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https://github.com/Jackojc/cane

A small MIDI sequencer DSL designed around vectors and euclidean rhythms
https://github.com/Jackojc/cane

cane composition cpp dsl euclidean-rhythms jackaudio linux-audio midi minimalist music music-tracker notation pipewire proglangs-discord programming-language rhythms sequencer song tracker vector-language

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A small MIDI sequencer DSL designed around vectors and euclidean rhythms

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README 

        
# cane

> The beatings will continue until a banger is made



Cane is a small vector language designed for making beats with realtime MIDI.



![c++](https://img.shields.io/badge/c%2B%2B-17-blue.svg?style=flat)

[![issues](https://img.shields.io/github/issues/Jackojc/cane.svg?style=flat)](https://github.com/Jackojc/cane/issues)

[![pull requests](https://img.shields.io/github/issues-pr/Jackojc/cane?style=flat)](https://github.com/Jackojc/cane/pulls)

[![license](https://img.shields.io/github/license/Jackojc/cane.svg?style=flat)](./LICENSE)

[![discord](https://img.shields.io/discord/997102432133849088.svg?label=discord&style=flat)](https://discord.gg/UVYAtpYYD2)



### Example

```

# Constants

let

	bpm 120

	note 60 # Middle C



let

	qn bpm * 4 # Quarter Note

	hn bpm * 2 # Half Note

	fn bpm     # Full Note



# MIDI Channels

let

	c_bd 1 # Bass Drum

	c_cl 2 # Clap

	c_sh 3 # Shaker

	c_ch 4 # Closed HiHat

	c_oh 6 # Open HiHat



# Notes

let

	bd 69 # c_bd: Bass Drum

	cl 69 # c_cl: Clap

	sh 58 # c_sh: Shaker

	ch 69 # c_ch: Closed HiHat

	oh 69 # c_oh: Open HiHat



# French House

!... !... !... !... map bd @ qn ~> c_bd $

.... !... .... !... map cl @ qn ~> c_cl $

!!!. !.!! !!!. !.!! map sh @ qn ~> c_sh $

!!!! !!!! !!!! !!!! map ch @ qn ~> c_ch $

.!.! .!.! .!.! .!.! map oh @ qn ~> c_oh

```



### What Can Cane Do?

- Control hardware and software synths through [JACK](https://jackaudio.org/) MIDI

- Play chords and melodies

- Generate complex beats with relatively little effort

- Embeddable in larger projects

- Create polyrhythms and polymeters

- Live-coding (TODO)



### Introduction & Reference

See the introduction [here](doc/intro.md)

and see the reference [here](doc/ref.md).



The EBNF grammar is [here](doc/syntax.ebnf).



### Requirements

- [JACK](https://jackaudio.org/) _or_ [PipeWire](https://pipewire.org/)

- [a2jmidid](https://github.com/jackaudio/a2jmidid) (Optional for ALSA MIDI support)

- [conflict](https://github.com/qookei/conflict) (Included as a git submodule)



### Build & Run

Make sure to use a c++-17 compliant compiler.

```sh

git clone --recursive https://github.com/Jackojc/cane && cd cane

make dbg=no

./build/cane < foo.cn

```



### Rationale

Cane is a project born out of frustration with existing tools. DAWs and other

sequencing software generally don't favour a rapid iterative/experimental workflow.

I want to be able to edit all parts of my song in the same place while listening

to it play in realtime. This is generally just not possible with other tools or is

awkward to use. I also want to favour use of the keyboard since I can type faster

than I can hunt down context menus with the pointer which, again, allows for a very

quick iterative approach to writing music.



Most music software also tends to favour a very western influenced style of writing

and hinders more exotic compositions. Cane tries to stay fairly agnostic to any

particular style and allows for interesting rhythms and arrangements that would

otherwise not be possible in a traditional DAW. Tempo in Cane can be varied throughout

the song for example or sequences can easily play at many different tempos concurrently.

The important point to note here is that this is all _easy_ in Cane.



### Design

- Cane is intentionally designed to be turing incomplete: all sequences should

terminate. This makes the language deterministic and keeps the implementation

simple

- Cane is designed to enable an experimental and iterative workflow, one where you

more often spend time removing things than adding them

- [JACK](https://jackaudio.org/) was chosen as the backend for MIDI transport for its low latency properties

which make it desirable for realtime use



### Acknowledgements

- [Gwion](https://github.com/Gwion/Gwion)

- [Prop](https://pbat.ch/proj/prop.html)

- [fennecdjay](https://github.com/fennecdjay) (for inspiring the project)

- [qookei](https://github.com/qookei) (for conflict)



### Resources

See the list of resources [here](doc/resources.md)



### License

This project uses the GPL-3.0 license. (check [LICENSE](LICENSE))



### Progress & Discussion

You can join the discord server in order to follow progress and/or contribute to discussion of the project: https://discord.gg/UVYAtpYYD2