Re: enlarging default stem length

[Helge Kruse]

Am 14.04.2013 10:05, schrieb Nick Payne:
> On 14/04/13 17:49, Helge Kruse wrote:
> > I find that sometimes the notes looks clumsy. I think the length of
> > the stem is too short as in this example:
> >
> > \version "2.16"
> >
> > \score { \relative c { \clef bass
> > \times 4/6 { f,16 c f g a c }
> > \times 4/6 { a g f c f, c' } r2 |
> > }
> > }
> >
> > I would like the stem length as in this example:
> >
> > \score { \relative c { \clef bass
> > \once \override Beam #'positions = #'(2 . 3)
> > \times 4/6 { f,16 c f g a c }
> > \once \override Beam #'positions = #'(2.5 . 1.5)
> > \times 4/6 { a g f c f, c' } r2 |
> > }
> > }
> >
> > I am reluctant to splatter this overrides all over the score. Can I
> > set this somehow with a general?
>
> This does approximately what you want:
>
> \score { \relative c { \clef bass
> \override Stem.length-fraction = #(magstep 3)
> \times 4/6 { f,16 c f g a c }
> \times 4/6 { a g f c f, c' } r2 |
> }
> }
Ok, so I don't have to try the position values for the individual beams. 
That's an improvement. But when I set this globally it gives a bad look 
at other notes. It looks like that the reason for this behavior is that 
Lilypond tries to set the center of all beam lines at a specific point. 
Only when the distance between the note head a the closest line is less 
a minimum the beam is move a bit away.

You can see this in this example (measures 2 and 4). Without the changed 
length-fraction the middle of the beam has always the same Y-position.

\score {
  \relative c {
    \clef bass
    c8 e c e
    c16 e c e c e c e |
    c8 e c e
    c32 e c e c e c e c e c e c e c e
    \override Stem #'length-fraction = #(magstep 3)
    c8 e c e
    c16 e c e c e c e |
    c8 e c e
    c32 e c e c e c e c e c e c e c e
  }
}

I am looking for a way to get a larger minimum but keep the length of 
the stem in general. Unfortunately I found nothing to overwrite at 
http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.16/Documentation/internals/stem as well as I 
didn't find magstep there.

Regards
Helge