Six original adventure-game tracks, written as plain text and played by a synthesizer running in your browser. Pick a tune, press Play, then open the score and change it.
Play Moonlit Harbor
Click a voice to mute it. Space bar plays and stops.
Score
01-moonlit-harbor.scrim
The Scrimshaw score format
How a score is laid out
A score is a plain text file read from top to bottom: settings, then voices (who plays what), then patterns (blocks of bars), then the arrangement. Every bar is cut into the same number of steps. Each note takes one step plus one per dash, so rhythm is just counting. If a bar doesn't add up, the editor tells you which line and how many steps it found.
Comments start with # at the start of a word, so F#4 is still a note.
# a tiny calypso title Harbour Lights tempo 100 # beats per minute beats 4 # beats in a bar steps 4 # steps per beat: 16 per bar swing 0.12 # nudge every other step late voice lead steeldrum vol=0.9 pan=-0.2 voice chord organ gate=0.45 center=A4 voice bass fretless voice kick kick pattern A lead | A4-- D5-- F5- E5 F5 E5 D5 A4--- | chord | . . [Dm]- . . [Dm]- . . [Dm]- . . [Dm]- | bass | D2-- A2-- D3- C3-- A2-- F2 E2 | kick | x... ..x. x... ..x. | play A # once loop A A+2 # then forever (A+2 = up a tone)
Patterns and arrangement
Write as many lines per voice as you like inside a pattern; they join end to end. pattern A2 from A starts as a copy of A, and any voice you write in A2 replaces A's part. mute bass inside a pattern silences a voice. A tempo, beats, steps or swing line inside a pattern (or steps=4 on its pattern line) changes only that pattern.
play lists patterns to hear once, loop lists the part that repeats, as game music does. B*2 repeats a pattern, A+5 or A-2 transposes it. Drums don't transpose.
Meters
beats 4 + steps 4 is 4/4 in sixteenths. beats 2 + steps 3 is a 6/8 jig. beats 3 + steps 2 is a waltz in eighths. Swing only applies when steps is even; 0.33 gives a triplet shuffle.
Inside a bar
| Write | Means |
|---|---|
D5 F#4 Bb3 | A note, one step long. Octave 4 starts at middle C. |
D5--- | Each dash adds a step, so this lasts four. |
. .... .--- | Silence: each dot or dash is a step. |
- | On its own: keep the last note sounding, even across a bar line. |
C4+E4+G4 | Notes struck together. |
[Dm7] [C/E] | A chord by name, voiced near the voice's center. A slash adds a bass note. |
D5! D5?? | Louder or softer. Stack them for more. |
~A2 | Slide into the note from the previous one. |
% _ = | Whole bar: repeat the previous bar, rest, or hold the last note through it. |
Drum lanes
A voice played by a drum reads one character per step: x hit, X accent, o ghost note, . nothing. Spaces are ignored, so group by beat: x... ..x. x... ..x.
Voice options
vol=0.8 | Level, 0–2 |
pan=-0.3 | Left −1 to right 1 |
rev=0.4 | Reverb send, 0–1 |
oct=-1 trans=3 | Shift by octaves or semitones |
gate=0.5 | Play each note for this fraction of its length |
center=A4 | Where chord names are voiced |
glide=0.1 | Slide time in seconds for ~ notes |
bright=1.5 att= rel= | Tone colour, attack and release (seconds) |
Instruments
- Mallets & bells
- steeldrum marimba vibes celesta glock xylophone musicbox bell
- Keyboards
- organ pipe harpsichord
- Strings
- strings pizz fiddle harp guitar banjo upright
- Winds & brass
- flute clarinet oboe bassoon accordion trumpet brass horn tuba
- Voices & pads
- choir voices pad
- Bass & timpani
- fretless synbass timpani
- Plain synths
- chip sine square saw triangle
- Drums
- kick snare rim hat ohat ride crash clap
- Hand percussion
- conga tumba bongo bongolo timbale bodhran shaker tamb clave block cowbell guiro tri
- Toms & effects
- tomlo tommid tomhi gong thunder surf
- Chord names
- [C] [Cm] [C7] [Cm7] [Cmaj7] [C6] [Cm6] [C9] [Cm9] [Cadd9] [Csus2] [Csus4] [C7sus4] [Cdim] [Cdim7] [Cm7b5] [Caug] [C5] [C7b9]
Compose with an LLM
This prompt teaches any LLM the Scrimshaw format. Copy it into a chat, add a line describing the music you want, then paste the score it writes into the editor above and press Play this score. If the editor reports errors, paste them back to the model and ask for a fix.
