atonatui/README.md

Twelve Tone Generator

TUI Application for composing serialism music.

Features:

• Generate 12 Tone Matrix
• Play 12 Tone rows with over 15 instruments
• Loop and/or Sequence 12 tone rows
• Generate Serialized Octave Sequences based on tone matrix
• Generate Serialized Rhythm Sequences based on tone matrix
• Save Matrices and Other Sequences for later use

Installation Guide

Prerequisites

atonatui requires the FluidSynth audio engine to be installed on your system:

• Arch Linux: sudo pacman -S fluidsynth
• Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt install fluidsynth
• macOS (Homebrew): brew install fluidsynth
• Windows: Download the binaries and add them to your system PATH.

Installation

pipx install atonatui

Main Page

The main page consists of a 12 Tone Matrix.

The only part of the main page that really needs explaining is the tri-colored table below the matrix.

• The TONE row contains the tones of P0 row.
• RTHM is the rhythmic division assigned to a given note.
• OCTV is the octave assigned to a given note.

The rhythmic division and octave will always be the same for their associated note, the order just changes when you play a row other than P0.

When you do begin playback, this tri-colored table will be replaced with the row that is currently being played.

Commands

Command	Action	Page
P0-P11	Play Prime Row	Main Page
I0-I11	Play Inversion Row	Main Page
R0-R11	Play Retrograde Row	Main Page
i0-i11	Play Retrograde Inversion Row	Main Page
loop <count> <P0-i11>	Play row X times in loop	Main Page
seq <P0-i11>,<P0-i11>...	Play sequence of rows, comma separated	Main Page
r OR regen	Regenerate Matrix	Main Page
s OR settings	Go To Settings Page	Main Page
h OR help	Open This Document	Main Page
q OR quit	Quit Application	Main Page, Settings Page
Setting ID	Edit Setting	Settings Page

Advanced Commands:

• Loop a sequence:
  • loop <x> seq <P0-i11>,<P0-i11>
  • Example: loop 5 seq P0,R3,i11,I0
• Debug
  • debug: Open up python console via breakpoint()

Settings:

• BPM
  • Set the BPM of the overall project, between 30 - 300 BPM
• INSTRUMENT
  • Select an instrument for playback
• OCTAVE
  • Select base octave for playback
• OCTAVE_RANDOMIZATION
  • 0 Only play base octave
  • 1 Randomize octaves, increasing octave range by +1 and -1 (example: base octave = 3, octave range = 2-4)
  • 2 Randomize octaves, increasing octave range by +2 and -2 (example: base octave = 3, octave range = 1-5)
  • 3 Randomize octaves, increasing octave range by +3 and -3 (example: base octave = 1, octave range = 1-4)
    • When the range would result in an octave higher than 5 or lower than 0, it clamps range to fit 0-5
• RHYTHM_COMPLEXITY
  • 0 No Rhythmic Complexity, Will play default division
  • 1 Will play a rhythm based on sequence generated by tone matrix
  • 2 Will play a rhythm based on sequence generated by tone matrix, Including rests (if rest probability is greater than 0)
  • 3 Will play a random rhythm not based on a sequence
• DEFAULT_DIVISION
  • 0 Whole Note
  • 1 Half Note
  • 2 Quarter Note
  • 3 Eight Note
• REST_PROBABILITY
  • The probability in which a rest will occur during playback when RHYTHM_COMPLEXITY = 2
• SAVE_SETTINGS
  • Save current settings to a file, will automatically load when you restart the program
• SAVE_MATRIX
  • Save the current tone matrix to a file, you can manually load this later
• LOAD_MATRIX
  • Load a previously saved tone matrix

Upcoming Features

• Support independent generation, saving, and loading for rhythm and octave rows
• Support loading of custom soundfonts
• Support custom input of Tone Row + Rhythm and Octave rows
• Output rows to midi
• Up arrow functionality so users can rerun commands easily