SOLVED: How Do I Improvise Melodies Using Keys Lock?

Scaler 3 General Discussion
,
1

SOLVED: SEE MY COMMENT BELOW DAVIDE’S FOR THE STEP-BY-STEP:

I feel like an idiot, I know it’s basic, but I can’t figure it out: How do I improvise a melody to a Scaler 3 progression and record it into my DAW (Studio One Six)?

I know how to create progressions, add tracks, change 3rd-party instruments, use keys-lock to lock my controller keys to the scale. But the rest eludes me. To be specific, here’s what I’m trying to do:

  1. Set up a main track progression, change its instrument, add a bass track. Simple, I can do this.
  2. Add a track where I can create a melody, by locking keys to the scale and improvising, as the chord progression and bass play in the background.
  3. Once I get a melody I like, record it into my DAW, or drag/drop it into my DAW.

But I’m missing something fundamental. In the standalone screenshot here, you’ll see I’ve got the progression, I’ve bound the chords to the left side of the keyboard, and on the right side of the keyboard I’ve got white keys locked to the scale. But any melodic improv I try seems locked to the main track - using the same instrument as my chord progression.

I don’t seem to be able to create a separate track within Scaler 3 that will record my melodic improv (ideally, using a different instrument than my chord track instrument, so I can hear the difference).

I can record a keys-locked melodic improv from Scaler 3 into Studio One, on the Scaler 3 track I opened. I can then drop that melody into a new track to change the instrument. But it’s not ideal, because it’s hard to hear the melody distinct from the chord progression.

I think in Scaler 2, I did this by synchronizing two instances of Scaler on two tracks in the DAW, and setting the second track only to play melody. But now in Scaler 3, it seems all the syncing takes place in that single instance. Not sure about this, but that’s what it seems.

Can you help me figure out what I’m doing wrong?

Screenshot 2025-03-27 at 12.07.29 PM
Screenshot 2025-03-27 at 12.07.29 PM1280×720 304 KB

2

For this I do it like you used to do it in Scaler 2. Just duplicate the Scaler onto another track. But I get what you are trying to do here and for this the User Track will eventually have a ‘Keys Lock’ input for doing exactly this.

4

Aha! That’s easy. Lemme make sure I got it right:

  1. Create two tracks in my DAW.
  2. Drop separate instances of Scaler 3 on each track.
  3. In the first DAW track, open up SC3, choose your progression, set up separate SC3 tracks & motions & instruments (eg, for piano rhythm and a slap bass). Do not arm this DAW track.
  4. In the second DAW track, open the second instance of SC3. Select a melody/solo instrument in SC3. Make sure the SCALE aligns with the chord progression in the first instance of SC3. Set up the key map to your liking (although if you’re gonna play chords and not just single notes, the scale and the key map ought to match SC3’s first instance). Arm this DAW track.
  5. With DAW Sync running, both instances of SC3 will align to the DAW and to each other. The second DAW track will be key-mapped, so you can improvise or otherwise create melodies. You can record to that second DAW track simply by pressing record in the DAW.

Basically, if DAW Sync is on, Scaler 3 instances more or less auto-sync to each other. That’s it, right?!

1 Like
5

This worked perfectly, but then, when I save project and reopened it, second Scaler lost Keys lock state and I could not fix it.