https://github.com/akjmicro/microcsound
Microcsound is for text-based composition of music via Csound. It makes working with Csound-score files easier, and has flexibility when working with microtones.
https://github.com/akjmicro/microcsound
csound csound-sco electronic-music notation python
Last synced: 1 day ago
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Microcsound is for text-based composition of music via Csound. It makes working with Csound-score files easier, and has flexibility when working with microtones.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/akjmicro/microcsound
- Owner: akjmicro
- License: bsd-3-clause
- Created: 2017-03-03T19:04:30.000Z (about 9 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2024-09-02T20:45:10.000Z (over 1 year ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-09-21T04:58:49.895Z (7 months ago)
- Topics: csound, csound-sco, electronic-music, notation, python
- Language: Python
- Homepage:
- Size: 795 KB
- Stars: 16
- Watchers: 0
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 1
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE.txt
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README
## microcsound
### TO INSTALL:
____________
* Make sure you have Python and Csound installed
* Choose as install method, *pip* or *git* (pip is recommended if you have it)
**From pip:**
```
pip install microcsound
```
__________________________________
**From git:**
Either download from the 'dist' directory here, or:
```
git clone https://github.com/akjmicro/microcsound
```
Once downloaded, in the 'microcsound' directory:
```
python -m pip install .
```
___________________________________
* Files will be installed into a Python lib directory on your system. E.G.,
on a Linux system, something like _/usr/local/lib/Python3.11_
* Copy `.microcsound.toml` to your home user directory, edit the values to your preferences
### ABOUT:
Microcsound implements the following features:
* an intuitive, clean shorthand syntax that allows one to both easily write
CSound scores
* a focus on flexible entry of microtonal music, the emphasis being on
enabling one to compose in various equal-temperaments and just
intonation.
* symbols for various microtonal commas, so that extended just
intonation harmony is easily accessible in a convenient intuitive way.
* implementation of chord notation using brackets
* implementation of a 'time pointer' notation which allows arbitrary
number of counterpoint layers in a single 'voice'
See the example 'ciconia.mc' (a rendering of a medieval piece, given in the
repo path `microcsound/share/data/ciconia.mc`) and the tutorials/docs for an
understanding of how to use the syntax for your own compositions.
## To use:
It's best to start by seeing all the command-line options, so first, try:
```
$ microcsound -h
```
After writing a little example in a file you might name 'yourfile.mc', try
this:
```
$ microcsound yourfile.mc
```
The script outputs a wave file to the current directory, by default the wave
is called 'microcsound_out.wav', but you can change this using the '-o'
command line switch. If you use the '-s', it will avoid the
final step of compiling the orc/score pair and just put a csound score to
standard out. To put this output into a file, use redirection like so:
```
$ microcsound -s yourfile.mc > yourcsoundscore.sco
```
You could also use an editor like 'joe' or 'emacs' that allows the
capture of the text output of a process, and call the script from
within the editing session of a .csd (orc+sco) file; in this way one
can be between the and tags and fill the space
with the script output.
For realtime experimentation, just call the script with the name of a
csound '.orc' file, you can edit the variables at the top of the script
so that it automatically looks for orchestra files in a default directory.
For instance:
```
$ microcsound -i --orc fat_moog.orc
```
will give you a prompt, and you can type in a microcsound 'score', and when
you want it rendered, hit return and type 'done' and then hit return again.
In this example above, it will search in the directory I provided in the
script for the 'fat_moog.orc' file.
See the csound documentation for how to use all the options and
command line switches to get the final audio output from csound.
The csound command called by the script can be changed at the top
of the script in the "user variables" area.
Enjoy!
Aaron Krister Johnson
Please report bugs and successes to aaron@untwelve.org