Data

Tools

Indexes

Applications

Experiments

Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

https://github.com/perlence/pcsets

Pitch Class Sets for Python
https://github.com/perlence/pcsets

Last synced: 12 months ago
JSON representation

Pitch Class Sets for Python

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

          
pcsets

======



> Pitch Class Sets for Python



> version 2.0.2



> Bruce H. McCosar



Welcome, and thank you for downloading pcsets. This is the third

official (non-beta) release. With this release, I start the pcsets

tutorial see "About this Package", below).



Learning about Pitch Class Sets is easy -- the four modules presented

here are, like many Python programs, self documenting. They work well

with [pydoc](https://docs.python.org/library/pydoc.html).



Learning how to use these for practical compositional purposes, on the

other hand ... well, that takes a lot of individual experimentation. I

have started a short tutorial, which will eventually demonstrate some

of the techniques I've learned. However, you are a much better judge

of what you want to know than I -- please, try the module out, and

most of all, have fun learning something new.



About Pitch Class Sets

----------------------



Pitch Class Sets are a mathematical model for analyzing and composing

music. Each note 'C' through 'B' has an equivalent pitch class number

0 through 11. Sets of these numbers may be operated on by mathematical

functions such as transpose and invert.



The goal of this project is to, eventually, have:



* A Python library capable of fully implementing Pitch Class Sets

  and their common operations, as well as several convenience

  functions to bring these abstract concepts to the real world.

  (Mapping pitch classes to note names, for instance).



* A tool for composition.  Some applications are harmonization,

  chord voicing generation, and melodic motif creation.



* More exotic goals -- creation of new chordal elements, musical

  progressions, and harmonic relationships.



About this Package

------------------



The API will not change for any of the modules referred to as 'core'.

Bugs will be fixed and new modules will be added, but you won't wake

up one day and find that PcSets wants input in statcoulombs or Dutch

Guldens. In the version 2 series, the core will always behave like

the core. Occasionally new functionality will be introduced, but the

original functionality will never be 'broken' -- that's why I spent all

that time writing unit tests.



### The Core



This is the core as of 2.0.0:



* `pcsets.pcset`



  The base class, PcSet, includes methods that operate on single

  sets, such as inversion and transposition.



* `pcsets.pcops`



  Operations on two or more sets, such as `subset_of(a, b)`.



* `pcsets.catalog`



  Generates the entire catalog of 224 prime sets as a Python

  object. Since this takes a while to generate, it saves the

  catalog in a pickle file (`catalog.pkl`) for future use.



* `pcsets.noteops`



  The 'universal translator' from PcSets to named notes and

  vice versa.



Any *new* modules will enter as 'experimental', however, not core.

Experimental modules can change at any time.



### Experimental Modules



With version 2.0.1, I introduced the first experimental module:



* `pcsets.tonerow`



  Implements the ToneRow class.  Unlike PcSets, which are

  unordered, a ToneRow consists of all 12 pitches in an

  *ordered* arrangement.



There is a lot of good information on this subject in the Straus book

referenced below. I've also put a lot of time into writing documentation

strings for the module; a run through it with pydoc will probably tell

you somewhere between too much and far too much ;-)



Another experimental module in development (and still in hiding,

until I settle on a usable, workable interface):



* Operations on the familiar chords and scales -- sort of a noteops

  for the common language of chord-scale theory.



These modules won't make it to the core until at least version 2.1.



### The Tutorial



Finally, I've made a start on the tutorial.  My hope is that working

through the documentation -- even for features that haven't been added

yet! -- will let me streamline the API and introduce more relevant

features in future releases.



Be sure to check back at the project website for updates.  I seem to

have embraced Google Code's slogan, "Release early, release often."



http://code.google.com/p/pcsets/



--BMC



Versioning

----------



In an official release, the version numbers A.B.C promise the following:



* A = Major Number.  None of the modules referred to as 'core' will

  change except to correct errors. Functionality may be added,

  but none of the existing methods, classes, or functions

  will be altered in terms of their expected input or output

  characteristics.



  Later 'experimental' modules may become part of the core, but

  modules will never leave the core.



* B = Minor Number.  Previously released, tested, and proven

  experimental modules may be moved into 'core'.  New abilities

  may be added to core modules, but no existing core interface

  will change.



* C = Patch Number.  New modules may be added as 'experimental'.

  Also incremented for bug fixes and added documentation,

  including example code and tests.



[Note: this scheme had to be corrected from the version 2.0.1 release;

see the ChangeLog for details.]



About the Author

----------------



Bruce H. McCosar is a middle and high school science teacher residing

in Gainesville, Florida; he switched to teaching after a career in

medicinal chemistry. He is a member of the Mvskoke (Creek) Nation.



Besides a lifelong interest in science, Bruce is a musician. He plays

bass guitar, electric guitar, Hammond organ, and conga drums.



In 2006, he began releasing his music online under a Creative Commons

license for free download at Jamendo. So far he has two albums,

'evolution' (Nov. 2006) and 'handmade' (Feb. 2007), available from his

artist page at: http://www.jamendo.com/us/artist/bruce.h.mccosar/



And if all that wasn't enough, he then got into Python programming!



References

----------



### Web



* If you want a short introduction or tutorial, Jay Tomlin's site is

  the best. Sort of the 'Classics Illustrated' of Pc theory.



  http://www.jaytomlin.com/music/settheory/help.html



* If you want a LOT of information without chasing down a book,

  well... here's the next best thing.



  http://solomonsmusic.net/setheory.htm



### Text



* The classic of the field, "The Structure of Atonal Music", by

  Allen Forte (1973).



* A relatively new (but extremely thorough and readable) work,

  "Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory", by Joseph Straus (3rd ed.,

  2005).



```

pcsets 2.0.2 -- Pitch Class Sets for Python.



Copyright 2007 Bruce H. McCosar



This file is part of the package 'pcsets'



The package 'pcsets' is free software; you can redistribute it

and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License

as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of

the License, or (at your option) any later version.



The package 'pcsets' is distributed in the hope that it will be

useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty

of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU

General Public License for more details.



You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License

along with this program. If not, see .



$Id: README 209 2007-08-19 16:41:44Z mccosar $

```