ABC to standard notation

Subject: ABC to standard notation
From: Harper42
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 10:10 PM

Before my previous computer crashed, I had bookmarked a site where I could "copy" a tune in ABC notation and "paste" it into the site's box and it would change the tune into standard notation. Anyone know of such a site?   Thanks so much!!

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: masato sakurai
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 10:23 PM

The site probably is CONCERTINA_net - Tune-O-Tron Converter.

~Masato

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jeri
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 10:23 PM

This one? ConcertinaNet and their ABC Convert-A-Matic

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jeri
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 10:25 PM

...and Masato beats me by mere seconds.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 12:57 AM

Still, 13 minutes is not good, not good at all. Haven't you done this in under three minutes, Jeri?
-Joe Offer, who can't do better-

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 01:46 AM

If you have the ABC2MID utility, you can make a midi from the ABC and nearly all scoring programs can make standard notation from the midi. MIDI to score can be pretty messy with complex midis, but most things in ABC come across pretty easily.

John

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 01:52 AM

The last time I tried to access the ABC2MID utility website from a link in one of the threads, I couldn't get it. Do we have an updated link?

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 02:16 AM

Sorry, meant the TEXT2MIDI thingie...

BTW ensure that you have the new correct ABC home page at http://staffweb.cms.gre.ac.uk/~c.walshaw/abc/

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 02:39 AM

BTW, you may be very interested in these pages

A short history of abc

ABC Music Notation: History

Robin

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: pavane
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 02:46 AM

You could use a program like mine (HARMONY) to do it without needing the net - as long as you are using Windows!

abc to MIDI to score can introduce problems due to the extra conversion needed. There are limitations introduced at each stage.

(HARMONY can also import and display multi-voice abc and aligned lyrics, as well as reading and writing MIDI.)

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: IvanB
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 08:16 PM

Robin, Alan Foster moved to another web host sometime in the past couple years, so the old links to MIDItext are now obsolete. It can currently be found here: MIDItext

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 09:18 PM

When (if indeed if - I've not even made Norwich session for weeks panick attacks, etc have been so grim), I hope to have something similar to the Tune-O-Tron up and running. They may have changed thire now but when I last looked, they were running abc2ps where as I intend running a version of the abcplus/ 1.7 abcm2ps - more in the direction abc is going.

I had one for a brief period but had to take it down as when bad abc came in, on one instance, it all but crashed a server shared by many users. John Chambers has suggested code that may give me the time out and kill if something fails option I need, but seriously, lately I've not felt well enough (when you get thoughts for example like OMG I'm about to have a heart attack - it is difficult to concentrate on the task in hand - I manage a post like this but nithing involving more thought/time) to try to enter into the adding of the code and a special compilation.

I'll report back more if I get there and apologise. Issues like security or other "emergencies" are things I will always tke on - even if on my death bed - but more trivial things like that sort of enhancement which I'd probably have been able to put into action within a day before have to wait for now.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 09:24 PM

Great! Thanks!

I can get to that page, but any attempt to get the SW causes a '404 - not available' error. Of course I default to not accepting cookies, but I don't think that is it. The link goes to a BigPond URL, and that is what is not available.

Robin

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 11 Feb 05 - 08:34 PM

There's yet another on-line service to create sheet music from ABC Notation at http://abc.story5000.org/ HERE.

It doesn't offer the very high quality PDF conversion at Concertina.net, but the output is nevertheless quite good for those of average vision. (I do have a doubt in my mind as to how it handles scores of more than 1 page - perhaps some other Mudcatters could perform a little experiment).

The other software which has disappeared form the Web is the Windows front end:

abcMIDIfier
A Windows utility by Dave Glenn which provides a user-friendly front-end to James Allwright's abcMIDI package.

I lost mine in a recent hard disc cataclysm. If anyone has an executable Windows version, or knows of a workable on-line download link, you can have dinner at my house.

Regards, John

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 12 Feb 05 - 08:51 PM

Ivan B's link above to the MIDItext utility as wrir by Alan Foster does not work. I would very much appreciate a copy or an active link.

Regards, John

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 09:27 AM

Thanks to Snuffy for the software updates. I'm now fairly certian that Concertina.net is still using an old version of ABC2MISI - Seymour Shlien is now managing its development. In the fullness of time the OnLine ABC to MIDI Converter at Concertina.net might employ the later update.

Regards, John

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 09:35 AM

John - I've lost your e-mail address - I've got the miditxt file.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: pavane
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 11:33 AM

Please tell me if there is anything I need to add to HARMONY for this task?

