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Nightingale source code

Posted: 04 Mar 2020, 18:41
by benwiggy
jrethorst wrote: 18 Jun 2016, 20:33 ... another one of these nice notation programs like Nightingale that is apparently no longer in development.
Should anyone be interested in a little project, or need another notation software option, I notice that the Mac source code for Nightingale is available on github.

https://github.com/AMNS/Nightingale

Much of the code is antiquated, but Intel porting is underway, and the app does launch and run on my Mojave Mac. Sadly, my old Nightingale files from the 90s are too old to be opened.

Donald Byrd, "the father of computer notation", seems to be still working on it, with the latest commit 2 days ago. I guess it's a labour of love.

Re: Nightingale source code

Posted: 05 Mar 2020, 22:54
by DatOrganistTho
Is Nightingale worth it? I looked up examples, and I just can't get into it's fonts. Also, is the Windows version still be developed, or is it abandonware at this point?

Re: Nightingale source code

Posted: 06 Mar 2020, 07:41
by benwiggy
DatOrganistTho wrote: 05 Mar 2020, 22:54 Is Nightingale worth it?
Probably not. It's still primarily 'legacy' software that can only be used on old hardware and OSes. The Intel version is by no means a finished release. It's not going to provide anything that MuseScore or Dorico can't do better.

There may be some interesting bits of code, for anyone into notational algorithms and software development generally.

Re: Nightingale source code

Posted: 07 Apr 2020, 03:40
by jrethorst
Nightingale was the program used by Tuscany Guitar, a boutique publisher of remarkably high-quality editions. See http://www.tuscanyguitar.com/ for their catalog. Anything can be ordered from e.g. Boosey & Hawkes or Sheet Music Plus.

The program used Adobe's Sonata font. Here's an example:

Tuscany example.jpg
Tuscany example.jpg (84.5 KiB) Viewed 6677 times

Re: Nightingale source code

Posted: 10 Apr 2020, 08:20
by benwiggy
Nightingale was the first notation app I used. You had to add the barlines manually. You added music "left-justified" until you couldn't get another bar on the system, and then carried onto the next system. When you finished, there was a command to stretch the music out to fill the width.

This is (under the hood) how most computer algorithms still work: there's an 'ideal' reference spacing which then has to be squeezed or stretched to the system width.

I suspect to get publishable results you needed much more engraving experience than I had at the time. Then I moved up to Finale; now Dorico. Each step up (including Nightingale from my handwriting) seemed revolutionary.

Re: Nightingale source code

Posted: 10 Apr 2020, 18:24
by David Ward
benwiggy wrote: 10 Apr 2020, 08:20… … …I suspect to get publishable results you needed much more engraving experience than I had at the time. Then I moved up to Finale; now Dorico. Each step up (including Nightingale from my handwriting) seemed revolutionary.
As a composer rather than copyist, engraver or publisher, I believe I have produced my very best results in fair copy manuscript. The problem has always been that that then involves a lot more work for other people (who need to be paid). The time (and money) saved from my use of Finale has been quite astonishing. For me, any greater fluency from Dorico is likely to be marginal by comparison. As long as Finale and I both survive, I'll probably stay with it.

Re: Nightingale source code

Posted: 10 Apr 2020, 20:07
by benwiggy
My copyist's hand is pretty shocking. Perhaps it would be better with more practice, but...