rich@Rice.edu (Carey Richard Murphey) (07/06/90)
I am looking for an method of notating single voice music (lead sheets) using a computer keyboard as the method of entry. I know enough about music theory and programming, but nothing about desktop music publishing. Any references to well-known works on this topic would be greatly appreeciated. My object is to write a program which translates from this easy to type notation into the internal format of MuTeX. MuTeX is a free set of TeX language programs and fonts for typesetting single-staff music with one or two voices. MuTeX is availabe via anonymous ftp from: cs.ubc.ca 128.189.97.5 in /pub/src/MuTeX or stolaf.edu 130.71.128.1 in /pub" Thanks! -- Rich@Rice.edu
dt@yenta.alb.nm.us (David B. Thomas) (07/07/90)
I have rather a humbler objective. I would like to develop or use an existing system of representing music in ascii format. Perhaps something like [Cmaj 4/4 oct:3] C C D E | C E D__ | C C D E | C__ -B__ | ^ octave switch eigths could be: C_D E_F G_A B_C and sixteenths C=C#=D=Eb E=F=F#=G Has anyone already developed such a system? Would anyone be interested in teaming up on such a project. What I had in mind was something primarily for humans (to communicate musical ideas via ascii terminals), but I'd like it to be standard enough that a program could perform the music, with a little coaxing. (I was originally going to use a format like <length><note><octave>, but it's harder for a human to read 4C3 4C3 4D3 4E3) David
rich@Rice.edu (Carey Richard Murphey) (07/09/90)
In article <1641@yenta.alb.nm.us> dt@yenta.alb.nm.us (David B. Thomas) writes:
I have rather a humbler objective. I would like to develop or use an existing
system of representing music in ascii format.
David points out some good objectives for an ascii representation --
one is standardization. Two other objectives for the format should be
readability and ease of parsing. Using _ and = is attractive since it
saves keystrokes and makes parsing easy. However, you run out of
special characters as you add other note durations to the list, so you
will eventually need an additional form to indicate numerically the
duration of the note (e.g. 3/128 th note).
The octave relative to middle C could be indicated by a digit in
front of the note name:
0C is middle C
-1C is one octave below
1C is one octave above
This would avoid context sensitivity.
The duration could be indicated by either special characters or
numeric values after the note name:
C' or C1/2 for a half
C` or C1/3 for a third
C= or C1/4 for a quarter note
C- or C1/8 for a eighth note
C+ or C1/16 for a sixteenth note
The concatenation of several durations would represent the sum of
their seperate durations. Sharp and flat could be indicated by the
characters # and b respectively front of the note name (which would be
a capital letter).
Length, note, and octave seem to be the types of data we need to
represent, and this is just the `tip of the iceberg'. If there were a
standard to follow, we would have an easier time of developing the
software to manipulate it. I'd like to develop something to assist
entering music using GNU emacs, and a translator to MuTeX in order to
typeset melodies. I'll eventually post something to the net....
If there isn't an ascii format, perhaps there are a few binary or
text formats which have addressed similar problems. So far, MuTeX is
the only text format I've seen, and it doesn't seem to be very
well-known.
Rich
--
Rich@Rice.eduiann@tcom.stc.co.uk (Ian Newman) (07/09/90)
In article <1641@yenta.alb.nm.us> dt@yenta.alb.nm.us (David B. Thomas) writes: >I have rather a humbler objective. I would like to develop or use an existing >system of representing music in ascii format. Perhaps something like > >[Cmaj 4/4 oct:3] C C D E | C E D__ | C C D E | C__ -B__ | How would you represent harmony using this notation ? -- ------------------------------------------------------------- Ian Newman, STC Telecommunications Ltd., NMEC (Dept. 30770), Oakleigh Road South, New Southgate, London N11 1HB. <iann@tcom.stc.co.uk>
torkil@psivax.UUCP (Torkil Hammer) (07/12/90)
You need to express: * Pitch, either in cps or in tone notation relative to a basis. * Duration, in seconds or relative to a metronome setting. * Modification (legato, staccato, neither, etc) else you don't get very far. You also need commands to set metronome, basis, staccato fraction etc. I know of many systems but no standard. The one I have been using for 25 years looks like c'',1/2 or c'',0.5 (which is the same thing). 0.5 is the duration in metronome clicks. c'' is a c in 2nd small octave. C'' is 5 octaves lower by usual standard. c#'' and db'' are one and same note as long as you are in equal temper. The "," is for normal mod, while "." and "-" are for staccato and legato. Harmony, timbre and volume is besides my point which is square waves. Happy beeping Torkil Hammer
gene@dept.csci.unt.edu (Gene De Lisa) (07/12/90)
Have you ever heard of DARMS? If not Ill send some references. If you've already rejected that have you considered the Script MIL that the Synclavier uses? -- Gene De Lisa "Ducking for apples--change one letter and it's the story of my life" Dorothy Parker(1893-1967) (spoken at a halloween party)