Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!hpfcso!mjs
From: mjs@hpfcso.HP.COM (Marc Sabatella)
Newsgroups: comp.music
Subject: Re: Looking for a music typesetting processor
Message-ID: <7180009@hpfcso.HP.COM>
Date: 17 Dec 90 18:51:03 GMT
References: <34547@netnews.upenn.edu>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Lines: 50

>>1. "music: a troff preprocessor for printing music scores" --
>>   send email to ef@cs.nott.ac.uk.  That's the person who sends it.
>
>Has anybody done this successfully?  It looked interesting,
>so I e-mailed to ef@cs.nott.ac.uk a few weeks ago, and 
>I have yet to get a reply.

I eventually got a reply, and even sources.  There is the generic pic version
and a version that requires the Sonata font.  The former is what I wanted, but
I gave up on it after a week or two of hacking.  The output quality wasn't the
problem (although it is not nearly as nice as the Sonata output), at least not
after I hacked up the font descriptors to center the noteheads better, etc.  It
simply failed basic formatting tasks like lining up left hand and right hand
parts rhythmically.  I have hard copy of the "manual" from the Sonata version,
and it appears to line things up properly.

If you have Sonata, and can get hold of the sources from Eric (keep trying),
it is an excellent package.

>>2. "MusicTeX : Using TeX to write polyphonic or instrumental music"
>>   ftp from qed.rice.edu.
>
>This I did manage to get, and set up with the help of the local gurus.
>Unfortunately it only confirmed my guess that, while TeX is an excellent
>paradigm for a music notator, you don't want to actually build your
>notator on top of TeX as a set of macros.  (That is, for practical use
>in printing music; for a master's thesis, which the original MuTeX was,
>it's a fine CS project.)  Now if the visual quality of the output
>had been as high as we're used to with TeX, I might not
>mind having to learn how to translate a score into a convoluted
>sequence of arcane MusicTeX macros.  But, after examining the
>printouts from a few of the demos, I don't believe it's worth
>the effort.  Not only is the spacing amateurish (and the bizarre
>notion of shrinking the accidentals when the spacing gets too narrow
>doesn't help either), but the fonts themselves seem half-baked.

We have MuTeX running here and it doesn't suffer the font problems you mention.
I think our "local guru" here designed the fonts himself.  If you take the time
to do that, it should be acceptable.  I haven't seen enough output to know
anything about problems with spacing.  It didn't do multiple staves, so I gave
up on it.  I would look into MusicTex, but I've got Notator for the Atari ST
now, and I'm very happy with it.

For the person who asked about PC packages, there is Dr. T's Copyist,
Encore, Score, and a few I've seen advertised but know nothing about (Laser
Music Processor looks intersting - and relatively inexpensive).  There was a
comparative review in Keyboard magazine last summer (July?) - although it is
somewhat dated, it should serve to get you started.

Marc