I've typeset quite much figured base using Lilypond.
One possibility, mentioned by Christian is to use a
lyrics line, however, I've mostly used ordinary text
scripts attached to the notes. See for example the
file mutopia/gallina.ly included in the distribution.
(I chose to put the figures above the base line as
was normally done in the original manuscripts. If you
want them below, just replace the '^' with underscores.)
What's missing at the moment, is font symbols for the
numbers with a slash to indicate chromatic modifications.
However, if you implement TeX macros which produce
the symbols, you could use them directly in Lilypond.
Also, if there's a demand, it's not difficult to
add those symbols to the Lilypond fonts.
I'm not sure what more support Christian would want
in Lilypond. Of course, we could do some version of
the chord name engraver, but since it's virtually
impossible to translate from the chord to the
figures in a unique way, I don't see how to do it.
/Mats
> Hi,
>
> Can lilypond (1.2 / 1.3) do figured bass notation? If not, would it be
> hard to implement? This is a (level) row of numbers/accidentals which go
> under a bass-line staff and tell a keyboard player what chords to use when
> improvising around the bass line. The numbers are usually the same font
> and size as numbers for fingerings, and occur in vertical groupings of 1,
> 2, 3 or (occasionally) 4 numbers. E.g.:
>
> -------------------|------------------------------------
> -------------------|------------------------------------
> ----------B-L-A-H--|------------------------------------
> -------------------|------------------------------------
> -------------------|------------------------------------
>
> 6 9 8 5 6 (6) 7 ...
> 2 #
>
>
> I can send a scan if that would be less unclear :-)
>
> Thanks,
>
> David
