Though not as extreme as the whole tone scale, pattern redundancy in the octatonic scale creates invariant features. For example, a minor third, a tritone, a diminished triad or a diminished seventh chord can be built above every step of the scale.

Patterns built on bottom note of the whole step or the half step recur on alternating steps. Thus, the chord types shown in Example 3 occur on steps 1, 3, 5 and 7 of Mode 1 (or steps 2, 4, 6 and 8 of Mode 2). Note the polychord made of two diminished seventh chords.

Example 3: Chords on Steps 1, 3, 5 and 7 of Mode 1






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