Re: MusicXML follow-up

[Klaus Föhl]

Urs Liska wrote:
> But then I have to say: "I'm sorry, but this applies only if you happen
> to have a publisher who accepts printable pdfs. If the publisher insists
> on finishing the score himself (and does so only with commercial products)

You may have a choice: Finale or Sibelius.

> you're out of luck."
> That's rather problematic as a selling position ...

Indeed.

As a publisher or manager you have
  - money invested into particular software
  - capital in form of your back list, both rights and typesetting
  - human resources capital, persons being software-trained

Having your staff trained on multiple software may not be economic.
Changing your workflow is a major undertaking. If you take the plunge,
you want to have proper interfacing to established workflow elements.

With Lilypond there is
  a) concise text-based music representation
  b) music rendering engine

For folks interested only in (b) there is software exporting into .ly
and there are several import filters. If you wish to have postprocessing,
some step (c), there are things like SVG for easy graphical retouching.

However, if your interest is in (a) but you have initial doubts about (b)
or have an established workflow for (b) and beyond, then you need
an interface mechanism. If there is a widely accepted de facto standard,
you can avoid exporting Finale and Sibelius and Capella and SCORE files.

Nevertheless you need one path leading back to the rest of the world.
Otherwise people won't be even thinking of visiting you.

Cheers
Klaus