Mudcat ABC Tune Guide

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: Mark Clark
Date: 10 Mar 03 - 05:05 PM

Here is a cross link to another thread, TECH: Sing it in, get dots out. If the WAV to MIDI products work, people could sing a melody, convert to MIDI and generate the ABC. We might get more melodies captured sooner if everyone could participate.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 08:04 AM

As mentioned earlier iabc is an excellent no frills piece of freeware for printing songs in abc format. It certainly handles lyrics quite competently. I see that Version 6 has been recently released and is available Here to Download.

Regards, John

PS Looking forward to Pavane's newest version of Harmony as well.

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: GUEST,pavane
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 07:28 AM

No, just checked it out and MUSE addresses a totally different application area. It is not intended that HARMONY offers real-time or streaming facilities.

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: GUEST,pavane
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 07:23 AM

I am sorry to hear the news, although I confess that I have not actually tried MUSE, so I don't know what facilities it provides.

(Maybe I can fill a gap with enhancements to HARMONY. The version currently under test handles both types of lyric).

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Dec 02 - 11:55 PM

John's link for abc2ps is wrong, it points to a png screenshot of jedabc. The correct link is http://abcplus.sourceforge.net/.

Those wanting their own source code (or not able to use the pre-compiled Win/ Linux RPMs) should go to Jean Fancios Moine's own homepage which is http://moinejf.free.fr/

I had heard about Laurie Griffiths through abcusers, John. I hadn't realised you had had contact with him. I never had any contact with him (other than read his posting in abcusers) but it is a tragic loss to the music community and obviously a personal loss to you too - sorry.

Jon

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 12 Dec 02 - 09:46 PM

Here is a pre-Christmas update on some freeware for abc notation:

abcm2ps

I have described this package above as being useful for propeller heard, but a number of new Windows interfaces are being made available. The pre-compiled version is available from Guido Gonzato's site (this may be a new address). Download the package known as Stable release abcm2ps-2.11.3.zip from Download .



GUI interface to abcm2ps:

If you don't like running abcm2ps in DOS mode, you can try out a little Windows GUI front end Ewan Macpherson has thrown together, Here . You still need to learn about the command-line options in order to fully exploit the wide rahnge of functionality available in abcm2ps, but it is very useful in its standard form. Download it and put it in the same directory as abcm2ps.exe . You'll of course need something like Ghostview to view or print the resulting .ps files.


ABC Navigator - Tune Player

A freeware program for organizing ABC tunes: File editing, with the possibility to merge tunes from different ones and good working search functions; tune editing, with a built in syntax highlighting text editor; midi player - no guitar chord support, but you can change tempo and instrument while playing.

Download abc Navigator here.

Regards

John

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: Mark Clark
Date: 12 Dec 02 - 11:00 AM

John, I'm sorry to hear of Mr. Griffiths' tragic death. This is not only tragic for his family and frends and sad from a Muse development point of view, it's also very sad for the Spike Island Band that Laurie helped start. Mr. Griffiths is the second from the left in the photo.

      - Mark

Subject: Muse 2
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 12 Dec 02 - 02:55 AM

It is with deep regret thatI inform you that the creator of the MUSE software package, Mr Laurie Griffiths, was killed tragically by a motor vehicle while walking near his home in Southampton.

I had been in regular communication with Laurie up until the time of his death and his daughter was kind enough to let me know the day after he died. Laurie was just about to release Muse2 - a multifeatured music package incorporating a huge range of MIDI and abc functions, including the ability to handle the two broad types of lyrics in the latest abc draft standard.

Laurie was very generous with his time and advice - I will greatly miss him.

His daughter raised the possibility that Muse2 may be released in some form. While that would be a fantastic legacy to her late father, I have not pressed the subject further.

Regards, John

Subject: Band In A Box Conversion
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 12 Dec 02 - 02:37 AM

Just for posterity Alf Warnock has written a utility to convert the melody line in Band In A Box files to abc notation. Not of widespread interest of course, but you don't need BIAB to access the melody. BIAB to abc Conversion.

Alf also has a nice collection of tunes at this site and most contain embedded chords of good quality in the abc notation format.