(Other than making it run under LINUX or on a Mac, which are not feasible at present)

If you REALLY want to do it just by pasting into window on a server, would I be able to provide this without a total rewrite?

HARMONY can run in batch mode. Can VB executables be run on a server, depending on the OS it is running?

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 07:31 PM

Thanks MM, Snuffy has already sent me ABCMidifier and will send Alan Foster's program.

ABCMidifier is a nice simple Windows front end to the DOS version of the utility which converts ABC notation to MIDI. The underlying DOS program has been updated and considerably improved over the years by Seymour Shlien, but ABCMidifier incorporates a somewhat older version, with the bodgy guitar chord algorithm. I'll have a play to see if I can swap the executable file with its newer version. My first try last night didn't work, but that may have been finger trouble.

Pavane, as you'd be aware I haven't reviewed your revisions for quite a few months. From my perspective ABC notation for folk songs is unbelievably powerful for end users - in a tiny file you can embody the dots, aligned lyrics, guitar chords, extra lyrics and explanatory text to your hearts content.

Newbies can go to the likes of Concertina.net and immediately get a very high quality score and/or a MIDI file with basic auto accompaniment. No problems!

Slightly more advanced users can go to many programs, including yours, to do the extras, but WE are the minority.

I love ABC as a notation system, but I still find composition and editing of lyrics a real pain in the bum - as I've raised with you in the past. I still find myself using NoteWothy Composer as my prime medium for adding lyrics (and it has its own foibles) and then doing conversions back and forth between nwc, MIDI and ABC.

Will download your latest version and get back to you in the next week or so.

Regards, John

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: pavane
Date: 15 Feb 05 - 02:47 AM

I have tried to make the Import Lyrics function as easy as possible. This hasn't changed over the last few releases, it is mainly the score editing which has been improved.

If you have any ideas on further enhancements to Inport Lyrics, please let me know. Would Drag and Drop of words onto notes help?

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Nov 07 - 09:58 PM

X:1

T:King Robert the Bruce

M:C

L:1/8

R:March

N:"Boldly"

S:Skinner – The Scottish Violinist

Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion

K:D

A, | {C}[DD>]E FD EA, D2 | {D}d>c .B/.A/.G/.F/ {D}FEEF | [DD>]E FD G>A B>B |

.A/.B/.c/.d/ .e/.f/.g/.e/ [Af][Fd][Fd] :| .a/.g/ | fDad b(G,G,) b/a/ | ^gEbE a(A,A,) a/=g/ |

fDaD b(G,G,)B, | A,/B,/C/D/ E/F/G/A/ FDDa | d'dDd' b(G,G,)b | e'b E^g a(A,A,>)B, |

[DD>]E FD EA, D2 | .A,/.B,/.C/.D/ .E/.F/.G/.A/ FDD ||

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 10 Nov 07 - 02:17 AM

I use BarFly on the Mac. If you're on Linux or Windows use abcm2ps, which will generate a high-quality PostScript file. (It runs on Macs too, but I've hardly ever needed better output than what BarFly produces).

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Mr Happy
Date: 10 Nov 07 - 09:08 AM

Some gaps in my musical knowledge.

By standard notation, do you mean 'the dots' ?

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: treewind
Date: 10 Nov 07 - 09:44 AM

Yes, the dots.
ABC was originally designed as a notation for input to a set of typesetting tools (mT_eX), for eventual printing.

Since then other software has been written to convert the same notation into Postscript (as mentioned by Jack), MIDI or direct to the printer, not to mention utilities for playing tunes back directly though your computer's speaker.

Anahata

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Wolfhound person
Date: 10 Nov 07 - 01:05 PM

"ABC was originally designed as a notation for input to a set of typesetting tools (mTeX), for eventual printing. "

A purpose for which it's still excellent, better than anything else I've seen / tried / had the misfortune to try and read from (including Sibelius!), and it's free.

Paws

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: meself
Date: 31 May 18 - 12:38 PM

Does anyone know of a functioning on-line ABC-to-standard-notation converter? The ones on this thread are all deceased, defunct, debunked, decamped, etc.

(I downloaded the EasyABC program, but it ain't easy for me - I can't get it to actually do anything).

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Stanron
Date: 31 May 18 - 01:15 PM

Hi meself. Does the program actually run?

If so click on 'File' in the top left hand corner, select 'Open' and the direct the program to the file you wish to view.

