Re: Best support programs for Lilypond

[Richard Shann]

On Sun, 2016-03-06 at 09:43 +0100, Martin Tarenskeen wrote:
> 
> On Sun, 6 Mar 2016, Stan Mulder wrote:
> 
> > Just wondering how to achieve the best output with supporting programs when
> > working with Lilypond. I find Frescobaldi a huge leap forward in using
> > Lilypond. Frescobaldi increases productivity many times.
> >
> > Are there any other programs I should be using to speed the notation 
> > process?
> 
> To speed up things some people prefer "more" others prefer "less".
> 
> The "less" method: Use a spartanic but superfast texteditor like vim/gvim 
> or emacs. Especially experienced editor users, often geeky programmers, 
> find this the fastest way
> 
> The "more" method: You already experienced the joy of using Frescobaldi.
> Denemo is another GUI based program to create Lilypond scores.

Although Denemo is a GUI it can be set up to let you type in music using
pretty much the same keystrokes as with a text editor typing LilyPond
syntax. So you get the same speed as typing but can see the notes
typeset as you enter them. What is not widely known by the followers of
this list is that Denemo allows you to generate the raw LilyPond music
for each movement and for each part as LilyPond syntax into separate
files using a single keystroke. This means that you can use \include
commands to work with the LilyPond syntax in Frescobaldi for everything
other than the raw music data while keeping a typeset view for the
actual notes, marks etc.

> 
> Also you can use a GUI score editor like Finale, Sibelius, or, if you like 
> many of us prefer free Open Source software, use MuseScore. Then you can 
> export as MusicXML, and then import this in Frescobaldi (uses 
> musicxml2ly). I find MuseScore easier/faster for composing and arranging 
> music, but frescobaldi/lilypond easier/faster to create publishing quality 
> good looking scores.

I would be wary of any approach using MusicXML as a conversion format as
it is not a format well-suited to representing music notation. (Not as
unsuitable as MIDI, but still very poor). People have reported simply
being unable to import files due to variations in the interpretation of
the MusicXML "standard".

In any case, ex-users of Sibelius have told me that Denemo is many times
quicker for entering music ... OTOH, another ex user of the very same
program told me that "it is not apparent how to change the pitch of a
note" in Denemo (answer: you press the new note name a,b,c..) so it does
depend on your temperament.

Richard