Arturia KEYSTEP 37 User Manual page 42

When you play a scale only on white keys, ascending from the 5th step of the C major
scale, G to G', you get another series of intervals: tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone,
tone. This is known as the Mixolydian mode.
Creating different scales in this way, each with its own special emotional feeling, is an age-
old trick. Scales created this way are sometimes referred to as 'church modes', which were
largely unused for centuries but rediscovered by jazz musicians in the 1950s and 1960s.
They are now widely used in western music.
3.6.5.1. Selecting Scales
In the KeyStep 37, if you select a scale using the Shift + Scale key feature, everything – what
you play on the keyboard, a running arpeggio, the currently selected sequence – will play in
that scale.
The Scale option works as a filter, selecting notes from the chromatic scale. For each scale,
it's a different set of notes. In technical terminology, it quantizes the default chromatic scale
(C, Db, D, Eb, E, F, Gb, G, Ab, A, B, B) to either the:
• Major scale (C, D, E, F, G, A, B)
• Minor scale (C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb)
• Blues scale (C, Eb, F, Gb, G, Bb)
To hear (and see) the effect of selecting a scale on your KeyStep 37, switch it ON if it isn't on
already and select a preset on your external synth with a fairly simple sound.
Press Shift + Scale/Major (Key A4) to select the Major scale. When you now play the white
keys you'll hear the major scale. The odd thing is that the black keys also play the major
scale! The black key that normally plays C# now plays C natural. All black keys are 'stripped'
of their normal pitch and have been lowered a semitone to fit in the C major scale. Whatever
chord you play on the keyboard, it will always be a chord of the major scale!
Let's explore these scales. Select Arpergiator mode and press play to activate the
Arpeggiator and, starting from C, hold down the first, third and fifth steps of the major scale;
you're now playing a C major chord. Press Shift + a Scale key to select other scales. You'll
hear the third step changing when you select the Minor scale, or the Blues scale

!: A nifty trick is to start an arpeggio or sequence in a certain scale, then select another scale with the
Shift + Scale key option. You'll hear your arpeggio or sequence change scale on the fly. If in Arpeggio
mode press Hold to be able to lift your fingers from the keyboard once the arpeggio is playing. !: You
can also use the Pitchbend strip to change the pitch of your arpeggio.
37 Arturia - User Manual KeyStep 37 - Shift Functions