Thread: The ABCs of Player Music Sharing

Originally Posted by roballan

oK So I'm new to this and have some questions.

The first thing is that I tried to delve into ABC notation by converting midis because I figured I would understand it more quickly that way. This seems to have worked, but I have noticed that things annotated as such:

C,,D

don't play because ",," produces the "note too low" error. Easy enough to change the ,, to something else but I'm not really sure what I should be changing it to? Any thoughts would be appreciated because I'm not sure what the "," is doing.

Thanks

The C,, is the note C two octaves below middle C.

C,, D,, E,, F,, G,, A,, B,, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C D E F G A B c d e f g a b c' d' e' f' g' a' b' c'' etc.

The range in orange is what's supported.

Why aren't the rest supported?

Originally Posted by Northwoods

The C,, is the note C two octaves below middle C.

C,, D,, E,, F,, G,, A,, B,, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C D E F G A B c d e f g a b c' d' e' f' g' a' b' c'' etc.

The range in orange is what's supported.

So should I bump the standard key up to the lower-case laters (I'm assuming this is an octave higher) and then reduce the ",," to "," ? Is that musically sound do we think?

Originally Posted by Devire

Why aren't the rest supported?

Because the system only supports three octaves

Originally Posted by roballan

So should I bump the standard key up to the lower-case laters (I'm assuming this is an octave higher) and then reduce the ",," to "," ? Is that musically sound do we think?

What you need to do is transpose the whole score up an octave, assuming this won't put you past the high end of the range. It should sound correct, albeit at a higher pitch.

Thanks for this information Northwoods. I'm still rather confused, but you explained it further than anything else I've seen.

I just can't get the Midi-ABC converter to work! Do you guys know how to work it?

I can't get this to work, I have a song, i put it into notepad, then saved it as an .abc file under mydocuments/lordoftheringsonline/music. I go to play it and it says song not found. I know its there though.

Originally Posted by lastalliance

I just can't get the Midi-ABC converter to work! Do you guys know how to work it?

Don't bother. For the most part you'll get chords which are unplayable with the /play command.

IF you want to convert from MIDI, your best bet is to pick simple folk melodies written for one voice, preferably something like a whistle. That'd start you off closer to the LotRO implementation than anything else.

One thing you can't get around with editing ABC files is that it requires at least some music know-how. It might not take a ton for simple melodies, but you can't do it (well) without any. The nice thing is, what you need is pretty easy to learn and you can find descriptions of the basics on Wiki, amongst other places.

As mentioned, chords aren't supported. Somewhere earlier in the thread was a suggestion for mimicing chords by "strumming" them. A lot of other non-supported constructs can be simulated in supported ways as well. You just need to do a little reading and put a little work into it.

I've learned more about music notation reading up on ABC than I ever did before, and I haven't looked at sheet music since high school (a looong time ago). If I can figure this out, it can't be that difficult to grasp. You just have to want to.

And for those who want to, you can learn more about music trying to create a beautiful-sounding ABC file than you could just typing notes on your keyboard. Figuring out the ABC is figuring out what makes music work. From there, you can go anywhere. Have fun.

Originally Posted by Northwoods

The C,, is the note C two octaves below middle C.

C,, D,, E,, F,, G,, A,, B,, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C D E F G A B c d e f g a b c' d' e' f' g' a' b' c'' etc.

The range in orange is what's supported.

Northman, the c' doesn't work for me. Nice posts btw. All the time spent with ABC has been great, brings back all the music classes I had in college some 30 years ago. Since I don't play an instrument (vocal major) but do know the piano keyboard, playing live in the game was a struggle. I love ABC and glad we have it. A lot of my measures are off in the math, basically because after fixing it to work I am about done in to go back and become a mathematician. Something you are very good at. Thank you for all your posts, they are very helpful.

Gid

Originally Posted by koraann

I can't get this to work, I have a song, i put it into notepad, then saved it as an .abc file under mydocuments/lordoftheringsonline/music. I go to play it and it says song not found. I know its there though.

Precisely the same problem here. Help? TIA!

