On Thu, 2013-09-26 at 11:52 +0200, David Kastrup wrote: > James Harkins <jamshar...@gmail.com> writes: > > > David Kastrup <dak <at> gnu.org> writes: > > > >> It's been some time since I last tried, but the basic answer I arrived > >> at for myself was "don't bother". The tools are not good enough right > >> now to save time. > > > > I have to agree with David here. > > > > When I first started looking at LilyPond, one of my first questions was > > about MIDI input. But then I realized: > > > > - I would have used MIDI for step input (hold a note, press a key for > > the rhythmic value). So, which is faster? Reaching for another > > keyboard to hold down, say, F and type 2, or just to type "f2" on one > > keyboard?
I think the common technique for users of Finale et al is to use one hand to change prevailing duration on the pc-keyboard and the other to play pitches on the MIDI keyboard. This is based on the observation that the pitch usually changes more often than the duration. > Seemed to me that it would be faster to stick with one > > keyboard (the computer keyboard). > > Well, add to that reasonably good rhythm detection so that you basically > just need to put in the bar checks and your input tool corrects its > conceptions accordingly. Or make a completely separate input pass just > for entering the durations. That is the method I developed for Denemo. > Or combine them, and update the guesses > based on the specified durations. > > There are a number of ways in which one can imagine an actually helpful > way of working with a separate Midi input, or even with abusing the > computer keyboard itself as a Midi keyboard approximation. > > And then there is the question of how convenient your editing tools make > it to pull apart something like a Midi performance of a piano concerto > into the kind of voicing you need for making LilyPond happy with the > music. That's not the ordinary cut&paste support. If I have something > like wrongly chorded expressions, how to cut out selected notes in > chords and then paste them out into a separate voice? Curiously there is a command in Denemo for splitting apart a piece written as chords into voices. But your point is well-taken, more time is spent on getting the voices right in polyphonic keyboard music than in the raw note entry; the advantage of a MIDI keyboard is marginal. > > That's something that Emacs' LilyPond mode could conceivably be extended > to do with a reasonable degree of comfort, and of course it's a nice > challenge for something like Frescobaldi as well. It's not strictly > related to Midi, but this sort of editing task is more likely to occur > with Midi-based workflows. > > Anway, my point is: the currently available tools are not good enough > right now to save time. This very much depends on the sort of music you are working with. Try typing in the LilyPond syntax for the Vivaldi sonata movement (https://vimeo.com/62188678) that was generated in 10 mins using Denemo working straight from an original print and you will be convinced (I hope). Richard _______________________________________________ lilypond-user mailing list lilypond-user@gnu.org https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user
