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<h2 class="title"><a id="BeatsTop"></a>Beats</h2>
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<p>
<a id="IndexBeats" class="indexterm"></a>
<span class="emphasis"><em>Beats</em></span> is an alternative score language that is aimed at
specifying simple scores in standard western tunings and
rhythms. <span class="emphasis"><em>Beats</em></span> can be invoked via the
CsScore component of a standard .csd score with
<span class="emphasis"><em>bin="beats"</em></span> or as stand-alone
program which generates a standard numeric score.
</p>
<p>
As a stand-alone the program reads standard input and writes to
standard output.
</p>
<div class="section">
<div class="titlepage"></div>
<p>
The <span class="emphasis"><em>beats</em></span> language is very simple, having
only 5 kinds of statement, and only one of them has any
complexity. In general the introductory word for each statement
type is case insensitive, so "QUIT", "quit", "QuIt"... are all
the same. Comments can be introduced in either ANSI C89 format
or C++ (that is either /* ... */ or // to the end of line) or
Csound's semicolo.
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist">
<ul class="itemizedlist" type="disc">
<li class="listitem">
<span class="emphasis">
<em>QUIT</em>
</span>
<p>
Causes beats to exit. For
flexibility the command <span class="emphasis"><em>END</em></span> is also
accepted for the identical action.
</p>
</li>
<li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>BEATS</em></span>=integer
<p>
Sets the number of beats
per minute for the following score until the end or until it is
reset. The default value is 60bpm. The token
<span class="emphasis"><em>BPS</em></span> is also acceptable instead of BEATS.
</p></li>
<li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>PERMEASURE</em></span>=integer
<p>
Sets the number of
beats in a bar. The default value is 4.
</p></li>
<li class="listitem">
<span class="emphasis">
<em>BAR</em>
</span>
<p>
Start a new bar.
</p>
</li>
<li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>BAR</em></span> integer
<p>
Start the bar whose number is
given.
</p></li>
<li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>i</em></span> integer attributes
<p>
Specified a note event for the numbered instrument. The
attributes may be any of a pitch, duration or dynamic, or a
positioning of the note to a beat or measure, and can be in
any order.
</p><p>
Pitches are specified with a conventional note name (English
form) in upper case optionally followed by a #, x (for
double sharp), b (for flat) or bb (for double flat).
A note of Z is a rest (think zzzz). All notes except rests
must be followed by an octave number, with A4 being
international A (440Hz). Pitches are passed to Csound in
Hertz in the parameter p4, and are twelve tone equal temprament.
</p><p>
Durations are coded in lower case with the initial letter of the
name.
</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" type="circle"><li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>ed</em></span> Dotted eighth note (three
quarters of a beat)
</li><li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>et</em></span> Triplet eighth note (third of a beat)
</li><li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>e</em></span> Eighth note (half a beat)
</li><li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>hd</em></span> Dotted half note (three beats)
</li><li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>ht</em></span> Triplet half note (one and a third beats)
</li><li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>h</em></span> Half note (two beats)
</li><li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>qd</em></span> Dotted quarter note (one and a half beats)
</li><li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>qt</em></span> Triplet quarter note (two thirds of a
beat)
</li><li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>q</em></span> Quarter note (one beat)
</li><li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>sd</em></span> Dotted sixteenth note (Three eighths
of a beat)
</li><li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>st</em></span> Triplet sixteenth note (sixth
of a beat)
</li><li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>s</em></span> Sixteenth note (quarter of a beat)
</li><li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>th</em></span> Thirty-second note (an eighth of a beat)
</li><li class="listitem"><span class="emphasis"><em>w</em></span> Whole note (four beats)
</li></ul></div><p>
Durations can be added together by giving more that one
duration. To make this more intuitive a + sign can be used
instead of white space.
</p><p>
The dynamics are written in conventional notation, that is fff,
ff, f, mf, mp, p, pp, ppp. These are passed to the instrument
as p5 as 0 for fff, and one less dB for each step below. The
default dynamic is fortissimo.
</p><p>
If any of these attributes is missing it carried forward from the
previous note, with beat position being incremented to the end
of the previous note.
</p><p>
In addition an event can be directed to a particular measure with
an m attribute or a particular beat with a b.
</p></li>
</ul>
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