Re: [bug] Crescendi (still) lead to unaudible notes in MIDI files

[Mats Bengtsson]

Maurizio Tomasi wrote:
> On Thu, 16 Sep 2004, Mats Bengtsson wrote:
>
>
> > Yes, this is a long-standing bug, which occurs when you don't
> > specify any absolute dynamics before having a crescendo/diminuendo.
> > The problem is that LilyPond doesn't set any default volume to
> > start with. Actually, if you have a score without any dynamics
> > at all, the MIDI file will not contain any dynamics settings
> > either, so you get the default for the MIDI device you use.
> >
> >    /Mats
>
>
> Now I understand.  Well, I shall try to cope with this.
>
> This makes me think of some nice features for Lilypond 4.0 (!).  It could 
> be useful to turn off crescendi performance when there is no dynamic sign.  
> A simpler solution would be a Scheme command to turn on/off the MIDI 
> performance of hairpins.  Or, perhaps even simpler (and more consistent), 
> to completely disable velocity changes in the MIDI output, something like 
> #(use-midi-dynamics #f).  

No problem to do in the current versions, just remove the modules in
LilyPond that handle the hairpins and absolute dynamics:
(for version 2.2)

\midi{
  \context{
    \VoiceContext
    \remove "Span_dynamic_performer"
    \remove "Dynamic_performer"
  }
}

The MIDI contexts are less documented than the paper contexts, so if
you want to learn about the default setup, you have to read the
/usr/share/lilypond/*.*.*/ly/performer-init.ly file.

  /Mats

> The reason for this (apparently) strange request is, I use MIDI output 
> only as a tool to check my scores. But it is annoying when there is a \p 
> immediately following a \f, because the \p music is hardly audible, and 
> I often miss wrong notes (and this happens quite often in classical 
> music). In this case it would be very useful for me to completely disable 
> the interpretation of dynamics.
>
> I do not know if this is simple to implement: it's just some thoughts. The 
> real problem is, there are a lot of crescendi in late XIX-century music 
> (e.g. Brahms) that are not associated with dynamics.
>
> Maurizio.

--
=============================================
        Mats Bengtsson
        Signal Processing
        Signals, Sensors and Systems
        Royal Institute of Technology
        SE-100 44  STOCKHOLM
        Sweden
        Phone: (+46) 8 790 8463                         
        Fax:   (+46) 8 790 7260
        Email: address@hidden
        WWW: http://www.s3.kth.se/~mabe
=============================================