http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-lilypond/2010-05/msg00107.html

% workaround: use \overrideBeamSettings

\version "2.13.20"

\relative c' { \set beatLength = #(ly:make-moment 1 8) \set subdivideBeams = ##t \repeat unfold 16 { c32 d } }

% EOF

This behavior broke between 2.10 and 2.12, so it will block 2.14.

See also http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/2010-05/msg00122.html

Actually, this has nothing to do with subdivideBeams, but rather with beatLength (and, AFAICT, with the way that beaming properties work in general). In 4/4 time, the default is to break beams every beat, but this is stored in beam-settings.scm as '(1 1 1 1). When beatLength is 1/8, the beam endings get transformed by ending-moments (in auto-beam.scm) to '(1/8 1/4 3/8 1/2), which means that there are no places to split beams in the second half of the bar.

This is fixed by the new autobeam patch. As soon as it's accepted, I'll mark this as fixed.

2.13.29 says:

warning: cannot find property type-check for `beatLength' (translation-type?). perhaps a typing error? warning: doing assignment anyway

Some things should be documented? (I guess i am ok to verify this issue, but i would like to know whether to open another issue or not before closing this one).

Thanks.

Carl's patch changed the syntax. Instead of beatLength we must now use baseMoment. If you convert the minimal example with convert-ly you should get:

\relative c' { \set baseMoment = #(ly:make-moment 1 8) \set subdivideBeams = ##t \repeat unfold 16 { c32 d } }

, which works. But make sure convert-ly converts the example correctly before verifying any fix that causes a syntax change (I didn't do this).

Trevor

IIRC this is a non-convert-ly'd syntax change. Running convert-ly on an old file should produce a warning, but it will not update the syntax for you. (since this is a change to an override, we relax the normal syntax change guidelines slightly)

Thank you.

convert-ly produces:

[...] Not smart enough to convert beatLength. Use baseMoment and beatStructure. Please refer to the manual for details, and update manually. [...]

Documentation looks to be updated too, great.