Originally Posted by Amphiaraus

Precisely the same problem here. Help? TIA!

You probably had Notepad default extension enabled. Open the file again in Notepad and File/SaveAs

At the bottom on the top box you should see the filename. if it has .txt at the end, delete it including the . prior to txt. You should now have: filename.abc Also, to make it easier, make sure there are no spaces in your filename.

The second box (under filename) has an arrow on the right, click that and choose All Files. This will prevent Notepad from automatically putting .txt at the end of your filename.

Save your file and try to load it in the game. If it still fails check the name of your Music folder. I actually have two music folders, one is music and the other is Music. The game only sees files in the Music folder.

Since you made a second file of the tune, delete the one with the .txt name. You can find it easily by opening a file for notepad, it will default to txt files and you will see it as a selection. Just right click and choose delete.

You can change your options in explorer to show extensions and just rename the filename.abc.txt file. Either method works.

Gid

Originally Posted by Giddily

Northman, the c' doesn't work for me.

Gid

That is odd. I'll have to check to see if something changed from Roheryn... I know it worked there (unless my memory has really gotten that bad... which I couldn't tell if it had gotten that bad as I wouldn't remember...).

BTW, that's Northwoods. :P I'm actually from The South (but I had just read the appendix regarding where the Riddermark people came from and the usual forum names I use were either taken or not really fitting for ME). I didn't visit the forums until after I signed up for beta. (What better way is there to experience the game than to experience it yourself unjaded?)

EDIT: Do % comments work in LotRO ABC?

EDIT: Do % comments work in LotRO ABC?[/quote]

Yes they do.

Gid

Originally Posted by Giddily

You probably had Notepad default extension enabled. Open the file again in Notepad and File/SaveAs

At the bottom on the top box you should see the filename. if it has .txt at the end, delete it including the . prior to txt. You should now have: filename.abc Also, to make it easier, make sure there are no spaces in your filename.

The second box (under filename) has an arrow on the right, click that and choose All Files. This will prevent Notepad from automatically putting .txt at the end of your filename.

Save your file and try to load it in the game. If it still fails check the name of your Music folder. I actually have two music folders, one is music and the other is Music. The game only sees files in the Music folder.

Since you made a second file of the tune, delete the one with the .txt name. You can find it easily by opening a file for notepad, it will default to txt files and you will see it as a selection. Just right click and choose delete.

You can change your options in explorer to show extensions and just rename the filename.abc.txt file. Either method works.

Gid

It works! Than you SO much!

Any word on getting chords to work? This is pretty limiting on what can be played ... I want my Zeppelin!

Ok, I created a Music folder in my LOTRO folder. Now, how do I save songs into that folder using .abc? I tried finding a song that I wanted, cpoy and pasting everything into Notepad and then when I try to save, the only save format I get is .txt. Anyone know what I can do?

Originally Posted by Gilrim

Ok, I created a Music folder in my LOTRO folder. Now, how do I save songs into that folder using .abc? I tried finding a song that I wanted, cpoy and pasting everything into Notepad and then when I try to save, the only save format I get is .txt. Anyone know what I can do?

http://forums.lotro.com/showpost.php...0&postcount=52

Gid

Can we paly sharps and if so how do we write them in ABC?

NM, finally found a place that had it:

The symbols ^, = and _ are used (before a note) to generate respectively a sharp, natural or flat. Double sharps and flats are available with ^^ and __ respectively.

Anyone out there who can convert some Type O Negative songs to ABC format? Some of the songs I would like are Black No. 1, Christian Women, or My Girlfriend's girlfriend.

How do I get up to the third octave? I only know how to do 2; such as c and C.

Originally Posted by lastalliance

How do I get up to the third octave? I only know how to do 2; such as c and C.

http://forums.lotro.com/showpost.php...2&postcount=25

Gid

This is the best thread I have read on the topic so far.

I followed the instructions and it worked.

Thank you!

Unfortunately, from what I can tell, the new triplet notation doesn't sound like an old triplet. I hope they update it to allow triplets at some point.

