Changelog

All notable changes to PyTheory are documented here.

0.42.1

• Fretboard tuning support — to_tab() now accepts Fretboard objects as the tuning parameter. Works with Fretboard.guitar(), Fretboard.bass(), Fretboard.ukulele(), Fretboard.mandolin(), Fretboard.banjo(), and any custom Fretboard with capo.

0.42.0

• LilyPond export — Score.to_lilypond() generates complete LilyPond source files with multi-staff scores, key/time signatures, tempo markings, and automatic bass clef detection. Output can be compiled to publication-quality PDFs with LilyPond.

• MusicXML export — Score.to_musicxml() generates MusicXML 4.0 documents that can be opened in MuseScore, Sibelius, Finale, and any notation software. Includes proper ties, chords, clef detection, and tempo/time signature metadata.

• Guitar/bass tablature — Part.to_tab() and Score.to_tab() generate ASCII tablature. Supports guitar (6-string), bass (4-string), drop D, and custom tunings. Automatically maps notes to the best string/fret positions.

0.41.4

• Fix — to_abc() now ties long notes across barlines instead of emitting oversized durations that abcjs can’t render (e.g. 16-beat notes become four tied whole notes).

0.41.3

• Fix — to_abc() now skips parts with only drum tones or rests (no pitched notes), fixing “pitch is undefined” errors in abcjs. Chords are correctly recognized as pitched content.

0.41.2

• Auto bass clef — to_abc() detects low-register parts (808, bass, timpani) and assigns clef=bass automatically based on average note octave.

0.41.1

• Fix — to_abc() no longer crashes on parts containing drum tones.

0.41.0

• ABC notation export — Score.to_abc() converts scores to ABC notation strings. Supports multi-voice scores (via V: directives), chords, rests, accidentals, and all standard durations. Pass html=True to get a self-contained HTML page that renders sheet music in the browser via abcjs.

0.40.9

• Mellotron synth — tape-replay keyboard with wow/flutter, tape saturation, bandwidth limiting, hiss, and 8-second tape fadeout. Three tape banks via the tape parameter: "strings" (default), "flute", and "choir".

• Analog oscillator synths — four new waveform generators for fat, alive, analog-style sounds:

  • Synth.HARD_SYNC — slave oscillator hard-synced to a master (Prophet-5 leads). slave_ratio parameter controls harmonic content.

  • Synth.RING_MOD — two oscillators multiplied for metallic, bell-like inharmonic tones. mod_ratio parameter.

  • Synth.WAVEFOLD — west coast wavefolding (Buchla-style). folds parameter sweeps from warm to gnarly.

  • Synth.DRIFT — analog VCO with pitch drift, jitter, and noise floor. shape parameter ("saw", "square", "triangle", "pulse") and drift_amount for instability level.

• Synth kwargs passthrough — play(), save(), and _render() now accept **synth_kw for forwarding parameters to synth wave functions (e.g. play(tone, synth=Synth.MELLOTRON, tape="choir")).

• 14 new instrument presets — mellotron, mellotron_strings, mellotron_flute, mellotron_choir, sync_lead, sync_lead_bright, ring_mod_bell, ring_mod_metallic, wavefold_warm, wavefold_gnarly, drift_saw, drift_square, analog_pad, analog_bass.

• 808 bass envelope fix — changed from pluck (zero sustain, wrong for 808) to piano (sharp attack with long decay tail).

0.40.8

• Fix hold() inflating duration — Note.beats was returning the full duration for held notes (_hold=True), causing Part.total_beats and Score.duration_ms to overcount. A part with hold(Sa, WHOLE * 4) followed by add(Pa, QUARTER) would report 17 beats instead of 1. Now held notes return 0 beats, matching the renderer which already skipped advancing the timeline for held notes.

0.40.7

• Expose missing Synth enum entries — rhodes, wurlitzer, vibraphone, pipe organ, and choir wave functions were already implemented but not accessible via the Synth enum. Now available as Synth.RHODES, Synth.WURLITZER, Synth.VIBRAPHONE, Synth.PIPE_ORGAN, Synth.CHOIR.

0.40.6

• Saxophone presets cleaned up — removed lowpass filters and vel_to_filter from all sax instrument presets (saxophone, alto_sax, tenor_sax, bari_sax). The saxophone wave function already shapes its own spectrum; the extra filters were dulling the tone.

0.40.5

• Saxophone synth overhaul — reed nonlinearity (asymmetric soft clipping), conical bore formant resonances, breath noise with attack envelope, separate reed buzz, key click transient, and sub-harmonic warmth. Vibrato dialed back to subtle, delayed onset.

0.40.4

• Distortion overhaul — multi-stage clipping (preamp → power amp → asymmetric rectifier) replaces single-stage tanh. Crunch, distorted, orange crunch, and metal guitar presets now sound properly driven.

