Thread: LotRO MIDI Player and MIDI to ABC converter

I created a program with some MIDI-related features for LotRO.

• Play MIDI songs in-game.
• Export MIDI songs into ABC files to share with others, or make multi-part versions of the original song to play with a group of friends.
• Connect an external MIDI piano as an alternative to using your computer keyboard.

Project Home Page | Run LotRO MIDI Player now

I recommend that you read through the info on the home page before using it for the first time.

Current version: 1.1.0.2 (June 8, 2008)
See version history | Discuss latest version

LotRO MIDI Player is open source under the MIT License.
View Source | Checkout instructions


The ABC export feature is still a work in progress. It's specifically designed to create ABC files that are usable by LotRO, and the files it generates shouldn't generate any errors in-game. Since the program has to quantize the note timing before converting to ABC, it can butcher rhythms in some songs.

The MIDI piano feature does essentially the same thing as MIDI2KEY (from what I can tell by reading the description of that program). However, no configuration files are needed -- LotRO MIDI player automatically reads your keyboard configuration from LotRO's settings file.

Use this thread for questions, comments, and any problems you have with the program.

Nice work!

Glad to see more people expanding on this system. I'm a musician myself, and love covering songs with my MIDI controller and exporting to ABC, but man - the errors I encounter are refunkindunkulous.

I can't wait to see the finished 'error free' exporter when it's done!

Neat idea, but I'm curious if this could be viewed as an illegal bot. The abc export feature is perfectly safe, but anything that controls the keyboard automatically could easily be put to nefarious uses. Walk with care down that road.

I haven't run it yet, but this looks great. I'd like to include links to it in the next version of LOMM (http://code.google.com/p/lomm/). The keyboard feature was on the board for LOMM 3.0, so I'm glad not to have to do it.

Any chance you can expose the source code? I don't want to go through the hassle of reversing the bytecode.

As for the botting question, macroing keyboards insert key strokes into the keyboard input chain in response to user feedback and are explicitly allowed to do so, even allowed to insert multiple actions (in the LOTRO FAQs). This is the defense for MIDI2KEY. LOMM and this program do exactly the same thing.

Originally Posted by xxbalialxx

I can't wait to see the finished 'error free' exporter when it's done!

Labeling the ABC exporter as a "work in progress" may not have been exactly correct. The way it works right now isn't perfect, but I don't see any way to make it better without making it significantly more complicated, or making it only work for certain MIDI files.

In order to convert a song to ABC, I need to quantize the note timings. The shortest note length allowed by LotRO is ~1/16th of a second, so that's the finest timing grid that I can use. In other words, each note must start on some exact multiple of 1/16th of a second (or whatever timing grid I use). The program checks a few possible timing grids between 1/8th and 1/16th of a second, to find the best one.

One of the biggest problems is with MIDI files that change tempo partway through the song, since I'm locked to a single timing grid for the entire song. Unless someone suggests a better method, this is as good as it gets for now .

Originally Posted by Northwoods

Neat idea, but I'm curious if this could be viewed as an illegal bot. The abc export feature is perfectly safe, but anything that controls the keyboard automatically could easily be put to nefarious uses. Walk with care down that road.

There are many easier ways to macro than creating a special MIDI file and using my program. It does not interface with LotRO beyond sending keypresses to the game, and there are any number of freely available macro programs that can do the same thing.

Originally Posted by xowl

Any chance you can expose the source code? I don't want to go through the hassle of reversing the bytecode.

Yeah, I'll probably release the source code eventually.

Has anyone used this? Any feedback at all?

I have tried this program, and I gotta tell you that I have not had any success with it, yet.
I have tried 6 different Midi files and I have not been able to get anything resembling a song to play. I keep getting "too many request" errors in the game. I will hear a "blast' of notes play, then "too many request" error, then another blast, then more "error". I have tried many differnt speed settings, from lowest to highest to everything in between with the same results.

I can play the files through my sound card and they sound fine. I also have saved as a ABC file, which is what I realy love about this program, with you being able to merge certain tracks, and although the files it produces play fine in game with no errors, what it plays sounds nothing like the song it should be.
I know u have had to set the timming a certain way, and I think this may be the problem I am haveing with the files I have tried.
Again I have only tried 6 differnt files, although 3 of them were very simple ones, but I will continue to test this program out. This is the type of program I have been waiting for and I really hope U continue to work on it.

Would you mind emailing me the MIDI files you tried? My email address is my forum name @gmail.com.

Of the four files you sent me, only one didn't really work: bigly.mid. That one has too many different tracks to play solo in LotRO.

The other three songs sounded fine to me, both played directly and exported to an ABC. It sounds like you might be lagging when you try to play the MIDI files directly.

Do you have a single- or dual-core CPU? I've only tested the program on a dual-core, and it may be that it won't work on a single-core. My program doesn't use too much of the CPU's time, but it does need consistent "attention" from the CPU. With only one CPU, LotRO may be "hogging" the processor and that could lead to symptoms you described: a delay, followed by a whole bunch of notes playing and causing the "Too many requests" error.

I've also experienced the symptoms you described when I'm playing in a crowded area. In that case, try going into first person and aiming the camera directly at the ground. That should reduce lag, though you won't be able to see all the people enjoying your music . Turning down graphics settings might also help.


As for the problems exporting to ABC, I'm kind of at a loss. When I exported the songs you sent me to ABC, all but bigly.mid sounded fine (again, that one has too many tracks). There shouldn't be any difference between my exported ABCs and yours. I'll email you the ABCs that I exported. Tell me if they sound the same as the ones you exported.