You are composing music in the Scrimshaw score format: plain text that a web page plays through a Web Audio synthesizer, in the style of early-1990s adventure game soundtracks. Your score will be pasted into an editor and played straight away, so follow these rules exactly. The most common mistake is a bar with the wrong number of steps, so count every bar. ## What to reply with One complete score in a single fenced code block, followed by no more than a couple of sentences about it. Only use the keywords, instruments, chord names and symbols described here. If I paste back error messages from the editor, fix the lines they point to and reply with the whole corrected score. ## Layout A score is read from top to bottom, one statement per line, in this order: 1. Settings for the whole song 2. `voice` lines, declaring each part and its instrument 3. `pattern` blocks: a pattern line followed by its music lines 4. `play` and `loop` lines: the arrangement (always last) A `#` at the start of a word begins a comment that runs to the end of the line. `F#4` is still a note because its `#` is inside a word. Blank lines are ignored. ## Settings ``` title The Name of the Piece composer Your Name # optional about One or two sentences. The first sentence is shown as a caption while it plays. tempo 100 # beats per minute, 20 to 400 (default 120) beats 4 # beats per bar, 1 to 16 (default 4) steps 4 # steps per beat, 1 to 12 (default 4) swing 0.12 # delays every other step, 0 to 0.75 (default 0) reverb 0.3 # overall reverb, 0 to 1 (default 0.3) ``` A step is the smallest unit of rhythm. Every bar holds exactly beats × steps steps: - `beats 4` `steps 4`: 4/4 in sixteenth notes, 16 steps per bar - `beats 4` `steps 2`: 4/4 in eighth notes, 8 steps per bar - `beats 3` `steps 2`: a 3/4 waltz in eighths, 6 steps per bar - `beats 2` `steps 3`: a 6/8 jig, 6 steps per bar (tempo counts dotted quarters) - `beats 4` `steps 3`: a 12/8 shuffle, 12 steps per bar Swing only works when steps is even. 0.1 to 0.15 is a light lilt; 0.33 gives a triplet shuffle. ## Voices ``` voice NAME INSTRUMENT key=value key=value ... ``` Names use letters, digits and underscores, and each is declared once. Every voice used in a pattern must be declared. There is no drum kit instrument: give each drum sound its own voice (one for kick, one for snare, one for hat and so on). Voice options: - `vol=0.8` level, 0 to 2 (default 0.8) - `pan=-0.3` stereo position, -1 left to 1 right (default 0) - `rev=0.4` reverb send, 0 to 1 - `oct=-1` shift by whole octaves - `trans=3` shift by semitones - `gate=0.5` sound each note for this fraction of its written length, 0.05 to 1 (default 1). 0.4 to 0.6 gives short, detached chords - `center=A4` the pitch that chord names are voiced around (default D4) - `glide=0.1` slide time in seconds for `~` notes (default 0.07) - `bright=1.5` tone brightness, 0.1 to 4 (default 1) - `att=0.05` attack time in seconds - `rel=0.5` release time in seconds Melodic instruments: - Mallets and bells: steeldrum marimba vibes celesta glock xylophone musicbox bell - Keyboards: organ pipe harpsichord - Strings: strings pizz fiddle harp guitar banjo upright - Winds and brass: flute clarinet oboe bassoon accordion trumpet brass horn tuba - Voices and pads: choir voices pad - Bass and timpani: fretless synbass timpani - Plain synths: chip sine square saw triangle Drum instruments, one sound per voice: - Kit: kick snare rim hat ohat ride crash clap - Hand percussion: conga tumba bongo bongolo timbale bodhran shaker tamb clave block cowbell guiro tri - Toms and effects: tomlo tommid tomhi gong thunder surf Some of these names are short: pipe is a pipe organ, pizz is pizzicato strings, upright is an upright bass, chip is a square-wave game console lead, ohat is an open hi-hat, tamb is a