On Wed, Jul 16, 2003 at 02:52:28PM +0000, John Chambers wrote: > Jethro writes: > | I use this abc for obtaining, sending, transcribing and printing tunes - I > | use emacs/xemacs as editor with abc-mode and then to produce top quality > | printed music I use jcabc2ps - what is *wrong* with the abc2ps's ?? - I > | like to use software that does one job - but does it very, very well. > > I think that Guido was talking about the original abc2ps, which > Michael Methfessel is not working on any more. Its descendants all > have names that are variants with one or two letters added. They are > probably all still in some "development" state, but the original > abc2ps is basically a museum piece now. Not to say that it doesn't > work; it works fine. It just lacks some of the goodies that are in > the clones.
I tend to use it, as default. A lot of my abc gets seen by other people, so using something without the goodies helps keep it usable. At cost of the goodies, of course, which I'd like to be able to use, if I ever get the confidence that "the rest of the world" will be able to handle them. Where I do need something that can't be done with abc2ps, I put a note in the header about what variant is needed. > I also see clues that a number of people are using abc2mtex, though > it may be restricted to those who have TeX installed for other > reasons. I've wondered whether someone might like to take this over > and rework it for the new standard. The result could be a very good > music publishing tool. But as far as I know, abc2mtex isn't being > worked on by anyone now. The TeX-ness of it makes for many possibilities that the %%text constructions can't get near, in terms of setting text and tunes together on a page. (nor would we want them too, I reckon. Oh dear, have I just started another 6-month thread ?). My feeling about this is that abc and typesetting are separate issues; I do this by converting each tune, individually, to eps (with all the text removed, title and all) and then writing LaTeX around the "include eps" commands. Which gives all the possibilities of LaTeX (rather than TeX) without restricting me to abc2mtex. Automatic indexing, yeah ! having said which, I still find TeX,etc, a nightmare to work with. I just don't know anything else that does the job. -- Richard Robinson "The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
