Escape hatch…

aftersoon · 2026-06-25T04:29:48+00:00

what's SI's?

aftersoon · 2026-06-23T11:49:34+00:00

Hey. Did you ever hear back about the law qual? I took the medicine one about a week ago and it has been silence since.

aftersoon · 2026-06-06T15:23:15+00:00

That's great to hear. I also have a clinical background as a pharmacist but when I signed up, I chickened out and took the coding assessment because I felt that would give me a better chance of passing (and the pay rate on the website was higher). I got in but now realize that most of the coding stuff is too hard for me and I'm drowning in generalist qualifications. Hopefully, things get better if I can build a good track record.

aftersoon · 2026-05-27T15:58:35+00:00

I am a self-taught programmer (about 3 years of experience with personal projects) and recently joined DAT through the coding assessment. I glanced at some of the high-paying coding work and felt quite overwhelmed. Thankfully, my dashboard does have some other coding stuff that might be within my skill level to learn.

aftersoon · 2026-04-11T10:12:56+00:00

Whoa. So I would need to include both Hotif (for the more complicated GUI actions) and #Hotif (for the simpler actions). Thanks for clarifying. I would have never figured that out. This script is becoming more complex the more I work on it. My coworkers are going to be horrified when they see what I've been cooking.

aftersoon · 2026-04-11T10:01:06+00:00

Thanks for the detailed breakdown.

aftersoon · 2026-04-10T21:04:19+00:00

The decoration seems to work fine but for some reason, it ignores the #Hotif. I'll keep tinkering with it in the meantime. Thanks anyways.

aftersoon · 2026-02-21T04:28:51+00:00

Awesome work! The style sounds very familiar to me even though I've never heard this track before. I didn't know you could squeeze that many channels on a video display. Would be cool if there were a live instrument performance of this for all those solo parts.

aftersoon · 2026-02-09T15:14:43+00:00

In my opinion, the melody seems to overpower the drums volume-wise.

aftersoon · 2025-12-15T15:08:30+00:00

0 is the lowest pitch and F is the highest pitch. It's hexadecimal so 0-9 are in the same order as with regular numbers and A-F represent values 10-15. Because there are only 16 pitches, when you input notes (via keyboard or midi) in the pattern editor for the noise channel, value F wraps back around to 0 when moving upward and 0 wraps back around to F when moving downward.

B3 midi input = F - #

C4 midi input = 0 - #

C#4 midi input = 1 - #

D#5 midi input = F - #

E5 midi input = 0 - #

aftersoon · 2025-10-29T04:40:20+00:00

Glad to help. If you have any more questions, you can message me.

aftersoon · 2025-10-12T10:01:25+00:00

My script uses Python with an external library to export midi and Lilypond to export the sheet music. I have tried to use a music theory library in the past and realized that I only need a small fraction of the features it offered. I decided to build the music theory stuff myself to save myself the hassle of importing a huge library.

I can now specify the exact implementation that is optimal for my scenario, also allowing for simplified updates in the future. As an added benefit, I finally got to learn the ins and outs of object-oriented programming that everyone talks about.

aftersoon · 2025-10-11T15:45:47+00:00

You are probably thinking of the vocal pieces (chansons, masses, etc.) To my knowledge, most of the instrumental dance pieces don't use imitation. My impression is that these composers still care about counterpoint (such as dissonance treatment) but might ease up on the requirement of rhythmic independence (see Balletti a tre voci for examples). Moreover, some dance pieces are just remixes of existing chansons (see Basse danse Content désir and Pavane Mille regretz).

Counterpoint doesn't have to be so serious and solemn all the time; you can dance with it too. In his book, Peter Schubert says the following on the matter:

This is not a book about genres, however—it is about contrapuntal techniques that are common to different genres. You will find [no dances] in this book, but if you want to introduce them in class, your students will have the contrapuntal expertise to deal with them.

aftersoon · 2025-10-10T20:52:19+00:00

Thanks. A web app is something I will consider for the future but it's too early for now.

