper Trap, Mitekiss, CeCe Rogers and Mike Huckaby
• Over 400 unique genre, common and mood-based chord sets such as Chill, Drum & Bass, Jazz, Cinematic, EDM, Metal
• Over 600 chord sets and hundreds of unique scales
• Over 500 phrases, performances, sequences, basslines, melodies and rhythms by professional musicians across various time signatures
• 45 internal electronic, acoustic and orchestral instruments created by award-winning producers
• Over one hundred artist created modulation pathways to get you from one key to another
• Over one hundred chord substitutions that lend variety to your progressions

How it Works

Detect

Scaler 2 can listen to incoming MIDI or audio data and detect the key your music is in. After this, it will suggest chords and chord progressions that will fit with your song. Scaler 2 can send MIDI to a virtual instrument in your DAW, and it has 45 onboard instruments to play with as well.

Chord Sets

Scaler 2 comes with over 400 song and genre-based chord sets and over 200 artist chord sets to inspire new progressions and melodies; plus, choose from hundreds of scales and modes to get your creative juices flowing. Simply drag the chords you want into the sequencer to build a pattern that’s unique to you.

Explore

Explore alternative chords that’ll fit with your progression, with loads of suggestions, voicings, chord extensions and variations on particular chords to help you choose the perfect feeling with every step of your song.

MIDI Capture

New Audio Detection Technology means you can detect and analyse chords and scales from existing audio sources. With MIDI Capture, you can record Scaler 2’s output – whether you’re clicking keys or chords, or playing progressions – in order to drag the resulting MIDI outside the plugin.

Create

Suggest mode gives you chords compatible with your chord progression. Lock keys to your chords to create complex melodies by intuitively moving around on your MIDI controller. Humanize Scaler 2’s performance by introducing variations to velocity and/or timing. Voice Grouping profiles let you automatically invert notes to restrict playback within certain octaves or by using open voicing.

Edit

Edit Mode lets you dial in Duration, Octave, Inversion and more parameters per chord, and there are new ways to edit chords when right-clicking. DAW Sync links your chord patterns to your DAW’s playback, making it easy to audition new progressions or alter existing chord patterns alongside your DAW project. Pad View makes it easy to construct entire arrangements, moving chords and whole progressions on a higher level.

Modulation

Scaler 2 makes Modulation Suggestions for movement between your current key and a destination. The majority of suggestions have been sourced from professional musicians, and some are generated algorithmically.

Performance

With Performances, Phrases, Sequences, Basslines, Melodies and Rhythms created by real pianists and musicians, Scaler 2 isn’t just about creating chords and arpeggios – it can lay down melodies as well. Over 500 Expressions let you experiment with riffs and melodies, which can be locked to notes of your scale or a chord.

What’s new in version 2.9.0?

• Content & Playback
  • 8 new Arpeggio Patterns (Converge, Diverge, Converge/Diverge, Thumbs Up, Thumbs Up/Down, Pinky Up, Pinky Up/Down, Spanish Tremolo)
  • 22 New Song Chordsets (Celtic, Chill, Country, Alternative, Progressive Rock)
  • 13 new Bass Expressions in the new Triplet Bass category
  • “Progressive” Chordsets category renamed to “Progressive House”
• New Live Suggest mode
  • Generate chords compatible with your progression based on your currently played chord. Suggestions update in realtime per chord.
• New ‘Passages’ Articulation
  • 7 New ‘Passages’’ that add movements to chord progressions. Key-switches allow switching passages whilst performing.
• New Guitar Features
  • Left-handed representation for Fretboard and Chord Chart display
• Other Improvements
  • Improved automatic chord detection
  • General bug fixes and DAW compatibility
  • Re-introduced ‘Slap bass’ Internal sound missing in Scaler 2.8

System Requirements

macOS

• macOS 10.14 or higher. (macOS 10.15+ when used via Beatport Studo)
• Natively compatible with Apple Silicon
• Plugin Formats: VST, VST3, AU, AAX
• DAW’s Supported: Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Cubase, Studio One, Bitwig, Reaper, Reason + more.
• Compatibility: 64-bit compatible only.

Windows

• Windows 8 or higher (Windows 8.1+ when used via Beatport Studo)
• Plugin formats: VST, VST3, AAX
• DAWs supported: Ableton Live, Pro Tools, FL Studio, Cubase, Studio One, Bitwig, Reaper, Reason + more.
• Compatibility: 64-bit compatible only.

MIDI Routing Notes:

• Maschine 2 (No MIDI Routing: Use Blue Cat Audio Patchwork for MIDI Routing)
• Reason (No MIDI Routing: Use Blue Cat Audio Patchwork for MIDI Routing)
• FL Studio (VST, not VST3, MIDI routing available from VST2 only)