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Instruction for Writing Music Scores

A piece of music score contains notes, instructions and lyrics. It is compatible with the PLAY command in PC LOGO.

Notes

  • There are 8 kinds of notes: C、D、E、F、G、A、B、P, in which P means pause.
  • The number ahead of note means its duration. E.g. 4C is a crochet(1/4 of a full note) C, 16E is a semiquaver(1/16 of a full note) E.
    • The number can be a float. E.g. 1.6C means 5/8 of a full C note.
    • If there's no number ahead of a note, the default duration, which can be modified with L command, will be used.
  • #, b followed by a note can change its pitch. E.g. C#, Db is equal. C## is equal to D, but not recommended.
  • . followed by a note can change its length(time) to 1.5*length. E.g. the time of 4C. is equal to the time of 4C 8C.

Instructions

  • There are some kinds of instructions: O、T、L、S、H、R、[、]. They are for changing octave, changing tempo, changing default length, changing staccato, changing pitch offset, reset and playing chords.
  • O: Change octave
    • O# raises an octave, Ob reduces an octave.
    • On (0 <= n <= 7, n=integer) sets the octave to n.
    • The default value is O3.
  • T: Set the tempo
    • Tn (30 <= n <= 1000, n = float) sets the tempo(how many crochets per minute) to n.
    • The default value is T120.
  • L: Set the default duration
    • Ln (1 <= n <= 128, n = integer) sets the default duration to n. E.g. L8 C D E is equal to 8C 8D 8E.
    • The default value is L4.
  • S: Set the staccato
    • Sn (0 <= n <= 100, n = float) sets the staccato to n percent (n%). E.g. S50 means half of the note sounds, S0 means no gap between notes, and notes will connect (not on Windows), S100 means no sound.
    • The default value is S10.
  • H: Set pitch offset
    • H# raises a semitone, Hb reduces a semitone.
    • Hn (-12 <= n <= 12, n = integer)(float may be supported in the future) sets pitch offset to n semitone(s). E.g. H1 C is equal to H0 C#.
    • The default value is H0.
    • Use it properly can reduce the size of the file, BUT it is not compatible with PC LOGO.
  • R: Reset
    • Equals to O3 T120 L4 S10 H0.
    • R will be automatically applied when you load a new file.
  • [ and ] is used to define a chord
    • Notes between [ and ] (except the last one) will be played quickly, to semulate a chord.
    • Those notes are 0.1s each. To make sure the total time is correct, the time of the last note is decresed.

Lyrics

Lyrics are surrounded by *, and splitted by |. the string splitted by | is for one note.

A pair of * means a line of lyric, and newline will be automatically added. If new line of lyrics meet when there are words not used, those words will be discarded.

E.g. 1

*Twin|kle| twin|kle| lit|tle| star*
C C G G A A 2G

"Twin" -> first C, "kle" -> second C, ... , the last "star" -> 2G。

E.g. 2

*今|年||の|夏||の|匂||い|*
8F G G# 8G C C 8C# D# F 8D# 8P

"年" -> G, null string -> G#. When playing, it seems that "年" -> G G#。

Be careful: pauses and notes in a chord will be regarded as common notes.

Others

  • Except for the b in Ob, Hb and Db, other notes and instructions are case insensitive.
    • But be careful, db is a flat D, while DB is D and B
  • Words startes with // to the end of the line are regarded as comments.

Last Words

The writer of this document is from China, and he speaks poor English.

If you are from English-speaking countries and you have some spare time, you can correct the mistakes in this documents. I will be very grateful.