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<chan>

The <chan> element sets the ชั้น (chan) rhythmic layer level.

ชั้น (chan) is the Thai rhythmic layer system that determines the rhythmic density of a performance.

<direction>

Attribute Required Type Description
value Yes enumeration The ชั้น level. One of the five values below.
Value Name
0.5 ครึ่งชั้น
1 ชั้นเดียว
2 สองชั้น
3 สามชั้น
4 สี่ชั้น
<chan value="1" />

Nothing that a processor computes from, in v1.0. <chan> records the level and carries it to whatever reads the file.

It changes no timing: <bpm> fixes the measure rate, the bpm beat is half a measure whatever the ชั้น, and so the notes keep their rate through a change of level. What moves is the ฉิ่ง, and the ฉิ่ง is written out by the arranger as an ordinary unpitched part rather than generated from this element. A player that ignored <chan> entirely would sound the score correctly.

So it is metadata: for an editor to show, for a library to index on, for a playback engine to use however it sees fit. What it is not is an instruction the format asks anyone to act on.

  • ชั้น does not set the tempo. At a fixed <bpm> the notes keep their rate through a change of ชั้น; what changes is how many measures the melody is spread over, and so how often the ฉิ่ง falls.
  • <nathap> sits beside it in <direction> and is metadata on the same terms.
  • value must be one of the five values listed above, matched exactly as written. Validators must reject any other value, 0.50 and .5 among them.