Tech: Looking for a music font for HARMONY

Subject: Tech: Looking for a music font for HARMONY
From: pavane
Date: 10 Jun 04 - 05:07 AM

I am currently experimenting with using a music font in HARMONY (because of requests for a better score display)

I have tried Fughetta, which works OK, but doesn't seen to display certain characters (e.g. 8th/16th/32nd rests) very well at small font sizes.

Is this a feature of all music fonts, or are there better ones available?

Subject: RE: Tech: Looking for a music font for HARMONY
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 10 Jun 04 - 02:02 PM

pavane -

There was a thread a year(?) or so ago in which several people suggested music fonts and sites where they could be downloaded. My "quick look" for the thread didn't find anything, and I don't seem to have made a trace or a note of the thread title.

My "favorite" notation program, which is unfortunately an historic relic no longer sold and that barely limps on WinXP, uses a TrueType font called Anastasia that seems to be a "complete set" with notes and rests down to 128th, and at least all of the notation symbols I've ever thought of using. "Companion" fonts called Frets A, Frets B, and Frets C provide guitar fret diagrams for most chords. Print quality is excellent.

Font selection in the program is provided so that any other available font can be used - a nice feature if you can do it. Adobe Type 1 versions of the Anastasia and Frets fonts came with the program, and are what I have installed; but the Type 1 fonts are only needed if you want to print something at extreme re-scaled sizes, or if you always print PostScript as I do. Windows has very limited ability to handle Type 1 fonts without installation of Adobe Font Manager, so True Type fonts would be more generally useful for most people.

A font named Maestro is used by a number of notation programs I've looked at, and it also appears to be a full set. I have it installed as a Type 1, but I'm pretty sure it comes as a True Type in the bundle with a couple of notation programs.

Since these fonts were provided with notation programs I've used, I don't know if they are "trad" or if copyrights may be involved. I don't find any restrictions on use noted in a couple of the programs.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Looking for a music font for HARMONY
From:
Date: 10 Jun 04 - 02:54 PM

Here's a site with a few Music Type Faces

Subject: RE: Tech: Looking for a music font for HARMONY
From: pavane
Date: 10 Jun 04 - 05:26 PM

Thanks for the info. (The problem might just be a limitation of VB or Windows that I can't overcome.)

As for using different fonts, the big problem is that the program needs to calculate where to print the character in order for the notes to line up with the staff and each other. I have to make up a table of parameters for each character to ensure this happens properly, but a different font may need a different set of parameters.

Maybe not, I will just have to try a few and find out.
Also, different fonts may use different ascii codes for one printed character.

The program as currently released draws each character using arcs and lines, but some of the results are poor, especially the clef signs.

Subject: RE: Tech: Looking for a music font for HARMONY
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 10 Jun 04 - 05:43 PM

The program I've used most that allows interchangeable fonts doesn't seem to have a problem with glyph numbering/selecting or with spacing for the fonts I've tried out, so I'd assume that there's some standardization. I have to note that a couple of years ago when I got curious about it I wasn't able to find any published standard, or even good glyph descriptions.

A couple of the relatively cheap notation programs do come with 3 or 4 choices of "alternate fonts" - mostly rather ugly; but you might assume that they'd be all to common character forms.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Looking for a music font for HARMONY
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 10 Jun 04 - 05:49 PM

pavane-

You might find helpful information at the Microsoft Typography Group. I haven't looked there in any detail recently, but did find some helpful info - including the full(?) "True Type Font Specification" some months ago.

They do show a heading of "helpful info" on hinting, aliasing, etc. apparently for both the True Type and "Clear Type" formats.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Looking for a music font for HARMONY
From: pavane
Date: 11 Jun 04 - 04:36 AM

Thanks for the link.
If there really IS standardisation on glyph numbring, this would help.

I am currently thinking of a hybrid system, in which the program would automatically switch some characters (but not all!) back to the draw version at small font sizes. That wouldn't be too difficult, as I haven't yet taken any of the code out.

There are particular problems with rests for quavers/8th notes and shorter, which just show as blobs on the smallest size.

I imagine that the problems are mainly due to screen resolution, and that for printing, the fonts are better at all sizes. Unless I am careful, this could cause WYSIWYG flaws though, if the drawn character is slightly different in size.

Subject: RE: Tech: Looking for a music font for HARMONY
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 17 Jun 04 - 10:56 PM

Pavane, I experimented with Font Creator Program (Shareware) to create a new set of fonts for Tin Whistle and Alto Sax tablature. Because of my inexperience it was fairly tedious to start from scratch - and I wasn't using exotic graphics software to create the .bmp's.

In essence though it is moderately easy to import an existing font style, modify glyphs in some way so that they're more legible and then resave the font style with a different title. (Iknow that it's not relevant for your purposes, but you can also make the font such that it's Mac compatible.

Drop me a line if you'd like me to have a quick experiment with a couple of glyphs.

Regards, John

Subject: RE: Tech: Looking for a music font for HARMONY
From: pavane
Date: 18 Jun 04 - 02:22 AM

I have solved my problem now, thanks.
I had inadvertently used the BOLD version, which was a Windows form setting left over from the display of the heading on the same form. It looks a lot better without!

Subject: RE: Tech: Looking for a music font for HARMONY
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Jun 04 - 03:02 AM

I have a problem with alignment of notes on the staff. It happens all the time when I use the Windows version of the Digital Tradition, with the included music font installed. It also happens with Finale 2002, when I import compositions from older versions of Finale. Sometimes, it's hard to tell if a note is on a line or on a space, since the note is positioned about halfway between. Anybody have a universal cure?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Tech: Looking for a music font for HARMONY
From: pavane
Date: 18 Jun 04 - 06:51 AM

It won't happen in HARMONY! (I hope)
The placement of notes is quite tricky at times, and I presume the programs are inadequate in this respect.

Subject: RE: Tech: Looking for a music font for HARMONY
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 19 Jun 04 - 06:27 AM

Joe -

Has there perhaps been a change in the font(s) that come with later versions of Finale? There are standard dimensions and offsets for the glyphs that most typesetting (including music layout) programs expect, but that not all fonts observe. If the program had it's own "homemade" font, and switched to a "spec standard" one for the "new" program - or the other way around, misplaced glyphs could easily happen. It could be just a matter of switching back to the "music font" that was used in the original program(?).

I think I recall that some of the advertising said that Finale comes with a couple of "optional fonts." You're supposed to be able to make your score look like jazz (pronounced sloppy-handwritten-scrawls) by using a different music font, etc. If there are options, you might try one of the other ones and see if the alignment is improved. If it is, you would know you could look for a different "formal" font.

Since the DT has an included font, you wouldn't expect problems; but I haven't tried printing much of anything since the Win version came out. I haven't seen reports of this problem with it.

Unfortunately, it's fairly common for font names to be "reused," and for slightly different glyph sets to have very similar names; so it's not always easy to tell if you have the one you think you have. - something that drives layout people up a wall on a regular basis. Windows will also always default to the TrueType version if you have both TrueType and Vector (Type 1) fonts with the same - or even "too similar" names, so visiting a web page that downloads (embeds) a TrueType "to let you read it the way they wrote it" can blow your whole setup if you're using a similarly named Type 1.

John