Note

Notes are written in two ways - either as individual notes, or specified via a chord name and color.

Individual notes are specified using lowercase scale letters (“a” through “g”), with an optional number to indicate the octave. If there is no space between notes then the notes will be played together.

Chords are specified by starting with an uppercase letter ("A" through "G") and then defining the chord flavor. The octave can be specified by including a ;<octave> to the end of the command.

Notes are only applicable on clades that can be specified by musical notes (rather than positions). See Hex for specifying positions.

Notes example

This will play three notes, individually.

c4 e4 g4

The octave is optional, if it is omitted then it will use the octave closest to the last note. So the previous line is identical to this:

c4 e g

Chords example

This will play a C major chord.

C

This will play a C major-seventh chord transposed over a E, on the 2nd octave.

Cmaj7/E;2

You can also write chords using the notes (lowercase letters), by putting them in without spaces. So this is identical to the previous:

e2gbc

Clades

mx.samples mx.synths melodic zassersby infinite pad midi crow

Chain

Patterns can be chained together using this command. This command must precede all patterns.

You can use ( or * operators to indicate groupings or multiplicative operations on the pattern chain.

Example 1

In this simple example, the patterns loop between a, b, and c. Each of the patterns only plays a single note, but each pattern can hold as many notes as needed.

chain a b c

pattern a
c4

pattern b
d4

pattern c 
e4

Example 2

In this example, the patterns loop between a,a, b - which is repeated twice, followed by c. Instead of writing a a b a a b c it can be compressed using the mathematical operators.

chain (a*2 b)*2 c

pattern a
c4

pattern b
d4

pattern c 
e4

Hex

Hex is used instead of Note for clades that involve positions - namely drum, softcut and oilcan. In [drum] and [softcute], there are up to 16 available positions. For [oilcan] there are only 7. The commands to playback at a certain position is simply a hex value, 0-9a-f where 0 is position 1 and f is position 16.

The usage of Hex commands is similar to Note in that you can use them with arps, you remove spaces in between to play things together, etc.

Example 1

In this example, play position 1, 2, 3, 4 in order.

0 1 2 3

Example 2

In this example, position 1 and 16 are played together.

0f

Example 3

This is the same as Example 1. The commands do not have spaces in between them, but they do not play together and are instead modified by the Arp command which plays them up once.

0123 ru

Clades

drum softcut oilcan

Pattern

Patterns are useful to group musical expressions. They are most useful when combined with chains. Essentially any pattern is created when you have pattern <name> where <name> can be anything you want.

Example 1

In this example there is a pattern that plays chords and a pattern that arpeggios the chords. However, there is nothing linking the patterns so it will only play the first. To link the patterns you should use chain.

pattern foo
Cm7
Am7/E

pattern bar
c4 eb4 g4 c5
a4 c4 e4 a5

Gate (h, 0 to 100)

The gate determine how long a note is held. Each note is given a time according to how it is parsed by tli, but the time allotted can be further truncated using the gate and defining a value less than 100.

For zassersby this will only be applicable for sustain mode, not lpg mode.

Example 1

In this example, c4 plays for a quarter note, while d4 plays for a half note.

c4 h50 d4

Clades

drum melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad midi crow oilcan zassersby

Filter (i, 1 to 127)

The filter will apply a low-pass filter to the emitted notes. This filter is defined in notes, i.e. 72 is the frequency of c5 (523 Hz).

Example 1

Play a chord filtered at 440 hz (A4).

C;4 i69

Clades

drum melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad softcut oilcan

fm low (i, 0 to 100)

Adjusts the FM amount for lower frequency FM modulator.

example

c3 d#4 i10 e4 i0 g4

Clades

Zassersby

Just For (j, varies)

This command is just for each individual clade - it works differently depending on which clade you are using.

For softcut this command will activate recording, and the range is 0 to 100 (0% record level to 100% record level).

The drum this command will change the amount of decimation between 0 and 100%.

For mx.synths this command will change the four mods. Each mod has a range of 100 (which is mapped to -1 to 1). So for mod1, the values are 0-100, for mod2 the values are 101-200, etc.

For infinite pad this command will change the swell. The range is 0 to 100%.

For MIDI this command will send a CC message to the relative MIDI device and channel. The range is 0 to 127.

For zassersby this command will adjust the wavefolding amount. The range is 0 to 100.

