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ABC Transcription Tools


Michael Eskin

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My ABC tool can now intelligently format the tunes to automatically fit multiple tunes on a page, and not split tunes between pages unless the tune is larger than one page. 


In this video I push the tool to the limit, creating a PDF tunebook with 386 reels formatted with multiple tunes per page.

Demo video:

https://youtu.be/oulfpDWHejk

Link on my Dropbox to the PDF tunebook that was generated:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/no9g58rcj99mt2l/Tunebook_Example_6Mar2023.pdf?dl=0

 

Note 7 Mar 2023: Made some performance improvements to the PDF generation so the tool can now do that same 386-tune export in half the time, 4 minutes instead of 8.

Edited by eskin
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2 hours ago, eskin said:

My ABC tool can now intelligently format the tunes to automatically fit multiple tunes on a page, and not split tunes between pages unless the tune is larger than one page...

I won't have a chance to 'test' this for a day or so, so I'll just ask:

 

If I have a tune which I know in advance is larger than one page, if I insert a %%newpage at the relevant point in the tune, will the tool honour that directive when it formats the tunes? The 'relevant point' might be (for example) the start of the B music in an AB tune...

 

Thanks...

Edited by lachenal74693
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Yes, it still respects %%newpage after a tune.  I just force a break and start the next tune on a new page.  It's a great way to override the default layout behavior if you need to.  A tune that spans more than one page will always start at the top of a page and spillover into subsequent pages, one or more.

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3 hours ago, eskin said:

Yes, it still respects %%newpage after a tune, etc...

That's great - I hadn't picked up that new tunes start on a new page - that's even better! I won't see the other person who's interested in this till Thursday, but I think this is the way to resolve their problem. Thank you!

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New widely requested feature:

Adding a tune index to exported PDF tunebooks.

To append a tune index to the end of your PDF tunebook listing each tune name and page number, simply add the following comment-based annotation anywhere in the ABC:

%addindex (your tune index title text goes here...)

Note that the tunebook index itself includes the PDF page header and footer but does not include page numbers so you can use it as a table of contents if required for a printed tunebook.

I've tested this with massive tunebooks with hundreds of tunes and multiple tunes per page. Looks very sold.

Before you ask, no, I can't put the index at the front of the PDF.

I don't know the page numbers for the tunes until after all the tunes have been laid out and the PDF for the tunes is fully generated.

You can always use a PDF editor program like Adobe Acrobat to move the tune index pages to the front. I specifically left the page numbers off the tunebook index pages to allow them to be used as table of contents pages instead.

Demo Video:

https://youtu.be/drtgh8_PRUY

Try the ABC Transcription Tools here:

http://michaeleskin.com/abc

User Guide:

http://michaeleskin.com/abctools/userguide.html

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6 hours ago, eskin said:

You can always use a PDF editor program like Adobe Acrobat to move the tune index pages to the front.

 

On a Mac you can do this in the “Preview” app that comes bundled with all Macs. Open the PDF in Preview and in the sidebar on the left, drag the thumbnail images up or down to where you want them.

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13 hours ago, David Barnert said:

 

On a Mac you can do this in the “Preview” app that comes bundled with all Macs. Open the PDF in Preview and in the sidebar on the left, drag the thumbnail images up or down to where you want them.

Oh, that's great news! Thanks!

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Just in time for your St. Patrick's Day gigs!

PDF Tunebook export can now generate "tune incipits" that consist of only the first line of each tune in the tune book.

The incipits can be in standard notation or any of the available tablatures.

Demo video:



Try the ABC Transcription Tools here:
http://michaeleskin.com/abc

User Guide:
http://michaeleskin.com/abctools/userguide.html

Edited by eskin
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If you need even more tunes on a page for the incipits, print the resulting PDF to another PDF and select 2 or 4 pages/page.

Example screenshot from a 2-up PDF:

https://flic.kr/p/2onHzBb

Example screenshot from a 4-up PDF:

https://flic.kr/p/2onHZtc

Again, these are the result of taking the PDF Tunebook with incipits my tool creates and then printing that PDF using either the browser’s own print feature (just drop the PDF on a tab) or from Adobe Acrobat or other PDF viewer.

Another new usability feature I just added, suggested by a power user after the incipits feature release, now if you click on the notation, the ABC for the tune will be scrolled into place in the ABC editor.

You might have to scroll a couple of lines up or down to get the full tune displayed, but it should either be right on or very, very close.

All autoscrolling features (click in ABC to autoscroll notation, click in notation to autoscroll ABC) are limited to desktop browsers.

Mobile onscreen keyboards and automatic text area activation and window resizing don't really play well with the autoscrolling system so I've disabled them on mobile. Sorry, it's non-negotiable. 🙂

In theory this should be a benign change. If anyone sees any bizarro behavior, please let me know. Looks good in my testing on Firefox, Chrome, and Safari.
 
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I improved the PDF save in the ABC tool for iOS and Android devices.
 
The default save routine in jsPDF used to replace the current tab with the PDF and people were confused what to do with it. Plus, if you did a browser back command you'd sometime lose your ABC work in-progress.
 
Now on mobile, the tool asks if you want to download it and then it ends up in your "Files" app downloads directory.
 
From there you can view the file right in Safari or do whatever you want with it, like export it to a PDF reader like GoodReader or share it.
 
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New Improved PDF Tunebook Incipits 23 Mar 2023

You can now get 4x as many tunes on each page when generating PDF Tunebooks with incipits

Demo Video

https://youtu.be/ik9ObQXlBLU

Example PDF tunebook with 386 reel incipits:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ib895e2qucntaxl/386_Reels_Incipits_Demo_23Mar2023.pdf?dl=0

Example PDF tunebook with 173 jig incipits:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hji3b83ixw46axu/173_Jigs_Incipits_Demo_23Mar2023.pdf?dl=0

Example PDF tunebook with 173 jig incipits:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hji3b83ixw46axu/173_Jigs_Incipits_Demo_23Mar2023.pdf?dl=0

Example PDF tunebook with 173 jig incipits (Whistle tab):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pc8fzsv8rhsqz5a/173_Jigs_Incipits_Demo_23Mar2023_Whistle.pdf?dl=0

Example PDF tunebook with 173 jig incipits (Mandolin tab):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ret9h0pqlpgamwc/173_Jigs_Incipits_Demo_23Mar2023_Mandolin.pdf?dl=0

Try my ABC Transcription Tools here:

http://michaeleskin.com/abc

User Guide:

http://michaeleskin.com/abctools/userguide.html

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