On 22 Sep 2007 at 4:26, dhbailey wrote: > The only way that files will ever be truly convertible with complete > perfection and complete transparency in the process will be when the two > companies sit down and agree on a file format that both will use. We > know that will never happen.
That's not a true statement (the first one, not the second one) -- there are plenty of file formats for which there is perfect conversion between them. True, most of them convey data that is not as complicated as music notation, but, nonetheless, it is possible. The key is that the converter has to understand the native methods for each part of the conversion. If Sibelius has a native figured bass capability, then the converter needs to take Finale figured bass and convert it to that. The problem with Finale is that there are multiple ways to implement figured bass (expressions, articulations, lyrics, chords), and there's no way an converter could figure out which is the right way. That is, you'd have to tell the converter "the lyrics in verse 4 are figured bass, so encode them accordingly." As long as the same things are supported on both sides, then it should convert. Kim's example of + trills is a good one. A really great converter would ask "what does that mean?" and then convert it accordingly. Of course, I don't see why Sibelius can't just use a custom articulation (whatever they call it), but apparently that's not the way Sibelius works (?). The key thing is that *Finale* doesn't know what the + trill means, so there's really no way for a converter to know. Sibelius is more restrictive in how it handles text and articulations, and because of that, it's easier for a converter to know what to do with it. But it's all theoretically possible, though David B. is probably correct that perfect conversion is probably a goal that will never be reached. But all that's needed is about 99% (anything less than that is an awful lot of work), not 100%. It could easily take 99% of the work on a converter to get that last 100%, and that means it's probably never going to happen (unless some crazy person starts working on the converter!). -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
