Confused about D# Major as a scale

[Mushy Mushy]

I'm looking at the following list of tracks (~500) that are written in D# Maj.
https://www.beatport.com/genre/psy-tran ... e=1&key=29

However, after Googling it seems this scale doesn't actually exist and if it does it's the following:



On this image the E & F are pressed simultaneously and the same with the B &C.

So if one was to compose in this scale are there 6 notes or 8? (ie, will E&F and B&C always be played together?)

BTW, I'm sure the experts will laugh at my lack of knowledge but I'm trying to learn Also, with that in mind you'll need to respond like I'm a 5 year old

Essentially I'd like to know what notes I should focus on in my piano roll to create a track in D# Maj.

[someone called simon]

Every note in the sale has to have a different name, ie a different, sequential letter of the alphabet. Someone with more knowledge might be able to explain to you some legitimate uses of a D# scale, but I wouldn't have a clue.

However if you call it Eb instead of D#, you'll have Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D, and everything suddenly becomes much more logical.

Hope that's helpful.

[Mushy Mushy]

Every note in the sale has to have a different name, ie a different, sequential letter of the alphabet. Someone with more knowledge might be able to explain to you some legitimate uses of a D# scale, but I wouldn't have a clue.

However if you call it Eb instead of D#, you'll have Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D, and everything suddenly becomes much more logical.

Hope that's helpful.

That is helpful, thanks,

So essentially Eb is the same as D#


However, my natural next question is how can then be tracks in both Eb and D#?

[colonel_mustard]

Scales are just groups of notes that go together. The chromatic scale is all of the notes, whereas the other scales (major and minor to start with) leave meaningful gaps, to make patterns that you’ll recognise after hearing them enough times. Listen to the do-re-mi song from the sound of music and you’ll have the major scale down. White keys from C. All major scales are the same, they’re just shifted up or down the keyboard. So starting with your white keys from C, move every one of the notes up by 3 and you’ll have D# major. D# major is more commonly written as E flat major, which is probably where the confusion arose. Computer notation favours sharps, but D# and E flat are just different ways of referring to that black key between D and E (what Simon said).

[Mushy Mushy]

Ok great. This is all starting to fall into place now.

Thanks!

[someone called simon]

Yeh, the whole music theory thing has been a bit hacked together as understanding grew and music developed. D# and Eb are the same pitch. The black notes can have different names - the sharp of the note below, or the flat of the note above. But will be the same pitch regardless of that.

For example that specific pitch D#/Eb will be Eb in the key of C minor. It will be the minor 3rd:
C (the root or '1'), D (the 2nd), Eb (the minor 3rd).
It has to be 3 'letters' up, so it can be named and notated easily. C, D, E, not C, D, D-again.

But in the key of B major it will be D#:
B is the 1, C# the 2, D# the major 3rd. B, C, D, not B, C, E.

As far as being in a specific key goes, Eb is just a whole lot more sensible to notate than D#, so that's what is used, for the exact same set of pitches, or keys pressed. Which also explains why you found that it didn't seem to exist. However the software or whatever it was that you used (in that pic) wasn't sufficiently advanced to tell you that, I guess.

[pljones]

D# and Eb are the same pitch

Now

[AsPeeXXXVIII]

D# major is just impractical. That's 9 sharps, which goes beyond the established "maximum" of 7 sharps or flats in a key. Eb major shares the same note pitches as D# major and has only 3 flats (not 5) - it's far more practical using that.

[mladi]

D# major is just impractical. That's 9 sharps, which goes beyond the established "maximum" of 7 sharps or flats in a key. Eb major shares the same note pitches as D# major and has only 5 flats - it's far more practical using that.

Yep, the word here is enharmonic.

[fmr]

There is a little thing called "The Circle of Fifths" that's worth studying.