Yes my system is a single core, But it does run at 2.4 GHz. With 2 GB of ram. But that must be the problem when trying to play the songs "live".

As far as the exporting to ABC file, I must Appologize to you, I am able to get decent sounding songs from those files now, (altough the over the rainbow file I sent u was a differnt one that I originally tried.) But where I really messed up was when I tried to export, I tried to play the first few through the game, with no luck. They were bigly.mid and 2 others that still don't work. But after that I tried to play other files that I exported in my Mid2ABC program, and for some reason the file plays with breaks and other timming problems with that program, but played in game the files sound fine. Which has me a bit baffled, I had been using Mid2ABC for all my ABC file that I have created, merging the differnt voices by hand. Looking at the files that your program generates it seams to me that they would play fine in Mid2ABC also, but they don't.

This will be a very minor problem as far as I'm concerned, I can still edit with Mid2ABC, though I will have to test results only in game.

Again, sorry I was wrong about the export feature in your program, as I said in previous post, this is the type of program I had been waiting for someone to write. Not so much for the playing of midi files in game, but for the selection and merging of voices in midi file that can be exported to a ABC. Your program does that and very easily also.

It would also be fantastic if we can open a ABC file with it. As I said I use Mid2ABC, and what I usualy do is export a midi to where I take out tracks I don't want, like the drums, or other redundant instruments. I also transpose any notes that need to be chages to fit in with LOTRO music system. I then change the V: commands to the proper numbers and set all the instruments to a Nylon Guitar. then I play it through Mid2ABC to get a feel for how it will sound in game. If I like it I then Merge all the tracks, which by hand can take anywhere from 4 to 20 hours of work, depending on the size of the file and how many tracks. But if before that point I can bring this edited ABC file into your program, it would make things wonderfuly easier.

I'm still playing around with your program, and will let you know how things have been working out.

Thanks again!

I just downloaded your program tonight and I have to say it is pretty useful for the exporting feature. I can use it to quickly merge tracks together and throw together some quick solo songs. The midi into game feature didn't work too well as durinsbane said, but that may be because my computer is not fast enough to process it, but the export feature...its a time saver.

I'm going to be working with the program more to see if making separate track files works well as separate instruments, I already tried a song with HP and it sounded good, maybe just a little tweaking here and there.

Some songs I exported gave an error here and there, something about unexpected tokens, but it was easily removed, it was an extra ] in the files, if that makes sense. Some songs when you do put them together they lag a bit, especially with songs that have a lot of different instruments.

There is one thing I am amazed at, and that is the ability to play Lotro sounds in the background while being tabbed out (I believe I posted about this in the Audio forums with no response), but sadly it only works when trying to play midis. Maybe stick in an option to always keep the music running in the background

Good work though! I think this program has lots of potential.

Originally Posted by Pyroluna

I'm going to be working with the program more to see if making separate track files works well as separate instruments, I already tried a song with HP and it sounded good, maybe just a little tweaking here and there.

Some songs when you do put them together they lag a bit, especially with songs that have a lot of different instruments.

I played around with multi-part ABCs a bit before I released it, and it seemed to work well for most songs. However, I couldn't test it too much, since it relies on convincing kinmates to be my guinea pigs . Since then I've found a few songs where the different parts seem to go "out of sync". Theoretically the parts shouldn't go out of sync, unless I've made some incorrect assumptions about how the LotRO ABC system works, so I'm not sure how to go about fixing it... I'd imagine it's a problem with the ABC's my program generates and not actual in-game lag, since lots of people have been playing multi-part ABCs without this problem. I'll look into improving this in the future, but I can't make any guarantees.

Some songs may appear to lag due to the quantization of note timings (rounding the note's timing to the closest beat). For example, if one note "a" is supposed to be played just under halfway between two beats, and the next note "b" is just over halfway between the next two beats, the perceived time between "a" and "b" will be about twice what it should be.

Here's an illustration if it helps: [] are the beats and ...... is the time between the beats:
Before quantization: []...a....[]....b...[]
After quantization: [a]........[]........[b]

Or perhaps worse: []...ab...[] => [a]........[b]

All of that said... each of the ABCs for different parts of the same song are quantized in exactly the same way, so all of the parts should technically have this perceived lag at the same time and they shouldn't go out of sync.

Originally Posted by Pyroluna

Some songs I exported gave an error here and there, something about unexpected tokens, but it was easily removed, it was an extra ] in the files, if that makes sense.

I think I found what caused this, and it should be fixed in the next update.

Originally Posted by Pyroluna

There is one thing I am amazed at, and that is the ability to play Lotro sounds in the background while being tabbed out (I believe I posted about this in the Audio forums with no response), but sadly it only works when trying to play midis. Maybe stick in an option to always keep the music running in the background

I'm able to play the LotRO sound when the window isn't focused by "fooling" the game into thinking that it is actually the foreground window. Basically, I send it the same notification that Windows does when you activate the window. When you use the "Type text in the game" textbox, it also sends the focus message. So if you want to play LotRO sounds in the background, just click Send with an empty message. However, you'll have to do that each time after the LotRO window loses focus.

The easiest way for me to add the option to always play LotRO sounds in the background is by spamming the window with focus messages when it's not actually the foreground window. I'll see about adding that to the next update.

Originally Posted by Digero

So if you want to play LotRO sounds in the background, just click Send with an empty message. However, you'll have to do that each time after the LotRO window loses focus.

That is perfect! Not only do I use this when I am making music, I also use it when I'm baking pies!

