Practice — User Guide

Practice is a practice session included in GeCo-Tools tool that produces melodic sequences importing a series of intervals from a preset (in GeCo syntax). Each sequence is delivered as audio (playback) and as standard music notation, and can be exported as a MIDI file.

🎵 Generation Parameters

• Start Note — The pitch-class on which the sequence begins (C through B). Octave is assigned automatically: C–F♯ start in octave 4, G–B in octave 3.
• Note Length — Sets the duration of every note in the imported sequence: Whole (4 beats), Half (2), Quarter (1), Eighth (½), Sixteenth (¼).

🎹 Instrument & Playback

• Instrument — Choose between Piano and Sax B♭ soundfonts for in-browser playback.
• BPM slider (top right) — Controls playback speed (60–240 BPM). Does not alter the MIDI file.
• Play / Pause / Stop — Standard transport controls. Pause freezes playback; press again (Continue) to resume.
• Loop — When checked, playback restarts automatically at the end of the sequence.
• Metronome — Adds a click track during playback. Three click sounds: DAW (noise burst), Beep (sine tone), Wood block.

🎼 Key Signature

Set the clef key signature for the score display. This setting directly affects the MusicXML before rendering: it does not change the audio, MIDI, or note pitches—only the sharps and flats displayed in the clef. You can change it freely even after importing a preset, without having to re-import.

🔄 Pitch-Class Transformations

Applied to the current sequence after import. Each operation contacts the server and re-renders the notation.

• T — Transpose — Shifts all pitches by the chosen number of semitones (−12 to +12).
• I — Inversion — Reflects each interval around the first pitch (rising becomes falling).
• R — Retrograde — Reverses the order of pitches.
• RI — Retrograde-Inversion — Applies I then R; one of the four classical serial operations.

💾 MIDI

• Download MIDI — Saves the current sequence as a standard .mid file, ready to import into any DAW or notation software.
• Import Preset — Loads a .txt file containing sequence settings. For compatibility reasons a GeCo-Tool exported .txt file can also be imported (for example, scales 🎹).

🔵 Pitch-Class Circle

The animated circle (top left) visualises the chromatic scale as a clock-face. During playback, active notes light up in gold and arcs trace the melodic intervals traversed. The first arc (sequence start) and the last arc are highlighted in white.

📐 Imported Intervals

After import, a row of coloured boxes shows the signed semitone interval between each consecutive pair of notes (+n = ascending, −n = descending).

🔁 Reset

Restores all parameters to their defaults and clears the score. The page reloads completely.

ℹ️ Contextual Help

Hover over (or tab-focus) any control to see a short description in the help strip at the bottom of the panel.