In reply to the message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] > So, we've got frequency and duration covered. Now all > that's missing is a way to express amplitude and timbre, > but since the ABC standard never really supported dynamics > or instrument definitions, I don't see that we need to go > that far. > > There you go. A stand-alone, precise notation system. Happy now?
First of all, you don't have to taunt me. I think I'd get your point anyway. Second, I don't agree, and it seems to me as you completely misunderstood my opinion. No language can ever claim to be complete. My point was *not* that abc should be something "more real" or "more complete" than staff notation. My point was that we should have a language that is precise in it's *syntax*, that is, the way in which music is notated and the way in which the language should be interpreted. In other words: what is allowed and what is not. > Ignoring for the present how much existing ABC might > be broken by this, suppose it is decided that you have > to write ^f-|^f. The notation software will omit the > second sharp by default, in order to display the staff > notation correctly. Now suppose you *want* the second > sharp to be displayed, as a cautionary accidental. > How could this be achieved? Again: my very point was that abc is NOT a pseudo-staff-notation (you may disagree with that, as some do of course, and that is OK for me - but just write that in that case!). If you have a piece of abc that is clear and unambigous, translate it into staff notation, and doubts appear about how it should be interpreted; the error is not in abc itself, it lies in the translation program, or worse, in staff notation itself (not in this case though)! In other words: don't blame the abc source for not looking in a specific way when converted into staff notation. Blame the program! And if you *do* expect the staff to look in a certain way: don't use abc - use a music typesetting program or whatever. Erik __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
