Re: automatic beaming in tuplets

[Mats Bengtsson]

The list of predefined beaming patterns is far from complete, as you have
noticed. The default rules are also a mix of general rules, for example that
a beam is always ended on the third beat in 4/4 meter, and specific rules
for certain note lenghts, for example that beams with 32nd notes are always
ended on every 8th note in 4/4.

For tuplets in general, there is only one specific rule included among the
default beaming patterns, namely that triplet 8ths should be ended on
each beat in 4/4.

Of course it would be possible to extend the list, but at least with the
current mechanism, this would make the list of default beaming patterns
extremely long (which even might influence the LilyPond processing time)
and still there will always be some user who wants a special case that's
not covered. The strategy chosen in LilyPond today is to let the default
settings cover the most common everyday music typesetting needs and
provide instructions on how each user can extend the beaming patterns
according to her/his needs and preferences.

For example, I have extended your example with the corresponding
auto-beam settings. Normally, you could enter all these at the top of the
piece, but here I inserted them in front of the bar where they are used.
\version "2.11.41"


\relative c'' {
\time 4/4
% c1
c8 c c c c c c c
% c2
c16 c c c  c c c c  c c c c  c c c c
% c3
#(override-auto-beam-setting '(end 1 20 4 4) 1 4)
#(override-auto-beam-setting '(end 1 20 4 4) 3 4)
\times 4/5 { c16 c c c c } \times 4/5 { c16 c c c c } c8 c \times 4/5 { 
c16 c c c c }
% c4
#(override-auto-beam-setting '(end 1 24 4 4) 1 4)
#(override-auto-beam-setting '(end 1 24 4 4) 3 4)
\times 4/6 { c16 c c c c c } \times 4/6 { c16 c c c c c } c8 c \times 
4/6 { c16 c c c c c }
% c5
#(override-auto-beam-setting '(end 1 28 4 4) 1 4)
#(override-auto-beam-setting '(end 1 28 4 4) 3 4)
\times 8/7 { c32 c c c c c c } \times 8/7 { c32 c c c c c c } c32 c c c 
c c c c  c32 c c c c c c c
% c6
#(override-auto-beam-setting '(end 1 10 4 4) 1 4)
#(override-auto-beam-setting '(end 1 10 4 4) 3 4)
c8 c \times 4/5 { c8 c c c c } c4
}

   /Mats


luis jure wrote:
> hello list,
>
> i'm a beginner at lilypond, i know enough to enter music in a simple
> way. i still don't know enough of the language to try elaborate tweaks,
> but i find that usually lilypond is smart enough to produce good output
> for music that's not too complex.
>
> but i suspect that automatic beaming is not working correctly in
> certain cases involving tuplets. i include a short snippet with the
> corresponding image. i'm using a recently compiled 2.11.41 on linux.
>
> in 4/4 time signature, eight notes are beamed every 4 notes (i. e. into
> whole notes, m.1 in the example), which is of course correct; sixteenth
> notes are also correctly beamed every 4 notes into quarter notes (m.2).
> but 16th notes quintuplets and sextuplets are beamed into whole notes,
> even if that means including a pair of eight notes (m3 and m4). the
> same with 32nd septuplets (m5). normal 32nd notes, on the other hand,
> are beamed every 4 notes into eight notes, while i find that beaming
> every 8 notes is more standard. i find other anomalies, like the 8th
> notes quintuplet beamed together with the preceding 8th notes (m6).
>
> as a beginner, i don't know if these are bugs, my mistakes, or if that
> is the intended behavior. in the last case, could i ask the authors to
> reconsider the criteria used for automatic beaming? 
>
> i know that you can adjust the beaming manually, or even change the
> automatic beam behavior globally. but i think that the defaults should
> be chosen in a way that requires as little manual tweaks as possible.
>
> thank you for your attention.
>
> best,
>
> lj
>   
>
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--
=============================================
        Mats Bengtsson
        Signal Processing
        School of Electrical Engineering
        Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
        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
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