unspecified starting volume in MIDI

[Thomas Morley]

Hi,

refering to a discussion on the user list, especially:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/2014-05/msg00425.html
I'd like to report some bugs/enhancements.


First:
the following gives a warning with midi:

  \score {
      { c'1\> c' c'\! }
      \midi { }
  }

--> (De)crescendo with unspecified starting volume in MIDI.

Though

  \score {
      { c'1 c'\> c' c'\! }
      \midi { }
  }

does not warn. From a _musical_ point of view I can see no difference
in the starting volume.



Second:
In order to avoid the midi-warning a workaround would be to specify
the starting volume explicitly and hide or omit the
DynamicText.stencil.

   { c'1-\hide\mf\> c' c'\! }
   { c'1-\omit\mf\> c' c'\! }

Though, the Hairpin will start at the right of the now
invisible/non-existent DynamicText.
I'd think "... the code for typesetting the hairpin should
explicitly check for an _omitted_ stencil (one being #f) and in that
case revert to the anchorless behavior", as David K pointed out.




Third:
According to \omit a shortcut for setting the stencil to point-stencil
may be quite handy.


Cheers,
  Harm