The Duration of Notes

You already know notes that last one beat "bd bd bd bd". You also know notes that last half a beat "[hh hh] [hh hh] [hh hh] [hh hh]".

However, there are many more durations. Next, we will discover them all.

The whole note

The whole note is the longest note value, lasting 4 beats. You can think of it as lasting 4 clock ticks.

In Strudel, if we write a single note, it will last for the entire cycle. Since we always divide our cycle into 4 pulses, we can call the note that lasts for the entire cycle a whole note.

Let's simulate the ticks of a clock, to hear how it lasts 4 pulses.

The first part of the new instruction shouldn't have much mystery. It simply plays 4 sounds called 'casio' s("casio casio casio casio")'. The second part .gain("0.2")` is to control the volume of the tick so it doesn't sound too loud.

Volume

With gain() we can control the volume of our notes. For example, if we return to our basic beat, we will hear all the sounds at the same volume:

If we wanted to lower the volume of the hi-hat, we could set it to:

The value 1 would be the default volume, the value 0.2 would be a much lower volume, and the volume 0 would be silent.

We can also change the volume for each beat:

Or even to each note:

The half note

Continuing with musical figures, the half note lasts 2 beats, you can think of it as lasting 2 ticks of a clock. Therefore, in a cycle/bar of 4 beats, a half note occupies half of the cycle. To divide a cycle in Strudel into 2, we need to write 2 notes.

As you can see, two half notes last the same as one whole note: 4 beats in total.

The Eighth Notes

Now let's move on to an even shorter note. The quarter note lasts exactly 1 beat, you can think of it as lasting a tick of a clock. Therefore, in a measure of 4 beats, the quarter note takes up a quarter of the cycle.

Similarly, four quarter notes last the same as one whole note or two half notes: 4 beats in total.

Eighth Notes

Continuing with this progression, we have the eighth notes. An eighth note lasts half a beat; you can think of it as fitting 2 into a tick of a clock.

Just like before, eight eighth notes last the same as one whole note, two half notes, or four quarter notes: 4 beats in total. This means that there are 2 eighth notes per beat.

Sixteenth Notes

Finally, we arrive at the fastest note values we will see for now. The sixteenth note lasts for a quarter of a beat. You can think of it as 4 sixteenth notes fitting into one tick of the clock. To write sixteenth notes in Strudel, simply write 4 notes inside the brackets, that is, within 1 beat:

Again, sixteen sixteenth notes last the same as one whole note, two half notes, four quarter notes, or eight eighth notes: 4 beats in total. This means that there are 4 sixteenth notes per beat.

Notice how we have combined stack() and cat() this time. With cat() we have concatenated the whole note, half notes, quarter notes... so that they sound one after another. And with stack we have made our ticks sound at the same time as the cat().

Combine the Notes

We have seen how to mix quarter notes with eighth notes, we simply divide the beat into 2. c4 c4 c4 [c4 c4]. We have 4 beats, the last one divided into 2.

But what if we want to combine a half note and 2 quarter notes? How would you play a note that lasts 2 beats/ticks and 2 notes that last one beat each? We have seen how to play 2 half notes "c4 c4". They are 2 notes that last 2 beats. What would happen if we divide one of those 2 beats into 2, "c4 [c4 c4]"? Each division would last one beat, which is the value of a quarter note.

Now that you understand the different note durations, the next step is to learn about the musical notes themselves. This way, you will be able to create your own melodies. 👉>>