Greetings, fellow Unifycorns 😉
I am considering creating a Unify patch bank for Scaler 2 - the outstanding Music Theory tool / MIDI chord explorer/manager/composer from Pluginboutique, brain child of Davide Carbone and Ed Mainier. I understand a couple of Unify users are also using Scaler, and I personally as an avid Scaler user actually adopted Unify due to their smooth and unique integration between MIDI generator and sound generator plugins (a mess in many DAWs!). So I figured there is probably an opportunity to translate the myriads of Scaler settings into Unify format, as template to be easily integrated with other plugins. With Unify's unique patch merging feature, where you can load another patch into an active patch, this would lead to unprecedented creative opportunity, boosting the value of both Unify and Scaler, as complementary tools. I've reached out to Davide and Ed, pending their permission I offer to get on this as soon as we have consent. Perhaps we could get a little show of hands how many people would take advantage of this if it existed, that might help further the motivation on all sides 🙂
Cheers,
Bernd@PDX
I frequently use Scaler 2, and I guess I'm not understanding how or what you want to accomplish with making presets for Unify. Currently, I didn't feel like I am missing any kind of functionality, or any need for presets or templates, but maybe you could explain further what you had in mind and how it would be helpful?
Hi @hexabuzz , glad you asked!
There are many reasons to create Unify presets for Scaler, so let me enumerate a few that are top of mind:
- You could start a Unify patch with a Scaler preset - a Scaler preset being any of the existing Scaler-internal chord progressions (by song or artist, or a particular expression/phrase/melody configuration). Then you just add other instruments, like into a MIDI template. Even whole other Unify patches with ALT+patch drag&drop. This method is quicker than loading Scaler as a plugin into a Unify MIDI effect. The preset would already have done this step.
- Scaler has hundreds of chord progressions, performance expressions, melodies, bass lines, timings etc built-in. They are selected within Scaler in various ways, and in the Scaler community the topic of preset management has come up many times, due to the vast combinatorial space of options. So I see Unify as an opportunity to manage those various combinations.
- Many folks combine Scaler with other instruments (sound plugins), even in Scaler ensembles, with a parent Scaler driving chord progressions into melodic/rhythmic Scaler children performing expressions. These constructs are impossible to do outside of a DAW, but DAWs come with their own integration challenges. I imagine Unify templates (presets) offering a solution here.Â
- Scaler comes out of the box with hundreds of internal presets, which are currently not accessible via MIDI program change. And also many of the various program selections inside of Scaler are not MIDI remote controllable. Creating Unify presets for these different selections would allow MIDI/remote control for those of us using it for live performances.
I'll stop here. But I feel intuitively there are many more advantages to this, once we have it, we'll use it 🙂
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Cheers,
Bernd
@berndpdx Thank you for taking the time to discuss these different ways of using Scaler with Unify!
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This sounds like a terrific idea.
I'm sure the best way to explore this idea is just to go ahead and make a mini-library with just a dozen or fewer patches, and pass it to John to experiment with. Do you have the means to create a simple demonstration video? If so, that would probably be the single best way to explain your ideas by showing simple examples.
I'm sure the best way to explore this idea is just to go ahead and make a mini-library with just a dozen or fewer patches
@getdunne - absolutely, definitely some quick prototyping, for proof of concept and communication of approach, before any major effort. I don't plan to do this in isolation but with community participation/feedback/guidance. There will be interesting tagging questions 🙂Â
As for the video, are you thinking just for illustration of what I am planning to do? How it would work? So people can see the benefit of this? Solicit feedback on method? It would be my entrance into the world of video communication 🙂
As for the video, are you thinking just for illustration of what I am planning to do? How it would work? So people can see the benefit of this? Solicit feedback on method? It would be my entrance into the world of video communication 🙂
All of the above! Even a short demo can make quite complex ideas clear.
@berndpdx If you're interested in someone to help try out or test your ideas and offer suggestions from a user, I'd be happy to help. I'd be interested in trying the combination of Unify and Scaler. You can email me directly if you want hexabuzz at hotmail dot com
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@getdunne As an avid Youtube learning content consumer, I wholeheartedly agree! It's the producing side I am concerned about, LOL
Perhaps I'll put out some sample presets, and let others who are good at recording & talking play with it in front of a camera (e.g. John 😉
 If you're interested in someone to help try out or test your ideas and offer suggestions from a user, I'd be happy to help. I'd be interested in trying the combination of Unify and Scaler.
@hexabuzz Thanks David! I'll get back to you on that. Definitely good idea to beta test 🙂 For updates, please see the new thread I created for tracking the progress on this effort. Cheers! -Bernd
I'm another big Scaler 2 fan and my initial thoughts were along the lines of Hexabuzz, but having seen your more detailed ideas I think you may be on to something. I am definitely intrigued to see what you come up with. 👍Â