Microfreak/UG/15 Using Scales

• 15 Using Scales

  • Scales can shape the emotion of a melody. Adding chord notes from the melody's scale strengthens its character: major notes may sound forceful and happy, while minor notes may sound sad. Responses to major and minor scales vary across musical cultures.
  • The chromatic scale contains twelve notes: C, C♯, D, D♯, E, F, F♯, G, G♯, A, A♯, B. A scale selects notes from those twelve. Most scales use eight notes; pentatonic scales use five, and blues scales use six, combining five pentatonic notes with one chromatic note.
  • C major, also called C Ionian, uses the white piano keys: C, D, E, F, G, A, B. The gaps between selected notes are whole tones or semitones. From C to D is a whole tone; from E to F is a semitone.
  • C major follows the interval pattern tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone.
  • C Major Intervals
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  • Starting on D and playing only white keys gives the pattern tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone. Applying that pattern from C produces a Dorian scale.
  • C Major Scale, Root D
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  • C Dorian Scale
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  • Starting a C major scale on its fifth step gives a Mixolydian scale. Building scales by starting on different steps creates the church modes, now widely used in western music.
  • Microfreak/UG/15 Using Scales/01 Scale Settings

    • 15.1 Scale settings

      • Utility offers scale selection in two places:
        • Utility > Misc > Scale sets the scale globally for keyboard playing, sequences, and arpeggios.
        • Utility > Preset > Scale sets the scale for the current preset.

      • Note/Info Save the same preset several times with different Scale or Root note settings to keep multiple versions.
        

      • The Scale option filters chromatic notes into a scale. The manual lists these note sets:
        • Major: C, D, E, F, G, A, B
        • Minor: C, D, E♭, F, G, A, B♭, B
        • Harmonic Minor: C, D, E, F, G, A♭, B
        • Dorian: C, D, E♭, F, G, A, B♭
        • Mixolydian: C, D, E, F, G, A, B♭
        • Blues: C, D, E♭, F, G♭, G, A♭, A, B♭
        • Pentatonic: C, D, E, G, A
      • To hear scale quantization, switch on the MicroFreak, choose a simple sound such as the “keys 2” template preset 131, then open Utility > Preset > Scale and press the preset select knob to choose a scale.
      • With Major selected, the white keys play the major scale. Black keys are also quantized into that scale: the key that normally plays C♯ plays C, and each black key is lowered by a semitone to fit the scale. Chords played on the keyboard therefore use notes from the selected major scale.
      • To compare scale colors, press Arpeggio and hold C, the third step, and the fifth step to play a C major chord. In Utility > Preset > Scale, turn the encoder to hear how the third changes in Minor, Dorian, and Blues.

      • Note/Info Start an arpeggio or sequence in one scale, then cycle through Utility > Misc > Scale to hear it change scale while playing.
        

  • Microfreak/UG/15 Using Scales/02 The Scale Root

    • 15.2 The Scale Root

      • Starting a scale on a different note changes its mood because the intervals are heard in a different order. Starting C major on C follows tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone. Keeping that interval pattern and making D the root gives D, E, F♯, G, A, B, C♯, D.
      • Changing the Root is an intelligent transpose: it preserves the scale's interval structure. A simple transpose shifts every step by a semitone or whole tone.
      • Utility offers Root selection in two places:
        • Utility > Misc > Root changes the root globally for keyboard playing, sequences, and arpeggios.
        • Utility > Preset > Root changes the root for the current preset.

      • Note/Info Search for “music theory” to learn more about scales.