FeelYourSound Debuts Sundog Scale Studio For OS X

feelyoursound.com has released Sundog Scale Studio for Mac OS X.
The stand-alone software connects to other DAWs and hardware instruments via MIDI and sends note commands to trigger chords and melodies.

Developer Hauke Menges describes the software: “The main focus of Sundog lies on writing harmonic EDM songs from scratch without having to worry about music theory.

He continues, “This is how it works:

  1. Connect Sundog to your DAW.
  2. Pick a scale – like C Major or E Minor.
  3. Sundog will show you a list of chords that can be used on this scale.
  4. Create a chord progression by clicking and listening.
  5. Use the internal step sequencer to create melodies or arpeggios on your chords and scale notes.”

sundog_laptopSundog Scale Studio Features:

  • Over 300 scales included.
  • Create harmonic melodies and arpeggios easily.
  • MIDI file export via drag and drop.
  • Find all fitting chords for a given scale.
  • Convert MIDI note input (white keys) to scale notes.
  • Cure writer’s block by experimenting with new harmonies.
  • Output: Standard MIDI note data.
  • Input: MIDI notes, computer keys, mouse.
  • Buy once, get updates forever – for all supported platforms.

Pricing and Availability. Sundog costs $39 / €29 and is available now for use with Mac OS X and Windows. Through Sunday 13 July, feelyoursound.com is offering a 15% discount on the software. More information is available at the feelyoursound website.

15 thoughts on “FeelYourSound Debuts Sundog Scale Studio For OS X

  1. downloaded the demo. that isn’t “all fitting chords for a given scale”. it’s not even half. if it included all the chords for each scale i’d buy it, that would be an extremely useful tool. but in this app even the chords it does include seem to be selected at random and arbitrarily organized, rather that listed in any sort of harmonic order. fix it up to be all inclusive and make it list the chords in a common sense way and i’ll buy it.

    1. Hi there!

      Well, it really doesn’t include _all_ the chords that could be computed for any given scale. This would be insane ;). But it includes the main triads for now. I have plans for a better, more structured chords view in future versions, but many customers like the current way as well.
      BTW: The chords aren’t sorted randomly. They are slowly moving up the scale, from left/top to right/bottom.

      Greetings,
      Hauke of feelyoursound.com

      1. for the record, i do know music theory. that is why i’m saying this could be a very useful tool of was designed more for musicians. it’s not crazy to include every possible iteration of the chords belonging to a scale, lots of apps and websites do it. i like your general user interface but it needs to go more in depth (without sub-menus!) to be a useful tool. as it is it’s just a toy to me. many aspects of it are good, but make it a real production tool for musicians, not a toy.

  2. What happened to learning musical theory?!! And if you don’t like that: Just compose from your heart. Use your ears! Feel the music. Make mistakes and learn from them.
    Don’t lower yourself to this press-this-one-button-to-make-an-entire-song-crap!

  3. I gotta hand it to the creators, this video is a lot of fun. “Organic chords” is pretty funny. It seems like it’s getting easier and easier to write something that sounds like music without much musicianship necessary (which is what I think a few people are responding to), but it definitely doesn’t take anything *away* from musicianship, which is important to remember.

    Sometimes the feeling of “hey I had to work pretty hard to get that far, and now it’s too easy” or “kids these days aren’t going to learn xyz” catches me too, but there’s a similar analogy with graphics.

    My mother was a graphic designer from the 50s to the 80s, drew everything by hand, had to photograph, cut, erase, redraw, rephotograph, etc. Today Photoshop allows anyone to get into graphic design (just like DAWs make it possible for anyone with a laptop to basically have a studio at their fingertips), but it doesn’t a superstar make. One still needs to master the rules of layout, composition, color, and hierarchy, (and that feeling from the heart!) to make stellar designs.

    Now people can enjoy the pleasure of being creative without the previous hurdles. If they stop at that, great they had some fun, some will go on and pursue the skills further. It definitely doesn’t bring anything *backwards.*

    And the combination of some musicianship with tools like this can make for a pretty fun time. I’m going to download the demo and give it a whirl.

  4. While some musicians are busy knocking this tool as a shortcut, other musicians will use it as a tool to be prolific and generate music that people may actually want to hear. If anything it could be used as a tool to learn music theory.

  5. On one hand, I applaud efforts to bring harmonic and melodic work “into the light” especially if the tools would result in exploring new scales and new chords, and interesting melodic shapes.

    This demo uses a minor scale (diatonic) with a four chord progression. And most musicians who are more experienced could come up with music like this (without the aid of any tools) with one hand, while they did … er… something else … with the other hand.

  6. I get the sentiments of several posters above, but I think this tool actually works toward eliminating that which you complain about. I would have loved to have this back when I was learning to play a keyboard!

    Look at the scenarios. If someone wasn’t bothering to learn music theory/keyboard skills in the first place, with this tool they could at least be in key all the time now! That’s a huge plus. And along the way the will accidentally learn a lot about music theory. For the rest of us, it’s just another tool that might help you work faster or smarter. Nothing wrong with that.

    I also like the clean, direct interface. It reminds me a bit of liquid rhythm.

    1. This could also be a fantastic tool for instrumentalists who don’t play keyboard, but are looking for backing tracks to practice with, or need some basic keyboard parts for their original compositions.

  7. first – why are people always against something just because it is a new approach? loving the old is fine. don’t worry, you can go on as you wish. this thingy is not about replacing the old, it is just something for some people. there are so many ways to make music – this may be one.

    second – what a nice little vid!

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