Push on Film: Chromatic & In-Key modes

Part two of our roundup of community-created Push videos focuses on the melodic and harmonic potential of our new hardware instrument. Because Push ‘folds’ a whole keyboard into its grid of 64 pads, the layout of notes is different from a regular piano keyboard. What’s more, Push allows for many different configurations of notes on its pads - opening up entirely new ways of playing and new approaches to melody and harmony. 

To see and hear what this means in practice, take a look at this video by Ableton Certified Trainer Amit Segall who first provides a brief explanation of the music theory and then shows how Push’s In-Key mode lets you play just about any song - even if you’ve never played an instrument before. 

As mentioned in the preceding video, the other main way of playing melodies with Push is in Chromatic mode. Here, all 12 notes of the octave are available, with the first note of an octave marked by a blue LED. What’s Chromatic mode good for, you ask? Certified Trainer Scottie Dugan has one answer in this snapshot of classical impressionism:

Push’s Chromatic mode is also great for leads, as demonstrated in this shred-tastic tutorial video by Jordan Rudess. Here he shows just how easy it is to find the right combination of pads for soloing with Push. Rudess also makes great use of the instrument’s touch strip for some super-expressive pitch bending.

Finally, somewhere in the middle between Debussy and turbo-digit virtuosity, is D.V.S* aka Derek VanScoten. Watch as he builds a complete track starting from just a guitar loop and uses In-Key mode to quickly flesh out the tune with layers of melody and harmony:

Don’t forget to check out the previous episode of Push on Film. And, with the first units now being sent out, we are excited to show what Push players are coming up with in the next roundup of Push in Action videos.