Glossary

Alphabetical reference of TimeToAlign! model terminology

This page collects all terms introduced in the Conceptual Model. Hover over any -highlighted term elsewhere on this site to see its definition.

For the full context in which each term is introduced, follow the cross-references to the relevant section of the conceptual model.

A

AlignmentAnchor: A coordinate pair associating one coordinate on timeline A with one on timeline B; a neutral record with no claim semantics—provenance is carried by the enclosing . Only synchronous MatchClaims produce AlignmentAnchors. From a of s, one derives a StartAnchor and an EndAnchor. See Alignment.
AlignmentBundle: A collection of s with inter-group connections; provides coordinate transfer via offset arithmetic, interpolation, and s. See Alignment.

B

Break: A that voids at its . TimeIntervals cannot span a Break, and Breaks cannot be inserted into existing TimeIntervals. See Flow control.

C

ChainMap: A that applies multiple s in sequence, creating a conversion path from a source unit to a target unit. See Conversion maps.
Child: A nested within a parent, sharing its measuring unit but defining its own origin. Children are locked upon insertion to prevent side effects from modifications. See Nested timelines.
CombinationMap: A yielding outputs from multiple s simultaneously (e.g., (x, y) coordinate pairs). See Conversion maps.
Commensurability: Two timelines are commensurable if connected by a chain of s, membership in the same , or cross-group s, enabling coordinate translation between them. See Alignment.
Commensurable: See .
ConcatenationMap: A combining bounded s such that each coordinate region is handled by a specific map. See Conversion maps.
Contiguity: A is contiguous if it monotonically spans all coordinates between its start and end. An is contiguous with a TimeInterval if it is synchronous with its . See Flow control.
ControlEvent: An event affecting flow control: either a (voiding contiguity) or a (creating new contiguity). See Flow control.
ConversionMap: A typed function attached to a that maps each coordinate to exactly one value (coordinate, label, or filename); also permits inverse conversion back to the timeline’s own unit. Also called C-map. See Conversion maps.
Coordinate: A position on a , expressed as the distance from the origin in the timeline’s measuring unit. Combines a numeric value with a TimeUnit. See Foundations.

D

DictStore: A generic EventStore subclass holding a dict[str, EventData] with arbitrary keys. Used internally by AlignmentLoaders to store one EventData table per timeline-to-be (e.g., "score", "perf:p01"). Maintains the uniform EventStore interface. See the API reference.
Discrete: A timeline is discrete when coordinates exist only at discrete points (e.g., pixels, samples, ticks). Contrast with Continuous timelines where coordinates can take any real value (e.g., seconds, quarters). See Foundations.
Domain: One of three temporal categories: Graphical (visual/spatial), Logical (symbolic/musical), or Physical (audio/sound). Each domain has both discrete and continuous timeline variants. See Foundations.

E

EndInstant: An marking the end of a . Its coordinate must be greater than or equal to the corresponding ’s coordinate. See Foundations.
Event: Anything associated with a via s. An has zero duration; a has duration defined by start and end coordinates. See Foundations.

F

FlowMap: A sequence of s specifying a particular path through a score’s control structure (repeats, jumps); not itself a . Used for unfolding a score into performance order. See Derivative timelines.

G

GroupTimestamp: A cross-section through a at a given coordinate. Contains one coordinate per timeline in the group plus (optionally) C-map conversion values. A is the union of GroupTimestamps from each participating group. Produced by TimelineGroup.get_timestamp_at(). See Alignment.

I

Instant: Associates a (a “time-point”) with a signification such as “start of event e”. Instants sharing a coordinate are synchronous. See Foundations.
InstantEvent: An defined by a single , having zero duration. See Foundations.
InverseMap: The reverse transformation of a bijective . See Conversion maps.

J

Jump: A with JumpFrom and JumpTo s. When active, makes events at JumpTo contiguous with those ending at JumpFrom (e.g., repeats, dal segno). See Flow control.

L

Length: The distance between a ’s origin and its last . See Foundations.
Locked: A timeline state preventing the addition of s after the last time-point. timelines are automatically locked when embedded in a parent. See Nested timelines.

