This ABC to notation converter was developed by Michael Eskin.
Full project source may be found on: GitHub.
Try it out here: ABC Transcription Tools.
Introduction
ABC Transcription Tools is a free, web-based, open-source tool for converting music in ABC format to standard notation and tablature.
Generate tunebook PDF files with title pages, table of contents, tune index, custom headers, footers, and QR codes using the tool's built-in PDF Export feature, or use your browser's Print feature to quickly print or export tunebook PDFs.
You can fully customize the look of your notation using the standard ABC spacing and font annotations.
The tool also includes the ability to easily share your tunes with others via ABC Share URLs and QR Codes.
The underlying ABC rendering technology is Paul Rosen's incredible abcjs Javascript library.
Table of Contents
Optimized for Editing Large Tunebooks
Viewing the Notation Full Screen
Notation/Tablature Display Controls
Staff and Title Spacing Overrides
Selecting the Instrument for Playback
Adding a PDF Tunebook Title Page
Adding a PDF Tunebook Table of Contents and Index
Adding a QR Code to the PDF Export
iPhone/iPad Chord Entry Issue Fix
Responsive Design
On desktop browsers, the tool will dynamically adjust its layout based on window size and shape to allow you to most efficiently view and edit your ABC tunes.
Optimized for Editing Large Tunebooks
The tool only redraws the changes to the tune you are working on, so is very quick even when editing large tune sets.
When you first load a set of tunes into the tool from an ABC file, it will render all of them once, which might take a bit of time for a large set of tunes.
After that, editing of the tunes is very fast, just click the tune and start editing.
Any changes you make to the ABC will be instantly shown in the notation.
Note: Some global operations such as changing from standard notation to tablature or transposing the entire tune set requires a complete redraw of all the tunes, but these are relatively rare operations compared to day-to-day editing and rendering of the ABC itself.
Getting Started
The text on top shows currently loaded ABC file or Share URL name and the current number of tunes found in the ABC Editor.
New ABC - Creates a simple example tune in ABC to get you started.
Open ABC - Opens an .abc or .txt file from your computer and loads it into the ABC Editor.
Save ABC - Saves the contents of the ABC editor to a file.
The saved file will be in your browser's Downloads directory.
Export PDF - Exports the currently displayed score as a high quality PDF file.
Play - Copies one or more ABC tunes to the clipboard and then opens them in Paul Rosen's amazing abcjs Quick Editor tool for playback. Full details below in the Playing Your Tunes section.
Copy All - Copies all the ABC text to the system clipboard so you can easily paste it into social media posts, emails, or other tools.
Page number settings are found in the settings panel.
Show Controls / Hide Controls - Shows/Hides all the control buttons below.
? - Click this to hide the header at the top so you can have more room to work on your music. Click it again to show the header.
ABC Editor
Type or paste your ABC notation here.
Changes are reflected immediately in the displayed notation below the ABC Editor.
You may also paste some ABC text into the ABC Editor or just start typing.
On desktop systems, the text entry box can be resized by dragging the lower right corner.
Click on any tune in the ABC to have the notation scroll into view.
Click in the notation for any tune and the ABC area will be autoscrolled so that the ABC for the tune is displayed (or within a few lines, browser dependent).
Note: The tune autoscroll features are not available on iOS or Android devices.
Viewing the Notation Full Screen
If any ABC is present in the ABC Editor, this double-arrow control shows up on the top right corner of the page.
The control hides or shows the ABC Editor and all controls so you can view your notation fullscreen.
Click once to hide the ABC Editor and all controls.
Click again to show the ABC Editor and all controls.
Notation/Tablature Display Controls
These control how the notation is displayed.
Sheet Music - Standard notation only.
Note Names - Shows standard notation and note names below.
Mandolin - Shows standard notation and tablature for Mandolin.
Zouk GDAD - Shows standard notation and tablature for GDAD-tuned Bouzouki.
Mandola - Shows standard notation and tablature for CGDA-tuned Mandola.
Guitar - Shows standard notation and tablature for standard EADGBE-tuned guitar.
DADGAD - Shows standard notation and tablature for DADGAD-tuned guitar.
Whistle Tab - Shows standard notation and tablature for whistle in the key of D.
Note: For notes that go below D on of the whistle, the suggested "folded" octave-up fingerings are shown.
Basic Controls
Transpose Down - Transposes the selected tunes down one semitone.
