Sorrygle

Text-based MIDI-writing language and its compiler

Introduction

I often chat with my friends via Discord. However, it becomes cumbersome when I want to share a bundle of melody. To do so I had to turn on a notation software (e.g., MuseScore) first, create a new sheet, write the melody, export it to a sound file, and then finally I could do share.

So as to alleviate this nasty time-consuming process, I thought that MML (i.e., Music Macro Language) can be a solution. But I felt disappointment when I realized that MML doesn't support so many sugars such as staccato, sforzando, crescendo, and graces.

Of course MML actually does support some of them (e.g., crescendo), but you know it's too long to write in comfort. For example in crescendo, you must change the volume for every note increasingly in MML.

// Crescendo in MML
L8 V1C V2D V3E V4F V5G V6A V7B V8G >V9C1
// Crescendo in Sorrygle
(q=8) (v=10)<+cdefgabg ^c~~~~~~~90>

The problem becomes bigger when it comes to graces. Assume that a grace note is a 64th note long. Then you must calculate the total length of graces and subtract the value from the length of the main note.

// Graces in MML
L64 G A B^32^16 L8 A G A
// Graces in Sorrygle
(q=8) [>ga]baga

In addition, even if crescendoes and graces can be exist in MML, I couldn't recognize such notations at a glance (this is important). That's why I've defined a new language that can be converted into MIDI files.

Now I'm happy 😊.

Demo

https://sorry.daldal.so/sorrygle

Getting Started

CLI

1. npm -g install sorrygle
2. sorrygle "cege[c^c]~~~"
3. Open output.mid
4. Cool and good.

Script

1. npm install sorrygle

import { writeFileSync } from "fs";
import { Sorrygle } from "sorrygle";

console.log(Sorrygle.parse("cege[c^c]~~~")); // This prints the AST of the input.
console.log(Sorrygle.getTimeline("cege[c^c]~~~")); // This prints the timeline of the input.
writeFileSync("./output.mid", Sorrygle.compile("cege[c^c]~~~"));

or

const { writeFileSync } = require("fs");
const { Sorrygle } = require("sorrygle");

console.log(Sorrygle.parse("cege[c^c]~~~")); // This prints the AST of the input.
console.log(Sorrygle.getTimeline("cege[c^c]~~~")); // This prints the timeline of the input.
writeFileSync("./output.mid", Sorrygle.compile("cege[c^c]~~~"));

3. Open output.mid
4. Cool and good.

Grammar

• ⓘ Integer variable
• ⓝ Numeric variable
• ⓓ Duration

Notation	Name	Meaning	Default
((bpm=ⓘ))	BPM configuration	Set the current BPM to ⓘ.	120
((fermata=ⓝ))	Fermata configuration	Set the length of fermatas to ⓝ. The duration of the note becomes ⓝ times.	2
((time-sig=ⓘ/ⓘ))	Time signature configuration	Set the time signature to ⓘ/ⓘ.	4/4
#ⓘ	Channel declaration	(1≤ⓘ≤16) Set the current channel for following input.	1
(o=ⓘ)	Default octave	(0≤ⓘ≤8) Set the default octave for following input.	4
(p=ⓘ)	Instrument	(0≤ⓘ≤127) Set the instrument for following input. You can refer to GM 1 Sound Set for determining the value. Please note that PC# = ⓘ + 1 since ⓘ starts from zero.	0
(q=ⓓ)	Quantization	Set the default note/rest/tie length for following input.	16
(s=ⓘ)	Sustain pedal	(0≤ⓘ≤127) Set the value of the sustain pedal. It's enabled only if ⓘ≥64.	0
(t=ⓘ)	Transpose	Transpose following input.	0
(v=ⓘ)	Volume	(1≤ⓘ≤100) Set the volume for following input.	80
cdefgab	Note	Play C, D, E, F, G, A, B in sequence. You can use 도레미파솔라시 instead.
CDFGA	Sharp note	Play C#, D#, F#, G#, A# in sequence. You can use 돗렛팟솘랏 instead.
렢밒솚랖싶	Flat note	Play Db, Eb, Gb, Ab, Bb in sequence.
_	Rest	Keep silent. You can use ㅇ instead.
+	Semitone up	Increase the pitch of the preceding note by one semitone. (i.e., c+ = C)
-	Semitone down	Decrease the pitch of the preceding note by one semitone. (i.e., c- = vb)
~	Tie	Increase the length of the preceding note. You can use ㅡ instead.
[ceg]	Chord	Play C, E, G at once.
[|ceg]	Arpeggio	Play C, E, G rapidly in sequence.
^c	Octave up	Play C in one octave higher than the default.
vc	Octave down	Play C in one octave lower than the default.
(^ceg)	Ranged octave up	Play all notes in the bracket in one octave higher than the default.
(vceg)	Ranged octave down	Play all notes in the bracket in one octave lower than the default.
(3ceg)	Triplet	Set the length of each note to 2/3 of the current quantization.
(5cdefg)	Quintuplet	Set the length of each note to 2/5 of the current quantization.
(7cdefgab)	Septuplet	Set the length of each note to 2/7 of the current quantization.
(scdef)	Ranged sustain pedal	Same as (s=127)cdef(s=0).
(:ceg)	Ranged sublength	Same as (q=16)ceg(q=8) in (q=8). (quadruplet)
(|ceg)	Ranged superlength	Same as (q=4)ceg(q=8) in (q=8). (uni-tuplet)
[>ga]b	Appoggiatura	Treat all notes in the bracket as appoggiaturas.
[[c~~~|efga]]	Parallelization	Play all notes sequentially in each section at once.
<.c>	Staccato	Play the note shortly (precisely T8).
<~c>	Fermata	Play the note lengthy (as configured by Fermata configuration).
<!c>	Sforzando	Play the note strongly (in the maximum volume).
<tc>	Trill	Play the note as a trill (of interval T16).
<+cegⓘ>	Crescendo	(1≤ⓘ≤100) Play all notes in the bracket with the increasing volume from the current volume to ⓘ.
<-gecⓘ>	Decrescendo	(1≤ⓘ≤100) Play all notes in the bracket with the decreasing volume from the current volume to ⓘ.
<p(ⓝ)c~(ⓝ)~~(ⓝ)>	Pitch bend	(-1≤ⓝ≤1) Play all notes in the bracket with the plan modifying the pitch bend linearly.
|:	Open repeat	Set the start point of a repetition.
:|ⓘ	Close repeat	(1≤ⓘ) Set the end point of a repetition. You can omit ⓘ if you want to repeat the closed interval just once.	1
/1	Prima volta	Play the following notes only if it's the first time to be played.
/2	Seconda volta	Play the following notes after one repetition, skipping the notes of the corresponding prima volta. Since currently only prima and seconda voltas are supported, you can omit this.
{ⓘceg}	Group declaration	Name the set of notes ⓘ.
{=ⓘ}	Group reference	Refer the set ⓘ.
=/	Head comment	Ignore the text before this.
/=	Tail comment	Ignore the text after this.