Ooh pies! For me?

This is actually very handy - now if you would make the drum part work - it would be great - then i wouldnt have to edit the drum file quite so heavily

Some food for thought after playing with this a bit.
Default output in abc seems to be q=120 and l=1/4. The converted file has alot of partial notes that are very hard to read since the fraction denominator is always reduced to LCD.
Things would make the files more editor friendly.

Use L=1/64 and convert all the notes to whole numbers. Even 1/16 would make things more readable. I suggest 1/64 only because it is the smallest quantity Anvil uses to represent a note fraction.

Bar the end of a full count of 64 notes or whatever is closest to create something equivalent to real measures. Not sure how useful this would ultimately be but at least in initially comapring files it has some use. Might need more thought on that.

Thought on your drums.
The durm files you creat are pretty much fine except for all the rests that are extranaeous and the fact that the mapping is to midi instead of the weird lotro map. I think all that would be required to make a lot of drum files useable or at least useable with minor editing would be to use a map to convert the drums to lotro equivalents - which someone already has posted in the forums here and to eliminate all the rests (ie z whatever).

It does a nice job playing in game provided you are judicious in selecitng tracks from the midi except for files which have a lot of short notes and those which have all their info in one track. It is a handy tool for converting files which fit have a minimal number of notes exceeding 1/16 - the farther you get from that - the more the gridding hurts the result.

I'd like to give this program a shot, but, uh...currently my Java Web Start coughs up an error when I try to download it, and since (as far as I know) there's no other way to download/open those file types (and no other-site mirror)...would it be possible to have this uploaded as a torrent or something? :/

Originally Posted by rain_in_winter

Some food for thought after playing with this a bit.
Default output in abc seems to be q=120 and l=1/4. The converted file has alot of partial notes that are very hard to read since the fraction denominator is always reduced to LCD.
Things would make the files more editor friendly.

Use L=1/64 and convert all the notes to whole numbers. Even 1/16 would make things more readable. I suggest 1/64 only because it is the smallest quantity Anvil uses to represent a note fraction.

Bar the end of a full count of 64 notes or whatever is closest to create something equivalent to real measures. Not sure how useful this would ultimately be but at least in initially comapring files it has some use. Might need more thought on that.

It chooses a tempo (Q) that minimizes the average amount that it has to shift each note to fit to the grid. It tends to choose 120 when nothing else works well, since that represents the smallest grid size.

I never really intended to create human-readable files. Increasing the default note length or just not lowering the fractions to lowest terms might make it easier to compare note lengths, but ultimately most converted files will be a big mess of notes. For bar lines, some notes would extend across bar lines, which would mean I'd either have to put the bar line in the wrong place or just skip it. Either would be incorrect and might be worse than not adding the bar lines at all. I'm honestly not too familiar with ABC notation-- is there a way to tie notes across a bar line (even if that note is part of a chord)?

Originally Posted by rain_in_winter

Thought on your drums.
The durm files you creat are pretty much fine except for all the rests that are extranaeous and the fact that the mapping is to midi instead of the weird lotro map. I think all that would be required to make a lot of drum files useable or at least useable with minor editing would be to use a map to convert the drums to lotro equivalents - which someone already has posted in the forums here and to eliminate all the rests (ie z whatever).

I'm not sure what you mean that the rests aren't needed in the drum files? The rests keep the timing correct.

Do you have a link to the MIDI->LotRO drum mapping? That was the big thing that was slowing me down for supporting drums.

Originally Posted by untyr

I'd like to give this program a shot, but, uh...currently my Java Web Start coughs up an error when I try to download it, and since (as far as I know) there's no other way to download/open those file types (and no other-site mirror)...would it be possible to have this uploaded as a torrent or something? :/

The easiest thing would be to make Java Web Start work properly. What's the error you're getting?

You can download the program directly but it's kind of a pain, and it won't be automatically updated when I upload a new version. If you want to download it directly:

1. Create a new folder where you want to "install" it (like C:\Program Files\LotRO MIDI Player).
2. Download lotromusic.jar, JavaWinApi.dll, and lotromusic.ico, and put them in the folder you created.
3. On the desktop, right click, choose New > Shortcut. For the location type:
   Code:

   javaw -cp lotromusic.jar com.digero.lotromusic.LotroMusicMain

4. For the name type LotRO MIDI Player.
5. Right click on the shortcut and choose properties. Change "Start in" to the folder you created earlier.
6. Click Change Icon and choose the icon file you downloaded.

I'm not sure what you mean that the rests aren't needed in the drum files? The rests keep the timing correct.

Do you have a link to the MIDI->LotRO drum mapping? That was the big thing that was slowing me down for supporting drums.

I dont have the link but heres the map that was done. Lotro drums are very limited but this map at least puts things in more or less the right type of sound given there are no correspondents for many of the midi sounds.

Regarding the timing:
Drum files are not played like other files in abc.
The codes do not represent notes they represent a particular sound.
e.g. say A is a bass drumbeat
Normally a drum pattern is represented in say 16 parts to a bar
It would look something like
[ABC]A[AB]A[ABC]AAA[ABC]A[AB]A[ABC]AAA
A B and C are played on the 1 5 9 13 subdivision of the bar.
A is played every 1/16
When you look at this code in a sequencer it looks somethign like a piano keyboard turned sideways
A xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx
B x x
C x x x x
D
E
F
etc

Your converter is inserting rests between all the B's and C's or something to that effect. If you look at midi file drum track in Anvil Studio and go to piano roll you will see what i mean.
The actual ABC code would be the line I typed above. The only time a rest is needed is if the entire piano roll has no percussion sound on that beat.
As in [ABC]AzA[ABC]. Otherwise its basically a matter of running down the piano roll and looking at it as a series of check boxes. Pick the note if the check is there otherwise its off. And of course you limited to 6 components in a percussion sound because they are treated as chords.

