A novel representation for rhythmic structure

We have developed a representation for musical rhythm and rhythmic structure based on concepts derived from African and African-American musics. Included in the representation are a model for expressive timing against an isochronous pulse, and a cellular approach to musical organization. In our implementation, the representation and its data structures are controlled and modified in real time using MAX. The richness of control over many meaningful musical quantities distinguishes our representation from those in more common usage, such as music notation programs, sequencers, and drum machines.