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Scales, What the scales do – Arturia BeatStep Pro MIDI/Analog Controller and Sequencer Kit with CV/Gate Cables (Black) User Manual

Page 33

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3.3.3. Scales

3.3.3.1. What the Scales do

The BeatStep Pro front panel gives you the ability to assign one of eight input scales to a

step sequencer: seven preset scales and one you can customize yourself (the User scale).

A scale is a sort of ‘filter’ that will help you to hear only the notes you want to hear in your

sequence.

Here's what the Scale feature does:

• It affects the notes you hear being played back. It's quantizing the

pitch

of the

events instead of their timing, forcing them to be played back within a certain

framework of notes.

• You can switch from one scale to the next to hear how the different scales affect

the music without altering the original notes that were played on the pads. In

other words, changing the scale setting is an act that is reversible; you can

always reselect the original scale.

• A scale also gives the encoders a specific outline of notes to follow as they

are turned. So rather than always altering the pitch chromatically, you have

the option to specify a different musical scale. This is useful when you want

to change the pitch of one or more sequence steps during playback: select the

Scale that matches the song and no matter what, you’ll never select a wrong

note.

• There's a definable User scale that can be constructed using the

MIDI Control

Center [p.84]

. It can have anywhere from 1 to 12 notes per octave.

Here's what the Scale feature

does not

do:

• It doesn't change the notes that are available on the pads. Those will always be

the notes in the chromatic scale, from C to C, as printed below the lower left

corners of each button.

• It doesn't change the original notes that were input to the sequence steps using

the pads. If you entered C D E F G into the sequence, the BeatStep Pro will

remember those notes. If you select the Minor Scale afterward, you'll hear C D

Eb F G during playback instead of C D E F G. But you can always switch back to

the original notes.

: When the original pitch of the step is not available within the selected scale, the closest note in the

scale. If the played note is at the same distance between two notes of the scale, the next lowest pitch
will be played. For example: If the scale contains C, D, and E, but the sequencer needs to play a D#, it
will play a D at that step instead. The result will be C, D, and D.

Arturia - User Manual BeatStep Pro - The Step Sequencers

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