Hi all – I’ve been using Scaler 3.2 for a few days. I want to say a huge thank you to the team for all of the enhancements you’re making. This is the first time I’ve ever submitted a list like this (for any product), because it’s the first time I’ve felt like those requests would actually be heard. So kudos to you all.
I’ve compiled a list of requests that would drastically improve the usability of the app for me. I figured it would be easier to group them all in one post, but let me know if you’d rather I split them out.
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Let me record chords to the Main Track, capturing chord selection as well as timing (It’s okay if the timing has to be quantized to some degree, like 1/16th).
- This would be huge for me, because I can then use Scaler for scoring (where the music needs to respond in time with something that doesn’t move in 1-bar increments), or to create very human-sounding performances – choose the chords, bind them, and then perform them freely – then use additional tracks to add layers of motions.
- You already allow us to edit the duration of chords in the main track down to 1/16th, so just let me record those directly via piano instead of having to use the mouse.
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Offer a chord lock mode that locks only to the notes in the current chord, but allows you to play those notes in any octave. So if the chord contains C1, E1, G1, let me play C0, C2, C3, C4, E0, E2, E,3 E4 and so on.
- By contrast, the Current Chord Lock mode only lets you play the exact notes (and register) in the chord. Playing a C gives the first note of the chord, regardless of which C you play (C1, C2 etc.)
- This mode would allow for improvisation over a chord progression (as the current lock does), but makes it less important what inversion/octave the chords happen to be in. Also allows for more expressivity if I can reach up to play some high notes.
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Move the “All Scales” note, mode, mood filter tool to Section B (“Current Scale)
- It’s weird that it’s with the chord progressions when it’s actually a type of filter for the Scales list.
- Also, if I’m browsing chord progressions and I’m 2 levels deep, and I want to quickly switch from B Major to G Major, it’s weird that I have to lose my browsing progress to do that. I know I can use the search field in Section B now in 3.2 which is good, but still odd that I can’t access the otherwise-very-helpful “All Scales” tool without disrupting my chord progressions browse.
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In the MIDI roll, offer a way to quickly alternate between Select and Brush modes. For e.g. let me Cmd-click with the select tool to add a new note (this is also how Logic’s midi editor works).
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In MIDI roll, let me hold Shift+Option and then scroll to change the horizontal zoom.
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You already do this for vertical zoom (Option + Scroll), and Shift+Scroll scrolls horizontally, so this is a natural extension of that.
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Also this is how Logic and most other editors work.
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In MIDI roll, give me the option to set note colors according to their velocity (instead of always blue/red).
- This is how Logic’s piano roll behaves, for reference.
- For short notes, it’s really hard to read the little white line to tell the difference in velocities, so this would be very helpful.
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In MIDI roll, give me the option to see the note name (e.g. A4) on the note. Or, let me click a note and then just display that note name somewhere on the UI.
- I know the notes on a piano keyboard, but I can’t see the piano keyboard when editing MIDI notes (because the contrast between white/black notes in the background is so subtle that my old-person eyes can’t make them out). So currently I have to trace my eyes from the note I’m interested in all the way to the left to see the piano keys and figure out what note it is.
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In MIDI roll, let me Cmd-A (or some other shortcut) to select all midi notes.
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In MIDI roll, Scale and Chord highlight are features I use extensively to write melodies, and especially harmonize melodies, within a scale. But the entire midi track should be highlighted rather than just the piano keys. Its causing a lot of eye strain to keep going left and right to check whether a given note is in the scale/chord or not.
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You do something similar for the Main track chord notes which is helpful, but I want the option to see the scale represented there as well (I say as well, not instead, because when writing a melody you want to move consciously between stable notes (in the chord) unstable notes (in the scale but not the chord), and spicy notes (not in the scale), so seeing those visually while painting notes is important.
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This feature is the sole reason I still use Hookpad to write melodies/harmonies.
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Highlighting the chord notes on the piano roll is very helpful, but give me the option to highlight ALL instances of a given note across registers, not just the register used in the original chord.
