Music tokens, rather than a readymade generator

The tokens provided by MusicTEX are :

• the note symbols without stem ;
• the note symbols with stems, and hooks for eighth notes and beyond ;
• the indications of beam beginnings and beam ends ;
• the indications of beginnings and ends of ties and slurs ;
• the indications of accidentals ;
• the ornaments : arpeggios, trills, mordents, pincés, turns, staccatos and pizzicatos, fermatas ;
• the bars, the meter and signature changes, etc.

Thus, \wh g produces an A (445 Hz) whose duration is a whole note. In the same way, \qu c produces a C (250 Hz approx.) whose value is a quarter note with stem up, \cl J produces a C (125 Hz approx.) whose duration is an eighth note with stem down, etc.

To generate quarter, eighth, sixteenth, etc. chords, the macro \zq can be used : it produces a quarter note head whose position is memorized and recalled when another stemmed note (possibly with a hook) is coded ; then the stem is adjusted to link all simultaneous notes. Thus, the perfect C-major chord, i.e.

=0000 cegj

is coded \zq c\zq e\zq g\qu j or, in a more concise way, \zq{ ceg} \qu j (stem up) : in fact, single notes are treated... like one-note chords.