Provided by: gramophone2_0.8.13a-3.1ubuntu1_amd64 bug

NAME

       gramophone2 -  GRAMophone is an algorithmic generator of music composition.

SYNOPSYS

       gramophone2 [-c|-d] sourcefile [midifile]

OPTIONS

       -c     is  an  option  allowing you to control the syntax of the source without generating
              music.

       -d     is an option allowing you  to  activate  debug  mode,  with  video  output  of  the
              composition and player parameters plus the generated notes.

DESCRIPTION

       In GRAMophone, the music is generated using two kinds of formal grammar: Chomsky's regular
       grammar (or Type 3) for a TOP DOWN approach to the composition and a  reduced  version  of
       Lindenmayer grammar for a BOTTOM UP approach.

BASIC CONCEPT OF GRAMophone

       GRAMophone  is  partly  based  on  an  idea of Jon McCormack's, who invented the idea of a
       virtual player (virtual musician). The player in question is associated with a MIDI track,
       and  interprets  instructions telling it what to do.  Generally, they say play notes (send
       MIDI messages). GRAMophone's  players  together  make  up  an  orchestra,  which  plays  a
       composition.

       Any  number  of  players  can  play a composition, but in practice the hardware used might
       impose an upper limit.

       In general every player plays an instrument and each has a different set of grammar rules.
       An individual player is characterised by a set of parameters which are shared by the whole
       orchestra and/or a personal parameter set.

       The orchestra's parameters consist of:

              the kind of grammar used (Chomsky or Lindenmayer);

              the metronome;

              the measure;

              the number of iterations used in the production process.

       Each individual player's parameters consist of:

              the kind of grammar used (Chomsky or Lindenmayer);

              the instrument;

              the MIDI channel associated with the player;

              the number of iterations used in the production process;

       A player's notes have a current state consisting of:

              octave

              volume

              duration

              release

       These  characteristics  can  be  controlled  parametrically  by  a  player  declaring  its
       associated  variables.   GRAMophone,  then, allows for the non-deterministic generation of
       music, using either Chomsky or Lindenmayer grammar.

GUIDE TO GRAMophone

       "Give Me A" (The "Hello, World!" for GRAMophone")

       To introduce you to the basic ideas, here is the simplest algorithmic composition that can
       be  generated  with  GRAMophone:  this  composition  simply  generates  the  note A and is
       presented through both the Chomsky and Lindenmayer methods.

       composition "Give Me A" of "Schroeder" {

         //this composition generates the A note with the Chomsky grammar

         grammar chomsky
         tempo 120
         time_signature 4/4
         %
         player Schroeder {
           instrument 0
           %
           @composition->A[,,,];
         }
       }

       composition "Give Me A" of "Schroeder" {
         //this composition generates the A note with the Lindenmayer grammar
         grammar lindenmayer
         tempo 120
         time_signature 4/4
         %
         player Schroeder {
           instrument 0
           %
           axiom->A[,,,];
         }
       }

       THE KEYWORDS composition E of

       All compositions must begin with the keyword composition followed by a string (in inverted
       commas)  containing  the  name of the composition. This must be followed by the keyword of
       then another string containing the copyright of the piece.

       THE COMPOSITION BLOCK

       The composition block is placed in brackets. It is subdivided  into  three  sections:  one
       section  defines  parameters  of  the  composition,  one declares and initiates any global
       variables and an orchestra section where  the  players  who  will  'play'  the  piece  are
       defined. The first two sections are separated by the % symbol.

       THE player KEYWORD

       Each player is defined with the keyword player, followed by an identifier.

       THE player BLOCK

       The  player  block  is  placed in brackets and is divided into three sections: one section
       defines the parameters of the track associated with the player,  one  declares  any  local
       variables  for  the  player  and  one  is for the formal rules. The first two sections are
       separated by the % symbol.

       COMMENTS

       In GRAMophone, comments are C-like: they must begin with the character pair '/*'  and  end
       with  the  character pair '*/.' There must be no space between the asterisk and the slash.
       Everything between these pairs of symbols will be ignored by the GRAMophone parser.  Whole
       lines of comments may also be included. Lines of comments begin with the symbol // and end
       at the end of the line, as in the two initial examples.

