ABC on the Mudcat MIDI Site

Subject: RE: ABC on the Mudcat MIDI Site
From: MMario
Date: 21 Apr 00 - 04:46 PM

download the midi file, run midi2txt against it, and you will get the text to post in the thread.....follow the link on any thread WITH a red miditxt already in it and you will recieve instructions and find the file to download. it's small..

Subject: RE: ABC on the Mudcat MIDI Site
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 21 Apr 00 - 04:16 PM

Hi Walter,

A) go to the Quick Links in the forum, select Alan of Oz's Midi page and click go.

B) In Explorer, right click on the Midi file you want and choose the Save Target as option to save to your hard disk. In Netscpe, it is called Save Link As.

C) You would probably find a different converter easier to handle. The ABC Homepage lists several that maybe worth trying.

Also, when running a DOS based program in Windows, in most cases you can get them to run in a window rather than taking up the whole screen and you can copy and paste text to other programs. Under Windows 98, you can right click on a dos program and edit the properties to select wheher it runs in a window of full screen. Some programs might have file with the same name as the program file but a .pif extension that may need editing in the same way.

Jon

Subject: RE: ABC on the Mudcat MIDI Site
From: Walter Corey
Date: 21 Apr 00 - 03:36 PM

I am still mourning the loss of those miniscule ABC files that used to hang out under the massive red midis. Neither do I want to ask people doing the midis to go to extra work each time creating ABCs. Could someone explain to a person who sometimes finds the "* For Dummies" series challening how to- A) go to the Mudcat Midi page B) select a midi file (bearing in mind that my computer does not take kindly to sound cards) and C)turn it into an ABC file, thus transforming something that my computer can't use into something that I can usually make a fair attempt at reading on my own. I do have the mid2txt & txt2mid programs installed, though so far, my success with them has been underwhelming. Directions like "open this file in Notepad" don't help me too much when I'm mired in a DOS-based program. I need directions like "double click this, then type in that, and then right click such and such a button". I did finally learn how to insert HTML breaks in a song, after several botched attempts, so perhaps this is not a totally unattainable goal.Thanks - Walter Corey

Subject: RE: ABC on the Mudcat MIDI Site
From: Walter Corey
Date: 10 Mar 00 - 12:31 PM

There is no great mystery as to why ABC remains attractive to some of us: A)Files are miniscule compared to Midi. This is a real plus to people with storage problems. B)Files are in text form which means you don't have to worry about saving things in multiple formats(which to me is a real mind boggler). C)Files are Portable. Once printed out you can take them with you wherever you go and not worry about lugging around song books,or being tied to your computer if you need to refresh a tune in your head. D)Files are readable with a little practice.I would have trouble reading a totally unknown song from ABC, but practically all the files I download are ones that I am already reasonably familiar with,or that I have heard and like. I have a vague impression of what the tune is like.I can sit down at a piano and noodle out the notes from ABC. Of course if you don't read music at all, and key and tempo markings are difficult, then trying to read an ABC file directly would be almost impossible.

Subject: RE: ABC on the Mudcat MIDI Site
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 09 Mar 00 - 08:43 PM

G'day,
Joe's point about posting the abc to the thread is quite right, but it's also quite easy to add to the MIDI site if you wish.

Jon's comment about angle brackets & my MIDItext program is true, mainly because the program is really only a very simple MIDI to ABC converter, there are many things it doesn't do but it seemed adequate for its purpose. It can still be used of course, just copy&paste the abc part.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: ABC on the Mudcat MIDI Site
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 09 Mar 00 - 03:49 PM

One I would like to know is what John Chambers uses for his excellent tune search (click). I presume that the tunes are only stored in ABC format and the MIDIS, gifs and postscript files are generated on the fly.

One note regarding ABC and posting to Mudcat that I discovered to my cost about a week ago. ABC can use the angle brackets and these are interpreted as opening HTML statements in the forum. Alan's program seems to produce ABC that avoids this but I have some ABC programs that don't.

