Release of Music Processing Suite 1.7.1

Music Processing Suite 1.7.1 was released on September 13, 2020.

New Features and Enhancements:

  • Tools for MusicXML processing available when right-clicking a MusicXML file under MusicXML Tools:
    • Extract compressed MusicXML (*.mxl) files
    • Compress MusicXML (*.mxl) files
    • Edit Key Specifications in MusicXML (*.xml / *.musicxml / *.mxl) files
  • New Analysis Features relating to loudness: Loudness over time and loudness distributions
  • Updated documentation for loudness literals and values
  • Pitch-related plots now have plot axes divided in 12 semitones with meaningful labels rather than numbered blocks divided in 10 semitones
  • Enhanced data filtering for aggregated dissonance distribution plots and simultaneously audible interval plots. Also filtered out zero values in aggregated circle of fifths distribution plots.
  • Improved analysis progress reporting
  • Composition Language preferences are now listed under the MPS category

Bugfixes:

  • Major internal enhancements for algorithms involving resolution of pitches and circle of fifths operations which fix the error java.lang.IllegalStateException: Could not resolve circle of fifths index for harmony eu.hfm.mps.model.composition.impl.TonalSystemNoteImpl@[address]

Starting MPS on Mac OS X Catalina

Multiple users reported issues when starting MPS on Mac OS X Catalina. The following error message is displayed:

MPS is damaged and can't be opened. You should move it to the Trash.

The reason for this error message is that MPS is not signed by an Apple-certified developer. To start it anyway, make sure you move MPS.app to your Applications folder (where most of your other programs are installed). Then open Terminal (e.g. by typing Terminal in spotlight) and copy and paste the following command:

sudo xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/MPS.app

You will be asked to type it your password. Note that typed characters will not be displayed for security reasons. Afterwards, MPS should start. More detailed instructions can be found on the Downloads page, including hints how the problem can be solved for previous Mac OS X versions.

Release of Music Processing Suite 1.7.0

Music Processing Suite 1.7.0 was released on July 11, 2020.

New Features and Enhancements:

  • Updated Eclipse platform to version 2020-06 (4.16)
  • Implemented new MusicXML 3.1 model and parser based on the Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF). It is still in an experimental state and can be activated in the MPS preferences.
  • Enhanced order in which keys are displayed in analysis overview tables
  • Analysis output files are now refreshed/displayed already before graph PDFs are generated, so they can already be browsed before PDF generation is finished

Bugfixes:

  • Fixed an issue when comparing rare harmonies (e.g. Bbb) according to their circle of fifths position
  • MusicXML-related options were not properly set when running composition crossovers and folder-based music analysis. Options are now passed properly.
  • Fixed a bug which caused note references not to be resolved in the default (western) tonal system instance

Release of Music Processing Suite 1.6.1

Music Processing Suite 1.6.1 was released on February 29, 2020.

New Features and Enhancements:

  • Added new analysis features for pitch combination analysis
  • Enhancements for Analysis Reports:
    • Added separate Harmony and Implicit Harmony progression plots over time
    • Overview plot now contains implicit (derived) harmony progressions
    • New plot for interval leap distribution over time
    • Enhanced dissonance over time plot
    • New tables containing pitch combination data
    • Added option to limit number of table rows in analysis reports
  • Improved launch configuration handling

Bugfixes:

  • Aligned times in time-dependent analysis data files (some started at t=1, now all start at t=0)
  • Fixed bug which caused fractions and tuples not to be exported as floating point numbers in CSV files
  • Fixed toolbar button for composition crossover

Release of Music Processing Suite 1.6.0

Music Processing Suite 1.6.0 was released on November 20, 2019.

New Features and Enhancements:

  • Updated Eclipse platform to version 2019-09 (4.13)
  • Enhanced generated LilyPond markup: MPS now inserts barlines and line breaks after each measure.
  • Analysis Result View can now be opened using the context menu when right-clicking an analysis folder (i.e. a folder ending with _Analysis).

