Notation Software

[D. Michael McIntyre]

On Thursday 22 November 2007, Rafael F. Compte wrote:
> a sequencer. I'll quote The Rosegarden Handbook:

That really threw me for a loop.  That didn't sound like me.  Oh.  The 
HANDBOOK.  Right.  Chris wrote that.

> So it doesn't really aim to be a full featured Lilypond front end but it
> does provide a good set of features, however not a full set as the best
> known proprietary software.

Chris wrote that a long time ago.  We don't just export to LilyPond, but since 
Heikki Junes came along, we do it so well that we're in transition to making 
it our only print engine.  Dealing with multiple voices is still a lot more 
annoying than it is in a dedicated notation editor, but it has become less 
so.  The new instrument database thing I did for the release before last or 
so along with Magnus Johansson really raises another bar on making us more 
notation-oriented.

Many more things are possible now than when that blurb was first written, 
because we have changed our vision somewhat, and really pushed the limits of 
what is possible in this environment.  (Lots of credit to me for this, if I 
do say so myself.  When I came here, Chris was completely determined that 
there was no such thing as B#, period.)  LilyPond helps by making a lot of 
default layout decisions that are really good, and its output almost always 
looks dramatically better than what we draw on the screen.

But it's true that not everything is possible, and Rosegarden will never be a 
Finale replacement.  If there is any hope there, it's with one of the 
notation-driven programs, or with a fork of Rosegarden that cuts away the 
conflicting features that make so many notation goals difficult to the point 
of being just short of impossible.

Though I don't think anything is actually completely impossible.  We've dreamt 
up some pretty wild what if solutions that would probably work.  But we still 
have bugs from 2004 we don't have time or inclination to fix. We're never 
going to get into anything that deeply convoluted unless someone wins the 
lottery.

The one thing Finale and Sibelius have on all of us on the Linux notation 
scene is they have big price tags that presumably keep a number of people 
employed full-time.  That is the hardest gap of all to bridge.  Damn day job.  
Or more importantly, damn Chris's day job.  He's really very good at this 
when he has a rare moment to really get rolling full tilt.  I am far less 
good, but more reluctant to settle for doing things half assed, like the 
stupid B# thing.

Anyway, I'll go take a look at mScore now that I upgraded to Gutsy, and will 
be able to compile it now.  Maybe mScore is our true best hope for a 
Finale/Sibelius killer.  It certainly seems to have the right kind of design 
goals in mind to fill that niche.
-- 
D. Michael McIntyre