diff --git a/packages/tonal/test/tonleiter.test.mjs b/packages/tonal/test/tonleiter.test.mjs
index 6c28f37af..e1a693579 100644
--- a/packages/tonal/test/tonleiter.test.mjs
+++ b/packages/tonal/test/tonleiter.test.mjs
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ import {
   midi2note,
   renderVoicing,
   scaleStep,
+  stepInNamedScale,
+  nearestNumberIndex,
+  note2midi,
 } from '../tonleiter.mjs';
 
 describe('tonleiter', () => {
@@ -149,4 +152,34 @@ describe('tonleiter', () => {
     // expect(voiceBelow('G4', 'Cm7', voicingDictionary)).toEqual(['Bb3', 'D4', 'Eb4', 'G4']);
     // TODO: test with offset
   });
+  test('nearestNumber', () => {
+    expect(nearestNumberIndex(0, [0, 2, 4, 5])).toEqual(0);
+    expect(nearestNumberIndex(1, [0, 2, 4, 5])).toEqual(0);
+    expect(nearestNumberIndex(1, [0, 2, 4, 5], true)).toEqual(1);
+    expect(nearestNumberIndex(2, [0, 2, 4, 5])).toEqual(1);
+    expect(nearestNumberIndex(2, [0, 2, 4, 5]), true).toEqual(1);
+    expect(nearestNumberIndex(3, [0, 2, 4, 5])).toEqual(1);
+    expect(nearestNumberIndex(3, [0, 2, 4, 5], true)).toEqual(2);
+    expect(nearestNumberIndex(4, [0, 2, 4, 5])).toEqual(2);
+  });
+  test('stepInNamedScale', () => {
+    expect(stepInNamedScale(1, 'D major')).toEqual(note2midi('E3'));
+    expect(stepInNamedScale(2, 'E major')).toEqual(note2midi('G#3'));
+    expect(stepInNamedScale(0, 'D major', 'E3')).toEqual(note2midi('E3'));
+    expect(stepInNamedScale(0, 'D major', 'E4')).toEqual(note2midi('E4'));
+    expect(stepInNamedScale(0, 'D major', 'Eb4')).toEqual(note2midi('D4'));
+    expect(stepInNamedScale(0, 'D major', 'F4')).toEqual(note2midi('E4'));
+    expect(stepInNamedScale(0, 'D major', 'F#4')).toEqual(note2midi('F#4'));
+    expect(stepInNamedScale(0, 'D major', 'G4')).toEqual(note2midi('G4'));
+
+    expect(stepInNamedScale(0, 'F major', 'F4')).toEqual(note2midi('F4'));
+    expect(stepInNamedScale(0, 'F major', 'G4')).toEqual(note2midi('G4'));
+    expect(stepInNamedScale(0, 'F major', 'A4')).toEqual(note2midi('A4'));
+    expect(stepInNamedScale(0, 'F major', 'Bb4')).toEqual(note2midi('Bb4'));
+    expect(stepInNamedScale(0, 'F major', 'C4')).toEqual(note2midi('C4'));
+
+    expect(stepInNamedScale(1, 'F major', 'C4')).toEqual(note2midi('D4'));
+    expect(stepInNamedScale(1, 'F major', 'C3')).toEqual(note2midi('D3'));
+    expect(stepInNamedScale(1, 'F minor', 'D4')).toEqual(note2midi('Eb4'));
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/tonal/tonal.mjs b/packages/tonal/tonal.mjs
index 76bda827e..6b831d472 100644
--- a/packages/tonal/tonal.mjs
+++ b/packages/tonal/tonal.mjs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under th
 
 import { Note, Interval, Scale } from '@tonaljs/tonal';
 import { register, _mod, silence, logger, pure, isNote } from '@strudel.cycles/core';
+import { stepInNamedScale } from './tonleiter.mjs';
 
 const octavesInterval = (octaves) => (octaves <= 0 ? -1 : 1) + octaves * 7 + 'P';
 
@@ -184,7 +185,12 @@ export const scale = register('scale', function (scale, pat) {
           return silence;
         }
         try {
-          const note = scaleStep(asNumber, scale);
+          let note;
+          if (value.anchor) {
+            note = stepInNamedScale(asNumber, scale, value.anchor);
+          } else {
+            note = scaleStep(asNumber, scale);
+          }
           value = pure(isObject ? { ...value, note } : note);
         } catch (err) {
           logger(`[tonal] ${err.message}`, 'error');
diff --git a/packages/tonal/tonleiter.mjs b/packages/tonal/tonleiter.mjs
index afccf2597..c8f4bdef7 100644
--- a/packages/tonal/tonleiter.mjs
+++ b/packages/tonal/tonleiter.mjs
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { isNote, isNoteWithOctave, _mod, noteToMidi, tokenizeNote } from '@strudel.cycles/core';
-import { Interval } from '@tonaljs/tonal';
+import { Interval, Scale } from '@tonaljs/tonal';
 
 // https://codesandbox.io/s/stateless-voicings-g2tmz0?file=/src/lib.js:0-2515
 
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ export function tokenizeChord(chord) {
 }
 export const note2pc = (note) => note.match(/^[A-G][#b]?/i)[0];
 export const note2oct = (note) => tokenizeNote(note)[2];
+export const note2midi = noteToMidi;
 
 export const note2chroma = (note) => {
   return pc2chroma(note2pc(note));
@@ -83,6 +84,50 @@ export function scaleStep(notes, offset, octaves = 1) {
   return notes[offset] + octOffset;
 }
 
+export function nearestNumberIndex(target, numbers, preferHigher) {
+  let bestIndex = 0,
+    bestDiff = Infinity;
+  numbers.forEach((s, i) => {
+    const diff = Math.abs(s - target);
+    // preferHigher only works if numbers are sorted in ascending order!
+    if ((!preferHigher && diff < bestDiff) || (preferHigher && diff <= bestDiff)) {
+      bestIndex = i;
+      bestDiff = diff;
+    }
+  });
+  return bestIndex;
+}
+
+let scaleSteps = {}; // [scaleName]: semitones[]
+
+export function stepInNamedScale(step, scale, anchor, preferHigher) {
+  let [root, scaleName] = Scale.tokenize(scale);
+  const rootMidi = x2midi(root);
+  const rootChroma = midi2chroma(rootMidi);
+  if (!scaleSteps[scaleName]) {
+    let { intervals } = Scale.get(`C ${scaleName}`);
+    // cache result
+    scaleSteps[scaleName] = intervals.map(step2semitones);
+  }
+  const steps = scaleSteps[scaleName];
+  if (!steps) {
+    return null;
+  }
+  let transpose = rootMidi;
+  if (anchor) {
+    anchor = x2midi(anchor, 3);
+    const anchorChroma = midi2chroma(anchor);
+    const anchorDiff = _mod(anchorChroma - rootChroma, 12);
+    const zeroIndex = nearestNumberIndex(anchorDiff, steps, preferHigher);
+    step = step + zeroIndex;
+    transpose = anchor - anchorDiff;
+  }
+  const octOffset = Math.floor(step / steps.length) * 12;
+  step = _mod(step, steps.length);
+  const targetMidi = steps[step] + transpose;
+  return targetMidi + octOffset;
+}
+
 // different ways to resolve the note to compare the anchor to (see renderVoicing)
 let modeTarget = {
   below: (v) => v.slice(-1)[0],