Q

ok im stumped, ive been messing with this song for hours now. its 6:20 in the morn and i havent been to bed yet. PLZ someone tell me why the stupid thing keeps telling me "note too low. Line 27 Column 6" unless im wrong there dosent seem to be a line 27? help plz.

X: 1
T:falling away from me by korn
N:Instrument Channel 1
M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=104
K:Eb
V:1
I:2=d=f2e2=c2A|Ae6e|=d=f2e2=c2 A|Ae2B4B|
_e_g2f2_d2B|Bf6f|_e_g2f2_d2B|B f2c4c:|
EB,B,/2E3/2 EB,B,3/2B,/2|EB,B,/2E3/2 EB,B,3/2B,/2|EB,B,/2E3/ EB,B,3/2B,/2|EB,B,/2E3/2EB,B,3/2B,/2|
EB,B,/2E3/2EB,B,3/2B,/2|EB,B,/2E3/2EB,B,3/2B,/2|EB,B,/2E3/2EB,B,3/2B,/2|EB,B,/2E3/2EB,B,

bah nvm i see what i did, i saved in the wrong folder :/ but hey im still new at this. what? i dont have to take that from you! im going to bed now!

Originally Posted by Northwoods

A couple of conversion tricks:

Triplets:

Triplets are another construct which doesn't seem to be directly supported. Triplets in ABC look like (3abc

You can replace this with a2/3b2/3c2/3

I get an error in my abc editor when I put the /3 or 2/3. Just popped in game and I have an error somewhere from Lotroabc which I will try to find tonight. (The (3 just makes it goofy but doesn't give an error in game.)

Anyway, I am trying to get this blues tune to work simply because of all the ones I have tried it was the easiest to convert. But would be nice to trick the system to play what sounds like triplets. Any help would be great. Here is the beginning, where I attempted the /3. Oh I have the rests partway down so I'd know in game when it switched from the /3 to (3. What follows is the original from conversion.

X: 1
T: A Touch of Blues
Z:Giddily

M: 4/4
L: 1/8
Q:1/4=132
K

B,/3D/3D/3 B,/3D/3E/3 ^A/3d/3e/3 ^A/3d/3e/3|G^/3G/3e/3 =G/3^G/3e/3 =A/3^A/3B/3 d/3B/3e|=G/3^G/3e/3 =G/3^G/3d/3 B/3d/3E/3 DB,|

G,/2^G,/2C/3E/3C/3B,C/3E/3F/3 =G/2^G/2c|ee6-e|fa3/2=A/2=c e/3g/3g/3 e/3=G/3A/3|B2 ^GB4-B|

E2 ^ce/3^A/3d/3d/3^A/3d/3e|D/3^D/3B/3 =D/2E/2=A/3B/3A/3F/3D/3F/3=F|e/3A=/3G/3 E/3G/3g/3 e/3g/3g/3 e/3g/3e/3|zB/3e/3G/3^G Bd/3e/3d/3e|

z8z8z8
(3=GAG (3AGB BB3|(3^GDD (3B,DD B,3/2^G,/2 (3B,B,E|(3B,B,E (3^A,B,^A, (3B,DB, (3DB,D|(3B,DB, ^G,=A, B,(3^G,B,DB,/2^A,/2|

Gid

Northman, Wow, thanks for all the time you have put into this (and others who have contributed too). I had a minimal music theory training from school (back in the little red schoolhouse days). I had never been introduced to ABC notation. This served as a fantastic primer.

Here's a point...

Originally Posted by Northman

Northwoods: The a>b and c<d constructs are not supported. They can be replaced as follows: a3/2b/2 c/2d3/2

Not sure about that. In my transcription of Ride of the Valkyries, I had used the length shift notation before I read this. However, it seems to work fine for me. Take a look and let me know.

X:1
T:Ride of the Valkyries
C:Wagner, Richard (1813-1883)
T:Transcribed by Re of Nimrodel
M:9/8
K
Q:1/8=350
F,|B,>F,B, D3 B,3|D>B,D F3 D3|F>DF A3 A,3|D>A,D F5 F,|
|B,>F,B, D3 B,3|D>B,D F3 D3|F>DF A3 A,3|D>A,D D6:|


P.S.: Funny, my "D" key sig became a grin

Originally Posted by Annael

Not sure about that. In my transcription of Ride of the Valkyries, I had used the length shift notation before I read this. However, it seems to work fine for me. Take a look and let me know.

