ABC Transcription Tools

[Michael Eskin]

For my ABC Transcription Tools I've moved all my custom instruments to MIDI program numbers greater than 128.
 

This will allow for much easier addition of new instruments.

My accordion, flute, and whistle instruments all still use the standard MIDI program numbers.

Previously, the concertina was mapped to

23 - Tango Accordion.

It now resides at

133 - Concertina

Please check the chart below (also available in the tool) for the new instrument mapping.

http://michaeleskin.com/abctools/img/gm_extended.jpg

 

Thank you to @DaveRo for the suggestion!

Edited July 1, 2023 by eskin

[Michael Eskin]

I've added a new "Settings" option in my ABC Transcription Tools that brings up a dialog where you can select the default instrument programs and volumes to use when playing your tunes.

 

 

The settings are saved and restored every time you run the tool.

Access it from the Settings button:



Here's everything you can possibly want to know about selecting the playback instruments: (before I added the volume defaults option):
 

 

 

Edited July 4, 2023 by eskin

[Michael Eskin]

We often think of ABC as just an easy way to exchange single line traditional tunes, perhaps with some chords, but the ABC standard and ABC programming libraries like ABCjs are capable of so much more!

Here's a demo using my ABC Tools to both render and play a three-part J.S. Bach sonata arranged for Pipe Organ:
 

This is being done entirely by the browser, no other MIDI hardware involved.

Try it yourself!

Here is a ABC Transcription Tools shortened share link with the demo file already preloaded and ready to be played:

https://tinyurl.com/2s3wmk8b

Edited July 4, 2023 by eskin

[Michael Eskin]

One more J.S Bach in ABC format demo, this one a Harpsichord prelude.

 

 

 

Try it yourself!  

 

Here is a ABC Transcription Tools shortened share link with the demo file already preloaded and ready to be played:

 

https://tinyurl.com/5n7zf2ky

 

 

[David Barnert]

Out of curiosity, I just pasted this into your abc tools. It is an abc rendering by Steve Allen from 25 years ago of the slow movement from Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. I couldn’t get it to play. It is, of course, a remarkably complicated abc file, written in an outdated version of the abc standard (v1.6), so I can’t say I was surprised, although it would have been neat. Perhaps it’s just too long, or I’m not waiting long enough for the tool to render the sound.

[Michael Eskin]

9 hours ago, David Barnert said:

Out of curiosity, I just pasted this into your abc tools. It is an abc rendering by Steve Allen from 25 years ago of the slow movement from Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. I couldn’t get it to play. It is, of course, a remarkably complicated abc file, written in an outdated version of the abc standard (v1.6), so I can’t say I was surprised, although it would have been neat. Perhaps it’s just too long, or I’m not waiting long enough for the tool to render the sound.

 

That's funny, I did exactly the same thing last night. 🙂

 

I spent the morning adding my Cajun Accordion to the soundfont:

 

Here's "St. Anne's Reel / Reel De Montreal" played using the new instrument:

 

https://youtu.be/Z6Ji5Q_xdqE

 

The new instrument can be accessed by adding:

 

%%MIDI program 135

 

after your ABC tune header and before the notes.

 

Here is a share link to the tool with the two demo tunes preloaded and ready to be played:

 

https://tinyurl.com/3ewwjra3

[David Barnert]

13 hours ago, David Barnert said:

Out of curiosity, I just pasted this into your abc tools. It is an abc rendering by Steve Allen from 25 years ago of the slow movement from Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. I couldn’t get it to play.

4 hours ago, eskin said:

That's funny, I did exactly the same thing last night. 🙂

 

Did you have any better luck than I did?

[Michael Eskin]

No, it wouldn't play for me either. All kinds of errors on the developer console.
 

I spent my 4th of July working on enhancements to the tool:

Ported the Cajun Accordion instrument over from my iOS apps:
 

Added tooltips everywhere to make all the features discoverable.

Completely reorganized the users guide, with links back to the table of contents on every subtopic.

Now using a minified version of the main JS file, so initial load times should be faster.

I think these new features, particularly the new tooltips and manual are really going to make it a lot easier for new users.

Edited July 5, 2023 by eskin

[Michael Eskin]

My ABC Transcription Tools can now automatically generate tablature from ABC files for both B/C and C#/D tuned diatonic accordions!

Demo video:

https://youtu.be/2rduXDq1nLg

 

Here are the details of the new box tablature options:

B/C - Shows standard notation and tablature for a 21-button B/C tuned diatonic accordion.

Notes on the C-row are indicated by numbers.

Notes on the B-row are indicated by numbers in circles.

Push is indicated with a down arrow.

Draw is indicated with an up arrow.

C#/D - Shows standard notation and tablature for a 21-button C#/D tuned diatonic accordion.

Notes on the D-row are indicated by numbers.

Notes on the C#-row are indicated by numbers in circles.

Push is indicated with a down arrow.

Draw is indicated with an up arrow.

Formatting your ABC for B/C and C#/D tablature:

Because the box tablature can be very dense, it is best used with only two or three measures per line of ABC.

