TBOSS 2.0: Turing, chained progressions, presets' own chord sets, the editor's tabs, MPE

TBOSS 2.0, with 1.8 and 1.9 (which were not released on their own). Install it from the browser:
https://armandhammer.github.io/TBOSS/install.html (Chrome or Edge; click Save settings first to keep your settings).

New in 2.0 (manual)

• Turing pattern for the arpeggiator: a random loop of the held notes that changes a little each time round.
• Chained progressions (P1 > P1 > P2 …) and each chord's chance of resting or playing the borrowed chord.
• Presets with their own chord sets, colors and curves; Clear preset on the board.
• U3 as Shift, and Shift + the buttons under the screen on every screen.
• Sleep and Shut down.
• The step sequencer: Fill steps, nudge, each lane's swing and transpose, Mutate and Stutter.
• Spread of Bass, and the Settings menu rebalanced into 17 pages.
• The web editor has its own USB port (TheoryBoard Editor), so your DAW keeps playing while it is connected.
  Leave that port off in the DAW. The editor follows changes made on the board.

New in 1.9 (manual): the board set up from the web
editor: every setting, seven color schemes, velocity and pressure curves drawn with the mouse and a calibration, the
step lanes as a grid, the chord pads' edits, presets named, copied and compared.

New in 1.8 (manual): MPE, Glide, Vel full with the
Firmer and Firmest curves, and play/stop on the step screen.

Tested on one board with Ableton Live. Settings → About shows 2.0; the web editor's header shows the build, 2.0.8.

theoryboard-usb.bin: 119,768 bytes, SHA256 7e21929924e5d2afad174f11bdf47b2ae629f18c2d725743ba11bd8faf65ebea
(reproducible: python scripts/tboss_build.py).

TBOSS 1.7: step sequencer, MIDI effects, Bass, Program Change, even pads

Install: open the installer in Chrome or Edge; it offers this version. Step 2 keeps your settings, presets, scales, progressions, chord sets, buttons and step pattern when updating. Unplug the power adapter too before entering update mode, if one is plugged in.

TBOSS 1.7 is the next release after 1.5 (it includes the features of 1.6, which was never announced). Every new option is off, or plays as before, until you change it. From this version on, releases are named by their major and minor number: the board's About screen says 1.7.

New since 1.5

• A deeper step sequencer: each step gets its own velocity, gate, tie, chance, ratchet (2–8 strikes) and condition (1:2 … 4:4, first time round, every time but the first); hold steps, ▲/▼ choose, ◀/▶ change. Lanes run forward, reverse, ping-pong or random, and Euclid fills a lane with evenly spread hits (Settings → Sequence).
• Four MIDI effects: Harmony (diatonic harmony on the melody pads, always in the scale), Echo (a MIDI delay locked to the tempo or your DAW's clock), Mono (one melody note at a time, newest wins, legato) and Chance (the arpeggiator and note repeat skip steps at random).
• Bass layout (Settings → Layout → Layout → Bass): the original's promised bass mode. Each scale note sits on two pads side by side for fast two-finger bass lines; every hit strikes the note again.
• Program Change both ways (Settings → MIDI): each half sends its synth's sound with every preset (Chord prog, Melody prog), also just after connecting and when your DAW starts; a DAW can load presets 1–8 by sending programs 1–8 (Program in).
• Pads that play evenly on any board (Settings → Pads): Trigger, Release and Full count from each pad's own resting level, a firm press no longer sets off its neighbors, and Unstick ends a note whose pad stays down by itself. Rescan pads measures every pad again. Your pad settings are converted when you update.
• Smaller additions: Spread of Chord opens the whole chord (Settings → Chords → Spread of), held chord shapes (Add 7th …) change a running arpeggio at once, the pedal works as Sustain out of the box, and EXT shows on the play screen while a DAW's clock comes in.

Walk-throughs in the manual: what's new in 1.7 · in 1.6 · Step options · Harmony, echo and mono · Bass · Program Change · Pad sensitivity.

Going back to an older version keeps everything that version has: 1.5 plays step patterns forward without the step options, the effects off and the Bass layout as Scale.

Known limit: an echo that comes while you still hold its note is not heard.

Please check: the pedal's Target and its other modes, live notes following MIDI in, progressions started by a DAW, scale lock, and DAWs other than Ableton Live are not yet confirmed on a board. A test report is very welcome, even if everything worked.

theoryboard-usb.bin: 97,612 bytes, SHA256 749d1fce1d7a3b800a64279f238cde47f493bc0c7e0d7073e5047255aa83b4f6 (reproducible; build 1.7.10).

