Clave

Clave is a midi click-track generator. It generates single-track single-channel midi file with a customizable click pattern.

Note: click tracks are percussion in their nature. Because of this clave does not generate note off events (only note on).

Pregenerated Tracks

A lot of pregenerated tracks are available in tracks folder.

Installation

cargo install clave

Usage

By default Clave generates 1000 beats of 120bpm 4/4 clicks:

clave --out 44_120.mid

You can use command line arguments to customize the track:

  -b, --bpm <BPM>              Track tempo (beats per minute) [default: 120]
      --channel <CHANNEL>      Midi channel [default: 10]
      --beats <BEATS>          Track length in number of beats [default: 1000]
      --vel <VEL>              Default note velocity [default: 63]
      --acc-vel <ACC_VEL>      Accented note velocity [default: 94]
      --ghost-vel <GHOST_VEL>  Ghost note velocity [default: 31]
      --subs <SUBS>            Number of subdivisions in a pattern [default: 1]
  -p, --pattern <PATTERN>      Click pattern [default: m>mmm]

Click Pattern

You can use --pattern together with --subs to create more sophisticated click patterns:

• the pattern consists of pattern items optionally separated by spaces
• each pattern item consists of the note:
  • m - metronome click (32)
  • c - clave click (75)
  • b - bass drum (35)
  • s - snare (38)
  • h - closed hi-hat (42)
  • XX or XXX - decimal number of the percussion key (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_MIDI#Percussion)
  • r - rest
• and optional volume modifier:
  • > - accented note
  • , - ghost note
• multiple notes can be played as a chord simultaneosly by surrounding them with ( ).

Default pattern is m>mmm which corresponds to 4/4 metronome click with accented first beat.

Pattern Examples

Description	Subs	Pattern
4/4 with ghost 8th	2	"m>m,mm,mm,mm,"
Son clave 3-2	2	"crrcrrcrrrcrcrrr"
Son clave 2-3	2	"rrcrcrrrcrrcrrcr"
Rumba clave 3-2	2	"crrcrrrcrrcrcrrr"
Rumba clave 2-3	2	"rrcrcrrrcrrcrrrc"
Cascara 2-3	2	"h>rh>rhh>rhh>rhh>rh>rh"
Rock 4/4	2	"(bh)h(sh)h(bh)h(sh)h"
Funk 4/4	4	"(bh)h>hb s>rhh> bhh>b (s>h>)r(s>h>)r"
Funk with Ghost Notes	4	"(bh)s,hs> hs,hs, hs,(bh)r (s>h)rhr"