The map is not my work I think it was Branderic from the Mighty Mighty Breetones who created it.

Code:

drums.chg (maps MIDI drums to LOTRO drums)
If you make changes to this file please post them to this forum for others to share! Thanks!
Code:
30 => 63
98 => 73
35 => 62 ; low bass (B)
36 => 73
37 => 56 ; (C#)
38 => 78 ; low snare (D)
39 => 49
40 => 52 ; high snare (E)
41 => 61 ; bass (F)
42 => 52 ; low tom (F#)
43 => 70
44 => 54 ; short shake
45 => 62 ; bass (A)
46 => 56 ; long shake
47 => 68
48 => 64
49 => 49
50 => 66
51 => 49
52 => 49
53 => 49
54 => 69 ; jingle
55 => 49
56 => 65
57 => 49
58 => 49
59 => 49
60 => 48
61 => 50
62 => 52
63 => 53
64 => 53
65 => 48
66 => 50
67 => 63
68 => 65
69 => 69
70 => 56
71 => 63
72 => 65
73 => 49
74 => 54
75 => 63
76 => 63
77 => 65
78 => 63
79 => 65
80 => 63
81 => 80

Hope this helps and thanks for the work

Regarding the bar lines:
That was just an idea for making the files more readable - lotro doesnt pay any attention but it breaks things up for folks to read is all and is something that would be useful if you were to expand that aspect of the program.

One other comment - the files wouldnt necessarily be a big jumble of notes - if you are looking at one track at time or one or two tracks combined. As to the whole mish mash stuck into one conversion yes thats another matter. People breaking the midi's apart tho normally are looking to do a song in 2 - 6 bits for group play in game. Perhaps in that context you can see what i was getting at. The only way to do that with your converted files is to break it into bars and reconstruct the song because your timings are different for every extraction combination generally speaking. Its a complex issue anyways - not easily resolved - and not what you were working towards in any case

Originally Posted by Digero

I'm honestly not too familiar with ABC notation-- is there a way to tie notes across a bar line (even if that note is part of a chord)?

Just a quick answer to this, The Tie command in ABC notation "-" works at any point in the file. You can have a tie in a chord for any or all of the notes in the chord. you can tie accross bar lines, doesnt matter. ABC notation is simply looking for the same note on the next beat.

GF GA [B,A][D2-^G2][DG]|E2 cA Bc2A-|[EA-][EA] cB- [A,B]A- [B,A][D,F-]|[F,F]c- [D,c]B- [D,B][D,A-] [F,A][E,-G-]|

[E,8G8]|

Reading how your program works, I don't think you can put the bar line in the output of the file. Your program I think combines tied note that go over bar lines into one chord or bracketed notes if it can.

[D,F-]|[F,F]

this it may write like this I think

[D,F2]F,

I may have gotten this wrong, but if this is the case, trying to add bar lines could be a big problem.

Also, let me tell you, after usiing the program for a bit now, I can't thank you enough for makeing a simple to use track merge. It won't do all the differnt types of music out there, (like triplets) but it does a very good job with the majority of midi's on the web.

I did find a funny thing, and it may just be that I am not understanding what your program is telling me. But I have transposed midi files using midtoabc, and cleaned them up so I have the voices that I want to merge, and have all the notes in the range of LOTRO system, I then save the file as a midi. I then use your program to merge tracks, but your program auto transposes the file to what I think it is telling me will play in LOTRO. ie. last song I tried was transposed lower by 11 (-11) I saved it this way, but then raised it back up to "0" It told me that there were 120 notes out of range, but I saved anyway, under differnt name from previuos one.
Both files played fine, with one being played at the higher scale. I have had this occur with many of the files I work with.
Am I not understanding what the program is telling me?
It is not a problem, just wondering.

Thanks again

Thanks a million...program works great.

Very simple and saves much cutting and pasting.

Now those of us with no musical experience can have characters who do.

This is a wonderful program, I use it in conjunction with Anvil Studio and Mid2ABC and it's fairly painless. I never use the "midi to game" bit, but the exporting feature works well.

One thing I don't really understand is the "transposing" options though. Since the instruments have different ranges, why doesn't the "notes out of range" count change when the instrument is changed and the number of steps stays the same?

For a complete beginner this has been a wonderful wonderful program to use. I had a midi file that wouldn't work in mid2abc, and it works beautifully with your program, plus it's much more friendly. Thank you so much!

Now if only we had a program that could allow us to line up multiple ABC's and test their sync by reproducing the sounds made by each note of the instrument in-game. It'd be nice to be able to test out all these parts and make changes without wasting ppl's time in-game.

Originally Posted by durinsbane

Just a quick answer to this, The Tie command in ABC notation "-" works at any point in the file. You can have a tie in a chord for any or all of the notes in the chord. you can tie accross bar lines, doesnt matter. ABC notation is simply looking for the same note on the next beat.

GF GA [B,A][D2-^G2][DG]|E2 cA Bc2A-|[EA-][EA] cB- [A,B]A- [B,A][D,F-]|[F,F]c- [D,c]B- [D,B][D,A-] [F,A][E,-G-]|

[E,8G8]|

Reading how your program works, I don't think you can put the bar line in the output of the file. Your program I think combines tied note that go over bar lines into one chord or bracketed notes if it can.

