Drawing

Drawing in either matrix is straightforward. Simply dragging a finger around in it will paint a pattern and at the same time play the associated notes as well as highlight those in the current instrument if in range. Drawing is so easy in fact that we had to provide a locking mechanism for our songs to prevent unintentional editing. Other than finger drawing ScalePlay also provides some elementary draw tools. These merely have the function to provide primitives that can serve as a basis for further adjustments and are not meant to be exhaustive.

Note the small gray bar in the top center of the phrase matrix above right under the draw tool icons. It indicates that a particular matrix is currently designated as draw target for ScalePlay's draw tools. Tapping in the number or letter columns of either matrix will designate it as the current draw target.

 

Toolbar

There are 7 draw tools altogether subdivided into draw primitives and mirroring options. Please note the little gray bar in the bottom section of the image above. It - again - denotes the draw target. So from left to right we have:

Straight Line Tool

This tool draws a straight horizontal line in the center of the current draw target (either the phrase or the step matrix).

Ascending Line Tool

This tool draws an ascending line from the left bottom corner to the right top corner of the current draw target.

Bell Curve Tool

This tool draws a bell shape in the current draw target.

Sinus Curve Tool

This tool draws a sinus wave in the current draw target.

Random Draw Tool

This tool makes random entries in the current draw target.

Vertical Reflection Tool

This tool mirrors everything in the current draw target along a centered vertical axis.

Horizontal Reflection Tool

This tool mirrors everything in the current draw target along a centered horizontal axis.

Summary

While we don't have a ton of draw tools in ScalePlay their usefulness is amplified greatly by the two mirror options provided. To draw a U shape for example we just generate a bell curve and mirror it horizontally. And with a maximum of 32 rows and columns (phrase grid) we are not in need of much more.

Now let's take a better look at chords.