EasyABC

Down to 4 stars from 5. But just barely... I've been using EasyABC since Nils Liberg's first release. EasyABC has some really great features and it's dead-easy to create simple music with EasyABC. I wrote a shell script for the earlier 32-bit versions that changed the menu commands for search replace and Hide in MacOS so that EasyABC would behave in a standard MacOS fashion. On the 64 bit version (1.3.8.7) for MacOS that script fails and so I'll have to parse through the Python code and see if I can make the changes that can keep the current EasyABC in line with standard MacOS interface rules. I am not a Python guy so I view that process with some trepidation. The latest version has some broken functions such as Sort tunes (any field other than T: does nothing). Re-numbering tunes to re-position them in a tunebook by sorting on the "X:" field no longer moves the individual tunes to the desired position. I can copy the text to my unix environment and do all these things but that didn't used to be necessary Global replacement of text elements with "%" is problematic. The current version also has the text editor window in a grayed-out font that's very difficult to read. If the text editor font size is changed EasyABC does not re-center the text window at the proper location when searched or when the tune name is clicked in the Tune list pane. The Tune list pane now includes every incidence of "T:" in the ABC_code for that tune as the tune name in the Tune list pane. Formerly, it behaved properly and only used the "T:" fields immediately subsequent to the "X:" field. EasyABC does not follow the MacOS guidelines for being opened by clicking on an ,abc file in the MacOS Finder environment. That is very unhandy. The ABC_code pane cannot be detached and re-positioned anymore either. I have two large monitors and I really miss that functionality. Still... for a piece of freeware, EasyABC is unsurpassed in it's utility. EasyABC has always been a valuable resource for me and I'm grateful that faupepin, jwdejong, sshlien have kept it operating as Apple has futzed with the MacOS environment. I'm hoping the support team can find the time to address some of my issues. I know their time is valuable and keeping EasyABC operating is an unpaid and somewhat un-thanked task.

Thanks a million for fixing the Black Page Bug, no more tedious workrounds hurrah!

Considering this software is free, it is excellent.

I've used EasyABC for some years and it is excellent. I play folk music and this handles my ABC tune collections brilliantly. I have tried other ABC programs but I haven't found anything that matches EasyABC's simplicity of use. The latest version seems to have lost a couple of features: you can no longer play just highlighted sections of the music nor sort on the X: field. I am sure these are just hiccups and will be sorted out in due course.

I use EasyABC every day for practicing the flute and tin whistle. It is the very best ABC notation software I have found and I have tried many. I use it online to display the sheet music and play the background music for my Twitch stream. I really like that the notes turn green as they are played to show your place in the tune. It makes it easy to keep it a large collection of traditional tunes organized and it is easy to make edits or transpose tunes. Thanks!