X:1
T:Ride of the Valkyries
C:Wagner, Richard (1813-1883)
T:Transcribed by Re of Nimrodel
M:9/8
K
Q:1/8=350
F,|B,>F,B, D3 B,3|D>B,D F3 D3|F>DF A3 A,3|D>A,D F5 F,|
|B,>F,B, D3 B,3|D>B,D F3 D3|F>DF A3 A,3|D>A,D D6:|

I've found that files with unsupported code do play, but they are very inconsistent. The music will be much better if they are taken out completely or replaced with a workaround. Sometimes the code will crash the game, but not all the time.

Gid

Hello, Im trying to get this song to work.

The message keeps saying "Note too low, Line 37, column 11"

Ive gotten an Ewok Celebration and an extended Imperial March theme from one of the old Starwars PC games to work but I really want a Han/Leia song.

Here's the file itself.
****************************** ****************************** ****************************** **************************
X: 1

T:

N: Instrument Channel 1 ... [French Horn]

N: Instrument Channel 2 ... [String Ensemble 1]

N: Instrument Channel 3 ... [Cello]

M: 4/4

L: 1/8

Q:1/4=100

N: Last note suggests Phrygian mode tune

K:Ab

%Han Solo and the Princess

%Copyright \0xa9 1997 by Hawk Moore

%John Williams, arr. by Jeffrey Moore


%Hawk Moore


%%MIDI program 1 60

%%MIDI program 2 48

%%MIDI program 3 42

z6 G,2|C,,G,, C,=E, G,=D =EG|C,,C, _E,A, C2 F,2|C,,F, A,F, =A,C _DF|

C,,F, _A,F, =E,2 G,2|C,,G,, C,=E, G,=D =EG|=D,,A,, D,F, A,_E FG|B,,G F3G AB|

_E,4 zc =BG|=A,2 B,2 =B,=E FG|=E2 C,=B,, =E,,c =BG|_A,2 =A,2 _B,=E FG|

=E3G,, C,,c =B=A|F,,C, F,_A, CG =Ac|_G,,D, _G,B, _D_A _Bc|=E,,_B,, D,E, _G,B, _Ec|

=G,,F, B,c =B,,,2 D2|C,,G,, C,=E, =G,C =Eg|C,,C, _E,A, C_E F2|C,,F, A,D A,F, D,A,,|

C,,F, A,D CG, C,G,,|C,,G,, =E,G, CG, =E,G,,|_D,,A,, F,A, =DA, F,A,,|_B,,,B,,2B,, B,,,B,,2B,,|

A,,,=A,,2=A,, G,,,G,, aG,,|C,,G,, C,=E, G,C =EG|cG =A=D =E=A, G,G,,|C,,G,, C,=E, G,C =Eg|

C,,C, _E,_A, C_E F2|C,,F, A,_D A,F, D,_A,,|C,,F, A,D CG, C,G,,|C,,G,, =E,G, CG, =E,G,,|

D,,A,, F,A, DA, F,A,,|B,,,B,, B,,B,, B,,,B,, B,,B,,|C,,C, C,C, B,,,B,, B,,B,,|A,,,A,, A,,A,, =A,,,=A,, =A,,=A,,|

G,,,3f Bf a=A|C,,8-|C,,4 =e/2g/2C,

****************************** ****************************** ****************************** **************************

Is there a good website for a total beginner to this stuff? Most of Starwars Midi files I have are massively complex (to my eyes that is) so any help would be appreciated.

Just to add: I have no musical composition in my background whatsoever so I find myself at a loss on what they mean when refering to lines and columns in the sense of ABC music/sheet music.

Originally Posted by Giddily

You probably had Notepad default extension enabled. Open the file again in Notepad and File/SaveAs

At the bottom on the top box you should see the filename. if it has .txt at the end, delete it including the . prior to txt. You should now have: filename.abc Also, to make it easier, make sure there are no spaces in your filename.