[D,F-]|[F,F]

this it may write like this I think

[D,F2]F,

I may have gotten this wrong, but if this is the case, trying to add bar lines could be a big problem.

That makes sense, thanks. My program currently does combine the notes into a chord like you mentioned, but it should be possible to split the notes that extend across a bar line.

Originally Posted by durinsbane

Also, let me tell you, after usiing the program for a bit now, I can't thank you enough for makeing a simple to use track merge. It won't do all the differnt types of music out there, (like triplets) but it does a very good job with the majority of midi's on the web.

I did find a funny thing, and it may just be that I am not understanding what your program is telling me. But I have transposed midi files using midtoabc, and cleaned them up so I have the voices that I want to merge, and have all the notes in the range of LOTRO system, I then save the file as a midi. I then use your program to merge tracks, but your program auto transposes the file to what I think it is telling me will play in LOTRO. ie. last song I tried was transposed lower by 11 (-11) I saved it this way, but then raised it back up to "0" It told me that there were 120 notes out of range, but I saved anyway, under differnt name from previuos one.
Both files played fine, with one being played at the higher scale. I have had this occur with many of the files I work with.
Am I not understanding what the program is telling me?
It is not a problem, just wondering.

Thanks again

It sounds like either MidiToAbc or my program is an octave off. If my program tells you to transpose it down by 11, then that will probably sound better than leaving it at 0 (you might want to transpose down by a full octave though: -12).

Originally Posted by Nyneve

This is a wonderful program, I use it in conjunction with Anvil Studio and Mid2ABC and it's fairly painless. I never use the "midi to game" bit, but the exporting feature works well.

One thing I don't really understand is the "transposing" options though. Since the instruments have different ranges, why doesn't the "notes out of range" count change when the instrument is changed and the number of steps stays the same?

Hey Nyneve - are you the Nyneve from VN/former CoHVault SM? Anyways, hi! To answer your question, the notes out of range will only change if you choose either a horn or clarinet and there's at least one note that would make the "breath" sound. It doesn't take into account instruments that are an octave higher (flute) or lower (theorbo) than normal. Since LotRO treats a flute's C3 the same as a theorbo's C3 even though they're two octaves apart, I figured I'd do the same in my program. In short, the instrument only matters for the clarinet or horn. I added the other instruments in so that people wouldn't wonder why a certain instrument wasn't listed and get worried that it wouldn't work .

Originally Posted by Bob

For a complete beginner this has been a wonderful wonderful program to use. I had a midi file that wouldn't work in mid2abc, and it works beautifully with your program, plus it's much more friendly. Thank you so much!

Now if only we had a program that could allow us to line up multiple ABC's and test their sync by reproducing the sounds made by each note of the instrument in-game. It'd be nice to be able to test out all these parts and make changes without wasting ppl's time in-game.

It was my intention that exported ABCs for different parts of the same song would line up. It seems that's not always the case and at this point I'm not really sure why. Perhaps adding bar lines will shed some light on the reason, but for now I'm a little baffled.

Originally Posted by Digero

It was my intention that exported ABCs for different parts of the same song would line up. It seems that's not always the case and at this point I'm not really sure why. Perhaps adding bar lines will shed some light on the reason, but for now I'm a little baffled.

I think its because when it combines the "parts" it applies a different quantization each time it is done. The best quant for each "part" is slightly different resulting in small shifts in timing for any individual section but which have a cumulative effect and result in a cacaphony before too long.

Originally Posted by rain_in_winter

I think its because when it combines the "parts" it applies a different quantization each time it is done. The best quant for each "part" is slightly different resulting in small shifts in timing for any individual section but which have a cumulative effect and result in a cacaphony before too long.

I intentionally include all parts together when choosing which tempo (quantization grid) to use, so that all exported parts of the song share the same tempo. I then round the notes for the selected track(s) to the nearest grid unit. All of the note timings are stored as absolute time indexes (rather than the elapsed time from the last note) until I write out the ABC notation, so there "technically" shouldn't be any cumulative errors up to that point.

I'm going to upload the code to GoogleCode soon, so other people can take a look at the algorithm, and maybe catch something I missed. Unfortunately the code isn't too pretty.. I wrote the MIDI->ABC converter in one night

Originally Posted by rain_in_winter

Regarding the timing:
Drum files are not played like other files in abc.
The codes do not represent notes they represent a particular sound.
e.g. say A is a bass drumbeat
Normally a drum pattern is represented in say 16 parts to a bar
It would look something like
[ABC]A[AB]A[ABC]AAA[ABC]A[AB]A[ABC]AAA
A B and C are played on the 1 5 9 13 subdivision of the bar.
A is played every 1/16
When you look at this code in a sequencer it looks somethign like a piano keyboard turned sideways
A xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx
B x x
C x x x x
D
E
F
etc

Your converter is inserting rests between all the B's and C's or something to that effect. If you look at midi file drum track in Anvil Studio and go to piano roll you will see what i mean.
The actual ABC code would be the line I typed above. The only time a rest is needed is if the entire piano roll has no percussion sound on that beat.
As in [ABC]AzA[ABC]. Otherwise its basically a matter of running down the piano roll and looking at it as a series of check boxes. Pick the note if the check is there otherwise its off. And of course you limited to 6 components in a percussion sound because they are treated as chords.

