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<chapter id="BeatsTop">
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<indexterm id="IndexBeats"><primary>Beats</primary></indexterm>
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<emphasis>Beats</emphasis> is an alternative score language that is aimed at
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specifying simple scores in standard western tunings and
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rhythms. <emphasis>Beats</emphasis> can be invoked via the
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CsScore component of a standard .csd score with
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<emphasis>bin="beats"</emphasis> or as stand-alone
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program which generates a standard numeric score.
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As a stand-alone the program reads standard input and writes to
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The <emphasis>beats</emphasis> language is very simple, having
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only 5 kinds of statement, and only one of them has any
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complexity. In general the introductory word for each statement
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type is case insensitive, so "QUIT", "quit", "QuIt"... are all
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the same. Comments can be introduced in either ANSI C89 format
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or C++ (that is either /* ... */ or // to the end of line) or
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<listitem><emphasis>QUIT</emphasis>
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Causes beats to exit. For
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flexibility the command <emphasis>END</emphasis> is also
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accepted for the identical action.
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<listitem><emphasis>BEATS</emphasis>=integer
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Sets the number of beats
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per minute for the following score until the end or until it is
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reset. The default value is 60bpm. The token
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<emphasis>BPS</emphasis> is also acceptable instead of BEATS.
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<listitem><emphasis>PERMEASURE</emphasis>=integer
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beats in a bar. The default value is 4.
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<listitem><emphasis>BAR</emphasis>
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<listitem><emphasis>BAR</emphasis> integer
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Start the bar whose number is
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<emphasis>i</emphasis> integer attributes
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Specified a note event for the numbered instrument. The
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attributes may be any of a pitch, duration or dynamic, or a
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positioning of the note to a beat or measure, and can be in
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Pitches are specified with a conventional note name (English
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form) in upper case optionally followed by a #, x (for
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double sharp), b (for flat) or bb (for double flat).
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A note of Z is a rest (think zzzz). All notes except rests
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must be followed by an octave number, with A4 being
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international A (440Hz). Pitches are passed to Csound in
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Hertz in the parameter p4, and are twelve tone equal temprament.
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Durations are coded in lower case with the initial letter of the
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<emphasis>ed</emphasis> Dotted eighth note (three
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<emphasis>et</emphasis> Triplet eighth note (third of a beat)
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<emphasis>e</emphasis> Eighth note (half a beat)
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<emphasis>hd</emphasis> Dotted half note (three beats)
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<emphasis>ht</emphasis> Triplet half note (one and a third beats)
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<emphasis>h</emphasis> Half note (two beats)
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<emphasis>qd</emphasis> Dotted quarter note (one and a half beats)
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<emphasis>qt</emphasis> Triplet quarter note (two thirds of a
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<emphasis>q</emphasis> Quarter note (one beat)
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<emphasis>sd</emphasis> Dotted sixteenth note (Three eighths
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<emphasis>st</emphasis> Triplet sixteenth note (sixth
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<emphasis>s</emphasis> Sixteenth note (quarter of a beat)
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<emphasis>th</emphasis> Thirty-second note (an eighth of a beat)
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<emphasis>w</emphasis> Whole note (four beats)
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Durations can be added together by giving more that one
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duration. To make this more intuitive a + sign can be used
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instead of white space.
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The dynamics are written in conventional notation, that is fff,
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ff, f, mf, mp, p, pp, ppp. These are passed to the instrument
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as p5 as 0 for fff, and one less dB for each step below. The
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default dynamic is fortissimo.
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If any of these attributes is missing it carried forward from the
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previous note, with beat position being incremented to the end
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of the previous note.
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In addition an event can be directed to a particular measure with
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an m attribute or a particular beat with a b.
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<section id="Example">
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The opening of Bach's Goldberg variation number 3 can be coded
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; Bach - Goldberg Variations - Variato 3
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; by Brian Baughn 3-14-05
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; bbaughn@berklee.net
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i101 m1 b1 B4 mp qd+s
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i101 Z e // Z is a rest (zzzzz..)
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;;;setting bpm=120.000000
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;;;setting permeasure=6
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i101 0.000000 0.875000 493.883621 -4
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i101 0.875000 0.125000 523.251131 -4
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i101 1.000000 0.125000 587.329536 -4
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i101 1.125000 0.125000 523.251131 -4
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i101 1.250000 0.125000 587.329536 -4
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i101 1.375000 0.125000 659.255114 -4
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i101 1.500000 0.875000 440.000000 -4
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i101 2.375000 0.125000 493.883621 -4
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i101 2.500000 0.125000 523.251131 -4
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i101 2.625000 0.125000 493.883621 -4
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i101 2.750000 0.125000 523.251131 -4
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i101 2.875000 0.125000 587.329536 -4
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i101 3.000000 0.750000 391.995436 -4
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i101 3.750000 1.000000 783.990872 -4
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i101 4.750000 0.125000 880.000000 -4
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i101 4.875000 0.125000 783.990872 -4
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i101 5.000000 0.125000 739.988845 -4
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i101 5.125000 0.125000 783.990872 -4
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i101 5.250000 0.250000 880.000000 -4
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i101 6.250000 0.125000 587.329536 -4
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i101 6.375000 0.125000 523.251131 -4
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i101 6.500000 0.125000 493.883621 -4
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i101 6.625000 0.125000 440.000000 -4
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i101 6.750000 0.250000 493.883621 -4
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i101 7.000000 0.125000 523.251131 -4
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i101 7.125000 0.125000 493.883621 -4
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i101 7.250000 0.125000 440.000000 -4
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i101 7.375000 0.125000 493.883621 -4
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i101 7.500000 0.250000 391.995436 -4
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i101 7.750000 0.250000 659.255114 -4
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i101 8.000000 0.250000 587.329536 -4
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i101 8.250000 0.250000 523.251131 -4
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i101 8.500000 0.250000 739.988845 -4
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i101 8.750000 0.250000 880.000000 -4
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i101 9.000000 0.500000 493.883621 -4
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i101 9.500000 0.250000 783.990872 -4
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i101 9.750000 0.500000 783.990872 -4
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i101 10.250000 0.250000 739.988845 -4
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;;rest at 10.500000 for 0.250000
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;;rest at 10.750000 for 0.250000
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i101 11.000000 0.250000 987.767243 -4
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i101 11.250000 0.500000 880.000000 -4
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i101 11.750000 0.250000 587.329536 -4
added
removed
beats/top.xml