- I.e if I’m writing a melody which is 2 octaves above the main chord track, I still want to know whether the notes I’m adding are in that chord or not, regardless of if its in a different octave.
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Let me double-click the name of a track to start renaming it instead of having to click the three dot menu.
- This is especially important since “User” and “Divisi” tracks pretty much always require renaming, and those are dropped instantly onto the arrange page.
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When adding a new User Track, it’s odd that “User” is hidden under articulations, given that it’s a very powerful tool which is entirely separate from all other motions.
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It seems it should at least be a Tier 1 selection rather than in Tier 2.
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It took me a long time to find this feature as a result of this.
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When adding a new user track, in the Tier 3 list (which has all the motions in it) there are three click targets: clicking the notes will play a preview; clicking the heart will add to favorites; clicking anywhere else will instantly close the modal window (popup) and add that motion to the arrangement.
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That third one (add to arrangement) is a semi-destructive action, because I lose my place in the browse flow (and given that you have SO many motions to choose from, it’s easy to get lost and struggle to find your way back). And undoing that action requires finding the new track, using the three dot menu, and hitting delete.
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I have accidentally added a motion that I intended to preview many times, which was frustrating when I was first starting out.
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Clicking and holding to preview motions repeatedly is also not comfortable for me (hand issues), where it would be much easier if I could click once to hear the motion, and perhaps click again to stop/pause if needed.
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All that to say – I think “Add to arrangement” should be an actual button the user needs to click (or a “+” button or whatever you feel), so that clicking the row can instead preview the motion. Alternatively, add a “preview” button as well, and that way all 3 actions are totally explicit and distinct.
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(I imagine you’ll need to do this kind of thing for mobile/tablet versions anyway)
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It’s also dislocating for new users that “Chord follow”, “Bass Follow”, “Divisi” and “User” are the only items in the Tier 2 list that immediately close the Motions browser (i.e., they don’t have right-chevrons that take you to Tier 3).
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The right chevrons are only displayed on hover, so that’s a very subtle visual cue that’s easily missed.
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Either have the chevrons always visible, OR add some visual indicator to these items to hint to the user that they will immediately take action rather than opening up more items to browse.
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I suspect seasoned users will say this doesn’t matter, because they (like me) have gotten used to it, but this sort of UI quirk (and the one above) confused me so much on my first playthrough that I abandoned Scaler for a few weeks.
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When browsing Motions, you can’t hear the preview sound if the main Chord track is muted (even though you’re browsing it for a separate, unmuted track).
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I would also love an option to see the motion names translated to English. I know this has been mentioned before and that the names are either mostly arbitrary (like the motion names) or universally used classical music terms (like “allegro”), but in both cases I would still benefit from a translation. If I were classically trained, I probably wouldn’t be using Scaler – it’s an oddly exclusionary feature in a tool that’s otherwise perfect for theory beginners. And in the case of the motions themselves, knowing that “espressivo” means e.g. “expressively” at least gives me SOME clue as to what to expect from the motion.
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I’m not sure why a track can’t contain Motions from different folders.
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Currently, I can create multiple sections in a track, each with their own Motion type and other settings. But the motions all have to be from the same Tier 3 folder.
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I assume there’s a technical reason for this but needless to say it’d be nice to mix and match them.
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One use case would be to have a more complex melodic movement end with a simple “Strum” chord. Currently it’s only possible to use “Strums” if every other section on that track is also a strum.
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This is a bigger feature request, but it would be ideal to preview motions using the currently-selected track’s instrument.
- It would be better still if the motion preview chords were pulled from the Chord track (in other words, let me audition a motion using my chord progression.
- EZ Drummer 3 handles this in an especially useful way, where you can select a drum groove, and then preview how alternate grooves would sound (playing the full arrangement), without actually making a permanent change until you’re ready to.
That’s all for now. Thank you again for being so responsive and continuing to make this tool better!
