attributes.md

Attributes

An attribute defines some quality of how an instrument (or multiple instruments) plays its notes.

Setting the Value of an Attribute

Just like setting octaves, setting an attribute will take effect for all of an instrument's upcoming notes, until that attribute is changed again. (In fact, octave is also a settable attribute.)

Different attributes take different kinds of values. A lot of the time, the value is a number between 0 and 100, but this is not always the case.

Examples

(volume 50)

(quant 85)

(octave 'up)

(tempo 240)

(key-signature "f+ c+ g+")

See below for more information about the different kinds of attributes that are available to you when writing a score.

Per-Instrument vs. Global

By default, an attribute change event is only applied to the instrument(s) that you're currently working with. For instance, in a score with four instruments:

violin "violin-1":
  o4 f2   g4 a   b-2   a

violin "violin-2":
  o4 c2   e4 f   f2    f

viola:
  o3 a2 > c4 c   d2    c

cello:
  o3 f2   c4 f < b-2 > f

Changing an attribute will only affect the instrument(s) whose part you are currently editing:

violin "violin-1":
  o4 f2   g4 a   b-2   a

violin "violin-2":
  o4 c2   e4 f   f2    f

viola:
  o3 a2 > c4 c   d2    c

cello:
  (volume 75)
  o3 f2   c4 f < b-2 > f

To change an attribute globally (i.e. for every instrument in the score), add an exclamation mark (!) after the name of the attribute:

violin "violin-1":
  (tempo! 80)
  o4 f2   g4 a   b-2   a

violin "violin-2":
  o4 c2   e4 f   f2    f

viola:
  o3 a2 > c4 c   d2    c

cello:
  o3 f2   c4 f < b-2 > f

Attributes can also be set globally at the beginning of a score, before you start writing out any instrument parts. The attributes will still be set for every instrument at the beginning of the score.

(tempo! 80)

violin "violin-1":
  o4 f2   g4 a   b-2   a

violin "violin-2":
  o4 c2   e4 f   f2    f

viola:
  o3 a2 > c4 c   d2    c

cello:
  o3 f2   c4 f < b-2 > f

List of Attributes

duration

• Abbreviations: (none)

• Description: The length that a note will have, if not specified. For example, c4 is explicitly a quarter note; c will have a note-length equal to the value of the instrument's duration attribute.

  Note that this attribute is more of an implementation detail, as an instrument's default note length is set implicitly whenever you specify a note-length on a note. You will probably never need to use this attribute directly.

  Worth mentioning: if you do ever find yourself needing to set the duration attribute directly, the function you use is set-duration, not duration.

• Value: either:

  • a number of beats (e.g. 2.5, which represents a dotted half note), or
  • a number of milliseconds

  If the value you provide is a number, it will be intepreted as a number of beats.

  Note that this value is a different number than the note value. For example, to set the duration to a quarter note, the value is 1, not 4, because a quarter note is 1 beat long:

  (set-duration 1)
  

  To specify the duration as a note length (e.g. 1 for a whole note), use set-note-length:

  (set-note-length 1)
  

  To specify the duration as a number of milliseconds, use set-duration-ms:

  (set-duration-ms 2000)
  

• Initial Value: (note-length 4) (i.e. a quarter note, or 1 beat)

key-signature

• Abbreviations: key-sig

• Description: a set of sharp or flat symbols to be applied to certain notes by default when the note doesn't include accidentals. For example, if the key signature contains G-sharp, then a note g will become G-sharp by default, unless an accidental is placed after the note, i.e. g- (G-flat) or g_ (G natural).

• Value: either:

  • a association list of letters to lists of accidentals for that letter, e.g. '(f (sharp) c (sharp) g (sharp))
  • a string like "f+ c+ g+", or
  • a list like '(a major) or '(e flat minor)
    • supported scales/modes:
      • ionian (major)
      • dorian
      • phrygian
      • lydian
      • mixolydian
      • aeolian (minor)
      • locrian

• Initial Value: '() (an empty list, signifying no flats/sharps will be applied for any letter)

octave

• Abbreviations: (none)

• Description: The octave of a note. (Note that Alda also has built-in syntax for setting specific octaves, e.g. o5, and moving up > or down < octaves.)

• Value: either a number representing an octave in scientific pitch notation, or the symbol 'up or 'down to move up or down by one from the current octave.

• Initial Value: 4

panning

• Abbreviations: pan

• Description: How far left/right the note is panned in your speakers.

• Value: a number from 0-100 representing the panning from hard left (0) to hard right (100). 50 is center.

• Initial Value: 50

quantization

• Abbreviations: quant, quantize

• Description: The percentage of a note's full duration that is heard. Setting lower quantization values translates into putting more space between notes, making them sound more staccato, whereas setting higher values translates into putting less space between notes, making them sound more legato.

• Value: a number between 0 and 100

• Initial Value: 90

tempo

• Abbreviations: (none)

• Description: How fast or slow notes are played. This value is used in combination with the length of a note to determine how long to play it in milliseconds.

• Value: a number representing a tempo in beats per minute (BPM)

• Initial Value: 120

By default, (tempo 100) will set the tempo to 100 beats per minute, where each beat takes up the length of a quarter note.

Alda also offers additional ways to express tempo. See: tempo.

track-volume

• Abbreviations: track-vol

• Description: The overall volume of an instrument. For MIDI instruments, this corresponds to track volume, as opposed to velocity. Typically, you would set track-volume once (if at all) at the beginning of the score, and then use volume for finer-grained control over volume between notes. (When in doubt, just use volume!)

• Value: a number between 0 and 100

• Initial Value: 78.7 (this number comes from 100/127, which is the default track volume for MIDI, at least in the Java VM)

transposition

• Abbreviations: transpose

• Description: Moves all notes up or down by a desired number of semitones. This attribute can be used to make writing parts for transposing instruments more convenient.

• Value: a positive or negative integer representing a number of semitones (half-steps) to move each note up or down.

• Initial Value: 0

volume

• Abbreviations: vol

• Description: How loud or soft a note is. For MIDI instruments, this corresponds to the velocity of each note, which has to do with not only how loud the note is, but also how strongly the note is played. The details of this vary from instrument to instrument; often, it has an effect on the sharpness of the attack at the beginning of the note.

• Value: a number between 0 and 100

• Initial Value: 54 (corresponding to a (mf) marking)

Dynamic Markings

• Description: Aside from setting the volume of a note directly, you can also specify dynamic markings which correspond to fixed volumes following MIDI standards.

• Available Dynamics:

  Dynamic Marking	Matching Volume
  (pppppp)	(vol 1)
  (ppppp)	(vol 8)
  (pppp)	(vol 16)
  (ppp)	(vol 24)
  (pp)	(vol 31)
  (p)	(vol 39)
  (mp)	(vol 46)
  (mf)	(vol 54)
  (f)	(vol 62)
  (ff)	(vol 69)
  (fff)	(vol 77)
  (ffff)	(vol 85)
  (fffff)	(vol 92)
  (ffffff)	(vol 100)

• Initial Value: (mf) (corresponding to a volume of 54)

midi-channel

• Abbreviations: (none)

• Description: By default, Alda automatically assigns an available MIDI channel for each part. In rare cases where you want to control which MIDI channel is used for each part, you can use this attribute to assign a specific MIDI channel. This can be done multiple times in the same part to switch to a different channel, if needed.

• Value: a number between 0 and 15. Note that channel 9 is reserved for percussion; an error will be thrown if you include (midi-channel 9) in a non-percussion part.

• Initial Value: (Not set. By default, Alda assigns MIDI channels automatically.)