2 Mup Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
4 1. Frequent questions for those who have not yet used Mup
6 1.1 Q: What makes Mup unique? Why should I consider using
9 1. Mup provides high quality music output at very low
10 cost. You can download Mup and try it out for
13 2. Mup is available ready-to-run for several computer
14 operating systems, and is also available in source
15 form, so that it can be run on almost any kind of
16 computers, including Windows, Apple, Linux or Unix.
18 3. If you prefer a command line interface, Mup provides
19 that, and doesn't require using a mouse or learning a
20 new editor; you can just create a Mup input file using
21 any text editor of your choice. However, if you
22 prefer an interface with menus and integrated editor,
23 the companion Mupmate program provides that.
25 4. Mup input can be easily generated or manipulated by
26 another program. Input files are typically small, so
27 it doesn't take a long time to create them. Since they
28 are ordinary text they can easily be moved to other
29 systems, even if the other system uses a different
30 operating system. For example, it would be easy to
31 email a song in Mup format to a friend, and if they
32 had Mup, they could then print it out or play it via
33 MIDI. Since Mup output is standard PostScript or
34 standard MIDI, output files are also portable to
35 almost any operating system.
37 5. Mup handles page layout details, but provides ways to
38 alter the layout if you wish. It has the power to
39 handle complicated scores, and can produce
40 professional-quality output quickly.
42 6. Mup's ability to produce MIDI output can be very
43 helpful for "proof listening" to your music, which is
44 usually a very effective way to spot errors that you
45 might miss by just looking at the score,
47 1.2 Q: Will Mup run on my computer?
49 We currently provide Mup in ready-to-run form for Windows
50 and Linux x86 systems. A port of Mup for the Macintosh is
52 http://www.uni-paderborn.de/cs/Michael.Thies.html and a
53 version for OS/2 is available from http://homepages.tu-
54 darmstadt.de/~st002279/os2/html/mup.html
56 If you use a different operating system, Mup source code is
57 also available, so if you have a C compiler, you can
58 probably compile and run Mup. It has been run using several
59 versions of UNIX on x86, Sun, Digital, Silicon Graphics, and
60 other systems. It has also been run under OS/2, as well as
61 on an Amiga. An ANSI-C compiler is recommended, but not
62 required. Under MS-DOS, you will need a memory extender,
63 and at least a 32-bit compiler is strongly recommended. Mup
64 will run on a 386, but at least a 486 is recommended for
65 best performance. If you try to compile Mup and have
66 problems, please let us know at support@arkkra.com We'd like
67 to make it portable to as many computer system types as
68 possible. The companion Mupmate program requires a C++
69 compiler and the FLTK toolkit.
71 1.3 Q: How long will it take to learn how to use Mup?
73 This will vary from person to person. A person who has
74 experience with computer languages will probably pick up Mup
75 more quickly, but such knowledge is not necessary. Mup has
76 a broad array of features, so if you want to learn how to
77 use every feature that Mup has to offer, this may take
78 several days. (The Mup User's Guide, which explains all the
79 features, and includes many examples, is about 150 pages
80 long.) However, once you get Mup installed, you can start
81 experimenting with Mup after reading the first few pages of
82 the User's Guide, and it should take no more than a few
83 hours to feel comfortable with the basics, enough to enter
84 simple songs and get professional-looking output. The
85 User's Guide includes many examples, and is provided both as
86 a PostScript file that you can print out on paper, and as
87 HTML files with hundreds of hypertext links, that you can
88 view with your Web browser. The Mup installation package
89 contains several sample files and a template file to help
90 you get started. You can also download sample songs from
91 ftp://ftp.arkkra.com/pub/music
93 1.4 Q: How long will it take to enter music?
95 This will vary greatly, depending on a number of factors,
96 such as how complicated the music is, how much experience
97 you have had with using Mup, how fast you type, etc. An
98 experienced Mup user can typically enter simple music in
99 less than 15 minutes per page, but very complex music can
100 often take over an hour, especially if you like to make a
101 lot of adjustments to make things look just exactly the way
104 1.5 Q: How did Mup and Arkkra Enterprises come about?
106 We are musicians and computer programmers who wanted a music
107 publication program that would produce very high-quality
108 output with a minimum amount of fuss. We wrote the Mup
109 program for our own use, and continue to use it for all our
110 own compositions. When other people expressed an interest in
111 getting a copy of Mup, we formed Arkkra Enterprises to set
112 up a Web site to make Mup available as shareware to anyone
113 who wants it. We rely on the shareware registration fee
114 that you pay to cover the cost of maintaining a Web site and
115 providing support to answer questions. We add new features
116 based on user suggestions, and once you register, we will
117 notify you of any future free upgrades.
119 1.6 Q: How do I pay for Mup?
121 Fill out the registration form and send the form and (US)
122 $29 in cash, check, or money order to the address given on
123 the form. If you are writing a check from a bank outside
124 the United States, please make it out in the bank's local
125 currency in an amount equivalent to 29 U.S. dollars; our
126 bank will not accept US-dollar-denominated checks from non-
127 US banks. If you wish to pay via credit card, we have an
128 arrangement with setSystems to handle paying for Mup with a
129 credit card. They are able to handle transactions in many
130 different currencies. setSystems is part of Digital River,
131 a well-known e-commerce company. As soon as we receive your
132 payment, we will email the registration information to you.
