abc Converter

Hi
Just tried to use the abc converter through Mandolin.net and it says the account has been suspended. Does anyone know what’s happening. I use it to convert abc to mandolin pdf,

Just checked. Redirected to a page indicating the domain mandolin.net is for sale.

Is there a simple app available? I had a quick look at Music Score 3, but it looks way to complicated.

You might consider Melody Assistant (http://www.myriad-online.com/en/products/melody.htm). I don’t use it, but I think it does what you want.

Do you mean tabs for mandolin or just pdf files of a tune?

Sometimes I use a software called TablEdit on my computer to display abc files for a range of instruments. I believe there is a free/ demo version you can download. There is also a version of this software as an app called TEFview although I haven’t used it much. I think you might need google drive to upload the abc files, but not too sure.
Hope this helps.

I discovered its absence this morning as well. I used the converter constantly and will really miss it. I have been searching for hours for a substitute and haven’t found anything I like as well. The closest I’ve come is here:

https://folktab.com/convert/to-tab

Hit EDIT ABC. Just paste the abc into its editor and hit DONE. It will prompt you through a couple more steps (including selecting an instrument tab choice). Then it will supply a tab PDF file you can save. I’m not fond of the FONT it uses. It’s almost like the numbers and notes are a “fun” style and not as well defined as they could be. I don’t see anywhere I can change it. Another drawback to FolkTab is I can’t get it to actually create the tab on my ipad. I have to create the PDF on my computer and email it to myself where I can open it on my ipad. It then becomes usable and I can place it in my tune library app on my ipad (ForScore). All this is doable…but I have been spoiled by Mandolin.net converter and how easy and fast it was to hear a tune I like and have it on my ipad within a couple minutes without ever going near my computer.

It will be hard to replace the efficiency of Mandolin.net converter. I could just find the abc on this site, paste it into Mandolin.net’s converter and it instantly gave me a mandolin (tenor banjo) tablature PDF that I loaded into ForScore where it was completely editable. All done completely on the ipad. I will keep checking back to the Mandolin.net converter site to see if it magically reappears.

If anyone has a better choice converter to offer that works completely on the ipad through “copy and paste” - without needing to actually save the abc file, I would appreciate its mention. I am fine with paying for one. I already have TablEdit for composing and transcribing tunes on the computer, but its ABC conversion ability is another multi-step process to get it on my ipad. I don’t find Tefview very easy to use. I looked into Melody Assistant this morning but one reviewer said that the tab it gives you is just one long line. I don’t know if that’s true or not.

I’m sure there must be a way to do this in musescore 3 but it’s driving me up the wall trying to work it out!

I tried tabs before I started learning to read simple melodies in the score window of EasyABC. So for me it’s been the baby-step progression of bafflement “How the heck are they playing that?”, then tabs, then the dots and now by ear. I could suggest graduating from tabs but that’s entirely a personal choice.

Ouch - http://mandolintab.net/abcconverter.php was my goto ABC editor since the latest MacOS update killed off EasyABC (which I miss an awful lot!). Managing ABC collections and tune books on Mac just got a whole lot more challenging.

Thanks everyone. I’ll give your suggestions a shot

Sad to see the mandolintab.net converter gone. I have found the A La Mode app a useful ABC editor and converter to dots and tablature (gdae mandolin and whistle). See my earlier discussion:
https://thesession.org/discussions/44639

Tried Folk Tab and after I press DONE it doesn’t come up with any options at all. It just displays the score. I am on an Imac.

What a shame, that was a great converter. It had a lot of features, and it gave you a very crisp looking pdf file.

Trevor - I guess FolkTab doesn’t work on Apple based systems. I can’t use it to actually create the tab on my iPad either. On my Windows PC, after DONE, the next selection is TO TAB, and then an instrument is selected for the tab and finally a PDF option is then offered. But like I said previously, the font choice for the final PDF is not near as clear as it was with the (now unavailable) converter from Mandolin.net. I will probably end up using TablEdit more than FolkTab for that reason alone. As Cheeky elf said, Mandolin.net gave a very crisp looking PDF. A La Mode that MikeD mentioned looks promising - but unfortunately again is only available for Android systems. Bummer.

The mandolintab.net site is just showing “account suspended”, probably meaning that they didn’t pay their hosting bill for one reason or another. It may just be a temporary thing…

@ SJ: In Muse Score 3, go to the Plug-Ins and open the Plugin-Manager. There you will find abc_editor right on top. I’ve inserted an abc, worked perfectly fine.
Hope this helps 🙂

Trevor, if I understand you correctly - you want to convert abc to pdf?

Open MuseScore3
Plugins -->ABC Import
Paste abc code into window, click Import button

You now have the abc shown as standard notation

File --> Export
Give the file a name
Save as type : pdf

Now you have a pdf file containing standard notation.

Can Musescore convert abc to mandolin tab?

Thanks all. But I’ve probably confused you all as much as I have confused myself. In the abc converter (Mandolin.net) I just copied the abc text from Sessions and pasted into Mandolin.net to produce a mandolin TAB version and then saved as a pdf file. Well, that’s as clear as mud.

