Gianni Cunich <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Given this, If I really wish to use a flexible, user friendly notation
> package, like Melody Assistant (another software I am satisfied I have
> registered) or the NoteWorthy Composer, that's the rule...one tune = one
> file. To store a whole tune book you have to use a typesetting
> package... yet, none of those currently avalable really supports the abc
> notation except for the all too limited original standard
Too bad. I use abc2ps (which does support multivoice music, for example)
to create EPS files which I can include in my LaTeX documents just fine.
In fact, I'm typesetting Scottish country dance books which look every
bit as nice, if not nicer (if I say so myself) than most of what is on
the market. See
http://www.tm.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de/~lingnau/pmbook/
for an example (and yes, it would be possible to put all the ABC
notation for the tunes in that book in a single ABC file and typeset it
from there). I do keep every tune in its own file but even so this
approach is far superior to the point-and-click packages on the market,
since the music formatting is governed by a single parameter file which
is common to all the ABCs. If I do change parameters like the staff
width or distance, all I need to do is start a `make' run and go to the
kitchen for a drink. When I come back the whole book is re-done with the
new settings. I don't have to go through every single file by hand,
which is a great time-saver.
> Finally, yes again, Zel is only available for Windows. What a pity!
> Yet a number of abc related softwares are available for other platforms
> only, but nobody did seem to care about it so far...
Most of the important programs like abc2ps or abcMIDI can be gotten to
run on most any platform that supports a C compiler. The worst that can
happen to you is that you have to try and find somebody to compile the
software for you.
> P.S: BTW, I was told that quality, and not quantity, is what actually
> matters... anybody wish to argue about the quantity of relevant/vital
> informations about the musical stuff uploaded on the web has got lost
> because of the quite_but_not_really_yet_updated abc standard compliance?
> Or, to say better, about what this means in terms of quality? There is
> hardly any sense in telling that a midi file is a rather poor exchange
> musical medium when what we have to compare with it doesn't even supply
> any universally agreed symbol for a mordent or a fermata!
ABC was originally intended for a type of music where mordents or
fermatas aren't usually notated at all, since every musician will put in
their own decorations anyway. It turns out that most of the music
available on the web in ABC format (which incidentally *is* rather a
lot, most of which is quite useful, thank you very much) is of that
genre, so not having any universally agreed symbols for those doesn't
really hurt the `quality' of the material all that much. This is of
course not to say that it wouldn't be nice to have agreement, but
apparently if it was a big important issue we would have standardised on
something long ago.
Incidentally, MIDI files are a lousy medium for exchanging notation
because among other things they don't have the notion of a bracketed
repeat, which again for the type of music ABC excels at representing
would be a major drawback. They may be nice for exchanging musical
arrangements that you can play on your synth if you never do intend to
go back to sheet music, but claiming that a text format geared towards
MIDI generation is better than one meant for representing sheet music is
comparing apples to oranges.
Anselm
--
Anselm Lingnau .......................................... [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I sometimes wonder if Microsoft keeps beating this application-OS-lovefest
drum because they really have no idea how to write an OS API, so they just do
whatever their apps people ask for and call it one. -- Peter da Silva
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