TBOSS 1.6.0 beta: harmony, echo, mono, chance

Install: open the installer in Chrome or Edge; it offers this version. Step 2 keeps your settings, presets, scales, progressions, chord sets, buttons and step pattern when updating. Unplug the power adapter too before entering update mode, if one is plugged in.

TBOSS 1.6 adds four MIDI effects a user asked for (ideas from the Hapax and Square Pyramid sequencers). Each one is one to three settings on a page you already know, and all of them are off until you turn them on.

New in 1.6

• Harmony (Settings → Play → Harmony): every melody pad also plays a 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th or octave above, a 3rd and 5th, or a 3rd or 6th below, always in the current scale, so the harmony follows the key.
• Echo (Settings → Play → Echo, Echoes): a MIDI delay locked to the board's tempo or your DAW's clock, 1/16 to 1/2, with 1–8 echoes, each quieter than the last.
• Mono (Settings → Layout → Mono): the melody half plays one note at a time. The newest note wins, and the one you still hold comes back when you let go, overlapping both ways so a mono synth glides.
• Chance (Settings → Arpeggiator → Chance): the arpeggiator and note repeat skip steps at random, from 100 % (every step) down to 10 %.

Walk-throughs in the manual: what's new in 1.6 · Harmony · Echo · Mono · Chance.

Going back to an older version keeps everything that version has; a version before 1.6 gets Harmony, Echo, Mono and Chance off.

Known limit: an echo that comes while you still hold its note is not heard.

Please check: the pedal's Target and its other modes, live notes following MIDI in, progressions started by a DAW, scale lock, and DAWs other than Ableton Live are not yet confirmed on a board. A test report is very welcome, even if everything worked.

theoryboard-usb.bin: 92,632 bytes, SHA256 986cf4cc11e7da0df3e94bffb8593549a0f0302322fe25a1594706de51fb09d6 (reproducible).

TBOSS 1.5.0 beta: step sequencer, faster pads, pedal fix (with 1.4)

Install: open the installer in Chrome or Edge; it offers this version. Step 2 keeps your settings, presets, scales, progressions, chord sets and buttons when updating. Unplug the power adapter too before entering update mode, if one is plugged in.

TBOSS 1.5 brings 1.4 with it (1.4 wasn't released on its own): a step sequencer, faster pads, rhythms for the arpeggiator and note repeat, pivot chords, chord capture, and fixes for the sustain pedal and for pads that stuck or skipped notes. Everything new is optional: the board plays as before until you turn it on.

New in 1.5

• Step sequencer: four lanes of steps that play with the board's tempo or your DAW, next to a progression. A lane plays chords, a melody or drums, each with its own length (1–64 steps), rate and MIDI channel, so lanes of different lengths drift against each other. You edit it on the pads: Settings → Sequence → Steps. This is the foundation; gate, ties, probability, ratchets and more patterns come in later 1.5 updates.
• Faster pads: notes sound sooner after a touch (about 6 ms on average instead of about 16), and fast repeated hits on one pad each play.
• Chords on the right: Settings → Layout → Chords on → Right swaps the halves (chords on the right, melody on the left).
• Rainbow colors: Settings → Lights → Colors → Rainbow lights both halves in seven fixed colors whatever you play: red, orange, yellow, green, dark blue, light blue, magenta, then again. The colors by note are now called Default.

New in 1.4

• Rhythms for the arpeggiator and note repeat: 5 and 7 notes per beat, more triplets and dotted values, Euclidean rhythms (3/8 …) with Rotate; note repeat keeps to the beat, and By row gives each row of the melody half its own speed for two-finger polyrhythms.
• Pivot chords: pick a key to move to and the chord pads light the chords the two keys share, the best way in pulsing.
• Chord capture: play chords on the pads or from your DAW and the board makes a chord set of them, in the key they fit best.
• Reset options on every settings page, and Settings → About → Factory settings (presets, scales, chord sets and progressions stay).

Fixed

• The sustain pedal did nothing (user report): earlier versions listened on the wrong pin. Settings → Pedal → Mode turns it on (Off by default); Note now shows only when Mode is Note.
• Pads that stuck on or skipped notes on boards whose pads rest unevenly: each pad now has its own resting level, measured at start-up and followed while it rests. The Pad test shows it.

Walk-throughs in the manual: what's new in 1.5 · what's new in 1.4 · a drum beat and a bass line.

Going back to an older version keeps everything that version has; the step pattern is left out of versions before 1.5.

