Another Question re Scaler 3 & EZ Keys: SOLVED

Scaler 3 General Discussion
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SEE BELOW FOR SOLUTION

This is for @ClaudioPorcellana and other Toontrack fans (I’m sure Davide & Team are busy today):

When using EZKeys as a plugin inside Scaler 3, is there a way to get EZKeys to follow S3’s chord progressions, but use EZK’s own performances & expressions in place of S3’s motions?

Here’s specifically what I want to do:

  1. Choose a chord progression in S3, on the Browse & Create Pages, & put it on the Main Track.
  2. Select EZKeys as the instrument for the Main track.
  3. Open the EZKeys plugin screen, and select a groove / expression that will replace S3’s performance.
  4. Continue to experiment with different progressions in S3, and have EZK continue to follow the changes while utilizing is own menu of performances.

Here’s what I’ve been doing that’s not working:

  1. Choose a chord progression in S3, on the Browse & Create Pages, & put it on the Main Track. WORKS FINE.
  2. Select EZKeys as the instrument for the Main track. WORKS FINE - S3 AUDIBLY AND VISIBLY PLAYS THRU EZK’s GRAND PIANO.
  3. Open the EZKeys plugin screen, and select a groove / expression that will replace S3’s performance. NOT WORKING RIGHT IN TWO WAYS: FIRST, S3’S MOTION (INCLUDING ITS DEFAULT WHOLE-NOTE-CHORD MOTION ON THE MAIN TRACK) CONTINUES TO PLAY. I’M NOT SURE HOW TO SHUT THAT OFF SO ONLY EZK’S PERFORMANCE TAKES OVER. SECOND, WHEN I DROP EZK’s GROOVE INTO THE PLUGIN’s GROOVE SCREEN, EZK PLAYS ITS OWN DEFAULT CHORDS IN THE KEY OF C, NOT S3’S. (TO BE CLEAR, EZK FOLLOWS SCALER’s PROGRESSION AS LONG AS I’M USING S3’s MOTIONS. BUT IT WON’T FOLLOW THE S3 PROGRESSION IF I’M TRYING TO USE AN EZK GROOVE.)

Here’s the workarounds I’ve been trying:

  1. Tried it with EZK’s “Follow Host” on and off. No difference.
  2. Erased the provided chords in the EZK plugin, and drag-dropped S3’s chords into the EZK chord slot. This works! But it means I lose S3’s value in substituting chords on the fly - I can really only utilize this workaround when I’ve finished my progression. Not a terrible option, but not perfect, work-flow-wise.
  3. I still can’t figure out how to turn off the internal S3 performance so only the EZK performance plays. Both play simultaneously through the plugin’s instrument. The only workaround I can find is to finish the progression work in S3, drop the finished progression(s) into EZK, experiment with EZK performances, and move on, largely eliminating S3 from the mix.

It’s not a terrible solution, but it loses the value of Scaler 3 as a composition engine, as well as the value of S3 as an arrangement tool. Am I doing something dumb or otherwise wrong? Or is this really the only way to use Scaler and EZK together?

SOLVED: Create a chord progression on the Main Track. Set the Main Track instrument to “None.” Add an additional track in the Arranger. Set the instrument to EZKeys. Select an EZKeys groove from its library. It should play through perfectly. You might have to drag/drop the chord progression from Scaler 3 to EZKeys’ composition window, to align the groove to the Scaler progression. But after that, you can eliminate the progression from EZKeys, and Scaler will act as the controller, and you can change chords in Scaler and EZKeys will adapt.

It looks like you can’t put 3rd-party motions on the Main Track. As best I can tell, at a minimum, the Main Track will always include block whole-note chords, which will overlap with EZKeys’ grooves.

NOTE: I’m still having trouble getting that Scaler progression and EZKeys groove into my DAW. Drag-drop and midi export still give me the block chords and still - in Studio One - combine all Scaler channels into a single channel. However, I CAN export the audio from that Scaler-EZK track and drop it into Studio One.

2 Likes
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using EZKeys as a plugin inside Scaler 3

I tested it and disliked: I prefer multiple Scaler instances, each one with one instrument

Anyway, I think that to use EZkeys own MIDIs, you must record into it first
So:
1 - create some patterns/chord progressions in Scaler
2 - send the Scaler output to EZKeys
3 - record that output in EZKeys
4 - apply some EZkeys MIDIs to the recorded tune

Nevertheless, EZKeys 2 contains some easy and powerful composing tools, and it can drive EZbass in a fast and easy way, so I am tempted to change totally my composition workflow…
also because I hate composing; rather, I love jamming

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I made a slight advance - I’m not sure how. The challenge is there are three linear-progression machines running at once - the DAW, then Scaler 3 inside that, then EZ Keys inside that - so it’s hard to keep straight who’s running what.

Anyway, I’ve found this:

  1. Create a DAW track with an instance of Scaler 3, and create a chord progression in Scaler 3 on the Main Track.
  2. In S3’s Arrange section, change the default felt piano on the Main Track to EZ Keys, and open EZK. Drag & drop the S3 chord progression into the center of EZK’s composition window.
  3. Select a groove from EZK’s library.

For some reason, when I take these steps, I can change chords in S3, and EZK will follow. And I can change grooves in EZK, and S3 will play the new grooves.

BUT!!! I still can’t eliminate S3’s embedded sound. I’m still getting the default whole-note-chord playing underneath the EZK groove. If I turn Voice Grouping on in S3 set to dynamic, it minimizes the sound of the S3 embedded performance, so it’s tolerable.

I’ll continue to experiment.

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Just go to instruments or all and select ‘No Instrument’

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I’m likely being dense here, but when I switch the instrument on a track to “no sound,” I’m not only switching off S3’s internal sound, but also the plugin’s sound. The problem I’m encountering is that S3 has a default internal sound on the Main Track (one whole note chord per measure, played on the first beat) that seems to be present underneath any groove I select on EZKeys. It’s like the pianist’s left hand is always hitting the chord lightly on beat-one of the measure.

Now, to be fair, I can’t quite tell. When I push the Voice Groupings button on the right side of Section C, that left hand sound minimizes so it’s tolerable - and might disappear. Anyway, EZK’s grooves play through and it works. I now have the flexibility I was seeking, at least in standalone mode.

I’ve been having lots of crashes when using S3 as a DAW plugin, and I’m sending crash reports to Tristan.