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.

Considering this software is free, it is excellent.

Basically, I love this software and use it frequently. But it has an odd quirk of not always playing the first note in a tune. I have to begin things with a "z" (rest) in order for the actual first note to be heard. I'm running EasyABC on a Macbook Air with OS 10.9.5. And today I installed the current version (1.3.6.2), and it seems to have another (even less serious) quirk, of accenting notes oddly. I'm trying to learn a fiddle tune in 6/8 time, and the main beats are held noticeably longer than the ones that follow. Maybe some people like that, but I find it annoying. Good stuff: tunes display instantly as scores, as you change the ABC notation itself for a tune. Multiple voices are possible. Fairly complicated kinds of notation are supported - grace notes, repeats, etc. You can instantly transpose to other keys. You can double, or halve, the lengths of all notes in a tune. I have no experience with "support", so I'm rating it average.