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roblabs · Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 8:26 pm Post subject: electribe2 Scale Mode Uses

I know some of you are confused about scale mode, because the manual is not very clear on how it works. Here's how you use it:

You start on C Ionian. If you have scale mode on for Part 1 and record something, and then change the scale to A Aeolian, you've just transposed it to a minor scale.

So lets say you record a bassline that you want to remain constant, but you want a synth line to transpose up and down. Record the bass on Part 1, and put scale mode off. Record the synth lead on part 2 with scale mode on. Now when you go to the scale settings and you change from C to D, only the synth will transpose, and the bassline will stay on C.

Or lets say you want 8 different lines going on all in different modes/scales. Put all 8 parts on scale mode off, and record with a different scale for each part.

You can come up with all sorts of weird pieces like this. Hope this clarifies Scale Mode.
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cntrlchng · Joined: 15 Dec 2013 Posts: 39

thank you.
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apapdop · Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2015 7:07 am Post subject:

That all looks fun, will try some of that out. Nice one!!
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SMK · Platinum Member Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 1197

This is pretty handy. The only thing I have not had time to test is if scale mode "ON" affects the pitch knob / setting. So If you want all your parts in a pattern to be Dorian at the key of G, turning the pitch up or down, it is only in that scale. For some of you die hard trouble shooters out there, have you noticed that being possible?

I admit, I only use the pitch setting on drums sounds.
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neeth · Joined: 13 Jan 2015 Posts: 5

Thank you. I'll try this soon. Opens up a lot of new melodic variations!

Hugo · Platinum Member Joined: 23 Jun 2006 Posts: 809

Great, thanks for the info, roblabs.

apapdop · Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2015 9:33 am Post subject:

SMK · Platinum Member Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 1197

phillwilson · Full Member Joined: 28 Feb 2010 Posts: 130

that's a great explanation...korg should let you do the manuals seeing as this is a lot more in depth then their offerings.

whormongr · Joined: 12 Jan 2015 Posts: 21 Location: Alameda CA

the thing that I did find though is that the playback from the machine is also governed by the scale mode - that is that if you have scale mode on and are either sequencing from an external source or recording notes - it seems to modify based on the scale, I had it in an aeolean and was playing and recording Major chords through and was absolutely confused as to what it was doing until I figured out that I needed to turn scale mode off or it would turn them into something that fit the key.

4kb · Joined: 05 Jul 2015 Posts: 11

Sorry to bump a thread, but I would like to add a small (albeit) obvious thing about the Scale Mode which I thought was left out of the manual and left me a tad confused.

This is a great explanation of the Scale Mode function, one thing about it which is left unsaid (mostly in the Parameter Guide which just says, don't do this) is what happens when you enable Scale Mode on a part which already has notes recorded.

So I got my Electribe yesterday and I pretty much spent all night messing with it. Early this morning, I was fiddling with the options and turned on Scale Mode while one of the default patterns (Traveler 2) was playing. For some reason the selected parts note values all changed, so I turned it off.

With Traveler, it's key is A# Aeolian (A# Min). I noticed the bass note switching from A#1 to G#2 when I enabled Scale Mode, a 10 semitone increase, aka a dominant 7th. A light went off and I realized if you enable Scale Mode (after notes have been recorded) it will transpose everything to the Key and Scale you have set, from the default value of C Chromatic. (C to A# (Bb) is that dominant 7th). It seems a tad odd, as I thought it would just stay in the key it was in.

So it's important to set it first, as the parameter guide says, if not it will transpose everything up to the Key and Scale you have selected, instead of leaving it alone as I thought it would (the part is already in key, why would it change?! heh). Nothing really explained how this worked in the manual, so I thought I would shed some light on it. Though it seems common sense, like OP said, it's sort of a confusing feature. Sorry if this was redundant, as it really offers no help just a bit of insight into this oddly named feature.

Cheers
-4kb

pauloapo · Joined: 05 Jul 2015 Posts: 17

SMK · Platinum Member Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 1197