Bugfixes:

  • All file write operations are foreced to use UTF-8 as encoding (before the system’s default encoding was used which lead to issues on Windows because the default encoding is not UTF-8).
  • Fixed inconsistencies in SVG library (Batik) dependencies
  • Fixed problem when notes contained in chords were tied to the corresponding notes in the next chord
  • Analysis Reports: Legends of overview plots do not overflow pages anymore
  • Analysis Reports: Missing lines are now visible in harmonic overview plot
  • Analysis Reports: Integers are not rendered as floating point numbers anymore
  • Analysis UI: Fixed transparency for 3D plots in analysis result view
  • Added missing command associations with the MPS category

Release of Music Processing Suite 1.5.1

Music Processing Suite 1.5.1 was released on September 22, 2019.

New Features and Enhancements:

  • Charts / plots / graphs displayed in the analysis results view can now be exported as .jpg, .png and .bmp images
  • Added option to enable/disable implicit harmony analysis (derives harmonies from simultaneously audible pitches)
  • Added new harmony-related extraction features:
    • Simplified Harmony Distribution
    • Harmony Duration Distribution
    • Harmony Distribution Dependent on Beat
    • Harmony Distribution Dependent on Duration
    • Simplified Implicit Harmony Distribution
    • Implicit Harmony Change Beat Distribution
    • Implicit Harmony Duration Distribution
    • Implicit Harmony Circle of Fifths Distance Distribution
    • Implicit Harmony Distribution Dependent on Duration
    • Simplified Implicit Harmony Distribution Dependent on Duration
  • Harmony plot axes are now sorted according to the circle of fifths, both in the MPS UI and PDF analysis reports
  • Added export of note/rest/measure count analysis data
  • Added export of instrument-related analysis data
  • Improved capitalization of analysis result folder, report folder and report file name.
  • Progress view is automatically opened for potentially long-running jobs
  • Added documentation for analysis results browser view
  • Added overview table for all available analysis features in the documentation
  • Added documentation for algorithmic composition and crossover features
  • Improved documentation for run configurations in general
  • Improved Context-sensitive search UI labels

Bugfixes:

  • Several issues regarding harmony plots were fixed. The harmony to axis position mapping was enhanced.
  • Analysis result view in MPS can now generate plots even if CSV file data is escaped for LaTeX processing
  • Score option “Omit Short Instrument Names” only worked for non-percussion instruments, this now affects percussion staves as well
  • Added automatic adjustment of short-indent in LilyPond files if short instruments name overflow pages
  • Fixed a problem regarding measure alignment in context layer models
  • Fixed NullPointerException when merging implicit harmony data in case implicit harmony analysis is disabled
  • Fitness function configurations were not found when running an evolutionary composition for the first time. The related resource refresh problem was fixed.

Notes:

  • The capitalization of folder and file names was adjusted for analysis result folders (*_Analysis) and analysis report folders/files (*_Analysis_Report). If you have existing anylsis folders containing _analysis or _report and re-run analysis jobs, an error will occur because Eclipse resource names are not case-sensitive. In this case, you have to either rename your resource names to _Analysis and/or _Report, respectively, or delete the existing folders before you run the analysis or report generation again.

Release of Music Processing Suite 1.5.0

Music Processing Suite 1.5.0 was released on July 18, 2019.

New Features and Enhancements:

  • This release adds an experimental user interface for an evolutionary algorithm which is capable of generating musical material according to certain statistical criteria. It is also possible to combine (cross) several compositions using this algorithm.
  • Added a new view to browse and visualize musical analysis results directly in MPS
  • Added option to escape the contents of analysis CSV files for LaTeX processing
  • When rendering context tree model representations, the .pdf file is opened instead of the .dot file
  • When launching context-sensitive coprus search, the launch configuration dialog is opened if no corpus location is specified
  • Improved internal analysis feature management infrastructure

Bugfixes:

  • Fixed ClassNotFoundExceptions relating to MusicXML serialization/deserialization when running with Java 9+
  • Fixed IllegalArgumentException when deriving degrees

Notes:

  • The file names for analysis results have changed. You have to rename your existing result files or re-generate your analysis results in order to use the new analysis results view and to generate analysis report PDFs.

