Intellijel uScale - Why so Hard to Use?

[TemplarK]

I would just use a Cminor scale on the Uscale but tune my oscillator to A at 0v. That way you hear the Aminor scale even though the Uscale shows a Cminor.

In general I always work with C major or minor on the Uscale interface but I tune my oscillators to whatever root note I want.

Right i see. Tuning oscillators to different notes other than C is something i've not really gotten into as yet for the reason i don't know exactly if they will stay in tune how i want them to. So, if i tune to any note and set a major chord it will play the correct notes? Interesting thanks! Does this work for #'s and flat chords also?

[C3P4]

Right i see. Tuning oscillators to different notes other than C is something i've not really gotten into as yet for the reason i don't know exactly if they will stay in tune how i want them to. So, if i tune to any note and set a major chord it will play the correct notes? Interesting thanks! Does this work for #'s and flat chords also?

Yes that should work if I'm understanding correctly. Set the Uscale to a Cmajor chord (C, E, G) but tune the root note of your oscillator to A when at 0v and you'll hear A, C#, E. So when the C is lit up on the Uscale you'll hear A, etc. All you're doing with the freq. knob on your oscillator is offsetting the voltage coming from the Uscale via the V/oct input jack. The ratios between notes remain the same, i.e. 5 semi tones between C and E and 5 semi tones between A and C#.

[Kivig]

Hi all. Great thread!!
I'm very new to the modular world but I'm a musician and keybardist throuout many years. I understand most of the functions on the uScale, but I seem to miss out on what to feed it. Can you give some examples on how your are patching up your uScale in order to get melodic slow patterns?
I'm going crazy..

Thanks!!

[cptnal]

Seen this one?



I would generally just feed mine an LFO, sample & hold, or looped random from Pam's or suchlike...

[Keltie]

I run Turing into mine a lot. Wait till a nice melody comes, then lock the tm...

Any cv source really. Lfos tend to give me arp like patterns, envs little trills and runs ( or loop for more arps)

One tip, if you mult whatever trigger you are using to envelope the resulting voice into a sample and hold trigger, with the SH between your cv source and the quantiser, you’ll tend to get cleaner pitches on each note on...otherwise it’s easy to get slides and bends inside the notes ( which is also cool sometimes)

[cackland]

Random source (0v - 5v+) > Maths (attenuation control through 2 & 3 attenuators) > Maths sum out to uScale 1v/Oct in.

Control attenuation on Maths to select the range of movement. 1 attenuator controls the base note octave, the second controls the range of random movement.

Sometimes, i even send the maths a random source voltage, or LFO to change the octave and range of movement through the uScale over time.

[Kivig]

Thanks guys for quick reply on your "feeding" habits.

I have a Pamela's Workout and a Maths, but only tried to get it to work once, without any great result. Will go through some youtubes and try out your suggestions.

Will definately try out this..

Random source (0v - 5v+) > Maths (attenuation control through 2 & 3 attenuators) > Maths sum out to uScale 1v/Oct in.

Control attenuation on Maths to select the range of movement. 1 attenuator controls the base note octave, the second controls the range of random movement.

Sometimes, i even send the maths a random source voltage, or LFO to change the octave and range of movement through the uScale over time.

[cptnal]

Actually Pam's is really good for creating sequences, especially when you combine channels. Having a channel on random, grabbing a loop, then adjusting the level (around 20% is best) and offset you can land it in just the range you want. Then use other channels to create your envelopes/rhythms/whatever. Where the combining comes in is you can use another of Pam's channels' gate waveform to create transpositions (adjust division and width for timing, offset and level for pitch). So take this and your original sequence into a mixer and then to your quantizer and you can begin to see why you don't need a sequencer.

[Kivig]

Thanks @cptnal

I will try it out soon!!

https://soundcloud.com/larskivig/as2o31

[yellotron]

Here's a question about uScale. In the manual near the top of p. 10 there's this sentence.

So in the above example if the interval value was ‘5’ and its mode was ‘Chromatic’ then the note at OUT B ​would be C2 + 5 = F2 (not E2+5).

Is this correct? When I set the uScale up the way specified in the sentences leading up to this sentence, the resultant note coming from OUT B is A2, not F2. Also, as I understand the way INTRVL works, this would make sense. (The scale I have set up here is C maj.)

I have the uScale set the same as the example in the manual specifies: 'SCALE SHIFT' mode is "PRE SCALE" with a shift input of 3, which produces an E2 at OUT A if the shift is applied, and a C2 at OUT A if the shift is not applied. ('B MODE' is "CHROMATIC".)

If I set 'Shift Destination' to B, then the output from OUT B is G#2, which is what the manual indicates. (Also, if I set the 'B Mode' to 'Diatonic', then I get C3 out of OUT B.)

Again, my question is just verifying that the manual is correct. It looks like the behavior I'm seeing indicates that the INTRVL works diatonically, not chromatically, which would mean the INTRVL behavior doesn't necessarily correspond with SHIFT behavior in this respect.

In other words, it looks to me as though INTRVL is always diatonically calculated in PRE SCALE mode.

[j450nn014n]

i never tried to set up a new scale, i always use the factory scales, also i find very usefull use an bipolar attenuator before uScale in order to reduce the CV range (random source) to have a 2 or 3 notes melodies....or play to make the range bigger to get more notes.

i'll try to set up a custom scale to figure out how hard is.

;)

THANK YOU! You just solved 90% of my problems with uScale. I'm not experienced enough to realize that that would help, but I'm getting to the point that it was obvious as soon as you mentioned it. There's hope.

[rrooyyccee]

HI,

I have a uscale ii and am having trouble doing something simple.

The goal: input a note (in the key of C), have output A be quantized to the key of C, and have output B give a major or minor 3rd, in the key of C. Not worried about shifts yet, until I get this resolved.

I can get output A to do what is expected. However, when I try to get output B to play an interval, I can't get output B to be quantized correctly in the key of C.

My procedure: turn on, select notes in key of C with a user scale.
Press "interval" and select an interval (3rd of fifth).

Play keyboard. Track notes using tuner. Output A behaves, Output B is nonsense, playing notes out of key.

Press "Menu" for a second or two. Choose "Diatonic" for output B.

What am I missing, or is my uscale defective?

[rrooyyccee]

After watching the highly recommended 4 part Vimeo videos mentioned in posts above, I may understand my error: which is assuming that pressing "interval" and then "C" represents a minor second, not unison. I see other posts suggesting that pressing "C" rapidly twice does make the interval unison. That is not in the manual, I'll try that tonight.