Laura Conrad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

>     Anselm> I'm still waiting for you (or anybody) to explain why an
>     Anselm> ABC tune should contain one prescribed explicit metronome
>     Anselm> speed for display and another, different, prescribed
>     Anselm> explicit metronome speed for playback, 
> 
> Because you might want to tell a human player what speed you think the
> piece sounds good at, but you want to tell the computer what speed you
> want to proofread your transcription at?

The `proofreading speed' does not belong in the ABC notation (various
people might want to proofread at different speeds, and once the tune is
properly proofread, i.e., by the time one is ready to share the ABC file
with the world at large, the proofreading speed specification is no
longer required at all). It is much better to set this up using a
command-line option/interactive slider/... of the playback program, and
playback programs should offer such a method of overriding the `Q:'
speed.

This is analogous to the case of wanting to extract single voices from a
multi-voice piece (so every musician can have their own part instead of
having to deal with the whole lot). This is also done much more
conveniently using, e.g., command-line options to a notation program,
rather than by having to change the ABC file eight times for an octet. I
often practice SCD piano accompaniment by playing along with an
ABC-based rendition of the melody line, and it is much nicer to be able
to set up the playback speed in the playback program than it is to edit
the ABC file, if the only thing I want is `everything a bit slower'.

I think that in this case the new ABC standard would be better for an
application of Occam's razor.

Anselm


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