In article
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Ian Brockbank <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I know there are several people on the list who typeset and publish
> Scottish music. What do you use for laying it out? What are the
> pros and cons?
I use abc2ps (the vanilla version by Michael Methfessel, as of now) on
a Linux PC for the music. My current project is a book of tunes in
melody-plus-chords format, for which I generate EPS files out of
individual ABC input files which are then included in a LaTeX
document. abc2ps produces only the dots -- everything else, from the
tune titles to the little stories and explanations of the tunes to the
table(s) of contents, is produced by LaTeX. A makefile keeps it all
together. I've been looking into the ABC-embedded-in-LaTeX idea that
was bandied about here a few weeks ago and my prototype of that seems
to work, but I haven't moved the book project over to that yet.
I like to think that the quality of the typesetting compares
favourably with that of, e.g., _To Dance To_ by Muriel Johnstone,
which sucks (IMHO). I don't know what Muriel uses but I don't like it.
Pros:
- Reasonable-looking output for music
- Top-of-the-line quality for non-music content like
accompanying notes
- Easy to rearrange stuff while keeping table of contents etc.
consistent and up-to-date
- You can generate PDF which then goes straight off to the
print shop or on the Web
- Dirt-cheap -- all free software
Cons:
- Too difficult to use for people not well-versed in LaTeX,
general Unix tools (make) etc. May change once
ABC-embedded-in-LaTeX gets off the ground
- Requires fairly extensive and current installation, in
particular for the PDF option
- Unsure whether the setup will fly on a Mac
My main beef with abc2ps right now is that ťa>aa<aŤ comes out like
-- - --
| |-| |
o. o o o.
(you get the idea) which doesn't look right to me -- I would much
rather see something like
-------
| -| |- |
o. o o o.
Do any of the abc2ps variants offer that option? I haven't bothered to
go into the code yet; I usually write ťa>a a<aŤ which is still
sub-optimal but doesn't hurt my eyes as much as the other thing.
> In my only foray into the field, I drew every note by hand in a drawing
> package, having tried MusicTex and Noteworthy Composer. It took a
> while...
I suppose so! I used raw MusicTeX for my first book of dances and it
is an experience I don't care to repeat. This is a job that you give
to your worst enemies if you *really* want to see them suffer. I don't
know Noteworthy Composer, though.
Anselm
--
Anselm Lingnau ......................... [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The two most common things in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.
-- Harlan Ellison
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