I was just rereading this and I'm not seeing a difference between the drum notation and regular instrument notation? I know that the notes correspond to different drum sounds, but I'm not sure how the notation is any different from what I'd write for a lute.

One difference I could see would be that my program might write something like this (for example):
A/2 z/2 B/2 z/2 [A/2B/2] z/2
Instead of:
A B [AB]

The difference being that each "note" is half the length, with a rest to fill up the space between beats. As far as I know, that shouldn't have any effect on the timing, or how a drum sounds in lotro.

Maybe it would help if you gave me a more concrete example of what my program actually outputs and what it should output.

I thought I'd throw this up to you:

Sometimes when making ABCs you get extra brackets added in by the rests, which makes the ABC unplayable until you find and edit the problem by hand. If it happens it's usually only once in an abc....but, well...

Code:

C/2 G/2 c/2 C/4 d/2 d/4 c/4 C/4 C/4 G/4 A/4 c/4 C/2 G/2 c/2 C/4 G/4
C/4 c/4 C/4 d/2 g/8 e3/8 c/4 C/2 G/2 c/2 C/4 d3/4 c/4 C/4 C/4 G/4 A/4
c/4 C/2 G/2 c/2 C/4 G/4 C/4 G/4 ^A,/2 F/4 ^A,3/4 C/2 G/2 c/2 C/4 d3/4
c/4 C/4 C/4 G/4 A/4 c/4 C/2 G/2 c/2 C/4 G/4 C/4 G/4 C/4 d/2 g/8 e/8
d/4 c/4 C/2 G/2 c/2 C/4 d3/4 c/4 C/4 C/4 G/4 A/4 c/4 C/2 C/2
[C/2G/2c/2e/2] ] z/4 [C/4G/4c/4e/4] [C/4G/4c/4e/4] ] z/4
[C/2G/2c/2e/2] [C/4G/4c/4e/4] [C/4G/4c/4e/4] [C/2G/2c/2e/2]
[^G,/2^D/2^G/2c/2^d/2^g/2] ] z/4 [^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^G/2c/2^d/2] ]
z/4 ] z/4 [^D3/4^A3/4^d3/4=g3/4] ] z/4 [^D/2^A/2^d/2g/2^a/2]
[^D/4^A/4^d/4] ] z/4 [F3/4c3/4f3/4] ] z/4 ] z/2 [F2c2f2^g2c'2] ] z/4
] z/4 [F/2c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/4 [^C/4c/4f/4^g/4c'/4] [c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/4 ]
z/4 [^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4]
[^D/4^G/4c/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4]
[^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4] ] z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4=g/4] z/4
[^D/4^A/4^d/4] [^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4] z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4] [^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4]
z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4] [^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4] z/4 ] z/4 [^D/4^G/4^c/4]
[^A,/2F/2^G/2^c/2f/2^a/2] [^A,F^G^cf^a] [^G,/2^D/2^G/2=c/2^d/2^g/2] ]
z/4 [^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^G/2c/2^d/2] ] z/4 ] z/4
[^D3/4^A3/4^d3/4=g3/4] ] z/4 [^D/2^A/2^d/2g/2^a/2] [^D/4^A/4^d/4] ]
z/4 [F3/4c3/4f3/4] ] z/4 ] z/2 [F2c2f2^g2c'2] ] z/4 ] z/4
[F/2c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/4 [^C/4c/4f/4^g/4c'/4] [c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/4 ] z/4
[^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4]
[^D/4^G/4c/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4]
[^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4] ] z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4=g/4] z/4 ]
z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4] z/4 ] z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4] z/4 ] z/4
[^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4] z/4 ] z/4 [^D/4^G/4^c/4] [^A,/2F/2^G/2^c/2f/2^a/2]
[^A,7/8F7/8^G7/8^c7/8f7/8^a7/8] z93/8 z93/8 z71/8
[^G,/2^D/2^G/2=c/2^d/2^g/2] ] z/4 [^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^G/2c/2^d/2] ]
z/4 ] z/4 [^D3/4^A3/4^d3/4=g3/4] ] z/4 [^D/2^A/2^d/2g/2^a/2]
[^D/4^A/4^d/4] ] z/4 [F3/4c3/4f3/4] ] z/4 ] z/2 [F2c2f2^g2c'2] ] z/4
] z/4 [F/2c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/4 [^C/4c/4f/4^g/4c'/4] [c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/4 ]
z/4 [^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4]
[^D/4^G/4c/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4]
[^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4] ] z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4=g/4] z/4
[^D/4^A/4^d/4] [^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4] z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4] [^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4]
z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4] [^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4] z/4 ] z/4 [^D/4^G/4^c/4]
[^A,/2F/2^G/2^c/2f/2^a/2] [^A,F^G^cf^a] [^G,/2^D/2^G/2=c/2^d/2^g/2] ]
z/4 [^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^G/2c/2^d/2] ] z/4 ] z/4
[^D3/4^A3/4^d3/4=g3/4] ] z/4 [^D/2^A/2^d/2g/2^a/2] [^D/4^A/4^d/4] ]
z/4 [F3/4c3/4f3/4] ] z/4 ] z/2 [F2c2f2^g2c'2] ] z/4 ] z/4
[F/2c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/4 [^C/4c/4f/4^g/4c'/4] [c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/4 ] z/4
[^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4]