It can help to have a folder with a name like 'ABC files' where all your abc files are kept.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: meself
Date: 31 May 18 - 01:30 PM

You'll have to speak slowly, you're talking to an idiot here. The program opens up - does that mean it's running? All I want to do is paste in my ABC's, click something, and see standard notation. I past in my ABC's - nothing happens - I don't see anything to click to make it convert ... ? However, somebody on another forum just told me that the 'latest version' of EasyABC doesn't work .....

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 31 May 18 - 01:50 PM

There's still a working one on www.mandolintab.net. With that you can convert to either tab or standard notation, and, bonus, transpose if you want to.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 31 May 18 - 02:05 PM

I keep a list of online converters on my website.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Stanron
Date: 31 May 18 - 02:16 PM

Hi meself.

When my program opens up I get four windows.

The top left is titled

Tune List

and under that is

No.|Title

The top right saya Musical score and that is where the score will appear, we hope.

Bottom left it says

ABC Assist

I guess that is some sort of help area but I'm a bloke and I don't go there.

Bottom right is titled

ABC Code.

Paste your file into there and the score should appear in the window above.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: meself
Date: 31 May 18 - 03:16 PM

"Paste your file into there and the score should appear in the window above."

That's where the problem is: I paste it in, but nothing happens in the 'Musical score' window .... A guy on another forum said that the 'latest version' of EasyABC just doesn't work .....

*******

I'm not having any luck with the mandolintab.net either: when I hit 'submit', my ABCs just reappear.

Think I'll try restarting my pc and see if that changes anything .....

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Stanron
Date: 31 May 18 - 03:40 PM

My version is

EasyABC 1.3.7.7 2017-08-31

It does just about everything but actually play the tune.

That's because I haven't figured out how to direct the program to my midi bits and I'm on linux.

If I want to hear the tune I just read the notation. I also have a program called ABCJ which has a limited range of ABC functions, but will play the tune. It will only read single line ABC files. For multiple line ABC files there is a program called Five Line Skink. ABCJ and Five Line Skink have different levels of functionality. Files which will play on one will turn up errors on another. They are both free open source programs and, I think, both available for Windows, Mac and Linux. When I used Windows I used the program called Windows Explorer. It kind of looks old fashioned now but back then it did all that I needed.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Stanron
Date: 31 May 18 - 03:43 PM

Oops typo alert.

I used a program called ABC Explorer not Windows Explorer.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: The Sandman
Date: 31 May 18 - 04:07 PM

learn to play by ear or learn to read music IMO abc is neither one thing or to ther, little indication of rythym is its major failing, and if you have the tune in your head and can sing it its pointless

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: leeneia
Date: 31 May 18 - 04:08 PM

This is my current converter:

http://mandolintab.net/abcconverter.php

Sometimes, when you encounter an ABC file, you have to type this:

X:1

as the top line. If a file has not been converting, that usually fixes it.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: meself
Date: 31 May 18 - 04:26 PM

Just tried that, doesn't work for me .... But I've figured out something through thesesssion that will be good enough for the moment. Thank you all for the input!

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 31 May 18 - 05:14 PM

abc is neither one thing or to ther, little indication of rythym is its major failing

You have obviously never used it or read the documentation.

I can think of only three rhythmic features found in staff notation that it omits. One is a precisely timed change of tempo - you can't say "start the next three bars at crotchet=80 and accelerate to crotchet=124". Another is nested tuplets, as used by "new complexity" composers; if you can find the cover image for the original LP of Brian Ferneyhough's Second String Quartet, it displays a bit of the score with quadruply nested quintuplets, i.e. the pulse is implicitly being divided by 625. And there is a problem with mutually prime polymetres, like 7 against 5 against 4 - look at the score for Ferneyhough's "Bone Litany" for examples like that (it's free on the web) - but even that can sorta be done by writing tuplets spanning whole bars, or you can use denominators that aren't powers of 2 for describing note lengths (which some ABC software can play, but nobody's figured out how to typeset it).

Do you really need that level of sophistication for the music you want to write down?

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: meself
Date: 31 May 18 - 05:54 PM

"learn to play by ear or learn to read music"

I am quite capable of playing by ear and am quite capable of reading music, thank you, if that was directed at me.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: meself
Date: 31 May 18 - 06:19 PM

Thanks everybody for your input and advice. I've figured out a way to do what I need to do for now using thesession's Add a Tune feature. I can at least look at the dots to check if my ABC is correct, which is what I need (the drawback is that I don't think I can 'copy' unless I add the tune to the archive, which I don't want to do, but I don't need a copy for the enterprise that I'm currently tangled up in, just correct ABCs) .....

