Hi all,
== in short
attached the result of a few hours playing around with MusicTeX.
There are a few things which I don't seem to get working, or of which
I don't know how to do it.
1) How can I prevent the repeat bars to be automatically extended over all
instruments? I'd like to have the thick bar without the two dots for the
lower three lines
2) How do I get the flat-symbol into a \xcharnote?
3) The copyright symbol only shows a circle, possibly a wrong setup of
TeX, but any clue to what exactely might be wrong?
== a bit more extended
I'm quite pleased with the fast result I got when trying to make this
special score. I've tried different 'heavy' windows score programs, but
neither of them could do what I was able to produce in a few hours with
MusicTeX.
The score is a notation for squeezebox players. Squeezeboxes (diatonic
accordons) are the small strange wooden boxes with only two (or three)
rows of buttons on the right side, and 8 buttons on the left side. They
are diatonic, with a limited set of notes, and bisonoric, meaning that
pushing and pulling produce different notes.
Since many squeezebox players can't read notes (it is getting time they
learn it!), different notations have been developped. The one in the
attachement being one of them.
The upper staff needs no explanation, that is for normal musicians. ;-)
The two staffs denoted as 'C' and 'F' are the two rows of buttons, one
in C and one in F. The numbers are just the numbers of the buttons,
pushed for the plain numbers, pulled when denoted with an asterix. The
buttom staff is the bass side, with the notes being the rhythm, and
the letters the chord names.
As you can see, the repeat bars are quite enoying (and useless) for
the middle two staffs. I would like the remove the two dots.
The second letter in Bb and bb should be replaced by a flat symbol,
preferable in superscript.
== The history
I'm quite amazed to see the current state of the whole MusicTeX project. I
had been playing around with the program somewhere in the beginning of this
decenium. The manual I have here next to me is from version 4.7, dated
23 July 1992, and counting 43 pages. At that time I didn't have access
to a UNIX system at home, and at work I had a UNIX machine, but no
postscript or dvi viewer. I can tell you that I used a lot of paper
before I achieved some reasonable results.
Time flies ... now I finally have a Linux box at home, with Xwindows
running on it. A few weeks ago I downloaded MusicTeX again and installed
it on my PC. The manual contains a date of 1996, if I'm not mistaken.
Not too much had changed in the years which passed. But now that I have
a dvi viewer, I quickly got the hang of it again and produced the thingie
attached to this mail.
But, to my suprise, today I found out that MusicTeX is outdated and has
been replaced with MusiXTeX ... MuTeX, MusicTeX, MusiXTeX ... names are
changing fast. I only downloaded the manual in postscript format, and ...
well ... what can I say? A 120 page manual is a sign of major improvement,
enhancements, extensions, ... I definately will install it this week,
and I'm really looking forward to start using it in 'production'.
Congratulations to the developpers: a splendid job !!! Thanks for making
all this publically available.
Apparently the amount of members of the mutex discussion group has
increased tremedously too, so, to those who were here 6 years ago,
I'm back!, and to the others, hi!
Greetings,
\input musicnft
\input musictex
\input musicsty
\input musicper
\input musicvbm
%
\vsize=264mm
\hsize=18.5cm
\parindent 10mm
\vskip -3cm
%
\bigskip
\bigskip
\centerline{\enorme Honing}
\bigskip
\bigskip
\line{Merchtem, 1996\hss Jan DOUMEN}
\bigskip
\bigskip
%
\def\nbinstruments{4} % We pretend as if we have four instruments
\def\instrumentiii{F}
\def\instrumentii{C}
\def\instrumenti{Bass}
%
\def\stafflinesnbi{1} % Only the upper staff (iv) is left with five lines,
\def\stafflinesnbii{1} % the others are converted to staffs with only
\def\stafflinesnbiii{1} % one line
%
\cleftoksiv={0000} % Only the upper staff contains a normal sol (G)
clef
\def\clefdesoli{\relax} %
\def\clefdesolii{\relax} % All the others have no cleff at al
\def\clefdesoliii{\relax} %
%
\interinstrument=-40pt % The manual says we shouldn't us negative numbers
% here but I don't know any other solution for
% bringing the lower 3 staffs closer to each other
% And we do want some more space between the lower
% three and the upper one
\def\interinstrumentiii{-25pt}
%
\generalmeter{\meterfrac 44}
\metertoksi={{}{}{}{}} % First we put the 4 4 meter, and than we
\metertoksii={{}{}{}{}} % selectively remove the meters from the lower
\metertoksiii={{}{}{}{}} % 3 staffs
\generalsignature{-1} % And one mol
\signi=0
\signii=0
\signiii=0
%
\normal % Ask for normal note spacing
%
\def\interfacteur{12}
%
% Macros
%
\def\cbas#1{\zcharnote f{#1}\cl c}%
\def\num#1{\zcharnote f{#1}}%
%
\debutmorceau\large
%
% from here on notes
%
%%%% Maat 1 %%%%%
%
\elemskip=10pt
\notes
\cbas{F}& &\num{6} &\ibu0h4\qh0f
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{f}& &\num{8} &\tbu0\qh0j%
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{C}&\num{6} & &\ibu0e4\qh0c
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{c}&\num{6} & &\tbu0\qh0g
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{D}&\num{7*} & &\ibu0e4\qh0d
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{dm}&\num{8*} & &\tbu0\qh0f
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{Bb}&\num{8*} & &\ibu0g4\qh0f
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{bb}&\num{9*} & &\tbu0\qh0i
\enotes\xbarre
%
%%%%% Maat 2 %%%%%
%
\notes
\cbas{F} & & &\ibu0i{-4}\qh0j
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{f} & & &\tbu0\qh0h
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{C} & & &\ibu0f4\qh0e
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{c} & & &\tbu0\qh0g
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{C} & & &\ibu0j0\qh0f
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{c} & & &\nbbu0\zq j\qh0f\tbu0\zq j\qh0f
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{C} & & &\ibu0j0\qh0j
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{c} & & &\tbu0\qh0j
\enotes
\setleftrightrepeat
\xbarre
%
%%%%% Maat 3 %%%%%
%
\elemskip=8pt
\notes
\cbas{F} & & &\ibbu0h{-3}\qh0{jh}
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{f} & & &\qh0f\tbu0\qh0h
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{C} & & &\ibbu0e3\qh0{ce}
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{c} & & &\qh0g\tbu0\qh0e
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{D} & & &\ibbu0f3\qh0{df}
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{dm} & & &\qh0h\tbu0\qh0f
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{Bb} & & &\ibbu0f3\qh0{df}
\enotes
\notes
\cbas{bb} & & &\qh0i\tbu0\qh0f
\enotes
%\notes
% \cl c\cl a\cl a\cl a\cl a\cl a\cl a\cl a
% &
% &\num{G}
% &\ibbu0h3\qh0{fhj}\tbu0\qh0h
% \ibbu0g3\qh0{egi}\tbu0\qh0g
% \ibbu0f3\qh0{dfh}\tbu0\qh0f
% \ibu0:0\qh0f\nbbu0\zq j\qh0f\tbu0\zq j\qh0f
%\barre
\finmorceau
\bigskip
\bigskip
\leftline{\sl J. Doumen \rm$\copyright$ 1993}
\eject
\bye
--
DeJean
Where is the largest chips-stand of the world?
On the border of Holland with France.
