For example, the examples in the tutorial that comes with Stella are written using MIDI objects and the MIDI output syntax in order to remain as general as possible.

But by simply changing the syntax to the Music Kit, all the examples will output to the Music Kit synthesis language rather than to MIDI, with channel information now selecting from the various preloaded digital instruments defined in the Music Kit. If the syntax is then changed again to CMN, output would then produce a Postscript file containing an image of the example in common music notation.

It should be pointed out that communication between the three levels need not be unidirectional, and that, since the levels represent closely related musical activities analogous to the real world activities of writing music, designing musical instruments and listening to music, the boundaries between levels are weak and even arbitrary in some instances. It is possible for a composer to work in different levels concurrently. For example, Common Music may exist in the same Lisp image as the CLM synthesis language, which means that the composition and synthesis levels are seamlessly integrated in a single working environment, and the composer is therefore free to concurrently design both synthesis algorithms and musical structures that exploit it.

Figure 2: Conceptual levels may be seamlessly integrated in some instances. Building Common Music in conjunction with CLM and CMN creates a single environment for composition, sound synthesis and music manuscripting.