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Mo the caller
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 07:22 AM

Sandman, there are other things that musicians need to do besides playing (either by ear or from dots).
E.g. playing the tricky bit of an alto line over and over to hammer it into the skull.
ABC is excellent for this, just programming it in gets me part of the way, and I can break a tune up into bits and concentrate on the dodgy bits.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 07:42 AM

Could it be that your ABC code contains something that the particular underlying notation software (usually the one called abcm2ps) considers a "syntax error"? Try typing (not pasting) some simple ABC code and see if that works. If so, experiment with longer snippets, until you find the culprit. It may even be some invisible "character" being pasted.

If you think you found a bug, report it.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Nick
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 07:42 AM

You could try ABC Explorer

I downloaded it recently when someone had a query.

All you would need to do to paste your ABC in is CRTL-F (which creates a new file) and F9 which will paste it in.

Your notes will appear below immediately and you can edit them either by the keyboard or directly edit the ABC. Probably lots of other things you can do too

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 08:06 AM

If you put the abc through mandolintab.net, it should produce a link to a log file. This should include errors and warnings generated by the underlying programs, eg. abcm2ps. That can help when your getting no output.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 08:21 AM

There a few simple things that sometimes stop ABC working when you copy-paste across different platforms. One is leading spaces (this happens with a lot of ABC pasted into Mudcat, including stuff of mine before I figured out the problem). Another is extra spaces between lines, which may happen with end-of-line character conversions. Maybe the commonest is not having an X: line at the start of the tune, with the X at the left edge of the line.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: leeneia
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 09:31 AM

Thanks for the tips, Jack.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: meself
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 02:41 PM

Thanks, again, all. Keep it coming, if you feel so inclined.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Greenie
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 04:14 PM

I use EasyABC and sometimes I need to edit the ABC file for it to read it correctly. The most frequent problem is the loss of the X:1 line, as Leeneia says above.

What I find useful in EasyABC is the facility to export files as MusicXML.

I use Sibelius and importing midi files into my version of Sibelius frequently ignores the anacruses and bars of irregular length. Importing as a MusicXML file doesn't create this problem.

Greenie

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 06:58 PM

ABC does some things Sibelius can't. One of them is key signatures containing both flats and sharps, common in Eastern European music. So if you exported something written that way to XML, Sibelius wouldn't know what to do with it.

I doubt if anything but an ABC implementation can do an equivalent of the ABC "part" construct. I use it a lot.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: GUEST,IvanB
Date: 01 Jun 18 - 10:52 PM

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Stewart
Date: 02 Jun 18 - 01:27 PM

One other neat thing that EasyABC does (for those who use Noteworthy Composer) is convert a NWC score into ABC. The only hitch is that you have to convert the NWC file to the earlier 1.75 nwc file version - in NWC: File, Export... , Save as type noteworthy composer 1.75 file. Then in Easy ABC: File, Import and add... and voila, you get the ABC. It's an easy way to get my NWC score into ABC to add a tune in TheSession.org.

And I find EasyABC the easiest way to convert an ABC file into a score. and even play it.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Greenie
Date: 03 Jun 18 - 01:47 AM

Jack,

I have never had the need to do that. If I were presented with a piece of music with such a key signature I would just use accidentals.

Can you post an ABC of such a tune? I'd be interested to see the results.

I don't write anything in ABC, I just use EasyABC to access those files that are, which I believe was the point of the thread?

EasyABC produces adequate scores but sometimes I want to add accompaniments and that's when I use Sibelius.

I have Sibelius 7. I can't afford an upgrade and I am not claiming it is perfect (I doubt that ABC is either), but I do find it a very useful tool. I'm sure the people at Avid will find a way around unusual key signatures; if they haven't already.

Greenie

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: The Sandman
Date: 03 Jun 18 - 08:46 AM

Do you really need that level of sophistication for the music you want to write down?quote jack campin
yes, which is why we have proper musical clef notation ,it is not perfect but it is more accurate than abc

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 03 Jun 18 - 09:58 AM

Do you really need that level of sophistication for the music you want to write down?
yes

Give an example. I don't believe you.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: The Sandman
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 03:26 AM

Music clef is more accurate than abc,if it were the other way round classical orchestras would be using ABC, they do not they use standard music clef notation.
if poeple cannot bebothered to learn music notation ,that is their decision,but do not try and pretend that ABC it is as accurate.
Personaly i think learning by ear is the best method ,but i am glad that i can read music to remind myself of tunes that have been forgoitten from repertoire.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 04:23 AM

You're waffling. Describe a situation when you, personally, have wanted to notate something that ABC's ways of doing rhythm can't handle.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 09:49 AM

We've been through this before Dick, oh so many years ago, BBC Radio 4 features abc

Mick

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 11:29 AM

[nonstandard key signatures]
Can you post an ABC of such a tune?

