abc2mma

abc2mma is a Perl script that attempts to read ABC music notation containing chords and produces MMA output.I wrote this program to generate jazz backing tracks easily from ABC notation. I’m a classical guitarist currently trying to learn jazz. The variant of ABC I use is abcm2ps.

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Features

• Attempts to calculate the timings of the chord changes, instead of just extracting the chords from ABC files (which has been done long time ago by someone else).
• Midi files generated by abc2midi can be automatically included by the script in the final MMA output, via MMA’s MIDIinc command.
• MMA commands can be inserted directly in the ABC file using the command “%%X-MMA <mma command>”. Please see the included demo.abc for examples.
• Handles multi-song ABC files. Roll your own fakebook anyone? 🙂

Free for personal and non-commercial use.

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Download

Current version – abc2mma 0.51 beta (zip file)

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Usage

    abc2mma.pl <abcfile.abc | abcfile.txt> [options]

    output filename is in the form: <abcfile><N><suffix>.mma

  - default=<abcfile><N>_mma.mma
    - the _mma suffix is added to avoid name collision with
      abc2midi ouput
    - N is the song reference number (X:) in the ABC file

Options:

-o or -output=<mmafile>
    - output to <mmafile>.mma (overrides -songref and -suffix)
-songref=<yes|no>
    - sets whether to use the song reference number in outfile filename
      also affects the MIDI filename in the MIDIinc line
      (default=yes)
-suffix=<suffix>
    - appends suffix to filename (default=_mma)
-writefile=<yes|no>
    - generates file (overrides -outfile) (default=yes)
-includemidi=<yes|no>
    - inserts MIDIinc command to include <abcfile>.mid (default=yes)
-groove=<mma_groove>
    - sets Groove (default=Folk)
-swingmode=<yes|no>
    - sets SwingMode (default=yes)
-tempo=<t>
    - sets tempo (default=80);

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I insert MMA commands?
   
   Use “%%X-MMA <mma command>” to directly insert MMA commands at the appropriate sections in the file (note: must be on a separate line). Please refer to the included demo.abc for examples.
2. The included melody (from abc2midi) and the chords accompaniment are not aligned! The music has a pick-up measure.
   
   Insert the “BeatAdjust” MMA command with the appropriate number of beats to offset after the pick-up measure. Please refer to the included demo.abc for examples.
3. I get a run-time error with ABC files containing the “%%MIDI program” command.
   
   Please download the latest version of MMA.

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Notes / Disclaimers

• This is NOT a parser! I’m just using mostly string substitution to get the results I want. I’m too lazy to write a full abc parser. 😛
• I do not claim to handle all possible abc notation scenarios. There are features of abc notation which I don’t use, so I’m sure there are many cases which are broken.
• Finally, use at your own risk! I’m not responsible for any damages, blah blah… that may result from the use of this software.

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Change Log

• Version 0.5: 8 Apr 2006 – Beta release
• Version 0.51: 14 Apr 2006 – Fixed logical bug in compound time

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To Do

• Handling of parts
• Handling of voices and multiple staffs

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Contact

Send your comments, bugs, requests to: gek<remove this>siong AT <remove this – no spam!>yahoo DOT com

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abc2mma and the contents of this page are copyright (c) Gek S. Low, 2006