> Zel, in fact, it's described as a language to create midi files from
> a text file, eventually to load them in a sequencer for further editing.
I've been using ABC for years and have never wanted such a capability.
So why should I bother?
Is the developer of this thing ever going to make it capable of
- acting as a tune reference database, the way I can use ABC with BarFly?
(i.e. create multi-tune files with headers listing alternative titles,
composers, sources, etc, but no tune bodies except maybe the first
couple of bars for indexing purposes)?
- assembling multiple tunes into sets, finding some of those I want
on the Internet and using the computer to transpose them as needed
and print them as conventional staff notation?
Your description makes the thing sound like a one-trick pony (and as
it only runs on Windows there's no point in me looking into it any
further). The point of ABC is that there are many different things
you can do with it, you can make them integrate in useful ways, and
you aren't tied to any specific tool to achieve this. Does the author
of Zel even *want* other people writing software to use his notation?
Let's try an example. What does this tune look like in Zel? It's a
flute arrangement of a song; despite being instrument-specific music,
it's entirely standard ABC 1.6.
X:339
T:Lord Gregory
S:Gow, Vocal Melodies arr. Henderson part 1 p13
Z:Jack Campin 1998-2001
M:3/4
L:1/8
K:Amin
"Slow"
A2 | e4 (AB) | (A2 ^G2) .E2 | A4 B2
|{B}c4
(3(ceg)|{f}e4 (dc) | (c2 B2) c>A| {c}B4
(Be) | e4 (A/c/B/A/) | (A2{BA})^G2 .E2 | A4 (Bc/d/)
|{d}c4
(3(ceg)|{f}e4 {e}(dc) | c4 {c}B>A| A4 :|
A2 | e4 (ef/g/) |{g}f4 (fe)| {e}d4 d{ed^cd}e/f/|
(f2e2)
e>d | (dc) c2 (c3/d//e//)| (e2 d2) .c2 | (c2 B2)
(Ee) | e4 (A/c/B/A/) | (A2{BA})^G2 E2 |{^G}A2 (3(ABc) (3(Bcd)
|{d}c4
(3(ceg)| (fe) e2 {e}(dc) | c>d {c}B3 A | A4 :|
The one real inadequacy ABC has with that is that I can't write
Q:Slow
which is something no staff-notation generator ought to have any
problem with, and player programs can just ignore, so why on earth
hasn't anybody implemented it? (And I would bet money that Zel
doesn't allow me to specify tempo that way either).
Note, I expect your solution to encode the number in the "X:" line (in my
setup it conveys useful information; tune 39 in section 3), the source, and
who the transcribers were (you and me). You should end up with something
that a flute player could use to learn the tune from and get the same result
as from the ABC above. The slurs are essential, so if MIDI is all the
flautist is going to get, they must be audible. And I would also expect
you to be able to notate it showing the parallels in phrasing and the line
structure of the original song, as my line breaks and column alignments do
(not quite straightforward as it alternates 4- and 3-bar lines; really long
lines would be better). Don't specify a specific tempo without indicating
in the source that it's an editorial interpretation of "Slow". And you
should also end up with a piece of notation readable enough to play from
directly without computer intervention; I just got my flute out and did
exactly that with mine.
Over to you.
(Phil: re the "!" thread, what I would like to do here is put ! at the end
of lines 2 and 6 to force a linebreak without adding a barline. Or else
put ! at the ends of lines 2, 4, 6 and 8, which I think would make this
completely compatible with abc2win).
=================== <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> ===================
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