Re: PATCH: Arrowed accidentals for microtone notation

[Trevor Bača]

On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 5:43 PM, Maximilian Albert <address@hidden> wrote:

2008/12/14 Werner LEMBERG <address@hidden>:

>
>> Can we please make sure to include at least one example of input
>> syntax in the newsfile?
>
> Well, it's Maximilian's turn...

Yup, sorry. During the last couple of days I didn't have access to the
computer I presently work on (and won't have for another few days),
whence the delay in my response. Werner, thanks a lot for applying and
cleaning up the patches! I should have taken care of using the right
the coding style in the first place.

As for the input syntax, that's a good point anyway. So far I only
used the arrowed accidentals by tweaking the maqam example and
defining separate names for all combinations of notes with all kinds
of arrowed accidentals (see the attached file micro1.ly). The drawback
is that the microtonal notes are associated with a certain pitch and
that one has to add a huge list of note name definitions at the
beginning of the file. One could also redefine the +/- 1/4 and +/- 3/4
alterations to use the arrowed accidentals, as in the attached file
micro2.ly. The drawback ist that one cannot use the "regular"
quartertone accidentals any more since they are overridden by the new
definition (and microtones are still attached to a specific pitch).

Do you think we should provide "standard" names for all the notes with
microtonal alterations? These would have to be localized, right?
(which I don't know how to do properly since I'm not familiar with the
naming conventions in other languages.) Or should we require the user
to make his own definitions each time (s)he wants to use these
accidentals? Which of these methods should be included in the news
file as an example for the recommended syntax?

Hey Max,

I can't speak to any other language besides English, but for English I might suggest the following (pasted out of one of my earlier mail):


%%% ARROWED-ACCIDENTAL SUGGESTION FOR ENGLISH %%%

OK, ideally I'd like something like this added to english.ly:

  cs'16  % normal C-sharp
  csu'16 % C-sharp with up-arrow
  csd'16 % C-sharp with down-arrow

  bf'16 % normal B-flat
  bfu'16 % B-flat with up-arrow
  bfd'16 % B-flat with down-arrow

and also ...
 
 cqs'16 % normal (ie, exact) C-quartersharp
 cqsu'16 % C-quartersharp with up-arrow
 cqsd'16 % C-quatersharp with down-arrow

etc.

That's how I would, ideally, like to access the arrowed accidentals. Would be very slick, indeed. Just a -d (for 'down') or -u (for 'up') appended to the complete set of all existing accidental input names.

%%% END %%%


Of course, I'm also OK with defining my own commands for getting to the arrowed accidentals, as you and Werner are discussing, so long as there's an example of how to set up the definition.

Very cool, btw!


Trevor.


-- 
Trevor Bača
address@hidden