0.40.3

• Crotales synth — tuned bronze discs with long ring and bright harmonics

• Tingsha synth — paired Tibetan cymbals with beating from two detuned discs

• Rain stick — cascading pebbles (steep and slow/shallow variants)

• Ocean drum — steel beads rolling inside a frame drum, surf wash

• Cabasa — metal bead chain on cylinder, bright metallic scrape

• Wind chimes — multiple suspended metal tubes ringing at random offsets

• Finger cymbal — single zill tap, bright metallic ping

• crotales, tingsha, singing_bowl, singing_bowl_ring instrument presets

• Audio demos in docs for all new sounds

0.40.2

• Master compressor dialed back — threshold raised from 0.5 to 0.7, makeup gain capped at 3x. Sparse arrangements no longer get over-amplified to clipping.

0.40.1

• Singing bowl synth — two variants: strike (mallet hit with chirp and long decay) and ring (rim-rubbed sustained tone with slow build). Inharmonic partials beat against near-degenerate mode pairs for authentic Himalayan bowl shimmer.

• singing_bowl and singing_bowl_ring instrument presets

• Audio demos in docs for both variants

0.40.0

• Rhodes electric piano synth — tine + tonebar + electromagnetic pickup model. electric_piano preset now uses dedicated rhodes_synth instead of FM

• 73 audio demos in docs — every synth, every drum pattern, every code example with play_score() now has an embedded audio player

• Idiomatic demos: harp arpeggiates, guitars strum, cello bows, sitar drones, strings use ensemble

• Trailing silence trimming on all audio exports

• Raw waveform demos (no envelope) for classic waveforms

0.39.3

• 33 audio samples in documentation — every play_score() example now has an embedded stereo audio player. Covers quickstart, sequencing, drums (all world percussion), playback, and cookbook.

• docs/generate_audio.py — renders all doc examples to WAV

• Numpy vectorization: cached time arrays, decay envelopes, drum hits; vectorized piano harmonic synthesis

• Fixed acid legato example (removed pad envelope, added proper 303 recipe)

0.39.2

• Marching percussion — snare, rimshot, and stick click sounds with high-tension kevlar synthesis and woody-metallic rimshot crack

• Part.flam(), Part.diddle(), Part.cheese() — marching rudiment methods for any drum sound

• Part ensemble= — duplicate voices with per-player timing tendencies and micro pitch drift. Works on any Part (drumline, string section, choir). ensemble=20 for a full snare line, ensemble=4 for a string quartet.

• Sympathetic resonance — marching snare buzz builds up with repeated hits, decays during rests (like real snare wire response)

• 4 marching patterns — march, cadence, paradiddle, roll

• Chakradar tabla pattern — 16-beat tihai of tihais composition

• Song #32: Snare Cadence (flams, diddles, cheese, triplets, 32nds)

0.39.1

• Chakradar tabla pattern — 16-beat tihai of tihais composition with 3 escalating phrases and a crescendo triplet finale

0.39.0

• Dropped numeral dependency — Roman numeral helpers inlined, reducing supply chain surface (#47)

• Part.ramp() — smooth parameter automation with 4 interpolation curves (linear, ease_in, ease_out, ease_in_out)

• Articulations — staccato, legato, marcato, tenuto, accent, fermata

• Dynamic curves — crescendo(), decrescendo(), swell(), dynamics()

• Part.hit() — individual drum sounds with articulation support

• Cross-choke drum damping — djembe, hi-hats, cajón, doumbek

• 5 new djembe patterns + 3 djembe fills (30 fills total)

• 6 new drum fills — 3 cajón, 3 metal

• Duration arithmetic — multiply, divide, add

• Improved djembe slap synthesis

• Song #31: Acid Tabla

0.38.2

• Part.ramp() — smooth parameter automation from current value to target over a duration. Works for lowpass, reverb, distortion, chorus, delay, volume, and any .set() parameter. Four interpolation curves: linear, ease_in, ease_out, ease_in_out.

0.38.1

• Dynamic curves — Part.crescendo(), Part.decrescendo(), Part.swell(), and Part.dynamics() for velocity ramps and custom curves across a sequence of notes

0.38.0

• Articulations — staccato, legato, marcato, tenuto, accent, fermata via articulation= on Part.add() and Part.hold()

• Part.hit() — place individual drum sounds in a Part’s note stream with articulation, velocity, and effects support

• 5 new djembe patterns — dununba, tiriba, yankadi, djansa, mendiani

• 3 new djembe fills — djembe call, djembe roll, djembe break (30 fills total)

• Cross-choke drum damping — striking one sound fades out related sounds (djembe, hi-hats, cajón, doumbek)

• Improved djembe slap — dry goatskin pop instead of snare-like noise

0.37.0

• 5 new djembe patterns — dununba, tiriba, yankadi, djansa, mendiani

• 3 new djembe fills — djembe call, djembe roll, djembe break (30 fills total)

• Cross-choke drum damping — striking one sound on a hand drum fades out the ring of related sounds (djembe slap kills bass resonance, closed hat chokes open hat, cajón slap dampens bass, doumbek tek dampens dum)

• Improved djembe slap — dry, high-pitched goatskin pop instead of snare-like noise rattle

0.36.6

• 6 new drum fills — 3 cajón (flam, rumble, breakdown) and 3 metal (triplet, blast, cascade). 27 fills total.

