Appendix A — Prompt Lexicon

This lexicon grew out of the prompts I was already writing. I wanted to see where style ended and performance began, which lines described development over time, and which ideas were important enough to resolve a conflict. Separating those jobs into fields made the prompt easier for me to read before generation and easier to diagnose afterwards.

The fields are not commands with fixed meanings, and Suno does not require this format. They are labels for my own musical reasoning.

How to use it

I start with the few fields carrying the idea, then add another only when I can explain what it is responsible for. If the result needs a different bass movement, I go to Bass. If the arrangement has the right sounds but stops developing, I look at Motion or Structure. The descriptions remain creative directions, not technical guarantees.

Category map

Category	Primarily affects	Use it to answer
Genres	Overall style bias	What musical traditions should frame the result?
Identity	Relationship between styles	Should the influences blend equally, compete, or form a clear primary/secondary hierarchy?
Influence	Era, scene, or reference bias	Which lineage or production vocabulary should colour the result?
Tempo	Speed and energy envelope	What pulse should organize the track?
Intro	Opening gesture	How should the track announce itself?
Bass	Low-end character and movement	What should carry weight, groove, and bass identity?
Melody	Hooks and lead writing	What kind of melodic motion should be memorable?
Harmony	Chord language and harmonic atmosphere	How should chords move and resolve?
Synth	Synth architecture and lead timbre	What electronic voice should dominate?
Rhythm	Groove and temporal behaviour	How should the beat move?
Drums	Break, transient, and percussion detail	What should the drum performance sound like?
Textures	Timbre, surface, and spectral character	What should the sonic material feel like?
Sound Design	Transformation and synthesis behaviour	How should sounds be constructed or reshaped?
Vocals	Singer, delivery, and processing	Who sings, how, and with what treatment?
FX	Transitional and editorial gestures	What punctuates changes and creates impact?
Dynamics	Tension and release	How should intensity change?
Motion	Evolution over time	How should the arrangement avoid stasis?
Priority	Conflict resolution	Which instructions must win when descriptors compete?
Mix	Spatial and production finish	How should the result be balanced and presented?
Mood	Emotional colouring	What should the track feel like?
Structure	Arrangement tendencies	How should sections unfold?

Working syntax

I write one semantic field per line:

Category | Descriptor | Descriptor | Descriptor

For consistency in new prompts, I normally use Genres and Textures. I leave source prompts as they were written, even when their labels differ, because normalising the evidence would make later comparisons less trustworthy.

A readable field order

Order	Field group	Reason
1	Genres, Identity, Influence	Establishes the stylistic frame and blend policy.
2	Tempo, Intro	Establishes speed and the opening gesture.
3	Bass, Melody, Harmony, Synth	Defines the main musical materials.
4	Rhythm, Drums	Defines pulse, break behaviour, and transient detail.
5	Textures, Sound Design	Defines surface character and transformation.
6	Vocals	Defines singer, delivery, and processing.
7	FX, Dynamics, Motion	Defines transitions and time-based development.
8	Priority	Resolves conflicts among earlier instructions.
9	Mix, Mood, Structure	Shapes presentation, emotional destination, and form.

This is a reading order, not a rule. I move fields when another sequence makes the musical logic easier to follow.

Semantic strength

Level	Meaning	Example
Frame	Broad stylistic bias	`Genres
Property	A musical feature to introduce	`Melody
Behaviour	A feature that changes over time	`Motion
Constraint	A condition that should not be traded away	`Priority
Presentation	The finishing character	`Mix

Flexible placement

Some descriptors can do more than one job. I place them according to the responsibility they carry in the current track:

Descriptor type	Default field	Promote to Priority when…
Continuous forward movement	Motion	loss of momentum would break the concept.
Dreamlike atmosphere	Mood	the dream character must dominate competing genre cues.
Chip timbres	Textures or Synth	the chiptune identity must survive throughout.
Full-time drum and bass	Rhythm	halftime interpretation must be explicitly prevented.
Reflective outro	Structure	it is a required destination rather than an optional tendency.
Cohesive hybrid	Identity	style equality is essential to the concept.

Prompt architecture templates

Focused style

Genres | [Primary Genre]
Tempo | [BPM]
Bass | [Movement] | [Sub Foundation]
Melody | [Lead or Hook]
Harmony | [Chord Language]
Rhythm | [Groove]
Drums | [Break Type] | [Detail]
Vocals | [Voice] | [Delivery]
Motion | [Evolution]
Priority | [Non-negotiable behaviour]
Mix | [Width] | [Colour]
Mood | [Emotional direction]
Structure | [Flow and ending]

Cohesive hybrid

Genres | [Genre A] | [Genre B]
Identity | Cohesive Hybrid | Equal Influence
[Anchor category] | [Anchor descriptor]
[Bridge category] | [Compatible bridge property]
Priority | [Anchor survives] | [Rhythmic constraint]
Motion | Continuous Evolution | Microvariation

Contrast-driven style

Genres | [Style]
Intro | [Initial state]
Dynamics | [Low-state behaviour] | [Release behaviour]
Priority | Contrast
Mood | [State A] to [State B]
Structure | [Unstable section] | [Resolution section] | [Climax]

Reading the confidence labels

Confidence	Moodboard meaning
High	Strong, immediately legible creative association; a dependable source of ideas.
Medium	Useful but context-sensitive; expect the surrounding tags to reshape it.
Low	A speculative or wild-card association included because it may spark something interesting.

Confidence describes how clearly a phrase suggests a direction to me in this library. It does not measure technical correctness or guarantee that Suno will respond consistently.

Optional fields

I use these fields only when the established categories cannot express an important responsibility clearly. Most prompts do not need them.

Candidate category	Could organize	Example questions
Instrumentation	Named instruments and ensemble makeup	Which instruments should carry the arrangement?
Guitar Techniques	Guitar articulation and performance language	Should the guitar chug, tap, shimmer, scrape, or sustain?
Piano Language	Keyboard touch, voicing, and phrase style	Should the piano be percussive, lyrical, jazzy, or minimal?
Orchestration	Distribution of musical roles across an ensemble	Which layer enters when, and how should density grow?
Atmosphere	Environmental and background character	What world should seem to surround the song?
Spatial Design	Depth, width, proximity, and movement in space	What feels close, distant, narrow, wide, or mobile?
Narrative Arc	Emotional or conceptual journey	Where does the track begin and where should it arrive?
Contrast Strategy	Deliberate differences between sections or layers	What changes sharply enough to create drama?
Kinetic Engine	The combined bass, rhythm, drums, pacing and dynamic tension that determine how a track moves and gathers energy	What supplies momentum, controls pacing and shapes tension?
Anchor	The musical identity that must survive	Which melody, cadence, groove, timbre, or harmony defines the piece?
Bridge	A property connecting source and destination styles	What shared rhythm, articulation, or harmony makes the fusion plausible?
Palette	A deliberately limited family of sounds	Which colours belong, and which should be excluded?
Production Style	Broad production character	Should the result feel polished, worn, intimate, huge, dry, or saturated?
Performance Style	Human delivery and articulation	How should the parts be played or sung?