fixmsxpart (1)
Leading comments
This manpage is licensed under the GNU Public License
NAME
fixmsxpart - corrects note spacing in a single-staff MusiXTeX partSYNOPSIS
fixmsxpart [-v | --version | -h | --help]fixmsxpart [-d | --debug] infile[.tex] [outfile[.tex]]
Converts a single-staff MusiXTeX part (possibly derived from a multi-instrument score and as a result having irregular note spacing) to a single-staff part with proper spacing determined by the notes themselves.
If outfile is not specifed, standard output is used.
USAGE
Generating a Single-Instrument Part
To generate a single-instrument part from (a copy of) the MusiXTeX source for a multi-instrument score, add
\input musixtnt
to the preamble,
set
\instrumentnumber1
and use the \TransformNotes macro defined in musixtnt.tex to discard all but one part.
For example, the following line placed
after
\startpiece (but before any note commands) would be appropriate for
a
four-instrument
score (arguments #2, #3, #4, and #5, separated by three &s),
and will result in a part for the
second
of these (#3):
\TransformNotes{#2}{#3}
Argument #1 is a scaling parameter and should not be modified. It is essential that every \znotes, \notes, \Notes, \NOtes, etc. command in the score match the macro pattern exactly; insufficient (or too many) note segments will result in lost text and possibly compilation failure; see msxlint(1). It is assumed by \TransformNotes that notes commands are terminated by \en (rather than \enotes).
Some additional manual changes to the source will be necessary:
- +
- adjustments of \setname1, \setclef1, \setsign1 , \setmeter1 and \setstaffs1 commands, as necessary;
- +
- ensuring that tempo and roadmap markings (D.C., Fine, etc.) are in the appropriate instrument segment;
Finally, if the modified score is compiled and viewed, it may be seen that horizontal
spacing designed for
multiple
instruments often produces bad
spacing for a
single
instrument.
This can be corrected manually (and very tediously) but it is
what
fixmsxpart
was designed to fix (much more conveniently).
Correcting Horizontal Spacing Using fixmsxpart
The \notes \Notes \NOtes \NOTes... commands in a part derived from a multi-instrument score are unreliable, and so fixmsxpart determines the spacing for ordinary notes by the note commands themselves; for example,- +
- \qa, \qu, \ql, \qp result in \NOtes;
- +
- \ca, \cu, \cl, \ds result in \Notes;
and so on.
Spacing commands \sk and \hsk in the input are
discarded (but \qsk, \hqsk and explicit uses of \off{...} are preserved).
fixmsxpart
determines the spacing for
beamed
notes by the beam
multiplicity: \ib... results in \Notes, \ibb... results in
\notes, etc. Some beam-termination commands (\tb...) are
problematic because the immediately-following beam note
\qb... must be spaced according to the spacing
before
the \tb... command. This is handled by setting a
variable
new_beaming
when processing the \tb... command
and only updating
beaming
to
new_beaming
when processing
the subsequent beam note. This isn't needed for the
abbreviations \tqb, \tqh, \ztqb and \ztqh which combine beam-termination and
specification of the
final beam note.
Pointed
notes are
not
given extra space
automatically. They should be given extra space manually
in the score
by using either a \roff-like command on the subsequent
note or the \qsk or \hqsk spacing commands.
Additional features of
fixmsxpart
transformation:
- +
- Successive whole-bar rests are accumulated into a multi-bar rest, with appropriate adjustment of the bar number.
- +
- \alaligne and \alapage commands are replaced by \bar.
- +
- \mulooseness, \eject, \linegoal, \song{top | bottom}, \group{top | bottom} and \akkoladen commands are commented out.
- +
- \instrumentnumber... commands become \instrumentnumber1.
- +
- \nostartrule is added to the preamble.
- +
-
Simple slurs or ties initiated by \slur or \tie are normalized by
setting the
n
parameter to 1 on the
assumption that the new note spacing is correct.
LIMITATIONS
Only single-staff instrumental parts are supported. User-defined macros are not expanded. A few esoteric MusiXTeX commands and constructions are not supported.SEE ALSO
msxlint(1)
musixdoc.pdf