• Updated drums documentation with fill lists and examples

0.36.5

• Duration arithmetic — Duration.WHOLE * 2, Duration.HALF + Duration.QUARTER, division, and reverse multiply all work now (previously raised TypeError)

0.36.3

• Part.hold() — polyphonic overlap on a single part. Add notes without advancing the beat position so they play simultaneously. Enables: piano sustain, sitar drone under melody, guitar strum texture.

• Strum uses hold() — leading string plays simultaneously with chord, no more timing gaps or choppiness

• Improved songs 1-16: humanize, velocity dynamics, reverb, saxophone for blues

• Ctrl-C handling — clean stop on all playback functions

• REPL updates — strum, roll, bend, temperament, reference commands

• Song #28 Descent (generative), #29 Pop Rock, #30 Sitar Drone

• 862 tests

0.36.1

• 7 new instrument synths: pedal steel guitar, theremin, kalimba/thumb piano, steel drum/pan, accordion (musette reeds), didgeridoo (drone + shifting formants), bagpipes (chanter reed)

• 9 new demo moods in pytheory demo: Theremin Noir, Caribbean, Accordion Waltz, Kalimba Dreams, Outback Drone, Highland, Nashville Tears, Tabla Fusion

• Improved existing songs with dedicated instrument synths

• 41 synth waveforms, 26+ songs, 21 demo moods

0.36.0

• Banjo synth — steel strings on drum-head body, nasal twang, fast decay with membrane resonance

• Mandolin synth — paired steel strings (natural chorus from doubled courses), bright body resonance

• Ukulele synth — nylon strings, small mid-heavy body, shorter sustain than guitar

• Cajón drums — bass (woody box thump), slap (snare wire buzz), tap (ghost note). 3 patterns: cajon, cajon rumba, cajon folk

• Vocal/formant synth — LF glottal model, 5 Peterson & Barney formant peaks, jitter/shimmer, consonant onsets, per-note lyrics. Presets: vocal, choir

• Granular synthesis — grain cloud engine with scatter, pitch variation, Hanning windows. Presets: granular_pad, granular_texture

• Strum sweep — subtle grace notes before chord hit for natural strum feel on all fretboard instruments

• Mandola preset, 34 synth waveforms, 26 songs

0.35.0

• 8.5x faster import — dropped pytuning/sympy, lazy-load scipy. import pytheory now takes ~50ms instead of ~480ms (#44)

• Proper shruti JI ratios — 22 positions with 5-limit just intonation (pure 3/2 fifths, 5/4 thirds), not 22-TET approximation

• Arabic maqam JI ratios — Zalzalian 11-limit ratios. Mi↓ (the Rast third) is exactly 27/22 from Do

• B#/Cb octave boundary fix — B#4 = C5, Cb4 = B3 (#45)

• Int tone names — Tone(0, system=TET(22)) works alongside strings. Wrapping: Tone(22) → tone 0, octave+1. System.tone() convenience.

• Timpani synth — inharmonic membrane modes, felt mallet, copper kettle resonance, cathedral reverb

• Saxophone synth — conical bore, reed buzz, brass body warmth. 4 presets: saxophone, alto_sax, tenor_sax, bari_sax

• Part.roll() — rapid repeated notes with velocity ramp for crescendo/ decrescendo rolls on any instrument

• Vibrato tuning — all instruments reduced to 0.001 depth for cleaner ensemble sound

• Granular synthesis — grain cloud engine with scatter, pitch variation, and Hanning-windowed grains. Two presets: granular_pad, granular_texture.