Transpose Up - Transposes the selected tunes up one semitone.
To transpose multiple tunes, just click anywhere in the first tune you want to transpose, and drag to select any part of additional tunes you want transposed.
To transpose all the tunes at once, select them all before clicking the Tranpose buttons.
Show/Hide Advanced Controls - Shows/Hides a new panel with several additional ABC filtering and display controls (described below).
Show/Hide Sharing Controls - Shows/Hides a new panel (described below) with options for sharing your tune set via URL or QR code.
Clear ABC - Clears the ABC Editor so you can start over.
Advanced Controls
Hide/Show Annotations - Hides/Shows most ABC annotations like Composer, Discography, History, Tempo, etc. in the generated notation.
Holding down the Shift key while clicking this button will strip the annotations from the ABC itself.
Hide/Show Text - Hides/Shows any %%center or %%text based text annotations in the ABC in the generated notation.
Holding down the Shift key while clicking this button will strip the text annotations from the ABC itself.
Hide/Show Chords - Hides/Shows any chords entered in the ABC in the generated notation.
Holding down the Shift key while clicking this button will strip the chords from the ABC itself.
The ABC filtering buttons are enabled if Annotations, Text, or Chords are detected in the ABC.
Tab Name Settings: (only enabled if Mandolin, Bouzouki, Mandola, or Guitar tablature is being displayed).
Hide/Show Tab Names: Hides/Shows the instrument names and capo settings on the tablature.
When the tab instrument names are hidden, the spacing between the staves is somewhat reduced.
Hiding the tab names may, or may not, depending on the height of the staves, be useful for getting more staves on a single PDF page.
Capo Settings: (only enabled if Mandolin, Bouzouki, Mandola, or Guitar tablature is being displayed).
Capo - Allows you to set a capo setting from 0 to 12 frets for the Mandolin, Bouzouki, Mandola, or Guitar tablature.
Staff Display Settings:
Set Staff Spacing - Allows you to set a wider or narrower gap between the staffs.
A value of 0 corresponds to an ABC %%staffsep of 40
Staff and Title Spacing Overrides
The Staff Spacing value in the Advanced Controls can be easily overridden by setting a %%staffsep value in the ABC just below the tune header.
This can be very useful particularly for getting as much tab notation on a single page as possible.
Any spacing overrides must be applied on a tune-by-tune basis.
For the absolute minimum spacing between staffs, turn off the tab names, hide the tune annotations, and add the following just below the tune header:
%%staffsep 0
Try experimenting with different %%staffsep values until you get the result you want.
Setting the %%staffsep value manually too low may sometimes result in overlapping staff rendering.
To override the default space between the title and the first staff of music, you can add a custom %%musicspace value in the ABC just below the tune header, for example:
%%musicspace 10
Try experimenting with different %%musicspace values until you get the result you want.
All supported spacing parameters
Here is the full list of ABC spacing-related parameters available in abcjs:
%%topspace
%%titlespace
%%subtitlespace
%%composerspace
%%musicspace
%%partsspace
%%vocalspace
%%wordsspace
%%textspace
%%staffsep
%%sysstaffsep
Please refer to the official ABC 2.1 specification for more details.
Another good reference is this handy ABC 2.1 Quick Reference Card put together by Stephen Merrony:
Example of custom spacing:
Custom Font Overrides
As per the ABC 2.1 specification, custom font overrides are possible, giving you maximum control over the appearance of your notation.
Available ABC Font Annotations:
%%titlefont font-style size
%%subtitlefont font-style size
%%composerfont font-style size
%%partsfont font-style size
%%tempofont font-style size
%%gchordfont font-style size (used for chords symbols)
%%annotationfont font-style size (used for "^..." annotations)
%%infofont font-style size
%%textfont font-style size
%%vocalfont font-style size (used for for w:)
%%wordsfont font-style size (used for W:)
Generally, these will use the PostScript font-style naming convention, for example:
Times, Helvetica, Courier, Verdana, Times-Bold, Helvetica-Italic, etc.
The size parameter should be an integer, but is optional.
Place your font override annotations just below the X: and above the T: ABC tune headers.