Release of Music Processing Suite 1.4.0

Music Processing Suite 1.4.0 was released on May 28, 2019.

New Features and Enhancements:

  • Ugraded Eclipse base platform to 2019-03 (4.11)
  • Implemented support for tranposing instruments, which are automatically transposed correctly in generated scores. Non-transposing variants are still available for most instruments.
  • Added octave transpositions for the following instruments:
    • Piccolo
    • (Soprano) Recorder
    • Acoustic Guitar
    • Acoustic Steel Guitar
    • Electric Jazz Guitar
    • Electric Guitar
    • Muted Electric Guitar
    • Overdriven Electric Guitar
    • Distorted Electric Guitar
  • Added new instrument definitions:
    • Garklein Recorder
    • Sopranino Recorder
    • Alto Recorder
    • Tenor Recorder
    • Bass Recorder
    • Great Bass Recorder
    • Contrabass Recorder
    • Sub-Great Bass Recorder
    • Sub-Contrabass Recorder
    • Soprano Saxophone in Bb
    • Alto Saxophone in Eb
    • Tenor Saxophone in Bb
    • Baritone Saxophone in Eb
    • Clarinet in Bb
    • Clarinet in A
    • Clarinet in Eb
    • Bass Clarinet
    • Bass Clarient in Bb
    • Contrabassoon
    • Trumpet in D
    • Trumpet in Bb
    • English Horn in F
    • Horn (synonym to Frensh Horn)
    • Horn in F
    • Celesta
    • Glockenspiel
    • Xylophone
    • Ukulele
    • Euphonium
    • Soprano Vocals
    • Mezzo-Soprano Vocals
    • Alto Vocals
    • Tenor Vocals
    • Baritone Vocals
    • Bass Vocals
  • Added default octaves and default clefs for cello and double bass
  • Added documentation for transposing instruments
  • Improved typesetting for instrument names in scores containing special characters (like the flat in Bb)
  • Added option to show/hide short instrument names in scores
  • Scores and analysis reports are now opened automatically after compilation
  • New splash screen

Incompatible changes:

  • Instrument definition parameter lilyPondInstrumentName was renamed to the more generic midiInstrumentName. If you define custom instruments using this parameter, these must be changed accordingly.

Bugfixes:

  • Chords can now be used in conjunction with tied rhythms, in which case all chord notes are tied to the next note
  • Pitches, degrees and syllables used in conjuction with tied notes are now extended correctly
  • Fixed overflowing instrument names in scores
  • Fixed IllegalStateException during MC2L validation of incomplete fragment references
  • Fixed NullPointerException during MC2L validation of incomplete note durations
  • Minor documentation formatting fixes

Release of Music Processing Suite 1.3.0

Music Processing Suite 1.3.0 was released on March 9, 2019.

New Features and Enhancements:

  • Upgraded underlying Eclipse platform to 2018-12 (4.10)
  • Added the keyword recursive for modifiers. If used, the modifiers are also applied to matching contexts below the modifier as opposed to the next matching context above the modifier.
  • Added all dependencies to update site, which makes installations into existing Eclipse instances easier. Installations should now be possible using the MPS update site (and the official update site of the host Eclipse, which is activated by default) only.
  • Upgraded JavaOSC to 0.5

Release of Music Processing Suite 1.2.3

Music Processing Suite 1.2.3 was released on March 2, 2019.

Bugfixes:

  • Fixed invocation of Batik SVG library which potentially led to ClassNotFoundExceptions , NoClassDefFoundErrors or LinkageErrors depending on the Batik version
  • Fixed threading issue which potentially caused deadlocks when errors occurred while writing Eclipse resources