133 Once you register, we will notify you via email of future
134 Mup versions, and you can upgrade to any future versions of
135 Mup for free. Once you have registered, you also can join
136 the Mup users mailing list if you wish, at no additional
137 charge. We only use your address to send you information
138 about Mup; it is our policy to not give out names, email, or
139 street addresses to anyone else.
141 --------------------------------------------------
143 2. Frequent questions from Mup users
145 2.1 Q. Is there a mailing list for Mup users?
147 Yes. There is a "majordomo" mailing list available
148 exclusively to registered Mup users. It provides a forum
149 where you can ask or answer questions, get tips on how other
150 people are using Mup, etc.
152 2.2 Q. Can I put Mup output into some other document?
154 There is a tool that comes with Ghostscript, called
155 "ps2epsi" that converts a PostScript file to an Encapsulated
156 PostScript file, which can then be imported into other
159 2.3 Q: Can Mup produce PDF files?
161 Not directly, but since Mup produces PostScript output, you
162 can easily convert the output to PDF format using the ps2pdf
163 utility that comes with Ghostscript.
165 2.4 Q. Why is the first score indented differently than the
168 The first score of a piece of music is traditionally
169 indented somewhat more than subsequent scores, so that's
170 what Mup does by default. It does that by setting the
171 default label parameter to a few spaces, whereas it sets the
172 default for the label2 parameter to an empty string. If you
173 don't want the indentation, you can set
176 2.5 Q: Is is possible to specify a pickup measure?
178 Yes. You use "space" on all voices. For example,
181 will produce a pickup measure with just a quarter note in
184 2.6 Q: Is it possible to display a tempo marking of the
185 form '(N = 120)' where N is a note symbol, like a
188 Yes. Try something like
189 rom above all: 1 "( \(sm4n) = 120 )";
191 2.7 Q: Can Mup take a MIDI file as input?
193 No. However, it is possible to write a program that reads a
194 MIDI file and outputs a file that can be input to Mup. Two
195 programs that do this, called "mtm" and "midi2mup" have been
196 donated by Mup users. They are limited, and not supported
197 by Arkkra Enterprises, but may be useful for some people.
198 Check out the programs donated by Mup users.
200 2.8 Q: What are some of the shorthands that can be used to
203 There are many shorthands available. Some of the most useful
206 - When the time value of a chord is the same as that of
207 the previous chord in the measure, it can be omitted.
208 If all pitch values of a chord are the same as the
209 previous chord, they can be omitted. For example:
210 1: 4c; 4c; 4ceg; 4ceg;
214 - If several voices have the same music data, they can be
215 given on a single line.
224 A similar shorthand works for text and music symbols:
225 rom above 1-4: 3 "mf"; // staffs 1 through 4
226 < below 2-3: 4 til 3m+2; // staffs 2 and 3
227 mussym 1-5: 1 "ferm"; // staffs 1 through 5
229 - If several chords in a row have the same items in
230 square brackets before the chords, only the first must
231 have everything included. By giving an ellipsis after
232 the ] the items in brackets will be repeated for the
233 rest of the measure or until cancelled. Thus the
234 following lines are equivalent:
235 1: [with .] c; [with .] d; [with .] e;
236 1: [with .]... c; d; e;
238 2.9 Q: The Mupprnt command doesn't seem to work right. What
241 You may need to edit the mupprnt file to make sure the
242 variables and paths are set to match where things are
243 installed on your system. In particular,
245 - GS_DIR needs to be set to the directory which contains
246 the Ghostscript font files (*.gsf) and the other
247 Ghostscript setup files (gs_*.ps).
249 - GS_DEVICE needs to be set to the proper type to match
252 - The path to Mup must be correct
254 - The path to Ghostscript (gs or gs386 on MS-DOS/Windows
255 system) must be correct.
257 - On MS-DOS/Windows systems, dos4gw.exe must be in your
259 If you are using a viewer such as GSview or gv, you may want
260 to use its print feature rather than using mupprnt.
262 2.10 Q: On MS-DOS, the Mupdisp command comes back with
263 ghostscript error 1. What do I do?
265 Check your config.sys file. You need to have a line like
267 where the number after the equals sign is greater than or
270 Also, make sure gs386.exe exists and is in your PATH. If you
271 are running Mup from MS-DOS directly or from a DOS prompt
272 under Windows, make sure you installed the DOS version of
273 Ghostscript, not the Windows version. If you are using
274 Mupmate, or Winmup, make sure you installed the Windows
275 version of Ghostscript, not the MS-DOS version.
277 2.11 Q: If I use Mup for a language other than English,
278 will it handle the letters that are not used in
281 Mup handles most common non-ASCII characters. If your
282 keyboard does not allow you to enter them directly, you can
283 enter them by name, such as \(a:) for an 'a' with 2 dots
284 over it. The User's Guide section on text strings gives a
285 complete list of supported non-ASCII characters.
287 2.12 Q: Under Linux, Mupdisp says it can't open
288 /dev/console. What do I do?
290 The svga library used by Mupdisp in non-X-windows mode
291 requires write permission to the console. To allow this:
293 - Make Mupdisp setuid to root:
297 2.13 Q: What if I have more questions about Mup?
299 Send us email at support@arkkra.com We welcome any comments
300 and questions about Mup. Normally, you should have no
301 problem contacting us this way. In the unlikely event you
302 get a "rejected" reply when sending email, this is because
303 excessive "spam" (junk mail) has been received from your
304 domain at some time in the past, and our Internet service
305 provider has installed a "spam blocker." In this case, you
306 will have to send email from another address or send paper
~mdw / mup / blob