Regards, John

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: Mark Clark
Date: 11 Dec 02 - 08:37 PM

Thanks, John. I'll check it out. This sort of capability will allow Finale users to import and export ABC files. Soon there will be other programs that exchange with Music XML if they don't already exchange with ABC.

The nice thing is that all of this just keeps getting better.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 11 Dec 02 - 08:14 PM

For those interested in experimenting with Music XML format here a link to a free program that converts XML to abc format and vice versa. XML to abc

Regards, John

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 03:04 AM

Mark, the freeware for Ukelele players at Jerry Dallal's page looks really good. It produces chord patterns above the lyric line and lokks quite easy to use.

Regards, John

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: Mark Clark
Date: 04 Oct 02 - 01:05 PM

More ABC software—check it out!

• Jerry Dallal's ABC page Jerry Dallal is one who maintains a list of Charlie Poole's songs but he also has a lot more material on his site. Jerry's m2g complements and requires...
• Christoph Dalitz's abctab2ps program for producing lute tablature. Dalitz's site even references several really useful utilities and info.

Both programs produce PostScript output—requiring GhostScript on a WinTel system—so the output looks quite nice.

I found these because of the work Gary and Susan, et al., were doing on the Charlie Poole collection. Thanks to both of them.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: DMcG
Date: 29 Sep 02 - 07:43 AM

Ok, I'll try to stick to that name in future!

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Sep 02 - 07:24 AM

Wrong link. try here

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Sep 02 - 07:21 AM

It would be better if the Myriad Harmony Assistant was called by it's full title.

According to this page (scroll down to the bottom). Harmony Assistant is the older product with version 1.0 being released in November 1994.

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: pavane
Date: 29 Sep 02 - 06:52 AM

It appears that there is some confusion creeping in between HARMONY (mine) and HARMONY (myriad). Not sure when theirs apeared, but mine has been on the market since 1995 (originally in DOS format).

I would also be interested in more details of the difference between MIDI KARAOKE and MIDI Lyrics. I don't have access to do that myself (Internet cafe at work has been suspended).

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: DMcG
Date: 28 Sep 02 - 01:17 PM

As promised, I am letting you know that the new versions of Melody and Harmony from www.myriad-online.com are now released. These now handle all the ABCs from the DT that I have tried, and also the tricky ABCs from www.folkinfo.org that were discussed above.

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 16 Sep 02 - 03:44 AM

Jon,

There seem to be a number of factors at work here:

- Is there a good (enough) piece of freeware available that a beginner can download?

- Is it user friendly for beginners?

- What's the best sort of application to create TABs to post on the WEb?

- Can the Web page be viewed by all browsers?

- Is there a best practice so that published TABs do not disappear off the side of the page?

Of the various TAB packages I've looked at over time, the one that seened to work best was MUSE shareware, about 20 Pounds as I recall, (really clear and compact).

This topic deserves its own thread, even if it doesn't excite the average Mudcatter.

Regardsm John

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 15 Sep 02 - 08:05 PM

Thanks Jon, yes I've been playing with this and will report when I have some more time.

There's a new version of iabc at http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/abc

This is easy to download and use for Win users - no propeller heads need apply, but from my quick assessment it has come a long way for average Nudcat needs. File loading is still a bit quirky, but please bear in mind that this is a work on progress.

I'll pass any feedback on to Aaron if that will help.

Regards, John

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: GUEST,John Freeman
Date: 15 Sep 02 - 11:25 AM

John,

I don't know what you were using but I found a program called abc2tab.

The program seems to be fussy but I have had some success (producing output - I don't know how accurate it is) as well as failures I can't explain.

I have just been using the command line:

abc2tab -m [abcfilename]

As I've had 1/2 hr to spare, I have put up an example at http://www.folkinfo.org/abctest/mandotest.htm which you may like to look at.

Bear in mind it is a hack together job and the output will be the last successful conversion which need not be the abc entered. Also, a tune must start X: 1 as abc2tab uses the Xref to produce the name of the output file and I can't be bothered extracting that for a test.

Sorry about my post above - it was an accident - I've got several browsers open here and hit the wrong key. That is abc that seems to convert ok though.

