Cipher Music (SIL)

This keyboard is for typing Cipher music notation (where numbers represent notes).

The Cipher music notation is used throughout Indonesia and China for all kinds of music. The keyboard is not intended for general orthographic use, although it is usable for song lyrics in simple Roman writing systems. This solution is primarily intended for fairly straightforward songbooks for singers, not for complex instrumental music. It can handle harmony lines fine, but not a lot of intricacies or subtleties (e.g. no staccato).

This keyboard and the Doulos SIL Cipher font (which will be installed with this keyboard) work best with applications using the Graphite rendering technology, such as LibreOffice.

The default for this keyboard is to type Indonesian cipher (kepatihan) where overlines are used. If you wish to use Chinese cipher (jianpu) that is also possible with this keyboard. Use one or the other of these options. Do not turn jianpu on with Keyman configuration and off with the RALT hotkeys.

  1. Using Keyman Configuration: On Windows, go to Keyman Configuration, select the keyboard, click on Keyboard options and choose Chinese cipher. You may need to exit Keyman configuration before the default behavior changes. This method will change your default to jianpu and everytime you switch to this keyboard it will remain using the jianpu style until you change it back to kepatihan style using Keyman configuration.
  2. Using RALT hotkeys: It is also possible to switch from kepatihan to jianpu using the RALT HYPHEN sequence (RALT+-). Switch back to kepatihan using the RALT EQUAL sequence (RALT+=). This method will change to jianpu during just this session of using the keyboard. After you stop using the keyboard it will return to kepatihan.