What is the Mode Wheel?

The Mode Wheel is a circular music theory instrument used to explore scales, modes, chords, harmonic relationships, and more.

Starting from the Major Scale alone, rotating the wheel reveals all seven of its modes in all 12 keys.

Any scale can be selected, allowing all 2048 possible interval combinations to be explored.

The Mode Wheel functions simultaneously as an instrument, visualizer, and music theory analysis tool.

The Parts of the Wheel

1. The Interval Ring

The outer ring of the wheel displays the interval relationship of each note relative to the current root note. It updates as the color wheel rotates and can be adjusted directly to select any scale.

2. The Note Wheel

The next layer in is the Note Wheel, a circle containing the 12 musical pitches.

Clicking any of the 12 notes will audibly sound that pitch.

Rotating the note wheel changes the key of the current scale or mode while preserving its interval structure.

3. The Color Wheel

The next layer in is the Color Wheel, a circle of colored spokes representing the relative modes of the scale. Each spoke corresponds to a specific mode, with one spoke for each active interval.

Rotating the color wheel changes which relative mode begins from the root position.

Turning the Wheels

· Rotating the note wheel alone modulates to the same mode in a different key.

· Rotating the color wheel alone modulates to a parallel mode.

· Rotating the note and color wheels together modulates to a relative mode of the current scale.

4. The Mode Tiles

Below the wheel on mobile, or to its right on desktop, is a series of colored tiles. Each tile contains a numeral and mode name corresponding to the spoke of the same color.

Clicking one of the mode names will audibly sound the mode that begins on the note of the corresponding colored spoke.

Clicking one of the numerals will audibly sound a chord with that colored spoke as the root. By default this plays a 1, 3, 5 triad; the specific voicing can be adjusted in the settings.

The order and content of the tiles automatically update as the wheel is adjusted.

The Scale Library

The Mode Wheel is accompanied by the Scale Library, a searchable catalogue of every possible scale in 12-tone equal temperament.

Scales may be browsed by note count, interval pattern, mode family, or searched directly by name, notes, intervals, or a variety of text commands. Selecting the index of any result instantly opens that scale on the Mode Wheel.

The Scale Library complements the Mode Wheel by providing a comprehensive reference for discovering, comparing, and analyzing scales. Its search and filtering tools make it possible to generate lists of scales matching specific musical criteria, providing a broader view of the complete collection and the relationships between its scales.

Spectrum Theory

Spectrum Theory is the organizational framework underlying the Mode Wheel and Scale Library. It quantifies the relative brightness of each mode within a mode family and presents these values together as a modal spectrum. The summation of these values provides a single metric for comparing and ordering mode families, creating a navigable topography of the musical scales.

Development

The Mode Wheel and its underlying organizational system were developed by Jake Masterson over many years of experimentation and practical use.

Early physical versions of the wheel date back to at least 2012. Since then, the project has evolved through many iterations both as a physical chart and as an interactive digital instrument.