The software I used to copy music (1993-2003)

Software used at the Stockhausen-Verlag in 2000

VectorTools: A set of Xtras for Freehand by Extensis. I also used Extensis' Intellihance Xtra when working in Photoshop (see below).

Music Tools : A set of Xtra buttons for typesetting music in FreeHand (programmed by me). As soon as it became possible to write Xtras for FreeHand, I spent much of my own time doing just that. Programming such tools requires not only the time and inclination to program, but also a thorough understanding of both music notation and practical copying. See My FreeHand Xtras, and what they do.

CLicht: I designed this music font to match my own handwriting. Stockhausen has the final word on his scores, so if he doesnt like a character, I change it. I originally created this font in FontStudio (a Letraset program which is no longer supported), but now use Fontographer (part of Macromedia's FreeHand Graphics Studio).

ART Music 3.0.1 by Two Bits Worth Inc. ART Music is no longer being supported. Nowadays there are easier ways to get graphics from music notation editors into vector-graphics editors.

ABM: an Art Beautifier for Music, by James Ingram.

PopChar 2.7.2 (1994) by Günther Blaschek. The current version can be downloaded from many sites, including (Nov.2008) here.

Adobe Photoshop 4.0.1 (1989-97) by Adobe Systems. The Stockhausen-Verlag used this for editing large scans when publishing facsimile scores.

Stockhausen used phonetic fonts sanctioned by the International Phonetic Association in his scores. Information about IPA fonts can be found (November 2008) here.

Other Software: I programmed in C++ using Metrowerks CodeWarrrior Pro 1.

How the software was used to copy a Stockhausen score

Here is the sequence I followed when copying a score in 2000:

1. Stockhausen generally used the standard notation for pitches and rhythms, so these were entered quickly in Finale, using the 'speedy entry tool'. A set of standard settings was used with the font CLicht. I needed Finale's ability to align chords correctly, but wanted to do a lot of other things differently, more precisely, or more easily, so
   • dummy accidentals were used for those I wanted to change later,
   • all beams were drawn horizontally,
   • everything else was omitted (ties, slurs, accents etc.),
   • only the staff width setting was important. Page margins and page height were set to something comfortable.
   • the space between the staves was set comfortably large (not the final spacing).
2. The pagination was fixed, and the detailed horizontal spacing (kerning) accomplished as well as possible using Finale's 'beat chart spacing'. Finale did not stop characters overlapping when doing this, so I estimated the amount of space I was going to need later, when respacing individual characters in FreeHand. I tried to keep the number of pages in a Finale file fairly small, to minimise any catastrophes...
3. Each page in the Finale file was exported as a separate EPS file, and converted to Illustrator1.1 format using a utility called ART Music.
4. The Illustrator file was beautified using ABM (which I wrote myself 1993-94). This was a filter program, which resized staves so that they fit the clefs, set all the line thicknesses, moved noteheads up and down to fit on the staves, fit chords together (noteheads, stems, flags, beams), fit stafflines to barlines, restructured beams (Finale gave them five (!) corners), etc. Unfortunately, ABM depended on the precise sequence of instructions in its input, so it could not be expected to work on the output from newer Finale/Art Music versions. It was, however, very useful and reliable, and successfully cleaned up many hundreds of pages.
5. ABM's output (an Illustrator1.1 file) was read into FreeHand. Initially, the page size was wrong, but the drawing could now be cut-and-pasted into a default file containing the correct page size and my formats for line thicknesses and character sizes.
6. Once in FreeHand, I made extensive use of all its tools - though in music, the wonderful colour functions are not usually needed. I also used the following Xtras:
   • Extensis' VectorTools (especially VectorLibrary and VectorNavigator).
     • VectorLibrary is like a permanent, extensible clipboard in which model objects can be stored. I used it to store ties, tuplet brackets, dynamic hairpins etc..
     • VectorNavigator provides a thumbnail of the page (like the one in Photoshop), which can be used for easy navigation at high magnifications.
   • My own Music Tools.

My FreeHand Xtras, and what they do

My Xtras were originally written for FreeHand 5.0, using much of the code from ABM. I rewrote them later for Freehand 7, using C++ and Macromedia's MOA interface to FreeHand. Learning C++ and MOA slowed down development somewhat, but learning C++ was definitely worth it. This knowledge stood me in good stead as I began to learn C# in 2005.

The current version of Music Tools contains just four buttons:

Fit Music ( )

This button first analyses the selected elements to find out what kinds of lines and texts are there (stems, stafflines, ledgerlines, beams, noteheads, clefs, accidentals etc.). It does this using context heuristics [ e.g. a staffline is a fairly long (nearly) horizontal line which passes through or near a clef and/or notehead(s)]. The button then does the following:

1. It sets default line thicknesses for each known path type,
2. sets stafflines and ledgerlines equidistant, and exactly horizontal if they were not already,
3. moves clefs, noteheads and accidentals vertically so they are exactly on or between staff- or ledgerlines,
4. fits chords together:
   • Noteheads and stems are aligned. Stems are made exactly vertical, and are moved so that they join the appropriate notehead exactly. A stem must be inset inside the notehead character by a distance equal to half the stem's thickness. The height of the stem's endpoint inside the notehead depends on the notehead character.
   • Other noteheads on the same chord are then aligned to the stem (Fit Music can cope with clusters)
   • Flags and beams are moved to join the outer ends of stems (Fit Music can cope with complicated beaming)
   • Augmentation dots are spaced horizontally with respect to the chord, and vertically with respect to the staff
   • Auxilliaries (accents, staccato dots etc) are aligned exactly above or below their chord
5. the free ends of stems are moved off stafflines. For maximum legibility, it is better for the extremities of all characters to be visible.