Jon

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Sep 02 - 11:22 AM

X:18 T: Collier's C:Trad S: The First Month of Spring, John Vesey and Paul Brady I:speed 250 M:4/4 F:http://ceolas.org/pub/tunes/abc.tunes/xir 2002-09-15 14:40:48 UT K:D |:(3FED (3EFG A3 B | =c2 cB cAGc | Ad d^c d2 (3efg | fdec dcAG | (3FED (3EFG A3 B | =cedB cAGc | Add=c (3ABc AG |[1EFGE D4:|[2EFGE D3 g:| |:fd (3efg fdec | Ad dc Ad dg | fd (3efg fdec | A^GAB =c3 d | eaa2 efge | dged =cAGc | (3AB=c AG (3EFG AB | =cAGE ED D2:|

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: MMario
Date: 14 Sep 02 - 03:44 PM

Thanks Jon

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: GUEST,Jon Freeman
Date: 14 Sep 02 - 10:08 AM

I suppose it will do no harm to post our recent experience here...

Overall, abcm2ps has worked quite well for us. I, and I think ed have been using Noteworthy and converting to abc using ABC2NWC. Apart from getting an extra staff (easily removed from the abc) there have been few problems.

Our biggest problem to date came to light with a song called The Bloody Garden

We found that abc2ps (as used at concertina.net) and ABC2NWC handle lyrics under grace notes differently to abcm2ps. abcm2ps (correctly according to the abc draft) does not align lyrics under grace notes but the other packages do.

abcm2ps does appear to have its own quirk with the handling of slurs and grace notes in that it seems impossible to end a slur on a grace note. (a{bc}) would produce a slur that continues to the end of a bar but (a{bc}d) would end the slur where expected.

The word "vir-gin" in The Bloody Garden is an example where we have modified the position of the slur in order to produce reasonable output. In this case, the text we were working from has markings that could be interpreted in more than one way so I don't see any harm in using our own interpretation but I do see the problem itself as less than desirable.

I've been a bit critical about one small item but overall, I do like abcm2ps and it seems to suit our purpose of generating files on the fly very nicely. There are a lot of features that we haven't tried yet, several of which are not available from the long list of command line options but can be set via a "configuration file" or by adding lines starting with %% in the abc.

I guess John is right in a way by suggesting you need to be a "propeller head" but on the other hand, it is a nice clean, compact (<200K) efficient program. Although the options are duanting, I think it would be possible to work out your faviourite opions and (Windows users) write a small DOS batch file, perhaps passing output to Ghostsript if you can't print postscript and create yourself a very simple command line.

Jon

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: Mark Clark
Date: 14 Sep 02 - 03:53 AM

John, I think Your assumption about the MusicT_EX programs is correct, the program abc2mtex has not been updated since the lyrics feature was added to ABC notation. I don't think the lyrics would make it through the translation.

I have taken another look at the GNU LilyPond program that Murray first told us about in 1998. That package includes a program (abc2ly) that converts from ABC to LilyPond notation and may include conversion of lyrics as well. LilyPond support lyrics and, unlike Walshaw's early translation program, is still in active development.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: MMario
Date: 13 Sep 02 - 10:08 AM

whoops!

told you I was confuzzled!

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: DMcG
Date: 13 Sep 02 - 10:03 AM

Thanks, MMario, but I think you meant to tell pavane that!

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: MMario
Date: 13 Sep 02 - 09:50 AM

I was getting a bit confused there for a minute

DMcG - the NWC forum (http://www.noteworthysoftware.com/nwcforum/recent.php) has some discussion about the difference between midi with lyrics and karaoke files ; it rapidly got over my head.

see this thread

url=http://www.noteworthysoftware.com/nwcforum/recent.php

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: DMcG
Date: 13 Sep 02 - 05:25 AM

Sorry all, I mean Harmony (from Myriad), not Harmony (from pavane), of course!

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: DMcG
Date: 13 Sep 02 - 05:22 AM

Update on Melody/Harmony: The existing version does handle ABC lyrics properly most of the time. There are a couple of issues with the DT because the @ characters used to signal classifications (@bawdy, etc) are not allowed. There are also some problems with the really special ABC lyric stuff that Barfly does not appear to handle either - things like two words on a single note. (It may be the latest Barfly does address this).

