MIDI2ABC(1)

💖 MIDI2ABC(1) — the glow-up manual 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the General Commands Manual entry for midi2abc, and honestly? she's a legend. this is your girl for turning MIDI files into abc notation. let's get into it 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

midi2abc — a whole program that converts MIDI format files into abc notation. no cap, that's the whole job. 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

midi2abc -f infile [-xa] [-ga] [-a acbeats] [-m time signature] [-ppu
parts per unit] [-aul denominator of unit length] [-gu] [-b bars] [-Q
tempo] [-u pulses] [-k key] [-c channel] [-obpl] [-bpl bars] [-bps bars]
[-o filename] [-s] [-sr units] [-sum] [-nb] [-nt] [-splitvoices]
[-midigram] [-mftext] [-mftextpulses] [-nogr] [-title string] [-origin
string][-midinotes]

look at her. so many little flags. she's serving versatility 🦋

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👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

so midi2abc grabs a MIDI format file and converts it into something that is as close as possible to abc text format. as close as possible is the key phrase here, bestie — after that, it's on you to add the text fields that weren't in the MIDI header, and possibly to tidy up the abc note output. she does her part, you do yours. teamwork 🫶

The output of midi2abc is printed to the screen. To save it to a file, use the redirection operator, (e.g. midi2abc -f file.mid > file.abc) or specify the output file using the -o option. yes queen, both routes are valid 💖

⚠️ Use only one or none of the options -u -gu, -b and -Q. Not all of them. pick a lane, bestie.

Midi2abc normally converts the MIDI time units into quantum units normally corresponding to the abc 1/16th note or 1/32nd note. If none of these is present, the program will use the PPQN information in the MIDI header to compute the suitable conversion factor. For most MIDI files on the web, it is recommended to rely on the MIDI header information and not use any of the options other than the formatting options. ngl, just let her cook 🔥

The program will extract the time signature information from the MIDI file if it is present. Otherwise it will assume 4/4 or you could specify it with -m. option. (yes, the original says "-m. option." and we're keeping that energy, it's iconic 💀)

If the tune has an anacrusis, you can use either the -ga or -xa option to estimate the its length. Alternatively, you can specify its value using the -a option. The anacrusis is specified in half unit lengths, where the unit length is defined by the L: field. For example if L: 1/8, then a quarter note would be indicated by the value 4, (4 1/16 units). okay so math but make it cute 🧚

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -a acbeats — where acbeats specifies the anacrusis in half unit lengths. 🎀
• -xa — extract the anacrusis from file by finding the first strong note. she'll sniff it out 💅
• -ga — guess the anacrusis by minimizing the number of ties across bars. lowkey genius 🦋
• -m time signature — time signature. simple as. ⭐
• -b bars — number of bars wanted in output. 📏
• -Q tempo — tempo in quarter-notes per minute. 🎵
• -u pulses — Allows you to specify directly the number of midi pulses per abc time unit. 🫶
• -ppu parts per abc unit length — Normally, the smallest note unit that midi2abc can extract is half the L: unit length. This is called the quantum unit. Thus for L: 1/8, midi2abc can extract 1/16 notes but not 1/32 notes. You can change this by specifying -ppu 4 for example. The number of parts should be a power of 2. no cap, powers of 2 only bestie 🔢
• -aul denominator of abc unit length — Normally midi2abc chooses a unit length of 1/8 or 1/16 depending upon the time signature. For time signatures smaller than 3/4 the L: 1/16 is used and for larger time signatures L: 1/8 is used. You can specify the unit length to be used using this parameter. Thus -aul 32 will cause midi2abc to use a unit length of 1/32 nd note. 🎼
• -gu — Tells midi2abc to estimate the number of midi pulses per abc time unit from the note duration or spacing in the MIDI file. 🔍
• -gk — Tells midi2abc to guess the key signature by minimizing the number of accidentals even if the key signature is already specified in the MIDI file. By default the key signature is the one specified in the MIDI file. If it is not specified, then the program guesses the key signature by minimizing accidentals. 🎹
• -k key — key signature: -6 to 6 sharps. 🗝️
• -c channel — select only this midi channel. one channel only, she's monogamous 💀
• -f infile — input file in midi format. the main character of the whole operation 👑
• -o output file — specifies the output abc file name. 🎀
• -s — do not discard very short notes. protect the tiny ones 🙈
• -sr quantum units — do not notate a short rest smaller than the specified size after a note. If the size (in quantum units) is zero, nothing is done. For larger values, the rest is absorbed into the preceding note. In other words, the preceding note is lengthened to include that rest. it's giving "eat the rest" energy 🍓
• -sum — print a short summary of the input midi file. tl;dr but for MIDI 📝
• -nb — do not look for broken rhythms. 🙈
• -nt — do not look for triplets. no triplets today bestie ✋
• -obpl — Print only one bar per line instead of 4. For complex music this improves the readability and avoids some problems with some abc to postscript converters. This option is deprecated. ⚠️ she's old, she's retired, we still love her 💜
• -nogr — (No note grouping.) Inserts a space between all notes. It makes a less pretty postscript file but it is easier to edit. tradeoffs, bestie 🌈
• -bpl nbars — Print nbars of music on every line followed by a backslash. ⬅️
• -bps nbars — When nbars have been printed (including those lines joined by a backslash continuation) go to a new line (with no backslash). 🆕
• -splitvoices — This parameter handles polyphonic chords by splitting an entire voice into multiple voices. (A polyphonic chord is a chord composed of notes that do not start or end at the same time.) Normally, midi2abc joins the longer notes to the notes in the following chord using ties. Here is an example: [Bd-]d [Bd-]d|. This should be separated into two voices ideally Bz Bz and d2 d2. However, the separation is not unique. Bz d2 and d2 Bz are also ok. okay so this one is a whole personality trait 🦋
• -midigram — When this option appears, all other options are ignored and no abc file is produced. Instead a list of all notes in the MIDI file are printed in a fixed format. Each line represents a pair of MIDI note on/off event. The line contains the on/off time of the note, its track number, channel number, midi pitch and midi velocity. The last record indicates the duration of the MIDI file in MIDI pulse units. The output is designed to go into a graphical user interface which will produce a graphical representation (piano roll). 🎹✨
• -mftext — When this option appears, all other options are ignored and no abc file is produced. Instead a list of all the MIDI commands are printed. The output is designed to go into a graphical user interface provided by runabc.tcl. 🖥️
• -mftextpulses — Same as -mftext except the time units is in midi pulses. ⏱️
• -title string — Replaces the default title field following T: with the given string. give your tune a name bestie 🎀
• -origin string — Adds an O: field with the given string. 🌍
• -midinotes — Like -mftext, this option outputs the midi pitches present in the midi file, where middle C is 60, the deviation of the note from the equal tempered scale in units of cents, and the pitch value in cents of the note relative to C. If the pitchbend is used, then its value follows cents in parentheses. There are 100 cents in the semitone interval. Thus a pitch half way between C and C# would have a cent value of 50. There are 1200 cents in an octave, so the pitch value of D natural would be 200. The pitch value of B natural is 1100. These values are useful for verifying the pitch values in an equaltempered scale divided into more than 12 tones. The pitch values are determined from the pitchbend value in the midi file, which is normally 8192. However, for some midi players the pitch can also be altered using sysex (System Exclusive) messages. In particular, Jef Moine's abc2svg uses the latter rather than pitchbends which act on all the notes in a channel. 🤯

