tone-rhythm

Generate an array of Tone.Transport times given an array of musical rhythms in
various formats that Tone.js understands.

Written for exclusive use with Tone.js.

Features

- Works with latest version of Tone (v0.12.8 - v13.4.0)
- Works in-browser (transpiled) or in node (ES6)
- Light footprint (3.6kB minified)
- Intuitive for musicians
- Has a fully-documented API with examples below.

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As a musician developing music applications, I wanted an API that would allow me to put rhythms along with a melody into Tone.Part. The example on Tone's docs shows how this is expected:

``js
var synth = new Tone.FMSynth().toMaster()

//schedule a series of notes to play as soon as the page loads
synth.triggerAttackRelease('C4', '4n', '8n')
synth.triggerAttackRelease('E4', '8n', Tone.Time('4n') + Tone.Time('8n'))
synth.triggerAttackRelease('G4', '16n', '2n')
synth.triggerAttackRelease('B4', '16n', Tone.Time('2n') + Tone.Time('8t'))
synth.triggerAttackRelease('G4', '16', Tone.Time('2n') + Tone.Time('8t')*2)
synth.triggerAttackRelease('E4', '2n', '0:3')
`

The third parameter in triggerAttackRelease is the start time of the note we're triggering. Musicians don't normally consider where a note is in a timeline when composing music. I needed a way to calculate this ahead of time.

I found enlightenment after reading Music Theory using Tone.js - Play Rhythms. Based on the author's work, I created algorithms that accumulate rhythmic values in an array of durations to generate start times. The result feels much more intuitive to me (please see the examples below.)

Getting Started

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Tone.js (v0.12.x or higher)

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npm install tone-rhythm

Or clone the repo and copy dist/tone-rhythm.min.js into your project.

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#### ES6 / Webpack

`js
// tone is a required peer dependency
import ToneTime from 'tone/Tone/type/Time';

import { toneRhythm } from 'tone-rhythm';
// any or all methods can be used in the instantiated toneRhythm:
const {
getBarsBeats,
addTimes,
getTransportTimes,
mergeMusicDataPart
} = toneRhythm(ToneTime);
`

#### Browser

Via node_modules:

`html







`

Via

`html







`

In your js file(s):

`js
const {
getBarsBeats,
addTimes,
getTransportTimes,
mergeMusicDataPart
} = toneRhythm.toneRhythm(Tone.Time); // both toneRhythm and Tone.Time are available globally from imports above
`

#### (Legacy) Pre-bundled with Tone 0.12.8

See docs/tone-rhythm@0.0.2.md.

API

Values which can populate a rhythms array:

- '4n' - a 'notation' value
- ['4n', '8t'] - an array of 'notation' values which will be added together
- ['r', '2n'] - an array that has 'r' at first index will be a rest
- ['r', '2n', '8t'] - (see above about 'r') and the remaining values will be added together

It's not recommended to use Tone's seconds format.

See documentation and below for tone-rhythm library usage.

Examples ("Maria" by Leonard Bernstein)

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Given an array of durations (see API), return transport times. Array

`js
const mariaDurations = ['8n', '8n', ['2n', '4n'], '8n', '4t', '4t', '4t', '4t', '4t', '4t', '8n', ['2n', '4n'], '8n', '8n', '8n', '8n', '8n', ['4n', '8n'], '8n', '8n', '8n', '8n', '8n', '4n', '4n', ['2n', '4n', '8n'], '8n', '8n', ['2n', '4n'], '8n', '4t', '4t', '4t', '4t', '4t', '4t', '8n', ['2n', '4n'], '8n', '8n', '8n', '8n', '8n', ['4n', '8n'], '8n', '8n', '8n', '8n', '8n', '4n', '4n', ['2n', '4n', '8n']];

const mariaTransportTimes = toneRhythm.getTransportTimes(mariaDurations); /* ->
Result:
[0, "0:0:2", "0:1:0", "1:0:0", "1:0:2", "1:1:0.667", "1:1:3.334", "1:2:2", "1:3:0.667", "1:3:3.334", "2:0:2", "2:1:0", "3:0:0", "3:0:2", "3:1:0", "3:1:2", "3:2:0", "3:2:2", "4:0:0", "4:0:2", "4:1:0", "4:1:2", "4:2:0", "4:2:2", "4:3:2", "5:0:2", "6:0:0", "6:0:2", "6:1:0", "7:0:0", "7:0:2", "7:1:0.667", "7:1:3.334", "7:2:2", "7:3:0.667", "7:3:3.334", "8:0:2", "8:1:0", "9:0:0", "9:0:2", "9:1:0", "9:1:2", "9:2:0", "9:2:2", "10:0:0", "10:0:2", "10:1:0", "10:1:2", "10:2:0", "10:2:2", "10:3:2", "11:0:2"]
*/
`

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Returns array of objects for consumption by Tone.Part.

`js
const mariaPitches = ["Eb4", "A4", "Bb4", "Eb4", "A4", "Bb4", "C5", "A4", "Bb4", "C5", "A4", "Bb4", "Bb4", "A4", "G4", "F4", "Eb4", "F4", "Bb4", "Ab4", "G4", "F4", "Eb4", "F4", "Eb4", "G4", "Eb4", "A4", "Bb4", "Eb4", "A4", "Bb4", "C5", "A4", "Bb4", "C5", "D5", "Bb4", "D5", "Eb5", "D5", "C5", "Bb4", "D5", "D5", "Eb5", "D5", "C5", "Bb4", "D5", "Eb5", "F5"];

const mergedData = mergeMusicDataPart({
rhythms: mariaDurations,
notes: mariaPitches,
startTime: '0:3:2'
}); /* -> [
{time: "0:3:2", duration: "8n", note: "Eb4", idx: 0},
{time: "1:0:0", duration: "8n", note: "A4", idx: 1},
{time: "1:0:2", duration: "0:3:0", note: "Bb4", idx: 2},
{time: "1:3:2", duration: "8n", note: "Eb4", idx: 3},
{time: "2:0:0", duration: "4t", note: "A4", idx: 4},
{time: "2:0:2.667", duration: "4t", note: "Bb4", idx: 5},
...
]
*/
`

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`js
const melodyPart = new Tone.Part((time, value) => {
piano.triggerAttackRelease(value.note, value.duration, time);
}, mergedData).start(0);
`

Contributing

Running the tests:

- npm run dev - build in dev mode and watch for changes
- npm run test` - opens the tests in-browser

Acknowledgments

Thank you https://www.guitarland.com and the creator of Tone.js.

Documentation created with jsdoc2md