Re: [proposal] easy triplets and tuplets - Draft 3

[David Kastrup]

Joseph Rushton Wakeling <address@hidden> writes:

[...]

> Just to give a flavour, besides the standard
>
>                         |------ n ------|
>
> (i.e. bracket with number), and the almost-as-standard
>
>                         |----- n : m -----|
>
> (i.e. ratio), you also might encounter something like,
>
>                         |----- 3 : 2 {2} -----|
> or
>                         |----- 3 {2} : 2 -----|
>
> where {2}, {4}, {8} etc. represents a written half, quarter, eighth note, etc.
>
> or perhaps,
>                         |----- 7 {16} : {4} -----|
>
> and sometimes things like,
>
>                         |----- 5 {16} : 4 {16} -----|
>
> (which feels a bit redundant but is certainly unambiguous).
>
> Of course, conceptually you could also write any arbitrary combination, like
>
>                         |----- 5 {16} : 2 {4} -----|
>
> ... though it's not a notation you're likely to find (never say never...).
>
> What you can also get is something where the total duration of the
> tuplet is indicated above the number or ratio, something like e.g.
>
>                                {4}
>                         |------ 3 ------ |
>
> (3 triplet eighths = 1 quarter note in total)
>
> or
>                                  {8}
>                         |------ 5 : 4 ------|
>
> (5 quintuplet 32nds = 1 eighth-note)
>
> or
>                                { 8 ~ 16. }
>                         |------ 11 : 7 ------|
>
> (11 32nd-notes in the time of 7)

[...]

> So, for a _really_ effective \tuplet command, it would be great if the
> syntax could allow for specifying these different options -- single
> number, ratio, ratio with note values before, after or both sides,
> total duration above -- in a concise and simple way, _without_ needing
> to engage in copious \overrides and manually writing the contents of
> the tuplet bracket.

I diasagree.  Whether or not you we provide separate commands actually
doing the overrides, the choice between all those variants does not
appear to convey musical information individually but just constitutes a
different choice of consistent notation throughout a piece.  Having to
specify your style for every tuplet again does not make sense, so this
functionality falls squarely into the domain of graphical representation
and thus grob overrides, and any commands provided for manipulating them
are best kept separate from the commands manipulating the actual timing.

-- 
David Kastrup