ScaleMate is the master scale tool for musicians and educators. It lets you visualize scales in ways that make their important qualities leap out at you. ScaleMate is a reference that shows you & plays for you any scale you wish…. But that's just the beginning. ScaleMate helps you hear & understand scales and harmony more deeply than ever before… by teaching you to visualize scales in ways that match what they sound like. Imagine… Wouldn't it be nice to have a single image for all the modes of the major scale? Ever wonder why the modes are ordered so oddly, hopping between major & minor & dominant? Or notice that the Altered Scale is the "darkest", most minor sounding of all possible dominant scales? Or that its tritone-substitution, the Lydian Dominant Scale, is the "brightest" of them all? Ever notice that the minor pentatonic scale is a mode of the major pentatonic scale and wonder whether there were any other useful pentatonic modes? Ever notice that the major pentatonic scale (and its modes) are the only 5-note scale that doesn't contain any half steps or tritones? ScaleMate shows you scales in a way that makes these observations quite natural and immediate… and plays you the results too. FEATURES • USE IT RIGHT AWAY Try ScaleMate right now! Built-in help is there for you whenever you want it. • LISTEN ScaleMate lets you hear what scales sound like, by playing them up & down, or by playing endless melodies that use them. • VISUALIZE WHAT YOU HEAR ScaleMate shows every scale both linearly (for melodic understanding) and on the circle of fifths (for harmonic understanding). • FULL LIBRARY OF SCALES ScaleMate knows all the scales you're ever likely to encounter. • A WELLSPRING OF KNOWLEDGE Extensive information pages on 40+ of the most common & important scales. • USE IT TO TEACH! ScaleMate is perfect for projecting on a screen or sharing over zoom while you teach. Its animations let you show how one scale transforms into another, and it has special features (pointing, hiding/revealing) for educators. • AUTOMATIC SCALE RECOGNITION Build your own scales and ask yourself "what if I make this change…" Whenever you produce a common scale, ScaleMate will automatically identify & title it. • ANIMATED IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES Change between one scale and another and see the differences between them, visually animated before you. • SMART SPELLING ScaleMate notates perfectly, for every scale in every key. • NOTE ROLES Next to each note, ScaleMate displays its function—in numbers (3, 5, b7) or in solfege (Mi, Sol, Te) or not at all, according to your preference. • SIMPLE OR ADVANCED NOTATION ScaleMate shows you double flats and double sharps whenever they're called for… unless you'd rather see simplified note names. Prefer never to see notes like Cb and E# either? You can have ScaleMate show them as B and F. • DIMINISHED HARMONY Choose the option to color the notes in three colors so you can see which diminished seventh chord every note belongs to. Great for understanding diminished scales & chords and seeing how they relate to other scales too. • JAZZ CRED ScaleMate is created by Anton Schwartz. An award-winning saxophonist and composer as well as an expert educator, he is the creator of the highly rated RANDOM ROOTS app. Terms and conditions: https://scalemate.app/terms-conditions Privacy policy: https://scalemate.app/privacy
Superlative Theory-Training Tool
Consistent drilling with this easy-to-use app will deepen your understanding of scale components, qualities, functions, unique properties, and commonalities. Such drilling will be painless (which is not to say “effortless”) and it’s addictive in that fun, spanky way that keeps you coming back for more because you know it’s making you a stronger musician. ScaleMate trains by providing simple but powerful visual imagery in a broad, highly-customizable range of scale-related contexts. A student can immediately begin mentally associating this imagery with principles governing both scale and harmony, as well as with the audio that will help cement comprehension of concepts. Everything ScaleMate says it does—it does. Lucky for us! The individual features of the app are many, and truly breathtaking considering the price I paid for the full version. Well-conceived app; lovely to use; responsive developer, if you’ve got questions or concerns... ...What’s to lose by giving it a try?