• 30 synth waveforms, 838 tests

0.34.0

• 16 dedicated instrument synths — physical modeling and specialized synthesis for: piano (hammer + steel strings + soundboard), bass guitar (thick KS + pickup), flute (breath + tube resonance), trumpet (lip buzz

  • bell), clarinet (odd harmonics + reed), oboe (double reed + conical bore), marimba (inharmonic bar modes), harpsichord (quill pluck), cello (deep bowed + body), harp (soft pluck + soundboard bloom), upright bass (pizzicato + wooden body), acoustic guitar (KS + body resonance), electric guitar (KS + pickup comb filter), sitar (jawari

  • chikari), plus organ and bowed strings

• Speaker cabinet simulation — tames distorted guitar fizz

• Guitar strumming — Part.strum("Am") with fretboard lookup

• Analog oscillator drift — subtle per-note pitch wobble on synth presets

• World percussion: dhol, dholak, mridangam, djembe, metal kit with 22 new drum patterns

• Piano improvements: brightness scales with pitch, two-stage decay, hammer impact with felt character

• Vibrato tuning: reduced across flute, oboe, trumpet, cello for smoother ensemble sound

• 27 synth waveforms, 10 envelopes, 40+ instrument presets, 80+ drum patterns

0.33.1

• Electric guitar synth — Karplus-Strong with magnetic pickup comb filter simulation (single-coil honk, proper sustain)

• Speaker cabinet simulation — steep rolloff above 4-5kHz with presence bump. Makes distorted guitar sound warm instead of fizzy.

• 6 guitar presets: electric_guitar, clean_guitar, crunch_guitar, distorted_guitar, orange_crunch, metal_guitar — all with proper cab sim

• Sitar synth — Karplus-Strong with jawari bridge buzz, chikari sympathetic strings, variable damping

• Guitar strumming — Part.strum("Am", Duration.HALF) with fretboard fingering lookup, down/up direction, adjustable strum speed

• World drums: dhol (bhangra, chaal), dholak (qawwali, folk), mridangam (adi talam, korvai), djembe (standard, kuku, soli) — all with bandpass-filtered membrane noise for realistic drum head sound

• Metal drum kit — clicky kick, bright snare, tight hats with 4 patterns (double kick, metal blast, metal groove, metal gallop)

• 15 synth waveforms, 10 envelopes, 40+ instrument presets

0.33.0

• Non-12-TET support — TET(n) factory creates any equal temperament

• 11 microtonal systems:

  • "shruti" (22-TET Indian, 10 thaats with proper shruti intervals)

  • "maqam" (24-TET Arabic, quarter-tone Rast/Bayati/Hijaz + 7 more)

  • "slendro" (5-TET gamelan), "pelog" (9-TET gamelan with 3 pathet)

  • "thai" (7-TET, 171 cents/step)

  • "makam" (53-TET Turkish Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek, 9 makams)

  • "carnatic" (72-TET, 10 melakartas)

  • "19-tet", "31-tet" (historical Western)

  • "bohlen-pierce" (13 divisions of the tritave 3:1 — non-octave!)

• Just intonation — temperament="just" for pure 5-limit ratios

• Historical pitch — Score(reference_pitch=415.0) for Baroque A=415

• Score(system=, temperament=, reference_pitch=) flows through to all playback

• Per-system c_index and period replace hardcoded constants

• Fixed all hardcoded 12s in tone arithmetic

• Song #22: Greensleeves (Renaissance lute, meantone, A=415)

• 22 new microtonal tests (819 total)

0.32.1

• Tone("X") now raises ValueError immediately instead of silently accepting invalid names (#39)

• Support enharmonic spellings: Cb, Fb, E#, B# resolve correctly (#40)

• Support double sharps (C##, Fx) and double flats (Dbb) via semitone arithmetic (#41)

• Accept unicode music symbols: ♯ ♭ 𝄪 𝄫

0.32.0

• 8 new synth engine features:

  • Filter envelope: per-note lowpass sweep (filter_amount, filter_attack, filter_decay, filter_sustain)

  • Velocity → brightness: harder notes = brighter filter (vel_to_filter)

  • Sub-oscillator: octave-below sine for bass weight (sub_osc)

  • Tremolo: amplitude LFO modulation (tremolo_depth, tremolo_rate)

  • Saturation: even-harmonic tape/tube warmth (saturation)

  • Noise layer: per-note breath/air texture (noise_mix)

  • Phaser: swept allpass filter chain (phaser, phaser_rate)

  • Configurable FM: fm_ratio and fm_index params

• Highpass filter (12 dB/oct biquad) on any part

• 2 new envelopes: bowed (bow attack with sustain), mallet (strike with ringing sustain)

• Improved strings_synth: additive synthesis with body resonance curve, per-harmonic phase randomization, delayed vibrato onset, bow pressure variation

• Instrument preset overhaul: every preset sanity-checked against real instrument behavior

  • Mallet instruments (vibraphone, celesta, music box, glockenspiel, tubular bells) now ring properly

  • Trumpet uses sustaining envelope instead of pluck

  • Woodwinds have breath noise, brass has velocity brightness

  • Bass instruments have sub-oscillators, synth presets have filter envelopes

  • Piano has velocity-to-brightness and subtle hammer noise

• Signal chain: saturation → tremolo → distortion → chorus → phaser → highpass → lowpass → delay → reverb

• Song #21: Cinematic Showcase (Orchestral)

0.31.0

• 3 new synth engines: Karplus-Strong pluck, Hammond organ, string ensemble with body formants

• 38 instrument presets: score.part("lead", instrument="violin")

• Keys, strings, woodwinds, brass, plucked, synth, and mallet categories

• 13 total synth waveforms

0.30.0

• Drums are a real Part — same effects pipeline as any voice

• score.drums("rock", split=True) splits kit into kick/snare/hats/toms/cymbals/percussion Parts

• Each split Part gets independent effects (reverb on snare, LP on hats, etc.)

