ixi lang encodes rhythm as monospaced text agents where horizontal position of characters marks timing

ixi lang is a high-level live-coding mini-language built on SuperCollider. Its core object is the ‘agent’ — a named process assigned a score. In rhythmic mode the score is written between pipes, with letters standing for sampled sounds and spaces standing for silences, so timing is encoded by the horizontal position of characters — which is why a monospaced font is essential. Time and sound gain primary representation and sit close together to reduce cognitive load and speed composition; secondary parameters (pan, sustain, amplitude, wait) are appended as postfix sequences behind the score. Polymeter is trivial: simply add another agent with a score of different length. In melodic mode the score items are numeric pitches within a chosen scale.

Examples

lucy -> |q q q c q | is a rhythmic agent where q/c are samples and spaces are rests; adding yoko -> |q q q c q | and john -> |z z x z | of different lengths creates polymeter directly.

Assessment

What property of ixi lang’s score notation encodes timing, and why is a monospaced font essential? Show how to create a polymeter using two agents.