User Guide

Using the Mode Wheel

This guide explains the controls, menus, playback features, and navigation of the Mode Wheel.

Scales and modes can be rotated, played, analyzed, reordered, and explored through a single connected interface.

The sections below describe the features of the wheel in greater detail.

Getting Started

By default, the wheel opens in C Major, also called C Ionian.

C Major can be returned to at any time by clicking the reset icon near the index box.

Other scales can be selected by changing the active intervals. Clicking the interval names will turn that interval on or off along with its corresponding spoke of the color wheel — thereby changing the note set.

Once a scale has been selected, the wheel can be rotated to explore it in different keys and modes while preserving the structure of the scale family.

Rotating the Wheel

The Mode Wheel contains two rotating layers that can be adjusted independently by clicking and dragging them.

Rotating the note wheel changes the root note and transposes the current scale into a different key.

Rotating the color wheel changes the active mode while preserving the same note set. It modulates to a parallel mode. As it rotates, the outer interval ring is updated accordingly.

Both wheels can be rotated in tandem by dragging them from where the colored spoke meets the note wheel. Rotating both wheels together modulates to a relative mode of the scale.

Number of Notes and Mode Family

Below the wheel on mobile and to its left on desktop are controls for "# of Notes" and "Mode Family".

Clicking the left or right arrows beside "# of Notes" changes the number of notes in the scale. The wheel will automatically move to the lowest indexed mode family with that number of notes.

Clicking the arrows beside "Mode Family" moves to the previous or next mode family according to its index number. This allows related families to be explored sequentially.

A mode family is the collection of all the relative modes of a scale.

Playing Notes, Scales, and Chords

Individual notes can be played directly by clicking or tapping the note circles on the wheel.

The colored tiles beneath the wheel on mobile or to its right on desktop give the names of the modes of the current family. Clicking a mode name plays that mode.

Each Roman numeral represents a chord built from the scale degree of its corresponding mode. Clicking or tapping a Roman numeral plays that chord.

The Playback menu contains settings related to audio playback. On mobile it is accessed through the gear icon, and on desktop it is located to the left of the wheel.

From here the playback instrument can be selected and tuning can be adjusted.

The "Chord Degrees" section controls the voicing of the chords played when clicking a Roman numeral. By default this begins with a 1, 3, 5 triad. Each row of numbers represents an octave of scale degrees. Clicking a Roman numeral plays a chord built from those scale degrees, treating the note of the corresponding colored spoke as the 1.

The arpeggio setting plays chords as arpeggios. The default chord setting plays them as strummed chords.

The Display menu controls the visual presentation of the wheel, including note arrangement, note spelling, and interval labeling. On mobile it is accessed through the gear icon, and on desktop it is located to the left of the wheel.

By default the wheel is displayed as a "Chromatic Circle" — each note is one semitone away from the next. The "Circle of Fifths" setting arranges the notes by fifths — each note is seven semitones away from the next.

Several spelling settings are available. These control how the wheel displays and interprets note names.

Selecting the natural sign (♮) displays notes with the fewest accidentals when enharmonic spelling is enabled, or as neutral accidentals when it is not. Selecting the # symbol displays notes as sharps, while selecting the ♭ symbol displays notes as flats.

Enharmonic spelling is available for heptatonic scales without intervals greater than an augmented second between adjacent scale degrees. When enabled, scales are spelled using one of each of the seven letter names.

Selecting "Set" displays notes using set notation. C is 0, C# is 1, D is 2, and so on.

The interval ring display can also be adjusted. "Degrees" displays intervals as sharp or flat scale degrees. "Intervals" displays them as major, minor, perfect, augmented, or diminished intervals. "Steps" displays the number of semitone steps from the root.

Index System

Each scale family and mode can be referenced using an index number.

The current index format consists of four parts:

number of notes . mode family . root note . mode

For example:

7.1.0.1

This represents the first seven-note family in the catalogue, rooted on C, in its first mode.

Typing an index number into the index box and pressing enter will take the wheel directly to that scale.

The current wheel state is encoded directly into the page URL, allowing scales and modes to be bookmarked, restored, and shared.

Keybinds

The wheel can also be played using a computer keyboard. Various functions are mapped to the keyboard, allowing the wheel to function more like an instrument.

The letter keys play individual notes. Each row corresponds to a different register of scale degrees.

ZXCVBNM<> plays scale degrees 1–9 in the lower register.

ASDFGHJKL: plays scale degrees 1–10 in the middle register.

QWERTYUIOP[] plays scale degrees 1–12 in the upper register.

Pressing the number row keys 1234567890-+ plays the chord of the corresponding Roman numeral and also sets it as the active chord.

The left and right arrow keys arpeggiate the active chord upward or downward. The up and down arrow keys strum the active chord upward or downward. The space bar plays a block chord.

Holding down an arrow key repeats that playback pattern. Holding both arrow keys simultaneously alternates between upward and downward arpeggios depending on which key was pressed first.

Pressing the CTRL key toggles whether the number row immediately plays chords or only selects the active chord. This can be useful when switching between sustained arpeggios and repeated strumming patterns.

The +/- keys on the numpad adjust arpeggio speed.

The wheel’s current playback settings and index state can also be saved to the function keys. This allows different scales and chord voicings to be recalled quickly.

Pressing SHIFT + F1 saves the current wheel state to F1. Pressing F1 recalls that wheel state and sets I as the active chord.

Up to twelve wheel states can be saved, one for each function key.

Pressing an F key will also play the active chord. If the CTRL toggle is enabled, the wheel state will switch silently.