Play on scales without computer

Thanks! I don’t need another sampler, and I’d rather have more pads/keys to make BIG SOLOS, but it’s nice to list any option as others might be interested! :slightly_smiling_face:

This might be controversial, but have you tried learning the scales? It’s not rocket science, just start by learning one and then another when you need to.

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I know some of them theoretically and I have a good ear. Unfortunately I lacked discipline in my younger years (I’m over 30) and now I’ve got some nerve damage so I can’t train a lot (i.e. on a piano). I do try to pick up piano with a teacher tho, but won’t be Glenn Gould anytime soon :sweat_smile:

The circuit is well built, just test one in the store.

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…oh, yes i forgot the kordbot of course…might do all the trick, i guess…

and yesh, u can transpose the actual track content in the a4 always with the transpose button kept pressed and by switching the rootnotes on the little keyboard layout within the machine directly…

no need to become glenn gould…

Good to know!

For those who own the Launchpad Pro, is there an option to just show scales in chromatic mode, like on the push (meaning all notes are playable and only those in scale are lit up)? Asking because I sometimes like to wander off-scale.

Yes. Launchpad Pro does chromatic as well as scales in Standalone mode.

In both modes it can be transposed to any root note, and the octave shifts cover the full MIDI range.

Also, it works Standalone sending MIDI both to the DIN-via-adapter port and the USB port.

The pad sensitivity is adjustable in three levels. Also it does after touch, channel or per note.

The thing is a powerhouse! I love mine and often perform with it as my main “keyboard”. No

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The price went up fairly recently on the Key Control. I’d contact them and negotiate if you are interested – especially as they are made to order. They could also have some returned units that they can’t sell as new.

Off Topic, Side Note

Artificial Noise also just released a new version of their Cimmerian Caves product, an Echo / Chorus / Vibrato + Fuzz Effect box. It’s a pretty spacy effects box, but strangely it doesn’t seem to be midi controllable?

Just bought a Novation Launchpad Pro :star_struck:

Although still interested by the other one. I’ll contact them. What was the preorder price?

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Wasn’t pre-order, the old price was $199 USD, i don’t recall if there was a shipping fee.

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Wow… that’s surprisingly high! For less than that you can have a Raspberry Pi, a PiSound, and a case… And not only can it transpose and restrict to a scale… It handles both DIN and USB MIDI… And it can be your full audio effects box at the same time… Infinitely flexible, but you do need to build you patches in Puredata or SuperCollider or other Linux Sw.

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I had been thinking similarly, mzero, though you supplied the finishing touch to the idea with using the Raspberry Pi, i had been thinking about an old fashioned Arduino. You would have to add the chord function to the black keys, and maybe the specific choice of modes.

Perhaps an external foot pedal control – right for key up a fifth, left for key down a fifth, or something.

An arpeggiator function in midi from the black keys would be nice.

Okay so the Launchpad pro is pretty good (nice pad sensitivity!) but the scale mode is a little less good than the one on the Push, at first glance:

Either:

  • scale mode is activated and there’s no way to get out of scale
  • scale mode is not activated (basic note mode) and what’s shown is a major scale of which you can only change the root note. You can do what you want in this mode but you can’t select a mixolydian or blues or whatever.

I’ll get back to it tomorrow, I start being tired :sleeping:

Maybe I’ll learn Puredata first to see how complex it is to make a patch before buying a PiSound. I do have an old Raspberry so that might be a solution :slight_smile:

kord bot

Worth to check that plugin too… it’s harmonize MIDI ins and outs

Follow up – as far as a Raspberry Pi build it yourself option.

I’m thinking that rather than using the Blokas PiSound add-on for the Raspberry Pi, i might instead use something else that is also from Blokas – the Midihub. Instead of the 1 Midi In, 1 Midi Out, and Audio In and Out on the PiSound, the Midihib has 4 Midi Ins and 4 Midi Outs.

The Midihub iis a new product from Blokas and is still in beta.

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+1 for learning to play scales and chords. These basic skills are useful and fun.

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I asked them to participate to the beta! :smiley:

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Yup learn the keyboard – and continue to do so – there will always be a getting better. I agree TonyDS. And i have been – here’s my scattered thoughts on doing that.

But on the other hand – there is plenty of room for all these sorts of alternatives too. And i like to remember that some great song writers had very limited keyboard skils. Irving Berlin as for instance only played in F#. (You might have thought the one key to learn would be C, but F#, the black key inverse world of C makes an awful lot of sense.)

And Irving Berlin used the mechanical version of something that fits this thread – a transposing piano. Check out this (1 minute and 20 second) corny video if you’re interested.