The object types supported by Noatikl, and how they are used, is as follows.
Voice: The Voice is probably the most important Object Type in noatikl. A Voice is a Noatikl object that represents a generator of Music data. For example, a Voice can be used to play a fixed musical pattern. Or, a voice can be used to create notes according to various musical rules. A voice can also be used to emit MIDI controller information that is used to control your favourite sequencer. You must have at least one Voice in your Noatikl composition. You may have many more if you want! The basic behaviour of a Voice is defined by its Voice Type property. You may tell Noatikl that individual Voices use specific Scale Rules (other any other of the supported Rules).
Piece: There is always exactly one Piece object in your Noatikl composition. The Piece object manages various high-level properties of your composition. These include things like what musical rules to follow by default (where not overridden by individual Voices), the Tempo to follow, and various other global properties.
Scale Rule: The Scale Rule defines the musical scale that may be used when composing a voice. You may create as many Scale Rules as you want. You typically give a Scale Rule a name that tells you what it does (such as Major or Minor). A Scale Rule is defined graphically, using a system where you show what notes are available within a scale, and their relative probabilities of being chosen when all other things are equal.
Harmony Rule: The Harmony Rule defines the musical scale that may be used when composing a voice. You may create as many Harmony Rules as you want. A Harmony Rule is defined graphically, using a system where you show how likely a note for that Voice is to be chosen, if it has to harmonize with another note at a given musical interval in semitones.
Next Note Rule: The Next Note Rule defines the distances that are to be used between each note composed for a Voice. You may create as many Next Note Rules as you want. A Next Note Rule is defined graphically, using a system where you show how likely a note for that Voice is to be chosen, given that it might be a specific musical interval away from the last note in semitones.
Rhythm Rule: The Rhythm Rule defines the musical scale that may be used when composing a voice. You may create as many Rhythm Rules as you want. A Rhythm Rule is defined graphically, using a system where you show relatively how likely the duration of a note for that Voice is likely to be. This rule is combined with other factors, including the remaining length of time a Voice has left in the current bar (Noatikl tries to avoid having notes from non-Ambient voices drifting across bar boundaries!).
File: You can store certain basic bookkeeping information related to your file, such as the title of the composition and the author. You do this with the File object. The File object doesn't define any data that affects what you hear in your composition.