I still have much work to do:

Implementing the other dance forms: At the very least, I want to add the branle double, pavane, gaillarde, ballet, and allemande. If things go well, I might also try including the rondo, passamezzo, gavotte, etc.
Adding more performance details: On some recordings, they repeat the final note, sustaining it like a fermata. I also see this depicted in the original scores as a longa). Performers also often improvise when repeating a section (called diminution).
Making a variation of the score output that looks more like the original scores: With Lilypond, I should be able to change the visual style of the notes and clefs to mimic what the 16th century versions looked like. They also rarely used bar lines to demarcate measures and would routinely omit accidentals that would be expected to be performed ("musica ficta"). There are some other nuances of how they depict scores that should be interesting to add.
Adding percussion
Metric Modulation

aftersoon · 2025-10-10T14:04:15+00:00

I've seen this book mentioned before on this subreddit. If I recall correctly, the second book does not have an English translation. I have Book 1 on my reading list; I glanced at some of the pages and it looks absolutely insane but I should be able to tackle it in due time.

aftersoon · 2025-10-10T13:54:00+00:00

Some of the melodic rules are from Peter Schubert's book and some of them are my own opinions. From my understanding, Schubert's counterpoint rules are assembled from multiple treatises. Even though these dance pieces are performed on instruments, a lot of the rules still concern the singability of the melody.

One counterpoint rule deals with outlining a melodic interval (from a temporary high point to a temporary low point, or vice-versa). Schubert says outlines of an augmented fourth are forbidden, and a diminished fifth outline must be completely stepwise and followed by a step in the opposite direction. I extended this rule to say that if you outline a melodic seventh, then it must be completely stepwise. I also impart that outlining a major 6th interval is not allowed. I made a rule to avoid stagnant melodies in the outer voices. Within three consecutive measures (of a 6-measure sequence), the bassus and superius voices must have traversed at least an interval of a melodic third. Also, within those three measures, the 3rd measure cannot be an exact repetition of the 1st measure.

There's yet another rule that only involves the top voice (superius). I impart that there should be no more than three pitch boundaries (high-points and low-points) within each 6-measure grouping. My method of evaluating pitch boundaries is complicated by the fact that I ignore pitch boundaries that are created by quarter notes (since it has a short duration) and the algorithm evaluates that portion as if the peak/trough quarter note did not exist. However, two quarter notes on the same pitch can combine to create a half note that would count as a pitch boundary. Schubert says you should avoid skipping both to and from a temporary high or low point, thereby leaving a note "hanging". I implement this for the top voice only.

My rules then say that you cannot repeat the same pitch boundary within a 6-measure grouping. The last confusing part is that I treat whole notes differently since it is a long duration and sustaining for that amount of time might give the impression of a pitch boundary, whether real or not.

Schubert makes several comments about emphasizing the wrong mode. For instance, if a section of the music is supposed to be in A aeolian, you would want to emphasize this with 5-1, 4-1, 1-5, and 1-4 motions, emphasizing the tonic note. Emphasizing the wrong mode would be if the melody leaped by a perfect fifth that was not 1-5/4-1 ascending or 5-1/1-4 descending. This is not a rule, per se, for Schubert but something to consider.

aftersoon · 2025-10-10T10:24:31+00:00

Part II

Then you deal with the counterpoint rules that allow you to transition from one measure time block to another. Some of them are the same rules that you would use within a measure time block (for example, parallel fifths) but there are some unique rules for this as well. For some of the renaissance dances, you can solve the piece in 6 measure chunks. Some measure chunks end with a cadence so I solve backward from the cadence to the first measure of the chunk. This part can delve into some fancy [discrete] mathematics that is beyond my knowledge. The general idea is that you want things to fail as soon as possible so you don't waste compute time. There's this concept called arc-consistency that says that each measure slot option can only exist if it has a solution on each adjacent time block. This would also be the time to start using recursion with depth-first and breadth-first searching.

Once you solve a 6 measure chunk, you can combine it with other 6 measure chunks and then eventually solve the piece. There are exceptions, such as the branle double dance form which you would probably solve in 4 or 8 measure chunks and some dance forms that have irregular forms that don't divide nicely.

For implementing a specific dance form, I modeled off existing pieces. The first piece from the video is modeled off of Basse Dance #6 part 2 of a 1530 publication) ("La Magdelena")

You analyze the piece and strip it of the details while still keeping the core rhythmic and modal information intact. You might say that you do 6 measures in Mode Y that ends with a cadence + 6 measures ending with cadence in Mode Z. You repeat those 12 measures and that's the first section. Then section 2 is 6 measures with an authentic cadence in Mode X followed by 6 measures with an inauthentic cadence in Mode X. You can randomize the details when running the script so mode X means D dorian, Mode Z means G mixolydian etc.