I am currently beta testing the next release of Harmony and concentrating on its ABC capabilities and will keep you informed when it becomes available.

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: pavane
Date: 13 Sep 02 - 05:10 AM

I would be interested to hear about the difference between embedded lyrics and karaoke MIDI. HARMONY can produce KARAOKE MIDI, which works on the PC KARAOKE software I have. It can also create KARAOKE files using the chords instead of the lyrics.

I am still working on the new version of HARMONY, and hope to release a test version soon. (Been on holiday recently, so no progress for a couple of weeks)

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 13 Sep 02 - 04:09 AM

While I'm on the subject, some poor bugger got his head nearly pulled off in another thread for daring to ask for a mandolin TAB for Dirty Old Town.

On the basis that having the right tools means you can produce 4,000 TABs as easily as 1, has anybody used any ABC or MIDI FREEWARE to produce Mandolin TABS. I have downloaded the abc2ps clone that does this but I haven't yet taken a large enough breath to work through the command line instructions in order to produce the simplest of output. If anyone has any experience with it would you mind please sending me a simple common command line - or advice about any other freeware that might do this easily.

John

johninbrisbane^lycos.com

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: MMario
Date: 12 Sep 02 - 09:12 PM

I haven't done too many of the conversions with lyrics FROM ABC to NWC - but I've done a number the other way and they appear to convert correctly.

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 12 Sep 02 - 08:12 PM

Ed, you'll find ABCRUN here:

http://ifdo.pugmarks.com/~seymour/runabc/top.html

The best maintained site for finding ABC applications is at Frank Nordberg's Musica Viva - sorry should have included this address in my earlier thread:

http://www.musicaviva.com/abc/abcapp/index.tpl

Mark, I haven't tinkered with the TEX programs. I was operating on the presumption that they were developed prior to the latest lyrics standards, and hence lacked that functionality. If you know something different please let me know.

Any further feedback on this whole subject would be warmly welcomed.

Best Regards, John

MMario, I'd be keen to find out more about the latest NWC version (I'll look at it). The original MIDI standard was pretty lean with regards to lyrics. Has this changed?

Bryan Creer has a shareware program known as ABC2NWC or NWC2ABC which you can find at ABACUS Music on the Web. It's a great utility, however it doesn't from my tests appear to handle the lyric conversion to NWC perfectly. Bryan has told me that he MAY be prepared to fix it if somone can deduce what elements of the lyrics causes the hiccups. I've sought volunteers from Mudcat in the past, but MMario's is the first concrete offer that I've had. (I haven't looked too seriously at the reciprocal conversion from NWC to ABC).

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 12 Sep 02 - 01:06 PM

Thanks, John.

Do you have a download link for ABCRUN? I couldn't find it with google.

Ed

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: MMario
Date: 12 Sep 02 - 10:52 AM

the latest Noteworthy Composer upgrade will import and export lyrics from midi's with embedded lyrics or karaoke files. (no - they are not the same thing)

and there is a third party utility that will convert back and forth to ABC.

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: Mark Clark
Date: 12 Sep 02 - 10:16 AM

John, Thanks for the update. I'll check them out.

Propeller head folkies who use T_EX or L^AT_EX may also be interested in Chris Walshaw's program abc2mtex that converts ABC input to MusicTeX format for inclusion in a L^AT_EX source file. This was Walshaw's original publishing method.

I don't think there have been any recent enhancements to abc2mtex but if someone wants to publish a book and include music notation, this is a powerful capability.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 12 Sep 02 - 01:54 AM

A quick update on ABC.

There has actually been a lot happening behind the scenes when it comes to ABC Notation as it effects songs with lyrics.

(1) Thanks to the considerable talent and hard work of Mick Pearce, a very considerable part of the DT database has been converted to ABC format with both aligned lyrics and additional lyrics and explanatory notes for each song (anout 4,000 of them from memory). This still needs some work to get the conversion output from SongWright up to scratch, but the results to date are pretty b----- good.

