This is the README for the autosp package, 
version 2025-11-05.

autosp is a preprocessor that generates note-spacing
commands for MusiXTeX scores. It simplifies the creation
of MusiXTeX scores by converting (non-standard) commands
of the form \anotes ... \en into one or more conventional
note-spacing commands, as determined by the note values
themselves, with \sk spacing commands inserted as necessary.
The coding for an entire measure can be entered one part at
a time, without concern for note-spacing changes within the
part or spacing requirements of other parts.

For example,

\anotes\qa J\qa K&\ca l\qa m\ca n\en

generates

\Notes\qa J\sk\qa K\sk&\ca l\qa m\sk\ca n\en

The format of \anotes commands is similar to conventional
notes commands, except that line breaks and spaces may
precede note segments, allowing more flexible source
formatting; the line breaks and spaces will be elided from
the output.

If there is a single staff, consecutive whole-bar rest bars
are merged into a multi-bar rest. Bar-centered rests can be
coded using the standard \def\atnextbar notation but also by
using the non-standard command \Cpause (or \Cp) in a note
segment.

Spacing commands \sk and \hsk in the source are discarded,
but not \qsk, \hqsk or \qqsk; moreover non-standard commands
\Qsk, \TQsk, \HQsk and \QQsk generate "global" skips; i.e., the
effect of \qsk, \tqsk, \hqsk or \qqsk in *every* staff.

A note segment can be completely empty, but if a note
segment should start with or contain a "space," the
note-value of that space must be made explicit with a
command of the form \ha{*}, \qa{.*}, \qa{*}, \ca{*}, etc.

From version 2017-06-14, the effects of \TransformNotes calls are
implemented by the pre-processor. This enables use of autosp with
musixlyr.tex, which is incompatible with the musixtnt.tex implementation
of \TransformNotes.

All other conventional MusiXTeX commands are output exactly
as given in the input.

autosp determines the spacing for ordinary notes from the
note commands themselves; for example,

+ \qa, \qu, \ql, \qp result in \NOtes;
+ \ca, \cu, \cl, \ds result in \Notes;

and so on.

The spacing for beamed notes is determined by the beam
multiplicity: \ib... results in \Notes, \ibb... results in
\notes, etc.

Collective coding of note sequences (including accidentals
and dots) is handled by expanding the sequence into a
sequence of individual note commands.

autosp scales notes by the relevant instrument-size value.

Limitations

Appoggiaturas and grace notes are recognized by the use of
\tinynotesize; note-spacing of 1.45\elemskip is used. If
this isn't suitable and can't be corrected with a small
skip, a \vnotes command with any desired spacing can be
used.

autosp supports triplets introduced using any of the
following commands:

\triolet
\uptrio
\downtrio
\uptuplet
\downtuplet

and x-tuplets introduced using \xtuplet{x}; however,
MusiXTeX notation does not specify the intended duration
of an x-tuplet. autosp assumes that an x-tuplet is to be
played in (x-1)/x of the apparent x-tuplet duration. So, for
example, a triplet in eighths is assumed to be played in
the time of one quarter note. If these assumptions aren't
valid, the x-tuplet must be coded explicitly using a \vnotes
command; see the first measure of barsant2.aspc for an
example of a non-standard x-tuplet: a 5-tuple of 64th notes
with an intended duration of *six* 64ths.

User-defined macros are not processed or expanded.

All staffs are assumed to have the same meter; see
kinder2.aspc for an example of how to work around this.

autosp will not be effective for music with more than one
voice in a single staff. It might be advisable to use a
separate staff for each voice, or to omit certain voices
initially and add them into the resulting TeX file.

See files quod2.aspc, kinder2.aspc, geminiani.aspc and
barsant2.aspc for scores suitable for input to autosp.
musixtex.tex version 1.21 or later is needed.

Included in the autosp package is a small utility rebar that
reads a MusiXTeX score and generates a copy with bar-number
comments of the form %barno appended to commands such as
\bar, \alaligne, etc. replacing any existing comments.
Bar-numbering in the MusiXTeX output is not affected

Also included is the program tex2aspc which re-factors
conventional MusiXTeX scores to aspc format suitable for
autosp pre-processing by merging every conventional notes
commands in a measure into a single \anotes command.

To install the autosp package, install documentation and
examples.

On Unix-like systems, unpack the .tar.gz archive, and
compile and install using the sequence

./configure && make && sudo make install

On Windows, install the executables in the Windows folder.

autosp is licensed under the GPL, version 2 or (at your
option) any later version.

Bob T.
rdtennent(at)gmail(dot)com
