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I'm getting bored - time for a new 'project'...

 

Does anyone here have any experience using the TeX/LaTeX-like music type-setting program lilypond?

 

What front-end should I use? frescobaldi?

 

I did try it at a very elementary level about 5 years ago, so I'm familiar with the general approach, but didn't pursue it as I was using [Easy]ABC by then. Always up for something new, though...

 

Thank you.

 

Moderator: If this isn't the correct forum, please feel free to move to the correct one...

Edited by lachenal74693
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15 hours ago, Steve Schulteis said:

I've used it, but it's been a long time. My experience (what little of it I can remember) probably isn't entirely relevant anymore. I certainly can't recommend a frontend - I was always more of a command line guy anyway. I did get nice results with it. Best of luck.

Thanks for that reply. 

 

It looks a little as if we both did somewhat similar things somewhere in the dim and distant past. I looked at it in a fairly cursory way, and came away with the idea that it did a pretty good job, but was very verbose (like TeX/LaTeX). Files were simple text,  but were likely to be 2.5-5x larger than an equivalent ABC file for the simple tunes I was working with. Like you, I didn't use a front-end, but used it in command-line mode.

 

As a result of a conversation I had with someone a couple of weeks ago, I decided to try it again, this time with a front-end. I installed Frescobaldi/Lilypond on two of my machines yesterday (one I don't connect to the internet), and got it working fairly quickly.

 

Even with the Frescobaldi interface (with an easy-to-use 'score wizard'), it still seems complicated, even for simple tunes. It's probably great for the musical director of a symphony orchestra who wants to provide a full score for Beethoven's 5th, complete with parts for every instrument in the band. For blokes like me who simply want to get 'Three Blind Mice'  down on paper in a way which is usable by other folks, it's probably serious over-kill...

 

I'll be pursuing the matter, but at a lowish level. I suspect that if I decide to use Lilypond at all, I'll be building my own 'score wizard', rather in the way I built a simple 'HTML file generator' 20+ years ago...

 

Thanks for the input.
 

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On 1/10/2023 at 5:40 AM, lachenal74693 said:

...I suspect that if I decide to use Lilypond at all, I'll be building my own 'score wizard', rather in the way I built a simple 'HTML file generator' 20+ years ago...

Well, I tried it - spent 6-8 hours on it so far. A simple text-based 'Lilypond tune creation tool' running in a command window. Hard work, and not a lot of progress so far.

 

As a comparison, I tried the same with ABC - a simple text-based creation tool for writing ABC tunes. Got the whole thing working in prototype form in ~90 minutes. Good enough that I may well pursue the matter and develop a more sophisticated version. Quick and easy when away from home with a small, slow machine, which can only run [Easy]ABC slowly...

 

The comparison isn't completely fair because my familiarity with ABC syntax means that the ABC tool was 'easier', but to my mind, it's a striking difference...

Edited by lachenal74693
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