Creating Patterns

The following functions will return a pattern. These are the equivalents used by the Mini Notation:

functionmini
cat(x, y)"<x y>"
seq(x, y)"x y"
stack(x, y)"x,y"
s_cat([3,x],[2,y])"x@3 y@2"
s_polymeter([a, b, c], [x, y])"{a b c, x y}"
s_polymeterSteps(2, x, y, z)"{x y z}%2"
silence"~"

cat

Synonyms: slowcat

The given items are concatenated, where each one takes one cycle.

  • items (any): The items to concatenate
cat("e5", "b4", ["d5", "c5"]).note()
// "<e5 b4 [d5 c5]>".note()
// As a chained function:
s("hh*4").cat(
   note("c4(5,8)")
)

seq

Synonyms: sequence, fastcat

Like cat, but the items are crammed into one cycle.

    seq("e5", "b4", ["d5", "c5"]).note()
// "e5 b4 [d5 c5]".note()
    // As a chained function:
s("hh*4").seq(
  note("c4(5,8)")
)

    stack

    Synonyms: polyrhythm, pr

    The given items are played at the same time at the same length.

      stack("g3", "b3", ["e4", "d4"]).note()
// "g3,b3,[e4,d4]".note()
      // As a chained function:
s("hh*4").stack(
  note("c4(5,8)")
)

      s_cat

      Synonyms: timeCat, timecat

      Sequences patterns like seq, but each pattern has a length, relative to the whole. This length can either be provided as a [length, pattern] pair, or inferred from the pattern's 'tactus', generally inferred by the mininotation. Has the alias timecat.

        s_cat([3,"e3"],[1, "g3"]).note()
// the same as "e3@3 g3".note()
        s_cat("bd sd cp","hh hh").sound()
// the same as "bd sd cp hh hh".sound()

        arrange

        Allows to arrange multiple patterns together over multiple cycles. Takes a variable number of arrays with two elements specifying the number of cycles and the pattern to use.

          arrange(
  [4, "<c a f e>(3,8)"],
  [2, "<g a>(5,8)"]
).note()

          s_polymeter

          Synonyms: pm

          EXPERIMENTAL - Combines the given lists of patterns with the same pulse, creating polymeters when different sized sequences are used.

            // The same as note("{c eb g, c2 g2}")
s_polymeter("c eb g", "c2 g2").note()

            s_polymeterSteps

            Aligns one or more given patterns to the given number of steps per cycle. This relies on patterns having coherent number of steps per cycle,

            • steps (number): how many items are placed in one cycle
            • patterns (Array.<any>): one or more patterns
            // the same as "{c d, e f g}%4"
s_polymeterSteps(4, "c d", "e f g").note()

            silence

            Does absolutely nothing..

              silence // "~"

              run

              A discrete pattern of numbers from 0 to n-1

                n(run(4)).scale("C4:pentatonic")
// n("0 1 2 3").scale("C4:pentatonic")

                binary

                Creates a pattern from a binary number.

                • n (number): input number to convert to binary
                "hh".s().struct(binary(5))
// "hh".s().struct("1 0 1")

                binaryN

                Creates a pattern from a binary number, padded to n bits long.

                • n (number): input number to convert to binary
                • nBits (number): pattern length, defaults to 16
                "hh".s().struct(binaryN(55532, 16))
// "hh".s().struct("1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0")

                After Pattern Constructors, let’s see what Time Modifiers are available.