PsalticTools - a set of utilities for working with Byzantine sheet music

[SergM]

Hello.
I upload my Byzantine music typing system (mscore-20250212.zip).
Unlike other programs, this system is designed to create scores in parallel double notation: Byzantine and Western (see sample below).
The system is based on the free music editor MuseScore. There is a little guide (mscore-manual.en.pdf).
There are a lot of flaws, but I'm not sure if anyone needs this system yet...
If Neanes had appeared a few years earlier, she probably wouldn't have been there...

PsalticTools - Browse Files at SourceForge.net

a set of utilities for working with Byzantine sheet music

sourceforge.net

P.S. I would be glad if someone would correct the errors in the English manual, my English is bad.

 

[Dimitri]

Thank you for sharing, this will be useful to people learning Byzantine Chant with a Western music background. Is it for Windows devices only?

 

[SergM]

Thank you for sharing, this will be useful to people learning Byzantine Chant with a Western music background. Is it for Windows devices only?

This archive is yes, only for Windows. But MuseScore also exists for Linux and Mac OS. I use the Linux version myself. The problem is to build it with the necessary patches (as well as Qt, it also has patches), perhaps later there will be versions for Mac OS and Linux.

 

[Basile]

Why you do not join forces with NEANES?

 

[πανθωμ]

Its a neat set of tools. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the Psaltic Checker plugin to work under MuseScore 3.7 (by Jojo Scmitz) or 4 but maybe theres something that can be worked out.

Also the realization of the Petaste+Klasma seems to be inverted: normally I've seen it rendered as two eighth notes and then a quarter, but this is interpreting it as a quarter+two eighths, which gives a weird accentuation. That was the only thing I had to edit and other than that I'm loving what I'm seeing.

 

[SergM]

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the Psaltic Checker plugin to work under MuseScore 3.7 (by Jojo Scmitz) or 4 but maybe theres something that can be worked out.

Did you build MuseScore 3.7 from source? A patch is needed for PsalticChecker - it adds the ability to highlight notes without changing the layout. I also see that the automatic measures split before the Psifistons and Petastes did not work - the patch fixes this too. I haven't tried it on 3.7, and it may require modification.

PsalticTools / Code / [r11] /trunk/mscore/patches/mscore-3.6.3.patch

sourceforge.net

Also the realization of the Petaste+Klasma seems to be inverted: normally I've seen it rendered as two eighth notes and then a quarter, but this is interpreting it as a quarter+two eighths, which gives a weird accentuation. That was the only thing I had to edit and other than that I'm loving what I'm seeing.

Yes, I know about this, I make the description of Petaste according to the Bulgarian tradition. You can replace the plugins\byzconverter.qml file, I made a setting for this (on line 17).

 

[πανθωμ]

Did you build MuseScore 3.7 from source? A patch is needed for PsalticChecker - it adds the ability to highlight notes without changing the layout. I also see that the automatic measures split before the Psifistons and Petastes did not work - the patch fixes this too. I haven't tried it on 3.7, and it may require modification.

PsalticTools / Code / [r11] /trunk/mscore/patches/mscore-3.6.3.patch

sourceforge.net

Yes, I know about this, I make the description of Petaste according to the Bulgarian tradition. You can replace the plugins\byzconverter.qml file, I made a setting for this (on line 17).

I'm on Arch Linux, so i just installed from AUR and 3.6.3 did not want to build on my system. Running the windows version proved buggy and unusable.

Thanks for the tip on the petaste. Love to see the interpretation of the oxeia but noticed some weirdness around Zo in first mode. No big deal and an easy edit. This is some great software!

 

[SergM]

Why you do not join forces with NEANES?

Time is up. Actually, I don't need a typesetting program, but books... and they are almost all typed. Interestingly, I scored my first "double" notes in February 2020, just as Neanes was launching. I like my own system of typing notes, I'm used to it... and I also don't know which one is easier.

 

[SergM]

I kind of managed to build a Linux version of MuseScore 3.6.3 (AppImage). However, the plugins, templates, and score examples had to be moved to a separate archive. Install something like this:
1. Download the files mscore_3.6.3-x86_64.AppImage and mscore-addons-20250217.zip
2. $ chmod +x mscore_3.6.3-x86_64.AppImage
3. $ ./mscore_3.6.3-x86_64.AppImage
When you first start it, it will create a directory tree in your Documents folder
like: Plugins, Scores, Templates, ... (if you have chosen a language other than
English, they will be in your language). They need to unpack the contents of the
mscore-addons-20250217.zip archive.
To launch plastichelper, do:
4. $ ln -s mscore_3.6.3-x86_64.AppImage psaltichelper
5. $ ./psaltichelper

 

[πανθωμ]

Also I noticed that when you have an oxeia with an ison and kentemata, the positioning of the gorgon is placed in the same space as the kentemata. I'm away from my computer but I can attach a picture later.

 

[SergM]

Also I noticed that when you have an oxeia with an ison and kentemata, the positioning of the gorgon is placed in the same space as the kentemata. I'm away from my computer but I can attach a picture later.

Yes. This is a font flaw. In fact, there are many such combinations with oxia. I once intended to use oxia in some cases, but then I abandoned it, and support for oxia remained very weak.