Humdrum Toolkit Command Reference -- freq

COMMAND

freq — translate selected Humdrum pitch-related representations to frequency

SYNOPSIS

` freq [-p n] [-tx] [inputfile …] [> outputfile”]`

DESCRIPTION

The freq command transforms various pitch-related inputs to corresponding frequency representations. It outputs one or more Humdrum freq spines containing numerical values (in hertz) corresponding to the fundamental frequency for pitch-related input tokens. For example, the pitch token "C4" is transformed to 261.63 (hertz).

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

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

cbr critical band rate (in equivalent rectangular bandwidth units) cents hundredths of a semitone with respect to middle C=0 (e.g. 1200 equals C5) cocho cochlear coordinates (in millimeters) freq fundamental frequency (in hertz) fret fretted-instrument pitch tablature kern core pitch/duration representation MIDI Music Instrument Digital Interface tablature pitch American National Standards Institute pitch notation (e.g. "A#4") semits equal-tempered semitones with respect to middle C=0 (e.g. -12 equals C3) solfg French solfège system (fixed `doh') specC spectral centroid (in hertz) Tonh German pitch system ———— —————————————————————————

Input representations processed by freq.

OPTIONS

The freq command provides the following options:

h displays a help screen summarizing the command syntax -p n output precision of n decimal places t suppresses printing of all but the first note of a group of tied **kern notes x suppresses printing of non-frequency signifiers ——– ———————————————————————————

Options are specified in the command line.

The p option can be used to set the precision of the output values to n decimal places. The default precision is two decimal places. Note that freq is able to process freq as input; this feature allows the user to round-off existing freq data to a specified precision.

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, freq outputs non-pitch-related signifiers in addition to the frequency value. For example, the pitch token "A6zzz" will result in the output "1760.00zzz" — that is, after translating A6 to 1760.00 hertz, 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 "8aaa"; after translating `aaa' to 1760.00 hertz, the non-pitch-related signifier `8' will also be output, hence the value 81760.00 — which will undoubtedly cause confusion. 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 freq. The input contains six pitch-related spines — one of which (deg) cannot be processed by freq. In addition, there are two non-pitch-related spines (embell and metpos). ``

!! `freq' example. **kern *M2/4 * * =1 =1 8ee- . . 8ff A3 . . 8dd- Ab3 . . 8d- . . =2 =2 [4a- r . . 4a-] D4 . . . =3 =3 r G4 === === *- *- ———————- **pitch **MIDI **deg **metpos **cocho **Tonh **embell *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 * * *tb8 * * * =1 =1 =1 =1 =1 =1 G#4foo /60/bar 1foo 1 r Gis2 ct /-60/ . . . . . /62/ 2 3 9.89 H2 upt /-62/ . . . . . /70/ 1 2 7.07 B2 ct /-70/ . . . . . C#4 /61/ 6 3 7.135 Cis4 sus /-61/ . . . . . =2 =2 =2 =2 =2 =2 . 5 1 r r . . 7 3 5.5 Heses2 ct /48/ /52/ 1 2 8.11 C3 ct /-48/ . . . . . D4 F4 /-52/ 2 3 7.33 6.4 C3 Es3 ct =3 =3 =3 =3 =3 =3 . r 1 r H2 D3 . === === === === === === *- *- *- *- *- *- ———– ———– ——— ———— ———– ———- ————

Executing the command

` freq -tx input > output”`

produces the following result: ``

!! `freq' example. **freq **freq **freq **deg **metpos **freq **freq **embell *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 *M2/4 * * * * *tb8 * * * =1 =1 =1 =1 =1 =1 =1 =1 622.25 415.30 261.63 1foo 1 r 103.83 ct . . . . . . . . 698.46 220.00 293.66 2 3 481.97 123.47 upt . . . . . . . . 554.37 207.65 466.16 1 2 273.21 116.54 ct . . . . . . . . 277.18 277.18 277.18 6 3 277.16 277.18 sus . . . . . . . . =2 =2 =2 =2 =2 =2 =2 =2 415.30 r . 5 1 r r . . . . 7 3 187.76 110.00 ct . 293.66 130.81 164.81 1 2 340.92 130.81 ct . . . . . . . . . 293.66 349.23 . 2 3 289.24 234.47 130.81 155.56 ct =3 =3 =3 =3 =3 =3 =3 =3 r 392.00 . r 1 r 123.47 146.83 . === === === === === === === === *- *- *- *- *- *- *- *- ———————- ————— ————— ——— ———— ————— ————— ————

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 **pitch, **MIDI, and cocho spines have been stripped away (due to the x option).

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).