Re: Automatic ottava handling

[Gilberto Agostinho]

Hi David,


David Nalesnik-2 wrote
> I do realize that these "enhancements" make the
> difference between usability and "thanks, nice toy" :)

That may be true on a practical level, but I am truly thankful for your
efforts. I do know a bit of programming myself, but LISP and its dialects
are absolutely beyond me - it is one of those languages that still look
completely inaccessible to me, which is a pity since I'd really love to help
by coding. 


David Nalesnik-2 wrote
> I've been working on making sure what I have now produces the same
> expressions as a score with manual ottavas does before I venture into
> enhancing it.  I hit a problem with << >> (SimultaneousMusic), but I have
> your request in mind

This is indeed tricky, I didn't think about this situation before. Here is
an example /without/ any rhythmical complexities (with those, things can
turn into nightmares very quickly, since ottavation affects the whole
staff...):

<http://lilypond.1069038.n5.nabble.com/file/n167757/53.png> 

(this example above is a bit exaggerated, but think of instruments that have
a nice range and are traditionally notated in one single staff, such as a
xylophone).

If I may suggest something, what about simply ignoring places where two or
more voices occur and outputting an error message to the user telling the
lines that are problematic? This way, one can find the problem and solve it
by:

\ottavation #'(4 . 7) #'(-4 . -7) { \musicPartA }
\musicPartB
\ottavation #'(4 . 7) #'(-4 . -7) { \musicPartC }

where \musicPartB would be the passage that needs manual tweaking.

I think a lot of these decisions are easy to take by a human but very
difficult to generalize (I have been myself working on a code (not in Scheme
;) ) to decide between flat and sharp accidentals in atonal music, but there
are situation that makes the computer go nuts (or makes the code
increasingly complex and long), where a human can spot right away what is
the best solution, or the least worse alternative).

Best,
Gilberto



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