[Abc-discuss] Re: Abc-discuss digest, Vol 1 #31 - 1 msg

[Rick W. <wa...@om...>]

> I noticed abc2midi takes some of the information fields such as author and
> title and adds them to the midi file it creates, but I can't find the
> information through any of my midi players.  I only see it when I look at
> the binary file directly.  Was wondering if there was a better way to get
> this information into the file and viewable by midi players.  Is there
> even a standard for these fields in midi files?  I downloaded a couple of
> file format documents on midi and kar files.  It looks like you could add
> this information using a kar file extension.  Are there programs out there
> that already do this sort of thing or is this something that might end up
> on a todo list for abc2midi development?  (Is anyone currently working on
> this program?)  Was debating on modifying the code myself, but don't want
> to duplicate effort if someone else is working on or has a solution for
> this situation.  Any further information on the current state
> of getting author, title, history style information moved from abc to midi
> would be appreciated.

If you don't have to do it often you might look at the mf2t(1) and
t2mf(1) programs.  I think that they do a complete ascii dump of all the
info in a midi file.  You can probably reverse engineer the fields from
the dump.  You also might read the source code for these two
programs to get a clue about how midi files are defined.

good luck,
--
Rick Walker

PS: is anyone here interested in Chinese 123 notation?  I'd like
to help write an instruction book on Chinese violin in which all
the classical music is taught and written in 1=do, 2=re...
format.  I haven't found any typesetting programs for this
notation.  It would be an interesting bridge to create a program
that would take abc and print it either  as western 5-line
scores, or as Chinese 123 notation.  This would make likely abc the
de-facto notation for Chinese music on the computer, and would
open up all the abc-notated western music to China (as it could
be easily printed in 123 notation, and would gateway Chinese
music to the west as it could be easily converted to 5-line staff
notation.