A working MusicXML engraver?

In addition to a specification for MusicXML, it would be really nice to have
a reasonably good engraver, preferably free / Open Source.

I am working on software to convert between mup and MusicXML.  The software
produces MusicXML output that seems unquestionably valid to me.  The
engravers I have available to test it on are Finale 2012 and Sibelius 6.1 --
the leading commercial score editors / engravers -- but their MusicXML
importers are broken in simple, obvious ways.  In a very simple test file:

* Finale 2012 garbled the handling of margins, and mis-handled an
  octave-displaced clef.

* Sibelius 6.1 garbled the handling of margins (in a different way than
  Finale), mis-handled an octave-displaced clef and an octave-displaced
  part, and misinterpreted a parenthesized accidental (omitted the parens
  and moved it to a different note).

Assuming that this group continues to work with MusicXML, I would like to
suggest that in addition to producing a reasonably specifiable design, a
good specification, a converter, and a validator, a successful outcome
should include an Open Source engraver of reasonable quality and at least an
attempt at an engraver test suite.  I realize that all this will take quite
a lot of effort, may be some distance in the future, and is probably best
viewed as "How can we facilitate / support someone doing these things"
rather than "How can we do them"....

Meanwhile, if anyone knows of a MusicXML engraver that runs on Linux,
handles all reasonably common constructs, and works reliably, whether free /
Open Source or not, please contact me (privately, if you wish).

			Thanks -

						L Peter Deutsch

Received on Monday, 30 November 2015 05:13:29 UTC