       Section defining the composition's parameters

       The parameters shared by all the orchestra's players are  declared  here.  The  parameters
       that may be declared are:

              grammar

              resolution

              iterations

              tempo

              time_signature

       This section must end with the % symbol.

       grammar

       This parameter is obligatory and defines the kind of grammar to be used in the generation.
       This can be either chomsky or lindenmayer.

       resolution

       This parameter defines the number of time units of 1/4 duration. If omitted,  the  default
       value 480 will be used.

       iterations

       This  parameter  defines the number of iterations contained in the generation. Its meaning
       depends on the kind of grammar chosen, as explained below. If omitted, the default value 1
       will be used.

       tempo

       This parameter defines the composition's rhythm. If omitted, the default value 120 will be
       used.

       time_signature

       This parameter defines the composition's measure. If omitted, the default value  4/4  will
       be used.

       Section declaring the composition's global variables

       The variables control the parameters of a note's attributes, as explained below.

       Section defining the player's parameters

       Each player's personal parameters and variables are declared here. The personal parameters
       that may be declared are:

              instrument

              channel

              iterations

              This section must end with the % symbol.

              instrument

       This parameter indicates the player's instrument type. GRAMophone's instrument set is  the
       same  as  that  of  General  MIDI.  The  acceptable range of values is 0 to 127; there are
       therefore 128 instruments to choose from. A table showing  the  instrument  codes  appears
       below:

              0 Piano

              1 Brite Piano

              2 HammerPiano

              3 Honkey Tonk

              4 New Tines

              5 Digital Piano

              6 Harpsichord

              7 Clavi

              8 Celesta

              9 Glocken

              10 Music Box

              11 Vibes

              12 Marimba

              13 Xylophon

              14 Tubular Bell

              15 Santur

              16 Full Organ

              17 Percussive Organ

              18 BX-3 Organ

              19 Church Organ

              20 Positive

              21 Musette

              22 Harmonica

              23 Tango

              24 Classic Guitar

              25 Acoustic Guitar

              26 Jazz Guitar

              27 Clean Guitar

              28 Mute Guitar

              29 Overdrive Guitar

              30 Distorted Guitar

              31 Harmonics

              32 Jazz Bass

              33 Deep Bass

              34 Pick Bass

              35 Fretless Bass

              36 Slap Bass 1

              37 Slap Bass 2

              38 Syntethized Bass 1

              39 Syntethized Bass 2

              40 Violin

              41 Viola

              42 Cello

              43 Contra Bass

              44 Tremolo String

              45 Pizzicato

              46 Harp

              47 Timpani

              48 Marcato

              49 Slow String

              50 Analog Pad

              51 String Pad

              52 Choir

              53 Doo Voice

              54 Voices

              55 Orchestra Hit

              56 Trumpet

              57 Trombone

              58 Tuba

              59 Mute Trumpet

              60 French Horn

              61 Brass Section

              62 Synthetized Brass 1

              63 Synthetized Brass 2

              64 Soprano Sax

              65 Alto Sax

              66 Tenor Sax

              67 Baritone Sax

              68 Sweet Oboe

              69 English Horn

              70 Bassoon Oboe

              71 Clarinet

              72 Piccolo

              73 Flute

              74 Recorder

              75 Pan Flute

              76 Bottle

              77 Shakhukuhachi

              78 Whistle

              79 Ocarina

              80 Square Lead

              81 Saw Lead

              82 Caliope Lead

              83 Chiff Lead

              84 Charang Lead

              85 Air Chorus

              86 Rezzo4ths

              87 Bass & Lead

              88 Fantasia

              89 Warm Pad

              90 Poly Synth Pad

              91 Ghost Pad

              92 Bowed Pad

              93 Metal Pad

              94 Halo Pad

              95 Sweep Pad

              96 Ice Rain

              97 Soundtrack

              98 Crystal

              99 Atmosphere

              100 Brightness

              101 Goblin

              102 Echo Drop

              103 Star Theme

              104 Sitar

              105 Banjo

              106 Shamisen

              107 Koto

              108 Kalimba

              109 Scotland

              110 Fiddle

              111 Shanai

              112 Metal Bell

              113 Agogo

              114 Steel Drums

              115 Wood Blok

              116 Taiko Drum

              117 Melodic Tom

              118 Synth Tom

              119 Reverse Cymbal

              120 Fret Noise

              121 Noise Chiff

              122 Seashore

              123 Birds

              124 Telephone

              125 Helicopter

              126 Stadium!!

              127 Gunshot

       If omitted, the default instrument value 0 is used.

       channel

       This parameter defines which Midi channel will be associated with the player. There are 16
       possible channels. Channel 10 is reserved for  percussion  instruments.  If  omitted,  the
       default channel value 1 is used.

       iterations

       This  parameter defines the number of iterations in the generation. Its meaning depends on
       the kind of grammar chosen, as explained below.  If  the  iterations  parameter  has  been
       included in the composition declarations, the latter declaration will be ignored.

       Section declaring the player's local variables

       The variables control the parameters of a note's attributes, as explained below.

       Notes in GRAMophone

       HOW NOTES ARE WRITTEN DOWN IN GRAMophone

       Notes are the first category of terminal symbols GRAMophone.

       GRAMophone uses the English notation for notes:

                   A B C D E F G

       The  names  of  notes  must be written in capital letters.  The flat and sharp symbols are
       represented by 'b' and '#' respectively; no space should appear between these symbols  and
       the name of the note: A#, Gb, etc.

       NOTE ATTRIBUTES

       Notes  can have four attributes in GRAMophone: octave, velocity, duration and release. The
       octave attribute varies between -2 and 8, while the velocity and release  attributes  vary
       from  0  to  127.   If  the note is written without attributes, then the following default
       values are used: 3 for octave, 64 for velocity and release. The current default value  for
       duration  is  a  crotchet.  In  the example, "Give me A" is written simply as A[,,,]. This
       means that an A is generated at the third octave, with a duration of 1/4  and  a  velocity
       and release of 64.

       DEFINING THE ATTRIBUTES OF A NOTE

       The  attributes  of  a  note  are defined by writing them inside the square brackets which
       follow the name of the note, without spaces. A note can have four attributes at  most  and
       each attribute type may have only one value.

       The attributes must be defined in the following order:

              octave

              velocity

              duration

              release

       If all three attributes are not defined, the default value is used for the missing ones.

       Here are some examples of notes with attributes:

              C[2,  50+60/2,  240*4,]  -  plays  a C at the second octave, with a velocity of 80,
              duration of 960 (minim with a resolution of 480)  and  a  release  of  64  (default
              value);

              Db[4,,,]  -  plays  a   D  flat  at the fourth octave, using the default values for
              velocity, duration and release;

              F#[,,,] - use the default values for all the attributes;

       Incorrect examples are:

              Db[3, 127, 960, 64, x] - too many attributes (x is a variable).

       PAUSE

       Pauses are another category of terminal symbol in GRAMophone.  They are indicated  by  the
       letter  R  and only take a duration type attribute. If unspecified, the default resolution
       value is used. Attributes are defined in the same way as for notes.

       Here are some examples of pauses:

              R[480/2] - pause with a duration of 240;

              R[] - use the default value for the attribute of type duration.

       CHORDS

       Chords are the final category of terminal symbol used in GRAMophone. A chord is  a  series
       of  notes  played  simultaneously.  In  GRAMophone,  notes  played in a chord are enclosed
       between two '^' symbols.

       Here are some examples of chords:

              ^C[,,,]E[,,,]G[,,,]^ - plays a C major chord, using each note's default values.

              ^A[2,80,240,]C[2,,240,]E[2,,240,]^ - plays an A minor chord with duration 1/8, with
              all notes at the second octave and velocity 64 (default value), with the first note
              of the chord played with a velocity of 80 and the remaining two at a velocity of 64
              (default value).

