Muscript 2.8

Muscript is a language for typesetting music, and a Perl script which translates this language either into PostScript, or into Encapsulated PostScript, or into MIDI, or into MusicXML, and there is a script muscriptps2svg to translate muscript into SVG. Muscript was written by Peter Billam to typeset his own compositions and arrangements; it started life as an awk script, and was announced to the world in 1996. The current version of muscript is 2.8v. There is some backward-incompatibility of syntax with 2.7 and previous, because of the new, stricter note syntax.

This page describes the text input syntax: boundarybox, systems, barlines, new bar, staves, clefs, keysigs, timesigs, rhythms, rests, notes, pitches, accidentals, stems, beams, ties and slurs, note-options, chords, words, MIDI and comments

It ends with details of how to download and install muscript, on page size issues, some tools for manipulating muscript files, and working in other languages. Then after a history of changes and a list of proposed enhancements, there are some pointers to some of the other free music-typesetting software. In a separate directory, there are some samples available to get you started with muscript syntax.

Usage

$ muscript filename > filename.ps      (generates PostScript)
$ muscript filename | lpr              (direct to the printer)
$ muscript foo | gs -q -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=foo.pdf - (generates PDF)
$ muscript -letter foo > foo.ps        (US Letter pagesize)
$ muscript -midi foo > foo.mid         (generates MIDI output)
$ muscript -xml foo > foo.xml          (generates MusicXML output)
$ musicxml2ly foo.xml                  (generates LilyPond)
$ muscript -v                          (version information)
$ muscript -h                          (helpful list of calling options)

Text Input Syntax

The muscript language is designed, in the spirit of eqn and pic, to reflect the way one musician might describe a score in detail over the phone to another musician. The language is quite compact, and a page of music can be described in not much more than a page of ascii text. In fact with a little practice a musician can sight-read the score in its muscript form.

Muscript text input consists of a number of commands, mostly on separate lines. The Backslash \ as last character on a line will continue the command on the next line.

Describing a page of music in muscript corresponds to the way you'd write the page; so first you draw the staves, then on each stave you draw the barlines, then for each bar you fill in the clefs, notes, etc.

Each page consists of several systems, each of which consists of one or more bars, each of which consists of one or more staves, each of which contains one or more notes or words.

BoundaryBox

If the very first line in the file is e.g.:
boundarybox 65 53
then muscript will generate output in Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) format, 65 points wide and 53 points high in this example. This EPS output can then be inserted into word-processor or desktop-publishing documents, or it can be converted into JPG format and used in web pages. See the eps2jpg script, and the kdf.txt file in the samples.

Systems

The first line on each page draws the systems of staves. For example, a typical piece for flute, 'cello, etc might be:
12 systems /20/20/20/20/20/20/20/20/20/20/20/20/

The numbers between slashes are the height of each stave, in point. Or a typical piece for piano might be
6 systems /20-40-20/20-40-20/20-40-20/20-40-20/20-40-20/20-40-20/

The intermediate numbers (40 here) are the height of the gaps between the staves. The dashes cause barlines to join between the staves. So the piano part of a violin sonata might be:
4 systems /14 30 20-40-20/14 30 20-35-20/14 30 20-40-20/14 30 20-42-20/

A trailing gap in a system is respected, and can be used to reserve space, for example for low stem-down notes on multiple ledger lines. A top gap, to be reserved above the first system, is indicated by a number before the first slash, e.g.
2 systems 80 / 13 30 19-40-19 / 13 30 19-40-19 30/

If there are fewer systems specified than needed, then muscript repeats the last one as necessary. For example, twelve single-stave systems can be written:
12 systems / 19 /

Titles

Titles use a title Blurb Blurb syntax, and are printed in big bold font, centered at the top of the page.

Page numbers

Page numbers use a pagenum 7 syntax. They are printed in the top outer corner; that is, odd page numbers print in the top right corner, even page numbers in the top left. If a number is not specified (e.g. pagenum ) then the number will auto-increment from the previous page number.

Headers

Headers use a innerhead Blurb blub syntax. These are printed in small italic font in the the inner top corner - the opposite top corner from the page-number. If there is no page-number on the current page, you can use the explicit lefthead and righthead commands. If high notes on the top stave get mixed up with the headers and titles, then put a gap ahead of the top system, as in the next example.

