Re: My quick rundown of how to use OpenLilyLib's Edition Engraver

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hi Urs (et al.),

>> Would anyone care to comment about the relative advantages (and most 
>> appropriate use cases) of:
>> - Edition Engraver
> 
> * separate tweaks (or optional contents (like marks, dynamics, but no notes)) 
> from the content
>   => keep the content file simple
> * store *sets of tweaks* for different targets (stressing this is what I miss 
> most in Stefano's text)
>   => Have different tweaks for score/part, a4/tablet, manuscript/original 
> edition or for transposed/concert pitch
> * All this without touching the content files - differently from tags

These are all great, and give most of the main reasons I rely heavily on the EE 
for literally every score I engrave.

>> - lilypond tags
> I can't really comment on them because I never liked them.

I didn't, either… but pre-EE, they were the best way [I knew of] to get done 
what I needed to get done.

> Opposite from the edition-engraver they clutter the content files with their 
> hard-coded switches.
> *But*: depending on the use case this can also be an advantage as the 
> information is robustly encoded in the main file.

Yes. There are still use cases in which the tag system is superior. In fact, 
the score I'm currently working on (a 90-minute stage musical comprising 30ish 
songs/cues) is a perfect example. At the request of the theatre company 
currently rehearsing it (for production in March), we toned down the "racier" 
bits (lyrics with sexual innuendo, etc.). So I have \tag #'PG and \tag #'G 
chunks in the note code. Now I can simply generate G-rated or PG-rated 
version(s) of the score — or even individual tunes within the whole show — as 
desired by any future producing theatre.

> With the edition-engraver you might actually lose them one day, or the tool 
> doesn't work anymore, who knows.

Let's hope the EE — or something very much like it — gets absorbed into the 
main distro someday.

Best regards,
Kieren.
________________________________

Kieren MacMillan, composer
‣ website: www.kierenmacmillan.info
‣ email: address@hidden