• set_drum_effects() applies to all drum Parts (split or not)

• Sidechain triggers on kick only — hats and snare don’t duck the pad

• MIDI import via Score.from_midi(path)

0.29.3

• Drums are now a real Part — same effects pipeline as any other voice, zero code duplication

• score.parts["drums"] is a standard Part with reverb, delay, lowpass, etc.

• set_drum_effects() is sugar over the Part’s attributes

0.29.2

• Add score.set_drum_effects() — reverb, delay, lowpass, distortion, chorus on the drum bus

• Same effects engine as parts, zero code duplication

0.29.1

• Rename song.py → songs.py

• Polish all 20 example songs with stereo, convolution reverb, humanize, detune, sidechain

0.29.0

• Add Score.from_midi(path) — import any Standard MIDI File into a Score

• Minimal zero-dependency MIDI parser (Type 0 and Type 1)

• Each channel becomes a named Part, channel 10 becomes drum hits

• Tempo, time signature, velocities, and note durations preserved

• Roundtrip: save_midi → from_midi works

0.28.3

• Rewrite pytheory demo — 8 moods with stereo, effects, humanize, convolution reverb, sidechain

• Added Dub and Temple moods

0.28.2

• Lower drum_humanize default to 0.15 — tighter, more professional feel

0.28.1

• Humanize drum hits — random timing jitter and velocity variation (default 0.3)

• Control via Score(drum_humanize=0.5) — 0.0 = quantized, 0.3 = natural, 0.5+ = loose

0.28.0

• Add figured bass notation: Chord.figured_bass and Chord.analyze_figured() for classical inversion symbols

• Add pitch class set theory: pitch_classes, normal_form, prime_form, forte_number on Chord

• Add Scale.recommend() — ranked scale suggestions for a set of notes

• Forte number catalog covers all trichords and tetrachords

0.27.1

• Tab completion in REPL — context-aware for commands, drum presets, synths, envelopes, chords, notes, systems

0.27.0

• Rewrite all 15 drum sounds for higher quality (inharmonic partials, proper transients, multi-mode resonance, saturation)

• 19 example songs including Dance Party at the Reitz House

0.26.3

• Stereo drum panning — each sound placed in the stereo field (hat right, crash left, toms spread, kick/snare center)

• Stereo convolution reverb — different IR per L/R channel for all 7 presets

• 2 new songs: Neon Grid (stereo acid), Glass and Silk (sine+triangle waltz)

0.26.2

• Stereo convolution reverb — different IR per L/R channel for all 7 presets

• Both algorithmic and convolution reverbs now output true stereo

0.26.1

• Stereo reverb — L and R channels get different early reflection patterns for natural width

• Effects chain now skips mono reverb in favor of stereo reverb in the mixer

0.26.0

• Stereo output — render_score() now returns stereo (N, 2) arrays

• Add pan parameter: -1.0 (left) to 1.0 (right), constant-power panning

• Add spread parameter: detuned oscillators spread across L/R channels

• Master bus compressor runs per-channel for stereo

• All playback functions handle stereo natively

0.25.7

• Add detune parameter — ±cents oscillator spread on any synth (3 oscillators per note)

• Swing now applies to drum hits (offbeats shift with the groove)

• Improved snare and hi-hat sounds (metallic harmonics, faster attack)

0.25.6

• Swing now applies to drum hits — offbeats shift with the groove, everything locks into the same pocket

• Improved snare: 220Hz body, transient click, tanh saturation

• Improved hi-hats: metallic harmonics (6k+8.5k+12k Hz), crisper attack, shorter decay

0.25.5

• Improved snare: 220Hz body, transient click, tanh saturation — snappier and more present

• Improved hi-hats: metallic harmonics (6k+8.5k+12k Hz), shorter decay, crisper attack

0.25.4

• Add master bus compressor/limiter — louder, punchier, more cohesive mixes

• Feed-forward compression with configurable threshold, ratio, attack, release

• Makeup gain restores loudness after compression

• Brick-wall limiter at 0.95 prevents clipping

• Replaces simple normalization in render_score()

0.25.3

• Add pytheory repl — interactive music theory scratchpad and composition tool

• Context-aware prompt shows key, bpm, drums, active part + effects

• Theory commands: key, chords, modes, scales, circle, interval, identify, system

