Rhythm Trees

Rhythmic objects – and polyphonic objects – integrate a rhythmic parameter, which can be programmed by the user via rhythm trees .

A rhythm tree is a list representing a rhythmic structure. This list is organized hierarchically in sub lists , just as time is organized in measures, time signatures, pulses and rhythmic elements in the traditional notation.

Hence, the expression form of rhythm trees is crucially different from that of onsets and offsets. It can be exacting and not very "ergonomic", from a musician's point of view : rhythm trees can be long, with a great number of parenthesis and sub lists nested within each others.

This section provides the syntactic and semantic principles that rule rhythm trees. We also advise the user to follow the rhythm trees tutorial provided with the OM application.