I’m just musing here. We’ll know tons more in just a week. But the pre-release teasers are incredibly exciting, and the ability to incorporate 3rd-party VSTs & FX, and to arrange, and to easily manipulate midi all within Scaler 3, prompts me to wonder the degree to which Scaler 3 might enable me to replace EZKeys and EZBass (among other VSTs)?
I do love those Toontrack plugins. But I have found the workflows are pretty punishing when I have to integrate them PLUS Scaler PLUS other instruments into my DAW (Studio One Six, FYI). I’m sure DAWS will still be vital for finished productions, and I know Scaler 3 doesn’t aim to replace DAWs. But am I wrong to think that Scaler 3’s functionality is advanced enough that it will cover a lot of these options?
Having used Scaler, EZKeys and EZBass since years, I got that Scaler can replace EZKeys and EZBass MIDIs for sure, but it cannot give you the articulations and embellishments that are embedded in Toontrack tools
On the other hand, you can use Scaler to increase the variations offered by Toontrack tools, so I think that using both systems is better if you want that the sound is more realistic
If realism is not needed, you can certainly use Scaler alone with its embedded instruments
And why?
For example:
use Scaler to D&D chords into EZKeys
add EZKeys grooves and save the EZKeys project file
import it into EZbass and add grooves
job done for this part
About EZdrummer I sold it in favour of Jamstix (more automatic), but I think you can do the same to find drumlines
Then duplicate the 1st Scaler instance and use it to drive all possible intruments in your DAW
That’s exactly what I was wondering about, Claudio. The Toontracks EZ instruments are really distinguished by their fantastic grooves. I’ve been wondering whether those grooves might be directly importable into Scaler 3 - ideally onto a sketchpad, where they could be compared with each other.
To your other question (“but why?”) you again describe the workflow very well. I just find all that importing and exporting an interruption. But maybe I am just lazy!
Don’t tell that to me: I am very lazy
But the result with EZbass is so enticing
Well, if you want an easier way, go to UJAM basses (I am reselling all them at 15 euros/each because my weak PC doesn’t cope with those CPU/RAM wasters) because they work automatically with Scaler, and you don’t need to import anything
On the other way, you cannot export grooves as MIDIs, but I suspect it applies to all closed systems like Toontrack’s, UJAM’s, etc.
I’ve got a bunch of good basses, so I’m set for the time being. Mostly for the past several months, I’ve been working in Loopy Pro and trying to get basses going on my guitar, using amps or MIDI Guitar 2.
Thanks, Davide! I’ve just begun testing the combo, and it does look at first glance like they do collapse the workflow and enhance creative experimentation. I can’t wait to noodle around more. This is so energizing!
Hem, maybe I used a wrong term: I am not a musician but rather a mousier
In any case, if there are “articulations”, or call them “human embellishments”, I think that they are embedded into the plugin, and you cannot extract them
But maybe I am just wrong
Hello,
how do you use UJAM insttruments with scaler? i’m trying to use them but i get odd results, mostly because of the muted articulations coming out from nowhere when i set UJAM in player mode (not instrument)
Can anyone tell me how you are using Scalar 3 and EZKeys2 together? All I can really seem to do is load it as an instrument. I can’t work out how to either get the actual midi/groove from EZKeys into Scalar, or either the midi or chord sequence into EZKeys.
Is this even possible? I was hoping you would be able to just drag from one to the other? I’ve tried a variety of ways in both standalone and in a DAW (Cubase 13) but it doesn’t seem to allow this.
Hi, @lee! As @davide says, Scaler 3 and EZ Keys II play very well together. I’ll give you my basic workflow, which is very simple. It may not be the best (there’s still something I’m trying to work out, which I’ll explain at the end) but it works really well:
In your DAW, create an instrument track with Scaler 3, create or find a chord progression, and drop that onto Scaler’s Main Track. Fiddle with the inversions and voicings so you’ve got it the way you like.
On Scaler’s Arrange Page, use the + button to add a new User Track. Make EZKeys the instrument on that track, and open it up, so you’ve got EZK and Scaler both visible on your screen.
Using the drag-and-drop arrow on the bottom right of Scaler’s Create Page, drag your chord progression from Scaler onto EZK’s chord track. Important: The empty timeline on the bottom of the EZK screen just says “drag grooves here,” but it’s really in three sections, which you’ll see when you drag the chords - make sure you drop the chords into the center of the screen, where it says “chords.”
Now in EZK, select one or more midi grooves that you like, and drop them into the bottom of the EZK screen, where it says “grooves.” Voila, EZK will now play your progression. It’s also default-synced to your DAW and to Scaler, so you can continue adding tracks to Scaler on the arrange to experiment with additional instruments and motions. You can also change out grooves in EZK, and edit those grooves as well. And you can drag and drop from EZK into your DAW.
Here’s the slight limitation: I haven’t been able to find an optimal way for Scaler to feed chords directly into EZK, in a way that will allow me to change out chords in Scaler and have EZK automatically adjust the progression. You CAN do this by creating a Chord Follow track in Scaler and selecting EZK as the instrument on that track. That does allow for auto-updating the progression in EZK. Unfortunately, it also will audibly play the block chords that are the foundation of the chord follow track. I haven’t yet found the workaround to that.
Hope this helps. Ping me with any issues. I’ve been using this combo a lot and I love it.
@GoliathGrouper - Thanks so much! Yep, that works and it’s great!
Missing step for me was the ‘drag and drop arrow’ - was trying to do it all on the arrange page. I take it there’s no way to drag grooves (or other MIDI) into Scaler 3 though?
I don’t think so. But if I’m recalling correctly from earlier conversations, there might be plans to enable that in some form on the User Track - basically, turning it into a “roll your own motions” track.
But for the time being, you can achieve the same effect by feeding Scaler’s progressions into your DAW, into a 3rd party VST with its own midi motions. That’s really the classic use of Scaler.