Clades

drum softcut infinite pad mx.synths zassersby

Attack (k, 0 to 10000 ms)

The attack determines the time the envelope takes to open up when starting a new note.

Example 1

In this example, c4 opens in 50 ms and d4 opens in 200 ms.

c4 k50 d4 k200

Clades

drum melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad crow

fm high (k, 0 to 100)

Adjusts the FM amount for higher frequency FM modulator.

example

c3 d#4 k10 e4 k0 g4

Clades

Zassersby

Release (l, 0 to 10000 ms)

The release determines the time the envelope takes to close when releasing a note.

Example 1

In this example, c4 releases in 50 ms and d4 releases in 2 seconds.

c4 l50 d4 l2000

Clades

drum melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad crow zassersby oilcan

Mover (m, <mod><per>[,<min>][,<max>])

Mover is a special command that enacts a LFO on almost any of the other commands. Its syntax is different than all the other commands. It requires specifying the one-letter character of the command that is to be modified and a period (in beats). Then, optionallyl, a minimum and maximum can be specified.

The mover LFO is only implemented until the command that is being modified is coded in another cell. LFO shape can also be changed to 'sine', 'saw', 'square' or 'random' at the bottom of the settings page.

Example 1

In this example the volume of the "c4" note is oscillating the volume (v) between -10 and 0 dB at 10 beats/cycle for the first measure and set to -5 db for the second measure.

c4 mv10,-10,0
c4 v-5

Note that the minimum and the maximum pertain to that particular command (in this example it is the volume).

Clades

drum melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad softcut crow midi

Pitch (n, -48 to 48)

This command is similar to rate, but changes the rate in a way according to note scales.

Example 1

In this example the note plays c4 but pitched down two semites, so it actually plays bb3.

c4 n-2

Clades

drum melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad softcut crow midi zassersby oilcan

Slew (N, 0 to 1000 ms)

Slew command for notes

Slew example

This will play four notes, with the transition between c4 and d#4 having a slew time of 10 milliseconds

c3 d#4 N10 e4 N0 g4

Clades

crow mx.synths zassersby

Offset (o)

Offsets are used to shift the notes across the pulses allocated for each line when it is parsed by the TLI parser. Its useful to create off-beats.

Example 1

In this example, the notes will be offset from the first pulse by eight pulses:

c4 e4 g4 a4 o8

Clades

drum melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad softcut crow midi oilcan zassersby

Pulse (p)

Pulse is used to redefine the number of pulses allocated to a given line. There is an immutable number of 24 pulses per quarter note, but you can define any number of pulses per line. If no pulses are defined then it will be defined as 96 pulses per line by default (4 quarter notes per line). You can use mathematical expressions with pulses, as long as there are no spaces.

Example 1

In this example, the first line will have 24 pulses (1 whole quarter note), while the second line will have 96 pulses (4 whole quarter notes).

c4 p24
c4 p24*2+48

When played together, this whole pattern is 96 pulses, or five beats.

Traditional note lengths

In traditional music note lengths are usually defined as power-of-2 fractions of a measure - with a measure being four notes. There is shorthand for this in the pulse syntax. You can write m, h, q, s, e for measures, half-notes, quarter-notes, sixteenth-notes respectively. The measure is defined as 96 pulses and everything is a division from that.

You can also use mathematical expressions with pulses. So if you want a line to be one quarter-note less than two measures you can write:

c4 d4 e4 f4 p2*m-q

The p2*m-q is evaluated as 2*96-24 which is 168 pulses. Its important not to put any spaces when using this syntax.

Clades

drum melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad softcut crow midi zassersby oilcan

Probability (q, 0 to 100)

This command determines the probability that the note will be emitted each time it is encountered.

Example 1

In this example, c4 plays 50% of the time.

c4 q50 d4

Clades

drum melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad midi crow zassersby oilcan

Arp type (r, various)

Arpeggio lets you create arpeggios. You can use arpeggio with a collection of notes (or hex), or a chord. The arpeggio will last as long as defined by tli. These are the available arpeggio options and their shortcodes:

• up (u)
• down (d)
• up-down (ud)
• down-up (du)
• convergent (co)
• divergent (di)
• convergent-divergent (codi)
• divergent-convergent (dico)
• pinky-up (pu)
• pinky-up-down (pud)
• thumb-up (tu)
• thumb-up-down (tud)
• random (r)

By default, the arp will equally divide the number of notes according to the defined number of pulses. This can be changed by utilizing this command along with steps to change the number of steps or time to change the length of each note in the arpeggio.