Assumptions about the B/C and C#/D Box tablature solutions:

The tablature solution assumes that the “magic” notes (E and B on a B/C, F# and C# on a C#/D) that are available on both rows, will be played on the C-row on a B/C box and on the D-row on a C#/D box.

Use of the B/C and C#/D Box tablatures on a 23-button instrument:

If you are playing a 23-button instrument, you will need to shift your start position one button higher when playing.

 

[Michael Eskin]

I finally figured out how to set the initial page zoom to full page and layout to single-page view when you open one of the PDFs from my ABC tool in Adobe Acrobat. Fix is live.

If you have PDF tunebooks you created previously and want to fix the initial view, you can either re-generate them in the latest version of the ABC tool or use Adobe Acrobat to set the initial view in the document properties of the older PDFs.

[Michael Eskin]

Here is a step-by-step walkthrough of how I create fully-featured PDF tunebooks including:

Title page with sub-title
Table of contents linked to each tune
Link back on each page to the table of contents
Page footers with hyperlink to a website
Playback links on every tune title
QR code with hyperlink and caption at the end of the tunebook

Demo video:
https://youtu.be/L0tiG-hX4eM

Here is the exact ABC annotation code I used in the video, put this before all your ABC tunes if you want to try it yourself:

%addtitle PDF Tunebook With Play Links Demo
%addsubtitle Click any Tune Title to Play the Tune
%urlpagefooter http://michaeleskin.com/abctools/abct... Click here to start using Michael Eskin's free ABC Transcription Tools
%addtoc Table of Contents
%addlinkbacktotoc
%add_all_playback_links 21 0
%pdfquality 0.7
%qrcode http://michaeleskin.com/box
%caption_for_qrcode Scan with your iOS or Android camera for more free resources for Traditional Irish Button Box Players

All of these and many other useful PDF annotations are fully described in the User Guide.

[Michael Eskin]

Added a new template with symbols suggested by Danny Flynn for annotating box or concertina transcriptions with fingering information:

Available under the new "Add" dialog, it injects the following at the top of the ABC:

%
% Danny Flynn's symbols for box fingering transcriptions
%
% Copy and paste these as chord annotations before the notes:
%
% Finger 1: "1" "①"
% Finger 2: "2" "②"
% Finger 3: "3" "③"
% Finger 4: "4" "④"
% Slide down: "➘"
% Slide up: "➚"
% Slide straight down: "↓"
% Cross over/under: "x"
% Push: "⮐"
% Draw: "⮑"
%
% Additional symbols for button numbering tablature:
%
% "1" "2" "3" "4" "5" "6" "7" "8" "9" "10" "11" "↑" "↓"
% "①" "②" "③" "④" "⑤" "⑥" "⑦" "⑧" "⑨" "⑩" "⑪"
%

While the tool itself can now automatically create Anglo Concertina tablature for tunes in both on-row and cross-row solutions for both Wheatstone and Jeffries-style instruments, these symbols may be useful for those who want to go beyond the automatic tablature generation ability and mark up tunes themselves.

Edited August 3, 2023 by eskin

[Roger Hare]

3 hours ago, eskin said:

Added a new template with symbols suggested by Danny Flynn for annotating box or concertina transcriptions with fingering information:...

I've tried adding symbols like this to ABC scripts before. I've tried inserting the symbols directly, and in encoded forms, but I've always had the problem that although the symbols appear in the on-screen score (I'm using EasyABC), they do not appear in the generated PDF.

 

Specifically, I tried adding small square solid and empty 'boxes' in an attempt to add Mick Bramich style tabs, and also the symbols for double-sharp and double-flat.

 

I've always assumed it was something to do with my Ghostscript installation, but I've never bothered pursuing the matter. Any suggestions as to why this should happen are welcome?

Edited August 3, 2023 by lachenal74693

[Michael Eskin]

I know I have to specify UTF-8 encoding for the page for this to work correctly.

[Roger Hare]

23 minutes ago, eskin said:

I know I have to specify UTF-8 encoding for the page for this to work correctly.

Wow! that was quick! Ta!

 

I just tried that - nope same result - OK in the on-screen score, nothing in the PDF (I'm pretty sure I tried this before - it was a couple of years ago). I ran out of ideas at that point...☹️

 

It's not desperately 'important', but it would be nice if I could get this working - I'd be able to add one more tabbing style to my 'repertoire'...😊

Edited August 3, 2023 by lachenal74693

[Michael Eskin]

I just tried it with EasyABC on my Mac and got the same result as you, the Unicode characters don't show up in the exported PDF generated with Ghostscript.

[Roger Hare]

6 hours ago, eskin said:

I just tried it with EasyABC on my Mac and got the same result as you, the Unicode characters don't show up in the exported PDF generated with Ghostscript.

Thanks for that! It's (sort of) nice to know that someone else can produce the same result. Obviously, abcjs plus your code is 'smarter' than the EasyABC/Ghostscript combo.

 

Never mind... 

[Michael Eskin]

No, I think its because Ghostscript was built before the whole UTF-8/Unicode/Emoji thing really took off.   My very perfunctory understanding of the issue is that Postscript really has no concept of extended Unicode character sets.   Yet another reason I've switched to using my own ABC tool almost exclusively.