I’ve had a had a difficult time figuring out how to save things, so I thought I’d let people know my stumbles, and make a suggestion for the development team.
My problem was: I couldn’t figure out where different creations save to, and how to recall them.
I’ll try to clarify: I create three types of creations in scaler: (1) basic chord progressions I might want to recall and re-use; (2) works-in-progress with multiple tracks and plugins I’ll definitely want to recall and finish; and (3) templates for multi-track projects I’ll want to keep and reuse.
The big “aha,” which isn’t fully explained in the manual, is you use the “save” function to save works-in-progress and semi-produced templates, and you use the “export” function to save user-created chordsets.
These save in different ways, and save to different places. In MacOS, if I want to save a template or WIP, I go into the Preset Section up top and click the “save” icon, my Mac takes me to Users/[myname]/Library/Scaler Music/Scaler 3/Presets. There are two file folders there: User, and Template. The Template folder has all the preset multi-track templates Scaler 3 has pre-created. The User folder seems to be for WIPs, and possibly user-created templates. Those WIPs and templates will then be available for reloading and recalling by going into the preset window up to and clicking on it, which opens the preset browser for you to find your works.
By contrast, if you want to save a chordset only, you click the export arrow toward the top left of the three main screens. That opens the export window, which will allow you to export the lightweight chordset as an XML file into Users/[myname]/Library/Scaler Music/Scaler 3/Chordsets/Default. That chordset will then remain available to you in Section A of the Browse page. (You have to scroll down that wi die to find the user chordsets.)
Two notes for the Scaler Team to consider: Personally, I find these two forms of saving - that is, “save” via the save icon and “export” via the export arrow - pretty confusing. My suggestion would be to have all the available save options in one place, and clearly labeled - e.g., “Chordset Only,” “Full Template,” “Work in Progress.”
Second note: The export arrow on the right side of the transport controls looks exactly the same as the arrow on the right side of the main track on the bottom of the Browse page and the Create page, but they do two completely different things: The arrow up top allows you to export audio, midi or chordsets; while the arrow on the bottom allows you to drag midi out into your DAW or a file. I’d suggest changing one of these icons to prevent confusion.
