Scale Mode and Fold to Scale affect the editing view
A MIDI clip has a root note and scale selection. With Scale Mode active, the editor can highlight notes from that scale. Fold to Scale reduces the visible rows to the selected collection, while retaining rows that already contain out-of-scale notes.
C major contains C, D, E, F, G, A and B. Highlighting these notes makes their locations easier to see in a piano roll. It provides a visual reference for a pitch collection, but says nothing by itself about the rhythm, register or harmonic role of a melody.
The clip setting and sounding result can differ
Changing the selected clip scale leaves its written pitches in place. Scale-aware devices can separately affect the notes heard during playback. The clip display and the complete device chain therefore describe different stages of the result.
For example, a clip containing C, D#, F# and G includes two notes outside C major. Setting its scale to C major does not erase those sharps from the clip. Whether the resulting audio preserves them also depends on the instrument and any pitch-changing MIDI processing.
Fit to Scale edits pitches by distance
Fit to Scale is available in the clip’s Pitch and Time Utilities when a clip scale is active. It affects selected notes, or the clip if none are selected. It chooses the nearest scale pitch, using the lower pitch when both distances are equal.
In C major, D# is equally close to D and E, so it moves to D. F# is equally close to F and G, so it moves to F. C and G already belong to the scale and remain unchanged. The example therefore becomes C, D, F and G. That result follows pitch distance rather than an assessment of the best melody.
| Original note | After Fit to C major | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| C | C | Already in the scale |
| D# | D | Equal distance to D and E; lower pitch chosen |
| F# | F | Equal distance to F and G; lower pitch chosen |
| G | G | Already in the scale |
A scale note is not necessarily a chord tone
Above the C-major triad C–E–G, the edited F is in the scale but outside the chord. A held F followed by E has a different relationship to the harmony from a phrase ending on F. Both versions use only C-major notes.
The alternative melody C–E–F–G changes the second note from the automatically selected D to E. Neither sequence is universally preferable. Its effectiveness depends on timing, emphasis, the surrounding harmony and the desired movement of the phrase. Being within a scale leaves those choices open.
A note collection does not establish a tonal centre
C major and A natural minor contain the same pitch classes. A fitting operation restricted to that collection cannot determine which should feel like home. Bass notes, chord movement and phrase endings contribute to that perception.
This explains why a melody can remain inside the selected scale yet feel unsettled against a track. The important relationship may be to the current chord or the final note of a phrase. Scale features narrow the available pitches and make editing clearer; they do not resolve every question of harmony or expression.