GNU Music project - manifesto
Han-Wen Nienhuys and Jan Nieuwenhuizen
Table of Contents
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1: goal
This is some random ranting about the GNU Music project.
Provide musicians with free software for
composing
engraving
playing
sequencing
interchanging music
arranging
performing
Metacomposing
These systems should encourage laymen to take up composing, in the
same way that GNU tools have created a whole new generation of
programmers.
The public deserves free tools for composing and printing.
2: Requirements
Emacs and TeX serve as useful examples of what programs by the GMP
should be.
- high-quality
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The software should be of high-quality from the application view.
For example, the notation should be high-quality from an engraving
point of view, like TeX
- high-quality
- The software should be of high-quality point of
view, like all GNU software, it should have no limits, be fast,
etc.
- tweakable
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Printed music has a lot of styles, and special symbols. It may be
unfeasible to provide and maintain lots of code that is hardwired
into the system. The tools should be extensible/programmable like
Emacs and TeX.
- easy to use.
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That is, for technical users (that can read a manual). The learning
curve should be as flat as possible but not at the expense of comfort
of use and power.
3: Components
- A set of music fonts
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In development, the Feta font.
- A typesetting engine
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In development, included in LilyPond.
A system with rules on how to set properties of items to be printed
(up/down directions, breaking, dimensions, etc)
It should be suited to interactive typesetting (so, incremental
algorithms are needed)
- A display engine
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which can display clear notewriting in (say) an X-window
Ideally the system should cooperate with the typesetting engine
- An ASCII language
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In development, LilyPond has a language.
Having an ASCII format which enables urtext, and easy sharing (via
mail and news forums) encourages cooperation and exchange of music.
- A printing engine
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In development, included in LilyPond.
- An input system
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The natural way to enter composed music is singing or playing it. The
GMP should have module which can take keyboard input or microphone
input and convert it to computer data. (microphone input would be
difficult)
- sequencing
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(have no clue about this)
- A scanning system
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Having a system which can produce mudela from printed scores, greatly
simplifies creating a collection of music
- A music-understanding system
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(difficult) A system to generate accompaniments, figured bass,
automatic accompaniment, etc.
- A performing system
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A system which can play credible performances of abstract music
representations. LilyPond has a bare bones system, but it cannot
(yet) be described as "credible".
4: Programs
A noninteractive typesetter, suited for batch jobs, and typesetting
existing music. This would couple the ASCII language, the printing
engine and the typesetting engine
LilyPond is currently representing this section.
A GUI for composing. This would combine the display engine, the input
system and the typesetting engine.
Libraries for reading and writing various audio/music/notation
formats.
Find sponsors. This project will take a long time, and in its infant
stages, having a hard and small core which does a lot of work, is more
efficient than lots of people doing small subprojects. Finanicial
support would be desirable.
Please take me back to the index
of LilyPond
This page was built from lilypond-1.0.0 by
<janneke@gnu.org>