LyMaker

Version 0.3

LyMaker is controlled by song and part parameters. A song consists of parts which are repeated as requested by the user. Song and part parameters are read from an xml file. The program uses a threefold representation of a song. The song is the whole. It consists of part instances. Part instances are varied repetitions of parts. Hence, a part can be seen as description or definition holding meta information about the actual part instances. The generated lilypond source will consist of individual code snippets for each instrument in each part instance.

Song

Parameters, which are available for the whole song, include:

• Name – the name of the song.

• Tempo – tempo in beats¹ per minute. The tempo can be overwritten for each part in xml.

• Quarters (2 -9) – obsolete – this tag is still supported for compatibility reasons but you should rather use the new tag time. Quarters are limited to 2/4,3/4 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 7/4 and 9/4 time signatures. Quarters denotes the numerator of the time signature, the denominator always is 4.

• Time – enter here the time signature of the piece. The numerator and the denominator have to be separated by a comma. The denominator has to be 4 or 8. “4,4” is the default and means 4/4 time. If the time tag is used, the tag quarters will be ignored.

• Onbeat - 0 = offbeat, 1 = onbeat. If you decide to generate an onbeat song then the bass and the drums will play only on the up- and downbeats (the pulse beats). If you opt for an offbeat song, bass and drums can also randomly play between the pulse beats,

• Key - the scale of the song, e,g, "c major"
• Structure
  Each song in popular genres consists of parts which are repeated. The simplest example is a folk song which consists of a repetition of chorus and verse (older folk songs even had only one part which was repeated throughout). The parts are named alphabetically by single letters. So, in our example the verse is part A and the chorus is part B. If we like to repeat chorus and verse 3 times, we could write: ABABAB.
  Note that the first part of the xml file is A in the structure, the second B, and so on till Z, regardless of their real names.