This NeoVim plugin is effectively a wrapper — albeit a pretty advanced one — around lilypond-midi-input, inspired by how Frescobaldi and Denemo handle MIDI input. The main goal is to allow using a MIDI keyboard to insert notes into your lilypond scores.

The main reason a MIDI handler was not implemented in Lua and thus directly into NeoVim, is because of a seeming lack of comprehensive libraries. There are a few MIDI related libraries, but by their descriptions they only appear to work on MIDI files, not real-time MIDI input from a device. (Also it was a good excuse for me to use Rust again, and the resulting backend could in theory be used outside NeoVim)

• All features from lilypond-midi-input, reflected during inserting/replacing of notes

• Respects vim modes (see :help vim-modes)

  • Notes are only inserted when in Insert mode

  • Notes are replaced when in Replace mode

  • Nothing will happen in any other mode

  Demo Video 🎬

  Screencast shows

  • Notes in normal mode are ignored

  • Notes are inserted in insert mode

  • More notes in normal mode being ignored

  • Replace mode where existing notes are exchanged with new ones

  • Last batch of notes being ignored in normal mode

  mode_respecting_feature.mp4

• Always puts cursor right after inserted/replaced note for quick editing (i.e. add articulations, etc.)

  Demo Video 🎬

  • Shows inserting notes and how cursor is always placed right after insertion

  • Shows taking advantage of cursor’s placement to add articulations and fingerings to notes

  cursor_after_note_feature.mp4

• Puts appropriate spacing around inserted notes

  Demo Video 🎬

  Shows inserting note when cursor is located

  • right after a character

  • right before a character

  • inside a word

  • already surrounded by spaces

  spacing_feature.mp4

• Options to change behaviour

  • See all options from lilypond-midi-input

  • (Global) alterations can be given as lua tables in the config

  • replace_q on whether to replace a q. If disabled, behaves like Frescobaldi's replace.

    Demo Video 🎬

    Shows the following:

    • Inserting notes and repeated chords (inserted as q)

    • Replacing notes with setting turned off: qs are being skipped

    • Replacing with setting turned on: qs can be replaced

    replace_q_feature.mp4

  • debug for debugging issues or undesired behaviour; will disable note input

• List of MIDI devices to select from when none is specified, or when the specified one is not available

  Demo Video 🎬

  list_device_feature.mp4

• Comprehensive update menu for discoverable options (:MidiInputUpdateOptions)

  Demo Video 🎬

  Shows the following actions:

  • Setting the key signature to B major

  • Changing the input mode to Chord for inserting chords

  • Changing the key signature to D major

  • Changing accidentals to insert flats for out of key black notes

  options_menu_feature.mp4

• Autocommands to make for a more seamless experience

  • Stop MIDI input upon closing vim (if forgotten to stop manually with :MidiInputStop)

  • Find the previous chord upon entering insert/replace mode (and sets previous-chord)

    Demo Video 🎬

    Shows the following

    • Entering chords (on multiple lines)

    • A repeated chord inserts q (a feature from the backend)

    • The same chord won’t be inserted as q if it is not also the previous chord

    • Repeating the previous chord at cursor position being inserted as q

    • Repeating the previous chord between chords in the same line inserts q

    • Searching previous chord is not restricted to the current line

    previous_chord_feature.mp4

  • Find the previous key signature upon entering insert/replace mode (and sets key)

    Demo Video 🎬

    Shows notes being inserted

    • after a \key b \major (note the black keys as sharps)

    • after a \key ces \major (note the black keys as flats)

    • after going back to the \key b \major (sharps again)

    • after going back to the \key ces \major (flats again)

    previous_key_feature.mp4

  • Finds arbitrary options in the lilypond source file for lilypond-midi-input which are passed as-is to the backend

    Demo Video 🎬

    Shows inserting notes:

    • after accidentals were set to flats

    • after accidentals were set to sharps

    • after going back to where they were set as flats

    lmi_options_feature.mp4

The lilypond-midi-input must be available in the PATH. Please see its installation instructions.

Once the program and its dependencies are set in place, you can install this plugin with the following using lazy.nvim, for example. Note that no options/configurations are required. It is further of interest to lazy load the plugin, either by filetype and/or by command.

You can run :checkhealth nvim-midi-input to see if everything is set up accordingly (assuming the plugin is loaded).

When the plugin is loaded, you can start the MIDI input using the following command. Note that when device was not set as an option, or it is not available, you will be prompted with a list of available devices. You can also append the device name to the command.

If successful, you can go into Insert mode and enter notes using your MIDI keyboard. In Replace you can replace existing notes, it will not add or insert notes.

When finished, you can stop the MIDI input using the following command; it will terminate the lilypond-midi-input process. In case you forget, an autocommand will also handle this for you upon exiting NeoVim.

You can manually change options with the following command. A sequence of menus will be shown to guide you towards the option you are willing to change and its values. See also the options section below.

There are three ways to set options for the plugin and the lilypond-midi-input backend. For a list of all available options, see the List of options further down.

• NeoVim plugin written in Python with rtmidi dependency: https://github.com/ripxorip/midi.nvim

• A proper CLI midi player: https://gitlab.com/dajoha/midiplay

• ✓ Plugin options are not taken into account

• ✓ MIDI start does not check if already running (creates an orphaned process)

• ✓ Pedal modes do not seem to work?

• ✓ Starting replacement inside _~chord~ last note causes error

• ✓ Replacement inside last chord before closing bracket } does not work (no error though)

• ✓ Find last chord and tell it to the backend (allows improved addition of q)

• ✓ Add debug option to highlight start and end of found regions (replace, find last note/chord, etc)

• ❏ Repeated notes could insert duration as shorthand (similar to q)

• ✓ Option to have qs be replaced as well

• ✓ Remove/Replace prints from development

• ✓ Find previously set key

• ✓ Place config options into the lilypond file at specific points (similar to bar line counting)

• ✓ Add/Create health checks (backend is installed? Portmidi installed? Necessary options are provided?) :h health-dev

• ✓ Update option for changing q replacement

• ❏ Option to toggle automatic key setting (previously found key)

• ❏ Option to toggle automatic config options setting?

• ❏ Option to automatically reset options when reading a new % lmi: (avoids an explicit % lmi: disable)

• ✓ Refactor debugging

• ✓ Do not replace within comments

• ❏ Completely ignore comments, i.e. pretend commented regions do not exist (for searching)

• ❏ Create help page? (avialable options? other useful information for on-the-fly look up)

• ❏ Add build.lua to install backend? (for lazy.nvim)

• ✓ MidiInputUpdateOptions should also change internal values

• ✓ `% lmi: ` should revert to default options if not found (but do not set if found)

• ✓ `% lmi: ` should have a special key to revert to using default options

• ✓ Appears to sometimes randomly exit job