Soundcells uses a text-based notation called abc. Musical scores notated in abc contain two main parts, the header and the notes.
Header
A header, also called metadata, provides information about an entire piece of music or an excerpt that follows it. Every field must be on its own line and must contain a capital letter followed by a colon and a value. For example, the following is a minimal header:
X: 1
M: 4/4
K: Bb
Above, X provides a tune number, M indicates a time signature of four-over-four while K sets a key signature of Bb.
Optionally, you might want to set a composer with C, a title with T, or a default note length with L.
You can have multiple header groups in a score, but don't stick one in the middle of a measure!
Music: Notes, Rests, and Barlines
Notes are added by typing a letter from a–g. Lowercase letters are an octave higher than uppercase letters, octave 5 and octave 4 respectively.
Typed before the pitch: underscores (_) and carets (^) flatten and sharpen it, while an equal sign (=) makes it natural.
Typed after the pitch: numbers and fractions multiply its base duration (specified by header L). Apostrophes (') and commas (,) raise or lower the octave. Soundcells plays the note back anytime you type one of these characters, so play around!
Rests are the letter z and may be followed by a duration.
Finally, you can notate barlines by typing a vertical line or a pipe | with shift + \. As you might guess, two vertical lines is a double bar || while a vertical line followed by a right square bracket is an ending double bar |].