Scaler 3.1 as an Arpeggiator is not working as expected

Scaler 3 Support Bug Reports
1

Hello,

I’m trying to use Scaler 3 as an arpeggiator. I used to do this without problems with Scaler 2, but it seems it is buggy in 3.

Steps to replicate:

  1. Open a new DAW session (in my case, REAPER v7.42)
  2. Add a single track
  3. Add “Scaler 3” (VST3i) on the track
  4. Set Scaler 3’s Motions to “Arpeggio Up” and 8th notes
  5. Create a 4 bar MIDI clip and program a 4 chord phrase, with 1 chord per bar:
  • A Minor (A3, C4, E4 - all 96 vel)
  • C Major (C4, E4, G4 - all 96 vel)
  • F Major (F4, A4, C5 - all 96 vel)
  • D Minor (D4, F4, A4 - all 96 vel)
  1. Place the playhead/playback cursor at the very start of the MIDI clip
  2. Press play on the DAW

The expectation is for Scaler 3 to arpeggiate the incoming chords, however this is how it behaves:

  1. It plays the A Minor chord NOT arpeggiated
  2. It plays the C Major chord arpeggiated
  3. It plays the F Major chord arpeggiated, BUT with the note G from C Major
  4. It plays the D Minor chord arpeggiated, BUT with the note C from F Major (I can’t tell, but G might still be playing but the keyboard in Scaler 3 is not highlighting it)
  5. Playback ends but the notes G and C are still playing and can only be stopped when pressing the G and C notes on the keyboard (either from within Scaler 3 or the DAW’s piano roll)

Following the same steps but using Scaler 2 works as expected.

Here are my environment specs:
OS: Windows 11 24H2
DAW: REAPER v7.42
Scaler 3 version: v3.1.0.4b1e963

2

Hi @anton welcome to the forum. This does not sound like the correct behaviour and is not something I’m able to replicate using Scaler 3.1 in Reaper on Windows 11. Perhaps you could share a screenshot or video to help us understand your scenario.

Are you attempting to play chords added to Scaler’s main track, or are you sending Scaler 3 MIDI data from your DAW? If you are sending MIDI notes or trigger notes to Scaler from a MIDI track in your DAW, be sure to disable DAW sync in Scaler 3. Otherwise Scaler will be attempting to play its own MIDI notes from the main track, in addition to playing incoming MIDI data which can cause issues like what you are describing.

3

Hi Tristan,

Thank you for the reply.

Yes, I am sending MIDI notes/chords into Scaler 3 and when I add Scaler 3 to the track, I only enable and change the Motions to “Articulations > Arpeggio > Up”, with everything else default (8th notes, DAW Sync ON, etc.)

Looking at the setting “Sync To Daw”, it is turned “On” by default. When I turned it “Off”, the behavior improved since it now arpeggiates the chords, however, the bug regarding the “lingering” notes of G and C is still present.

Since it is not possible to upload audio files here, I have set up a Dropbox link which has audio renders of 3 scenarios:

  • Scaler 3, Arp Up, 8th notes, DAW Sync ON ([BUG] Scaler 3 - Arp Up 8th notes - DAW Sync ON.mp3)
  • Scaler 3, Arp Up, 8th notes, DAW Sync OFF ([BUG] Scaler 3 - Arp Up 8th notes - DAW Sync OFF.mp3)
  • Scaler 2, Arp Up, 8th notes, DAW Sync OFF ([OK] Scaler 2 - Arp Up 8th notes - DAW Sync OFF.mp3)

The 3rd one, which is when using Scaler 2, is for comparison. I rendered it to show that in Scaler 2, even though DAW Sync is turned OFF, it works as expected. Note that I rendered each audio clip with a long tail so that the “lingering” notes can be easily noticed.

I also included an image in the Dropbox link showing a screenshot of the test setup.

Here is the link: Dropbox Link