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🦋 FEATURES 🦋

• The key is chosen so as to minimize the number of accidentals. Alternatively, the user can specify the key numerically (a positive number is the number of sharps, a negative number is minus the number of flats). 🗝️
• Note length can be set by specifying the total number of bars or the tempo of the piece. Alternatively the note length can be read from the file. However, by default it is deduced in a heuristic manner from the inter-note distances. This means that you do not have to use the MIDI clock as a metronome when playing in a tune from a keyboard. 🎹
• Barlines are automatically inserted. The user specifies the number of measures in the anacrusis before the first barline and the time signature. 📏
• The program can guess how the length of the anacrusis, either by looking for the first strong note or minimizing the number of notes split by a tie across a barline. 🔍
• Where a note extends beyond a bar break, it is split into two tied notes. ✂️
• The output has 4 bars per line. 🎼
• Enough accidental signs are put in the music to ensure that no pitch errors occur if a barline is added or deleted. 🛡️
• The program attempts to group notes sensibly in each bar. 🧠
• Triplets and broken rhythm (a>b) are supported. 🎵
• Chords are identified. 🎶
• Text information from the original MIDI file is included as comments. 💬
• The -c option can be used to select only 1 MIDI channel. Events on other channels are ignored. ☝️

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💀 LIMITATIONS 💀

midi2abc does not ... (and we respect her honesty, periodt)

• Supply tune title, composer or any other field apart from X: , K:, Q:, M: and L: - these must be added by hand afterwards, though they may have been included in the text of the MIDI file. ✍️
• Support duplets, quadruplets, other esoteric features. 🙅
• Support mid-tune key or time signature changes. 🚫
• Deduce repeats. The output is just the notes in the input file. 📄
• Recover an abc tune as supplied to abc2midi. However, if you want to do this, "midi2abc -xa -f file.mid" comes close. 👀

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🔗 SEE ALSO 🔗

abc2ps(1), abc2midi(1), abc2abc(1) — the whole friend group, go say hi 🫶

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💖 AUTHOR 💖

James Allwright <J.R.Allwright@westminster.ac.uk> — the original icon 👑

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🌈 SUPPORTED 🌈

Seymour Shlien <fy733@ncf.ca> — holding it down 🫡

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⭐ VERSION ⭐

This man page describes midi2abc version 2.91 from March 09 2008. vintage but still serving 💅

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🎀 COPYRIGHT 🎀

Copyright 1999 James Allwright

⚠️ midi2abc does not work correctly if lyrics are embedded in the same track as the notes. If you are producing the MIDI file using abc2midi, use the -STFW option to ensure that the lyrics are put in a separate track. you have been warned bestie 😭

midi2abc is supplied "as is" without any warranty. It is free software and can be used, copied, modified and distributed without fee under the terms of the GNU General Public License. 🫶💜

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okay that's the whole page!! mwah 💋 this diva of a manpage was brought to you by the 20 January 2025 era, and if you're keeping receipts, midi2abc is version 2.91 from March 09 2008. go convert something gorgeous ✨🎀🦋