Scale Select editing?

[mrspiral]

Please excuse me if this is a topic that has been visited before, but I haven’t had any luck researching it so far.

The manual states that it is possible to change one’s options for the note displays that are called up by the scale select buttons, but it doesn’t say how. For my music, I need mode scales like Mixolydian and Dorian much more than some of the default choices, so I would find it great if I could replace the existing scale select choices with my own. How do I do this?

Thanks in advance!

[Roger_Linn]

There are 12 different memories, each of which hold a unique set of Note Light settings, and they are identified by the C through B buttons. If you don’t change anything, you’re using the “C” memory, which lights the C major scale. If you want to try a different combination of note lights without affecting this default C major scale lights setting, select a dfferent one, perhaps the C# memory, and change it’s contents from its default contents to whatever you prefer.
FYI, most people never change the note lights because it’s too confusing to develop any playing skill if the note lights are frequently being moved around.

[BobDog]

All you do is change the notes in the scale and the LS will remember.

So choose one of the scales you don't use and edit it by selecting what lights you want on using the three column to the right.

[BobDog]

Ah, beaten to it!

[mrspiral]

Oh, that makes complete sense. Thank you.

Roger, I appreciate how the lights are being used, and I do spend most of my time in the default C major lighting setup. However, if I’m playing something in a mode that I’m not used to, it’s nice to have a cheat sheet. The concept that I was missing was that the stored scales would simply be remembered if you changed them. Many thanks.

[waraukaeru]

There is an alternative workflow, if you prefer.

TL;DR: You can use the transpose function to transpose by semi-tone, and play in the modes relative to the default lighting setting.

Like you, I tend to play in modes other than Ionian. Some I don't know intuitively, by sound or pattern, so I benefit from lighting the LinnStrument in the mode I'm playing in too. In a lot of instances, I don't have real cause to prefer one key over another, so I just play in relative modes of C Major. So, D Dorian, E Phrygian, F Lydian, etc. This is slightly less hand-holding than changing the lighting, because the accent color is still on C. So I have to memorize which degree of C Ionian my mode starts on, and I think in turn I'm doing a better job of learning the pattern of the mode I am playing in. It's also kind of useful to spend just that little bit of brain power relating the mode back to its relative Ionian mode.

Since I am already doing stuff this way, I find it pretty easy to use the transpose function to shift into the proper key. The accent is still on the root of the relative Ionian mode, but otherwise all the lit keys are the proper notes for the mode I am playing.

It's also pretty easy to switch the accent note to another note, so that it is on the root note of the mode you're playing in. When following this workflow, I make sure to think of the accent's setting as being a scale degree of the Ionian mode, instead of a specific note letter. So, when the accent is on "C" it's really just on the 1st scale degree of Ionian. When the accent is on "D", it's on the 2nd degree of Ionian, which means the accent is on the root note of the Dorian mode.

I Don't Phone Lydia Much Anymore, Lois
Ionian Dorian Phrygian Lydian Mixolydian Aeolian Locrian

It's not nearly as easy as the other method. It can be faster to setup though, the mental backflips aren't terribly hard, and I think it is in some ways more conducive to learning the patterns and connections between the modes you are playing.

[mrspiral]

I have worked both ways, especially on conventional keyboards, but find that the mnemonic lighting is great for keeping me out of trouble when I'm improvising live. Out of mode notes kill the mood.