> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://chart-spec.enchor.us/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Vocals and harmonies > Vocal notes, lyrics, phrases and harmonies in a .mid file. A `.mid` file holds its vocals in vocal tracks: `PART VOCALS` for the lead vocals, and `HARM1` to `HARM3` for up to three harmonies. Each holds the notes to sing, the lyric sung on each, and phrases that group them into lines: ```text theme={null} PART VOCALS 0 Track name PART VOCALS 1920 Note on 105 Phrase 1920 Note on 60 Pitch C4 1920 Lyric Hel- 2160 Note off 60 2160 Note on 62 Pitch D4 2160 Lyric lo 2640 Note off 62 2880 Note off 105 ``` Here one phrase holds two notes: `Hel-` sung on C4, joined to `lo` on D4. Clone Hero reads only `PART VOCALS`, and only its lyrics and phrases: it shows the lyrics, and has no vocals to sing. YARG reads every vocal track, as vocals and harmonies to sing. A `.chart` file holds one set of lyrics, without notes. See [Lyrics](/chart/events#lyrics). ## Vocal tracks | Track | Part | | - | - | | `PART VOCALS` | Lead vocals, and the lyrics Clone Hero shows | | `HARM1` | Harmony 1 | | `HARM2` | Harmony 2 | | `HARM3` | Harmony 3 | * **Required:** one track at most for each part. * **Required:** the harmony tracks in order in the file: `HARM1`, then `HARM2`, then `HARM3`. * **Recommended:** `PART VOCALS` in a chart with harmonies, because Clone Hero shows lyrics only from `PART VOCALS`. ## Notes | Note | Meaning | | - | - | | 36 to 84 | A note to sing, from C2 to C6. Its number is its pitch | | 96 | A percussion note, read with no length | | 105 | A phrase. See [Phrases](#phrases) | | 116 | Star power. See [Star power](#star-power) | | 0 | A range shift: YARG fits the pitch range it shows to the notes from this note to the next range shift. The note's length is how long the move takes | | 1 | A lyric shift: YARG starts a new line of the lyrics it shows, on `PART VOCALS` and `HARM1` | * A note's length is how long it's sung. Vocal notes have no sustain cutoff. * **Required:** each note of a part ends at or before the tick where the next note of the part starts. * Clone Hero reads only the phrases. YARG reads every note in the table. A part has vocals to sing only if it has a note from 36 to 84, or a 96, inside a phrase. YARG and scan-chart list a vocals part only then. ## Lyrics A lyric is a text event on a vocal track: the syllable sung on the note at its tick. * **Required:** a lyric event, `FF 05`, or a text event, `FF 01`. **Recommended:** `FF 05`. * **Required:** one lyric at most at a tick, and in a part with notes, each lyric on a note's tick. * **Recommended:** one lyric on each note. A note that slides from the note before it has the lyric `+`. * **Required:** no spaces at a lyric's ends, and no `[` or `]` in it. Unlike in a `.chart` file, a lyric has no `lyric` prefix, and it's in a vocal track, not in `EVENTS`. **Edge case: songs Clone Hero lists as having lyrics.** From its code, Clone Hero's song scan counts the track name as a lyric. So its song list marks a song as having lyrics when its `PART VOCALS` has a phrase, even with no lyrics in it. ### Lyric symbols A symbol at the end of a lyric changes how it's sung or shown. YARG reads each one as a property of the lyric's note. Clone Hero only changes how it shows the lyric: | Symbol | Meaning | Clone Hero shows | | - | - | - | | `-` | Joined to the next syllable | Nothing, and no space before the next syllable | | `=` | A hyphen, joined to the next syllable | `-` | | `+` | A slide from the previous note | Nothing. A lyric of only `+` isn't shown | | `#` | Not pitched | Nothing | | `^` | Not pitched, and scored leniently | Nothing | | `*` | Not pitched | Nothing | | `%` | A range shift, in YARG | Nothing | | `/` | A static lyric shift, in YARG | Nothing | | `$` | Hidden on harmonies 2 and 3 | Nothing | * `$` may also come at the start of a lyric. * `=` shows as `-` anywhere in a lyric, and joins the next syllable only at the end. * Two symbols stand for a character anywhere in a lyric: `§` joins two syllables sung as one, and `_` is a space. Clone Hero shows each as a space. YARG's vocals show `§` as `‿`. * Any other symbol elsewhere in a lyric has no meaning, and isn't shown. * **Required:** `-` and `+` only at the end of a lyric. For a hyphen shown inside a lyric, write `=`. * Clone Hero and YARG show the symbols the same way in a `.chart` file's lyrics. ### Formatting tags A lyric may hold a formatting tag, such as `` and `` around italic text. Clone Hero allows the tags `i`, `b`, `s`, `u`, `sup`, `sub`, `br`, `voffset`, `lowercase`, `uppercase`, `smallcaps`, `cspace`, `color` and `mspace`, and colors written as `<#rrggbb>`. **Required:** angle brackets only around these tags. ## Phrases A phrase is a note 105. It holds the notes and lyrics from its start tick through its end tick, as a `.chart` phrase holds its lyrics: * **Required:** every note and lyric inside a phrase. * **Required:** each phrase has a length, and ends at or before the tick where the next phrase of its part starts. * **Recommended:** each phrase ends after its last note starts, or where the next phrase starts. **Edge case: a note or lyric on a phrase's end tick.** It belongs to that phrase, unless the next phrase starts on that tick: then it belongs to the next phrase. Clone Hero and YARG read notes and lyrics this way. Unlike a `.chart` phrase, a `.mid` phrase is one note, so it always has an end. **Edge case: lyrics without notes.