United StatesStellar Portable Learning
I am a retiree, and a low-level intermediate student of jazz guitar who just stopped in to praise Random Roots and its associated app, ScaleMate, to the skies. In time, I'd like to have learned more than just the "rules" fundamental to the study of harmony. Of course such rules (for example, those concerning the the building blocks of given scale types or chord types) are the bedrock on which further learning is based; but beyond memorization of those critical nuts and bolts, my aim is to internalize principles governing the array of possibilities we have in manipulating those elements in original ways, if we understand their individual qualities and how they relate to each other...indeed, if we can ultimately sit still and "hear" them in myriad combinations, ideally at will. This kind of understanding deepens the listening experience, enhances skill in composition and performance, and makes the hallowed yet daunting prospect of improvisation (There! I said it!) a realistic goal for people who are drawn to this area of musical mastery. Random Roots and ScaleMate are extremely sophisticated theory-training tools whose breadth and depth of material, variety of exercises, many customization features, and ease of use make them invaluable for people at absolutely any level of music study. Just having been exploring and working with their full versions for the past few days, I can see they will play no small part in allowing me to meet the aforementioned objectives—and I sense they're even going to make it fun, or at least meditative, and definitely time-efficient, as I toil away at my as-yet admittedly-non-existent craft. A very detailed run-down of each app's specific features is provided on the App Store, within the apps themselves, and online; but in essence, these tools have deftly harnessed technology in the service of training one to HEAR what is true about harmony itself, and by extension to hear what is true about harmonic possibility, with increasing comprehension and ease. Is it ever too early for a student of music to begin HEARING what is, and what is possible, in the realm of harmony? The farther we venture along these lines, the more melodic and chordal selection becomes a matter of instinct and reflex rooted in overarching principle, rather than a matter of conscious choice restricted by the limitations of the literal range of riffs, runs and single-key-related skills we've slaved to master one by one. Random Roots and ScaleMate seem to have been devised with the express purpose of prepping us to go as far as we might like on this particular journey. The overall vibe of the apps is actually quite cheery. Written instruction is clear and abundant; other information—primarily related to theory, but sometimes to the workings of the learning process itself—is presented with evident forethought and considerable insight. The effect can be strangely like having a seasoned tutor guiding one on one's path to ever-deepening musical competence and appreciation. (Speaking of guidance, I note here that the developer of the apps has proven very responsive to general inquiries concerning their use.) The developer's professional experience in learning-acquisition research, jazz performance, and music pedagogy have come together in two apps whose range and utility I'm only just beginning to properly fathom. If you're studying solo, with a teacher, or in a formal music program—or if you're a pro-level musician who wishes to further hone your present capabilities—I heartily recommend that you look into how Random Roots and ScaleMate can bolster your efforts as you go. Regarding the matter of the subscription model on which the full versions of these applications are sold—a thought: While I do not feel the model is warranted in all cases, with such apps as these, I see my yearly fees as contributing in some small way to the upkeep of remarkable offerings—offerings whose independent developer, in this case, has conceived, created and sought to maintain them while electing inexplicably to make each available, annually, for less than the price of a city-folk cup of coffee. For what it's worth, I believe one would be hard-pressed to name another source anywhere providing training tools of this nature, scope, quality, and level of thoughtfulness at the yearly price points involved. But one could consider first getting a feel for Random Roots and ScaleMate with the free versions of the apps, to see where such explorations might lead. I rarely write reviews in connection with purchases, but I'd like to think this one might serve as an extra little "thank you" for a new study aid I've already come to value a great deal. Anyone who already sees what I suspect lies on the other side of earnest efforts at musical understanding...Any such person will be clear on why I attach the importance I do to the tools I have herein described. Now then, back to the music-theory salt mines!
United StatesSuch a great tool!!
I’m getting so much use from this terrific app. If you’re looking for help in demystifying some of the important scales used in jazz, this app will help do exactly that. The app has many, many scales embedded in it, you can make changes to a degree in a scale and the app will identify what scale that is (if any). Importantly, this app will give you the keys to fundamental jazz harmony. Something I certainly need, and greater understanding in how they work together. I believe it’s improving my playing as I grasp more of the fundamentals that have been lacking. This is developed by a very dedicated jazz educator and elite horn player which explains why it’s so practical. I keep it open at my piano as I work through 2/5/1 exercises. Check out diminished coloring which is of great use. You can see how they hide out almost everywhere! This app will catch on soon, trust me. I’m glad I have it now at this excellent price point See you later! Time to get to the piano with my new friend ScaleMate... can’t wait!
United StatesScaleMate is Awesome!
This is a great app to help you get the sounds and colors of different scales into your mind’s ear. In addition to playing the scales up and down, it can be set to make up melodies, which really provides a more complete picture of the harmony. It can also meet you where you are, playing scales you know well, but can help cultivate a “taste “ for less familiar scales once you’re ready to extend your knowledge. Highly recommended!
United StatesVery helpful and instructive
Reveals melodic and harmonic relationships simultaneously, both visually and aurally. Works great. Supercool.
United StatesWow! Game changer.
Oh wow, this new app is fantastic! Maybe it’s just me, but at first blush it seemed like a beefed up version of the education setting in iRealPro, but after using it a bit, it’s so much more powerful and useful than that. I love being able to both see and hear the chord I’m working on, and each chord is laid out several different ways in one view, which makes for a really appealing way to experience the harmony you’re into at the moment. Lots to love about this app, but to my surprise, my favorite thing is actually the note randomizer function - because a scale is only one way to play the notes of a chord! Just sit back, and listen to a computer play all the right notes, haha. Seriously though - listening to it and watching it for a while on one chord is already helping connect my ear to the harmony in ways that just hearing the notes in alphabetical order never could. Coming from a classical music background, I can already tell this is going to be a game-changer for my ability to hear jazz harmony. They say there’s no shortcut, you just have to listen - but I disagree. Now you can see it, too! :-) Thanks so much!!!
United States
Animations for when note added/removed from scale. Especially useful for teaching.• IMPROVED
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