Score
Define musical structure with tempo, key, and time signature.
What it does
Score is the musical equivalent of a Canvas: one graph-level node holding tempo, time signature, key, scale, and tuning reference for everything downstream.
It also derives musical time. Beat position, bar number, a downbeat pulse, and phase within the bar or beat come out as signals, so nodes such as Step Sequencer or Time Remap can lock to musical time rather than computing it themselves.
When to use it
One place to set tempo, key, and time signature for a whole graph.
Beat-synced effects that need bar, beat, or phase signals to wire in.
A downbeat pulse to trigger something once per bar.
Nested subgraphs whose tempo should follow, or deliberately break from, the parent composition.
| Parameter | Type | Default |
|---|---|---|
bpm | Number | 120 |
time_sig_numerator | Number | 4 |
time_sig_denominator | String | "4" |
key | String | "C" |
scale | String | "Chromatic" |
tuning_ref | Number | 440 |
swing | Number | 0 |
tempo_source | String | "Manual" |
parent_mode | String | "Match Parent" |
Gotchas
Key, Scale, Tuning Reference, and Swing have no output pins. Other musical nodes discover them by scanning the graph for a Score, the same way nodes discover Canvas settings. Beat, Bar, Downbeat, and the phase outputs are the only signals wired explicitly.
One Score per graph. Add a second and the first is used while the rest sit in an error state, rather than being averaged or merged.
Tempo Source only matters once an external driver is wired up: Tap Tempo, MIDI Clock, Ableton Link, MTC, or a CLAP host. Until a driver is registered, every option behaves like Manual and BPM comes from this node's own field.
Parent Mode controls how a Score inside a subgraph relates to the graph containing it. Match Parent, the default, inherits the surrounding composition's tempo and time signature, and this node's own BPM and Time Signature fields are then ignored. Independent keeps the subgraph's own tempo regardless of what is above it.
The Downbeat pulse compares the current bar to the previous frame's bar, so scrubbing the playhead backwards can produce one false pulse on the frame after the jump.
Worked example
Add a Score node and set BPM, Time Signature, and Key for your piece.
Wire Beat or Bar Phase into a node like Oscillate or Step Sequencer to drive it in musical time instead of seconds.
Wire Downbeat into an effect's trigger input to fire something once per bar.
If this Score lives inside a subgraph, set Parent Mode to Independent for its own tempo, or leave it on Match Parent to follow the graph it is nested in.
See also
Step Sequencer · Timeline · State Machine · Numbers, signals & audio