Footers

Left Footers, using a leftfoot Blurb blub syntax, are printed in small italic font in the bottom left corner. Right Footers use a rightfoot Blurb blub syntax, and are printed in small italic in the bottom right corner. If low notes on the bottom stave of the bottom system are getting mixed up with the footers, then put a trailing gap into the lowest system, e.g.

6 systems 12/19-30-19/19-35-19/19-33-19/19-30-19/19-30-19/19-33-19 15/
title Squishy Macaroons
pagenum 1
innerhead Kylie Bloggs, 2003
rightfoot Typeset by Gina Bloggs, 2005
midi channe1 1 patch 3

These systems specifications are persistent, so if muscript runs off the end of a page, it reuses the previous specification for the new page (except that it increments the page number, and it doesn't reprint the title).

Then, once the systems have been set up, the simple command
/

causes muscript to start typesetting the bars of the next system.

Bar-Lines

After the / command, the first thing is to draw the barlines. For this, muscript has to know how many bars, and how they are spaced. For example, for four bars:
4 bars | 1 | 1.2 | 1 | 1 |

Here the numbers between the | lines are the proportions of the bar lengths. In the above example, the second bar obviously needs a bit more space than the others. If just one part of a bar needs stretching (perhaps because it has a lot of semiquavers) then you put more than one number in the bar. For example, if there are five bars, but the second quarter of the fourth bar needs more space, you could use:
5 bars | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0.5 0.7 0.5 0.5 | 2 |

These barline specifications are persistent, so if muscript runs off the end of a system, it reuses the previous specification for the new system.

When muscript works out the proportions, it reserves extra space automatically for a clef at the beginning of the line. You can also reserve space for time signatures and key signatures at the beginning of a line (note that this reserves space, but does not draw anything; they will be drawn later). For example:
4 bars | 3b 4/4 1 | 1.2 | 1 | 1 |

Double-bars are indicated || and repeat marks with :
5 bars | 10 | 9 :|| 11 | 10 | 9 ||

A Segno sign (to be used by a later "Dal Segno" instruction) is indicated with Segno
5 bars | 10 :|| Segno 3b 4/4 11 | 10 | 9 |

If there are fewer proportion-numbers than bars needed, then muscript repeats the last one as necessary. For example, eleven evenly-spaced bars can be written:
11 bars | 2# 6/8 12 | 12 |

As from version 2.7g, the last barline can be ommitted. This can be used for bar-less music, for example:
1 bars | 50
or to split a bar between two systems:
3 bars ||: 16 | 16 | 8

New Bar

Then, once the barlines have been set up, the simple command
|

causes muscript to start typesetting the next bar within the current system. As from version 2.3, the | can also be followed by numbers to tell MIDI about the tempo within the bar; see the MIDI section below.

Back to the top or to the samples. . .

Staves

After the | command, you fill in the staves (of the current bar) one by one. The first (or only) stave is =1 and the second is =2 etc. These numbers can be followed with a , or a ' to set a default stem direction; this is very useful if two voices share one stave, one tail-up and one tail-down. For example, a piano piece might begin 

|
=1' bass 4b 2/4 cro c~ b
=1,      4b 2/4 smq [a e a e] [g e g e]
=2' bass 4b 2/4 cro A d

Clefs and Key Signatures are persistent, within a given stave-number. Muscript remembers them from bar to bar, and reprints them automatically at the beginning of each new system.

Clefs

The principal clefs are treble, alto, tenor and bass. Also available are treble8va, treble8vab, and bass8va, bass8vab, which put a small "8" above or below the clef to indicate instruments that transpose by one octave. Clefs can occur within a bar, as well as at the beginning.

The null clef clefspace prints nothing, but reserves one clef's-width of space; this can be useful for lining up the other parts when a clef change occurs in one part. As you can see from the above example, clefspace is unnecessary at the beginning of a line; muscript reckons there's always a clef there, so it reserves space anyway.

Key Signatures

The are written simply as   1# ,   3b ,   4#   etc. The special key signature 0 means "return to Cmaj", and will print the natural signs necessary to cancel any previous key signature. A key signature can only occur at the beginning of a bar, and before the time signature (if any).

Time Signatures

The are written simply as fractions, for example   2/4,   6/8,   12/8,   etc. A time signature can only occur at the beginning of a bar, and after the key signature (if any).

