Alda Cheat Sheet

Alda writes multi-part scores as plain text you can play from the terminal. Declare an instrument, then write notes, octaves, durations and attributes.

Instruments & notes

piano:Declare (or switch to) an instrument

c d e f g a bNote names

o4Set the octave to 4

> <Octave up / down

c+ c-C sharp / C flat

Durations & rhythm

c4 d8 e2Quarter, eighth, half notes

c4.Dotted note

c1~1Tie across two whole notes

r4A quarter rest

Chords & voices

c/e/gA chord (notes joined with /)

V1: … V2: …Independent voices

@markerJump to a named marker

Attributes

(tempo! 140)Set the tempo (global with !)

(vol 80)Volume 0–100

(quant 90)Note length as a % (articulation)

(pan 25)Stereo pan 0–100

Repeats

[c d e]*4Repeat the bracketed notes four times

c d e | f g aBar lines (optional, for readability)

Alda — Text-based music composition language. · Alda in the tool directory →

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