User Guide

Comprehensive guide to using the IDTAP API for musical transcription analysis.

Table of Contents

Overview

The IDTAP API provides programmatic access to the Interactive Digital Transcription and Analysis Platform, a specialized system for analyzing Hindustani classical music. This guide covers:

Authentication - Setting up secure access
Transcription Management - Loading and working with musical data
Audio Processing - Uploading and managing audio files
Data Export - Exporting analysis results
Advanced Features - Batch processing and custom analysis

Key Concepts

Transcription Structure

IDTAP transcriptions follow a hierarchical structure:

Piece (Complete Transcription)
├── Phrases (Musical phrases/segments)
│   ├── Trajectories (Pitch contours)
│   │   └── Pitches (Individual frequency points)
│   └── Articulations (Performance techniques)
├── Sections (Structural divisions)
└── Metadata (Title, raga, tala, etc.)

Data Models

The API provides rich data models that map to this structure:

Piece - Complete transcription
Phrase - Musical phrase
Trajectory - Pitch trajectory
Pitch - Individual pitch point
Raga - Raga information
Section - Structural sections

Authentication Model

The API uses Google OAuth with secure token storage:

One-time setup - Authenticate once per system
Automatic refresh - Tokens renewed automatically
Secure storage - Encrypted token storage
Cross-platform - Works on Windows, macOS, Linux

Getting Help

Documentation - Complete API reference and examples
GitHub Issues - Bug reports and feature requests
Community - Discussion and questions

Next Steps

Start with user-guide/getting-started for a step-by-step introduction.