sharke

bayoubill
Create music more out of the wild then create music more out of the wild instead of figuring out what kind of scale it is in. Since each song is it's own identity so each song will be different. If you spend the time on figuring things out that's how much time you would have had creating instead of figuring. 
Please excuse my interruption on your Fred but I have this affliction called PTSS and can't help myself
 

I know my theory inside and out but when composing in the piano roll I don't think about it even once. I don't even think about the note names, or the names of the chords I'm writing. I do the whole thing by ear. That's what I really like about the piano roll, it's just linear columns of notes which maintain the same relationship to each other no matter where on the roll you are. I've gotten halfway through tunes and realized I don't even know what key they're in. I'm glad I know the theory but one thing's for sure, you can certainly get by without it. 

I've always been an audio guy and sadly, never tried using the Piano Roll. Thanks for posting this James, I'm going to make an effort to learn how to use this and hopefully get some new creative things going (maybe even introduce this to my little ones so that they can teach me ).

Music theory is a DESCRIPTION, not a PRESCRIPTION.

I find PRV super useful when using scales i don't work with a lot.  Like sharke said.  Since PRV mantains visual relationship, figuring chords, etc is a breeze.
 
ANother option to figure scale is melodyne.  I have also been using Songkey by hornet.  cheap and has decent success rate.  Every now and the nit fails, but for the price it is worth it.

IMHO, try composing in your ear and head a complete song without any instrument. That's all the parts. A completed song as you hear it without picking up or using any musical instrument. Then put that down on tape (Sonar) 
To do this you have to KNOW the song before you start recording and it's been my experience, at least for me, the music is much better and original. It's like doing a cover tune but no one but you has ever heard it.