Re: Lilypond's English Horn MIDI instrument is non-transposing?

[David Kastrup]

"James B. Wilkinson" <the.doc@twc.com> writes:

>> On Jan 14, 2022, at 6:37 PM, Valentin Petzel <valentin@petzel.at> wrote:
>> 
>> ...
>> Lilypond uses these GM names, which makes Lilypond a somewhat GM compatible 
>> source. This means that as long as we use a GM compatible synth everything 
>> should have the right sound.
>
>
> I was using VLC to play it. Does this mean that VLC is not GM compatible? I 
> was having to compile it with the tenor voice not transposed in order to get 
> the MIDI file to play the correct notes. I had to compile again with the 
> tenor voice transposed to get the notes to print correctly on the page.
>
> David pointed me to the \transposition keyword, and adding "\transposition f" 
> to the "\with" clause of the English horn staff fixed the problem. Now I get 
> correct printed output and a correct MICI file from a single compilation. But 
> now I have another question making two questions in this post:
> 1) why do I need  "\transpose f c \tenor" instead of "\transpose f c'
> \tenor"? If I use c' it goes an octave too high.

\transpose f c means what you write as f gets printed as c .
\transpose f c' means what you write as f gets printed as c' .

> 2) Is VLC GM compatible.

VLC does not play MIDI.  You probably have some plugin active that
diverts to another synth.  Pretty much all of them, given suitable sound
fonts, are GM2 compatible since we are talking about a standard more
than 20 years old.

-- 
David Kastrup