The <swing> element

Parent element: <sound>

The swing element specifies whether or not to use swing playback, where consecutive on-beat / off-beat eighth or 16th notes are played with unequal nominal durations.

The straight element specifies that no swing is present, so consecutive notes have equal durations.

The first and second elements are positive integers that specify the ratio between durations of consecutive notes. For example, a first element with a value of 2 and a second element with a value of 1 applied to eighth notes specifies a quarter note / eighth note tuplet playback, where the first note is twice as long as the second note. Ratios should be specified with the smallest integers possible. For example, a ratio of 6 to 4 should be specified as 3 to 2 instead.

The optional swing-type element specifies the note type, either eighth or 16th, to which the ratio is applied. The value is eighth if this element is not present.

The optional swing-style element is a string describing the style of swing used.

The swing element has no effect for playback of grace notes, notes where a type element is not present, and notes where the specified duration is different than the nominal value associated with the specified type. If a swung note has attack and release attributes, those values modify the swung playback.