MIDI on SCOOPS

Translate DAW (from GUI-world) to ASCII (to text-world) as "Fast DUB Prototyping" approach.

I spent lots of time using DAWs just for settings up pet projects, sandboxes, laboratories, etc.

Just having fun and brainstorming is difficult because I don't have enough instruments for playing music.

Since technology is a good solution because it's already cheap, I would like to have a "tool" for writing DUB in text format.

TODO: About FIXME in builder.js.

Libraries

• scribbletune for the rhythm-box, since it's pattern-based and use pure array-values it can be abstracted easily
• jsmidgen for creating the MIDI data on NodeJS, support for browsers is already done by scribbletune

Syntax

Each expression would generate a value or an array of values, sub-expressions are resolved and would produce one or more values, etc.

Once declared, all expressions are concatenated into a single array where possible.

# track 1

@instrument: 1

%sequence: x--- *16
%range: 10..120 /11

notes: c3 d3
pattern: %sequence
accentMap: 5 %range 127x3

The code above would produce the next scribbletune's settings:

{
  notes: ['c3', 'd3'],
  pattern: 'x---'.repeat(16),
  accentMap: [5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 127, 127, 127],
}

Using the CLI

When calling dub it will use timidity as default for MIDI playback.

• If you specify a file, it will be loaded an played. e.g. dub sample (.dub will be appended if missing)
• Opening a directory will watch and play on any changes. e.g. dub music/src/

Use a different player by appending the arguments:

$ dub music/src fluidsynth -i --gain 2 music/sf2/PC51f.sf2
# under the hood it will be called as `fluidsynth music/sf2/PC51f.sf2 path/to/generated_midi_file.mid`

Try the included examples:

$ dub examples/billy_jean.dub
$ dub examples/locks.dub
$ dub examples/x.dub

MIDI Drums

To enable the Drumkit you must use the channel 9, e.g.

@tempo: 90

# hat
@channel: 9

notes: f#2
pattern: xxxx *16

# snare
notes: e2
pattern: [---x][-x] *32

Note/Sound Mappings

• d1 — Heart Bit
• d#1 — Zap
• g1 — Stick
• a1 — Side Stick
• a#1 — Ring Bell
• b1 — Acoustic Bass Drum
• c2 — Bass Drum 1
• c#2 — Side Stick
• d2 — Acoustic Snare
• d#2 — Hand Clap
• e2 — Electric Snare
• f2 — Low Floor Tom
• f#2 — Closed Hi Hat
• g2 — High Floor Tom
• g#2 — Pedal Hi-Hat
• a2 — Low Tom
• a#2 — Open Hi-Hat
• b2 — Low-Mid Tom
• c3 — Hi-Mid Tom
• c#3 — Crash Cymbal 1
• d3 — High Tom
• d#3 — Ride Cymbal 1
• e3 — Chinese Cymbal
• f3 — Ride Bell
• f#3 — Tambourine
• g3 — Splash Cymbal
• g#3 — Cowbell
• a3 — Crash Cymbal 2
• a#3 — Vibraslap
• b3 — Ride Cymbal 2
• c4 — Hi Bongo
• c#4 — Low Bongo
• d4 — Mute Hi Conga
• d#4 — Open Hi Conga
• e4 — Low Conga
• f4 — High Timbale
• f#4 — Low Timbale
• g4 — High Agogo
• g#4 — Low Agogo
• a4 — Cabasa
• a#4 — Maracas
• b4 — Short Whistle
• c5 — Long Whistle
• c#5 — Short Guiro
• d5 — Long Guiro
• d#5 — Claves
• e5 — Hi Wood Block
• f5 — Low Wood Block
• f#5 — Mute Cuica
• g5 — Open Cuica
• g#5 — Mute Triangle
• a5 — Open Triangle
• a#5 — Cabasa 2
• c6 — Curtain

MIDI Instruments

Those are enabled through the @instrument annotation, e.g.

@tempo: 127

# skank

@instrument: 1

notes: c4|d#4|g4 % % c4|f4|g#4
pattern: -x-x *16

Number/Sound

• 0-7 — Piano
• 8-15 — Chromatic Percussion
• 16-23 — Organ
• 24-31 — Guitar
• 32-39 — Bass
• 40-47 — Strings
• 48-55 — Ensemble
• 56-63 — Brass
• 64-71 — Reed
• 72-79 — Pipe
• 80-87 — Synth Lead
• 88-95 — Synth Pad
• 96-103 — Synth Effects
• 104-111 — Ethnic
• 112-119 — Percussive
• 120-127 — Sound Effects