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'abc to dots' tool wanted

'abc to dots' tool wanted

Has anyone got a fancy bit of software for doing this quickly? It does my head in trying to sight-read abc in my head when reading a post here!

Thanks

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by triplet

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

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

there ya go

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by Sunnybear

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

Fantastic! Thanks.

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by triplet

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

So if you were to paste a line from, say, a tune request here into the concertina.net converter, it should show a line of sheet music? That's what I had in mind when I asked, but so far each one I've tried doesn't come up with anything....

For example I tried the one in the message below ( |: A3 (BA2) GE | A2 GABd3 | A3 (BA2) GE |GEDE GAdB :| ) without any conversion.

???

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by triplet

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

You need more of the ABC than just the notes

Paste this and it will work...

X: 1
T: Gooseberry Bush, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
|:ADFD EFGE | AGAB =c2 AG | AB=cA d^cAG | FGAF GBAF |
D2 FD EFGE | ABcA d2 de | fdec dfed | cAGE FD D2 :|
|:Ad d2 fded | =c2 cB cA G2 | ABAF GEED | FGAB =cAGB |
Ad d2 fded | =c2 cB cA G2 | ABcA d^cAG | ABcA d4 :|
|:Adcd fdcd | efge aged | cdef g2 ef | g2 ge dcAc |
d2 cd ABAG | FGAB =c2 AG | AB=cA d=cAG | ABcA d4 :|

I'm not sure what the minimum requirement is, but I would guess you have to have a key "K: Dmaj" and the metre "M: 4/4" and note length "L: 1/8"

Liam

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by billiamconkey

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

Thanks billi! That makes sense. I guess I was hoping for something a bit simpler that would just literally convert a couple of bars of abc to a stave and a few dots, mainly so that I would be able to 'visualise' (or rather 'auralise') the notes. I wasn't really looking for the name of the tune, but just a way to process in my head what was is read on the page/screen.

Do you see what I mean? Anyone? I find it frustrating when someone requests the name of a tune, as the abc is not intuitive with me, so I can't give an immediate answer. Whereas an instant 'cut & paste' to show the abc as notes would mean I could just sort of sing it in my head and know what the tune is (probably!).

Is there anything like this around??

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by triplet

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

Liam's on the right track.
You'll also need the X: line to start. You'd complete the lines according to the meter and key of the tune you've got then you'd add your lonely line without a line space between it and the other lines. The L field for tune submissions on this site is always 1/8. Some converters process other note lengths or will supply a default length if none is provided. Here's a site that will also transpose keys.
http://www.folkinfo.org/songs/abcconvert.php

At the C.net converter, this will work:
X:1
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:D
|: A3 (BA2) GE
This will work:
X:1
M:4/4
K:D
|: A3 (BA2) GE
This will get an error message:
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:D
|: A3 (BA2) GE

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by joesmith

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

Right - I get it! I see what you mean. Thanks a million.

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by triplet

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

Is there a way that you can post two or more tunes to the same page withj the converter on Concertina net?

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by PNB

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

you can append tunes together, if they are in the same key, using the ! (exclaimation mark) to force a new line
You can also change the key with K: mid flight
X:1
M:4/4
K:D
|:first|tune:|!
|:second|tune:|!
K:G
|:third|tune:|

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by geoffwright

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

Hi triplet - you could try abcNavigator, downloadable free from
http://abcnavigator.free.fr/
It certainly isn't perfect, but has some nifty features - and many I haven't fathomed yet! You could download it and be using it in less time than it would take me to tell you about it.
Good luck
Keith

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by ocarolan

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

If you want to work with multiple tunes I would encourage you to look at other abc editors

On PC's I had used ABC2Win, which works well enough, but doesn't seem to have been updated in a long while.

A recent thread http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/15699/comments#comment325349

referred to a new program ABCexplorer which I tried. It is really very good. It bills itself as a Beta, and they solicit feedback. It has a MIDI player built in (That is in dire need of better instrument samples), and produces good quality sheet music.

Liam

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by billiamconkey

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

I don't think the '!' mentioned above is needed on the concertina.net converter to force a new line -- that site respects whatever line breaks you entered in the abc code.

When I started writing abc I used '!' because it was supported in abc2win, but then I found out it wasn't a standard operator and messed up some programs. I don't think Barfly accepts it, but I'm not at my Mac and can't test that right now.

