Transport

Transport statements control the global clock that drives both the MIDI scheduler and the audio engine. They are bare keywords (uppercase, terminated with ;), not function calls.

Statement	Meaning
`PLAY;`	Start or resume playback
`PAUSE;`	Pause, keeping the playback position
`STOP;`	Full stop: return to cycle 0, mute output
`RESET;`	Full session reset: clear all state for a clean runtime
`RECORD;`	Start playback and record on armed tracks
`SEEK <cycle>;`	Jump to an absolute cycle

use "std/instruments" { Sampler, Kit };

let drums = AudioTrack("drums");
drums.load_instrument(Sampler(Kit("CR-78")));
drums << [bd sd bd sd];

PLAY;
SEEK 4;
PAUSE;
PLAY;
STOP;

PLAY

Start or resume playback from the current position. Unmutes the master output after a prior STOP.

PLAY;

PAUSE

Pause MIDI and audio playback without resetting anything — a following PLAY; resumes from the same position.

PAUSE;

STOP

Full stop: pauses playback, returns the cycle counter to 0, stops any active recording, and mutes the master output. Recording tracks stay armed for another take. This is also the panic button — in VSCode it’s bound to Shift+F5. STOP; only affects the transport — your variables, tracks, and instruments are untouched (use RESET; for that).

STOP;

RESET

Full session reset: clears all state — variables, patterns, audio tracks, instruments, effects, and modulations — leaving a clean runtime, as if you had just started. Execution halts immediately, so any code after RESET; does not run. In VSCode it’s bound to Ctrl+Shift+F5.

RESET;

RECORD

Start playback (like PLAY;) and begin recording on all armed tracks. If no track is armed, it just starts playback. Tracks are prepared for recording with input() and arm() — see Track Methods: Recording.

vocals.input("mic").arm();
RECORD;
// ... perform ...
STOP;
vocals.save("take_01.wav");

SEEK

Jump to an absolute cycle. Takes any Number expression; think of cycles as bars.

SEEK 8;       // jump to cycle 8
SEEK 0;       // back to the start
SEEK 4 * 2;   // any number expression works

Tempo

Tempo is a project setting, not a transport statement. project_bpm(bpm) sets the tempo in beats per minute; the optional second argument sets beats per cycle (default 4). At the default 120 BPM and 4 beats per cycle, one cycle lasts 2 seconds.

project_bpm(140);
project_bpm(120, 3);   // 3/4 feel: 3 beats per cycle