For example:
X: 1
%%titlefont Palatino 30
%%infofont Palatino 18
%%gchordfont Palatino Bold 14
T: The Road to Lisdoonvarna
R: slide
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
K:Edor
D|:"Em"E2B B2A B2c d3|"D"F2A ABA D2E FED|
"Em"E2B B2A B2c d3|"D"cdc B2A "Em"B2E E3:|
|:"Em"e2f gfe "Bm"d2B Bcd|"A"c2A ABc "Bm"d2B B3|
"Em"e2f gfe "Bm"d2B Bcd|"A"cdc B2A "Em"B2E E3:|
Result:
Web Safe Fonts
The following "web safe" fonts at a minimum should be supported by all browsers:
Helvetica (sans-serif)
Trebuchet MS (sans-serif)
Gill Sans (sans-serif)
Verdana (sans-serif)
Times New Roman (serif)
Georgia (serif)
Palatino (serif)
Baskerville (serif)
Courier (monospace)
Monaco (monospace)
Bradley Hand (cursive)
Font availability varies with browser and platform. Many other fonts may be available on your system.
More information is available here:
Playing Your Tunes
To play a specific tune, click once (don't select) anywhere in the ABC for the tune and then click "Play".
The tool will automatically find the tune you've clicked on and send it to the abcjs Quick Editor for playback.
If there is a text selection in the ABC area, whatever is selected will be sent.
You can use this to send more than one tune to the abcjs Quick Editor
The abcjs Quick Editor only plays the first tune in it's own ABC editor.
If you select more than one tune in the ABC editor, and click "Play", you will need to edit the ABC in the abcjs Quick Editor editor to bring the tune you are interested in playing to the top.
The abcjs Quick Editor can also export MIDI and audio files of tunes.
Once you are happy with the playback, copy the ABC from the "abcjs Quick Editor tool, then paste the edited ABC back into this tool for further editing.
If you single-clicked and played one tune, the entire tune will be selected when you come back to the tool from the abcjs Quick Editor.
This makes it simple to paste any changes you might have made and copied from the abcjs Quick Editor.
Selecting the Instrument for Playback
You may select which instrument sound the abcjs Quick Editor uses for playback of your tunes.
By default, the instrument used is a piano.
To choose the sound when played, add an additional line to your ABC right after any headers and before the ABC notes, for example for a flute sound:
%%MIDI program 74
To change the instrument used for playback, change the MIDI program # above to one of:
74 - Flute, 49 - Fiddle, 23 - Accordion, 25 - Guitar, or 0 - Piano
For example:
X: 1
T: The Kesh
R: Jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
%%MIDI program 74
D|: GAG GAB | ABA ABd | edd gdd | edB dBA |
GAG GAB | ABA ABd | edd gdB |1 AGF G2D :|2 AGF G2A||
|: B2B dBd | ege dBA | BAB dBG | ABA AGA |
B2 B dBd | ege dBd | gfg aga |1 bgg g2A :|2 bgg g2D |]
Any General MIDI (level 1) instrument number can be selected.
Visit https://www.midi.org/specifications-old/item/gm-level-1-sound-set for the full list of MIDI instruments and their program numbers.
PDF Tunebook Settings
The tool has a powerful built-in PDF tunebook generator that provides more flexibility than the browser's print feature, particularly in the area of adding custom page headers and footers, title page, table of contents, or a tune index.
It can format PDF tunebooks with one or multiple tunes per page, something the native browser's Print command cannot accomplish.
The PDF generator also includes an option to append a Share URL QR code to the end of the PDF document.
All of this is done using custom ABC comment-based annotation (described below).
PDF Tunes/Page - Select whether you want One Tune/Page, Multiple Tunes/Page, or Tune Incipits in the PDF along with the paper size (Letter or A4):
One - Letter: Each tune is placed on a new page in the PDF. Paper size = Letter
Multiple - Letter: Tunes are added one after another down each page in the PDF. Paper size = Letter
Incipits - Letter: First line of each tune is added one after another down each page in the PDF. Paper size = Letter
One - A4: Each tune is placed on a new page in the PDF. Paper size = A4
Multiple - A4: Tunes are added one after another down each page in the PDF. Paper size = A4
Incipits - A4: First line of each tune is added one after another down each page in the PDF. Paper size = A4
Default is: One - Letter
When exporting multiple tunes per page to PDF the tool will do its best to layout the output to not split tunes between pages, unless the tune itself is longer than one page.
When exporting multiple tunes per page, if you want to manually force a tune to a new page in the PDF, add:
%%newpage
on a new line immediately at the end of tunes after which you want to force a page break.
This will allow you to easily format a tune book where you want to override the automatic tune layout.