You'll know this one. There is one accidental (a lowered seventh) otherwise it's all in the hijazkar scale - like major, but with a flattened second and sixth. Copy it into the converter at mandolintab.net and you'll get it typeset the usual way a Greek musician would do it. (There is a leading-spaces problem - not sure why, probably something do with the Windows computer I'm using. Just delete the leading spaces in the header lines after pasting into the box).

With a short tune like this, it doesn't make a big difference. With something on a larger scale, like a piece of Turkish art music three pages long with modulations into four different makams, it's horrendously difficult to figure out what's going on if you don't use the right key signatures.

X:1
T:Misirlou
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:Dphr ^F^C
  D3 E F2G2|A3 B  c2B2|A8-|A8  :|
|:BA2B A2G2|AG2A  G2F2|F8-|F8   |\
  AG2A G2F2|FE2F  E2D2|D8-|D8  :|
|:G8-      |G6      FG|A8-|A6 GA|\
  B6     AB|c6      Bc|d8-|d8   |
  ed2e d2c2|dc2d =c2B2|A8-|A8   |\
  cB2c B2A2|AG2A  F2E2|D8-|D8  :|
  B6     AB|c6      Bc|d8-|d8  |]

Here's another one, a tune for the Romanian five-hole whistle. Its native scale is the Dorian mode with a sharpened fourth. The D sharps are not accidentals, they're obligatory - the instrument couldn't play a D natural if you tried (I've got one and I have tried). Putting them in the key signature means you can forget about them, much as music for the Highland pipes usually leaves the signature out entirely.

X:2
T:Hora ca la caval (on A)
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:ADor^d
|:ABcd   ede2|cAc2 Md3c|ed e2 cAc2|  Md3 c e2z2 |
  ABcd   ede2|cAc2 Md3c|ed e2 cdec|   Aece A2z2:|
|:efgf   aggf|feed Md3c|ec e2 cAc2|  Md3 c e2z2 |
  a2 Ma4   g2|fefe Md3c|ec e2 cdec|[1 Aece A2ze:|\
                                   [2 A4   A2z2||
|:Me2 d2 e2e2|cAc2 Md3c|e2 e2 cAc2|  Md3c  e2z2 |
  Me2 d2 e2e2|cAc2 Md3c|e2Me2 cdec|   A4   z4  :|

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 11:36 AM

And here's another example of something I mentioned above, something you can do with the ABC "part" construct which other typesetting systems don't allow for. This tune is 32 bars long but only 8 of them are different. If you analyse it and represent it in a non-linear notation describing exactly how the repeats work, you can reduce the amount of notation drastically and aid memorization. With a player program, this sounds exactly the same as an explicitly written-out version. Try generating a MIDI using a converter site to hear it.

X:3
T:Polska from H\"alleforsn\"as (G minor)
M:3/4
L:1/8
P:(AXAY)2(BXBY)2
K:GMin
[P:A] f>e dc dB|BA/B/  cB    AG||\
[P:X] D>G GA Bc|d=e/d/ cd/e/ d2||
[P:B] D2  G2 A2|BA/B/  cB    AG||\
[P:Y] D>G GA BA|FG     G4      ||

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: The Sandman
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 11:37 AM

I ALWAYS use music notation.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 11:54 AM

I ALWAYS use music notation.

What do you think ABC is?

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: The Sandman
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 02:01 PM

a inferior system that is less accurate and is not necessary if people could be bothered to read music,standard notation manuscript is IMO the best system to date of notating music, you are welcome to think differently, but if ABC was better why is it not used more by professional musicians and why would it be necessary to convert ABC to standard notation?

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: meself
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 06:07 PM

"I just use EasyABC to access those files that are, which I believe was the point of the thread?"

No: the matter concerned converting original ABC script to standard notation.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 07:31 PM

There used to be converters from ABC to Lilypond, does that still work?

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Stanron
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 08:14 PM

For me the main value of ABC lies in the collections of tunes that can be found in this format on-line.

When I first started to deal with tunes and notation it was with a program called Mozart. This was ABC based but I used it as a standard notation editor and didn't actually write ABC files. I still have a collection of .MZ files and after reading this thread today downloaded the one month free trial of Mozart 14 and spent several hours converting my whole collection of .MZ files to abc. It has to be close to twenty years since I stopped using Mozart and there were some pleasant surprises and re-awakened memories.

