Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!sun-barr!newstop!texsun!texbell!sugar!ficc!peter From: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: Methods for music encoding? Message-ID: <=Z31SDBxds13@ficc.uu.net> Date: 16 Jan 90 21:43:52 GMT References: <430@helios.prosys.se> <1634@castle.ed.ac.uk> Reply-To: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Lines: 26 In article <1634@castle.ed.ac.uk> nick@lfcs.ed.ac.uk (Nick Rothwell) writes: > In article , peter@ficc (Peter da Silva) writes: > >There are two documented formats for storing musical scores that I know of: [IFF/SMUS, and IMA/MFF] (Midi File Format), which is related > >to IFF (somewhat simplified and with alignment restrictions dropped). > Except that MFF only records and timestamps MIDI data, from which it > is presumably an extremely difficult task to derived a score (for > example, you don't have any repeated segments, or most of the > notational symbols). (with Cockney accent, a-la Monty Python:) Well, Oi DID say it was simplified, din't Oi? Actually, SMUS is missing repeats as well. This does hurt your ability to save and restore scores from SMUS, but it's possible. You do get to keep notations, key signatures, timing, and so on. Electronic Arts does have a more extended format which they use in Deluxe Music Construction Set, but they never saw fit to publish it. Adding repeats to SMUS shouldn't be too difficult: you basically need to add a new event type. Talk to Commodore. Anyway, if you have the ability to read and write MFF, it's a small jump to reading/writing flat IFF/SMUS. -- _--_|\ Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. . / \ \_.--._/ Xenix Support -- it's not just a job, it's an adventure! v "Have you hugged your wolf today?" `-_-'