       THE ROLE OF R IN COMPLEX CHORDS

            The notes of a chord do not always have the same duration. For example it is possible
       that, while the note C[2,,1920,] of duration 4/4 is playing, the musician has to play four
       crotchets  in  the following order: C[,,,], E[,,,], G[,,,], Bb[,,,]. There has to be a way
       of telling GRAMophone that the notes  C[2,,1920,] and C[,,,] must start at the same  time,
       that  E[,,,]  must  begin after a pause of 1/4, G[,,,] after 2/4 and Bb[,,,] after 3/4. In
       GRAMophone this is written as follows:

       ^C[2,,1920,]C[,,,]R[]E[,,,]R[960]G[,,,]R[1440]Bb[,,,]^

       In other words, every note in the chord can be preceded by a pause definition representing
       the  time  to wait before playing the note.       It does not matter which order you write
       the notes down in a chord. The chord in the example above can also be written:

       ^R[]E[,,,]C[2,,1920,]R[1440]Bb[,,,]C[,,,]R[960]G[,,,]^

       IDENTIFIERS

       Some of GRAMophone's language entities, variables,  macros  and  non-terminal  symbols  in
       Chomsky  grammar for example, must have names by which they can be identified. These names
       are called identifiers and are chosen by the composer.   GRAMophone's  identifiers  follow
       the  system  of identifiers used in the programming language Pascal. In fact an identifier
       is made up of a  letter  followed  by  a  sequence  of  letters  or  digits.  GRAMophone's
       identifiers must also be written in lower case.

       Chomsky Grammar

       NON-TERMINAL SYMBOLS

       In  Chomsky  grammar  non-terminal  symbols are used to give a structure or 'style' to the
       musical composition. They are written with an '@' immediately followed by  an  identifier.
       The  Chomsky  grammar used by GRAMophone is context free so the head of the production can
       only be a non-terminal.

       THE NON-TERMINAL SYMBOL @composition

       This non-terminal symbol, which corresponds to the final composition of a  single  player,
       is obligatory.

       PRODUCTION OPERATOR

       This  is  defined  by the character sequence '->' and separates the head of the production
       from the body.

       BODY OF THE PRODUCTION

       This may contain sequences  of  terminal  (notes,  pauses  and  chords)  and  non-terminal
       symbols. Each production must end with a semi-colon.

       | (OR) OPERATOR

       A  production  may be non-deterministic: in other words it may present two or more choices
       during generation. The body of a non-deterministic production is made up  of  the  various
       choices separated by the | operator. For example

       @non_det->A[,,,]B[,,,]@Seq1|^A[,,,]B[,,,]C[,,,]^@Seq2R[]C[,,,];

       is a non-deterministic production.

       MEANING OF ITERATION IN CHOMSKY GRAMMAR

       In Chomsky grammar a production may include cycles, i.e. production bodies containing non-
       terminal symbols that refer to the production actually being produced. For example:

       @Sequenza1->B[,,,]A[,,,]C[,,,]@Sequenza1;

       To avoid an infinite  loop  during  generation,  the  non-terminal  symbol  @Sequenza1  is
       processed an equal number of times to the iterations parameter.

       Lindenmayer Grammar

       Lindenmayer  grammar  only  deals  with  terminal  symbols and GRAMophone's version can be
       context-free or work in a polyphonic context. Therefore, single notes or chords can appear
       at the head of the production. All productions are separated by a semi-colon.

       AXIOM

       This is the initial production from which generation begins. It is obligatory.  PRODUCTION
       OPERATOR

       This is defined by the character sequence '->' and separates the head  of  the  production
       from the body.

       | (OR) OPERATOR

       A  production  may be non-deterministic: in other words it may present two or more choices
       during generation. The body of a non-deterministic production is made up  of  the  various
       choices separated by the | operator. For example

       A[,,,]->A[,,,]B[,,,]|C[,,,]D[,,,];

       is a non-deterministic production.

