Is there really no plugin for a Scales database?

[thebaggytrouseredone]

Is there not an iPhone or iPad app that would allow you to mapp diatonic notes to a touchscreen keyboard and transmit the notes over midi or wi-fi?

Kinda like a diatonic keyboard controller app?

[L-Stance]

usually when people think of scales they're thinking of an ascending and descending pattern of notes that are adjacent to each other in the key. so it would be (starting from C) C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. that's a scale, but it's not really a melody that you'd likely walk away humming to yourself. a melody is the part of a song that you'd sing to yourself after hearing it. studying and learning how to pick out simple songs on a keyboard will make it a lot easier for you to get ideas from in your head out onto the keyboard, whereas running scales won't necessarily help with that process much. working with melodies will also develop a different type of muscle memory (like mike was talking about) because eventually your fingers will just know what a certain interval sounds like.

the simplest scale to start with is C major/A minor, which is just all the white notes on the piano. you can learn a lot just by fiddling around with those and then slowly work on transposing what you know to one or two other keys. it's much more informative to know one key inside and out than it is to know a little bit about all 12 keys.

just to head off any criticism of what i'm saying, of course it is useful to know all 12 keys well as an eventual goal, but i guess i just think it's more useful to get your head, hands, and ears around one key thoroughly.

Great advice mate, do you have any tips on how to go about trying to gain a better understanding of melody, or is it just a pure trail and error thing?

Also anyone know of any plugins that act in the same way as the casio lighted keys keyboard?

[L-Stance]

Is there not an iPhone or iPad app that would allow you to mapp diatonic notes to a touchscreen keyboard and transmit the notes over midi or wi-fi?

Kinda like a diatonic keyboard controller app?

I havent heard of a standalone app, animoog does this but i dont think you can transmit the midi to the computer, you definitely cant without some sort of ad on hardware anyway.

[coquillo]

Is there not an iPhone or iPad app that would allow you to mapp diatonic notes to a touchscreen keyboard and transmit the notes over midi or wi-fi?

Kinda like a diatonic keyboard controller app?

I believe there are.

There are also dedicated hardware solutions.
http://sequence15.blogspot.com.es/2010/ ... oards.html

[D.Josef]

just to head off any criticism of what i'm saying, of course it is useful to know all 12 keys well as an eventual goal, but i guess i just think it's more useful to get your head, hands, and ears around one key thoroughly.

Let's not start flinging about holy grails.
Playing on only white keys denies your muscle memory the chance to learn the true shape of the keyboard. Black keys are positioned differently, are thinner and are set higher. For your cerebellum, it's an entirely different skillset to learn.

This is how I like to practice scales: First, select a key at random, and do the fingering practice for a few minutes up and down. And then, once I feel at home in the key, I start playing melodies on the scale "from heart".
So yes, what you are saying is important, but I wouldn't constrain it to white keys. Otherwise black keys will become a frustration later. It's easier to include them right at the beginning, when every key is new and alien.

[L-Stance]

Ive seen quite a few examples of midi keyboard visualisation plugins with visual feedback...

http://www.kvraudio.com/product/2246
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/5366

But none of them alow you to save presets of highlighted keys so you can practice playing within scales.
Does anyone know of any of these?

[Bobbotov]

Maybe you should try one of

[sjm]

..., but I wouldn't constrain it to white keys. Otherwise black keys will become a frustration later. It's easier to include them right at the beginning, when every key is new and alien.

Especially because playing just the black keys is really easy and can produce great results too - giving you a feel for the pentatonic scale as well as giving you the chance to get used to playing the black keys.

Though I'm not too sure to what extent the OP is interested in actually "playing" the keyboard (as opposed to writing music on the PC).

[tapper mike]

honestly.... The best instrument to learn scales/chords etc on isn't available in most of the world.



The chromatone is unlike axis Axis aligns buttons according the harmonic chart. The chromatone uses offset parallel whole tone series. All you need to do is learn something once and when you transpose your fingering doesn't change

[bmrzycki]

Maybe you should try one of (The Axis 49 keyboards)

I own an Axis 49 and it taught me a ton about chords (less so about scales). But there are serious drawbacks:

1. Until the interface catches on you can only get it at one place: C-Thru Music
2. It's not cheap by any means
3. Forget about visiting a friend and him/her having one to jam along with them unless you always bring your midi keyboard along
4. There aren't established fingerings for pretty much any chord progressions -- you'll have to find the best ones yourself.
5. Notes in DAWs are still piano roll -- it can be annoying to try to draw in notes when you don't know which one is which after spending all your time learning the hexagonal layout.

The piano keyboard has a lot of drawbacks but it's everywhere and it's cheap to get started. And as the OP has stated, she/he is just starting out -- restricted scales and transposing is one way to start learning.

[highkoo]

Not a plugin, but handy:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=346318

[tapper mike]

just to head off any criticism of what i'm saying, of course it is useful to know all 12 keys well as an eventual goal, but i guess i just think it's more useful to get your head, hands, and ears around one key thoroughly.

Let's not start flinging about holy grails.
Playing on only white keys denies your muscle memory the chance to learn the true shape of the keyboard. Black keys are positioned differently, are thinner and are set higher. For your cerebellum, it's an entirely different skillset to learn.

This is how I like to practice scales: First, select a key at random, and do the fingering practice for a few minutes up and down. And then, once I feel at home in the key, I start playing melodies on the scale "from heart".
So yes, what you are saying is important, but I wouldn't constrain it to white keys. Otherwise black keys will become a frustration later. It's easier to include them right at the beginning, when every key is new and alien.

I've especially found this true when playing with keyboard players who have cheated themselves by not learning to work in all keys especially when it comes to....The blues scale. The blues scale is very natural on the guitar easy to learn and easy to maintain an even tempo.

As for practicing in all keys it only takes a few minutes a day. I use the circle of 5ths as a practice regiment. Today's key is Eb tommorrow's is Bb in a 12 day cycle I'll have played every scale in every key and mode.

[coquillo]

As for practicing in all keys it only takes a few minutes a day. I use the circle of 5ths as a practice regiment. Today's key is Eb tommorrow's is Bb in a 12 day cycle I'll have played every scale in every key and mode.

That's one scale in 12 keys. Don't you use the other 461 scales?

[D.Josef]

That's one scale in 12 keys. Don't you use the other 461 scales?

Are you purposefully trolling the thread, or what?

[coquillo]

That's one scale in 12 keys. Don't you use the other 461 scales?

Are you purposefully trolling the thread, or what?

No I'm not. You are suggesting that learning all the scales in all the keys is a piece of cake. Even if we don't count all 462 scales, you are leaving out the blues, wholetone, octatonic, bebop etc scales, essentially the harmony of the twentieth century.

Whilst I agree the major scale is a good place to start, it is just that, a start.