KAUSTHUB RAVI & SIVANESH NATARAJAN
EXCITING NEW
WAYS OF MAKING
THE MUSIC AND
THE SOUND FOR IT
the same key. The velocity control and everything can be
tweaked to taste.
TheoryBoard by Irijule– Music Theory Made Easy
This little piece of tech caught our eye through a
Facebook ad for a kickstarter campaign 2 years ago. As
musicians who’ve given up hope on ever pushing our
theory knowledge to virtuosic levels, this particular bit
of kit looked extremely appealing. What it is, is basically
a midi controller with drum pad like inputs on either
side of a screen. The screen lets you choose a scale from
a ridiculously large library. Anything from melodic
minors to indian scales you name it! The TheoryBoard
is split into two sections. The “Melody Side” loads four
octaves of the single notes within the scale, while the
“Chord Side” loads every cor-rect chord. Color is used
to express the correlations between these two sides, as
well as keeping chords that share the same root note
grouped together.The scales that the Theo-ryBoard loads
are universal for any instrument (guitar, piano, violin,
saxophone, trumpet). As well as being a revolutionary
musical instrument, the TheoryBoard also serves as a
mul-tifaceted production tool. It keeps different elements
of a song (baselines, leads, plucks, chord progressions) in
44
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
It sounds like the perfect tool for us non-musician music
makers doesn’t it? It truly feels like an evolution of the
MIDI controller. While the Kontakt Complete does do
something very close to this, the light up drum pads is
quite inspiring and honestly just a ton of fun. In an area
that lacks innovation, its refreshing to see something
new like this come along. Its innovative lay out allows
the user access to a new way of perceiving music, making
it the ultimate hack for production and composition.
Never before has a MIDI controller given usthis level
of insight into the language of music theory. In the two
weeks that we’ve had this, we can honestly say that it
has indeed quite ironically,improved our sense of theory.
This may really be down to the intuitive and fun way
that everything is laid out. By merging color and sound
the TheoryBoard provides a synesthetic experience for
anyone interfacing with the product. Diatonic scales,
chord groups, and the correlations between them
are expressed through color giving the user a unique
advantage by allowing visual reference points while
playing. The TheoryBoard houses every scale known to
man. When the user selects a scale they have full access
to every note and every possible chord within that scale.
This removes any doubt from what can, or can't be
used... All the right combinations are right there at your
fingertips. The TheoryBoard is for anyone interested in
composing or producing music. A complete novice could
pick this up and instantly level up their un-derstanding
of theory, while advanced producers could use this to
derive new inspiration.