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Goodies · Free MIDI effect
KeyFlow
Play in any scale, right from the white keys
Pick a root and a scale, and KeyFlow moves every key you play onto it as you play. Each key plays its own note of the scale, so nothing doubles up the way snap-to-scale modes do.
Features
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Every note in key
Any root and 14 scales: major and minor, the modes, harmonic and melodic minor, both pentatonics, blues, Phrygian dominant and Hungarian minor.
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No repeated notes
Snap-to-scale modes push wrong notes onto their neighbours, so two keys play the same note. In KeyFlow every key plays a note of its own.
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Plays like a keyboard
On the white keys every octave of keys is an octave of the scale, with middle C on the root. Chords, velocity, sustain and pitch bend all come through.
Demo
How it works
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White keys
The 7 white keys of each octave play the 7 notes of the scale, with middle C on the root. The black keys stay silent, so there’s nothing to hit by mistake.
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Black keys
The 5 black keys play a pentatonic scale the same way, with C# on the root.
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All keys
Every key plays the next note of the scale up. Nothing is silent, though octaves no longer line up with the keyboard.
Specs
Settings
- Root
- Any of the 12 notes
- Scale
- 14 scales
- Keys
- White, black or all
- Octave
- −3 to +3
System requirements
- Windows
- 10 or later
- macOS
- 10.15 or later, Apple silicon or Intel
- Logic Pro
- Audio Unit, in a MIDI FX slot
- FL Studio
- VST3, in the Channel rack
- Ableton Live
- VST3, on a MIDI track of its own
Download & install
- Quit your DAW if it’s running
- Unzip the download and open the Windows or macOS folder
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For FL Studio and Ableton Live, copy
KeyFlow.vst3into your VST3 folder. For Logic Pro, copyKeyFlow.componentinto your Components folder. Create a folder if it doesn’t exist: WindowsC:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3macOS VST3/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3macOS AU/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components - In Logic Pro, click the MIDI FX slot above the instrument on a Software Instrument track and choose Audio Units › stvdwell › KeyFlow.
- In FL Studio, add KeyFlow to the Channel rack and set its MIDI Output port (in the plugin’s settings) to the same number as the MIDI Input port of the instrument it should play.
- In Ableton Live, put KeyFlow on a MIDI track and the instrument on another. On the instrument’s track, set MIDI From to KeyFlow’s track, choose KeyFlow in the menu below it, and set Monitor to In.
If KeyFlow doesn’t show up
- On a Mac, if you see a security warning, open System Settings › Privacy & Security and allow KeyFlow, then reopen your DAW.
- If Logic lists KeyFlow as failed or unavailable, open Logic Pro › Settings › Plug-in Manager, select KeyFlow and choose Reset & Rescan Selection.
- In Logic, KeyFlow is a MIDI effect: it’s in the MIDI FX slot of Software Instrument tracks, not with the audio effects.
- In FL Studio, KeyFlow makes no sound of its own. If the instrument stays silent, check that KeyFlow’s MIDI Output port matches the instrument’s MIDI Input port.
- In Ableton Live, KeyFlow is under Plug-ins once Use VST3 Plug-In System Folders is on, in Settings › Plug-ins. It makes no sound of its own either: if the instrument stays silent, check its track’s MIDI From and Monitor settings.
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