Ripped, torn staff-lines - Revision history

Jean Abou Samra: Shouldn't be full

2026-01-31T13:19:05Z

Shouldn't be full

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:19, 31 January 2026
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	see the <code>\score { }</code> block at the end of the file.		see the <code>\score { }</code> block at the end of the file.

	<lilypond version="2.24" ~~full~~>		<lilypond version="2.24">
	%% preferences %%		%% preferences %%

Jean Abou Samra: Remove broken links, move acknowledgement

2026-01-31T13:18:37Z

Remove broken links, move acknowledgement

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:18, 31 January 2026
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	Here are some macros which can make a single staff appear as though its right side has been torn off. Two styles are available: the first "erases" the ends of individual staff- lines to different lengths; the second draws a zigzag line and erases everything to its right. Furthermore, the first type is capable of producing tear-patterns at random. Both work by temporarily modifying the <code>BarLine</code> stencil.		Here are some macros (contributed by Mark Polesky) which can make a single staff appear as though its right side has been torn off. Two styles are available: the first "erases" the ends of individual staff- lines to different lengths; the second draws a zigzag line and erases everything to its right. Furthermore, the first type is capable of producing tear-patterns at random. Both work by temporarily modifying the <code>BarLine</code> stencil.

	<div class="nodoc">		<div class="nodoc">
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	<lilypond version="2.24" full>		<lilypond version="2.24" full>
	~~%% http://lsr.di.unimi.it/LSR/Item?id=668~~
	~~%% see also http://lilypond.1069038.n5.nabble.com/LSR-v2-18-quot-Ripped-torn-staff-lines-quot-does-not-compile-tc159381.html~~

	~~%LSR updated by Harm (Feb. 2014)~~
	~~%LSR This snippet was contributed by Mark Polesky for version 2.12.0~~

	%% preferences %%		%% preferences %%

Rudi Guggt: nodoc: ps

2026-01-30T13:22:01Z

nodoc: ps

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:22, 30 January 2026
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	Here are some macros which can make a single staff appear as though its right side has been torn off. Two styles are available: the first "erases" the ends of individual staff- lines to different lengths; the second draws a zigzag line and erases everything to its right. Furthermore, the first type is capable of producing tear-patterns at random. Both work by temporarily modifying the <code>BarLine</code> stencil.		Here are some macros which can make a single staff appear as though its right side has been torn off. Two styles are available: the first "erases" the ends of individual staff- lines to different lengths; the second draws a zigzag line and erases everything to its right. Furthermore, the first type is capable of producing tear-patterns at random. Both work by temporarily modifying the <code>BarLine</code> stencil.

			<div class="nodoc">
			For technical reasons, the zigzag lines don't show up in the Wiki because <code>\postscript</code> only works with LilyPond's PS backend and is neither supported in the SVG (used in this Wiki) nor in the Cairo backend.
			</div>

	<span id="style-1-preferences"></span>		<span id="style-1-preferences"></span>

Rudi Guggt: Zigzag lines dont appear

2026-01-29T09:40:31Z

Zigzag lines dont appear

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:40, 29 January 2026
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	[[Category:Really cool]]		[[Category:Really cool]]
	[[Category:Snippet]]		[[Category:Snippet]]

			[[Category:Correction wanted]]

Lemzwerg: New category

2025-11-21T23:24:11Z

New category

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:24, 21 November 2025
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	[[Category:Staff notation]]		[[Category:Staff notation]]
	[[Category:Editorial annotations]]		[[Category:Editorial annotations]]
	[[Category:Really cool]][[Category:Snippet]]		[[Category:Really cool]]
			[[Category:Snippet]]

Lemzwerg at 22:59, 21 November 2025

2025-11-21T22:59:23Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:59, 21 November 2025
Line 193:		Line 193:
	[[Category:Staff notation]]		[[Category:Staff notation]]
	[[Category:Editorial annotations]]		[[Category:Editorial annotations]]
	[[Category:Really cool]]		[[Category:Really cool]][[Category:Snippet]]

Jean Abou Samra: Replace version="2.24.0" with version="2.24" now that the LilyWiki extension supports auto-selecting the latest release in a stable series

2025-11-16T18:52:41Z

Replace version="2.24.0" with version="2.24" now that the LilyWiki extension supports auto-selecting the latest release in a stable series

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:52, 16 November 2025
Line 28:		Line 28:
	see the <code>\score { }</code> block at the end of the file.		see the <code>\score { }</code> block at the end of the file.

