Vocabulary and Shorthand (Glossary)

Note:

Every rhythm game community will have its own terminology, but this guide attempts to be rather general, and so will not cover terms that are specific to any game. Rather, it will define the minimum terminology required to explain the concepts in the most intuitive fashion.

Shorthand

Instead of posting pictures of a pattern, a simple shorthand can be used to describe simple patterns, such as "[15]3[24]3[15].[26]4[35]4[26]".

Every character, bracketed group of characters or rest (.) indicates one particular point in time at the interval given (if it is not stated, figure it out the context of the song/chart being referenced). Valid symbols are as follows:

• . : A rest. Nothing plays here.
• 1, 2, 3, 4, etc: A note plays here at the specified column. For instance 1234321.4321234 is a > shape, a rest then a < shape.
• [12], [24], etc: Notes play here at all the specified columns at the same time, forming a 'chord'. For instance [16][25][34][25][16] forms a wide X shape.
• x, X, o, O : A note plays here, but the column and/or number of them is not important. Used to represent a rhythm, e.g. x.x.xxx.xxxx.xx.
• A, B, C, D, etc: The specific columns are not important, but all As are the same column and so on. Used to talk about patterns without specifying exact columns. For instance ABC.CBA is a triplet, a rest, the same triplet in reverse order.
• {1}, {2}, etc: A chord with N number of notes, but the columns are not important. For instance {1}{2}{3}{4}{5}{6} gets bigger and bigger until it fills the screen.

Note that the shorthand is only used to help make describing simpler patterns easier. Shorthand does not provide a way of representing things like holds, mines and finer note intervals (e.g. if you wanted to express some 24ths within a 16th pattern you'd have to use the smallest interval that contains both, 48ths). If you need them, either improvise on the terminology or just take a picture.

General Chart Terminology

Chart:

All of the notes that make up a level for a song.

Charting:

The process of creating a chart.

Connotation:

The association of certain notes or patterns with concepts or sounds.

NPS:

Notes per second.

Notecharter/Chart Artist:

One who makes charts.

Playtesting:

The act of playing a chart to test it.

Measure:

A part of a chart that is four beats long. It is always four beats due to the chart's standard .SM file format. Not to be confused with the musical definition of a measure, which can be arbitrarily defined to be any length.

Interval:

The speed at which notes come relative to measures. 4ths means four notes per measure (beats), 8ths means eight notes per measure (downbeats + upbeats) and so on. Divide by four for the number of notes per beat.

Using KBO's default colouring, notes are coloured according to the first note interval they fall into, going from the slowest to the fastest. Red for 4ths, blue for 8ths, yellow for 16ths, orange for 32nds, green for 64ths (and any interval not listed explicitly). Purple for 12ths, pink for 24ths, cyan for 48ths.

Pitch Relevance:

Choosing patterns of notes specifically to match the contour of a melody line as it is ascending or descending, repeating, and changing.

Layering:

Laying down notes that follow multiple instruments at any given time.

Technicality:

How well a chart follows mechanical rules of sync, transcription accuracy, and consistency.

Flow:

How smooth a chart feels to play. Flow-interrupting aspects of a chart are those that seem unintuitive and abrupt, such as a significant spike of increased difficulty.

Chart Components

Note (single):

Your basic note type. By itself, scored by depressing the key corresponding to its column as accurately as possible.

Chord:

Generic term for 2 or more notes sharing the same point in time. Names for chords with specific numbers of notes in them are as follows:

• 2-chord: Double
• 3-chord: Triple
• 4-chord: Quadruple, Quad
• 5-chord: Quintuple, Quint
• 6-chord: Sextuple

Another property of the chord is its width. The width of a chord refers to the span of columns between the leftmost note and the rightmost note. For instance, a chord with notes on columns 2 and 4 has a width of 3.

Hold note:

A note that has a start and an end. The hold is scored both by how accurately you hit the start and whether it is held down until the end. The act of hitting the initial note but failing to keep the note held is called dropping a hold.

Minihold:

A hold so short that it is impossible (or in some cases, almost impossible) to drop.

Mine:

An entity that is supposed to be avoided. In fact, holding the key corresponding to its column when it passes the receptor causes it to explode. Upon explosion, it will drain the player's health meter and subtract score.

Offset/Gap:

A measure of how far into the song the first beat of the chart is. Note that negative values indicate the chart starts later, while positive values indicate the chart starts before the song.

BPM:

Beats per minute, or a measure of how fast the pulse of the song is.

Stop:

A pause in the chart that lasts a certain number of milliseconds.

Patterns

Note that this does not cover pad patterns or patterns of any other game type, as they are considered to be a different game and use different mechanics.

Pattern:

A specific way in which the columns of sequential notes relate to each other.

