I gave up on Scaler 2 because the interface made no sense to me. I got Scaler 3 in the hope it was different, but no. I’m just trying to do the simplest thing for now: choose a scale and progression for a new tune.
On the Browse page it seems like I should be able to select a scale by clicking on Current Scale. Nope, but why not? Seems a very obvious thing to do. Instead I head to Section A, All Scales. Okay, I press a note key (e.g. E) and now get to pick the specific scale. Kind of roundabout, but I got there.
I now select Section A, Common Progressions, and select I-IV-I-V (Simple). Whoa, everything has changed to the key of C underneath me? What’s going on? Why can’t I just get a nice I-IV-I-V in my chosen key (E)?
The functionality and promise of the program is spectacular but the interface doesn’t work anything like other software I’ve used. Having been a software developer my whole career (now retired), it was always drilled into me that software should observe existing paradigms rather than invent something new and unfamiliar for the user. I’m going to need a lot of hand holding since I can’t seem to get past the most basic functions.
How do I get my chosen progression in my chosen key?
I agree that there are some odd design decisions (I also have a software background).
Set your scale in section B then press the tiny padlock on the right of the section A bar. Then any progression you choose in section A will be in the selected scale (as best it can).
For me the scale selection should be at the top of the screen and the padlock should be next to it and all the progression stuff should be lower down. The core problem is that there are two basic ways of using Scaler. You can start with a chord progression, either detected or selected from the list and then choose one of the matching scales. Or you can start by choosing a scale and then use the chords and progressions in that scale. The latter case is not served well by the current UI.
I know it’s too far along for any significant change (existing users would revolt), and I’ll keep trying to stumble my way through it because the intended functionality is terrific
I was able to start using Hookpad immediately, and it demonstrates one of the principles of good UI design - a new user should be able to do the basic functions with no help. Everyone and their siblings are coders now, though, and very few bother to field test a design before solidifying it in code. Those little dark ovals for Chord Set and Current Scale just scream CLICK ME! They look like controls but are actually nonfunctional labels. The C section has an arrow to export MIDI that should be on a File menu. I’ll keep fumbling along but I may be a frequent poster here to find out what the magic is for something I’m trying to do.
You might be amused to hear that they paid an outside company to design the UI. Davide mentioned it somewhere on this forum..
It’s already improved from release though. Originally you had to click on “all scales” before you could get a search box. I had to Google it. The search is still flawed. If you type “Cm” you get no hits - it has to be “C m”.
But I agree that it’s too late to expect wholesale changes to the UI. Maybe they could move the padlock next to the current scale, because that’s what you are locking, and they could certainly make it larger. As for those little dark ovals, I keep clicking on them expecting them to be a search box.
