Frank Nordberg wrote:
>To sum it up, both BarFly and abcm2ps seem to handle this particular job
>fairly well - slightly better than I had expected, but there are still a
>few problems:
>
>1. As far as I know both programs are single platform applications:
>BarFly is Mac only, and from Jean-Francois' site I gather that abcm2ps
>is Linux only.
abcm2ps is written in ANSI C and could be compiled for other platforms
without much trouble.
BarFly would require an enormous amount of work to port elsewhere.
>2. The two programs require different ABC extensions, so you'll have to
>post two different versions of the file.
Not necessarily. abcm2ps doesn't have the middle= directive, so the
tune has to be transposed into the right octave, but that will be OK
in BarFly. BarFly will ignore abcm2ps's %%staves directive, and
abcm2ps will probably ignore the V: fields in the header in which
BarFly stores the same information. BarFly doesn't like the clef
specifiers on the same line as the V: fields in the tune, but they
would probably work in both programs as an inline K: field [K:treble],
and in any case they are redundant in this case since both programs will
default to treble clef.
Maybe somebody could try this out with abcm2ps and see if it works:
X: 26
T:De madrigale
C:Tielman Susato
S:Tileman Susato: Danserye (1551)
M:3/2 %org. time signature: C3
%org. no barlines
L:1/2
V:2 up transpose -12
V:3 merge transpose -12
V:4 merge down transpose -12
K:C
%%staves 1 (2 3 4)
V:1
c>de|d>ef|c>de|d3::e>de|c>de|f2e|d3:|
V:2
G2c|B2A|A2G|G3::c2c|cAB|dAc|B3:|
V:3
E2E|G2F|E2C|D3::G>FG|A2G|F2G|G3:|
V:4
C>B,C|G,2D|A,>B,C|G,3::C2C|F2E|D2C|G,3:|
>3. Stem directions and "empty bars" aren't problems in this particular
>example, but they can be major headaches in slightly more complex
>pieces. As far as I know, BarFly is the only program that offers a
>useable solution to the latter, while none seem to be able to handle the
>former properly.
Doesn't abcm2ps have the invisible rest x? abc2ps does.
I could easily fix BarFly to change the stem directions in mid tune.
Maybe in an inline K: field again as for clefs.
>4. Most important of all: We're talking about program specific
>extensions to the ABC standard here, and that wasn't what Eric asked
>for. Guess it's time for the abc standard committee to start working!
>
All extensions start out as program-specific. If they turn out to
be useful they get adopted by other programs. The w: field for words
started in abc2ps and is now supported by most programs. M:none started
in BarFly. middle = started in Muse and is now supported by BarFly.
Use of abc for Gregorian chant notation started in BarFly and is now
supported by Melody Assistant. Multivoice abc using V: started in
abc2midi and (at least in its basics) is now supported by most programs.
Irritating though it is for users, that seems to be the way that the
language progresses.
Phil Taylor
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