[^D/4^G/4c/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4]
[^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4] ] z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4=g/4] z/4 ]
z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4] z/4 ] z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4] z/4 ] z/4
[^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4] z/4 ] z/4 [^D/4^G/4^c/4] [^A,/2F/2^G/2^c/2f/2^a/2]
[^A,F^G^cf^a] z93/8 z93/8 z93/8 z93/8 z93/8 z93/8 z93/8 z93/8 z93/8
z93/8 z93/8 z93/8 z93/8 z93/8 z93/8 z93/8 z6
[^G,/2^D/2^G/2=c/2^d/2^g/2] ] z/4 [^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^G/2c/2^d/2] ]
z/4 ] z/4 [^D3/4^A3/4^d3/4=g3/4] ] z/4 [^D/2^A/2^d/2g/2^a/2]
[^D/4^A/4^d/4] ] z/4 [F3/4c3/4f3/4] ] z/4 ] z/2 [F2c2f2^g2c'2] ] z/4
] z/4 [F/2c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/4 [^C/4c/4f/4^g/4c'/4] [c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/4 ]
z/4 [^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4]
[^D/4^G/4c/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4]
[^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4] ] z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4=g/4] z/4
[^D/4^A/4^d/4] [^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4] z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4] [^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4]
z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4] [^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4] z/4 ] z/4 [^D/4^G/4^c/4]
[^A,/2F/2^G/2^c/2f/2^a/2] [^A,F^G^cf^a] [^G,/2^D/2^G/2=c/2^d/2^g/2] ]
z/4 [^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^G/2c/2^d/2] ] z/4 ] z/4
[^D3/4^A3/4^d3/4=g3/4] ] z/4 [^D/2^A/2^d/2g/2^a/2] [^D/4^A/4^d/4] ]
z/4 [F3/4c3/4f3/4] ] z/4 ] z/2 [F2c2f2^g2c'2] ] z/4 ] z/4
[F/2c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/4 [^C/4c/4f/4^g/4c'/4] [c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/4 ] z/4
[^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4]
[^D/4^G/4c/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4]
[^D/4^G/4c/4^d/4^g/4] [^D/4^G/4c/4] ] z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4=g/4] z/4 ]
z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4] z/4 ] z/4 [^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4] z/4 ] z/4
[^D/4^A/4^d/4g/4] z/4 ] z/4 [^D/4^G/4^c/4] [^A,/2F/2^G/2^c/2f/2^a/2]
[^A,F^G^cf^a] [^G/2^d/2^g/2c'/2] ] z/4 [^d/4^g/4c'/4] [^d/2^g/2c'/2]
[^G/4^d/4] [^G/4^d/4^g/4c'/4] z/4 ] z/4 [^G/4^d/4^g/4c'/4]
[^G/2^d/2^g/2c'/2] [^G/2^d/2] [^G/2^d/2^g/2c'/2] [^A/2^d/2=g/2^a/2] ]
z/4 [^d/4g/4^a/4] [^d/2g/2^a/2] [^A/4^d/4] [^A/4^d/4g/4^a/4] ] z/4
[^A/4^d/4g/4^a/4] [^A/2^d/2g/2^a/2] [^A/2^d/2] [^A/2^d/2g/2^a/2]
[F/2=c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/4 [c/4f/4^g/4=g/4] [c/2f/2^g/2] [F/4c/4]
[F/4c/4f/4^g/4] z/4 ] z/4 [F/4c/4f/4^g/4=g/4] [F/2c/2f/2^g/2=g/2]
[F/2c/2] [F/2c/2f/2^g/2=g/2] [^G/2^c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/4
[^c/4f/4^g/4=g/4] [^c/2f/2^g/2] [^G/4^c/4] [^G/4^c/4f/4^g/4] z/4 ]
z/4 [^G/4^c/4f/4^g/4=g/4] [^G/2^c/2f/2^g/2=g/2] [^G/2^c/2]
[^G/2^c/2f/2^g/2=g/2] [^G/2^d/2^g/2c'/2] ] z/4 [^d/4^g/4c'/4]
[^d/2^g/2c'/2] [^G/4^d/4] [^G/4^d/4^g/4c'/4] z/4 ] z/4
[^G/4^d/4^g/4c'/4] [^G/2^d/2^g/2c'/2] [^G/2^d/2] [^G/2^d/2^g/2c'/2]
[^A/2^d/2=g/2^a/2] ] z/4 [^d/4g/4^a/4] [^d/2g/2^a/2] [^A/4^d/4]
[^A/4^d/4g/4^a/4] ] z/4 [^A/4^d/4g/4^a/4] [^A/2^d/2g/2^a/2]
[^A/2^d/2] [^A/2^d/2g/2^a/2] [=c/2f/2^g/2] z/2 [c/2f/2^g/2] z/2
[c/2f/2^g/2] [c/2f/2^g/2] z/2 [c/2f/2^g/2] [c/2f/2^g/2] z/2
[c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/2 [c/2f/2^g/2] [cf=g] [^c2f2^g2] z/2
[^G/2^d/2^g/2c'/2] ] z/4 [^d/4^g/4c'/4] [^d/2^g/2c'/2] [^G/4^d/4]
[^G/4^d/4^g/4c'/4] z/4 ] z/4 [^G/4^d/4^g/4c'/4] [^G/2^d/2^g/2c'/2]
[^G/2^d/2] [^G/2^d/2^g/2c'/2] [^A/2^d/2=g/2^a/2] ] z/4 [^d/4g/4^a/4]
[^d/2g/2^a/2] [^A/4^d/4] [^A/4^d/4g/4^a/4] ] z/4 [^A/4^d/4g/4^a/4]
[^A/2^d/2g/2^a/2] [^A/2^d/2] [^A/2^d/2g/2^a/2] [F/2=c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/4
[c/4f/4^g/4=g/4] [c/2f/2^g/2] [F/4c/4] [F/4c/4f/4^g/4] z/4 ] z/4
[F/4c/4f/4^g/4=g/4] [F/2c/2f/2^g/2=g/2] [F/2c/2] [F/2c/2f/2^g/2=g/2]
[^G/2^c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/4 [^c/4f/4^g/4=g/4] [^c/2f/2^g/2] [^G/4^c/4]
[^G/4^c/4f/4^g/4] z/4 ] z/4 [^G/4^c/4f/4^g/4=g/4]
[^G/2^c/2f/2^g/2=g/2] [^G/2^c/2] [^G/2^c/2f/2^g/2=g/2]
[^G/2^d/2^g/2c'/2] ] z/4 [^d/4^g/4c'/4] [^d/2^g/2c'/2] [^G/4^d/4]
[^G/4^d/4^g/4c'/4] z/4 ] z/4 [^G/4^d/4^g/4c'/4] [^G/2^d/2^g/2c'/2]
[^G/2^d/2] [^G/2^d/2^g/2c'/2] [^A/2^d/2=g/2^a/2] ] z/4 [^d/4g/4^a/4]
[^d/2g/2^a/2] [^A/4^d/4] [^A/4^d/4g/4^a/4] ] z/4 [^A/4^d/4g/4^a/4]
[^A/2^d/2g/2^a/2] [^A/2^d/2] [^A/2^d/2g/2^a/2] [=c/2f/2^g/2] z/2
[c/2f/2^g/2] z/2 [c/2f/2^g/2] [c/2f/2^g/2] z/2 [c/2f/2^g/2]
[c/2f/2^g/2] z/2 [c/2f/2^g/2] ] z/2 [c/2f/2^g/2] [cf=g] [^c2f2^g2]