** A part may hold phrases and lyrics with no notes, for lyrics without pitches. Clone Hero and YARG show its lyrics, and YARG and scan-chart list no vocals part for it. ## Star power Note 116 on `PART VOCALS` or `HARM1` gives star power to each phrase that starts inside it. Clone Hero ignores it. `HARM2` and `HARM3` take `HARM1`'s star power. ## Harmonies The three harmony parts share their phrases: * `HARM1`'s phrases are the phrases of all three harmonies: they set where each is scored, and its star power. A `HARM2` or `HARM3` note outside them isn't scored. * `HARM2`'s phrases mark where YARG moves the lyrics of harmonies 2 and 3 to a new line. **Required:** they cover every `HARM3` note. * `HARM3` has no phrases of its own. ## Deprecated * **`PART HARM1` to `PART HARM3`,** names from The Beatles: Rock Band. YARG reads them as `HARM1` to `HARM3` when the file has no `HARM1` to `HARM3`, and scan-chart reads them as the same parts. Write `HARM1` to `HARM3` instead. * **Note 106,** the second player's phrase in older Rock Band charts. Every scanner reads it as a phrase, but they disagree where it differs from a 105. Write 105 instead. **Required:** each 106 starts and ends where a 105 does. * **`[range_shift]` and `[range_shift ]`.** YARG reads them as a range shift, and Clone Hero and scan-chart ignore them. Write note 0 instead. ## Ignored * **Note 97,** hidden percussion. No scanner reads it. * **Any other note number,** such as 104, which YARG reads as a censorship marker after a `[CENSORSHIP_MARKERS]` event. * **A text event that starts with `[`,** such as `[play]`. No scanner reads it as a lyric, and scan-chart writes it back as a text event. * **An empty lyric.** * **Star power on `HARM2` and `HARM3`, and phrases on `HARM3`.** YARG and scan-chart use `HARM1`'s and `HARM2`'s instead. ## Invalid forms A scanner reads the first track of each part, as scan-chart does, and Clone Hero does for `PART VOCALS`. YARG sings the first `PART VOCALS`, and shows the lyrics of every `PART VOCALS` track. It sings the last of each harmony track. scan-chart's export leaves out the others. A scanner uses `HARMn`, wherever it is, as YARG and scan-chart do, and scan-chart's export writes only that track. Clone Hero reads neither. From its code, YARG copies `HARM1`'s phrases into `HARM2` and `HARM3` as it reads each track, so a harmony track before `HARM1` gets no phrases there. Without `HARM1`, YARG doesn't list harmonies 2 and 3. scan-chart reads the tracks in any order, and uses `HARM2`'s and `HARM3`'s own phrases when there's no `HARM1`. Its export writes the tracks in order. Clone Hero doesn't show such a lyric, and YARG doesn't sing such a note. YARG's vocals and scan-chart join a lyric before a phrase to that phrase, and scan-chart drops a lyric after the last phrase. A part with no phrases at all shows nothing in any scanner, and scan-chart's export writes it empty. Clone Hero, YARG's vocals and scan-chart ignore it, as for any note: see [Note pairing](/mid/note-pairing#invalid-forms). So Clone Hero doesn't show the lyrics of a phrase with no note-off. YARG's lyrics read each 105 or 106 note-on as a phrase start, and each note-off as a phrase end, as in a `.chart` file. There, a phrase with no note-off runs to the next phrase's start, and the last one is dropped, unless nothing in the song-wide events comes after it. A note-off with no note-on starts a phrase, which the next phrase start or end closes. Clone Hero joins the next syllable to a lyric with a `-` anywhere in it, and joins a lyric that starts with `+` to the one before it. YARG and scan-chart give such a symbol no meaning. Clone Hero and YARG's lyrics don't show it, and YARG's vocals and scan-chart keep a `-`. Clone Hero shows a lyric inside two phrases in both. scan-chart gives each note and lyric to the first phrase that holds it. Of a 105 and a 106 that start at one tick, Clone Hero keeps the later in the file, YARG the shorter, and scan-chart the longer, and scan-chart's export writes only that one. A scanner reads the note and lyric on its tick as in it, since a phrase holds its end tick. Clone Hero reads the lyric so, and scan-chart both. YARG's vocals put nothing in it, and give the lyric on its tick to the next phrase. scan-chart's export writes it at length 0. Every scanner reads every type of text event as a lyric, except a track name and a copyright notice: `FF 04` and `FF 06` to `FF 09` too. scan-chart's export writes every lyric it reads as `FF 05`. Clone Hero and scan-chart read `brk[x]` as the lyric `brk[x]`. YARG's vocals read it as the text `x`, not a lyric. Clone Hero removes it from the lyric it shows. From its code, YARG shows it as text. scan-chart keeps it, and writes it back. Clone Hero shows the spaces, and shows a lyric of only spaces as spaces. YARG's vocals and scan-chart remove them, and scan-chart's export writes the lyric without them. Clone Hero shows both, in the order of the file. YARG and scan-chart keep one when the two are the same, and otherwise sort them. scan-chart's export writes them sorted. It has no effect in Clone Hero. YARG and scan-chart give its symbols to the next note, and YARG can leave a lyric that matches no note out of the lines of lyrics it shows. For two notes of one pitch, a scanner pairs them as [Note pairing](/mid/note-pairing#invalid-forms) says: a note-off ends the latest open note of its number and channel. It then trims them as overlapping sustains are trimmed: the earlier note ends where the later starts, and the later runs to whichever end is later. YARG ignores a note-on while the pitch is on, and ends the first note at the first note-off. YARG and scan-chart keep both of two overlapping notes of different pitches. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.