tambourine, tri is a triangle, thunder is a long thunder roll and surf is a wave breaking on a beach (both last several seconds). ## Patterns ``` pattern NAME VOICE | bar | bar | bar | bar | VOICE | bar | bar | bar | bar | ``` Pattern names use letters, digits and underscores, like `A`, `B2` or `intro`. A music line is a voice name followed by bars separated by `|`. There must be a `|` straight after the voice name; the closing `|` is optional. A bar can't be empty: write `_` for a silent bar. - A voice can have several lines in one pattern; they join end to end. Keep lines to about four bars. - Voices left out of a pattern are silent during it. - A pattern lasts as long as its longest voice, so give every voice in it the same number of bars. - `pattern A2 from A` starts as a copy of pattern A. A voice written in A2 replaces that voice's whole part from A; the other voices carry over unchanged. - `mute NAME` inside a pattern silences that voice (handy after `from`). - A `tempo`, `beats`, `steps` or `swing` line inside a pattern changes only that pattern. These can also go on the pattern line: `pattern slow tempo=80 swing=0` ## Melodic bars A melodic bar is a row of tokens separated by spaces. Each token takes up a number of steps, and together they must add up to exactly beats × steps. - Note: a letter A to G, an optional accidental (`#` `##` `b` `bb`), then an octave 0 to 8. `C4` is middle C, `B3` is just below it, `A4` is 440 Hz. Examples: `D5` `F#4` `Bb3`. A note lasts one step. - Each dash after a note adds a step: `D5---` lasts four steps. - Rest: each `.` is one step of silence, and dashes after a dot add more rest: `.` is 1 step, `....` is 4, `.---` is 4, `.-------` is 8. - A token of dashes on its own (`-` or `---`) keeps the previous note sounding for that many more steps. Use it to tie a note across a bar line. - Notes struck together are joined with `+` and no spaces: `C4+E4+G4`. Dashes go at the end: `C4+E4+G4---` - A chord name in square brackets, voiced close to the voice's `center`: `[Dm]` `[G7]` `[Bbmaj7]`. A slash adds a bass note below: `[C/E]` `[D/F#]`. Dashes extend it: `[Dm]---` - Dynamics: `!` after a note makes it louder, `?` makes it softer. Stack them for more: `D5!!` `A2??`. They go right after the note or after its dashes: `[Dm]?---` or `D5---!` - Slide: `~` before a note glides into it from that voice's previous note: `~A2--` Symbols that fill a whole bar, alone between the bar lines: - `%` repeats the previous bar - `_` is a silent bar - `=` holds the note that was sounding at the end of the previous bar through this whole bar Chord names are a root (A to G, optionally followed by `#` or `b`) then one of these suffixes, or no suffix for a major triad: m 7 m7 maj7 mmaj7 6 m6 9 m9 maj9 add9 madd9 sus2 sus4 7sus4 dim dim7 m7b5 aug 5 7b9 Examples: `[C]` `[Am]` `[F#m7]` `[Ebmaj7]` `[Dsus4]` `[G7b9]` `[Bdim]` `[Em/G]` ## Drum bars A voice played by a drum instrument reads one character per step: - `x` a hit - `X` an accented hit - `o` a quiet ghost note - `.` nothing Spaces are ignored, so group the characters by beat. With 16 steps per bar: `x... ..x. x... ..x.` With 6 steps per bar: `X.x x.x`. The whole-bar symbols `%` and `_` work in drum lines too. A drum bar still needs exactly beats × steps characters, not counting spaces. ## Arrangement ``` play intro # patterns played once, in order loop A A2 B*2 A2+2 # patterns that then repeat forever ``` - `B*2` plays a pattern twice. - `A+5` or `A-2` transposes a pattern up or down by that many semitones. Drums are not affected. Both can be combined: `A+2*2` - With no `play` or `loop` line, every pattern loops in the order it was written. - Like game music, the loop repeats forever, so make the end of the loop lead smoothly back to its beginning. ## Count every bar before you reply A note or chord counts 1 plus its dashes. A rest counts its dots plus its dashes. A lone dash token counts its dashes. A drum bar counts its characters, ignoring spaces. Worked examples at 16 steps per bar: ``` E5-- G5-- B5- A5 G5 F#5 E5 D5--- 3+3+2+1+1+1+1+4 = 16 .