Then we can start writing the rhythms and notes (and in-stave MIDI instructions).

Rhythms

The rhythms are written in abbreviated English syntax:    bre (breve),    smb (semibreve),    min (minim),    cro (crochet),    qua (quaver),    smq (semiquaver) and    dsq (demisemiquaver).    If you would prefer to work with a less English-based syntax, see the languages section.

Dotted notes are written with a dot, e.g. min.
Double-dotted notes are written with two dots, e.g. min..
Triplet notes are written with a three, for example qua3 or qua3.
Duplet notes are written with a two, for example cro2 (so two duplet crochets last three normal quavers)
Quadruplet notes are written with a four, for example qua4 (so four quadruplet quavers last three normal quavers)
Quintuplet notes are written with a five, for example smq5 (so five quintuplet semiquavers last one normal crochet)
Tremolandi are written with a / or // or /// suffix, e.g. a minim divided into semiquavers is min//
Small notes (e.g. ornaments) are written with a -s suffix, which must be at the end, e.g. smq-s or qua3.-s

A rhythm remains valid for all notes and rests in that stave, until changed.

Rests and Blanks

A rest in the centre of the stave is written rest
It can be moved to the top line by rest' or further by rest'' or even rest'''
or to the bottom line by rest, or further by rest,, or even rest,,,

A blank space on a stave is written blank

Back to the top or to the samples. . .

Notes

It begins with the start of a beam, if any

  • then the start of a chord, if any
  • then the pitch including any accidental
  • then any instructions to cross the note to the other side of the stem, or shift the note rightwards, or shift the accidental leftwards, or to override the default stem-direction
  • then the starts or finishes of any ties or slurs
  • then a dash-separated list of any options
  • then the end of a chord, if any
  • and finally the end of a beam, if any.

    • Beams

    By default, Quavers, Semiquavers and Demisemiquavers get tails. For example:
    qua F smq A G       [qua_tails.gif]

    You can start a beam with a [ character right at the beginning of the note-string, or end it with a ] character right at the end. On each stave, muscript keeps track of two beams, one for stem-up notes, and one for stem-down; so make sure that all the notes you wish to be joined by the same beam have the same stem-direction. For example:
    qua [F smq A G] [qua_beams.gif]

    Chords

    Simultaneous notes are expressed with angle brackets, for example:
    min <C Eb G c'> [min_chord.jpg]     or:     qua [<E G> <F A>] [qua_chord.jpg]

    Pitches

    Near the middle of each clef there is a "c". This note is written c, and the notes above it are written c# d eb en f f# g g# a bb b c~ c~# d~ e~b and so on up to b~ and then further with c~~ up to f~~#. Likewise, the notes below c are B Bb A Ab G F# F E Eb D C# C B_ B_b A_ and so on down to C_ and then further with B__ and A__. Thus on each clef you can write a range of nearly five octaves without "8va" signs.

    Accidentals

    Flats, sharps, naturals, double-flats and double-sharps are written b, #, n, bb and ## after the note, just like they're pronounced. Where there are accidentals and octave sign on the same note, the octave sign must be first, e.g. A_b

    Crossing the note over to the other side of the stem

    In chords with neighbouring tones on one stem, one note-blob has to be moved across to the other side of the note-stem. This is done with an x
    For example: min <C Dx G> [x_chord.gif]

    Semibreves have no note-stems, and the x always shifts them rightwards.

    Shifting the note (or chord) rightwards, or the accidental leftwards

    If one note neighbours a note in a different voice, one of them has to be shifted rightwards, together with its stem. (So if the note forms part of a chord, the whole chord gets shifted rightwards.) This is done with an r. For example:

    =1' cro rest c# d
=1, cro blank min <G Br>
    		 

    If neigbouring tones both have accidentals, it improves clarity to shift the accidentals leftwards. This is done with an l, for example:

    =1' cro rest c#l d
=1, cro blank min <Gr Bbl>
    		 

    Overriding the Default Stem Direction

    By default, stems go up if the note is below the centre line; otherwise they go down. This default can be changed to all-up or all-down by the stave command, e.g. =1' or =1,  Stems on individual notes can be forced up with a ' or down with a , after the note: for example qua A, B c d smq c B A, G#,

    Ties and Slurs

    Ties unite two notes of the same pitch into one longer note; they are written with brackets ( ). Slurs associate a sequence of notes into one melodic phrase, generally played legato; they are written with curlie-braces { }
    Ties and slurs are printed the same, but are handled differently by MIDI.

