Polymetric tuplets look bad

[Han-Wen Nienhuys]

address@hidden writes:
> <<
> \new Staff { \times 4/7 { a'4 a' a' a' a' a' a' } }
> \new Staff { \times 4/5 { a' a' a' a' a' } }
> \new Staff { \times 4/9 { a' a' a' a' a' a' a' a' a' } }
> >>
> 
> Why so much space for the first quarter note?  The 9:4 tuplets are the 
> shortest duration notes, so I would expect them to drive most of the 
> spacing, but they look very irregular.

This is a dilemma; in single staff music, the (stretchable) space
should be from right-edge of a symbol to the left-edge of the
following. Unfortunately, this approach does not work well for
polyphonic pieces, where the left-edges of the notes should follow a
regular pattern. Currently, LilyPond uses a compromise between
different staves; probably, we should switch off all delicate optical
spacing for polyphonic parts, and use the left-edge of symbols exclusively.


-- 

 Han-Wen Nienhuys   |   address@hidden   |   http://www.xs4all.nl/~hanwen