alternative notation for tuplets (idea)?

[Janek Warchoł]

Hi,

an idea about tuplets came to my head (and a quick seach suggested that it wasn't discussed before).

In LilyPond we write durations in form of denominators, i.e. c4 = "c note that lasts 1/4 the duration of a whole note", d16 = "d note with a duration 16 times shorter than whole note" etc., but for the tuplets we need the \times notation. Of course it works, but maybe we can make it simpler?

Why not use numbers other than powers of 2? For example, 

c1 d3 e3 c3 d1 would mean c1 \times 2/3 { d2 e2 c2 } d1

c3 d6 e2 would mean \times 2/3 { c2 d4 } e2

c20 c c c c c c c c c e2 d9 d d d d d d d d  would mean \times 4/5 { c16 c c c c } \times 4/5 { c16 c c c c } e2 \times 8/9 { d8 d d d d d d d d }

and so on.

In my opinion it would be useful for simple tuplets - input would look less cumbersome and would be faster to type. Of course for complicated tuplets and some special uses old syntax should be used.

What do you think?