Gamelan notation ladder-like vertical staff allowed notation of the balungan by dots and also included important drum strokes. "Kepatihan" is widely used in ethnomusicological studies of the gamelan, sometimes accompanied by transcriptions into Western staff notation with approximate mapping of slendro and pelog tuning systems of gamelan onto the western staff, with and without various symbols for microtones. The relative merits of "kepatihan" and staff notation are sometimes debated, but staff notation is essentially incompatible with the 'end-weighted' nature of melodic structures in Indonesian music. In this respect, "kepatihan" is more suitable, although the usage of overscores (taken from the Galin-Paris-Chevé system)
Gamelan Surakarta although the pattern it plays for the balungan is often the same, in the Yogyanese style it is rhythmically shifted earlier, creating a different emphasis in relation to the balungan. Gamelan Surakarta A typical large, double gamelan in contemporary Solo (Surakarta) will include, in the sléndro set, one saron panerus (or saron peking), two saron barung, one or two saron demung, one gendér panerus, one gender barung, one slenthem (or "gender panembung"), one bonang panerus and one bonang barung (each with twelve gongs), one gambang kayu, one siter or celempung, one rebab, one suling, one pair of kethuk and kempyang,