Rosebrook, I'll try to explain the simplest way possible to use the ABC tunes posted in the forum through ABC2Win. By simplest I mean the fewest programs involved.

I assume that you are currently staring at the tune as it is posted on the Mudcat forum. The next thing to do is to bring up ABC2Win without closing the forum window. Once ABC2Win is up, it will display the "select tunes" window. Go to the File menu and select either New or Open, depending if you want a new collection of tunes or to add to an existing collection. Obviously the first tune you try, you will need a new file. If you select new, ABC2Win will immediately bring up the ABC notation window. If you select Open, it will bring up a list of tunes already in the file. You should then click on the "Add New" button and the ABC notation window will appear.

Now, get ready to copy from the forum window and paste to the ABC notation window. The first thing you will need to do is put in the title, meter, and key of the song. There are little boxes in the ABC notation window into which these items can be typed directly or copied and pasted. Since the items are short it is probably easiest just to type them. You can resize and move your Mudcat forum window to allow you to see both it and the ABC notation window at the same time. Note that the little boxes have labels which show the ABC information name such as "T:" for title, "M:" for meter, etc. Copy the corresponding lines from the forum window into each box (You don't need to include the "T:", "M:", just the part following it).

Next, use your mouse to highlight the body of the music. This is any part that doesn't go into one of the little boxes. In the example tune above, it is this part:

A,C|:'D2DE FEFA|dAFA BFAF|E2EF GFGA|BGAF EGFE|! D2DE FEFA|dAFA dfag|fgec dcdB|1 AFGE D2 (3A,B,C:||2(3ABc ec d2 (3ABc||! |:'defg fdAd|fdAd f2ed|cBce gfed|cdef g2 (4fgfe|! defg afdf|afdf abag|fgef dcdB|AFGE D2 Ac:|

Once it is highlighted, press Ctrl-C to copy it, then click on the large white box at the bottom of the ABC Notation window and press Ctrl-V to paste it in.

Now you are almost ready to play the tune. Click on the little speaker button near the top of the ABC Notation screen. A box will come up saying you haven't saved the file and do you want to save it now? Click on the "yes" button. Then PlayQABC will come up and play the tune (with no repeats). When it's finished, you will need to click on the "X" in the corner to get rid of the PlayQABC window and return to the ABC Notation window.

By clicking on the little "Draw Music" (Note on a Staff) button you can see the sheet music in a new window. There are two speaker buttons in that window, one plays it with repeats and the second (Quick Play) plays without repeats.

Note: I had to correct the first alternate ending of Part A of Donegal Reel to get the repeat to work right. This correction is reflected in the body of the tune shown in this message.

There are two ways to use PlayQABC alone (without ABC2Win) but one involves DOS and the other involves creating icons on the desktop and I don't want to get into them here. E-mail me if you really want to know.

Hope this helps, Jon W.