M

Match

See .

MatchfileLoader

Loader for Vienna Match (.match) alignment files. Uses the standard two-phase load() → create_*() pattern. A single instance processes all .match files that share the same score, building a shared score timeline on the first file and verifying subsequent files against it. Returns an directly via create_alignment_bundle(). Score goes into its own group; performances are standalone timelines; s connect score to performances. See the API reference.

MatchClaim

A claim of equivalence between events on different timelines, with provenance metadata (agent, method, certainty). May be synchronous (producing s) or conceptual (structural equivalence without temporal commitment). Always knows which pair of timelines it connects. Four cases: (a) event-to-event, (b) projection,

, (d) implicit (from group extension). See Alignment.

MatchGraph

An auxiliary structure formed by extending s through shared coordinates; may be viewed as a hyperedge connecting multiple coordinates from different timelines. Connected components yield s. Each Match box M1–M15 in the Hendrix figure is a MatchGraph. See Alignment.

MatchLine

An ordered sequence of s derived from s, sorted by coordinate on a source timeline; input for generation. See Alignment.

MatchPath

A path traversal connecting matched events across multiple timelines (e.g., A -> B -> C), enabling indirect alignment. See Alignment.

MatchStamp

The union of s from groups synchronously connected by a . Contains one coordinate per participating timeline and, with conversion_maps=True (the default), C-map conversion values. See Alignment.

MultiMap

An umbrella term for composed s: (sequential), (parallel outputs), and (regional). See Conversion maps.

N

NOMATCH: A sentinel value in a explicitly encoding the absence of a corresponding event on the other timeline. The MatchClaim records both timeline IDs but has no s; is_synchronous is always False. See Alignment.

O

Origin: The zero coordinate of a , from which all positions are measured. See Foundations.

P

Parent: A that contains one or more timelines. The parent and all its children must share the same measuring unit. See Nested timelines.

R

raw_to_normalised: The conventional name for the (specifically a ShiftMap) attached to a score timeline to expose normalised (non-negative) coordinates. Its offset equals −min(raw_onsets). Added by and PartituraLoader so downstream code can detect and apply the same shift when comparing coordinates across loaders.
Region: A named part of a defined by a (e.g., “Chorus”, “Verse”). Regions are not timelines and cannot hold events or maps directly. See Regions.
Root: The top-level in a hierarchy of nested timelines. Only the root timeline can be extended; all descendants are locked. See Nested timelines.
RotationMap: A periodic that wraps coordinates cyclically (e.g., an ostinato part that repeats while the main timeline advances). See Conversion maps.

S

Segment: A timeline that is contiguous with its siblings. Segments enable concatenation of local coordinate systems. See Nested timelines.
SegmentLine: A parent containing only contiguous s. Enables cumulative coordinate conversion across all segments. See Nested timelines.
StartInstant: An marking the start of a . See Foundations.
Synchrony: Strict synchrony: s sharing identical coordinates. Pragmatic synchrony: Instants binned together based on a threshold (e.g., for quantisation). See Foundations.

T

TimeInterval: Defined by a and ; left-inclusive and right-exclusive [s, e). The EndInstant’s coordinate must be >= the StartInstant’s. See Foundations.
TimeIntervalEvent: An with duration, defined by a . Contrast with . See Foundations.
TimeIntervalStamp: Combination of a start and an end TimeStamp, representing a cross-section of an interval through the timeline hierarchy. See Nested timelines.
Timeline: A positive coordinate axis defined by an origin and a measuring unit; continuous (real) or discrete (integer). Accommodates events and potentially timelines. See Foundations.
TimelineGroup: A container for timelines claimed to be commensurable; placing timelines in a group asserts regardless of underlying units. Coordinates transfer via interpolation. See Alignment.
TimeStamp: A cross-section through a timeline or group at a given coordinate, capturing positions in all connected systems plus values converted by all attached s. See Nested timelines.

W

WarpMap: An interpolation-based coordinate mapping derived from a ; enables non-linear coordinate transfer between s. See Alignment.