Alert: Thread drift: MIDI to ABC conversion

Converting from ABC to MIDI is a snap: many ABC programs support this, and there are several online converters (notably at Concertina.net and folkinfo.org).

Converting from MIDI to ABC is more problematic. MIDI files represent music not with an analogue of musical notation but as a sequence of instructions to musical devices. Most converter programs have insufficient analytical abilities to properly detect key, time signature, pick-up notes or repeats. Note lengths are expressed in terms of real-time milliseconds, which inconsistently and inexactly map to lengths in standard notation, particularly when tempo varies or is "swung" (as for a hornpipe). Grace notes are treated as regular notes, and triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets etc. may not be recognized as such. So the resulting notation is usually shifted within bars (when the tune starts with a pickup) and contains bizarre note lengths, with a proliferation of ties between notes and across bars--next to unusable, and certainly not suitable for posting.

It may be better to feed the MIDI into some music editor which routinely deals with these issues (due to real-time input), clean up the representation, then export either directly to ABC or (if that option isn't available) to MusicXML, which some other utility might be able to convert to ABC. Sadly, MusicXML is not well standardized, and many musical features are unsupported or only partially supported in ABC, so even ABC programs which accept MusicXML imports may choke on well-formed output from a music editor.

Alternatively, you can just ask someone with a good ear and experience with ABC to transcribe your MIDI. Once one learns the basics, writing tunes in ABC is a walk in the park, so as long you don't require our indulgence too often, a number of us here (including myself) would be happy to handle the transcription--and even post the ABC and MIDI here, if you give us the URL to an appropriate thread; just PM us for an e-mail address to which you can send the MIDI. Note that if the work is copyrighted by someone other than you, don't be surprised if we refuse for legal or ethical reasons.

You can also bypass the ABC route and ask Joe Offer to post your MIDI directly. This may be less useful to other people, who may want to see the dots, transpose the tune or otherwise alter it, but it enjoys the virtue of simplicity. Be sure to furnish Joe a thread URL (or better yet, a message URL, gleanable from the message history links at the top of a thread page).