[linux-audio-user] Note typesetting for Linux

[Glenn McCord]

Them wrote:

> Michal Seta wrote:
>
>> I'm sorry but I don't think Finale or any clone of it should exist in
>>  linux.  It became a de facto standard because it used to be the only
>>  decent quality consummer desktop music publishing app.  Just because
>>  most of linux users/developers come from Windows background does not
>>  mean we should all go for the same kinds of solutions.  A lot of
>> them are bad.  I understand that users have certain work habits so
>> some middle ground needs be found... sometimes.
>
>
> LilyPond lends itself quite well to being the backend for a more user 
> friendly interface, much like LaTeX does (i.e., LyX).  The idea behind 
> LyX is that the writer can focus on her content rather than having to 
> deal with formatting, layout, etc (which LaTeX does very well), and 
> LyX hides some of the 'housekeeping' stuff you need to know to use 
> LaTeX or TeX directly.
>
> Having something like LyX for LilyPond would be a great idea... and in 
> fact, Rosegarden provides a lot of this.  It's not perfect (but 
> neither is Finale -- it's pissed me off royally a few times), but in 
> just a couple of years it has come a long way since that ancient 
> Athena widget version.  I think we should focus more on what's already 
> being developed and helping that along rather than starting up yet 
> another project.
>
I've held off making any comment up until now...

Look, I'm a composition student and most of my work is jazz and 
orchestral related stuff. I like a tool that I can see music as I see 
music on a stave, write music as if I'm writing music on a stave, and 
have something able to play it back to me so I know what type of crazy 
sounds I've concocted. It's also a bonus to be able to hammer a midi 
keyboard and see the crazy jazz chord come up on screen.

Time is of the essence when writing. Lilypond is all good and well when 
you're keen to rewrite your 12 minute full orchesral score into a text 
pad so that you can have pretty typesetted music, but it's more 
practical to compose and type set it at the same time using a graphical 
tool because in the traditionl comopsitional world, music is written to 
a stave. A graphical frontend IS the easiest way to do it. You see what 
you would see if you were composing away from the computer. I can't see 
how this can possibly be debated. Ask anyobe at the music school, 
students AND lecturers and they will share the same thoughts as I.

Glenn.