	<lilypond version="2.24.0" full>		<lilypond version="2.24" full>
	%% http://lsr.di.unimi.it/LSR/Item?id=668		%% http://lsr.di.unimi.it/LSR/Item?id=668
	%% see also http://lilypond.1069038.n5.nabble.com/LSR-v2-18-quot-Ripped-torn-staff-lines-quot-does-not-compile-tc159381.html		%% see also http://lilypond.1069038.n5.nabble.com/LSR-v2-18-quot-Ripped-torn-staff-lines-quot-does-not-compile-tc159381.html

Jean Abou Samra: Import snippet from LSR

2025-10-26T22:45:01Z

Import snippet from LSR

New page

Here are some macros which can make a single staff appear as though its right side has been torn off. Two styles are available: the first "erases" the ends of individual staff- lines to different lengths; the second draws a zigzag line and erases everything to its right. Furthermore, the first type is capable of producing tear-patterns at random. Both work by temporarily modifying the <code>BarLine</code> stencil.


=== STYLE 1 PREFERENCES: ===

* <code>tearWidth</code> ... default is 1 
horizontal distance (measured in staff-spaces) between the end-points of the shortest and longest staff-lines.
* <code>tearXext</code> ... default is '(0 . 0) 
X-extent of the BarLine stencil, NOT including its width. Can be used as "padding" around the stencil, if needed.


=== STYLE 2 PREFERENCES: ===

* <code>zigzagDefaultYext</code> ... default is '(-4 . 4) 
Y-extent of the zigzag BarLine stencil (measured in staff-spaces).
* <code>zigzagDefaultSerrationCount</code> ... default is 5 
Number of "teeth" or "notches" on the zigzag line.
* <code>zigzagTearLineWidth</code> ... default is 0.1 
Width of the zigzag line itself.
* <code>zigzagTearAngle</code> ... default is 90 
Angle (measured in degrees) of kinks in the zigzag line.
* <code>zigzagTearXext</code> ... default is '(0 . 0) 
X-extent of the zigzag BarLine stencil, NOT including its width. Can be used as "padding" around the stencil, if needed.


=== USAGE: ===

see the <code>\score { }</code> block at the end of the file.

<lilypond version="2.24.0" full>
%% http://lsr.di.unimi.it/LSR/Item?id=668
%% see also http://lilypond.1069038.n5.nabble.com/LSR-v2-18-quot-Ripped-torn-staff-lines-quot-does-not-compile-tc159381.html

%LSR updated by Harm (Feb. 2014)
%LSR This snippet was contributed by Mark Polesky for version 2.12.0

%% preferences %%

tearWidth = #1
tearXext = #'(0 . 0)

zigzagDefaultYext = #'(-4 . 4)
zigzagDefaultSerrationCount = #5
zigzagTearLineWidth = #0.1
zigzagTearAngle = #90
zigzagTearXext = #'(0 . 0)

%% start definitions %%

tearGeneric =
#(define-music-function (lengths) (list?)
(let ((x-ext
(lambda (n)
(cons (* (list-ref lengths n) (/ tearWidth 4)) tearWidth)))
(y-ext '(1.5 . 2.5)))

