I was lax/sloppy in my statement in that I did not make clear ‘export’ was a superset of the chordset save, not session save.
However, session save and export generate essentially the same data, so I don’t think you are correct in saying export only saves the chordset. Comparison of the two files will show this not to be the case.
They are not bitwise identical, since both take a snapshot of the GUI display status.
So, because to save session you have to open the side tab. the content of XML tag BrowserState will be different, as will DisplayState. ScaleExplorerState is also different. There are other minor differences, and export state also leaves an annoying hexadecimal ‘00’ at the end of the file, which can blow up some XML editors.
Otherwise, save session and export can be used interchangeably. I use export state as my preferred workflow to freeze everything between working sessions.
I think you have misunderstood. When we talk about Export Chord Set we are referring to the function under the User tab, in Section A, not what you see under the Cog Wheel/Settings/Session.
The XML file shall start like this:
And have a < CHORD>…</ CHORD> section for each one of the chords, eg 10 or 16 chords or whatever. And the file ends with </ CHORDSET>. It is a very simple XML file.
The Save/Pattern(s) in Section C can max do 8 chords in Scaler 2 (Scaler 1.8 can do > 8 chords).
Ah ha! We were talking about different things, which explains my confusion.
I was referring to ‘Export State’ (as in from the Scaler logo) in relation to “export”, which generates essentially the same data as “Save full session”, and which files differ only in the GUI properties tags.
I erroneously took your “Export function” to be “Export State”.
I spent a lot of time on the XML files, in mapping all the UUIDs e.g.
“e8008f65-de97-4645-959a-bceabbf21bdc” is RnB1 and more importantly
“92345c1c-9f70-49c7-b65f-bd1f80e30451” is Ionian etc,
so that I can programmatically read the Export State dump and reformat it and load it into a spreadsheet for subsequent. analysis.
As you know, the current chordsets are saved along with that data,
@RikkShow If I understand you correctly you want to detect chords in section A and Export a Chord set of that. You cannot do that directly AFAIK. Here I have 11 chords in section A -
The best way to save this is just click SAVE on the lower right.
This will wind up in the USER menu on the right and load exactly the same.
The second option is to Select all the chords in section A by clicking between the chord and choosing SELECT ALL.
And then right click on a chord and choose ADD chords to existing Pattern. Then you get this.
Now you can SAVE again and choose both Full Session and Individual Patterns as Chord sets.
Now as far as I can tell you can load the chord sets one at a time from this or the full session. If you load the full session it will still just show USER at the top of the menu window.
BUT if you load one of the chord sets it will load it into Section A and leave section C alone. It will show that you loaded it in the USER menu window. You are limited to the number of chords per pattern. So if you want a chord set in Section A with more chords than 8 you need to just SAVE section A. This is still an XML file in the Scaler 2 Menu Folder.
This Section A will now be available for export in the USER menu.
Which you can then import if you want and it will be available but since it is already there with the Full session I don’t see the point unless it is to send to someone else.
And after testing Scaler 1.8 I see that Export Section A Chords do work right out of the gate. Obviously something changed in the architecture of Scaler that changed this. Not sure it’s needed though.
Thank you, @jamieh.
With your explanations I think I finally understood what @RikkShow was asking.
I was lost, because I normally always use something similar to what @ed66 explained: Export (from the gear); I have Scaler set to export with the markers, so I actually save everything (chords, lengths, and performances) about progressions up to 8 x 7 = 56 chords. It’s something I can always use in all my DAWs from USER when after exporting, I update USER
PS: the investigative work of our forum grandfather, Mr. @yorkeman, never ceases to amaze me
As do I and most everyone here I think. I never paid much attention to that Chordset method until now. Now that I know it’s there and compared it to Scaler 1.8 I don’t think it is particularly useful since you can accomplish everything by the SAVE button.
I think we have reached the point where everyone mostly understands the issue. Though the above statement is not correct. In Scaler 1.8, while using the Save button in Section C, you CAN save 16 chords in a Chord Set if you wish (as a single XML file), it is NOT broken up in 8-chord Patterns as Scaler 2 does.
This function was lost going from 1.8 to 2.0. So why is it useful to save 16-cords in a Set (or more)?
You can bring it back from the User Menu into Section A. Play with a standard 16-pad controller. 16 pads has been the industry standard for >30yrs.
You can still keep what you are working on in Section C, bring in a new Set into Section A and now have more than 8 chords to find some new interesting progression.
You can easily save more than 8 chords, giving you more performance options, several inversions of the same chord, add some octaves or power cords that you normally play in your left hand and still have enough chords for your right hand. Only 8-chords does not give you that.
Better organization, with a limit of 8-cords you will end up with many many more smaller XML files, bad for organization.
Transferring chords from a midi file or another chord plugin, you often need more than 8 chords to transfer the set without breaking it up in multiple files.
So there you have it. 5 real reasons why the Scaler team should bring back Save Chord Set without the 8-chord limit. They can keep the Save Patterns for those who use that. Both save functions can live side by side.
That’s fair. I can see how it can be useful. I did discover a hack that works for combining chord sets into one long string that can be loaded into section A while your other 56 Pads are full if you’re interested.
Basically you can combine all the separate pattern sets into one that can be loaded into Section A.
Actually it’s using an editor for the XML files. The individual pattern sets are on the Scaler 2 folders.
All if those can be opened in a text editor. You can see the chords for one chord set here. You copy each set between the header — CHORDSET version=“2” uuid="6eef0ae1-f283-4a56-a2dd-334b923ac69b
and the end — CHORDSET Once they are all in order just name it and save it in that same folder and open it in Scaler 2. All the sets are one set opened in Section A without disturbing section C at all.
This is more in @yorkeman territory but not too hard. Time consuming though.
But as I said it is a hack and not for every one.
I am curious now as to what changed from V1 and V2. Looking a V1.8, which I hadn’t opened in a long time I have to say we sure have come a long way!
Thanks. Yeah, I was looking at that early on. But opening the 8 chord Patterns in Scaler 1.8 and saving them from there was much faster.
And I also have the option to add something on the fly or change inversion, change order, edit, playing the chord, etc before saving the whole larger Chord Set.
Whatever works. Using V1.8 is so primitive. I think for me it would be faster to do it my way and then work with the chords in Scaler 2. That’s pretty fast. You can’t even lasso the pads to drag them. Man, we’ve come a long way.
Looking at the 2 different XML files it’s obvious what the difference is. In V2 they added the header CHORDSET and the closer /CHORDSET to each of the patterns to separate them and make them individual patterns which makes sense to load just the ones you want. If they added the option to do ALL chords in one XML that would give us all the options. V1 is just a long string of chord info without the header/closer info.
Good luck wish your music, my friend.
Cheers.
No, that is not correct. Scaler 1.8.1 actually does generate CHORDSET=“2” files. It is confusing. Here is a screen print from a Scaler 1.8.1 file. And in 1.8 there is one click to send ALL chords in Section A to Section C. So, very fast actually.
Anyhow, we’ll see if they update Scaler 2.6 with the function that they apparently lost in the update. I hope they do. Thanks for participating in the investigation.
No I didn’t explain that right. There is a Chordset at the top and bottom of the XML SAVED file but in version 1 there is none between each pattern. There are 4 patterns in Version 1 and nothing distinguish
the 4 patterns. Thats the difference and I believe that was deliberate so you could load each pattern if you wanted. In face I seem to recall it may have been requested.
You’re right about the send all chords to patterns 1 click. Like I said it’s been a long time since I even opened version 1 let alone use it.