(2) There has been a tremendous amount of software development done over the last few months to create programs which handle synshronised lyrics for folk songs. I'll take the opportunity now to just briefly list them - and leave details until later.

Mac - A new version of BarFly is now abailable. This is probably the best package for Mac which handles lyrics.

Melody Assistant (Mac and Win) - I'm not a user but the developers were due to have expanded the lyrics functionality by now.

SKINK (aka 5 Line Skink) - Uses Java and operates on both Mac and Win. No nonsense freeware which plays, displays and prints ABC songs. A trifle slow to react, but bear with the mnor delays for very reasonable quality output.

iabc (Win only) - Again no nosense score display and print. Under continuous development freeware. Doesn't handle some of the ABC notation exotica, such as grace notes and different modes - yet. Probably of interest to dabblers only at this point.

Muse - new beta version (Win) - Shareware. The original version was very powerful, so would expect good things when this new lyrics enhance version is released as a final version.

Harmony (win) - Pavane from Mudcat is re-writing for an imminent release. To be fully featured re lyrics. Previous version had unique features based on chord/melody generation.

Abacus (win) - A new freeware package to display, (play?) and print scores. Unfortunately Bryan seems to have an aversion to accomodating lyrics, so there is no lyrics function.

abcm2ps (Win, Mac, Unix) - This is a fantastic freeware package for propeller head folkies. Irs PostScript output quality is excellent and provides for lots of variations with a lot of grunt.. If you're a Win user, don't even think about it unless you're prepared to run this via command lines in DOS. Know nothing about the Mac environment. If you're a UNIX/Linux type you've probably stopped reading this and are already downloading it. THERE ARE LOTS OF ABC@PS CLONES. Unless you know otherwise none of the other variants CURRENTLY support lyrics - Sept 2002.

ABCRUN - A Win freeware front end to abcm2ps and clones. Designed to avoid the command line hassles, plus to integrate with other freeware ABC utilities such as play, edit, transpose. I wouldn't recommend it for Australians, but if you live elsewhere and the weather is gloomy for a couple of days on end then give it a try. It requires a number of discrete downloads plus a complex maual linking process.

Older ABC Software - Chances are that most of the older ABC 16 Bit software will bomb out if you try to read files that have lyrics lines in them (commencing with W: or w:).

I don't have an exhaustive list but ABC2WIN (Score Printer Shareware), ABC Checker (syntax cchecker from Bryan Creer) and ABCTWIN (Win freeware harmony writer) are among those that will refuse to co-operate.

It is indeed fortunate that a crop of new ABC softwate is now emerging.

I'll try to elaborate on the above when I get some time. In the meantime drop me an email if you have any queries.

Regards, John johninbrisbane^lycos.com The change required to make this a valid address should be self evident.

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: GUEST,pavane
Date: 20 Mar 02 - 07:07 AM

The next version of HARMONY will have synchronised lyric import from, and export to, abc format. (It already has Songwright export). I have finished the code, I just need to get it built and uploaded.

So, for example, you could IMPORT a Karaoke MIDI and export with lyrics to abc or Songwright.

Maybe someone can find me (links to?) some abc tunes with synchronised words to do some more testing.

There are also facilities for applying unsynchronised (W:) lyrics to the notes and exporting as synchronised.

It fully implements the K: clef extensions - I had already done that, and forgotten the fact!

About the only real thing left now is to implement the P: facilites (Not an easy task)

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: reggie miles
Date: 20 Mar 02 - 01:50 AM

I'm not certain why or what I had in mind. I simply thought it might help if I understood more about that which I've devoted so much energy toward during the last thirtytwo years of my life. Some of the instruments I play with, like washboard, saw or even slide guitar seem to me to be beyond the reach of any kind of technical translations of this sort as I primarily improvise on them as I do with my singing. I guess being mostly unaware of the benefits that such a pursuit would offer, I have no clearly set goals in mind, except to be able to translate what I find that others have written down.

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: pavane
Date: 19 Mar 02 - 12:22 PM

I have studied the abc synchronised words spec (w: lines) and should be able to incorporate this into HARMONY quite easily.