#{
\once \override Staff.BarLine.stencil = #ly:text-interface::print
\once \override Staff.BarLine.text = \markup
\override #'(baseline-skip . 0) \with-color #white
\column {
\filled-box #(x-ext 0) #y-ext #0
\filled-box #(x-ext 1) #y-ext #0
\filled-box #(x-ext 2) #y-ext #0
\filled-box #(x-ext 3) #y-ext #0
\filled-box #(x-ext 4) #y-ext #0
}
\once \override Staff.BarLine.layer = #1
\once \override Staff.BarLine.X-extent =
#`(,(car tearXext) . ,(- (+ (cdr tearXext) tearWidth) 0.1))
\break
#}))

tear =
#(define-music-function () ()
#{
\tearGeneric
#(let loop ((unused '(0 1 2 3 4))
(lengths '()))
(if (= (length lengths) 5)
lengths
(let* ((x (random (length unused)))
(y (- (length unused) x))
(z (list-ref unused x)))
(loop (append (list-tail unused (+ x 1))
(list-tail (reverse unused) y))
(append lengths `(,z))))))
#})

tearCustom =
#(define-music-function (lengths) (list?)
#{ \tearGeneric #lengths #})

zigzagTearCustom =
#(define-music-function (y-ext serrations)
(pair? number?)
(let* ((zigzagTearHeight (- (cdr y-ext) (car y-ext)))
(deg2rad (lambda (x) (* x (/ (* (atan 1) 4) 180))))
(zigzagTearWidth
(/ zigzagTearHeight
serrations
(* (tan (/ (deg2rad zigzagTearAngle) 2)) 2))))
#{
\once \override Staff.BarLine.stencil = #ly:text-interface::print
\once \override Staff.BarLine.text =
\markup \with-dimensions
#`(0 . ,zigzagTearWidth)
#`(,(car y-ext) . ,(cdr y-ext))
\postscript

#(string-append "
/linewidth " (number->string zigzagTearLineWidth) " def
/height " (number->string zigzagTearHeight) " def
/serrations " (number->string serrations) " def
/width " (number->string zigzagTearWidth) " def
/padding " (number->string (cdr zigzagTearXext)) " 2 width mul add def

/serrationHeight height serrations div def
/y0 " (number->string (cdr y-ext)) " def
/xn width def
/yn serrationHeight 2 div neg def

/plotAngle {
xn yn rlineto
xn neg yn rlineto
} def

/plotSerrations {
serrations { plotAngle } repeat
} def

%% whiteout:
1 setgray
linewidth setlinewidth
0 y0 linewidth add moveto %% (whiteout staff-lines when y-exts are integers)
0 y0 lineto
plotSerrations
0 linewidth neg rlineto %% (whiteout staff-lines when y-exts are integers)
padding 0 rlineto
0 height linewidth 2 mul add rlineto %% (account for top and bottom linewidth)
padding neg 0 rlineto
fill stroke

%% draw serrations:
newpath
0 setgray
linewidth setlinewidth
0 y0 moveto
plotSerrations
stroke")

\once \override Staff.BarLine.layer = #1
\once \override Staff.BarLine.X-extent =
#`(,(car zigzagTearXext) .
,(- (+ (cdr zigzagTearXext) zigzagTearWidth) 0.1))
\break
#}))

zigzagTear = \zigzagTearCustom #zigzagDefaultYext #zigzagDefaultSerrationCount

%% end definitions %%

%% example of a custom tear-pattern:
tearRagged = \tearCustom #'(3 1 3 1 3)

music = { g'4 d'' b' d'' }
\header { tagline=##f }
\score {
{
%% random line-lengths:
\music \tear

%% set line-lengths on-the-fly:
\music \tearCustom #'(0 1 2 3 4)

%% define a custom tear-pattern if you want consistency (see above):
\music \tearRagged

%% default zigzag tear:
\music \zigzagTear

%% set zigzag Y-extent and serration-count on-the-fly:
\transpose c c' \music \zigzagTearCustom #'(-4 . 7) #4
}
\layout {
indent = #0
ragged-right = ##t
}
}
</lilypond>

[[Category:Staff notation]]
[[Category:Editorial annotations]]
[[Category:Really cool]]