In practice, I use Fit Music most for aligning accents and staccato dots. Stockhausen makes a lot of changes during rehearsals, before a score gets printed. I also use this button for small music examples, which can be produced entirely within Freehand without having to start in Finale.

Examples:

In all the following examples, object positions in the diagram on the right are produced by selecting the elements (in the left diagram positions) then hitting the button.

As far as FreeHand is concerned:

• Stems, stafflines, ledgerlines and barlines are ordinary straight lines.
• Beams are closed, filled paths with four corners. (Fit Music converts them to normalised parallelograms.)
• All other objects (noteheads, flags, accents, tenuto signs, dots, clefs etc.) are single characters in CLicht, each in their own text block.

before	after
The notehead remains where it was. All the other objects are moved horizontally into position. The stem is fit to the notehead and flag, and its thickness is normalised. The augmentation dots are aligned with the notehead (if there is a staffline in the way, they are moved vertically into the available space).

before	after
The noteheads dont move unless there are stafflines around. The stems are fit to the noteheads, and their thickness is normalised. The beams are fit to the stems (They are made parallel, and given the correct vertical spacing from each other). The accents are centred under the noteheads. The tenuto is centred over its stem (this is how Stockhausen likes them).

before	after
The stafflines are made parallel, and are normalized with respect to the clef (the clef moves vertically). The notehead is moved to the nearest correct vertical position (Fit Music decided on the line below). The stems are normalised. Note that stem tips are moved off the stafflines - the upper end of the headless stem is moved above the central line of the staff, and the lower end of the other stem is moved below the line it is currently on. This is important for legibility, especially at small point sizes. The length of the ledgerline on the headless stem is normalised. The barline and stafflines are fit together. (Fit Barlines is a separate tool as well, because it doesnt need any objects other than stafflines and barlines to be selected. It assumes that all selected (nearly) horizontal lines must be fit to all (nearly) vertical lines. Fit Music knows about lots of different types of horizontal and vertical lines, and wont fit a ledgerline to a stem by mistake.)

before	after
The stafflines and ledgerline(s) are made parallel with the correct vertical separation and thickness for the clef size. The clef is moved vertically onto the staff. The noteheads and accidentals are moved vertically to the nearest correct positions. The stem is normalised with respect to the top notehead (because the stem as a whole is lower than the noteheads  as a whole), and its lower end is fitted to the flag (which has been moved horizontally to fit the stem). The length of the ledgerline on the top notehead is normalised. The remaining noteheads are moved horizontally to fit on the stem. The barline and stafflines are fit together - see comment above.

Fit Barlines ( )

Selected vertical and horizontal lines are redrawn such that there are no notches at the corners where they meet, and the horizontal lines which end near a vertical line are made to end exactly on the vertical line. This is useful in music, since staff lines and barlines have different thicknesses. Fit Barlines will correct any number of barlines and stafflines all at once (the following diagrams are one button-click apart).
Usually, of course, I cut stafflines exactly on the barline with FreeHand's knife, but this still leaves notches, and its better to be safe than sorry about the staffline endpoints... The existence of Fit Barlines means that I can do cutaway staves at much lower magnification

Example:

before	after

Convert to Slur ( )

This button converts a (thick) bezier-curve into a filled, closed curve. The resulting slur is pointed at both ends, and has the same maximum thickness and curvature as the original line. This tool can convert any number of slurs at once, though I usually do them one at a time.

Examples:

before	after
Ordinary slurs. The curves on the left are simple Bezier curves drawn with Freehand's pen tool. Each curve has two points, one each end of the curve. The maximum thickness of the completed slurs is the thickness of the original line.

before	after
Slurs can change staves...

before	after
Slurs can curve backwards...

before	after
The original line can have any number of tangent points between the end points.

Convert to Tie ( )

Similar to the above, except that the resulting tie has a special shape and is always horizontal. I no longer use this button, preferring to use template ties instead. A template is a perfectly drawn example stored in a library (see VectorLibrary).

Examples:

before	after
The position and curvature of the right-hand point are ignored. Ties are axially symmetrical.

before	after
Three-point ties: The height of the tie is the height of the original tangent-point in the middle of the curve.

before
after
Four-point ties: The height of the tie is the height of the left tangent-point in the middle of the curve. There is a standard curvature at the two ends.

Software used from 2000-2003

After leaving Stockhausen, I learned Sibelius 2.1.1 and used it, instead of the antique Finale 3.0.1a, to prepare input for FreeHand. I used the Freehand plugin PS EditLink (TechPool, but now no longer available) to get from Sibelius into FreeHand. It was possible to get much further with a score in Sibelius 2.1.1 than I ever did in Finale, but I never got a chance to test the latest Finale version, so have no way of comparing the most recent versions of these rivals. I do not know whether the Stockhausen-Verlag updated its software after 2000. As far as I know, my Xtras should still work with the latest Freehand version if it still supports Macromedia's MOA interface, but I have no way of testing this. Professional copying work finally dried up in 2003, so I have little need to continue to develop these tools.