Please check: the pedal's Target and its other modes, live notes following MIDI in, progressions started by a DAW, scale lock, and DAWs other than Ableton Live are not yet confirmed on a board. A test report is very welcome, even if everything worked.

theoryboard-usb.bin: 90,428 bytes, SHA256 ffa535fe711cde1292e0c0078d7582ee278fd4cce149d5e5a62d16c00bed6b3b (reproducible). Updated 2026-10-24: Rainbow now uses seven colors, as its requester asked; nothing else changed (the first file was 90,380 bytes, 9a3f84c5…01df).

TBOSS 1.3.0 beta: chord grid and Full chord layout

Install: open the installer in Chrome or Edge; it offers this version. Step 2 keeps your settings, presets, scales, progressions, chord sets and buttons when updating.

TBOSS 1.3 adds two new ways to lay out the chord pads. Both are optional: Settings → Chords → Chord set. The board plays as before until you pick one.

Chord grid: a chord type on every row

Each column is a step of the scale, as before, and each row is one kind of chord, the same in every key and scale:

Row	Columns 1–7 in C major
Top: ninths	Cmaj9, Dm9, Em7♭9, Fmaj9, G9, Am9, Bm7♭5♭9
Sus	Csus4, Dsus4, Esus4, Fsus2, Gsus4, Asus4, B–E–F
Sevenths	Cmaj7, Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7, G7, Am7, Bm7♭5
Bottom: triads	C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim

A ii–V–I is columns 2, 5, 1 on the sevenths row, in any key, with no button to hold. Voicing I–III, voice leading, Fold, strum and the arpeggiator work as usual; a center button set to Add 9th (or another shape) still adds while held.

Full chord layout: the original's

The original TheoryBoard's default layout (discussion #8): every pad a different chord, each chord of the scale followed by its variations (C, Cadd9, C6, C6/9, Cmaj7 …), lit in its root's color. The chord lists and voicings are the original firmware's own, read from the board's memory chip (never written), with permission from its developer.

Walk-throughs in the manual: what's new in 1.3 · the chord grid · the Full layout.

Also

• The web editor has Chord grid on the TB and Full layout on the TB buttons, and names a progression's chords as the grid or Full plays them. A progression recorded on either keeps its chords.
• A center button set to Next chord set steps through the scale's chords, the grid, Full and your chord sets.
• Settings → Lights → Colors (it said "Colours").
• Going back to 1.0 plays the scale's chords instead of the grid or Full and keeps everything else.

Please check: scale lock, progressions started from a DAW and the sustain pedal input are still not confirmed on a board. A test report is very welcome, even if everything worked.

theoryboard-usb.bin: 74,900 bytes, SHA256 f7b623bb2be4f670234eb49aeed96e878e4cbb9ab6f8b52b04ce972ffd9e9829 (reproducible).

TBOSS 1.0.0 beta: chord sets, theory hints, center buttons, scale lock

Install: open the installer in Chrome or Edge; it offers this version. Step 2 keeps your settings, presets, scales and progressions when updating.

TBOSS 1.0 is feature complete and tested on a board: this is the beta. Everything new is optional, so the board plays as before until you turn it on. New ideas (a phrase recorder, chained progressions) are planned for 1.5.

Chord sets: any 12 chords on the chord pads

Type a set in the web editor's new Chord sets panel, for example C Dm Em F G Am Bb Ab Fm D7 E7 G7 (the key with its borrowed chords and secondary dominants), or a song's chords in the order you play them. Eight sets; Settings → Chords → Chord set picks one.

• The root buttons transpose a set; the rows above play its inversions; voicing, spread, strum, hold and the arpeggiator work as usual.
• A column can be left empty (-), and ' puts a chord an octave higher.
• A progression recorded on a set keeps playing that set's chords.

Theory hints

Settings → Chords → Hints: after each chord, the chord that usually comes next pulses, the other common ones glow, and the rest dim. In C major, after C: F pulses, G and Am glow.

Center buttons you assign, and Shift

Give any of the 14 center buttons its own job (Settings → Buttons, or the editor's Center buttons panel). The choices include the arpeggiator, sustain on/off, a 7th, 9th, 6th or sus while held, all notes off, tap tempo, next preset or scale, play and record. Make one a Shift button (hold it, or tap twice to latch it):

• Shift + root button 1–8 plays progressions P1–P8.
• Shift + mode button 1–8 loads presets 1–8.
• Shift + a chord pad picks that chord for editing without playing it.

Scale lock

Settings → MIDI → Scale lock: notes your computer sends on one channel come back out of the board moved to the nearest note of its key and scale. Play any keyboard or generative MIDI tool and stay in the key the board shows.

