el Mon, 19 Jul 2004 10:25:37 -0400
Dave Phillips <dlphilp(a)bright.net> escribió:
but I felt that MT suffers from two major drawbacks:
1. It requires TeX, and unless you already have TeX installed it's
no trivial matter to install it.
2. Its language semantics and syntax are woefully opaque, especially
when compared to LilyPond.
after sending my previous post i tried to take another look at lilypond,
since its syntax seem to be very well designed. but when i tried to build it
compilation failed, and if i'm not mistaken it was because lilypond also
requires TeX, which i don't have and i can't involve myself in installing at
the moment. am i wrong with my assumption?
Also, am I correct in noting that the
score editor has been removed from MusE ?
yes, which is a pity. i mean, a midi sequencers _should be separated_ from
music notation programs, i agree with that. but i also think that staff
display is very convenient in a MIDI sequencer.
what i would like to see is the following:
1) a specialized MIDI sequencer (and MusE is headed to do well in this
area), with _three_ editors:
- list of MIDI events
- piano roll
- music staff, something very simple, just the notes (pitches and
durations). this is intended as an editor of MIDI events, not for printing,
and could (should?) be just one continuous system, no more, no less than the
piano roll.
2) music notation software proper, which can of course take two forms:
2a. text file with the score definition later compiled by the program, à la
CMN or lilypond;
2b. a graphic interface, where notation objects are placed graphically, à la
(if you excuse me) Finale.
a very convenient feature of music notation software, specially for scores
with a more traditional use of instruments, is the ability to export (and
ideally, also to import) MIDI files; in the case of programs with a GUI,
perhaps even to be able to play the score as a MIDI sequence from within the
application. due to this overlapping of functions many projects tried to
develop the "MIDI sequencer-notation program" unfortunate paradigm, which
is, IMO, very inconvenient. in the case with muse, they decided to do
away with the score editor altogether, which is equally wrong. i think that
proper understanding of the role of score editors in MIDI sequencers, and
MIDI capabilities in notation software is essential to the development of
useful applications.
dave, what do you think? i know authors have the right to develop their
projects as they prefer, but perhaps we as users could have some influence,
specially someone with such a wide and well-deserved recognition as you.
best,
lj
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