KVR Audio

hauke · Post by **hauke** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 3:01 pm

Hey everybody,

after some months of focused coding I want to give you a sneak preview of the upcoming Sundog Scale Studio 2.0 now

.
What you can see below is the current dev version. The beta phase will start soon, so I hope that the final release is close enough

.

A short introduction:
Sundog Scale Studio is a standalone software for electronic songwriting. It connects to your DAW via MIDI. With Sundog you can develop new chord progressions, melodies, basslines, and arpeggios within minutes.

Here's how: Sundog is working like a specialized sequencer. First you choose a scale (major, minor,...), and then you can work on this scale with the integrated step sequencer. On a special page you can listen to the most important chords of this scale and build chord progressions easily. Just trust your ears

. When you are ready with your chord progression you can tell the step sequencer to work on the chord notes instead of the scale notes.

Perfect for basslines and melodies that are always in tune with the harmonic base of your song.
Experiment with new scales and chord progressions like a breeze.
Create complex polyrhythmic melodies and drumtracks without spending hours.
Learn the basics of EDM, pop, and rock music theory by listening and playing around.
Speed up your work - use Sundog to create your base tracks, then refine your work inside your DAW (Sundog is used by contract musicians as well, e.g. for film music. Smash those deadlines )

What will be new in Sundog Scale Studio 2.0?
The next version will add new usability features and an even faster workflow. The most important changes:

Song parts: Instead of opening different Sundog-songfiles for verse / chorus / bridge you can create various song parts now. Experiment with different verse variations and chord progressions, or build whole songs - it's up to you.
New input editor: Precise control over tone heights and the triggered sequences (please see the video below)
Focus areas: Sundog visualizes the area where you are working on at the moment. Useful for "intelligent" copy and paste actions on patterns, sequences, song parts, and chords.
Show chord tensions: Quickly see which chords are harmonious or mildly dissonant. Very useful to figure out how you can build and release tension in your progressions.
Many small fixes and changes

See the video below for a quick tour!
In the video I use Sundog to build the main section of a house track within five minutes - including two different variations over the same chord progression.

(Please turn on fullscreen or HD)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYThLwaaW_A

Some screenshots:

The main view with different song parts (top row), focus area indicators (left side), and the new input editor (yellow box):

The chords view with activated chord tension display:

Low tension = harmonic, high tension = more dissonant:

Availability:
Soon

. It will still take a few weeks, as the beta phase didn't start yet. Supported platforms: Windows (7 and up, 32 bit / 64 bit) and Mac OS X (10.7 and up, 64 bit).

The update will be free for all existing customers of Sundog Scale Studio!
The price will go up a bit when Sundog 2.0 is out. Watch out on KVR or join the newsletter to get notified of the new release!
http://feelyoursound.com/news/ (newsletter)

Check out the current version 1.5 here - even though it doesn't support song parts etc it is already a very efficient songwriting tool

:
http://feelyoursound.com/sundog/

Have a great weekend!

Cheers,
Hauke

SirkusPi · Post by **SirkusPi** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 3:09 pm

I'm very excited to see this update. I'm a current Sundog owner, and have used it to some extent, but the new features in the update seem likely to make this a much more practical tool to use. Definitely looking forward to it!

SLiC · Post by **SLiC** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 3:13 pm

Also a current Sundog owner- don't tell too many people how great it is, its my secret weapon for song starting!

I was hoping one day that it may become a plug in with multi-out, I guess not in V2....but the update is very welcome.

xbitz · Post by **xbitz** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 3:13 pm

hi, some unified chord harmonic symbols system would be nice as is in http://www.synleor.com/improvisator-manual.html check the 4 . Explanation of the harmonic symbols chapter of the full docs, the chord page would much more usable/self descriptive with it

hauke · Post by **hauke** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 3:17 pm

SirkusPi: Yes, working with the input editor and the song parts is really a step up

. I use it all the time now to test various melodic / rhythmic ideas

.

SLiC: A plug-in version is definitely what I want to see as well! But first I had to rewrite the engine to support different song parts. It would be a shame if a VST version would only support one progression

. But I can't say anything yet when a plug-in port might be ready. There are quite a few technical challenges to solve.

xbitz: Thanks, I will take a look

!

xbitz · Post by **xbitz** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 3:19 pm

and one more, does it have some kind of voice leading support, common/none common tone approach etc. ? (I've only begun to use it

)

UncleAge · Post by **UncleAge** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 3:20 pm

I like where its headed. And making it a free update is more than I expected. Very nice! Can't wait to use the new features.

hauke · Post by **hauke** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 3:28 pm

xbitz wrote:and one more, does it have some kind of voice leading support, common/none common tone approach etc. ?

Basically this will be the same as in Sundog 1.5!
But developing melodies will be easier in 2.0, because you can precisely edit the input then. This makes it possible to quickly refine upward/downward movements of your melodies. And with copy and paste you can take one melody as the base for additional voices

stefangx · Post by **stefangx** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 3:38 pm

Wow, this looks like a great update. Definitely looking forward to this.

dom@bitwig · Post by **dom@bitwig** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 3:45 pm

Congrats, Hauke! Keep up the good work!
BTW: in BWS 1.1.7 drag and drop should finally work now from Sundog to Bitwig Studio!

Cheers,
Dom

hauke · Post by **hauke** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 3:53 pm

dom@bitwig wrote:Congrats, Hauke! Keep up the good work!
BTW: in BWS 1.1.7 drag and drop should finally work now from Sundog to Bitwig Studio!

Cheers,
Dom

That would be awesome

! I'm definitely looking forward to that

Cheers,
Hauke

kalbinsson · Post by **kalbinsson** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 3:57 pm

Will you add drag and drop of chords to the chord sequencer? That is the only part I fill is a bit cumbersome. That you first have to select a chord step and then the chord. Because I always forget and then I overwrite the old chord...
/K

hauke · Post by **hauke** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 4:07 pm

kalbinsson wrote:Will you add drag and drop of chords to the chord sequencer? That is the only part I fill is a bit cumbersome. That you first have to select a chord step and then the chord. Because I always forget and then I overwrite the old chord...
/K

Thanks for letting me know

! No, this isn't in there (yet). I will think about this aspect and see what I can do.
I have come to a point where I need to do a "feature freeze" for this release. The changes for 2.0 are quite big. Especially as a single developer I want to make sure that the big points are working before I start with a new change.

kalbinsson · Post by **kalbinsson** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 4:09 pm

Yes, you should definitely freeze the features after adding this feature...

Thanks for the great work you are doing.

/K

xbitz · Post by **xbitz** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 4:17 pm

... and putting this octave selector before drag and drop box would be also very handy

... in this case we would able to add/doubling/selecting/disabling given chord parts (or able to add extra bass notes etc.) before drag and dropping ...

octave_selector.fw.png

in trance the chord parts are used very airy / speading ...

Sundog 2.0 (electronic songwriting software) coming soon.. -> Sneak Preview!