• Composition: drums, part, add, rest, arp, prog, effects, automation, LFO

• Guitar: fingering, scale diagram

• 6 musical systems with correct default tonics

• REPL guide documentation

0.25.1

• Add pytheory demo CLI command — plays a randomly generated track, different every time

• Rewrite README to showcase the full feature set (composition, effects, drums, MIDI export)

0.25.0

• Add sidechain compression — kick ducks pad/bass for the classic EDM pump effect

• Add song structure: score.section("verse"), score.section("chorus"), score.repeat("verse")

• Punchier kick drum: 808-style with faster pitch sweep (200→45Hz), sub thump, and soft saturation

• Section repeat copies all part notes, drum hits, and automation with proper offset

0.24.1

• Add humanize parameter on Parts — random micro-timing and velocity variation

• Makes programmed parts feel like a real player (0.1 = subtle, 0.3 = natural, 0.5+ = loose)

0.24.0

• Add per-note velocity: lead.add("C5", Duration.QUARTER, velocity=90) — dynamics, accents, ghost notes

• Add swing/groove: Score("4/4", bpm=120, swing=0.5) — shuffles every other note for human feel

• Add tempo changes mid-song: score.set_tempo(140) — accelerando, ritardando, tempo drops

• Add Part.fade_in(bars) and Part.fade_out(bars) — volume envelopes over sections

• Arpeggiator supports velocity parameter

• Per-part swing override (set independently from score swing)

• Tempo map engine: beat-to-sample conversion handles variable BPM throughout a score

0.23.0

• Add convolution reverb with 7 synthetic impulse responses: Taj Mahal, cathedral, plate, spring, cave, parking garage, canyon

• Each IR models real acoustic properties: early reflections, frequency-dependent absorption, diffusion density, and modulation

• FFT-based convolution via scipy.signal.fftconvolve for fast processing even with long tails (12s Taj Mahal)

• Select via reverb_type parameter on Score.part() — drop-in alongside existing algorithmic reverb

• IR cache for zero-cost reuse across parts

• Automatable via Part.set(reverb_type="cathedral") mid-song

0.22.0

• Add Part.lfo() for automated parameter modulation (filter sweeps, tremolo, auto-wah)

• 4 LFO shapes: sine, triangle, saw, square

• Configurable rate (cycles per bar), min/max range, duration, and resolution

• Stack multiple LFOs on different parameters for complex modulation

0.21.0

• Add Part.set() for mid-song effect automation (filter sweeps, reverb swells, distortion kicks)

• Add chorus effect (LFO-modulated delay, Juno-style)

• Renderer segments audio at automation points for per-section effect processing

• Updated effect chain: distortion → chorus → lowpass → delay → reverb

• Document automation, chorus, and updated signal chain

0.20.0

• Add Part.arpeggio() — arpeggiator with up/down/updown/downup/random patterns, octave spanning

• Fix Roman numeral parser to handle flat/sharp degree prefixes (bVI, bVII, bIII, #IV)

• Add song_showoff.py — generative composition that’s different every time, uses every feature

• 4 mood palettes (dark, bright, ethereal, aggressive) with matched keys, progressions, drums, and effects

0.19.1

• Add Part.arpeggio() — arpeggiator with up/down/updown/downup/random patterns, octave spanning, and division control

• Arpeggiator chains with legato + glide for classic acid/trance sequencer sound

• Rename rhythm docs to “Sequencing: Rhythm and Scores”

• Document arpeggiator, legato, and glide in rhythm guide

0.19.0

• Add legato mode for parts — continuous waveform without retriggering envelope per note

• Add glide/portamento — smooth pitch slides between consecutive notes (303-style)

• Legato renders entire phrase as one oscillator with phase-accumulating frequency changes

• Glide uses exponential interpolation for perceptually linear pitch slides

0.18.1

• Add distortion effect (tanh soft-clip waveshaping) with drive and mix controls

• 3 new example songs: Dub Delay Madness (separate delay snare), Liquid DnB (174bpm), Late Night Texts (Drake-style trap)

• 16 total songs in the song player

0.18.0

• Add per-part audio effects: reverb, delay, and lowpass filter

• Reverb: Schroeder algorithm with configurable mix and decay

• Delay: tempo-synced echoes with feedback control

• Lowpass: 12 dB/octave biquad filter with resonance (Q) control

• All effects set at part creation: score.part("lead", reverb=0.3, delay=0.25, lowpass=2000, lowpass_q=1.5)

• Effects applied per-part before mixing for independent processing

0.17.0

• Add 10 new groove presets: country, ska, dub, jungle, techno, gospel, swing, bolero, tango, flamenco (58 total)

• Add 10 new fill presets: reggae, afrobeat, bossa nova, house, trap, hip hop, disco, cumbia, highlife, second line (21 total)