It will enlighten why Eb should be used instead of D# for the scale nomenclature, as well as the relationship between tonalities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths

[MadBrain]

Yeah, looking at the beatport key list there are quite a few mistakes:
A# major (should always be notated in Bb major)
D# major (should always be notated in Eb major)
G# major (should always be notated in Ab major)
C# major (in theory a legal key, but Db major is equivalent and way easier to read)
F# major and Gb major are listed as separate keys (there's no way to know for electronic music really)
Gb minor (should be notated in F# minor)
Db minor (should be notated in C# minor)
G# minor and Ab minor are listed as separate keys (classic musicians prefer G#, jazz bands prefer Ab)
D# minor (in theory a legal key, but Eb minor is equivalent and way easier to read)
A# minor (in theory a legal key, but Bb minor is equivalent and way easier to read)

[jancivil]

To be entirely clear, you want to look at the cycle of fifths.
Adding a sharp every ascending fifth, C = 0 sharps, G = 1 sharp etc; there are seven sharps availed us herein. C# major is 7 sharps; G# major will be 7 sharps plus F double sharp, notated as a kind of x: Fx. D# major, 7 sharps plus Fx and Cx. So no one really sets out to write 'in D# major', the sign for double sharp is not normal in a key signature anyway. Now, there may be real reasons you wind up in such an area but that's a whole other area to talk about than these basics.


"D# and Eb are the same pitch."

Except when they aren't. On a piano with only the 12 fixed tones available, they are 'the same pitch'.
However string instrument pedagogy includes meanings for pitch which exceeds this. D# as leading tone to E may be considered as a sharper intonation than say Eb as 5th of Ab. Bbb to Ab in Db (borrowed fr. minor) may be desirable as a bit flatter than A per D.

Once upon a time, there was no 12tET. So one may like to perform JS Bach 12 Preludes and Fugues on a Well-Tempered instrument to hear what Bach heard. As to 'as understanding grew' there was better understanding then of the situation in general than we see here, because of a certain need for it. The understanding of temperament in modern days has not really changed the notation system except in quite advanced cases which develop in more avant-garde ideas where new signs were felt to be useful.

[jancivil]

Every note in the sale has to have a different name, ie a different, sequential letter of the alphabet. Someone with more knowledge might be able to explain to you some legitimate uses of a D# scale, but I wouldn't have a clue.

However if you call it Eb instead of D#, you'll have Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D, and everything suddenly becomes much more logical.

But there's nothing illogical about D# E# Fx G# A# B# Cx. It has merely exceeded key signature in conventional use. But I do advise against 'create a track in D# major' at this point because of the scarcity of a real reason for the name.

D# minor is not the same problem. It's the relative minor of F#, 6 sharps. Who is afraid of C double sharp? Ok, maybe you're a noob, why should we worry.

You could have started off in a pretty sharp area and your thought produced function in D# minor and for a moment D# major was a compelling I chord. And you stayed with sharps rather than force the enharmonic in your score. It may be that if you're going to really dwell here you may have a reason to call it Eb minor for your own saved time, let alone the reader's or the copyist's.

[jancivil]

"D# minor (in theory a legal key, but Eb minor is equivalent and way easier to read)"
In the cycle of fifths we will see both are the same distance from 0 sharps/0 flats.

6 sharps vs 6 flats.

[gentleclockdivider]

I'm looking at the following list of tracks (~500) that are written in D# Maj.
https://www.beatport.com/genre/psy-tran ... e=1&key=29

However, after Googling it seems this scale doesn't actually exist and if it does it's the following:



On this image the E & F are pressed simultaneously and the same with the B &C.

So if one was to compose in this scale are there 6 notes or 8? (ie, will E&F and B&C always be played together?)

BTW, I'm sure the experts will laugh at my lack of knowledge but I'm trying to learn Also, with that in mind you'll need to respond like I'm a 5 year old

Essentially I'd like to know what notes I should focus on in my piano roll to create a track in D# Maj.

Major scale /Ionian
step-step-halfstep-step-step-step-halfstep
I don't see anything wrong with that picture