A nice program overall, sad to say I probably won't use it that much. I still prefer the ability to strip songs as I see fit in Anvil Studios then convert them with Midi2ABC.

I haven't enountered too much in the way of problems using Anvil Studios, and not really gonna change unless I do. :/ Just my opinion coming from an old school LOTRO player (Pre-ABC format)

Fantastic! Someone is considerably less lazy than I appear to be. ;-) Great work on this Digero, I think you accomplished a lot of what I had on my wishlist.

I've put the code on GoogleCode. You can get instructions for checking it out here:
http://code.google.com/p/lotromidipl...ource/checkout

If you want to take a look at the MIDI to ABC conversion code, you can browse it online here:
http://code.google.com/p/lotromidipl...otromusic/abc/

I just found this through the link in Digero's signature and, I just have to say, it friggin' rocks. Everyone should download it and send him loosely folded wads of cash, which he can spend on the flocks of supermodels that I assume must hang on him day and night.

That's how awesome this is.

Glad People are giving him the credit he deserves!

This program is very good, it won't convert all the songs you may want to use it on correctly, so it won't put hand transcribers out of buisness, but it will do a great many song very very well!

Originally Posted by durinsbane

Glad People are giving him the credit he deserves!

This program is very good, it won't convert all the songs you may want to use it on correctly, so it won't put hand transcribers out of buisness, but it will do a great many song very very well!

Indeed, this program is phenomenal.

I've released a minor update: 1.1.0.1. Unfortunately it doesn't add drum support or fix the synchronization problems - I haven't had too much time to work on it. It should automatically update the next time you run the program (you can check the version under Help > About). Let me know if it doesn't.

Here's what's new:

• Export to ABC respects the currently selected instrument's lowest-playable note.
• Export to ABC now shouldn't allow chords with more than 6 notes.
• Fixed the occasional "unexpected token" error in some exported ABC files.
• The name of the exported ABC file saves on a per-song basis.
• Added an "Always play game sound in background" option. With this enabled, LotRO will always think it's the active window, even if another window has focus. Note: this option will cause your computer to feel sluggish when LotRO is running in the background.
• The program now attempts to use the key mapping without Ctrl/Alt modifiers if there is an option.
• Fixed a bug when playing simultaneous notes with Ctrl/Alt modifiers that would cause the wrong note to be played.
• Added accelerator keys to Open a MIDI file (Ctrl+O) and Export to ABC (Ctrl+S)

I also added a PayPal donation button at the bottom of the page. Donations certainly aren't required or expected but I just figured I'd leave the option open.

Has there been any official word on whether use of this to play in game is regarded as a bot or not?

Originally Posted by Lichbane

Has there been any official word on whether use of this to play in game is regarded as a bot or not?

Nothing official has been posted here so far as I can tell, but looking back on old bot discussions, the general rule of, "If you're at your keyboard and can respond to a GM, you're OK," probably applies. No different than running a macro on a G15 keyboard, for example. Just don't set the system to play a two hour long piece and then go for a nap.

Originally Posted by Northwoods

Nothing official has been posted here so far as I can tell, but looking back on old bot discussions, the general rule of, "If you're at your keyboard and can respond to a GM, you're OK," probably applies. No different than running a macro on a G15 keyboard, for example. Just don't set the system to play a two hour long piece and then go for a nap.

LOL ... Fair enough then.

Digero:

I get a Launch File Error when I try to run the Java app.

The error message is as follows:

"An error occurred while launching\running the application.

Title: LorRO MIDI Player
Vendor: Digero
Category: Launch File Error

Unsupported JNLP version in launch file: 1.6+. Only versions 1.0 and 1.5 are supported with this version. Please contact the application vendor to report this problem."


Any suggestions?


Thanks