Pad
Tempo –
Pattern –
Bar –
Length –
PRESS PLAY
This cartridge is a text score. The pad edits pad cartridges only.
Song
Add:
A pocket chip-music studio. Tap out a loop on the pad, or write a score in plain text. Everything plays in your browser, and a link carries the whole song.
This cartridge is a text score. The pad edits pad cartridges only.
Every square is in key, so nothing you tap can sound wrong. Change the key or scale and the whole song moves with it.
| Lead · Bass | One note per step. Tap a square to place a note; tap it again to clear it. |
| Hold | Switch to Hold and tap a step to let the note before it ring on. |
| Chords | Each row is a chord of the scale, played as a fast chip arpeggio. |
| Drums | Three drum voices: kick and toms, snare/clap/block, and the hats. One hit per voice per step, like a real chip. |
| A B C D | Four one-bar patterns. Edit one, then build the song from them. The song loops. |
| Space | Play or stop. |
Under Score you can see the text your pad writes. Choose “Edit as text” to keep going by hand: the full format is below.
A score is a header, some instruments, some patterns, and a song line that strings the patterns together. Everything after ; is a comment.
| Write | Means |
|---|---|
| tempo: 120 | Beats per minute. |
| steps: 4 | Steps per beat. 4 makes each step a 16th note. Use 6 for 16ths in 6/8. |
| bar: 16 | Steps per bar. Every | checks the bar is full, so mistakes show up as errors. |
| swing: 0.2 | Delays every other step by this fraction of a step. |
| echo: 0.3 0.3 0.2 | SNES-style echo: delay in seconds, feedback, wet level. |
| inst lead wave=square … | Defines an instrument. Its name becomes a voice you can write lines for. |
| pattern A | Starts a pattern. Each line inside is voice: notes. Repeat a voice name to keep writing it on the next line. |
| song: intro [A A B A] | Play order. The part in brackets loops forever. |
| C4 F#5 Bb3 | A note lasting one step. C4 is middle C. |
| C4--- | Each - holds it one more step, so this lasts 4. |
| . | One step of silence. |
| C4{047} | Chip arpeggio: cycles C, E, G fast enough to sound like a chord. Offsets are semitones in hex (c = octave). |
| /G4 | Slides into G4 from the previous note. |
| C4! C4? | Accent, or play softly. |
| (C4 E4 G4 E4)x4 | Repeat a group. |
| | | Bar line. Optional, but it is how the format catches miscounts. |
inst| wave= | square, triangle (4-bit stepped, like the NES), saw, sine, noise, fm (2-operator, AdLib-style) or drums. |
| duty=0.125 | Pulse width for square: 0.125 thin, 0.25 nasal, 0.5 hollow. |
| env=a,d,s,r | Attack, decay and release in seconds; sustain level 0–1. |
| vol= pan= echo= | Level, stereo position −1…1, and how much goes to the echo. |
| vib=rate,depth,delay | Vibrato in Hz and semitones, starting after a delay. |
| detune=8 | Doubles the oscillator ±cents for a fat 16-bit chorus. |
| lp=1800 | Low-pass filter cutoff in Hz. |
| gate=0.5 | How much of each note's length sounds. Lower is more staccato. |
| ratio= index= idecay= isus= | FM: modulator ratio, brightness, how fast the brightness decays, and where it settles. |
| arp=0.04 glide=0.06 | Arpeggio step and slide time in seconds. |
| like=lead | Copies another instrument, then applies the rest. |
kkickssnarehclosed hatoopen hat
ccrashtlow tomThigh tompclap
bhigh congaBlow congawwoodblockxshaker
title: Coin Room tempo: 140 inst lead wave=square duty=0.25 vib=6,0.2,0.2 inst bass wave=triangle inst kit wave=drums pattern A lead: E5- G5- C6--- . G5 E5- C5 D5-- | bass: (C2- C3-)x4 | kit: k.h.s.h.k.k.s.h. | song: [A]