The Note Layout

The notes on the Striso are arranged following the new DCompose note layout. In this layout two main properties of notes, pitch height and the location in circle of fifths, are on the axes.  Simply said it means that notes in the same musical key are located near each other. This makes it intuitive to play within a certain key, while it’s also intuitive to reach out for a more dissonant note.

DCompose Note Layout

Since this layout is very systematic, intervals, chords and scales have the same shape in every key. This property is called isomorphic. Below  the shape of some common chords is shown.

DCompose chords

Mathematically said, the DCompose layout is an orthogonal decomposition of the first two overtones. Think about that if you like, or not if you don’t.