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Music

Read me

This project, aptly named »Music«, is a synthesizer and MML parser (with AIFF exporter) written from scratch in Lua/LÖVE. It is a complete rewrite of my first attempt and this time around I have completely written the synthesizer and parser code myself (and have learned a lot in doing so).

The synthesizer capabilities are loosely based on the NES.

How to use

Open any an MML file (either .txt or .mml) per drag-n-drop on the LÖVE app icon or the app window while Music is running.

The app now features some buttons aka a rudimentary graphical user interface. But you can still use the following hotkeys:

Use [Tab] to play or pause the music.

Use [F1] to export as AIFF and [F2] for MIDI (Format 1) export.

AIFF and MIDI files are saved at LÖVE’s default location, which is

  • ~/Library/Application Support/LOVE/ on macOS
  • %appdata%\LOVE\ on Windows
  • ~/.local/share/love/ on Linux

(see love.filesystem).

Basic Song Setup

You can write your own music files with any text editor you like, e. g. macOS TextEdit. Just make sure to edit in and save as plain text (.txt).

Header Credits

Meta data is defined using keywords.

  • #TITLE: song title
  • #COMPOSER: the original composer of the song
  • #PROGRAMMER: the person who coded the song into MML
  • #COPYRIGHT: well, …
  • #TIMEBASE: default value is 480

Channels or Voices

There are 5 channels or voices to work with:

  • A is the first pulse wave channel
  • B is the second pulse wave channel
  • C is the triangle wave channel
  • D is the sawtooth wave channel
  • E is the white noise channel

Tempo Settings

The tempo is set in beats per minute using the t<bpm> command, e.g.:

t120

This command is used before the channels and music data as it sets the tempo for all 5 channels.

Volume Settings

The volume is set using the v<number> command. The command can be used anywhere in the music, at the beginning of a channel and between notes.

The pulse wave channels A and B as well as the sawtooth channel D and the noise channel E accept values between 0 .. 127. For the triangle channel C the volume can only be turned on 1 or off 0.

A v80 cdefg

Volume envelopes can be created using @env macros by defining attack (time), decay (time), sustain (volume) and release (time).

@env1 = { 1, 32, 64, 80 }

Quantization

Since the triangle channel does not support volume controls and envelope macros, quantization can be used to make notes sound snappier. The quantization is set using the q<1..8> command. The notes are divided into 8 equal parts. The value following the q command defines how many parts are played before the note is cut off.

Duty Cycle

For the two pulse wave channels A and B the duty cycle can be set using the duty cycle macro @<00..03>. The duty cycle is the ratio of the pulse width to the pulse period. The values correspond to:

  • 00 12.5 % thin raspy sound
  • 01 25 % thick fat sound
  • 02 50 % smooth clear sound
  • 03 75 % same as 25 % but phase-inverted

Pitch Modulation

You can create vibratos using @vib macros by defining the LFO frequency (0 .. n) and the intensity (0 .. 127) of the vibrato.

@vib0 = { 32, 48 }

Call the macro to turn on your vibrato settings for the following notes. Call @viboff to turn it off again.

Programming Notes

For the pitches of notes the usual letters are used. For h also b can be used.

A c d e f g4 a16 h16 >c c d e f g4 a16 h16 >c<<

Sharp notes and flat notes are accomplished by adding either # (or +) and - respectively after the note, e. g. f#.

The length of a note is either added after the note or set as a default value for phrases or the whole channel using the l<value> command. The length values represent standard note lengths such as 4 for a quarter note and 16 for a sixteenth.

Dotting a note increases the duration of that note by half of its value.

A l8 c d e. f2 g4 r

Pauses (or rests) are set using the p<value> or r<value>command. A wait w<value> is a rest without silencing the previous note.

Notes can be tied to each other using the & symbol.

Octaves

The default octave can be set for a channel and changed any time between the notes using the o<number command. o4 represents the octave around the standard pitch a = 440 Hz.

Within phrases the octave can be shifted up and down using the octave shift commands > and < respectively.

Loops

A phrase can be looped n times using square brackets [ ]<n>.

A [c d e c]2

Additionally

Comments can be used to make annotations or write lyrics. A comment is everything between the ; and the end of a line.

A c  d  e  f  g   a  h >c 
; do re mi fa sol la ti do

To Do

The following features are not yet implemented:

  • Ties (&)
  • Loops ([..]<n>n)
  • Arpeggio macro (@arp<n> .. @arpoff)
  • Vibrato (pitch modulation @vib<n> .. @viboff)
  • Filters (at least lowpass)
  • MIDI export

References