The main element in tonespace is the colored on-screen grid, which we call a space. A space is like a two-dimensional spreadsheet which contains midi note numbers.  When you click on a cell in the space the corresponding midi note is played (or a chord based on that note, as you will see later).

 

 

 

Also, some cells are colored, others are not. This means that only the colored notes are part of the currently selected scale and key (Blues scale and key of G in the picture below). Only colored notes can be played. But more about that later.

 

The note numbers increase from left to right and from bottom to top.  In the picture above the increase is 2 semitones in horizontal direction and 5 semitones in vertical direction.  This space is called M2-P4 [2:5] or [2:5] for short [1].

 

As you can guess, other combinations of horizontal/vertical increases are possible, leading to other spaces.  You can select these spaces by choosing a value for the space combobox in the parameter section of the screen.

 

 

 

There are two wellknown spaces, named after the researchers who discovered them:

 

    [4:7] or Longuet-Higgins’ space

    [4:3] or Balzano’s space

 

These two spaces have special properties. One of those properties is for instance that certain common chords look like very simple shapes when drawn on the space.

 

 

 

 

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