LilyLib Alternatives

LilyLib reviews and mentions

• Tips for getting faster at LilyPond?
  1 project | /r/lilypond | 6 Jul 2022

  Like everyone I'd recommend Frescobaldi. You should also make sure you are familiar with lilypond shortcuts, for instance unfold. Depending on your background you might want to use a different library for writing in lilypond. I made LilyLib to speed up my typesetting and you might find it helpful too, it handles polyphony with the voices() function and is very useful if different voices or sections are variations on each other (e.g. transpositions, harmonizations, etc.). There are plenty of other tools out there though (e.g. openlilylib or abjad).

• I typeset and recorded Alkan's "Salut, cendre du pauvre!", Op. 45.
  2 projects | /r/piano | 16 Apr 2022

  I typeset and recorded Alkan's Op. 45 Salut, cendre du pauvre! The video shows the original source (from IMSLP), my re-setting of it, and finally an experimental typesetting that breaks some typesetting conventions but tries to makes some quality of life changes that I happen to like. The piece was quite tricky for me (I am no Alkan!), so if you have any advice for playing, typesetting, or recording, that would be greatly appreciated (I always think my recordings sound "reedy" as opposed to rich, and I am not really sure why). I'm pretty pleased with the fidelity of my resetting, though I can't figure out how to get lilypond to do slanted dynamic hairpins which Alkan makes great use of here. You can get the source on IMSLP here. My typesetting here. My alternative typesetting here. I typeset this using my own lilypond library you can get here. The reset version is as accurate as I can make it, the only deliberate difference between that and the source is my use of modern pedal notation. The alternate version makes the following additional changes: 1) The treble staff has extra ledger lines to avoid repeated clef changes. 2) I change key signature to avoid accidental overload at various points. 3) Both hands are placed in the same stave where it is easier (for me) to read. 4) I added ottava markings where appropriate. Both of my typesettings run to 6 pages (half of the source's 12) although the final page of the alternate version gets pretty cramped. If you want to make further changes, the source code is included in the above repo. I also opened a pull request to the mutopia project here.