NAME

playscore − play a scorefile

SYNOPSIS

playscore file

DESCRIPTION

Plays the specified scorefile.  If it is not found on the current directory and is not an absolute path, the following directories are searched:

 ~/Library/Music/Scores
/LocalLibrary/Music/Scores
/NextLibrary/Music/Scores
 

The −f flag ("fast") causes the file to be parsed while it is being played. 

The −q flag ("quiet") supresses printing of messages. 

The −d flag ("debug") leaves space for the DSP debugger. 

Playscore has the following DSP instruments (Music Kit SynthPatches) linked:

Pluck Plucked string synthesis. 

Wave1i
Wave table synthesis.

Wave1vi
Wave table synthesis with vibrato.

DBWave1vi
Wave table synthesis with vibrato using timbre data base.

DBWave2vi
Like DBWave1vi, but with interpolation between wave tables.

Fm1i Frequency modulation synthesis with arbitrary waveform. 

Fm1vi
Frequency modulation synthesis with arbitrary waveform and vibrato

DBFm1vi
A cross between Fm1vi and DBWave1vi.

Fm2pvi
Frequency modulation synthesis with two parallel modulators and vibrato.

Fm2cvi
Frequency modulation synthesis with two cascaded modulators and vibrato.

Fm2pnvi
Like Fm2pvi, but with a noise modulator.

Fm2cnvi
Like Fm2cvi, but with a noise modulator.

The scorefile may use only these instruments.  playscore decides which SynthPatch to use, as well as other configuration information, based on the ’info’ statements in the scorefile.  (This is not required by the Music Kit, but it is a reasonable convention to which playscore conforms.)  In particular, the following scorefile info statement parameters are used:

headroom
This sets how conservative the orchestra is in allocating resources.  In the range -1 to 1.  A value of 0 is the default.

samplingRate
This should be 44100 or 22050.  The default is 22050.

tempo
This defaults to 60 beats per minute.

Information about synthesis resource allocation is gleaned from the statement parameters are used:

synthPatch
This is the DSP instrument class (e.g., "Pluck").

synthPatchCount
This is the number of preallocated patches.  If this parameter is omitted, the patches are allocated on the fly.

FILES

Example score files are found in /NextLibrary/Music/Scores.  You may copy these files to your directory and modify them with a Music Kit program or a text editor.  There are two types of files.  Files of the form Examp∗ or ∗Examp∗ are tutorial examples which illustrate the use of the software instruments.  Other files, such as Emma.score and Gamelan.score, are short demo pieces. 

SEE ALSO

See the Music Kit section of The NeXT System Reference Manual for general information about scorefiles.  For information on the software insruments, see the header files on <musickit/synthpatches>. 

DIAGNOSTICS

Exit status is 0 on success, 1 if there is a problem opening the DSP or parsing the file. 

BUGS

Large chords (exactly simultaneous notes) may cause timing problems.  It’s better to separate them by some small amount of time.  This is particularly true when doing wave table synthesis.  Frequent changes of wave tables can cause the music to become uneven.  Very fast musical passages may also be problematic.  In some cases, putting a one-beat rest at the start of the scorefile may be helpful.  You should not do other computation while using playscore, as this may cause the music to become uneven.  The −f flag is more prone to problems, since more computation is done during the performance. 
 

NeXT, Inc.  —  28 March 1989