Trevor W - TAB = tablature?

(I know what tablature is - used to use it for 5-string banjo).

Jim, just like on a treble stave you have a treble clef at the start of the line, so on a tablature stave you have the letters T, A and B arranged vertically (with T at the top) at the start of the line. So, if you like, TAB is the tablature clef.
Hence, perhaps, TAB is short for tablature.

Unfortunately it seems that the account for mandolintab.net has been suspended.

@two4joy - yes, I am aware of how to use the abc converter - the issue is getting a tab out of the resulting score without essentially writing the whole thing out again by hand.

I have subcontracted this experiment to my other half now as I am becoming tetchy. Will post any results.

I’ve tried writing a unix script that can make a pseudo-tab from abc and it can be done but it’s hokey.

It seems that everybody missed Reverend’s post - Melody Assistant can do the job.

Does Melody Assistant give you a tab in PDF page form?

Here is a link to an ABC converter to sheet music (very easy).
Once you’ve got the music, you can transpose it into an other key and also change the clef.
You can listen to the tune.
You can also get a PDF (and a midi file, it says), but I haven’t seen any way to get a tablature…
https://colinhume.com/music.aspx

“Does Melody Assistant give you a tab in PDF page form?”

No but in can export a bmp image which can be easily converted to pdf.

“Can Musescore convert abc to mandolin tab?”
Yes, but no instant gratification.
Plugins —>ABC Import
Paste abc code into window, click Import button
You now have the abc shown as standard notation
Press I. This opens instrument dialog.
At top of instrument list on left choose all instruments
Click plucked instruments
Choose Mandolin(Tablature)
Click Add button
Click OK to exit dialog - a blank staff appears below the standard notation
Select first measure of standard notation staff
Scroll to end and while holding down Shift Key, select last measure
At this point all the standard notation should be selected.
Edit menu -> Copy
Select all measures of blank TAB staff
Edit menu -> Paste
Press I - instrument dialog
In right hand list uncheck visible mark on top staff
Click OK to exit instrument dialog
Only the TAB staff should be showing
The “Mandolin” labels at the beginning of each staff can be removed - Right Click label and choose Delete
Now you can save a PDF
File —> Export
Give the file a name
Save as type : pdf

Somebody needs to write a plugin for this!

A better way to use MuseScore:
Using Plugins -> ABC import: paste the abc file into the window.
Find the line that begins with K:
At the end of the line beginning with K: add the following after adding a space
tab strings=G3,D4,A4,E5
Click import button(lower right of window)
TAB is now displayed - save as a pdf using File -> Export - name the file and save as type pdf

Many thanks VTmoon, when I get the old laptop back and running I’ll probably buy Musescore. I used to use it a lot.
I was wondering if there is a short cut for declaring the text size too? Maybe as a universal parameter?

In my version of Musescore 2 the ABC plugin is there but doesn’t work. I can’t enter the code into the window. By accident I found a workaround. With Musescore open and the ABC import window open I went online and found

http://abc2xml.appspot.com/

I entered the ABC text into this window and chose to open the file rather than save it and clicked OK.
When I went back to Musescore the file was there in notation. I went back to the converter and added the tab notes to the K line, clicked OK again and the Musescore file was changed to Mandolin tab. This is well worth knowing. Thanks.

By the way, Musescore should be free, even for Windows users.

@ronald.ellison: You might try upgrading your version 2 to MuseScore 3. The ABC-to-notation plugin is working fine for me there, with cut and paste. As noted, it’s a free/open source program.

Hi Cb. In Linux Mint 18.x, my operating system, version 2 is the best that is on offer from the Software Manager. I know I can download stuff outside the Software Manager but that can be rather a lot of hard work.

@ Simonds - “I was wondering if there is a short cut for declaring the text size too?”
I have version 3.4.2 - in the preferences dialog, general tab there is a section on the right called theme. in that section is a place to change font size. I increased the font size and now its easier to read the menus and other UI elements.
Individual items in the score are adjusted in the styles dialog - menu Format -> Style

Oh, no!

Is it not working for you either? http://www.mandolintab.net/abcconverter.php

See:
https://thesession.org/discussions/44906

http://www.mandolintab.net/abcconverter.php looks to be back and working today

An Android app called À la mode will display both mandolin and d whistle tabs and export to PDF.

Stumbled upon this thread while looking for such resources, created an account to share those:

https://folktab.com/edit/abc
ABC to sheet converter, instantly updates the sheet, very convenient when handwriting so you can catch mistakes. No exports, but when satisfied you can copy the ABC and go to…

https://colinhume.com/music.aspx
ABC to sheet converter, can preview online, or download as nice printable PDF, or play as MP3, or download a midi file, which we can then bring to…

https://onlinesequencer.net/import
Online Midi editor, can move the notes up and down to experiment with which notes you got wrong, so you can go back to the first link and make adjustments. No exports unfortunately.

Mandolintab is nice, but is not the best at anything compared to those listed here, imho, at least not the features I needed.

Hope it helps!