Stream:

A long run of notes mostly at the same speed. A short stream (e.g. less than 16 notes) can be called a streamlet.

Burst:

Any short but particularly fast pattern, characterized by being significantly harder than the parts of the chart near it.

Chordstream:

A stream but with chords (of two notes or more) in it frequently. Can be "sparse" or "dense".

Holdstream:

A stream with holds in it.

Trill:

Alternating between two columns. A minitrill is a short trill, typically five notes or less. Trills can be on their own or part of a stream. A one-handed trill alternates notes on the same hand, and is generally harder to hit than a two-handed trill.

Chordtrill:

A trill consisting of 2-chords or larger instead of single notes. Noteworthy in that, despite its higher density, it is typically not any harder, but is more likely to contain one handed trills.

Jack:

The same column over and over, for example 11111, in quick succession. Minijacks are short jacks, typically four notes or less. Jacks are noteworthy because of how difficult they are to hit, especially at high speeds.

Roll:

A pattern that repeats a sequence of notes over and over, for example 1234123412341234. Rolls can be anywhere between 3 to 6 notes, and the repeating sequence itself does not use a column more than once.

Panning:

A general term to refer to any pattern that produces a feel of going from left to right or right to left, either in repeating bursts or in a long continual pattern. Can be applied to pitch relevance.

Bracket:

A pattern that only exists in 6-key mode, it looks like [13]2[13]2[13] or [46]5[46]5[46]. Notable because it is considered one of the hardest common one-handed patterns to do in 6-key. A bracket that lasts for only two notes (e.g. [13]2 or 2[13]) is a half bracket.

Ringtrill:

A pattern that only exists in 6-key mode, referring to trills on the ring finger. It appears as 1212121 or 6565656. Notable because it is a difficult one-handed pattern and a precursor to brackets.

Rhythms

Swing:

An aspect of the musical rhythm where every upbeat is slightly late, forming a X.XX.XX.XX looking rhythmic pattern. Types of swing include standard swing (beat split into a ratio of 2:1), heavy swing (beat split into a ratio of 3:1), and light swing (beat split into a ratio of 5:3, usually achieved offsetting the 16th a 64th note later) depending on what note interval they use. Other intervals for swing are uncommon but possible.

Flam/Grace Note:

Two or more notes on different columns that are timed so closely together that they seem to be hit in the "same motion". Typically 24ths or faster.

Gameplay

Spread:

The community-accepted name of the community-accepted standard playstyle of keyboard simulation, where the player uses one finger per button per column, using both hands symmetrically, going from most dominant (index) to least dominant (rings, pinkies) fingers based on the number of keys.

Receptors:

The object outlines at the top or bottom of the screen that remain in the game window throughout the entire song. When a note lines up with its target receptor, hitting the corresponding button will be perfectly accurate.

Judgment/Timing Window:

The specific categories a note falls into, depending on when you hit it relative to its true position. For example, StepMania's judgments are Marvellous, Perfect, Great, Good, Poor, Miss.
Judgments can be divided into two categories: hits, and combo breakers.

Combo:

A streak of notes that do not have combo breakers.

Full Combo/FC:

Never got a combo breaker.

Full [judgment] Combo:

Never got anything worse than [judgment]. Only refers to judgments higher than the minimum judgment not considered to be a combo breaker.

[judgment] Attack:

Aiming for [judgment]. Having good [judgment] attack means having a high proportion of notes at that judgment or higher. Only refers to judgments higher than the minimum judgment not considered to be a combo breaker.

Rushing:

1. Hitting a pattern on time, but because you're one tap short/in excess in one or more of the columns, you are hitting the notes earlier/later in that column and getting combo breakers. Often happens on trills and jacks coming out of difficult transitions and in stream that is too fast for the player to read.
2. Deliberately hitting a pattern starting early and/or ending late, because it's too fast to do at the intended speed.

Mashing:

Randomly hitting notes at what is thought to be the right density, usually due to not being able to read the chart.

Sightread:

The first time playing a chart. Called as such because of the related practice of sightreading a piece of music.

Wrist-jacking:

Hitting a jack by hammering your wrist up and down, but not by making a vibrating motion.

Vibrating:

Hitting a very fast jack by actually making your hand vibrate. Takes a bit of practice.

Ghosting:

When a key is not registered by the game even though the player physically hits the key correctly on the keyboard.

C-mod:

The "C" stands for constant. C-mod refers to a type of speed modifier that adjusts the effects of BPM changes and stops so that the notes always scroll at a fixed speed. It is frequently used because some charts use extreme X-mods for syncing purposes that would otherwise make the chart unplayable.

X-mod:

A speed modifier that multiples the standard placement of notes (1x means every 4th is one width of the note's graphic apart) by a certain number. This means that BPM changes and stops are seen in the chart, that the notes do not scroll at a constant speed.