In KCM, a musical study is a piece of music written to explore a certain principle.  As such, a study is usually unmodified from it’s native form (ie, there is no adjustment for voice leading apart from what Chordbot naturally does… we just let the principle we are studying do it’s thing with no intervention from the author.

For example, in the Studies on the Modal Pyramid, the principal being explored was exactly what direct pass through the diagram would sound like.  As such, a starting point (labeled S) and a finish point (labeled F) were determined and then a straight path through the diagram laid out in Chordbot.  What one hears in the composition is exactly what that pattern sounds like with zero other interference from its author.

As another example, in the Studies on Coltrane changes, the Coltrane changes were mapped out in jump space and a pattern recognized, that pattern being using the three distinct augmented triad that exist within the chromatic scale.  In our study, we changed the interval from an augmented triad to a diminished cord with a minor third interval, a full chromatic scale with the minor second interval, a job scale with a perfect fifth interval, etc.  In other words, we modified the major third interval in the Coltrane changes, inserted new intervals, and thus created new patterns.