Codings for rhythm generation

Abstract

In this work, we present a brief review of strategies to code rhythms and point to their possibilities and limitations in a unified way. We start by giving an overview of the representation (coding) of rhythms and their possible uses. Then we present different methods to analyse and generate rhythm patterns, which can be easily read by humans, through a simple algorithm. We also aim to provide a general evaluation of their pros and cons regarding their use in composition and analysis. In a more abstract approach, we define Rhythm Spaces as sets of strings of symbols endowed with suitable operations and algorithms that can be applied to generate new and complex rhythm patterns. Our approach can be useful in order to provide suitable code/notation to be used in computer applications in rhythm analysis and composition.