Convince me Scaler 2 works for guitarists

Scaler 2 General Discussion
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I am shopping for an AI chord generator plugin to use in my Reaper PC Win 11 DAW.

I’m new to this software and I’m currently shopping all the competitors. It appears scaler is the only app that actually offers both piano and guitar interfaces? In addition, it appears to be the only one that can read audio chord progressions like chord icy.com plus give you the tonal center key?

Let me know if I’m accurate here. Anyhow, it’s my understanding that the guitar interface is not quite baked in completely. That is you can’t alter voicings or do all the things you can like the keyboard interface?

I need a tool that can do the above plus make next chord suggestions when I input chords. Does scaler have drums? Does scaler have bass? I have many songs that need bridges or “B” sections and was wondering if scaler 2 was the tool for me?

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Hi @Bsac109. You have a lot of questions there. Let me try to address them all:

It appears scaler is the only app that actually offers both piano and guitar interfaces?

I don’t know if it is the only one, however the main instrument panel in Scaler 2 can be displayed as either a keyboard or a guitar fretboard.

In addition, it appears to be the only one that can read audio chord progressions like chord icy.com plus give you the tonal center key?

I don’t know what icy.com is (perhaps a typo), however Scaler 2 has very effective audio detection capabilities and can detect chords from audio or MIDI sources, and suggest associated scales ranked by relevancy.

Anyhow, it’s my understanding that the guitar interface is not quite baked in completely. That is you can’t alter voicings or do all the things you can like the keyboard interface?

Switching to the guitar view doesn’t change Scaler’s functionality at all, so everything that is possible via the keyboard view is still possible, with the exception of per note velocity editing which needs to be done via the keyboard view. Scaler can optionally display guitar chord charts for each of your chords, however these are more for illustrative purposes and cannot be edited like the instrument panel.

This is elaborated on further in the following guitarists guide to Scaler video:

I need a tool that can do the above plus make next chord suggestions when I input chords.

Scaler has various means of suggesting chords, either via the suggest button on the main page, or various parts of the modulation page.

Does scaler have drums?

No.

Does scaler have bass?

Yes. Scaler 2 includes a variety of bass sounds as well as many bass performances covering many genres and styles.

I have many songs that need bridges or “B” sections and was wondering if scaler 2 was the tool for me?

Scaler 2 allows you to create up to 7 different patterns and name them accordingly i.e. chorus, bridge, B Section etc. These can be arranged and optionally played sequentially via pad view.

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You can also find video official tutorials covering most, if not all of these topics via the School of Synthesis YouTube page. Here’s a link to a playlist you can take a look at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGVrscdVZm0&list=PLCy2m2n0N8QrslPwt7io36Rs2bU1-oBW-

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I am reticent to buy Scaler 2 because Scaler 3 will be coming out next week.

Does the company upgrade you from 2 to 3 for free if you bought in the past 6 months?

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I wouldn’t assume, that an announcement is equal to a market launch. With Scaler it often takes weeks or even months till the new version sees the light of day. Anyway you won’t see Scaler for the low price it is sold right now then. Many of us paid a lot more for it. Maybe there will be an upgrade price. Usually there is. After years of amazing free updates in version 2 I feel I am happy to pay something back to the scalerteam. I have never seen a plugin that provided me with so much value over time.
Also for the actual version 2.9 you will find a ton of amazing videos how to make the most of it. As version 3.0 will have an interface overhaul it will be more difficult to find videos giving you more than an introduction at first.
If you buy version 2.9 now you can work with it right now and you are in no rush for the launch of version 3.0 and you can get up to speed with scaler’s functionality. When version 3.0 is ready you will know your way in scaler and a newer interface won’t change that. :man_shrugging:

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Here’s is what is weird about buying Scaler 2 right now. If you go to Scaler Music and try to buy it directly you only get the product - no extra tutorial. But if you got Boutique Plugins web site you can buy the program with a tutorial bundle. Seems strange the Manf. would not offer a tutorial bundle.

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The Scaler 2 Official Course is $5 USD. I believe PIB offer S2 and the Course for $37. So it works out the same. PIB and Scaler Music are friends so we try and be nice to each other!
There will be an announcement for our next major release next week. There won’t be much of difference between buying Scaler 2 and then upgrading. We tend to try and look after our users and not take advantage given they love Scaler as much as we do!

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Davide, thank you for your friendly response. Being a guitarist and completely new to your program and the concept of running a VST such as yours in my REAPER DAW I’m not understanding what your program does. It appears because you developed this program first and foremost for Keyboardist in mind the guitar interface seems like an afterthought add-on which is not sufficient. I have searched and searched but I have been unable to understand from the ground-up how your program works for guitarists. I am a guitarist of over 50 years and I have some basic knowledge of music theory but like many guitarists in my situation I don’t play keyboards nor do I feel comfortable approaching any kind of music theory primarily from a keyboardist point of view. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m referring to the initial USER interface and how people who play guitar primarily like me need to have a USER interface they can understand. Forcing guitarists to approach everything from step one from a keyboard point of view is just a bad User Interface and User Experience IMHO. As a guitarist, if I write a song on guitar that has more complex chords than just major and minor I’m going to need a program to interface with ME - on the guitar - not the keyboard. It appears all the features you have made including the piano roll are all keyboard oriented, correct? In addition, if I write a song on guitar using your program I am going to need your program to spit out the chords for lead sheets. Is this asking too much? As I see it, you have catered to keyboardists to the detriment of guitarists like me. Please correct me if I am wrong.

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Maybe future Scaler updates can be modular for different instruments.
Scaler 3 Core + 7 String Guitar Module, etc.

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I’m not convinced yet.