Interface Rhythm

Internally, the fluid tablature system uses several different formats to represent discrete rhythms. End-users mostly do not need to know about these, but they are useful if you are working with the source code.

Advances

advances is an array of numbers, with each element representing a single character in a rhythm string. It an intermediary form used internally. Consumers probably want to use deltas instead.

• [.5, 0, .5, .0] is an advances array derived from 'h h '

Deltas

deltas is an array of numbers, each representing the contribution of a single character in a rhythm string.

• [0.25, 0.25, 0.25 0.25] is an deltas array derived from 'h h '

Totals

totals is an array of durations elapsed at the end of each segment

• [.25, .5, .75, 1] is a sequence of quarter notes derived from 'h h '

Rhythm Object

parseRhythm(rhythm) returns a rhythm object for a given rhythm string. A rhythm object has .deltas and .totals members.

const rObj = parseRhythm('h h ');
rObj.should.deepEqual({
  deltas: [.25, .25, .25, .25],
  totals: [.25, .50, .75, 1.0],
  r: 'h h ',
});

Rhythmic Data Type Equivalency

The following are all equivalent:

• A 'h h ' rhythm string
• A [.50, .00, .50, .00] advances array
• A [.25, .25, .25, .25] deltas array
• A [.25, .50, .75, 1.0] totals array

Durations measured in Whole Notes

Where possible, I measure durations in whole notes. This means that an eighth note is 1/8 === 0.125, which I find easier than measuring in quarter notes or seconds.