Re: Midi interface in lilypond Re: Feeding a troll.

[Jan Nieuwenhuizen]

charles <address@hidden> writes:

> Sorry I wasn't a little more clear in first Email.

Ok.  You just came ranting in, making firm but silly statements, some
of which you could have easily verified if you're a programmer (remove
MIDI).  That's not the best possible way to be taken seriously.

> Its just that a more immediate method of displaying a screen output  in
> a page layout would go a long way to making
> Linux computerized music typesetting  more efficient.

As I said earlier, that's questionable.  A gui is easier to use if
you're new to the program.  GUIs are often clumsy and not at all
efficient for the experienced user.  However, to fix up small
typesetting mistakes that LilyPond makes, a GUI-like interaction may
be what you want.

Also, it depends what you're doing.  A copyist and a composer have
other requirements.

> To answer as to whether or not I'm a troll, well, if I was I sure
> wouldn't be trying to help create something with no serious prospects
> of financial pay back.

In my experience, people that talk too much don't send any (useful)
code; but you're more than welcome to prove me wrong.

> What I would love to see is a music notation device that could become a
> swiss army knife to teachers, composers and any musically literate
> player who uses a computer.

Yes, that would be nice.  What we try to do with LilyPond, is to
generate beautifully notated music.  I believe that if we can achieve
that, most people will live without the lack of a GUI, or use
Denemo/Notedit.

> Funny though most of the musicians and teachers I know around here
> (Victoria B.C.) use  older Apples to typeset  music, with either Encore
> or Finale.

Ok, but Finale is not widely used for publishing; at least not here in
Europe.  The standard output quality is too low; and making it look
nice is lots of work.

> Yes I have tried Lilypond but find that the process of visualisation of
> its output from only its input language is a long climb, not unlike
> writing in c++.
> Not nearly as difficult as Musixtex, but  still a long process.

Yes.  Maybe improving the Tutorial can help?

> A gui with a command line and some carefully thought out functions for
> file and settings,
> that could pipe its output to Lilypond and return a rewritten screen at
> each entry should be possible.
> If the system resource  usages are  planned very carefully, then newer
> processors with adequate ram should have no trouble  accomplishing  good
> 
> output speed. I feel that this would greatly lessen the learning curve
> in Lilypond and make quick accurate typesetting of original composition
> possible.

Indeed.  Type the bulk in Emacs, then touch-up with a gui.  There are
vague wouldnt-it-be-nice ideas for GUI interactive editing of LilyPond
files; but that's not going to happen in a year or two.

Greetings,
Jan.

-- 
Jan Nieuwenhuizen <address@hidden> | GNU LilyPond - The music typesetter
http://www.xs4all.nl/~jantien       | http://www.lilypond.org