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Yes I have both as well and definitely agree. What I’m anxiously waiting for is Chord Generator (Same Dev as Harmony Bloom). It’s on its way to iPad here shortly. I have it on desktop and really looking forward to using on the iPad. Feels more musical (if that makes sense) and intuitive than Scaler or Progressions in my opinion.
I'd be interested to know how it differs from Chordjam as it looks very similar on the face of it
I have both Scaler 2 and Progressions, and they work differently, so it depends on what you need and your workflow.
*Scaler 2
f you're interested in using the principles of music theory and a massive library of chords, arpeggios, performances and very deep tools, then that's Scaler 2. I love it, and it's amazing, but one of the difficulties that I face with it is that it's easy to just scratch the surface and just randomly pick built in chord progressions, and some sort of performance type, and just feel like I'm just grabbing random stuff, and not really feel in control. That's because I haven't consistently spent time with the app and done a deep dive to find my own path. For someone like me (not a producer, not a whiz) to do this app justice, I would have to dedicate some serious time for that. That's not to say that you can't get amazing results in five minutes, especially if you know some theory. It's just that the app is so deep and wide, that I always feel like I'm just swimming in the shallows. In my view, it's intended to pair with a DAW and be a sort of assistant to creating chord progressions and sections of chord sequences and performances - its not for creating full songs within the app itself.
There are so many features, I can't even do it justice with a comment here - it would required a book. Suffice to say, the app is a beast, easy to get started, but requires some serious experience and knowledge to really utilize all of it's features.
Lastly, this may sound odd, but I actually find myself using Scaler 2 more as a learning tool for music theory and harmony than an actual creative tool.
*Progressions
This app is geared toward using an algorithm that generates collections of chords, that you can then select from and make your own progressions from. It includes very capable strumming and arpeggiating tools, and has a song mode with arrangement labels. You can customize the chords with inversions, create custom chords, change the range of the chords, choose spread voicings, and lots of stuff like that. Scaler 2 can do all of that stuff (Edit: It does not have an algorithmic chord generator), but lacks an arranger, but Scaler 2 does have a pad page that let's you stack up sequences of chords in a grid format. It functions well as a self contained song generator when paired with one or more external instruments, and I find that it puts me in a more outside the box type of creative space. I feel more able to experiment and play with different performances in Progressions and try different things by tapping on knobs and changing settings after I have a progression in place. In Scaler 2 I always feel like I'm working within some sort of predefined musical space based on something like modal or tonal harmony, or a particular style, and I find it a bit tedious to work out the performances for each measure in a long series of chords but again that's just me.
In Summary:
That's a bit of my own take on these apps, but I strongly recommend that you check out videos for both. The folks over at Scaler Music do a great job of showing how the app can be used on desktop with very powerful DAWs and plugins. It's easy to be blown away by the results when they use incredible sounds and effects with Scaler 2, whereas the Progressions videos are shown using iPad and AUM or maybe Logic Pro on iPad, so it's dificult to do a proper apples/apples comparison, but if you focus on what the app offers in terms of workflow, content and the interface, you'll probably get a decent idea.
@charalew looks like Chord Generator just dropped. I think you’ll like it.
@EdZAB exactly the kind of explanation I think a lot of us appreciate. Have you tried Harmonicc? If so, how do you feel it relates?
I enjoyed scaler 2, but don't own full version and use harmoniccer often.
This may be Progressions 101 so excuse the question if it’s a dummy. Is it possible to bind chords to keys so one can trigger chords with a note from an external (or internal) keyboard?
Yes - MIDI Notes 0-17 will trigger the Chord Pads 1-18. You must tap on the MIDI Input Control button (lower left corner next to the chord wheel) to enable MIDI input. The first MasterClass video (link below) covers some of the MIDI input control options but the app's built in help has detail on every MIDI note control, which extends up to note 23. **Please excuse the excess of information - others may have this same question and more, so just throwing this all in:
Progressions MasterClass Video #1
My companion guide for the video
4Pockets - Progressions for iOS - MasterClass 1 - 01-24-2022 - Rough Guide Companion
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Mp79yo79A-7sgSuVvnBrWqLDhO056bP0/view?usp=sharing
Yes - I got Harmonicc when it was released. It's very interesting - completely different from Scaler 2 or Progressions. I'm still experimenting with it to figure out how it will fit in my workflow, but I am finding that it offers up very unusual chord sequences, which I like, and which have a different character than any other chord generator app that I've tried.
Awesome! Thanks so much @EdZAB, greatly appreciated.
Does anyone have a link to the paper David Collett wrote that forms part of the basis of this app? There was a dropbox link earlier in the thread but it's empty now.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gxpbqayjgtj91byvd0jz4/Circle-of-Colors-David-Collett.pdf?rlkey=4c02bo25lsyqtllt1n8llnc8e&st=jublva8v
Thanks @GRiker.
I could have sworn I saw a video a while back that showed a bunch of Paul’s midi apps synced with each other. Something along the lines of helium triggering/transposing key/chord changes in progressions or Euclidean. Can’t find it, browsed a buncha discussions here, went through his master class vids and no luck. Am I crazy? Is this even a doable function with the 4pockets stuff? Is this all just some weird dream?! (I know he likes to hide stuff in sub menus, so maybe it’s right in front of my nose and I just missed it)
Was just setting up a midi session including 4pockets stuff when it occurred to me: Progressions only gives you options for Major and Minor when choosing mode/scale for chords. All of Paul’s other apps I own (helium, Euclidean, etc) have all sorts of options. Lydian, Ionian, harmonic, even middle eastern stuff. Does anyone know why Progressions is so barebones in these offerings? With the nature of the app, you would think it would have BOATLOADS of choices! Or is the chordal aspect why it’s so limited (honestly my knowledge of music theory is very lacking)?
