Jack Campin wrote: >Version 3 *should* produce an error warning, as there is an empty bar >between lines 3 and 4; this is no different from writing the first two >lines as > > A>ee e>fg|e>dB d>BG|A>ee e>fg|e>dB A3 | > |a>aa g>ag|f>gf e>AA|A>ee e>fg|e>dB A3:| > >which BarFly correctly flags as an attempt to write a bar shorter than >the time signature says. (In fact BarFly doesn't see the problem in 3, >though according to the 1.6 standard, it should: repeat signs are bars, >so the two cases ought to be treated the same way).
It used to flag that as an error, but I changed it not to do so, as it occurs in so many tunes. In any case, repeat signs don't always coincide with metrical bars. The commonest case where a repeat sign is not a metrical bar is in a two part tune where the last bar of the first part is shortened to match the anacrusis at the start of the second part. >Also, if you want to reorganize the line breaks, you have to edit the >adjacent :| and |: signs into a single :: (after all, :||: is illegal). >This is a silly timewaster. If you're changing line breaks you shouldn't >be forced to change anything *but* line breaks. :||: is not strictly illegal; just a waste of space. >The optimal behaviour: write the ABC as in version 2, with a display >option in the program to suppress those dangling marginal dots and >another option to interpret the :: sign graphically as a closing repeat >on one line and an opening repeat on the next. That would decouple the >choice of repeat sign from the physical location of its representation >in staff notation and allow for all the staff-notation conventions that >people have expressed a preference for in this thread. It's on the list of things that BarFly will do when I get around to it:-) >(I thought I'd compare my version of that tune with how other people >have represented it. But it turned out that all three copies known >to the Tune Finder are mine, which I find astonishing considering how >familiar it is). > > >: James is adamant that abc2midi won't play a repeat unless there's >: a balanced begin/end. > >I didn't realize this. I haven't used a current version, since I have >nothing that will run it, and I soon gave up on the one included with >the old abc4mac (0.95?) because it produced too many spurious warnings. > >Should I put a warning on my site for people not to use abc2midi on >anything there? Almost every tune I've transcribed uses the Kerr's/ >NPTB convention, and it *must* be easier for a programmer to modify >their code to accept them than for me to change all of them. (And no >way in hell am I going to change anything until the software I use >gives me the option never to see redundant initial repeats in staff >notation made from them). I think most people who use abc2midi will be well aware of it. Phil Taylor To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
