I recently posted this to comp.text.tex, where Professor Fairbairns
suggested that it ought to appear here.
I use MusicTeX, having lost interest in its successor during the
MusixTeX wars. While I admire MusicTeX, its 8va macros have the
drawback that the dashed lines usually don't come out even.
Recently I found a fix for the problem.
Here's the \octfin macro, which ends in a vertical bar:
\def\octfin#1#2{\zcharnote{#1}{\hbox to #2\noteskip{\llap{\rm
8}\barfill --\octvrule}}}%
And here is my rewrite:
\def\octfin#1#2{\zcharnote{#1}{\relax
\hbox to #2\noteskip{{\ppffsixteen{\llap{8}va}}\relax
\xleaders\hbox{ --}\hfil{ --}\octvrule}}}%
This has three improvements: it prints "8va" instead of the less common
"8", it uses bold italics instead of the incorrect roman, and it uses
\xleaders so the dashed line stretches slightly to the exact length desired.
(Gerou and Lusk say that "8" is O.K. if you're not using Italian elsewhere.)
I have also hacked up macros for an 8va that runs to the end of the staff,
continues an 8va from the previous staff, or both. Sadly I cannot access
them just now.
I also have some macros for professional-looking tuplet brackets
using PostScript escapes. MusicTeX comes with an auxiliary package
that includes tuplet macros, but they build the brackets out of
dots so they're very inefficient. I'll post mine if there's any
interest. (Not right away; I have the macros only on paper for now.)
You can see examples of the output of both sets of macros at
http://www.monmouth.com/~colonel/videogames/zelda/conclusion_1.png
http://www.monmouth.com/~colonel/videogames/zelda/conclusion_2.png
-:-
On pleure, on pleure tant parfois
D'avoir touch� du doigt son r�ve.
Le bonheur en chagrin s'ach�ve . . .
--Jean B�n�dict
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