Step-by-step walk-throughs in the manual: what's new in 1.0 · a set of borrowed chords · a song's chords, then a progression · theory hints · center buttons and Shift · scale lock.

Also

• Backups and the installer's Save settings include chord sets and the buttons. Going back to 0.11 leaves them out and keeps everything else.
• Fixes from a full code review: a progression recorded on a chord set keeps its chords in the editor. All notes off also ends a progression's chord while a DAW plays. Tapping Sustain no longer writes to the board's memory.

Please check: scale lock and progressions started from a DAW are not yet confirmed on a board, and neither is the sustain pedal input. A test report is very welcome, even if everything worked.

theoryboard-usb.bin: 71,616 bytes, SHA256 7ffae3962605818468b20d55cefeeb4b230312fde426fdc0fb355e0b7bff2267 (reproducible; GitHub's own build matched).

TBOSS 0.11.0: chord progressions

Superseded by 1.0.0 beta (chord sets, theory hints, center buttons, scale lock); the installer offers the newest version.

Install: open the installer in Chrome or Edge; it offers this version. Step 2 keeps your settings when updating.

Chord progressions: the board plays your song's chords

Record a song's chords by tapping chord pads, then let the board play them in time while your hands are free for the melody. There are 8 slots (P1–P8).

Quick start: Settings → Play → Arrows → Sequencer. On the play screen, ▼ starts recording; tap chord pads, one tap per unit (1 beat, ½ bar, 1 bar or 2 bars; tapping the same chord again lengthens it, ◀ takes back the last one), and ▼ again saves. ▲ plays and stops.

• Transpose and re-color live: the root buttons move a playing progression to any key, and the mode buttons re-color it (Am F G in A minor becomes A F♯m G♯dim in A major).
• Chords from outside the scale: a chord recorded while another mode is pressed keeps that mode, so a song like Am D Dm Am C G E7 Am goes in (D from Dorian, E7 from harmonic minor) and stays as recorded.
• In time with your DAW: the progression starts with your DAW's Start, follows its tempo and song position, and Continue carries on where it stopped. It also plays from ▲, Settings → MIDI → Transport or the pedal (Play/Stop).
• Guide lights: the playing chord's pad glows white and the next one pulses, and the right half shows which melody notes fit the chord now.
• Type it instead: the web editor's new Progressions panel takes Am D Dm Am C G E7 Am as text and finds the pads and the borrowed scales for you.
• Everything that shapes a chord applies: voicing, spread, strum, voice leading, fold. With the arpeggiator on, the progression feeds it.

Step-by-step walk-throughs in the manual: record and play Am F G · a song with borrowed chords · type a song in the web editor · all of Progressions.

Also new

• Chord vel and Melody vel: a velocity curve for each half (Settings → Play), for example chords at an even Fixed 100 under a dynamic melody. Your old Velocity setting carries over to both. Progression chords play as hard as you tapped them, or at 100 with Chord vel Fixed 100. (Velocity)
• Pedal Target: send the sustain pedal to the chords, the melody or both, when the halves are on different MIDI channels (Settings → Pedal → Target). (Sustain pedal)
• Settings backups and the installer's step 2 now include your progressions.

Please check: record a progression, play it with your DAW, and send a test report. Reports from anyone with a sustain pedal are especially welcome: the pedal input is still not confirmed on a board (Settings → About → I/O test shows what the board sees).

theoryboard-usb.bin: 64,912 bytes, SHA256 d8a145d11648b4ef9a4275db8c58e1043137343289c064d560949c75587a5b3c (reproducible; GitHub's own build matched).

TBOSS 0.10.0: pad sensitivity

Superseded by 0.11.0 (chord progressions); the installer offers the newest version.

Install: open the installer in Chrome or Edge; it offers this version. Step 2 keeps your settings when updating.

Pad sensitivity: your TheoryBoard plays from a light touch

Set how lightly the pads play. Settings → Pads has three points, each adjustable in steps of 100:

• Trigger (default 1200): how light a touch starts a note.
• Release (default 600): how far you lift before the note ends. Aftertouch and other pressure count from here.
• Full (default 3500): how hard counts as maximum velocity and full pressure.

The new defaults play from a light touch, so most players no longer need a sensitivity mod. If you have one, raise Trigger (around 1900 is a good start) so neighbouring pads stay quiet. Settings → Pads → Pad test shows your pads' readings, so you can set it by numbers instead of guesswork. The manual walks you through it.

