Scales cheat sheet
By this point, you may be struggling to keep up with the multitude of scale patterns – they certainly look similar, even if they don’t sound it. To help you keep a lid on it, we’ve put together a cheat sheet of scales. And remember, our MIDI Construction Kit is rammed with scale templates in every possible key. If you’re still unsure how to use them, here’s some concrete advice.
In Ableton Live, copy the template’s stack of notes so it lies just outside your MIDI clip’s play/ loop markers. Use it as a visual guide or enable Fold to restrict the piano roll to notes in the scale.
Logic Pro X works similarly: place the template MIDI clip alongside the one you’re working on, and select both clips to view them in the Piano Roll. Click Collapse Mode to restrict programming to the scale’s notes.
In Bitwig Studio, you have a few options. If using single-clip edit mode, paste the template outside of the clip’s playable range. For multiclip edit, paste the template into a separate clip outside your loop points. Drum Editing mode restricts programming to notes of the scale. Another method is to place the clip on a track with no instrument loaded, then enable Multi-Layer editing and lock that track. The notes will show as a visual underlay.
For Studio One 3, load the template on a MIDI track with no instrument, then click Track List (four horizontal lines). Enable the leftmost Show (circle) icon for the template track and those you want to edit. Disable the Edit (pencil) option for the template, and it’ll show only as a guide.
Cubase users can load the template alongside the MIDI they want to edit as a guide, again, ensuring it’s outside of loop points; but Cubase has its own scale guide feature – to use it, add a Chord Track, disable Automatic Scales (in the Inspector), click Show Scales (on the track), add a scale event and choose a scale. Now set the colouring mode in the Piano Roll to Chord Track, and notes within the scale will be blue, while those outside it are red.