Velato is a programming language, created by Daniel Temkin in 2009, which uses MIDI files as source code: the pattern of notes determines commands. Velato offers an unusual challenge to programmer-musicians: to compose a musical piece that, in addition to expressing their aims musically, fills the constraints necessary to compile to a working Velato program. Each song has a secret message: the program it determines when compiled as Velato.

Outside Links

Velato is currently Windows-only, and requires the .NET Framework 3.5 to run.

This is freeware, do whatever you want with it; just don't sell it.

This download includes the compiler itself, and Stephen Toub's MIDI library, used to read the .mid files.


Intro

Velato is a programming language which uses MIDI files as source code. Commands are determined by the intervals between notes.

Velato commands

All commands in Velato are expressed strictly by the pitch and order of notes. With the exception of variable names (more on this below), only the interval between notes is relevant, rather than the pitch itself.The range of pitches is the alphabet in which Velato commands are written. This means that time signature, key signature, measures, rests, repeat marks, even note durations, are ignored by the code. If two notes are played as a chord, with no delay between the sounding of the notes, the one which appears first in the MIDI file is interpreted first, as if they had not been played simultaneously.The commands and expressions themselves are determined by intervals from a command root note, which is the first note of the song. Therefore, a valid Velato program in one key can be translated to any other key, with no effect on the program. To allow versatility in Velato composition, the key can also be changed between any two commands within the song (using the "change command root" command). This allows the programmer to choose a starting pitch that better fits the flow of the song.Also, additional tracks can be added to the MIDI file, which will be ignored by the compiler. This can allow any Velato program to be accompanied, without affecting the program.For example: "C A G E D D", in the key of C, prints the variable D to the screen. In the key of G, the same command would be "G E D B A D". The actual definition of the print command are the set of intervals: Root (in the first case C), Major 6th (from root), Perfect 5th. The remaining three notes determine that it's variable D to print to the screen. Note that we did not transpose the final D, which is the name of the variable. For commands and expressions (except variables), octave is ignored, so an A in any octave has the same meaning. Also, notes are determined by pitch, not the actual written note, so G# and Ab are equivalent.As mentioned above, variables are an exception. They are specific to octave and are not determined by interval; so command root changes do not affect them. This allows the program to have as many variables as there are notes allowed in the MIDI specification. This also makes programs less confusing to follow (having a different pitch for the same variable throughout a song would be confusing).

Commands

The Command Root Note

Expressions

Numbers

Variables

Statements

Functions

Other missing features

The following blog post will list all Velato commands.


Language Rules

Here is the complete list of commands currently implemented in Velato. For an introduction to the language, see the intro.

List of Commands

All statements start with the command root, followed by one of the following commands. Intervals are from the currant command root note.

command second note third note followed by...
Change Root Note Major 2nd New root note
Let (assignment) Minor 3rd Variable as single note, then expression
Declare variable Minor 6th Variable as single note, then type
Blocks Major 3rd
While Major 3rd
End While Perfect 4th
If Perfect 5th
Else Major 6th
End If Major 7th
Special Commands Major 6th
Print to screen Perfect 5th Expression to print

List of Other Expressions

If an operation is expecting an expression, the list that follows will determine what expression is interpreted. Expressions do not start with the command root note, but all intervals are still determined from it.Expressions don't differentiate between perfect/diminished, major/minor, so that they can be diatonic to the scale used in the rest of the command. For example, if you're in C, this helps you avoid having a progression like C E C Eb, which could sound random or unmusical, depending on context. The programmer can pick which of the two intervals fits the song better.

expression first note second note third note followed by...
value 3rd (maj/min)
variable 2nd Name of varaible (since note)
pos. (+) int 5th Single note for each digit, ending with Perfect 5th to mark end of number
neg. (-) int 3rd Single note for each digit, ending with Perfect 5th to mark end of number
char 4th Char as ASCII int: single note for each digit, ending with Perfect 5th to mark end of number
pos. (+) double 6th Single note for each digit, first Perfect 5th to mark decimal point, second Perfect 5th marking end of number
neg. (-) double 7th Single note for each digit, first Perfect 5th to mark decimal point, second Perfect 5th marking end of number
conditional 2nd
= 2nd
> 3rd
< 4th
NOT 5th (also used for NOT < (indicating greater than or equal to) and NOT =
AND 6th
OR 7th
procedural 6th
grouping 6th
( 6th
) 2nd
math operation 5th
simple 5th
+ 3rd
- 2nd
* 5th
/ 4th
% (mod) 6th
exponential / other 7th
power 2nd
log 3rd

The only interval without a choice is a 4th. There is no augmented 4th, a tritone is always interpreted as a diminished 5th.Each number of half-steps is interpreted as a unique interval -- so that there are no enharmonic intervals that may lead to ambigous commands. If an expression requires a 4th, only the Perfect 4th can be used, not an augmented 4th (tritone), which is considered a Diminished 5th in Velato. If a 3rd is required, either the Minor 3rd or Major 3rd can be used.This is the interval list used by Velato:

2nd Minor 2nd 1 half-step
2nd Major 2nd 2 half-steps
3rd Minor 3rd 3 half-steps
3rd Major 3rd 4 half-steps
4th Perfect 4th 5 half-steps
5th Diminished 5th 6 half-steps
5th Perfect 5th 7 half-steps
6th Minor 6th 8 half-steps
6th Major 6th 9 half-steps
7th Minor 7th 10 half-steps
7th Major 7th 11 half-steps

Types:

When a type needs to indicated (such as in a variable declaration), this table shows how they are indicated:

type note
int 2nd
char 3rd
double 4th

Numbers:

Individual digits in a number are determined by half-steps from the command root, excluding the Perfect 5th. In C, these are the numbers tied to each note:

c# d d# e f f# g g# a a# b
0 1 2 3 4 5 - 6 7 8 9

Characters:

All characters are entered by their ASCII int. You can find a table of ASCII values here.That's pretty much it. There are a few commands/expressions not yet implemented in Velato -- when they become available, I'll add them to this post.The next post will be a walk-through of how to write programs in Velato.