    Ties above the note are started with (1 or (3 or (5 or (7 or (9 and finished at a later note in the same stave with )1 or )3 or )5 or )7 or )9 respectively.
    Ties below the note are started with (2 or (4 or (6 or (8 and finished at a later note in the same stave with )2 or )4 or )6 or )8 respectively.

    Slurs above the note are started with {1 or {3 or {5 or {7 or {9 and finished at a later note in the same stave with }1 or }3 or }5 or }7 or }9 respectively.
    Slurs below the note are started with {2 or {4 or {6 or {8 and finished at a later note in the same stave with }2 or }4 or }6 or }8 respectively.

    By default, ties and slurs end close to the note-blob. If you want one to end higher, at the top of an upward stem, then insert a ' between the bracket and the number. Or if you want one to end lower, beneath a downward stem, then insert a , between the bracket and the number. For example: 

    |
=1' treble 5/8 qua rest' [d{'1 f(3] [f)3 d}'1]
=1, treble 5/8 cro. G(2 cro G)2
|
=1 bass b{1-. d-. G-., C}'1-.,

    Ties which are ended without having being begun are deemed to begin at the nearest double-bar, or at the start of the line if there's no double-bar in the way. This copes with a note being tied into a second-time-bar.

    Note Options

    Options attaching to a note appear, separated by -'s, after any ties or slurs, and just before any end-chord or end-beam sign. For example:
    cro rest B-. min c(1-tr-fermata cro3 c)1 B-I3 A

    The available options are: blank (or the empty string, see below), creNN (crescendo, see below), dimNN (diminuendo, see below), down (), emph (emphasis, ), fermata (), the guitar-string options gs1 (  ) to gs6 (  ), mordent (), stacc or . (staccato), tr (trill), turn (), ten (tenuto), up (), and the text options rSomeText, bSomeBoldText, iSomeItalicText, ISomeBoldItalicText, rsSomeRegularSmallText, bsSomeBoldSmallText, isSomeItalicSmallText and IsSomeBoldItalicSmallText.

    Text to be printed can be protected by double-quotes, e.g.   -I"sf"   or   -s"3 - 4"

    Trills with a flat, natural, or sharpened upper note are expressed by trb, trn or tr#

    Multiple options on the same note are printed in order, starting close to the stave and moving away. The blank option does not print anything, but just leaves a gap where the option would have been printed; this can be used to avoid options colliding with things like slurs. An empty option works the same as a blank option, so that A-blank-blank-s4 can also be written as A---s4

    Options are, by default, printed above the stave. They can be printed below the stave by appending a comma (,) to the individual option, e.g.
    cro B,-., min c,(1-tr-fermata,

    Crescendo and diminuendo within a note can be produced with the -cre and -dim options. Currently these do not affect the printed output; they adjust MIDI's expression controller on the note's MIDI-channel, The expression parameter starts each note at a level of 100, and can be varied from 0 to 127. For example, min. c-cre20 produces a moderate crescendo, or min. c-cre20-dim30 produces a crescendo for the first half of the note, followed by a slightly stronger diminuendo in the second half. You can use the number 0, for example: min. c-dim0-dim20 produces a note which fades away during its second half.

    Back to the note-syntax, or to the top, or to the samples. . .

    Words

    Words can be printed above the top stave in the bar, or in the gaps between staves, or beneath the bottom stave.

    Font: The first bit of the command is a letter or two; r means regular font, i means italic font, b means bold font, I means bold italic font; and these can be followed by an optional s which means small, or l which means large. These font sizes are relative; they are scaled according to the average stave height in the current system.
    ISO-8859-1 character encoding is respected, so that e.g. octal 374 is printed as Ü (U-umlaut).

    Vertical Spacing: These letters can then be followed immediately (no space !) with a decimal number which determines the vertical position of the words as a proportion of the stave gap. The next space is a separator, and the rest of the command is the text to be printed.