Duration

• 1: Whole note
• 2: Half note
• 4: Quarter note
• 8: 8th note
• 16: 16th note
• 32: 32nd note
• 64: 64th note
• You can put t at the end of each number above for triplets.
• You can put d or dd at the front of each number above for (double-)dotted notes.
• Tⓘ: ⓘ-tick-long note. Note that ♩ = T128.

Bank Selection

You can use more than 128 instruments (if supported) by providing a bank number like (p=123/1) which refers the instrument of Patch No. 124 and Bank No. 1. The default value of the bank number is zero.

User-defined Range

You can define your own range like the example below.

{{octave-chord}}{
  [vxx]
}

#1 {{octave-chord}}(cdefg~~~) /= This is equivalent to
#1 [vcc][vdd][vee][vff][vgg]~~~

Channel Continuation

You can write notes through several channels alternately like below. This helps you transcript a long score without scrolling Sorrygle texts to the desired position.

#1  (♪)      cdefg~~~
#2  (♩)(o=3) c c c c
#~1          gfedc~~~   /= This continues the previous #1
#~2          vgvg[vcc]~ /= This continues the previous #2

Emoji Declaration

You can let a Unicode emoji perform as a local configuration which is like (...=...).

((🔊=(v=100)))
((🔈=(v=1)))

#1 (🔈)cdefgab(🔊)^c~~~~~~~ /= This is equivalent to
#1 (v=1)cdefgab(v=100)^c~~~~~~~

There are some default emoji declarations below. Of course you can overwrite.

Emoji	Same as...
🎹	(p=0)
🪗	(p=21)
🎸	(p=24)
🎻	(p=40)
🎤	(p=54)
🎺	(p=56)
🎷	(p=64)
🪕	(p=105)
🥁	(p=118)
𝅝	(q=1)
𝅗𝅥	(q=2)
𝅘𝅥 or ♩	(q=4)
𝅘𝅥𝅮 or ♪	(q=8)
𝅘𝅥𝅯 or ♬	(q=16)
𝅘𝅥𝅰	(q=32)

Example

🎵 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Turkish March (first 27 bars)

((time-sig=2/4))
#1
0 =/       ____                            baGa (o=5)
2 =/ |:{10 c~__dcvbc                       e~__feDe
4 =/       baGabaGa                   }{12 <!^c~~~>a_^c_
6 =/       [>ga]b_[Fa]_[eg]_[Fa]_          [>ga]b_[Fa]_[eg]_[Fa]_
8 =/       [>ga]b_[Fa]_[eg]_[DF]_     } /1 e~~~(vbaGa) :|
10=/ /2    e~~~          |:{13 [ce]_[df]_  [eg]_[eg]_agfe
13=/       [[<!d~~~>|vb~vg~]][ce]_[df]_    [eg]_[eg]_agfe
15=/       [vbd]~~~[vac]_[vbd]_            [ce]_[ce]_fedc
17=/       (v[[<!b~~~>|G~e~]])[vac]_[vbd]_ [ce]_[ce]_fedc
19=/       (v[bG]~~~)(o=4)}baGa(o=5){=10}  {14 <!^c~~~>a_b_
24=/       ^c_b_a_G_                       a_e_f_d_
26=/       c~~~(q=32)(v<tb~~~~~>ab)(q=16)  va~~~} :|

#2(♪)
0 =/       __                              __
2 =/ |:{20 va[ce][ce][ce]                  va[ce][ce][ce]
4 =/       va[ce]va[ce]               }{22 va[ce][ce][ce]
6 =/       (ve[b^e][b^e][b^e]              e[b^e][b^e][b^e]
8 =/       e[b^e]vbb                  )}/1 ve~__    :|
10=/ /2    ve~            |:{23__          vccvee
13=/       g~__                            vccvee
15=/       g~__                            vvavavcc
17=/       e~__                            vvavavcc
19=/       e~}__{=20}                  {24 vf[vaD][vaD][vaD]
24=/       (ve[a^e]d[fb]                   c[ea]d[fb]
26=/       [ea][ea][eG][eG]                [vaa]~)} :|

License

MIT