A tuplet is a group of notes whose duration is modified; normally a graphic element (a tuplet bracket and/or a number) marks this group of notes. The notes in a tuplet are usually beamed together but this is not always the case.

In LDP, to specify the notes that form a tuplet, a notation t (tuplet) must be included in the first and the last notes of the tuplet.

The first parameter is a plus sign (+) or a minus sign (-) to signal, respectively, that it is the start or the end of a tuplet. After the plus sign there must be a number to indicate the tuplet type.

The ActualNotes element describes how many notes are played in the time usually occupied by the number of NormalNotes. If there are different types of notes in the tuplet (e.g. eighth and 16th notes) then ActualNotes and NumNotes must always refer to the shortest note type (e.g. 16th notes).

Default values for NormalNotes:

In all other cases NormalNotes must be specified.

Examples:

(n c4 e (t + 3)) (n d4 e) (n e4 e (t -))
nc4e,(t + 3) nd ne,(t -)

This example is a triplet of eighth notes, that is, the three notes must be played in the time normally allotted for two eight notes.

Additional parameters would be introduced in future to deal with renderization options.

As tuplets are very frequent, to simplify the writing, the tuplet element allows abbreviated syntax:

(t -)       can be abbreviated as  t-
(t + x)     can be abbreviated as  tx
(t + n m)   can be abbreviated as  t+n,m

So, the previous example can be written as:

(n c4 e t3)(n d4 e)(n e4 e t-)
nc4e,t3 nd ne,t-

Element t does not implies beaming. Therefore elements t and g must be combined as needed. Examples:

(n c4 e g+) (n d4 s t3) (n c4 s) (n b3 s t- g-)
nc4e,g+  nds,t3  nc  nb3,t-,g-

(n c4 s g+ t3) (n d4 s) (n e3 s t-) (n f4 s t3) (n g4 s) (n a4 s t- g-)
nc4s,g+,t3  nd  ne3,t-  nf4,t3  ng  na4,t-,g-

In addition to timing information some options are possible:

The TupletNumber option is used to display either the number of actual notes (option numActual), the number of both actual and normal notes (option numBoth), or neither (option numNone). By default, it is numActual.

The TupletBracket option is used to display a bracket. It can be a squared bracket (option squaredBracket), a curved bracket (option curvedBracket), or nothing (option noBracket). If unspecified, the default value is squaredBracket.

The TupletNumber and TupletBracket options will be inherited by following tuplets until new options are set.