tonal
tonal is a music theory library. Contains functions to manipulate tonal elements of music (note, intervals, chords, scales, modes, keys). It deals with abstractions (not actual music or sound).
tonal is implemented in Typescript and published as a collection of Javascript npm packages.
It uses a functional programing style: all functions are pure, there is no data mutation, and entities are represented by data structures instead of objects.
Example
import { Note, Interval, Scale } from "@tonaljs/tonal";
Note.midi("A4"); // => 60
Note.freq("a4").freq; // => 440
Note.accidentals("c#2"); // => '#'
Note.transpose("C4", "5P"); // => "G4"
Interval.semitones("5P"); // => 7
Interval.distance("C4", "G4"); // => "5P"
Scale.get("C major").notes; // =>["C", "D", "E", "F", "G", "A", "B"];
Install
Install all packages at once:
npm install --save @tonaljs/tonal
Usage
Tonal is compatible with both ES5 and ES6 modules, and browser.
ES6 import:
import { Note, Scale } from "@tonaljs/tonal";
ES5 require:
const { Note, Scale } = require("@tonaljs/tonal");
Browser
You can use the browser version from jsdelivr CDN directly in your html:
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@tonaljs/tonal/browser/tonal.min.js"></script>
<script>
console.log(Tonal.Key.minorKey("Ab"));
</script>
Or if you prefer, grab the minified browser ready version from the repository.
Bundle size
@tonaljs/tonal includes all published modules.
Although the final bundle it is small (~10kb minified and gzipped), you can reduce bundle sizes even more by installing the modules individually, and importing only the functions you need:
npm i @tonaljs/note
import { transpose } from "@tonaljs/note";
transpose("A4", "P5");
Documentation
Generally, you just need to install:
- @tonaljs/tonal: All modules bundled in one package
The API documentation lives inside README.md file of each module
Notes and intervals
- @tonaljs/note: Note operations (simplify, transposeBy )
- @tonaljs/midi: Midi number conversions
- @tonaljs/interval: Interval operations (add, simplify, invert)
- @tonaljs/pitch-notation-abc: Parse ABC notation notes
Scales and chords
- @tonaljs/scale: Scales
- @tonaljs/scale-type: A dictionary of scales
- @tonaljs/chord: Chords
- @tonaljs/chord-type: A dictionary of chords
- @tonaljs/chord-detect: Detect chords from notes
- @tonaljs/pcset: Pitch class sets. Compare note groups.
Keys, chord progressions
- @tonaljs/key: Major and minor keys, it's scales and chords
- @tonaljs/mode: A dictionary of Greek modes (ionian, dorian...)
- @tonaljs/progression: Chord progressions
- @tonaljs/roman-numeral: Parse roman numeral symbols
Time, rhythm
- @tonaljs/time-signature: Parse time signatures
- @tonaljs/duration-value: Note duration values
Utilities
- @tonaljs/core: Core functions (note, interval, transpose and distance)
- @tonaljs/collection: Utility functions to work with collections (range, shuffle, permutations)
- @tonaljs/range: Create note ranges
Contributing
Read contributing document for instructions
Inspiration
This library takes inspiration from other music theory libraries:
- Teoria: https://github.com/saebekassebil/teoria
- Impro-Visor: https://www.cs.hmc.edu/~keller/jazz/improvisor/
- MusicKit: https://github.com/benzguo/MusicKit
- Music21: http://web.mit.edu/music21/doc/index.html
- Sharp11: https://github.com/jsrmath/sharp11
- python-mingus: https://github.com/bspaans/python-mingus
Projects using tonal
Showcase of projects that are using Tonal:
- Solfej by Shayan Javadi
- EarBeater by Morten Vestergaard
- Sonid (play store, apple store) by martijnmichel
- Songcraft by Gabe G'Sell
- React Guitar by 4lejandrito
Thank you all!
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