Sound-objects contain sequences of elementary events which may be described as a MIDI stream, a Csound score or both.

When BP2 is instructed to produce MIDI real-time or a MIDI file, it uses the MIDI stream of sound-objects and ignores their Csound definitions. Conversely, when asked to write the performance as a Csound score, it uses the Csound score of each sound-object. If the sound-object has no score, BP2 converts its MIDI stream to a Csound score, using the current or default Csound instrument description, as shown in the preceding section.

To produce Csound scores it is wiser to design Csound scores in sound-object prototypes rather than rely on a conversion from MIDI which may leave out relevant parameters.

A demo of the use of sound-objects containing Csound scores is given in "-da.tryCsoundObjects". Type cmd-e ("Edit prototypes") to load the attached "-mi.tryCsoundObjects" sound-object prototype file. Then click button "Csound" to display the Csound score of prototype 'a' (see Fig.36).

The score contains four events invoking instruments 1, 2 and 3. Note that this score is incomplete because it contains only the compulsory arguments for setting time, duration and pitch. BP2 will complete missing arguments with their default values.

To compile this score, BP2 requires the description of instruments supplied by the "-cs.tryCsoundObjects" Csound instrument file. This file has been loaded automatically for two reasons:

• Its name appears on top of the "-da.tryCsoundObjects" file

• Its name has been found in the "-mi.tryCsoundObjects" file (on the left top of the window, see Fig.36). It can be changed by clicking the "Change instrument file" button.

To avoid inconsistencies it is sufficient to state the name only once, preferably in the sound-object prototype file.

On the graphics Csound events are marked with red lines whereas MIDI events show as black lines. Objects 'a', 'b' and 'c' in this file contain only Csound scores (as told by radio buttons on Fig.36), whereas the sound-object prototype 'midiobject' also contains a MIDI stream. The MIDI stream and the Csound score of an object may contain similar events as to pitch and timing, but each of them may also contain additional information that is specific to the representation: Csound score lines contain parameters that have no equivalent in the MIDI stream, and conversely a few MIDI messages may not be reflected in a Csound score.

BP2 checks that the Csound score and the MIDI stream, if not empty, represent sequences of events with identical durations. If this is not the case a message is displayed although the user is not forced to correct the mismatch. In this case, the longest duration is taken as the nominal duration of the sound-object prototype.