The second box (under filename) has an arrow on the right, click that and choose All Files. This will prevent Notepad from automatically putting .txt at the end of your filename.

Save your file and try to load it in the game. If it still fails check the name of your Music folder. I actually have two music folders, one is music and the other is Music. The game only sees files in the Music folder.

Since you made a second file of the tune, delete the one with the .txt name. You can find it easily by opening a file for notepad, it will default to txt files and you will see it as a selection. Just right click and choose delete.

You can change your options in explorer to show extensions and just rename the filename.abc.txt file. Either method works.

Gid

I can't get notepad to stop saving as txt. For some reason after I select all files it goes back to txt.

Originally Posted by Silvermane1983

Hello, Im trying to get this song to work.

The message keeps saying "Note too low, Line 37, column 11"

Ive gotten an Ewok Celebration and an extended Imperial March theme from one of the old Starwars PC games to work but I really want a Han/Leia song.

Here's the file itself.
****************************** ************************

Hey Silvermane,

Thats a fun piece. I had forgotten about it.

The problem with using a midi to abc converter is that abc does not have the full range of notes that midi does, and then LORTO's abc player is even more limited than that.

The trouble in your composition it the low octive notes, anything that has a double or triple comma after it.

They can be transposed an octive by just removing commas. I will play with this one and send you my suggestions privately.

By the way Moderators, this thread is great for "What Am I Doing Wrong" questions, but there should be another sticky started for "Help Me With This Tune" requests.

Thanks for your imput Annael. I still have a way to go before I can make some of these songs sound decent but might as well train myself to get better via trial and error. :P lol

Originally Posted by Amyas

I can't get notepad to stop saving as txt. For some reason after I select all files it goes back to txt.

If you are opening a file that already has .txt at the end it will do that unless you change the filename box, and make sure second is 'all files'. When you open a file, at the very top of Notepad it will display the file name. Then, use SaveAs from the File menu, not Save. And make sure the

Filename.abc
All Files

boxes are correct. You can go to explorer's options and mark it to show extensions. But it isn't needed if you follow the above.

Gid

I have been looking at all these wonderful pieces, and yet I don't see any in a flat key. For the flats are they all in there relative minor? If so what about Bb through Ab, in minor mode.

Originally Posted by falast

I have been looking at all these wonderful pieces, and yet I don't see any in a flat key. For the flats are they all in there relative minor? If so what about Bb through Ab, in minor mode.

There are several songs in flats and minors. As with all music, if the Key chord has flats and sharps, the notes in the music don't have to be marked since it is automatically known to musicians to flat and sharp those notes. The abc music program also knows this. So, at the top of the abc file is the Header information. the last one is the Key denoted by the K: what follows is the key of the music. so the key of B flat would be Bb, F flat Fb, minors in lotro can only me denoted by 'min' so B minor would be Bmin and so on.

If the lotro music system doesn't recognize he Key you wanted, try to change it to find what it will accept. If no Key is mentioned I believe it will play in C major. If you can't get it to work with the Key header at all, then go ahead and put your sharps, flats and naturals in the melody notation.

Gid

Thank you for the response, I just wasnt sure about the notation for the header, if it should be _ or what. So thank you.

I can't seem to get it to work. I have created and saved selections posted by users and when i try to play them i get an error in game that says problem with ABC Notation.

Example:

1 8 5 4 S+4 5 S+3 5
1 8 5 4 S+4 5 S+3 5
2 8 5 4 S+4 5 S+3 5
2 8 5 4 S+4 5 S+3 5
4 8 5 4 S+4 5 S+3 5
4 8 5 4 S+4 5 S+3 5
S+2 5 S+1 5 S+2 5 S+3 5 S+4 5 S+3 5 S+2 5


Pasted this in to a text file and named it SweetChild.abc

Shouldn't this run as is?

Originally Posted by Caebrylla

Shouldn't this run as is?

Nope. Mostly because it's not ABC.

Ok then i am completely confused by the insturctions :|