Example 1

This example does an up-down arpeggio on a Cm7 chord.

Cm7 rud

Example 2

This example plays a pinky-based arpeggio on the first four slices (in hex notation).

0123 rpu

Clades

drum melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad softcut crow midi

Arp steps (s, 1 to inf)

Steps defines the maximum number of steps in a given arpeggio. For every step that is not in the original chord, the note is increased by one octave. If time is not defined, then the pulses per step will be equally divided among the available number of pulses.

Example 1

In this example the arpeggio goes up to c4, e4, g4, c5 because there are four steps.

C;4 ru s4

Example 2

In this example with hex syntax, the arpeggio goes up and down: 0, 1, 12, 13, 12, 2, 1, 2. This is because only four steps are defined but each is given 12 pulses out of 96, for 8 total.

01 rud s4 t12

Clades

drum melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad softcut crow midi zassersby oilcan

Arp time (t, 1 to inf)

Time defines how long each note in an arpeggio will play for. The time is defined in pulses.

Example 1

In this example the arpeggio goes up to c4, e4, g4, c5, with each note getting 12 pulses (1/8th note).

C;4 ru s4 t12

Example 2

In this example with hex syntax, the arpeggio goes up to 0, 1, 12, 13.

01 rud s4 t8

Clades

drum melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad softcut crow midi

Rate (u, -200% to 200%)

Rate defines the rate of play for a given note, given in percent from unison.

Example 1

In this example the volume of the 1st slice (0) plays backwards, and then forwards at 50% rate.

0 u-100 0 u50

Clades

drum softcut

Volume (v, -48 to 12)

Volume allows you to quickly change the impact of a note. This volume is added in dB, to the main volume that can be controlled in the parameters menu.

Example 1

In this example the volume of the "c4" note is increased by +8 dB.

c4 v8

Clades

mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad melodic zassersby oilcan

Pan (w, -100% to 100%)

Pan will pan between the left (-100%) and the right (100%) of the stereo field. You can randomize this by including multiple numbers.

Example 1

In this example the note randomized between +/-50%.

c4 w-50,50

Clades

drum melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad softcut zassersby oilcan

Retrigger (x, 1 to 32)

This command will further subdivide the current note as many times as it is retriggered. For example if you retrigger a quarter note twice it will play as two eighth notes.

Retrigger works in conjunction with volume and pitch in a special way - upon each retrigger it applies the change to volume or pitch again. This way you can create escalating or descalating patterns, or even pseudo-echos.

Example 1

In this example the note plays c4 as four sixteenth notes instead of a quarter note.

c4 x4 d4 e4 f5

Example 2

In this example the hex plays the first slice and it echoes 15 times, decreasing in volume each time by 1 dB and increasing one semitone each trigger.

0 x16 v-1 n1

Clades

drum melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad softcut crow midi zassersby oilcan

Transpose (y, -127 to 127)

Transpose will modify the note before it is latched to the current scale. This is useful for transposing keys and staying in the scale, but can also be used to create melodies when using random or ordered command values.

Scales can be modified in the PARAMS > scale mode. By default it will be a chromatic scale.

Example 1

In this example, the C is followed by a C# if in the chromatic scale, or is followed by a D if it is in a major scale.

c4 c y1

Example 2

This example uses ordered command values so the first time the note plays C, and then D (assuming a chromatic scale).

c4 y0.2

Clades

drum melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad softcut crow midi

Zelay (Z, 0% to 100%)

Zelay defines the send for the delay. The delay parameters to modify are in the PARAMS > AUDIO OUT menu.

Example 1

In this example, 1/3 notes are output with 5% delay send.

c4 z0,0,5

Clades

drum dx7 melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad softcut

Zeverb (z, 0% to 100%)

Zeverb defines the send for the reverb. The reverb parameters to modify are in the PARAMS > ZEVERB menu.

Example 1

In this example, 1/3 notes are output with 5% reverb send.

c4 z0,0,5

Clades

drum melodic mx.samples mx.synths infinite pad softcut