I am aligned with Darcy's priorities. Computers ought to be good at these tasks - be able to analyze the parameters and make appropriate adjustments. This seems to me to be the kind of mathematics that can be usefully built into software.
Translation of audio files into notation is a more sophisticated problem, one that requires the kind of "jumping of levels" that computers are less good at. I can think of a number of conditions in which notation decisions reside in areas where choices are sufficiently complex that I'd be reluctant to trust a computer. Just make good notation and engraving practices more automatic and leave the musical decisions to the musician. My 2 cents. Chuck On Sep 17, 2013, at 9:20 AM, Darcy James Argue <djar...@earthlink.net> wrote: > While I respect Craig's list of priorities, it's pretty much the opposite of > what I want. > > (I also recognize that what Craig wants is probably closer to what the market > wants than what I want… ) > > What I want is a music notation program that makes much more intelligent > engraving choices automatically, without having to invoke plug-ins. > > I want automatic vertical spacing that is actually functional. > > When adjusting vertical spacing, I want to be able to specify that dragging > staves should move them by increments of one staff space unless I specify > otherwise. I also want to be able to specify when I want to keep the > bottommost staff of a system in place, and when I want it to move. > > I want courtesy accidentals that update automatically and make intelligent > decisions based on musical parameters (i.e., on tied notes at the beginning > of a new system, following a multimeasure rest on the same system, octave > displacements, etc). > > I want articulations that are set to appear outside slurs to actually avoid > slur tips. > > I want tuplet brackets that are longer than slurs to go outside the slurs, > and those that are shorter than slurs to go inside the slurs. > > I want hairpin tips and ends to automatically shorten to avoid collisions > with dynamics. > > I want text expressions, dynamics, etc, to erase barlines without having to > define enclosures for them. > > I want beams to automatically avoid creating wedges. > > I want accidentals on notes with ledger lines to avoid ledger lines. I want > accidentals on chords to space themselves correctly, taking into account > that, e.g., flats on a fifth can be closer together than sharps on a fifth. > > I want to allow dotted rests in 4/4, but only dotted eighth rests and smaller. > > I could go on all day… > > There's a book that's been discussed a bit on this list, Elaine Gould's > Behind Bars. I know some people have found fault with particular aspects of > it (I think any serious copyist or engraver is going to have their own > issues), but what strikes me is how very few of the engraving standards that > she outlines are able to be implemented automatically and reliably by any > notation program currently on the market. > > Whether you agree with everything she recommends or not, any modern notation > program ought to be able to accommodate everything recommended in those 650+ > pages as a house style, automatically, without recourse to plug-ins. That > ought to be the bare minimum, and I hope it's what the Steinberg folks are > working towards. > > As for whether this is a zero-sum game — features cost development time and > money to implement. The above is where I'd most want the time and money to > go: making it faster, easier, and more automatic to generate high-quality > music notation. > > Cheers, > > - DJA > ----- > WEB: http://www.secretsocietymusic.org > > > > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > Finale@shsu.edu > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > Chuck Israels 8831 SE 12th Ave. Portland, OR 97202-7097 land line: (503) 954-2107 cell phone: (360) 201-3434 <www.chuckisraelsjazz.com> _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
