TheoryBoard Editor

Settings

Lights

Feel

Scale library

Every scale the TB has built in, grouped into families. Pick one to see and hear it, then play it on the TB or add it to your favorites: with Settings → Play → Arrows set to Scale, the TB's ▲/▼ step through your favorites. Find by notes lists every scale and key that contains the notes you pick (click them, or play them on any MIDI keyboard). One note away shows the scales you get by moving one note a semitone.

Favorites

Connect a TB with TBOSS 0.7.0 or later to keep favorites on it.

Custom scales (U1 to U12)

Click keys to build a scale. The root is always included and a scale needs at least 5 notes. Scales are stored relative to the root, so the TB's root buttons can play them in any key. The keys use the same colors as the TB: while you edit, all of its pads show the scale as 12 columns of semitones from the root (root white, scale notes in color, other notes dark), and its screen shows the slot and the notes.

Progressions (P1 to P8)

Type the chords of a song, for example Am D Dm Am C G E7 Am, pick its key and save it to a slot. The editor finds each chord on the chord pads; a chord that is not in the key's scale is borrowed from the closest scale that has it (D from A Dorian, E7 from A harmonic minor) and plays from that scale. Each chord lasts one unit; write Am*2 (or Am Am) for two. Slash chords (C/G) put the chord's third or fifth in the bass. On the TB, Settings → Sequence → Progression picks the slot; ▲ (with Settings → Play → Arrows set to Sequencer), the pedal or a DAW's Start plays it. The TB stores steps of the scale, not notes: its root buttons transpose the progression, so the key here only names the chords. The manual walks through recording, playing and typing a progression, step by step.

Connect a TB with TBOSS 0.11.0 or later to keep progressions on it.

Each chord's chance (TBOSS 2.0): under each chord, how often it plays as written, and what plays the other times: a rest, or the borrowed chord (the same chord pad in the parallel major or minor key, so C becomes Cm in C major). Changes to a saved progression go to the TB at once; a new one takes them with Save.

Chord sets (1 to 8)

Put any chords on the chord pads: type up to 12, one per column of pads from left to right, for example C Dm Em F G Am Bb Ab Fm D7 E7 G7. - leaves a column without a chord. A chord's root goes in the octave above the key's root; add ' (as in G7') to put it an octave higher. The rows play the chord's inversions, root position at the bottom, like the scale's chords. The chords are written in the key chosen here; on the TB the root buttons transpose them, and the mode buttons still change the melody half. On the TB: Settings → Chords → Chord set (Scale = the scale's own chords, Grid = the scale's chords with a chord type per row: triads at the bottom, then sevenths, sus chords and ninths at the top; Full = the original TheoryBoard's Full layout).

Connect a TB with TBOSS 1.0 or later to keep chord sets on it.

Chord pad edits

Step sequencer

Center buttons

Choose what each of the 14 buttons in the middle of the TB does; each is named by what is printed on it. Make one Shift to give the others a second meaning while it is held (or after two quick taps, which latch it): Shift + another center button = its printed function, Shift + root button 1–8 = play progression P1–P8, Shift + mode button 1–8 = load preset 1–8, Shift + chord pad = pick that chord for Settings → Chords without playing it. "While held" actions shape every chord you play while you hold the button. On the TB: Settings → Buttons.

Connect a TB with TBOSS 1.0 or later to set its buttons.

Presets

Settings backup

Saves the current settings, the 8 presets, the user scales, your favorites, progressions, chord sets and the step pattern to a file, and puts them back later (for example after installing new firmware, which clears them).

External memory backup

Copies the TB's 16 MB memory chip (the original firmware's data) to a file. Read-only: the firmware cannot write to that chip. It reads everything twice and only calls the copy verified if both reads match. Takes several minutes per read; the TB does not play while it runs.