The board protects itself: each time it starts playing, it measures where your untouched pads rest and keeps Release above that, so a board whose pads rest high still releases every note. Pad test shows the measured level (REST) and marks any value it had to raise with !.

Changed

• The pads feel lighter after updating. Up to 0.9.1 the thresholds were fixed at 2500 / 1500 / 4000. For the old feel, set Trigger 2500, Release 1500, Full 4000.
• Pad test moved from Settings → About to Settings → Pads, and shows the values in use.

Please check: play with the defaults, try a lighter Trigger, and send a test report, especially if you have a sensitivity mod or an overlay.

theoryboard-usb.bin: 59,476 bytes, SHA256 3b0b3fabcdca1749fa3ecd0d40ec38d644a70a74ac9b5d709e911ca5aef0e3f9 (reproducible; GitHub's own build matched).

TBOSS 0.9.1: pad test, reliability fixes

Superseded by 0.10.0 (pad sensitivity); the installer offers the newest version.

Install: open the installer in Chrome or Edge; it offers this version. Step 2 keeps your settings when updating.

A reliability update with a new measuring page. Nothing changes how the board plays out of the box.

Pad test (Settings → About → Pad test)

See what your pads measure, as numbers: the pads reading highest right now, how far a touch went (PEAK), the velocity the last note got, and how much a press spreads to the neighbouring pads. Useful if light touches don't register, a pad seems weaker than the others, or you use an overlay or a sensitivity modification. If you report a sensitivity problem, please include these numbers. The manual has a walk-through, and its Velocity section now explains what the Velocity settings do and don't change.

Fixed

• Notes left droning on a TRS synth when the computer is unplugged or goes to sleep mid-chord: they now end a few seconds later (with TRS out on and the board still powered).
• Pitch bend, aftertouch and pressure controllers now always return to rest: after a slow release (a bend could stay a few cents sharp), and when the web editor talks to the board while you hold a pad (a bend could stay fully up).
• Transport: with the board's transport running, using the web editor made a following DAW or drum machine jump back to bar one. It now pauses and continues (Stop, Continue).
• Voice lead with Voicing III and a very high chord octave could stop the board playing until Voice lead was turned off; such a pad now plays its row's chord.
• The buttons stopped working after 49.7 days of continuous power; they now keep working.

These came out of a code review with long randomised stress tests of the engine, layouts, controls and settings, now part of the test suites that run on every change.

Please check: Pad test on your board, and send a test report.

theoryboard-usb.bin: 58,700 bytes, SHA256 b2ff14791d69c0a1d8dd1b5c4f06cd93e73535fc3cd056fe3f6800a443a7fbeb (reproducible; GitHub's own build matched).

TBOSS 0.9.0: live notes, voice leading, note repeat, fold

Superseded by 0.9.1 (pad test page, reliability fixes); the installer offers the newest version.

Install: open the installer in Chrome or Edge; it offers this version. Step 2 keeps your settings when updating.

Out of the box TBOSS plays like a regular TheoryBoard: everything below is off until you turn it on. The manual now walks through every feature with an example, why you'd use it and when not to.

Live notes (the original's promised Live Note Update)

• Settings → Layout → Layout → Live notes: columns 1–7 of the right half play the scale, columns 8–12 the notes of the chord you just played (C gives C E G C E). Solo over any chord without a wrong note.
• Live ch: give the live notes their own MIDI channel. Live in: chords your DAW sends to the board set the live notes.
• Settings → Chords → Sound Off: a chord pad that only picks the live notes, silently.

Smoother chords

• Voice lead (Settings → Chords): each chord takes the inversion that moves least from the chord before, so C → F → G plays C E G → C F A → D G B, like a pianist's hands.
• Fold (Settings → Chords): every chord inside one octave, as the original TheoryBoard's chords are described. TBOSS doesn't fold unless you turn it on.

Note repeat

• Settings → Play → Note repeat (1/4 to 1/32): hold a right-hand pad and it strikes again on every step, louder as you press harder. Hi-hat rolls in the Drums layout, pulsing synth notes.

Changed

• Tempo moved to Settings → Play (it drives the arpeggiator, note repeat, strum in note values and clock out).
• Live update is now called Restrike (held pads re-struck when you change key, scale, panel or live chord).

Please check: Live notes from your DAW (Live in), and note repeat with your instruments. Send a test report.

theoryboard-usb.bin: 57,420 bytes, SHA256 da6fe85255d37bc498668df7aea57728402783b79b630ad162e2098ced9b3c85 (reproducible; GitHub's own build matched).