On concertina.net you can use the 'P:' (parts) operator to show the names of tunes you have combined within a single file. Here's an example:

X: 1
T: Kesh, Sliabh Russell, Tell Her I Am
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
P: Kesh
|:G3 GAB| A3 ABd|edd gdd|edB dBA|
GAG GAB|ABA ABd|edd gdd|BAF G3:|
B2B d2d|ege dBA|B2B dBG|ABA AGA|
BAB d^cd|ege dBd|gfg aga| bgg g3:|
P: Sliabh Russell
K: Ador
|:eAA Bcd|eaf ged|edB cBA|BAG ABd|
eAA Bcd|eaf ged|edB cBA|1 BAG A3:|2 BAG ABd||
|:eaa efg|agf gfd|eaa efg|afd e3|
eaa efg|agf gfd|edB cBA|BAG ABd:|
P: Tell Her I Am
K: Gmaj
e|:edB G3|DED ~G3|DED c2 d|BGE E2 e|
|edB ~G3|DED ~G3|AGF GBA|1 GFE D2 e:|2 GFE D2 A|
|:~B3 dBG|~B3 dBG|ABA ABA|AGF E2 c|~B3 deg|
|age d2 B|cBA GBA|1 GFE D2 A:|2 GFE D3|
|efg efg|dBG GBd|e2 a aga|bge e2 d|efg efg|dBG Gef|
|gfe gba|gfe d3|efg efg|dBG GBd|e2 a aga|
|bge e2 A|def gba|gfe d2 B|cBA GBA|GFE DBd|

I just strung these three tunes together because I wanted to see whether concertina.net could handle a set that would run onto a second page. I think that the pdf routine used to choke in that circumstance, but it now works beautifully.

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by csharpd

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

Nicely done, csharpd!

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by joesmith

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

Thanks, Laitch!

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by csharpd

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

"A recent thread http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/15699/comments#comment325349

referred to a new program ABCexplorer which I tried. It is really very good. It bills itself as a Beta, and they solicit feedback. It has a MIDI player built in (That is in dire need of better instrument samples), and produces good quality sheet music."

I think it has ABC2Midi embedded. Unfortunately this doesn't play triplest and grace notes very well. ABCNavigator is much better in this area but I don't know how it processes the sound.

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by deeor

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

Barfly shows tunes in both abc and notation in its standard files. See previous comments in thesession for info on Barfly.

# Posted on November 17th 2007 by macbox

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

Now if there was a way to put the chords over the line for the rhythm players.

# Posted on November 18th 2007 by PNB

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

Um, there is. BRB, I'll go look it up for you.

# Posted on November 18th 2007 by Zina Lee

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

Here it is: http://www.lesession.co.uk/abc/abc_notation_part2.htm#guitar

# Posted on November 18th 2007 by Zina Lee

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

csharpd your jig set looks great.
A few months back Paul made some real nice improvements on the convert-a-matic.
You can create a page break if you ever find the need.
You can have "Kesh/Sliabh Russell" on the 1st page
& then all of "Tell Her I Am" on page 2.
The command %%newpage will do it.
On this section of your Abcs:

|:eaa efg|agf gfd|eaa efg|afd e3|
eaa efg|agf gfd|edB cBA|BAG ABd:|
P: Tell Her I Am

simply insert:

|:eaa efg|agf gfd|eaa efg|afd e3|
eaa efg|agf gfd|edB cBA|BAG ABd:|
%%newpage
P: Tell Her I Am

At 1st you won't see Tell Her I Am,
but it will be on page 2 when you click on the PDF Sheet Music.

Cheers!
What you have looks great.

# Posted on November 18th 2007 by Random_notes

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

Thanks, TheMuse, that's a cool improvement.

# Posted on November 18th 2007 by csharpd

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

ABC Navigator 2 works well, plays midi, shows chords and prints beautiful sheet music -- but not words. And it will print as many tunes as you can fit on a page in the print preview. It will print multiple copies if you need to share with friends. If you want to do tune bits, just pretend each bit is a tune and make sure the key and note length is correct (the default is 1/8 notes).You can't get much easier to use.

ABC Edit will generate chords, lets you transpose from key to key (and automatically changes the chords appropriately), and prints words. To get a blank line, just pretend it is a line of words and type in the code W: [enter]. Edit is much clunkier to use than Navigator but isn't difficult. It prints only one tune per page, one copy at a time.

I use both of these programs at least weekly to generate hard copy for our band so can recommend them without question.

Halfbonkers

# Posted on November 18th 2007 by bmadill

Re: 'abc to dots' tool wanted

bmadill give AbcEdit another spin.
You can only save one tune at a time but ~
you can type multiple tunes into the editor & generate a PDF of many pages. With the .pdf you can print the # of copies you need. You can also attach them to an email.

# Posted on November 18th 2007 by Random_notes

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