1.06 Rhythm, Volumes and Ornaments

Integrating the dur and volume arguments of the Note() function.

Adding Ornaments to the melody. The same Ornament appears on each note. When a Melodic pattern is used several times on a different hight, it’s called a Sequence.

from pyknon.genmidi import Midi
from pyknon.music import Rest, Note, NoteSeq
import numpy as np

Pyknon

There exist two different notations one with the Note() function and in a simplified plain text version

Note(value , octave , dur , volume)

• value: integer, note hight in semitones, 0 = middle C = midi 60
• octave: octave number
• dur: duration, 0.25 = quarter note
• volume: from 1 to 127

Instruments: Available are at lest the 128 General-Midi (GM) Instruments. Depending on the sound-fonts there is a bigger choice. A list of the GM instruments can be found here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_MIDI#Program_change_events Remember to subtract 1, as the list starts with 1 and not 0.

major = [0,2,4,5,7,9,11,12]
minor = [0,2,3,5,7,8,10,12]
ryt_1 = [1/4 + 1/8 ,1/8]
ryt_2 = [0.125,0.125,0.125, 0.125,0.125,0.125, 0.25,0.25,0.25,] # Rythem from west side Story: America
var   = np.array([-1,0,2])

def fade(start,end,steps):
    fade = np.around( np.linspace(start,end,num=steps))
    fade = fade.astype(int)
    return fade

# tune_E with difrent instruments, and fading de volume
def tune_F():
    tune_name = 'tune_F'              # somtimes forming diatonic chords
    major2  = major[:-1] + major[::-1]                 # cut last element and reverse
    volumes = np.r_[ fade(30,110,8), fade(103,60,7)]   # creat volume track
    rythem  = np.r_[ np.tile(ryt_1, 7), [0.5]]

    notes1 = NoteSeq(            [Note(no-12, octave=5, dur=du, volume=vo) for no,du,vo in zip(major2,rythem,volumes)] )  # -12 = an octave deeper
    notes2 = NoteSeq( [Rest(0.5)] + [Note(no, octave=5, dur=du, volume=vo) for no,du,vo in zip(major2,rythem,volumes)] )
    notes3 = NoteSeq( [Rest(1)]   + [Note(no, octave=5, dur=du, volume=vo) for no,du,vo in zip(major2,rythem,volumes)] )
    notes = [notes1, notes2, notes3]
    instruments = [33, 56, 21]
    return notes, instruments,tune_name

tune_G

• Not anymore using the scale directly. First creating an Index-Tune which is then converted with a scale in to the tune with the notes.
• adding an Ornament on each note of the scale. (Sequencing)
• Using a rhythmic-pattern instead of just quarter-notes.

def tune_G():
    tune_name = 'tune_G' # ryt_2

    iscale = np.arange(1,9)   # index of a scale
    imelody = np.array([])    # creating index melody
    for i in iscale:                            # adding the Ornament on each note
        imelody = np.append(imelody, var + i)
    imelody = np.append(imelody, [5,3,1])
    imelody = imelody.astype(int)
    major2 = [-1]+major +[14,16]
    melody = [major2[i] for i in imelody] # creating the tune out of the index-tune

    rythem = np.tile(ryt_2, 3)
    volumes = np.int_(np.zeros(len(melody)) +100)

    notes1 = NoteSeq( [Rest(0.5)] + [Note(no, octave=5, dur=du, volume=vo) for no,du,vo in zip(melody,rythem,volumes)] )
    instruments = [66]
    notes = [notes1]
    return notes, instruments,tune_name

def gen_midi():
#     squezze into a MIDI framework
    notes, instruments, tune_name = tune_G() #  <--- select a tune  <<--     <<<<<<<<<--- select a tune -----
    nTracks = len(notes)

    m = Midi(number_tracks=nTracks, tempo=120, instrument=instruments)
    for iTrack in range(nTracks):
        m.seq_notes(notes[iTrack], track=iTrack)

    #--- write the MIDI file -----
    midi_file_name = tune_name +'.mid'   # set the name of the file
    m.write(midi_file_name)
    return midi_file_name

Midi: Play and Generate audio-file

External players offered a better sound quality in comparison with python libraries. We use VLC and Musescore

import subprocess
default_soundfont = '/usr/share/sounds/sf3/MuseScore_General.sf3'

def midi_play(midi_in, soundfont= default_soundfont):
    subprocess.call(['cvlc', midi_in , 'vlc://quit'])   # cvlc = vlc without gui

def midi_audio(midi_in, name_out = 'none', soundfont= default_soundfont):
    if name_out == 'none' :
        name_out = midi_in.replace('.mid', '.flac')
    else:
        name_out = name_out + '.flac'
    subprocess.call(['mscore', '-o', name_out, midi_in]) # -o = export as

def midi_png(midi_in, name_out = 'none'):
    if name_out == 'none' :
        name_out = midi_in.replace('.mid', '.png')
    else:
        name_out = name_out + '.png'
    subprocess.call(['mscore', '-o', name_out, '-T', '2', midi_in]) # -o = export as , -T 0 = cut page with 0 pixel

######---  Main  ---######
midi_file_name = gen_midi()

midi_play(midi_file_name)
#midi_audio(midi_file_name)
#midi_png(midi_file_name)

tune_F
tune_F
tune_G
tune_G (the saxophone is a transposing instrument) Unfortunately I couldn't print it as 6/8 time signature, as it should be.