One algorithmic composition may require a Csound score, engraved notation, real-time control, and a rehearsal click. Authored separately, their timelines drift. Temporal System is a Wolfram Language paclet that instead compiles one immutable store of typed entities on a rational beat timeline through backend-specific contracts. It emits Csound synthesis, beta MusicXML 4.0, OSC control, and click artifacts that remain synchronized because they share that store. Conversion to seconds, samples, or hertz occurs only at render time. Csound notes use stable named instruments in external .orc files; curves become k-rate signals declared against score p-fields. The click backend derives rehearsal audio from the same meter and tempo and reuses the Csound serializer. We describe the temporal, semantic, and rendering-contract layers, their practical trade-offs, and the limits of this proprietary authoring environment within an otherwise open-source ecosystem. The archived supplement exposes the reported outputs pending paclet release.
Figures & tables
Figure 1: A timeline exported directly by the paclet ( drawTimeline ): a survey of the renderer’s main objects—sixteen sine_osc notes (several with cent offsets), eight click hits, four triggers, six overlapping amplitude/pan curves, section markers, and a 4/4→5/8→7/8→3/4 meter grid. A stress fixture exercising many entity types at once, not a representative composition.
Figure 2: Both Csound-family renderers share one serializer; source instruments stay in external .orc files, and curve bindings add generated copies without touching them.
Music Informatics Group Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA, USA · Audio Information Research (AIR) Lab University of Rochester Rochester, NY, USA