EMU-Script
User Manual
EMU-Script is a programmable MIDI sequencer and music sheet viewer. It proposes an innovative approach to electronic music creation. I hope you will enjoy using it!
1. Installation and Configuration
To install EMU-Script, you just need to copy the EMU-Script.app file into the Mac’s Applications directory (or on your desktop).
1.1 MIDI Setup
EMU-Script will communicate with your MIDI instruments through MIDI ports.
- If you have a synthesizer connected to your computer, a MIDI port will automatically be created by the system (on my Mac: ‘MIDI Input’).
- If you have virtual instruments, you will need to add MIDI virtual ports to your MIDI configuration. This can be done using the MIDI Studio / IAC Properties window of the Audio MIDI Setup system application. You could, for instance, create a new virtual port called “piano”.
- In the setting window of your virtual instruments, you have to select the virtual MIDI port to be listened to. For instance, if you have a virtual piano instrument, you could assign it to the “piano” virtual MIDI port.
1. The User Interface
EMU-Script is a document-based application. Upon starting, you will be prompted to either open an existing EMU script document or to create a new one.
Here is the main view of the application after the creation of a new document:
The user interface has four distinct parts:
- The sidebar (on the left) lists the musical sections and instruments of the composition. The mute button, at the right of an instrument, is used to mute or unmute the instrument. At the bottom of the sidebar, you can view information about the composition or about the selected note or chord.
- The toolbar (top right) has a button to toggle between the script editor and the music sheet, a play button, a stop button, a metronome button, and the scroll buttons.
- The script editor (on the right) is displayed by default. You can click on the staff+note icon to switch to the music sheet.
- The music sheet displays the measures of the selected musical instruments and musical sections.
The following keyboard shortcuts are available:
- ENTER: start playback
- ESC: stop the current playback
- Right arrow: scroll the music sheet to the right.
- Left arrow: scroll the music sheet to the left.
2. The Music Sheet
The music sheet is a visual representation of the composition. From left to right, it displays the measures of the compositions. From top to bottom, it displays the following:
- The measure numbers and section names
- The musical staff of the first instrument and its lyrics (if any).
- The musical staffs of the other instruments.
- The chord progression (if any)
2.1 Staffs
A staff has a range of two octaves (+ 2 whole tones). Here are the notes of the C major scale:
The chromatic notes (sharp notes) have an outlined shape. Here are all the chromatic notes of a 6/8 staff in C major:
The color used for the horizontal line of the note is an indicator of the note pitch. The color has a gradient ranging from red (low pitches), orange (mid pitches), and yellow (high pitches). Here is the C major scale of a bass instrument:
2.2 Drum Staffs
A drum staff has only one line, and it displays the notes as plain text:
2.3 Notes Durations
The duration of a note is proportional to its length on the staff. The shape of the note’s head is also an indicator of its duration. Here is an example showing different note durations (4/4 time signature):
2.4 Intervals and Chords
The notes of an interval or chord are linked using a vertical line, and only the lower note has a horizontal line. Here are some chords in C major:
3. The Script Editor
The script editor is a simple text editor with syntax highlighting and error checking. It implements cut and paste and undo/redo functionalities.
An EMU script has differents sections that describe a composition.
- composition: In the composition section you will find high level information such as: the title, time signature, BPM, transposition and playlist.
- instruments: The instruments sections contains a description of the MIDI instruments used in the composition.
- sequences: In this section, you can define the musical phrases and patterns that occur many times in your composition.
- musical sections: A musical section contains the sequence of notes to be played for each instrument. Each musical section has a name, and that name is listed in the playlist (at least once or many times).
In an EMU script, notes can either be numeric (1 to 7) or alphabetic (A to G). There is a strict equivalence between the two: C=1, D=2, E=3, F=4, G=5, A=6, and B=7.
Here are some of the language’s reserved characters and their meaning:
- The apostrophe is used to make a note one octave higher or lower.
- The dash increases a note duration.
- The parentheses decrease the notes’ durations.
- The dot represents a silence.
- The vertical bar is a measure separator.
For a complete description of the scripting language, please refer to the EMU-Script Reference Manual.
4. Examples
Following are a few examples of EMU scripts.
4.1 Ambient Music
[composition]
title: "La brume des Caps"
by: "Sylvain Pearson"
time: 4/4
BPM: 85
transposition: +4
playlist: intro, A, B, inter, A, B, outro
[instruments]
piano: "piano", octave=3, velocity=80, channel=8
bass: "piano", octave=1, velocity=80, channel=8
flute: "woodwinds", octave=2, velocity=80, channel=7
pad: "brass", octave=2, velocity=80, channel=6
drum: "drum", velocity=80, channel=12
[sequences]
arp: $1 $3 $2 $1 $3 $2 $1 $3
s1: $1 - - - - - - $2
d1: B (. h) h (B h)
d2: B (o h) h (Bo h)
[intro]
piano: . 1 | . 3 | . 4 | . | . . 4 2
bass: 6 | 5 | 4 - - 3 | 2/6
flute: . | . | . | . 4 | -
[A]
piano: s1(1, 2) | s1(3, 5) | s1(4, 3) | s1(4, 2) | 3- - (4 5 6) | 5 7 | 4- - (5 6 7) | 1'
bass: arp(6, 1', 3') | arp(3, 5, 7) | arp(4, 6, 1') | arp(2, 4, 6) | ...
pad: . | . | . | . | 3 | 5 | 6 | 2 4
[B]
piano: 6 | 3 | 4 5 . 4| . 4/6 - (. #5) | '63 | 3 | 4 5 . 4| . 26 - (. 4) | '63
bass: arp(6, 1', 3') | arp(3, 5, 7) | arp(4, 6, 1') | arp(2, 4, 6) | ...
pad: 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 6 | 57 | 4 | 2 | 1'
drum: d1 | ...
