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2 staffs like for the piano in abc notation

2 staffs like for the piano in abc notation

Since it seems to be impossible to write composed chords in abc notation (see the last discussion below)
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/23752
then is there a way to have 2 staffs played together, like for
the piano?

# Posted on February 7th 2010 by protz

Re: 2 staffs like for the piano in abc notation

Protz, have you looked at the more complicated abc files within this thread?
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/7591/comments#comment162644
Multiple staves could be created as "voices".
http://www.lesession.co.uk/abc/abc_extensions.htm#voices
There's this, too.
http://abcplus.sourceforge.net/jedabc.html

# Posted on February 7th 2010 by ʎɹoʇısuɐɹʇ

Re: 2 staffs like for the piano in abc notation

I think you can write with as many ledger lines as you want, just think there is one ledger line below the treble clef (middle c) and the next line is the top line of the bass clef, of course in practice they can be removed by an octave or overlap into the same octave if you are reading with a transposed instrument such as guitar, bouzouki, tenor banjo, or octave mandolin

# Posted on February 7th 2010 by Earl Cameron

Re: 2 staffs like for the piano in abc notation

I think you just add more apostrophes to produce notes more than 2 octaves below middle C

# Posted on February 7th 2010 by Earl Cameron

Re: 2 staffs like for the piano in abc notation

Yes you can do multiple staffs on ABC, though some of the commonly used programs (like Barfly on the Mac) may not display them properly. Five Line Skink (Ver. 2) will display them. Essentially you just define the voices with V:1 and V:2 indications and place clef indicators with the first definition of each voice. For details go Google abc notation and you'll find scads of useful info.

# Posted on February 7th 2010 by cboody

2 staffs in abc notation ~ scads of info

http://abc.sourceforge.net/standard/abc2-draft.html
"The ABC Music standard 2.0" (draft IV, 14/8/2003) Irwin Oppenheim
7. Multiple voices
http://abc.sourceforge.net/standard/abc2-draft.html#Multiple%20voices

or

http://abcplus.sourceforge.net/ Guido Gonzato
"Making Music with ABC Plus" (pdf)
http://abcplus.sourceforge.net/abcplus_en-1.1.0.zip : version 1.1.0, includes features of abcm2ps 4.12.30
Part 3 ~ Harmony

# Posted on February 7th 2010 by Ben Steen

Midi doesn't works

> Random_notes: Thanks for the links. However, it seems that the midi on Concertina.net doesn't understand the multiple voices. Quicktime player tells me "?"

# Posted on February 8th 2010 by protz

Re: 2 staffs like for the piano in abc notation

http://www.folkinfo.org/songs/abcconvert.php

# Posted on February 8th 2010 by ʎɹoʇısuɐɹʇ

Midi w/voices on Concertina.net?

You're welcome protz. I try to offer assistance to anyone working on abcs, when it is something I know. It is only fair to let you know I don't currently use them. Hopefully you're reading a few of my discussions where I post my not favourable opinion of MIDIs for learning tunes.
Good luck though.
Ben

# Posted on February 8th 2010 by Ben Steen

Re: 2 staffs like for the piano in abc notation

to play back multiple parts learn to use abc2midi. See

http://linux.die.net/man/1/abc2midi

or

http://ifdo.pugmarks.com/~seymour/runabc/abcguide/abc2midi_guide.html

or Google abc2midi

In theory works on Linux, PC, or Mac OS. I call it from Skink or Barfly on the Mac. Doubtless you could use skink and call it on a PC too.

# Posted on February 9th 2010 by cboody

Abc2midi

joesmith has this covered already. Please correct me if any of the following in inaccurate. Thanks in advance.

folkinfo is one of the most complete online applications for abc conversions. This includes abc2midi.

Abc2midi may be used directly, if you have it on your computer. Also available from the ABC Plus Project; http://abcplus.sourceforge.net/#abcMIDI

In windows open a command prompt, @ the folder containing abc2midi.exe & an abc file (with voices), type in
abc2midi voice.abc
Everything working, you should see a .mid file in the same folder.

joesmith also posted the link to Steve Mansfield's abc page, LeSession. Mansfield has a good tutorial for anyone wishing to learn abcs. He also explains how to produce a score from batch files, using abcm2ps on Windows. A similar batch file can be written for abc2midi.

Now, I will never make it to that grand session in the sky. I do have a spot reserved in the other place, where they play elevator tunes on midi pianos. ;)


# Posted on February 9th 2010 by Ben Steen

Yo, Random!

What do you mean in inaccurate? . . . is inaccurate.

# Posted on February 9th 2010 by Ben Steen

Abc2midi > http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html

I did copy Steve Mansfield's voices example & pasted that into the concertina.net converter. It did produce an audible .mid file with both voices. Paul Schwartz updated the software a few years back. Everything should be fairly current.

# Posted on February 11th 2010 by Ben Steen

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