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Pitch-class space

A twelve-bin distribution of pitch-class weights. It combines matching pitches across octaves while retaining their counts.

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Count pitch classes across octaves

Add notes to a small sample. Repeated notes add weight. A note space keeps 128 MIDI bins; folding it combines octaves into twelve pitch-class bins. Measuring every note from the lowest one gives a rootless point space. Transposition moves the note and pitch-class weights while leaving relative points unchanged.

Click a note to add another occurrence. Up to twelve events can be loaded in the player.

Transpose0 st

Twelve pitch-class bins

C3
Db0
D0
Eb0
E1
F0
Gb0
G1
Ab0
A0
Bb0
B0

Occupied MIDI bins

C3 · 48
1
C4 · 60
2
E4 · 64
1
G4 · 67
1

Source MIDI events

48,60,60,64,67

Sparse note space

48:1,60:2,64:1,67:1

PC-space counts

3,0,0,0,1,0,0,1,0,0,0,0

Normalized PC weights

0.60,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.20,0.00,0.00,0.20,0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00

A set records presence only; these spaces preserve occurrence counts. Normalized values are derived from the same counts.

Written forms

Ways to write this concept

Each notation describes the same underlying object. Load a playable example to hear one MIDI realization in the Code Sequencer.

histogram

Frequency distribution across 12 pitch classes

  • 5,0,2,0,8,3,0,12,0,1,0,4
  • 10,2,3,1,5,7,0,9,2,4,1,6

normalized

Normalized distribution (sums to 1)

  • 0.14,0,0.06,0,0.23,0.09,0,0.34,0,0.03,0,0.11
  • 0.2,0.04,0.06,0.02,0.1,0.14,0,0.18,0.04,0.08,0.02,0.12

scale name

A named space with predefined distributions, based on average distribution of given scales

  • c-major
  • d-dorian

vector

Feature vector for pitch class distribution

  • [0.14,0,0.06,0,0.23,0.09,0,0.34,0,0.03,0,0.11]
Choose Load beside a convertible example to open its live player. Some catalog formats describe analysis or a display label and have no note realization yet.
Sources and playback

Concept descriptions and examples were adapted from Codex Music Mono’s typed catalog and concept examples. The Code Sequencer plays MIDI through a connected instrument; Symbolic does not synthesize sound.