I know a tiny bit about music theory from YT, but what my brain tells me is that major and minor are just a convenient way to describe the overall tonality of a piece. If you look at Mozart, Brahms, and other great composers, the score usually states a key such as A Minor, or G Major, and the piece will tend to sound darker or brighter respectively. Within such a composition there may be all sorts of other scales and modes (which I view as rearrangements of the scale notes) in play, but the overall tone of the piece (or sections of it) will tend to land in minor or major territory. In the progressions app, when you select higher levels of complexity, additional notes are added to the chords, and even when set to major you get chords with a flat 5 or a sharp 4, and those would definitely not be in the major scale or the selected key. To be honest, I'm not sure how much difference it makes if you select major or minor when the complexity is up, but I'd be very happy if someone explained it or if I've got it all completely wrong. 🙂
Thanks for taking the time. I did some learnage last night too. Had the sneaking suspicion that the freedom/complexity functions were taking the place of choosing an exact scale after picking a major or minor mode, and I think your explanation sounds about right. Like i said, my music theory knowledge is low, so I’ll probably need a cheat sheet for a while, but it seems that going forward when mixing Progressions with other midi apps (let’s say helium), I would make my choices in helium first (let’s say C Lydian), then go to my cheat sheet to see whether this is Major or Minor, and then just mess with the complexity/freedom til the notes of the Lydian scale predominately make up the chords. Or start taking lessons in music theory haha. Honestly not sure why this dev choice was made when other apps like Scaler give you all the options, but here we are! 🤷🏻♂️
@Squishy - Good deal. At the end of the day, I say trust your ears over the theory - if it sounds major it is major, and if it sounds good, it doesn’t matter what the theory says about it!
@EdZAB
Yup, how I’ve been/will go forward with using Progressions. If it sounds good, screw the math behind it! Will keep an eye on other options for more precise chord implementation. Cheers dude, thanks for the assist 🤙
I’m trying to use the multi out ports in Progressions, sending them to three different instruments in AUM. In the Progressions midi port settings I have Block Chords on port 1, Bass Note on port 2, and Arpeggiator on port 3. I then route each port to their respective instruments within AUM. Everything is gravy with the Block/Bass instruments, got sound, but the arpeggiator channel gives me nothing. If I switch from block chords to arpeggiator mode in Progressions, the arp channel has sound but the block channel is silent. Am I misunderstanding the functionality of Progressions? Can it not put out block chords and arpeggiaton simultaneously? I know I can create another instance of Progressions and sync them, but I’m trying to cut back on DSP usage on my older device. If you can’t have them outputting at the same time, what is the purpose of the multiple ports? Maybe I’m missing a setting that needs to be ticked somewhere?
@Squishy - That's an excellent question. I had to go back an revisit the developer's channel to get a refresher on this. I'll give you my take on it, but the video below is the best explanation you can get, straight from the dev (if you haven't seen it yet).
As I understand it, Progressions is fundamentally designed to provide two simultaneous outputs over MIDI, the first being Block Chords, Arp or Strum, and the other being Bass, which is basically extracted from the chords driving those three. The MIDI ports are provided for convenience and because some people like to use MIDI ports instead of MIDI channels. Apps like AUM make it very easy to work with MIDI ports and routing between instruments. You can do the same exact function with MIDI channels, again limited to two items as above.
Where this may make a bit more sense is in song mode, because you can actually change between Block Chords, Arp and Strum on a per step basis, and within those you can even change style (A, B,C, D, etc). As Paul points out in the video below, you may want to use different instrument types for Block Chords (e.g Piano) vs. Arp (maybe a synth pluck), and I can't think of an easy way you could switch between instruments within a song without this feature. Of course, if you have no need for this, then it becomes simply two outputs at once.
Here's a pic of Song mode, where I've assigned different playback modes to each step of a song, for demo purposes. It would be quite erratic to jump around this much in reality, but I could see how a longer piece that had different sections and completely different character could morph from Block Chords, to Arp, or to Strum and back again. In this setup, I have the Bass on iFretless (Port 1), Block Chords on Ravenscroft (Port 2), Arp on Chameleon (Port 3), and Strum on StrummerFX (Port 4).
If any additional benefits of the ports become apparent after seeing the video, or others can add more, please chime in.
*Developer Video
Progressions for iOS - MasterClass 2
*Sample AUM Project
Thank you sooooo much for the write up, and I kind of had that inkling. I went back and watched Paul’s master classes too. There was one point in them where I could have sworn he had block and arpeggios routed at the same time, but now I’m thinking he was just sending out block chords to two sources: one doing chords and the other SET TO ARP PRESET IN APP. Haha, silly me. Thanks for clarifying! And yes, the song mode/playback mode is very powerful, thanks for pointing that out, I’ll just use that or multiple progressions instances going forward. Again, thank ya kindly for taking the time 👍
@Squishy - you’re very welcome. Go, 4Pockets!!