• Every major genre family now has matching groove + fill presets

0.16.0

• Add drum fill system with 11 genre-specific presets: rock, rock crash, jazz, jazz brush, salsa, samba, funk, metal, blast, buildup, breakdown

• Pattern.fill("rock") returns a 1-bar fill pattern

• Score.fill("rock") inserts a fill at the current position

• Score.drums("rock", repeats=8, fill="rock", fill_every=4) auto-fills every Nth bar

• Without fill_every, fill replaces only the last bar

0.15.1

• Add Synth.PWM_SLOW and Synth.PWM_FAST — pulse width modulation with LFO sweep (Juno-style pads)

• Add Score.drums() shorthand for score.add_pattern(Pattern.preset(...), repeats=...)

• Update all docs to use score.drums() syntax and document all 10 synth waveforms

0.15.0

• Add 5 new synth waveforms: Synth.SQUARE, Synth.PULSE, Synth.FM, Synth.NOISE, Synth.SUPERSAW

• Square wave: classic chiptune / 8-bit sound (odd harmonics at 1/n)

• Pulse wave: variable duty cycle for NES-style timbres (25%, 12.5%)

• FM synthesis: DX7-style frequency modulation (electric piano, bells, brass, metallic)

• Noise: white noise for percussion textures and effects

• Supersaw: 7 detuned saw oscillators for trance/EDM pads

• All 8 synths available in both the API (Synth.FM) and Part strings (synth="fm")

• CLI play command supports all 8 waveforms

0.14.0

• Add Part class for multi-voice Score arrangements (lead, bass, pads, etc.)

• Score.part() creates named parts with independent synth, envelope, and volume

• Score.add_pattern() for attaching drum patterns

• render_score() exported for headless buffer rendering

• Parts accept raw float beat values alongside Duration enums

• All 10 example songs rewritten with drums + chords + lead + bass parts

0.13.1

• Fix drum pattern repeats: hits now correctly offset across cycles instead of piling up on the first bar

0.13.0

• Add drum synthesizer with 27 individual instrument voices (kick, snare, hat, conga, timbale, etc.)

• Add play_pattern() for playing drum patterns through the speakers

• Add play_score() for playing mixed drum patterns + chord progressions together

• Every DrumSound has a dedicated synthesis algorithm (pitch sweeps, noise bursts, membrane resonance, metallic rings)

0.12.0

• Add rhythm module: Duration, TimeSignature, Note, Rest, Score

• Duration enum with 8 note lengths (whole through sixteenth, dotted, triplet)

• TimeSignature with string parsing (“4/4”, “3/4”, “6/8”, “12/8”) and beats_per_measure

• Score class with fluent .add() / .rest() chaining, measure counting, and save_midi() export

• Measure-aware MIDI export with proper time signature and tempo meta events

• Add DrumSound enum with 27 General MIDI percussion sounds

• Add Pattern class with 48 drum pattern presets covering:

  • Rock/Pop: rock, half time, double time, disco, motown, train beat

  • Jazz: jazz, bebop, shuffle, linear, paradiddle

  • Latin: salsa, bossa nova, samba, cumbia, merengue, baiao, maracatu

  • Afro-Cuban: son clave 3-2/2-3, rumba clave 3-2/2-3, cascara, guaguanco, mozambique, nanigo, bembe, 6/8 afro-cuban, tresillo, habanera

  • African: afrobeat, highlife

  • Caribbean: reggae, dancehall

  • Electronic: house, trap, drum and bass, breakbeat

  • Metal/Punk: metal, blast beat, punk

  • Other: funk, hip hop, bo diddley, second line, new orleans, waltz, 12/8 blues

• Pattern.to_score() renders drum patterns to Score for MIDI export

0.11.0

• Add drop voicings: Chord.close_voicing(), Chord.open_voicing(), Chord.drop2(), Chord.drop3()

• Add Key.modulation_path(target) for chord-by-chord modulation suggestions via pivot chords

• Add Scale.degree_name(n) returning traditional names (tonic, dominant, leading tone, etc.)

• Add Chord.extensions() to suggest available 9th/11th/13th extensions

• Add Tone.solfege property for fixed-Do solfege syllables (Do, Re, Mi, Fi, etc.)

• Add CLI identify command for full chord analysis from a symbol

• Add CLI midi command for exporting progressions to Standard MIDI Files

• Expand documentation: solfege, Helmholtz, cents, slash chords, drop voicings, chord extensions, borrowed chord analysis, ADSR envelopes, MIDI export, new CLI commands

0.10.0

• Add Scale.fitness() to score how well a set of notes fits a scale (0.0–1.0)

• Add Key.suggest_next(chord) for chord progression suggestions based on functional harmony

• Add Tone.helmholtz and Tone.scientific properties for alternate pitch notation

• Add Chord.slash(bass) and Chord.slash_name for slash chord notation (C/G, Am/E)

• Add save_midi() for exporting tones, chords, and progressions as Standard MIDI Files

• Add chord tone highlighting in Fretboard.scale_diagram() — chord tones uppercase, passing tones lowercase

• Extend Chord.analyze() to recognize borrowed chords (bVI, bVII, bIII, etc.)