When I started teaching at a college the program used was Sibelius. I got quite proficient at Sibelius and, in the process, stopped using Mozart. It's a bit strange by todays standards. For example there's no 'File' menu option. There is an alternative but you have to figure it out. The £99 price tag does not compare well with Musescore and over the last few years I have got as used to Musescore as I was to Sibelius.

Mozart, Sibelius, Musescore and ABC. I can produce scores in all of them but now the only two I need are Musescore and ABC. With ABC I can access the fantastic file resources on-line but I can't do guitar tab. With Musescore I can do a score that combines notation and guitar tab. A guitar composition or arrangement works well with notation on top and tab, with aligned bars, below. I find it easiest to notate a piece first and derive the tab from the notation afterwards. However I usually read from the tab because in the tab all the work in figuring out the fingering has been done.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Stanron
Date: 04 Jun 18 - 08:26 PM

On this page

http://www.music-notation.info/en/software/abc2ly.html

there is some info on abc2ly which is said to be an abc to Lilypond convertor.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: GUEST,Greenie
Date: 05 Jun 18 - 01:54 AM

meself:

"No: the matter concerned converting original ABC script to standard notation. "

I use EasyABC to convert original ABC script to standard notation

Is that literal enough for you?

You buggers could start a fight in a convent.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: GUEST,Greenie
Date: 05 Jun 18 - 01:56 AM

Jack:

Thanks for posting the tunes in ABC.

I am now going to use EasyABC to convert the original ABC script to standard notation.

Best wishes,
Greenie

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 05 Jun 18 - 02:56 AM

I don't normally think about conversion as a separate step, since I write ABC using BarFly which has a dynamically updated pane showing the staff notation. I use converter sites to get higher print quality, check compatibility with non-BarFly platforms, and hear what auto-generated chord vamps sound like.

With that last one, make sure that whatever you use to create the staff notation retains the line describing the part playing order. That's the whole point of doing it that way.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: meself
Date: 05 Jun 18 - 10:41 AM

Greenie: Start a fight? I was talking about converting original ABC; you were talking about accessing files. I have no interest in accessing files. I clarified that. So - that's your idea of 'starting a fight'? Curious.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Nick
Date: 05 Jun 18 - 01:54 PM

meself

I know very little about abc but the thing I suggested (abcexplorer) seems to do what you want.

I have gone through this thread and copied the abc (from jack and other people) and popped it into ABCExplorer and it comes up with the following

Notation from cut and paste of ABC

At which point I realised that might not have understood the question as I can't see the problem :)

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 06 Jun 18 - 05:49 AM

We still haven't seen a sample of Dick's wondrously sophisticated notation, beyond the capabilities of any ABC platform.

Maybe he showed it on Norwegian radio?

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 06 Jun 18 - 12:20 PM

Surely by the time you’ve sorted all these out, you could have taught yourself to read real music? It’s really not that difficult for those of us that only play one line of dots at a time, unlike piano players who have to follow two separate lines for left and right hands simultaneously. Unlike abc notation, you can also see how the contour of a tune goes with standard notation, as well as getting a better feel for the rhythm. Just saying....

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 06 Jun 18 - 12:28 PM

You don't have a fucking clue, do you?

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Nick
Date: 06 Jun 18 - 01:33 PM

Here's a thing about reading music. And a bit pathetic.

I can read the notes but I can't read time

I have good ears and can pick up a tune - if I need to check notes I haven't got I can read them.

My elder son learnt piano (grade 5 or 6 can't remember). Put a piece of sheet music in front of him and he can sight read it.

I wonder whether it will make me a better musician.

I'm mid 60s now and I'm not sure I can. I feel I should have done this 50 years ago so it would be easy now and trying to work out the incremental positives it would give me.

FEEDBACK WELCOME

I have some friends who are HUGELY better than me who prefer ears and SHOW ME but can read notes if they have to.

Interesting world

Not a lot about ABC which is what it is...

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 06 Jun 18 - 01:54 PM

Rhythm is the tricky thing about score reading. It's easiest if you start with tunes in very regular rhythms, like jigs and marches. As you go on you will start to recognize more and more different kinds of rhythmic pattern as they are notated - say, dotted rhythms in hornpipes or strathspeys, syncopated rhythms as in tangos or ragtime.