    Horizontal Spacing of text is mostly done by numbers beginning with a decimal point and followed by one, two or three digits. These numbers are treated as reserved words within the text strings, and they space the following text to start at that proportion of the bar's width. Multiple spaces between text-words, or before the first word, are displayed as such, and this can be used for small spacings, as in "Freu  -" or in "bl1.1   First"
    See the examples:

    Examples:

    
r0.5 .01 Drink .33 to .67 me    ( Regular font, good for song words )
r0.5 .01 Freu  - .25 de .5 schö   - .75 ne   ( iso-8859-1 )
I0.9 .97 ff                    ( Bold Italic font, good for dynamics )
i0.05 .62 rallentando           ( Italic font, good for expression )
is0.8 .10 Fred Bloggs, Symphony No. 10, 5th Mvt.   ( small italics )
bl1.1   First Movement          ( bold large font, good for titles )

    Back to the top or to the sample. . .

    MIDI

    Within muscript, there are three types of MIDI commands: Global commands which affect all staves, the New-Bar command which governs the tempo, and In-A-Stave commands which affect just one stave (like either =1 or =2).
    Also MIDI-related are the -cre and -dim note-options, which do changes of dynamic within the note.

    Global MIDI Commands

    midi channel 2 patch 56 pan 80 reverb 45
    This instructs the synthesiser to assign its Patch 56 to MIDI channel 2, and to Pan it 80% over towards the right speaker, and to add moderate (45%) Reverb. The word "Patch" is MIDI-speak for a particular instrumental sound. This command would usually come near the top of the muscript file. The patch bit, the pan bit and the reverb bit are all optional (though if they're all absent the command doesn't do anything).
    The Channel-number can be anything from 0 to 15 (except 9 is reserved in General-MIDI),
    The Patch-number can be anything from 0 to 127,
    The Pan-number can be anything from 0 (full left) to 100 (full right).
    • If your synthesiser is in General-MIDI mode, the General-MIDI standard defines particular numbers for common instruments, like 0 is a grand piano, 25 a steel-string acoustic guitar, 65 an alto saxophone, etc; General-MIDI channel 9 is reserved for percussion sounds.
    • If your synth is in Performance mode, hopefully you have already selected a Performance and configured its various Channels (or "Parts")... Consult your synth manual for details.
    • If your synth is in Patch mode, then you should set it up to select your desired Bank, and to listen on some particular Channel (be aware that your synth may number the Channels 1-16). Then muscript will only be able to use that Channel, and so you can only play one Patch at once; "Patch mode" is not "multi-timbral" :-(
    midi channel 2 vibrato 60 rate 40 delay 70
    This asks the synth to adjust the Vibrato parameters on Channel 2. In all these numbers, 50 represents the default vibrato settings of this Patch, 100 represents the maximum, and 0 the minimum. These commands can be intermixed on the same line with the patch and pan and reverb parameters above. For note-by-note changes to the vibrato depth there is a corresponding In-Stave command.
    midi channel 5 chorus 90
    This asks the synth to adjust the Chorus parameter on Channel 5, to 90 percent in this example. This command can be intermixed on the same line with the patch, pan, reverb and vibrato parameters above.
    midi pause 3.9
    This inserts a pause in the output, of 3.9 seconds in this example, such as you might use to separate two movements, or two songs. Small pauses, such as .02 or .04 seconds, can be used as an expressive device between bars, like the luftpause in classical music. This command is only useful between bars, not between different staves in the same bar.

    MIDI New-Bar Commands

    The new-bar command | is the place to tell MIDI about tempo. First comes a time signature (this is just MIDI's understanding of the time signature; it doesn't get printed) and then comes the length of the bar in seconds. For example, the new-bar command for a piece in 4/4 time at 120 beats/min could be:
    | 4/4 2.0

    As in the bars command, we can specify the lengths of parts of the bar. For example, if we wanted a ritardando we might use:
    | 4/4 0.5 0.54 0.6 0.68

    This can also be used to generate swung quavers in jazz, or inégale quavers in Baroque music or in Irish music, or for Viennese waltzes. For example, an Irish Jig might begin:
    | 6/8 .19 .14 .17 .19 .14 .17
    =1' treble 2# 6/8 qua [A B A] [A F D]

    Upbeats, or in general bars of varying lengths, have to be given their own ad-hoc lengths. For example:
    | 1/4 .55
    =1 bass 2b cro F
    | 4/4 2.2
    =1 min B cro A B

    As an alternative to seconds, you can also specify a tempo, in beats per minute. Muscript decides what a "beat" means by consulting its time-signature. In 2/4 or 3/4 or anything/4 then a beat is a crochet, and in 2/2 or 3/2 or anything/2 then a beat is a minim. But in 3/8 or 6/8 or 9/8 etc. the beat is a dotted crochet, whereas in 2/8 or 4/8 or 5/8 or 7/8 etc. the beat is a quaver. (Similarly for 3/16 or 6/16).