Harmony already reads and writes multivoice files (V:)

I did already have the text of the abc draft spec, but had overlooked parts of it.

I could also add K:, because Harmony already handles Bass and Treble clefs.

Reggie: You can start with the simpler stuff and work up from there, but there really is no substitute. Musical notation has evolved over 1000 years or more, to try and capture the essence of the live performance, but it is still a compromise. All performances require an element of interpretation, the written score is just the bare bones, an aid to memory.

There are many good books on musical theory for beginners, and it is well worth learning the fundamentals. Or you could find a friendly trained musician to teach you just as much as you need to know - is it for an instrument you play or want to play? Which one?

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: reggie miles
Date: 19 Mar 02 - 03:52 AM

I know nothing or very little about the technical constructs of written music and all of this info, hmmmm, seems to simply reinforce that I may never get there. Is there a program or wizard involved for the complete idiot?

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Mar 02 - 02:39 AM

Thanks Mick

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 17 Mar 02 - 07:25 PM

Pavane - The draft version of the newer version of abc can be found on the abc Home page at abc-draft.txt

You might also look at The abc plus project which has implementations of some of these new features.

While you're on the abc Home Page, if you're in the mood you might also look at the Beethoven 7th work for use of some extensions to abc.

I'm off to Bruges now - I'll check this thread out again when I get back. (Or if you want to e-mail me use MCPearce0ATaolDOTcom - that's a zero before AT)

Mick

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: pavane
Date: 17 Mar 02 - 05:10 AM

I haven't seen a definition of the w lines - can you point me to one and I will see if I can include it.

Currently, HARMONY does not import text from abc, but it can from MIDI.

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 16 Mar 02 - 08:33 PM

Kernow John - thanks for that link. I've just had a quick look at the program (literally a few minutes) and it looks quite good. I'll check it out more throroughly later

Pavane - If you have the abc files with the (synchronised) words on 'w' lines (instead of on the older, unsynchronised 'W' lines) abc2midi will generate Karaoke midi files automatically (and it's free!). (My technical problem in the batch conversion from Songwright to abc is that originally I was outputting only 'W' lines (trivial n this case - simple copy of the input words) but to output 'w' I have to actually process the text(Songwright and abc handle syllables on tied notes differently), so for now I've only generated the vanilla midi files).

(The generated abc also makes use of the newer V: lines for separate voices in the dozen or so DT files that have mutivoice tunes, and the K:bass and K:treble for the handful of DT tunes which use the bass or bass and treble clefs. also the !fermata! and !tenuto! notations. These are in the newer draft specs for abc on the abc homepage).
It shouldn't take me long to do this, but unfortunately (not really!) I'm off to Bruges for the week, so this will have to wait until I come back. I'll put up a post when this is available, along with the abc files (and probably PostScript scores too - another trivial production from the abc via abcm2ps).

Mick

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: Kernow John
Date: 16 Mar 02 - 05:00 PM

Mick that sounds a first class piece of work!
I have been using ABC Navigator (a freebie) for a while. You can use it for playback, creating a midi, searching for tunes, writing abc etc.
You can get it here http://perso.libertysurf.fr/groink/
Don't forget to download the English pack. Just unzip this to the installation directory for an English language version.
KJ

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: pavane
Date: 16 Mar 02 - 07:54 AM

Did I mention HARMONY can do KARAOKE MIDI?

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: MMario
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 11:08 PM

Mick - you are fantastic!

Subject: RE: Mudcat ABC Tune Guide
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 09:22 PM

I have been converting Dick Greenhaus's new file set to MIDI via abc and will have the complete set available in abc (about 4000 tunes with words). If anyone wants the full set in this form I would be happy to supply them (for politeness, after Dick releases the MIDI).

(I do a batch conversion of SongWright to abc and use abc2midi to do a batch conversion of the abc to Midi. The process takes me a little over an hour for the 4000 files. In fact I have a some work to do on the synchronization of words with tune in the abc - it's handled slightly differently from Songwright - and when I do I'll create the MIDI files with text so you can use the Karaoke style Midi players to get words and tune played together, the way the DT player did on the PC speaker).

Mick