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.

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.

Download

Current version - abc2mma 0.51 beta (zip file)

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);

Frequently Asked Questions

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.
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.
I get a run-time error with ABC files containing the "%%MIDI program" command.

Please download the latest version of MMA.

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. :-P
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.

Change Log

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

To Do

Handling of parts
Handling of voices and multiple staffs

Contact

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