Quick start

Five minutes from zero to a melody you can render.

Write hello.rela

set key = C4
set tempo = 120

scale Major = { R, M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, M7 }

let melody = | <1> <3> <5> <3> <1> |
melody

Run it locally:

relanote run hello.rela

Or skip the install and hear the Showcase.

What each line is doing

Intervals

R, M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, M7 are intervals — relationships between two pitches, not pitches themselves. Quality first, degree second:

So P5 is a perfect fifth, m7 is a minor seventh, M3 is a major third.

Scales

A scale declaration is a *set of intervals over an unspecified root*:

scale Major = { R, M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, M7 }

Major doesn't know what key it's in. That's the point.

Scale degrees

<n> is the *n*th degree of whatever scale is in scope. The same line plays a different melody under a different scale:

| <1> <2> <3> <4> <5> |

Relative rhythm

The number of slots in a block sets the rhythm. The block doesn't carry durations — it carries *how the slot is divided*:

| <1> <2> <3> <4> |    ; 4 notes share the slot equally
| <1> <5> |            ; 2 notes share the same slot at half density
| <1> |                ; 1 note fills it

Pin the slot's length in beats with :n:

| <1> <2> <3> <4> |:4  ; 4 notes over 4 beats → quarter notes

Concatenation

++ glues blocks of any density together. Each block keeps its own shape:

let fast = | <1> <2> <3> <4> |
let slow = | <1> <5> |
fast ++ slow

Pipes

|> chains transformations from left to right:

melody |> repeat 2
melody |> transpose P5
melody |> reverse

Read it as "the value on the left, then this transformation, then this one". Same shape as a Unix pipeline.

Render to MIDI

relanote render hello.rela -o hello.mid

Open the resulting .mid in any DAW or playback tool.

Key and tempo

set binds the runtime context. The default key is C4; the default tempo is 120:

set key = Bb3
set tempo = 140

scale Major = { R, M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, M7 }
| <1> <3> <5> |

Cheat sheet

Where to go next

• Intervals — the full quality / degree story.
• Blocks — rhythm and density in detail.
• Tutorial — a guided walk through a

finished piece.

Listen-through example

This is the whole quick-start vocabulary in one playable line: scale-degree notes, rests, block duration and concatenation.

scale Major = { R, M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, M7 }

let hello  = | <1> <2> <3> <5> |:2
let breath = | <5> - <3> - |:2
let close  = | <1> |:2

hello ++ breath ++ close