Intellijel µScale 1.0 - Manual (Page 2)

Menus (Short Hold) Cont’d
Special Functions (Long Hold)
Shifting
SCALE: Select one of 12 possible scales from the current bank. Selected scale is indicated with a red LED. Blank scales have
no LEDs lit while stored scales are indicated with green LEDs. So if you select a scale from one of the currently available non-
empty banks then the LED color will be yellow (red+green = yellow).
SAVE: Save scales to one of 12 possible locations in the current bank. Available locations are non-illuminated while used loca-
tions are indicated with a green LED.
X: Clear the currently active scale steps by pressing button#12 (B, illuminated as yellow). All other buttons will exit while doing
nothing.
LOAD FROM EEPROM (BANK Button): Use this function to load all banks and settings that are stored in the EEPROM (non-
volatile memory). Every time the µScale is powered on it automatically performs a load from EEPROM.
SCALE SELECT MODE (SCALE Button): This is a special mode that allows users to select up to 12 different scales from the
current BANK via the SHIFT input (using CV). Scale editing becomes disabLED (in order to edit the scales you must exit this
mode by pressing and holding the SCALE Button again) and the main display will show the currently selected scale pattern in
real time. ROOT, SCALE and SAVE menus are all disabLED in this mode. You can still choose different banks, edit the interval
amount and make changes to SETTINGS (although no SETTINGS will have any current effect except for the MODE ).
Keep in mind that if you have set the SHIFT input jumper setting to bipolar then positive values in the range of 0-5V will select
scales 7-12 in the current Bank while -5V to 0V will select scales 1-6.
SAVE TO EEPROM (SAVE Button): Use this function to permanently save all stored scales/banks and settings to EEPROM. If
you do not do this, all edits and changes to banks, scales and settings will be lost when you power down the module.
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There are three special modes accessible by pressing and holding the following buttons for approximately 2 seconds:
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The SETTINGS menu allows you to set Shift Type and Shift Destination.
Shift Type:
The incoming CV values at the “IN” jack are first quantized to a chromatic scale value and then quantized to the current active scale.
All shifting is applied after the chromatic quantizing which means it starts with some note value in the 10 octave range. The CV values
at the “SHIFT” jack are quantized to a value in the range of +/-12.
Pre-Scale: This type of shifting occurs after the chromatic quantizing but before the scale quantizing. What this means is that the CV
value at “IN” is quantized then the “SHIFT” value is added to it, and then it is quantized to the current scale.
For example, if my incoming note was a C2 and my shift value was ‘3’ and the Shift Destination was A (in this case 3 means semitones)
then the resulting value is C2+3semi = D#. This new value is then quantized to the current scale. So if the active scale is CMajor (which
contains C,D,E,F,G,A,B) then the final resulting note that will play out of OUTA is E2 (the nearest note in the scale to D#, scale quantiz-
ing always rounds up).
The interval value (generated at OUTB) uses the NoteA value as its root but it uses the value before the shifting is added to it.
So in the above example if the interval value was ‘5’ and its mode was ‘Chromatic’ then the note at OUTB would be C2+5=F2 (not
E2+5).
If the shift destination had been ‘B’ instead of ‘A’ then OUTA would have been C2 (no change), but OUTB would be the sum of the chro-
matically quantized root note at ‘IN” (in this case C2) plus the shift amount (3) which would then be quantized to the scale (resulting in a
value of E2) and then the interval value is added to it (5) so scaLED(C2+3)+5=G2#.
If the destination had been A+B then the result would have been OUTA = E2 and OUT B = G2# (both got shifted)
In-Scale: This type of shifting is Diatonic and occurs after both the chromatic and scale quantizing. This means that the shift amount
represents the amount of degrees within the currently active scale. So a note value of C2 with a shift value of 3, destination of A and
an active scale of CMajor would result in a shifted note of OUT A = F2 since this is three scale notes above C2 (remember the CMajor
scale C,D,E,F,G,A,B where the distance between C and F is 3 scale degrees).
If the destination had been B then the OUTA would be unchanged (C2) but OUTB would be the diatonically shifted value of C2 (F2) plus
the interval value (e.g. 5 semitones) which results in OUTB = F2+5 = A#2.
If the destination had been A+B then then OUTA = F2 and OUTB = A#2.