0.9.0

• Add ADSR envelope system with 8 presets: Envelope.PIANO, ORGAN, PLUCK, PAD, STRINGS, BELL, STACCATO, NONE

• Add Chord.from_symbol() parser — handles any standard chord symbol (e.g. “F#m7b5”, “Bbmaj9”, “Gsus4”) without lookup tables

• Add Key.pivot_chords(target) for finding modulation pivot chords between two keys

• Add Scale.parallel_modes() to show all modes sharing the same notes (C major → D dorian, E phrygian, etc.)

• Add Tone.cents_difference(other) for measuring fine pitch differences in cents

• Add --envelope flag to CLI play command

• CLI play command now uses Chord.from_symbol() for broader chord parsing

• Replace hardcoded c_index = 3 with named C_INDEX constant throughout

0.8.3

• Add Chord.symbol property for standard shorthand notation (Cmaj7, Dm, G7, m7b5, etc.)

• Add Key.common_progressions() to realize all named progressions in a key

• Add CLI commands: modes, circle, progressions

0.8.2

• Use flat spellings in CHARTS acceptable_tone_names (e.g. Bbm now shows Bb/Db/F instead of A#/C#/F)

0.8.1

• Use musically correct flat spellings in flat keys (F major gives Bb, not A#)

0.8.0

• Add Fretboard.scale_diagram() for visual scale layouts on any instrument

• Add play_progression() for sequential chord playback with gaps

• Add cookbook documentation page with practical recipes

• Curated guitar fingering overrides for common open chords

• Fingering memoization with bounded cache, barre detection, 4-fret span constraint

• API ergonomics: Fretboard.chord(), convenience constructors, slow test markers

0.7.0

• Add Fretboard.chord() method for named chord lookups

• Improve fingering algorithm with better voicing selection

• Rewrite all documentation in REPL style with verified output

0.6.1

• Fix sawtooth and triangle wave generation

• Add WAV export via save()

• Add CLI tests and play module tests

• Skip play module tests when PortAudio is not available

0.6.0

• Support flat note names (Db, Bb, Eb, etc.) throughout the system

• Add Fingering class for labeled chord fingerings

• Add pytheory play CLI command for playing notes and chords

• Add 12 example scripts showcasing pytheory features

• Expand documentation with undocumented features and CLI guide

0.4.1

• Add --temperament flag to CLI tone command

• Add Symbolic Pitch section to tones docs

0.4.0

• Add key signatures, scale diagrams, chord building, and progression analysis

• Add CLI tool (pytheory tone, pytheory chord, pytheory key, etc.)

• Add Jupyter notebook tutorial

• Improve test coverage from 93% to 97% (476 tests)

• Add type hints, docstrings, and property caching throughout

0.3.2

• Add type hints and docstrings throughout the library

0.3.1

• Add capo support, chord merging (+), tritone substitution

• Add secondary dominants, Nashville number system

• Add more common progressions (blues, jazz, flamenco, modal)

0.3.0

• Add interval naming (Tone.interval_to())

• Add MIDI conversion (Tone.midi, Tone.from_midi())

• Add Tone.from_frequency(), Tone.transpose()

• Add Chord.root, Chord.quality properties

• Add Chord.from_name(), Chord.from_intervals(), Chord.from_midi_message()

• Add Interval constants (MINOR_THIRD, PERFECT_FIFTH, etc.)

• Add PROGRESSIONS dict with common named progressions

• Add Tone.enharmonic property

• Add inversions, harmonize, and Roman numeral progressions

• Add Key class with detection, signatures, relative/parallel keys

• Add Scale.detect() and Chord.from_tones() convenience constructors

• Add 25 instrument presets (mandolin family, violin family, banjo, harp, world instruments, keyboard)

• Add Tone.circle_of_fifths() and Tone.circle_of_fourths()

• Add chord identification (17 types), voice leading, tension scoring

• Add beat frequencies, Plomp-Levelt dissonance model, harmony scoring

0.2.0

• Add Fretboard class for guitar fretboards

• Add play() function with sine, sawtooth, and triangle wave synthesis

• Add chord harmony and dissonance calculations

• Modernize project structure (pyproject.toml, sounddevice)

0.1.0

• Initial release

• Western 12-tone system with tones, scales, and basic chord support

• Temperament support (equal, Pythagorean, meantone)

• Indian (Hindustani), Arabic, Japanese, Blues, and Gamelan systems