[inter]
piano: . | . | . | . | 6 | 5 3 | 6 41 | 6 . 4 - | 1 '6 - - | '7 37 5 - | . 41 - - | 6 5 4 3
bass: . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . '6 - - | . 3 - - | . 4 - -
flute: arp(63, 1', -) | arp(37, 5, -) | arp(41, 6, -) | arp(26, 4, -) | ...
drum: d2 | ...
[outro]
piano: arp(6, 1', 3') | arp(3, 5, 7) | arp(4, 6, 1') | arp(2, 4, 6) | '63
bass: 36 | 5 3 | 6 41 | 6 4 | '63 | . '6 | . '6
pad: 6 | 7 | 1' - - .
flute: . | . | . | . | arp(6, 1', 3') | arp(6, 1', 3') | 6 3' 1' 6 - - - -
4.2 Drum and Bass
[composition]
title: "Drum and bass"
by: "Deep Purple"
BPM: 115
time: 4/4
transposition: -2
playlist: intro,verse
[instruments]
bass: "bass", channel=11, octave=2, velocity=90
drum: "drum", channel=12, velocity=120
[sequences]
b1: 6 6 6' - 6 6 6' -
b2: 6 6 6' - 5' 2' 5 -
d1: bh h sh h bh h sh h
d2: bh h sh h s s (4 4 3 3)
d3: (bh h h h) (sh h h h) (s s s -) (s s s s)
[intro]
drum: i i i i | d3
[verse]
bass: b1 | 6 6 3' 1' - 2' #2' 3' | b2 | - 6 7 1' 6' 3' 2' 1'
bass: b1 | b1 | 6 6 6' - 5' 2' 5 | 6 3' #2' 2' 1' 6 5 #5
drum: d1 | * | * | * | * | * | * | d2
bass: b1 | 6 6' 5' 3' 2' 1' 6 5 | b2 | 6 - 6' 5' 3' 2' 1' 2'
bass: b1 | 6 6 2' 3' 5' 6' 2' 3' | b2 | 6 6 6' 5' 3' 2' 1' 6
drum: d1 | * | * | * | * | * | * | d3 | c
4.3 Simple Song
[composition]
title: "Noël Blanc"
by: "Irving Berlin"
BPM: 110
time: 4/4
playlist: A1, B, A2, C
[instruments]
lead: "piano", channel=1, octave=3, velocity=95
bass: "bass", channel=11, octave=2, velocity=85
[A]
lead: E | F E #D E | F | #F G - - | . A B C' | D' C' B A | G | . . C D | E E
bass: C G | C - 'B C | D A | #D E - G | F | - | E - F #F | G | C - C' B
[A1]
text: "Oh | quand j'en_ tends chan_ | ter | No_ ël - - | . J'aime a re_ |voir mes joies d'en_ |fant | . . Le sa_ | pin sin_"
[A2]
text: "Oh | quand j'en tends so_ | nner | au ciel - - | . L'heure où le | bon vieill_ ard des_ | cend | . . Je re_ | vois tes"
[B]
lead: E A - G | C C | C G - F | E | F E D #C | D | -
text: "ti_ llant - la | nei_ ge | d'ar_ gent - No_ | ël | mon beau rê_ ve | blanc"
bass: #A | A | #G | G C | #C - - . | . D E F | G 'B
[C]
lead: E A - G | C' | FC - C D | E E | A- ('B) 'B 'B | C | -
text: "yeux clairs - ma_ | man | . . Et je | songe à | d'autres - No_ ëls | blancs"
bass: #A | A - G F | #G | G | F G | . C | -
4.4 Guitar Strumming
[composition]
title: "Guitar Strumming"
by: "Sylvain Pearson"
time: 4/4
BPM: 120
transposition: -1
playlist: example
[instruments]
guitar: "guitar", channel=4, octave=3, velocity=60
[sounds]
dw: strum(54321, msec=5, vdec=3)
up: strum(12345, msec=6, vdec=5)
[sequences]
r1: dw/chord(5) - - up/chord(3) dw/chord(5) - - -
r2: up/chord(5) - - dw/chord(3) up/chord(5) - - -
r3: dw/chord(5) - - - - - up/chord(3) -
[example]
guitar: r1 | r2 | r1 | r3 | r1 | r2 | r1 | up/chord(5)
chord: 'min(A) | min(D) | maj(G,D) | maj(C) | maj(F) | 'dim(B) | min(E) | 'min(A)