walterbender
commented
1 year ago @pikurasa not sure we should do anything more in MBv3 on this, but FWIW, the behavior right now -- which may be confusing -- is that when movable is True, then depending on the mode, it will switch between Do and La. So a major mode will be Movable Do and a minor mode will be Movable La.
Walter and I have discussed changing the design of our "Movable Do" block.
It would have two (or three) possible inputs: Do, La, (and maybe) n^th
True or False is not needed because "True" is implicit by simply having the block in the script.
Movable=Do would work such that the system is movable, but the starting point never changes. Do is always the first degree of the relative Ionian.
Movable=La would work such that the system is movable, and the starting point changes such that Do is the first degree of the common modes (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolyidan, Aeolian, and Locrian).
n^th could be a way to force the system to behave in a way that is similar to movable=la, but ignores the (7 note) scalar framework entirely. If a user specifies a five note mode, for example, "La" would be the octave.
For more information on movable do and movable la, please refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solf%C3%A8ge#Movable_do_solf%C3%A8ge
What are the equivalent systems for "scale degree" representation? In terms of our Scale Degree (in development) and n^th modal pitch block (currently being renamed from "scale degree"), the blocks overlap in functionality in the following ways:
Even though these systems should function the same, it is important to have both as musicians are often trained in different sets (but usually not all). For example, many people learn either Movable Do or Movable La and use Alphabet as their fixed system, or they learn Fixed Do and use Scale Degree as their movable system. Typically, musicians do not formally learn any sort of n^th modal pitch system, but it is very useful for computation so it is very important for MB.