    You still have to specify the timesignature so this doesn't cure the problem with bars of varying lengths, but a later version of muscript will be able to read through the bar of the first stave and guess a timesignature from it. This won't be infallible; for example different Staves, even in the same Bar of the same System, can have different Time Signatures (e.g. Brahms Paganini Variations bk1 var5 or bk2 var7, Scriabin Etude op8 no7, etc.)

    This tempo information is persistent; muscript remembers it from bar to bar, and re-applies it automatically.

    In-A-Stave MIDI Commands

    These are all one-word commands (no spaces!) that can intermix with notes and rhythms in a stave line. They change settings for that particular stave (like =1 or =2). They take effect immediately, and remain in force on that same stave in subsequent bars. All these commands can be abbreviated to their first three letters.

    channel2 or cha2
    This sets the midi channel, to 2 in this example. MIDI channel 9 is reserved for a "rhythm-set", i.e. drumkits, percussion, etc. If it's any other channel number, hopefully you have already assigned a patch to it . . . This command is useless if your synth is in "Patch mode".
    transpose-2 or tra-2
    This causes notes to be generated 2 semitones lower than notated, which is what you might use on a stave for a trumpet in Bb. For a piccolo you might use transpose+12 (unless you've already given it a treble8va clef).
    volume73 or vol90 or vol+10 or vol-10
    This sets the volume, in a range from 0 to 127 (the default volume is 100).
    Also allowed are incremental volume changes, such as vol+10 or vol-5
    The G-emph note-option works the same as vol+10 G vol-10 except that the note-option gets printed as part of the score, whereas the vol command does not get printed, it is part of the interpretation. The vol command uses MIDI's velocity parameter to set the starting-volume of each note; changes of dynamic within the note are done with the -cre and -dim note-options, which use MIDI's expression controller.
    legato100 or leg85
    This sets the legato, to 100 or to 85 in these examples. legato100 produces a full legato; you can actually go beyond 100, producing an over-legato. The default legato is 85, a sort of medium-détaché. The -stacc note-option decreases a note's legato by about half.
    vibrato80 or vib50
    This sets the vibrato depth, to 80 or 50 in these examples. As above in the Global MIDI section, 50 represents the default vibrato depth setting of this Patch, and 100 represents the maximum possible.

    Back to the top or to the samples. . .

    Comments

    Any line beginning with % is treated as a comment, and is passed straight through to the PostScript output where it also appears as a comment. In -midi mode it appears as a MIDI "marker" event at the start of the current bar.

    Page Size

    Output can be generated for various page sizes:
    
$ muscript -a4 foo > foo.ps          ( A4, the default )
$ muscript -letter foo > foo.ps      ( US Letter )
$ muscript -compromise foo > foo.ps  ( A4 width, Letter height )
$ muscript -auto foo > foo.ps        ( autodetect A4 and Letter )

    Auto only works as long as the output remains in PostScript form; if it is translated into PDF the autodetect power is lost and the page size becomes fixed by the translation process. Therefore, if you want to generate PDF to publish scores globally, you should use the -compromise option. See also the a42us utility script.

    Back to the top . . .

    Download

    The current version of muscript is available by http at www.pjb.com.au/muscript/muscript. To install muscript, save it to disc, move it into your $PATH, make it executable, and if necessary edit the first line to reflect where perl is installed on your system.

    If you want to use the -midi option, you'll also need to install the MIDI-Perl module written by Sean Burke.

    Tools

    Various tools exist to manipulate muscript input and PostScript output and MIDI output. To install one of the scripts, move it into your $PATH, make it executable, and if necessary edit the first line to reflect where perl is installed on your system.

