Re: MIDI export and partial bars

[Nils]

On Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:12:46 +0200
Joseph Rushton Wakeling <address@hidden> wrote:

> Hello all,
> 
> A query about MIDI export, which relates to a feature request I have in mind 
> but 
> would like to confirm is feasible.
> 
> Lilypond's MIDI export has problems with partial opening measures.  This 
> means 
> that import into other programs will fail to place barlines correctly, and 
> that 
> MIDI players which display bar/beat numbers will also display wrongly -- e.g. 
> in 
> the Frescobaldi MIDI player, as described here:
> https://github.com/wbsoft/frescobaldi/issues/43
> 
> There's an easy workaround, which is to define an alternative opening to the 
> music using rests instead of a \partial measure:
> http://osdir.com/ml/lilypond-user-gnu/2009-06/msg00418.html
> 
> ... but this is imperfect, as it inserts silence at the opening of the MIDI 
> file 
> and also still results in bar numbering being offset by 1.
> 
> So, the question is, is it feasible to properly encode a pickup bar in MIDI, 
> that is, to have the starting notes identified as belonging to the last notes 
> of 
> bar 0?  Will this be accepted or understood by MIDI players and other 
> software's 
> import functionality?
> 
> Thanks for any advice and comments,
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
>      -- Joe

Midi understands time signatures:
What I did in Laborejo.org is to start with a measure which has a timesignature 
of the length of the upbeat and after that place the original timesig.

That said I don't care about Lilyponds midi export at all. I want Lilypond to 
engrave PDFs. Midi export should be done one level higher. Needless to say this 
is exactly what Laborejo does: One sourceformat with a high enough information 
density to both generate Lilypond and Midi without any subtle information lost.

Nils