Gangmax Blog

Alda

Alda is a music programming language for musicians.

Installation

1. Download the latest binary file from [here](https://github.com/alda-lang/alda/releases/latest).

2. Put it to your "/usr/local/bin" directory and run "chmod +x /usr/local/bin/alda".

Done.

Run

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# Start the Alda server.
alda up
# Clone the "https://github.com/alda-lang/alda-core" repo and play an example.
alda play --file alda-core/examples/bach_cello_suite_no_1.alda

An “alda” File Example

down_by_the_salley_gardens.alda
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harmonica:
  c4 d4 e2 | d4 c4 d2 | e4 g4 a1 g2 | > c4 < g4 a2 | g4 e4 d2 | c4 d4 e1.
  c4 d4 e2 | d4 c4 d2 | e4 g4 a1 g2 | > c4 < g4 a2 | g4 e4 d2 | c4 d4 c1.
  g4 b4 > c2 < | b4 g4 a2 | > c4 < a4 b1 g2 | e4 g4 a2 | g4 e4 g4 a4 > c4 d4 e1. <
  g4 b4 > c2 < | b4 g4 a2 | > c4 < a4 b1 g2 | e4 g4 a2 | g4 e4 g4 a4 > c4 d4 c1. <
  c4 d4 e2 | d4 c4 d2 | e4 g4 a1 g2 | > c4 < g4 a2 | g4 e4 d2 | c4 d4 e1.
  c4 d4 e2 | d4 c4 d2 | e4 g4 a1 g2 | > c4 < g4 a2 | g4 e4 d2 | c4 d4 c1.

You can get more details about how to use this language to compose muisc here.

Added on 2020-04-20.

Install the Alda language hightlight plugin for Sublime Text.

From here and here.

Open “Package Control” in “Subline Text”(Shift + Cmd + P) and click “Package Control: Advanced Install Package” and write “Alda”. Install it.

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