    Tools for handling muscript input:
    8va
    This simple filter transposes up or down the octave. For example, in vi, !!8va raises the current bar one octave, or !!8vab lowers the current bar one octave.
    8vab
    This transposes down the octave. (It is the same file as 8va; its behaviour changes according to the name under which it is invoked.)
    transpose
    This filter transposes up or down a given number of semitones. It's just had a major re-write, and now handles keysignatures, and persistence of accidentals within a bar. E.g. this would transpose its input up seven semitones:
    transpose +7
    There is a -k option to force a keysignature onto the input. E.g. in vi, this would transpose the current line up 2 semitones, considering it to have a 4-flats keysig even if that's not explicit in the current line (i.e. if it was set earlier in the file):
    !!transpose +2 -k 4b
    There is also a -s option to transpose only one stave. E.g. this might convert a piece for flute and piano, into a piece for Bb-clarinet and piano:
    transpose +2 -s 1
    tempo
    This filter changes the midi tempo of a muscript file by a fixed proportion. It has no effect on the PostScript output. For example, tempo 1.05 speeds a piece up by 5 percent. Or, tempo 0.95 makes a piece 5 percent slower. E.g. to generate multiple practice-versions of a piece, with different tempi: 
    for t in 0.73 0.81 0.90 1.00 ; do 
   tempo $t a_piece | muscript -midi > a_piece_$t.mid
done
    4hands2score
    This converts muscript for piano-four-hands (i.e. with one player reading the left-hand page and the other reading the right-hand page) into a single score, for example for feeding into muscript -midi for proofreading.

    Tools for handling PostScript output:
    muscriptps2svg
    This script converts PostScript (or EPS) output produced by muscript (2.8i or greater) into SVG (Scaleable Vector Graphics) format. It has a -p option to convert a particular page. It needs the SVG Perl module, available from search.cpan.org
    eps2jpg
    When the input file contains a boundingbox command, then muscript will generate Encapsulated-PostScript (EPS) output, which can be inserted into word-processing documents. This script eps2jpg converts this Encapsulated-PostScript into JPG format, which can be used in web pages.
    a42us
    This converts the muscript PostScript output from A4 page size to US Letter page size. There is also a a42us -c option which generates the global-distribution compromise format (A4 width and Letter height). See also PageSize.

    Tools for handling MIDI output:
    midiecho
    Simulates a tape-delay reverb on a particular MIDI-channel by issuing repeated note_on events with diminishing volume.
    midiedit
    Edits a MIDI file in a human-readable text-format.
    mididump
    Dumps a MIDI file contents in a human-readable text-format.

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    Other Languages

    If you don't enjoy the English-based syntax for rhythms, I suggest you use m4 as a preprocessor. So instead of:
    muscript symphony_1 > symphony_1.ps
    you might use:
    m4 us_rythms.m4 symphony_1 | muscript > symphony_1.ps
    where the file us_rythms.m4 file would contain something like: 

    define(DN,bre) define(DN3,bre3) dnl
define(WN,smb) define(WN3,smb3) dnl
define(HN,min) define(HN3,min3) dnl
define(QN,cro) define(QN3,cro3) dnl
define(EN,qua) define(EN3,qua3) dnl
define(SN,smq) define(SN3,smq3) dnl
define(TN,dsq) define(TN3,dsq3)

    This example assumes you have a U.S.-based musical background, and think of semibreves as Whole-Notes, quavers as Eighth-Notes etc. Note that I had to use uppercase letters in this example, because otherwise en would conflict with e-natural. When you're writing a rythms.m4 file for your own language, be careful not to introduce words which conflict with something else that muscript already uses.

    If you develop a rythms.m4 file for another language, feel free to email it to me so I can document it here.

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    Future Enhancements

    Soapbox

    What is really needed is an ftp archive of scores in PostScript, so that anyone can print them out and use them. I think it should standardise on gzipped files, and encourage the submission of A4 and USLetter versions of everything. Of course the composers would have to be dead more than 70 years (or the pieces would have to be publicly copiable and redistributable) and someone would have had to re-typeset the pieces. The reward is immortality, a permanent priceless contribution, no less. The way to further the musical art is to make the scores freely and permanently available. End of soapbox.

    There do now exist www.gutenberg.org/music, www.mutopiaproject.org, www.classicalmusicarchives.com, icking-music-archive.org, www.free-scores.com, www.cpdl.org, www.saers.com/recorder/ www.triodomine.com.ar/partiturasgratis.htm and www.partiture.org so feel free to support them. Typeset for them !

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    Other Music-Typesetting software

    You might also want to check out

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    Peter Billam, GPO Box 669, Hobart TAS 7001, Australia http://www.pjb.com.au