New features in 1.8 since 1.6

• The chord entry code has been completely rewritten. It is now cleaner and more flexible.
• A new syntax has been added for text entry. This syntax is more friendly than the old mechanism, and it is implemented in a more robust and modular way. For more information, refer to the section on "Text markup" in the notation manual.
• The integration of the input language and Scheme has been made deeper: you can now use LilyPond identifiers in Scheme, and use Scheme expressions instead of LilyPond identifiers.
• The internal representation of music has been cleaned up completely and converted to Scheme data structures. The representation may be exported as XML.
• A new uniform postfix syntax for articulation has been introduced. A beamed slurred pair of eighth notes can be entered as

            	c8-[-( d8-]-)
            

  In version 2.0, postfix syntax will be the only syntax available, and the dashes will become optional.

  This will simplify the language: all articulations can be entered as postfix, in any order.

• A new syntax has been added for chords:

            	<< PITCHES >>
            

  It is not necessary to update files to this syntax, but it will be for using LilyPond version 2.0. In version 2.0, this syntax will be changed to

            	< PITCHES >
            

  for chords, and

            	\simultaneous { .. }
            

  for simultaneous music.

  To convert your files from <PITCHES> to <<PITCHES>>, use the script included in buildscripts/convert-new-chords.py

  This change was introduced for the following reasons

  • It solves the "start score with chord" problem, where you have to state \context Voice explicitly when a chord was the start of a Staff or Score.
  • With the new syntax, it is possible to distinguish between articulations (or fingerings) which are for a single chord note, and which are for the entire chord. This allows for per-note fingerings, and is more logical on the whole.
• User code may now be executed during interpreting. The syntax for this code is

            	\applycontext #SCHEME-FUNCTION
            

• User code may now be executed on arbitrary grobs during interpreting. The syntax for this feature is

            	\applyoutput #SCHEME-FUNCTION
            

  SCHEME-FUNCTION takes a single argument, and is called for every grob that is created in the current context.

• New algorithms for chord-name formatting have been installed. They can be tuned and have ergonomic syntax for entering exceptions.
• Texts may now be put on multimeasure rests, e.g.

            	R1*20^\markup { "GP" }
            

• Ancient notation now prints ligatures in Gregorian square neumes notation, roughly following the typographical style of the Liber hymnarius of Solesmes, published in 1983. Ligatures are still printed without the proper line breaking and horizontal spacing.
• Glissandi can now be printed using the zigzag style.
• LilyPond can now print clusters. The syntax is

            	\apply #notes-to-clusters { NOTE NOTE .. }
            

• For irregular meters, beat grouping marks can be printed. The syntax for this is

            	#(set-time-signature 7 8 '(3 2 2))
            

• Nested horizontal brackets for music analysis can now be printed:

            	NOTE-\startGroup
            		..
            	NOTE-\stopGroup
            

• Ottava brackets are now fully supported as a feature. The syntax is

            	#(set-octavation 1)
            

• Metronome markings are printed when a \tempo command is processed.
• Fingerings can be put on chords horizontally.
• The appearance of various glyphs has been fine-tuned.
• Different types of percent style repeats may now be nested.
• The emacs support has been extended.
• The manual has been completely revised and extended.

New features in 1.6 since 1.4

• Support for figured bass and tablature.
• Completely rewritten beam formatting: provides much better output now.
• Completely revised and improved music font.
• Completely rewritten MIDI import support.
• Completely rewritten grace note support. Practically speaking this means that grace notes can be slurred to normal normal notes.
• Improved accidental handling and formatting: styles for producing cautionaries may vary, and complex collisions between accidentals of a chord are handled much better.
• Better spacing: both globally and locally. This includes subtle details like optical stem spacing.
• More support for ancient notation: mensural ligatures, ambitus (pitch range) of voices, more shapes, etc.
• More support for piano notation: bracket pedals, directed arpeggios, arpeggio brackets.
• Easier music polyphonic music entry.
• More extensibility, many speedups and bugfixes
• The manual has been thoroughly revised.
• Development is now hosted at http://savannah.gnu.org, and sources can be downloaded through anonymous CVS.
• Support for windows: LilyPond is part of the cygwin distribution, which comes with a user-friendly installer.

This page is for LilyPond-1.8.2 (stable-branch).