COMMAND

pitch -- translate selected Humdrum pitch-related representations to American standard pitch notation


SYNOPSIS

pitch [-tx] [inputfile ...] [ > outputfile.pit]


DESCRIPTION

The pitch command transforms various pitch-related inputs to the corresponding pitch designations approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The pitch command outputs one or more Humdrum **pitch spines. ANSI pitch designations use the upper-case letters A to G followed by an optional accidental, followed by an octave number. In the Humdrum **pitch representation, optional cents deviation from equal temperament can also be encoded.

The pitch command is able to translate any of the pitch-related input representations listed below. In each case, a tuning standard of A4 equals 440 hertz is assumed. For descriptions of the various input representations (including **pitch) refer to Section 2 (Representation Reference) of this reference manual.

It is recommended that output files produced using the pitch command should be given names with the distinguishing `.pit' extension.

**centshundredths of a semitone with respect to middle C=0
**degreekey-related scale degree
**freqfundamental frequency (in hertz)
**fretfretted-instrument pitch tablature
**kerncore pitch/duration representation
**MIDIMusic Instrument Digital Interface tablature
**semitsequal-tempered semitones with respect to middle C=0 (e.g. 12 = C5)
**solfgFrench solfège system (fixed `doh')
**specCspectral centroid (in hertz)
**TonhGerman pitch system
Input representations processed by pitch.


OPTIONS

The pitch command provides the following options:

-hdisplays a help screen summarizing the command syntax
-tsuppresses printing of all but the first of a group of tied **kern notes
-xsuppresses printing of non-pitch-related signifiers
Options are specified in the command line.

The -t option ensures that only a single output value is given for tied **kern notes; the output coincides with the first note of the tie.

In the default operation, pitch outputs non-pitch-related signifiers in addition to the **pitch pitch value. For example, the **Tonh token "Ges5zzz" will result in the output "Gb5zzz" -- that is, after translating Ges5 to Gb5, the "zzz" signifiers are retained in the output. For some applications, echoing non-pitch-related signifiers in the output is useful. However, in other situations, the result can prove confusing -- especially, when the non-pitch-related signifiers are numbers. Consider the case of the **kern token "8aa#"; after translating `aa#' to A#5, the non-pitch-related signifier `8' will also be output, hence the value 8A#5 -- which may cause confusion; commands such as tonh, solfg, and pitch treat the first number encountered in an input token as the octave designation. Hence further processing of this token may lead to it's interpretation as A#8 -- or even A#58 -- rather than A#5.

The -x option is useful for eliminating non-pitch-related signifiers from the output. For most **kern inputs, the -x option is recommended.


EXAMPLES

The following example illustrates the use of pitch. The input contains six pitch-related spines -- two of which (**deg and **cocho) cannot be processed by pitch. In addition, there are two non-pitch-related spines (**embell and **metpos).
!! `pitch' example.
**kern**freq**MIDI**deg**metpos**cocho**degree**embell
*M2/4*M2/4*M2/4*M2/4*M2/4*M2/4*M2/4*M2/4
*******d:*
*****tb8***
=1=1=1=1=1=1=1=1
8ee-93foo/60/bar1foo1r1/4ct
../-60/.....
8ff220/62/239.892/4upt
../-62/.....
8dd-936.2/70/127.073+/4ct
../-70/.....
8d-277.18/61/637.1357/3sus
../-61/.....
=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2
[4a-r.51rr.
...735.51/4ct
4a-]300/48/ /52/128.116+/4ct
../-48/.....
.82.4 261.6/-52/237.33 6.43/4 5/4ct
=3=3=3=3=3=3=3=3
r512.r1r3/4 1/5.
========================
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Executing the command

pitch -tx input > output.pit

produces the following result:

!! `pitch' example.
**pitch**pitch**pitch**deg**metpos**cocho**pitch**embell
*M2/4*M2/4*M2/4*M2/4*M2/4*M2/4*M2/4*M2/4
*******d:*
*****tb8***
=1=1=1=1=1=1=1=1
Eb5F#2+9C41foo1rD4ct
........
F5A3D4239.89E4upt
........
Db5Bb5+7Bb4127.07F#4ct
........
Db4Db4Db4637.135C#3sus
........
=2=2=2=2=2=2=2=2
Ab4r.51rr.
...735.5D4ct
.D4+36C3 E3128.11B4ct
........
.E2 C4.237.33 6.4F4 A4ct
=3=3=3=3=3=3=3=3
rC5-37.r1rF4 D5.
========================
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Both processed and unprocessed spines are output. Notice that the tied note at the beginning of measure 2 in the **kern spine has been rendered as a single note rather than as two notes (due to the -t option). Also notice that the non-pitch-related signifiers (e.g. foo) in the first notes of the **freq, **MIDI, and **cocho spines have been stripped away (due to the -x option). In the case of the **degree input, pitch recognizes the spelling of various pitches in the context of the key of D minor. Hence, the raised third degree is F#, and the raised sixth degree is B natural. Also note the presence of cents-deviation from equal temperament in the translation of the **freq data (second spine).


FILES

The file x_option.awk is used by this program when the -x option is invoked.


PORTABILITY

DOS 2.0 and up, with the MKS Toolkit. OS/2 with the MKS Toolkit. UNIX systems supporting the Korn shell or Bourne shell command interpreters, and revised awk (1985).


SEE ALSO

**cents (2), cents (4), **degree (2), degree (4), **freq (2), freq (4), **fret (2), hint (4), **kern (2), kern (4), **MIDI (2), midi (4), mint (4), **pitch (2), **semits (2), semits (4), **solfg (2), solfg (4), **specC (2) specC (4), **Tonh (2), tonh (4)