tonal VS node-music-theory

They're using objects, including arrays [1], so I think they would have been more precise to say that they're using objects and arrays as simple data structures rather than using OO features like inheritance and mutation.

[1] https://github.com/tonaljs/tonal/blob/main/packages/chord/in...

It's not on this list, but it's a cool list to check out either way

I'm working on a music project and both tonejs and tonal are incredible projects.

Regarding the "Music Theory library" aspect, note that the CLI tool demonstrates use of the underlying Ruby library which has documentation here:

* https://github.com/pedrozath/coltrane/wiki/Core-music-theory...

Additionally, the author wrote a post about the motivation for creating the library but it's a little difficult to find via the (now broken) link in the README, so here is a direct link to the archived page on the Wayback Machine:

* https://web.archive.org/web/20170714063625/https://medium.co...

If anyone is interested in a similar music theory library for Javascript[0] I've had some success with this:

* Tonal / Tonal.js https://github.com/tonaljs/tonal

[0] Or, in a pinch, even with a Godot 4 web export as I did for my (very incomplete) "AI and Games" Game Jam entry: https://rancidbacon.itch.io/the-conductor (For reasons far too convoluted to go into now.)

There are many hundreds of scale types, here's a list of many of them and that's just a single key. Let's say there's 200 scales times 12 for each key, that's 2400 times up and down the piano. There are actually much more than 200 scales though!

I found a module that is perfect for what I'm trying to create, (a simple piano that you can select keys on to find out which chord it gives), and am trying to use https://github.com/tonaljs/tonal .

Agree with the representation, you can really bury yourself in complexity if you're not careful. Have you taken a look at any of the JS libraries like tonal or MusicTheoryJS?

Here's how tonal.js does it: https://github.com/tonaljs/tonal/tree/master/packages

For the music theory stuff I'm using TonalJS along with my own extensions

> abstracts certain music related objects (scales, chords)

I've been thinking about that again recently & attempting to resist both creating such an abstraction and re-inventing the wheel. :)

The first format that came to mind for its cross-language potential was essentially "Music Theory expressed in JSON format".

Yesterday I did another search for what current options there might be and after a very circuitous path ended up on an old version of the Tonal Javascript library I've already been using. :D

Specifically:

* https://github.com/Cycling74/node-music-theory/blob/518babe7...

* https://github.com/Cycling74/node-music-theory/blob/518babe7...

But the next abstraction level of associated "operations" (as documented by e.g. https://github.com/Cycling74/node-music-theory/blob/518babe7...) are still expressed in Javascript.

My impression is that there are a few tensions that complicate the creation of a "universal" cross-language/tool solution:

* Static vs dynamic storage/representation. e.g. Do you statically store the set of notes in a scale or store the intervals & the operation(s) needed to generate the result dynamically? e.g. https://github.com/Cycling74/node-music-theory/blob/518babe7...

* Reuse vs reinvention (time taken): When starting out it seems the amount of Music Theory most people want to use & have encoded is quite small. So initially the time required to "re-invent the wheel" is quite small vs time required to find & use a common shared abstraction.

* Reuse vs reinvention (knowledge gained): I know, for me, part of the motivation related to re-inventing the wheel is I also want to learn aspects Music Theory so I can understand/apply the knowledge in potentially non-programmatic contexts also.

I do think there is value in having the knowledge encoded in some manner so it's at least available for re-use for those who want it.