If you already have a tune in ABC (which you will have with most of the standard British Isles tune repertoire) or transcribe it into ABC yourself, you can run it through a player or sound file converter and get some idea of what unfamiliar rhythms might sound like, as Mo the caller described upthread.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Jun 18 - 02:09 AM

"With ABC I can access the fantastic file resources on-line but I can't do guitar tab"

I’ve no intention of doing so but it would be possible to write an online abc converter that allows a user to enter their own (eg.) guitar tab. Reading through Guido Gonzato’s Guide, the behind the scenes chain would be running abc2xml.py with a -f switch, converting the xml output back to abc using xmltoabc with a -t switch and then sending the abc through abc2svg.

I don’t know what the limitations of this tab are but here here is an example from the guide I’ve played with. This one is 5 string banjo.

Original abc with the tab instructions:

  %%scale 0.65
  X:1
  T:Blue Moon Of Kentucky (banjo)
  C:http://moinejf.free.fr/abcm2ps-doc/banjo.xhtml
  M:4/4
  L:1/4
  V:1 treble-8
  V:2 tab strings=G4,D3,G3,B3,D4 octave=-1
  K:C
  %
  [V:1] z[Bg]   [cg]   [^cg]    |: ^c/[dd]/ g/d/       d/g/       d/d/ |
  [V:2] z[B!5!g][c!5!g][^c!5!g] |: ^c/[dd]/ !5!g/!2!d/ d/!5!g/ !2!d/d/ |
  %
  [V:1]  B/d/ B/d/ A/d/ G/d/ | E/c/ G/d/    g/G/ d/g/    |
  [V:2]  B/d/ B/d/ A/d/ G/d/ | E/c/ G/d/ !5!g/G/ d/!5!g/ |
  %
  [V:1] G/e/    g/G/ e/G/ E/e/ | D/d/    g/G/ d/g/    B/d/ |
  [V:2] G/e/ !5!g/G/ e/G/ E/e/ | D/d/ !5!g/G/ d/!5!g/ B/d/ |
  

abc after going to and from xml:

  %%beginsvg
  <style type="text/css">
  .bf {font-family:sans-serif; font-size:7px}
  </style>
  <defs>
  <rect id="clr" x="-3" y="-1" width="6" height="5" fill="white"></rect>
  <rect id="clr2" x="-3" y="-1" width="11" height="5" fill="white"></rect>
  <g id="kop0" class="bf"><use xlink:href="#clr"></use><text x="-2" y="3">0</text></g>
  <g id="kop1" class="bf"><use xlink:href="#clr"></use><text x="-2" y="3">1</text></g>
  <g id="kop2" class="bf"><use xlink:href="#clr"></use><text x="-2" y="3">2</text></g>
  <g id="kop3" class="bf"><use xlink:href="#clr"></use><text x="-2" y="3">3</text></g>
  </defs>
  %%endsvg
  X:1
  T:Blue Moon Of Kentucky (banjo)
  C:http://moinejf.free.fr/abcm2ps-doc/banjo.xhtml
  %%score 1 2
  L:1/8
  M:4/4
  I:linebreak $
  K:C
  %%map tab2 =A, print=B heads=kop2
  %%map tab2 =B, print=d heads=kop0
  %%map tab2 =C print=d heads=kop1
  %%map tab2 =D print=f heads=kop0
  %%map tab2 =D, print=G heads=kop0
  %%map tab2 =E print=f heads=kop2
  %%map tab2 =E, print=G heads=kop2
  %%map tab2 =G print=E heads=kop0
  %%map tab2 =G, print=B heads=kop0
  %%map tab2 ^C print=d heads=kop2
  %%map tab2 ^^C print=d heads=kop3
  V:1 treble-8 
  V:2 tab stafflines=5 strings=G4,D3,G3,B3,D4 
  %%voicemap tab2
  K:none
  M:none
  %%clef none
  %%staffscale 1.6
  %%flatbeams true
  %%stemdir down
  V:1
   z2 [Bg]2 [cg]2 [^cg]2 |: ^c[dd] gd dg dd | Bd Bd Ad Gd | Ec Gd gG dg | Ge gG eG Ee | Dd gG dg Bd | %6
  V:2
   x2 [=G=B,]2 [=G=C]2 [=G^C]2 |: ^C[=D^^C] =G^^C =D=G ^^C=D | =B,=D =B,=D =A,=D =G,=D | %3
   =E,=C =G,=D =G=G, =D=G | =G,=E =G=G, =E=G, =E,=E | =D,=D =G=G, =D=G =B,=D | %6
  

This should convert here

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Stanron
Date: 07 Jun 18 - 03:04 AM

After deleting the double spaces at the start of each line I can see the score but, apart from the C:http line there is no tablature.