- [Em]- .- [Em]- .- [Em]- .- [Em]- 2+2+2+2+2+2+2+2 = 16 A5------- .... D5 E5 F#5! G5! 8+4+1+1+1+1 = 16 x... .... x... x.x. 16 characters ``` ## Example score ``` title The Lighthouse Keeper composer Claude about A quiet theme for a lonely lighthouse. Clarinet over a soft calypso groove. tempo 92 beats 4 # 4 beats per bar steps 4 # 4 steps per beat, so every bar holds 16 steps swing 0.1 reverb 0.35 voice lead clarinet vol=0.95 pan=-0.15 voice counter vibes vol=0.7 pan=0.35 voice chords guitar vol=0.7 pan=0.25 gate=0.5 center=G4 voice pad strings vol=0.4 pan=-0.3 center=E4 voice bass upright vol=0.95 voice kick kick vol=0.75 voice snare snare vol=0.45 pan=0.1 voice hat hat vol=0.4 pan=0.3 voice ride ride vol=0.35 pan=0.3 voice crash crash vol=0.3 pattern intro pad | [Em]--------------- | = | [D/F#]--------------- | [D]--------------- | counter | B4------- E5------- | G5--------------- | F#5------- A5------- | F#5------- D5------- | hat | _ | _ | _ | x.x. x.x. xxxx XXXX | pattern A lead | E5-- G5-- B5- A5 G5 F#5 E5 D5--- | C5-- E5-- G5- F#5 E5 D5 C5 B4--- | lead | B4-- D5-- G5- A5--- B5- A5 G5 | A5------- F#5- E5- D5- F#5- | chords | .- [Em]- .- [Em]- .- [Em]- .- [Em]- | .- [C]- .- [C]- .- [C]- .- [C]- | chords | .- [G]- .- [G]- .- [G]- .- [G]- | .- [D]- .- [D]- .- [D]- .- [D]- | pad | [Em]?--------------- | [C]?--------------- | [G]?--------------- | [D]?--------------- | bass | E2--- B1--- E2--- ~G2--- | C2--- G1--- C2--- E2--- | bass | G1--- D2--- G2--- B1--- | D2--- A1--- D2--- F#2--- | kick | x... .... x... .... | % | % | x... .... x... x.x. | snare | .... x... .... x... | % | % | .... x... .... X.oo | hat | x.x. x.x. x.x. x.x. | % | % | % | crash | X... .... .... .... | _ | _ | _ | # A2 copies A; the parts written here replace or add to A's pattern A2 from A mute hat ride | x.x. x.xo x.x. x.xo | % | % | % | counter | B5------- G5------- | G5------- E5------- | D6------- B5------- | A5--------------- | pattern B lead | C6--- B5- A5- E5------- | B5--- A5- G5- E5------- | lead | E5- G5- C6- E6- D6--- C6- B5- | A5------- .... D5 E5 F#5! G5! | chords | .- [Am]- .- [Am]- .- [Am]- .- [Am]- | .- [Em/G]- .- [Em/G]- .- [Em/G]- .- [Em/G]- | chords | .- [C]- .- [C]- .- [C]- .- [C]- | .- [D]- .- [D]- .- [D7]- .- [D7]- | pad | [Am]--------------- | [Em/G]--------------- | [C]--------------- | [D]------- [D7]------- | bass | A1--- E2--- A2--- E2--- | G1--- B1--- E2--- G2--- | bass | C2--- G2--- C3--- G2--- | D2------- ~A2--- D2--- | kick | x... ..x. x... ..x. | % | % | x... x... x.x. XXXX | snare | .... x... .... x... | % | % | .... x... ..x. xoXX | hat | x.x. x.x. x.x. x.x. | % | % | % | crash | X... .... .... .... | _ | _ | _ | play intro loop A A2 B*2 A2+2 ``` ## Composing tips - Write a short intro that plays once, then a loop of 16 to 48 bars built from two to four patterns, so the music develops before it repeats. - Typical ranges: bass in octaves 1 and 2, chords and pads centered in octave 4 (`center=E4` or `center=G4`), melodies in octaves 4 to 6. - Use `pattern X2 from X` to vary a section with a counter-melody or a different drum part without rewriting it. - Use `%` for repeated bars, especially in drum parts, to keep the score short. - Balance levels with `vol`: pads and percussion around 0.3 to 0.7, the lead around 0.9 to 1.1. - Choose a key and a chord progression first, then write the melody over it. The bass usually plays chord roots on the strong beats. Compose the piece I describe below. If I haven't described one, compose an original piece in a style of your choice.