Jon

Subject: RE: ABC on the Mudcat MIDI Site
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Mar 00 - 03:20 PM

It's interesting that those who claim to be technically inept are the ones asking for ABC. On most computers built in the last ten years, all you do is click on a MIDI file to play it, although it does take a special program to display the notation. You CAN read ABC notation, but it's a bit mind-boggling. I wonder if any of us can sight-read ABC well enough to sing a song from ABC notation...
One advantage of ABC is that it's text, so it can be posted quite easily right here in the forum, right next to the lyrics - the only think you have to be careful with is that same thing you need to know for lyrics - be sure to put a <br> line break in for every line.
So, what would be the advantage of having ABC also in the Mudcat MIDIs page, instead of in the forum?
One suggestion that might be nice for the MudMIDIs page is to have a link back to the lyrics for the song, either to the Forum or to the database.
-Joe Offer

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Subject: RE: ABC on the Mudcat MIDI Site
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 09 Mar 00 - 02:04 PM

Crowhugger, I believe there are reasons for using both MIDI and ABC. I prefer MIDI for messing about with arrangements and playing with sounds and also find my MIDI editor easier to handle. Having said that ABC is stronger on some notation aspects (even known to me who can not sight read) and is an ideal format for transfering a file to give the melody (rather than a more complex arrangement). ABC also has the advantage that some people can actually read it straight off.

If as I think you are, referring to the read text of MIDI that you sometimes see in these threads, do nt expect to be able to read it. Alan provided a means of posting a (binary) midi file in a text format to Mudcat. It needs converting back to a MIDI (Using Text2Mid) before it is useful and then if you want to read the music, you need suitable MIDI software.

Jon

Subject: RE: ABC on the Mudcat MIDI Site
From: Jon W.
Date: 09 Mar 00 - 12:39 PM

ABC is a format where the notes are represented by their letters and the note lengths are represented by numbers following the letters. Go to the links page and follow the link for "Web-Wide ABC Index" to find tunes. Go to Chris Walshaw's ABC home page for a complete description of the notation. Chis is the author of ABC.

Subject: RE: ABC on the Mudcat MIDI Site
From: Homeless
Date: 09 Mar 00 - 11:03 AM

What exactly is an ABC file? I keep seeing references to them, but don't know what they are and haven't been able to find them.

Subject: RE: ABC on the Mudcat MIDI Site
From: Walter Corey
Date: 09 Mar 00 - 10:49 AM

I think I inadvertently triggered this thread by asking the mudcatters running the midi site about retaining the ABC files. I understand that midis are the weapon of choice for most people. But for someone with an archaic computer and limited computer skills the ABC has been a godsend. Since I can read these files directly, I paste them to the songs I print out. And they are such small files that they do not overtax my poor computer. I've been using the Yet Another DT page extensively because it automatically generates ABC files where available. Could the same program be incorporated into the midi page? At any rate I hope that people will continue to post ABC files for those of us whose machines and skill levels are not up to handling midis.

Subject: RE: ABC on the Mudcat MIDI Site
From: Crowhugger
Date: 09 Mar 00 - 06:34 AM

Oh, Alan, Please say ye agree! I can read ABC okay but haven't figured out a thing about MIDI on the ol' compooter here. I cringe every time I read that the software is worth the trouble of learning. For me that sounds like telling an eagle it's worth walking to work.

CH

Subject: RE: ABC on the Mudcat MIDI Site
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Mar 00 - 04:16 AM

Hi, Alan - I think it might be easier and just as effective to just post the ABC in the thread with the song. EVERYBODY can post ABC tunes. What think ye?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: ABC on the Mudcat MIDI Site
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 09 Mar 00 - 04:01 AM

G'day,
Some Mudcatters who use the ABC notation may be disappointed that the Mudcat MIDI site concentrates on MIDI. However, if anyone wants a tune posted in abc format just email it to me & I'll post it. Or put it in a thread, email me to let me know where to find it & I'll copy&paste it to the site.

Cheers,
Alan