       MEANING OF ITERATIONS IN LINDENMAYER GRAMMAR

       At  each step all the grammar's productions are simultaneously applied to the note string.
       In this case the iterations parameter represents the number of steps to be carried out.

       Use of variables

       DECLARATION AND INITIALISATION OF VARIABLES

       GRAMophone is able to control the attributes of a note parametrically through the  use  of
       variables.  These variables are declared in the player's declaration section and may be of
       the following types: octave, velocity, duration and msb. A variable is declared by writing
       its  type  followed  by one or more identifiers separated by a comma. The declaration must
       end with a semi-colon. A player's identifier must be declared only once.

       The following are correct declarations:

              velocity x, y;

              octave oct, z;

              duration w;

       The following are incorrect declarations:

              velocity x, x;

              octave z;

              duration z;

       Following the declaration section and before the grammar  it  is  possible  to  initialise
       variables by means of the = operator.

       The following is an example of declaration and initialisation:

              velocity x;

              x=0;

       USING VARIABLES WITH NOTES

       Variables  are  used  in  note attribute expressions. GRAMophone controls the types within
       expressions, so it is not possible to add an octave variable to a velocity  variable,  for
       example.

       The following is an example of a note variable:

              velocity x;

              duration z, w;

              A[4,x,z+w,].

       EXAMPLE
       composition "Crescendo" of "Schroeder" {

         //this composition generates 64 A notes with a growing velocity

         grammar chomsky
         tempo 120
         time_signature 4/4
         iterations 64
         %
         player Schroeder {
           instrument 40
           %
           velocity x=0;

           @composition->A[,x=x+1,,]@composition;
         }
       }

       CONDITIONS

       In  both  Chomsky  and  Lindenmayer  grammars  it is possible to define conditions for the
       variables in the production body. If the condition is true, the  production  is  executed;
       otherwise  it  is not. A condition is defined immediately after the name of the production
       by means of the '?' symbol, followed by one or more Boolean expressions.

       The Boolean operators are:

              !         not

              &&        and

              ||        or

       The relational operators are:

              ==        uguale

              !=        diverso

              <         minore

              >         maggiore

              <=        minore o uguale

              >=        maggiore o uguale

       The following is an example of a conditional production.

       @battuta?x!=0->A[,x=x-10,,]@battuta;

       which means: while x is not equal to zero, generate the @battuta production; otherwise  do
       not.

       Discography, GRAMophone's library

       GRAMophone  is  able  to  include  external  libraries, called discographies. To include a
       discography in a source file, use the keyword discography followed by  its  file  name.  A
       discography can be included at any point in the source file, as long as its contents match
       the position of the source where it has been included.

       Macros

       Macros can be defined using the keyword define, followed by a lower-case identifier and  a
       string  placed  in  inverted commas. Macros must be defined at the beginning of the source
       composition, before the composition keyword. For example,  in  order  to  simply  write  a
       instead of A[,,,], the following macro must be defined: define a "A[,,,]"

       Functions in GRAMophone

       THE repeat() FUNCTION

       The  repeat()  function takes an msb type value plus a Chomsky or Lindenmayer sequence. It
       enables the included sequence to be repeated a number of times that is equal  to  the  msb
       type value.

       THE rand() FUNCTION

       The  rand() function takes an expression and returns a random value which is less than the
       value of the expression.

       Melodic operators in GRAMophone

       transpose()

       The transpose() operator takes an msb type value plus a Chomsky or  Lindenmayer  sequence.
       It  generates a sequence in which all the notes in the relevant sequence are transposed by
       a number of semitones equal to the msb type value.

       inversion()

       The inversion() operator takes a Chomsky or Lindenmayer sequence. It generates a  sequence
       in  which  the  intervals  between the first and the other notes in the sequence taken are
       calculated in reverse.

       retrograde()

       The retrograde() operator takes a Chomsky or Lindenmayer sequence. It generates a sequence
       which is the contrary of the sequence inserted.

AUTHOR

       Giovanni Ferranti <giovanni_at_giovanniferranti_dot_it>