pctheory

pctheory

pctheory is a Python library for using atonal music theory. It is useful for both computer-assisted composition in Python and analysis. Some of the many useful features include:

• Set-classes
  • Generate all abstract subsets of a set-class
  • Get Forte and Carter names for a set-class
  • Work with microtonal sets
  • Generate set-class-complexes
• Rows
  • Generate a twelve-tone matrix
  • Generate a rotational array
  • Generate an invariance matrix
  • Load a random all-interval, all-trichord, ten-trichord, or Babbit ten-trichord row

pctheory is much more specialized than music21, and offers substantially more functionality in atonal theory. Additionally, it does not use music21 objects, so there is less computational overhead when using pctheory. It is not difficult to create music21 objects from pctheory objects, which allows pctheory to be used along with music21.

Installation

pctheory is a Python package and can be installed with the command pip install pctheory from the terminal on your computer (Command Prompt or PowerShell on Windows, Terminal on Linux or macOS). Note that you need Python 3.10 or newer.

Quick start

To create ordered or unordered collections (like pitch-class sets and twelve-tone rows), you use basic Python data structures like set and list. You can then add pctheory.pitch.PitchClass objects. To work with set-classes, you create a pctheory.pcset.SetClass object.

System Requirements

pctheory requires Python 3.10 or newer.

Documentation

Documentation can be found at https://fleximeter.github.io/pc-pctheory.html.

Copyright and license

pctheory is copyright © 2024 by Jeffrey Martin. This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. To view the GNU General Public License v.3.0, visit https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html.