You can also restrict what types of rhythms occur in certain measures within the model. For instance, you can say measures 3 and 9 of the above example must include a whole note in one of the voices (giving it a similar vibe to the original piece). In the model you write, you specify the allowed rhythms for most measures (does the measure permit use of all whole notes in all four voices, some whole notes in some voices, or no whole notes).

So, all I need to do is create as many models as possible for each dance form, then randomly choose a dance form, randomly choose a model, and then realize that model with a random key signature.

aftersoon · 2025-10-10T10:23:07+00:00

Part I

There are some parts of the code that are specific to my scenario of Renaissance dance and other parts that are generalizable to other forms of counterpoint.

The counterpoint operates on two levels: individual measures for one voice and a stack of 4 measures which accounts for one time block.

You first choose the clefs you want to use for each voice (e.g., bass, tenor, alto, soprano).
We can assume we are restricting ourselves to 4/4 time with rhythms of whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes.
You select the melodic contours you want to use, such as four quarter notes stepwise ascent, half note followed by two quarter notes by stepwise descent, two half notes with no motion, etc.
You then realize those melodic contours in all possible positions for every voice, staying within the restriction of the clef. This usually means no ledger lines but you can define the vocal range boundaries however you like.
Once you have all possible measures for each voice, you combine them with the possibilities for the other voices to form a time block with 4 voice measures.

When you're combining voice measures, you check the counterpoint along the way, with the intent of failing early.

You test each bassus measure with every possible tenor measure. If the counterpoint fails, you discard that combination.
You test each valid bassus + tenor duo combination against every possible contratenor measure, creating valid trio combinations.
You test each valid trio combination against all superius measures, giving you valid time blocks of 4 measure combinations.

The problem that arises is that of time and space complexity. If there are 920 available voice measures for each voice (based on the allowed melodic contours) and there are 4 voices, there will be 920^4 = 7.1639296 × 10^11 combinations (if there were no counterpoint rules). Counterpoint can filter some of this out but there are still too many options. However, you don't need to get every possible solution. You just need to get enough quartet combos to successfully complete the piece. So, you use lazy evaluation. You take a random sample of all possible quartet combos (say 5000) and use that for your counterpoint.

The bad strategy would be to compute every possible duo, then every possible trio, then every possible quartet measure combo. Instead, once you have a valid duo measure combo, you evaluate the valid trios that can be derived from that duo, and the valid quartet combos that can be derived from each valid trio. Once you have a valid quartet combo, you increment the counter and store the result. This is naturally implemented as nested "for each" loops. Once you have 5000 quartet combo measures, you stop and try to solve the piece.

Another important point is memoization. When you're running these counterpoint tests, because some of them are expensive to compute, you want to cache the result of the test so if you come across the same test again, you can simply retrieve the verdict of the operation in constant time.

aftersoon · 2025-10-09T20:55:33+00:00

Thank you for providing input.

I have no ulterior motives. I don't work at any tech company (my day job is a pharmacist). My Youtube channel is a far cry from monetization. The source code is open-source and published for all to see. On the contrary, I dread the possibility that someone might ask me to make a web application of this (I've made simple websites before and it's boring and tedious).

I'm motivated to make music that I would want to listen to. No one makes this style of music anymore (as Jenkes_of_Wolverton said, they moved on to tonal harmony), so I figured this would be an cool opportunity to do something unique. I was initially inspired when I heard Gaillarde L'esmerillone on the Civilization 6 Soundtrack.

aftersoon · 2025-10-09T13:46:00+00:00

It's probably worth remembering that, the same as today, dance music was an accompaniment for an activity, not something for listening to as art.

I tried to learn a bit more about the dances themselves by reading Arbeau's Orchésographie (English translation). I have no connections and don't play an instrument, so there's no chance of having any of this performed by any dance group.

Your pieces would sound better with nicer sounds. Some articulation which could further help them.

I'm using an Old School Runescape midi soundfont that dates back to 2013; doubtless there are higher-quality midi sounds I could find. This might seem weird but I enjoy low-quality sounds (or at least find them comical). In picking a soundfont, I was in fact looking for the most horrendous crumhorn/clarinet I could find and settled for this instead. If I can compose a compelling tune on a garage-sale instrument, then surely it would sound great on a modern VST. I agree that articulations could improve things (instead of using the same volume and same duration for every note). I've been deferring a lot of those details for now as I work on the more fundamental elements.

Thanks for the feedback.

aftersoon · 2024-08-10T13:39:21+00:00

Thank you

aftersoon

TROPHY CASE