I can do text tab using Unicode characters that looks like this;

[code]
E+-----------------------------------------------------------+R
B¦---+-----3-------+-1-----------+-------------+-------------¦E
G¦---+-0-----4h2p0-+-----2-----2-+-4p2-0-------+-------0-----¦P
D¦-0-+-------------+-------4h5---+-0-----2h4-2-+-0h2-4-----0-¦E
A¦---+-------2-----+-3-----0-----+-------3-----+-------------¦A
E+-----3-----------------------------------------2-----3-----+T

. + . 1 + + 2 + + . 1 + + 2 + + . 1 + + 2 + + . 1 + + 2 + +
[/code]

but this is eight lines of text to one line of notation. Even if ABC can display it the files would be tedious to generate.

Is there some way ABC can read and display these text characters?

(sorry, I've forgotten how to get mono spaced text on here)

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Stanron
Date: 07 Jun 18 - 03:09 AM

Sorry about the tab in the previous post. It looks nothing like it did in the post preview, but you can see that there are eight lines of text.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 07 Jun 18 - 10:27 AM

Sorry about the extra characters. I'd not tried a copy/paste from my previous post before but have since found it does convert with tab for me when all the extra spaces are removed.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 07 Jun 18 - 10:53 AM

Shortly before he was killed, Laurie Griffiths was developing an ABC to tab generator (incorporated in his ABC programme Muse) that used artificial intelligence techniques to create optimal tab for any piece of ABC input - he said you might find that if you changed something at the end of the tune the changes could propagate all the way back to the start, he was optimizing on a large scale.

Laurie was good as all of guitarist, mathematician and programmer. Whatever he was working on would have been amazing, and he was only days away from releasing it when that shit in the Maserati drove onto the pavement and ran him down. But as far as I know all his work on that version of Muse was lost.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 07 Jun 18 - 11:20 AM

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 07 Jun 18 - 11:24 AM

How did that happen? I was just reading and had no intention of posting. I was nowhere near the submit button - honest!

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Stanron
Date: 07 Jun 18 - 12:05 PM

When Sibelius and Musescore convert notation to tab every note is presented in the lowest possible position. This can produce tab which is impossible to play. It is then up to whoever is producing the score to decide which notes are played at which fret on which string, and reset the tab to match. If I am notating a piece I can already play then the fingering is already worked out.

If I was doing a piece for two or more guitars, the notation would be done from the basis of the sound of the music rather than how it would be played. The tab would be a result of trying to play what was written and finding the best way. If it turned out that a part was unplayable, that part would have to be re-written.

If some one had worked out how to generate playable tab from notation that would be amazing. Where you play stuff on the guitar neck can be affected by whether or not you use dynamics like hammer-ons, pull-offs or slides and whether you select open strings or closed box playing.

There can be more than one solution but I suppose editing could take care of that.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: Stanron
Date: 07 Jun 18 - 12:32 PM

I've just tried out MusicEase. I can open an ABC file and generate a line of tab beneath it. The tab is weird, and in my first few minutes of trying I can't find out how to edit it. Interesting.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Jun 18 - 06:20 PM

@meself - if you are using a word processor to generate the ABC then it may be automatically producing 'curly quotes'. Some versions of EasyABC don't like them. I think the online converters can cope with them.

Subject: RE: ABC to standard notation
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Feb 22 - 04:11 PM

%%scale 0.65
X:1
T:Blue Moon Of Kentucky (banjo)
C:http://moinejf.free.fr/abcm2ps-doc/banjo.xhtml
M:4/4
L:1/4
V:1 treble-8
V:2 tab strings=G4,D3,G3,B3,D4 octave=-1
K:C
%
[V:1] z[Bg]   [cg]   [^cg]    |: ^c/[dd]/ g/d/       d/g/       d/d/ |
[V:2] z[B!5!g][c!5!g][^c!5!g] |: ^c/[dd]/ !5!g/!2!d/ d/!5!g/ !2!d/d/ |
%
[V:1] B/d/ B/d/ A/d/ G/d/ | E/c/ G/d/    g/G/ d/g/    |
[V:2] B/d/ B/d/ A/d/ G/d/ | E/c/ G/d/ !5!g/G/ d/!5!g/ |
%
[V:1] G/e/    g/G/ e/G/ E/e/ | D/d/    g/G/ d/g/    B/d/ |
[V:2] G/e/ !5!g/G/ e/G/ E/e/ | D/d/ !5!g/G/ d/!5!g/ B/d/ |