Getting Started

Welcome to Relanote! This tutorial will guide you through creating your first musical composition using relative intervals and functional programming.

What You'll Learn

1. Understanding intervals
2. Creating melodies with scale degrees
3. Using pipes for transformation
4. Rendering to MIDI

Prerequisites

Make sure you have Relanote installed. If not, see the Installation Guide.

Or use the Web Playground to follow along in your browser.

Your First Program

Create a new file called tutorial.rela and add:

; My first Relanote program!
scale Major = { R, M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, M7 }

| <1> <3> <5> |

Run it:

relanote run tutorial.rela

You should see output showing three intervals: the root, major third, and perfect fifth. This is a major triad!

Understanding the Output

Block {
  slots: [
    Note { interval: R (0 semitones) },
    Note { interval: M3 (4 semitones) },
    Note { interval: P5 (7 semitones) }
  ]
}

Relanote shows you the internal representation. Notice how intervals are measured in semitones from the root.

Adding a Scale

Let's use scale degrees instead of raw intervals:

; Define a major scale
scale Major = { R, M2, M3, P4, P5, M6, M7 }

; Use scale degrees
let melody = | <1> <3> <5> |

melody

<1>, <3>, <5> refer to the 1st, 3rd, and 5th degrees of the scale. This is the same major triad, but now expressed in terms of scale degrees!

Creating a Melody

Let's make something more interesting:

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

; A simple melody
let melody = | <1> <2> <3> <4> <5> <5> <3> <4> <5> <5> <1> |

melody

This creates a familiar melody using the major scale.

Render to MIDI

Let's hear it! Render to a MIDI file:

relanote render tutorial.rela -o melody.mid

Open melody.mid in your favorite music software (GarageBand, Logic, Ableton, etc.) to hear your creation!

What's Next?

• Your First Melody - Create a complete melody with rhythm
• Building Chords - Learn to create chord progressions
• Creating a Song - Put it all together

Quick Reference

Syntax	Meaning
R, M3, P5	Intervals (Root, Major 3rd, Perfect 5th)
scale Name = { ... }	Define a scale from intervals
<n>	Reference the nth scale degree
|>	Pipe operator (apply left to right)
let x = ...	Define a variable
| ... |	Create a block (sequence of notes)
-	Rest