PDF Tunebook Incipits:
Exporting a PDF tunebook with incipits allow you create a "cheat sheet" for the tunebook that includes just the first line of each tune.
The incipits can be in standard notation or any of the available tablatures.
Tune incipits are generated stripping all ABC annotation and for tablature, hiding the tablature name to try and fit as many tunes on one page as possible.
Additionally, manually inserted %%newpage requests are ignored for incipit generation.
How to get more tune incipits per page:
Print the resulting PDF from this tool to another PDF using the browser's (or other PDF tool) print feature and select 2 or 4 pages per page.
PDF Page Number Position Options:
Choose between: None, Top Left, Top Center, Top Right, Bottom Left, Bottom Center, Bottom Right, Top Left/Right, Top Right/Left, Bottom Left/Right, and Bottom Right/Left.
The Left/Right and Right/Left settings alternate the location between the left/right or right/left sides of the page for printing on both sides of the paper.
Default is: None
Show or Hide Page Number on First Page Options:
Choose whether the page number will be shown on the first page of the PDF.
Default is: Yes
PDF Page Headers and Footers
You may add custom page headers and footers to your exported PDF files by including the following ABC comment-based annotations anywhere in your ABC:
%pageheader (your header text goes here...)
%pagefooter (your footer text goes here...)
There are also several useful user macros you can include in your page header or footer text that will be expanded in the PDF:
$PDFNAME - Matches the saved PDF filename
$PAGENUMBER - Current page number
$DATEMDY - Current date in M-D-Y format
$DATEYMD - Current date in Y-M-D format
$TIME - Current time in HH:MM format
$TUNECOUNT - Number of tunes in the ABC
$TUNENAMES - All of the tune names in the ABC separated by /
The tune names width is limited to about 70 characters before it will append "+ (remaining number of tunes) more" to the first few tune names.
Example ABC with page header and page footer annotations that include user macros:
%pageheader "The Tarbolton" from the Michael Coleman set - Saved on $DATEMDY at $TIME
%pagefooter $PDFNAME - Page $PAGENUMBER
X:1
T:The Tarbolton
M:4/4
K:Edor
Beed e2BA|GBAF GFEF|Dddc d2AG|FAGE FEDF|
Eeed efge|fedf e2BA|GABG FGAF|BGAF GEE2:|
|:gfef gebe|gebe gfec|d2fd Adfd|cdAG FDEF|
GABG FGAF|E2ef gfed|BcdB A2FA|BGAF GEE2:|
Results in a PDF that looks like this:
Note: Only the first instance of the %pageheader or %pagefooter annotation is processed, any additional instances are ignored.
Page numbers can be added along with page headers and footers.
If you add a page header and you have selected top-centered page numbers, the page number will be hidden.
If you add a page footer and you have selected bottom-centered page numbers, the page number will be hidden.
Since these annotations are ABC comment-based, they will just appear to be normal comments in other ABC software.
Adding a PDF Title Page
To add a title page to your PDF tunebook, simply add the following comment-based annotation anywhere in the ABC:
%addtitle (your tunebook title text goes here...)
To add a smaller subtitle below the title on the title page, simply add the following comment-based annotation anywhere in the ABC:
%addsubtitle (your tunebook title page subtitle text goes here...)
Note: The subtitle only appears if a title page is requested.
For a title page with just a subtitle and no subtitle, just enter %addtitle with no text after it and then add %addsubtitle with your subtitle text.
As with the %pageheader and %pagefooter annotation, only the first instance of the %addtitle and %addsubtitle annotation is processed, any additional instances are ignored.
Adding a PDF Tunebook Table of Contents and Index
To add a table of contents to the start of of your PDF tunebook listing each tune name and page number, simply add the following comment-based annotation anywhere in the ABC:
%addtoc (your tunebook table of contents title text goes here...)
To append a tunebook index to the end of your PDF tunebook listing each tune name and page number, simply add the following comment-based annotation anywhere in the ABC:
%addindex (your tunebook index title text goes here...)
As with the %pageheader and %pagefooter annotation, only the first instance of the %addtoc and %addindex annotation is processed, any additional instances are ignored.
Printing Your Tunes
Overview of printing from the browser:
You may quickly print your tunes or generate a PDF using your browser's built-in print and PDF export features.
Tunes printed or exported from the browser are limited to one tune per page.
You may choose portrait or landscape orientation from your browser's print settings.
Additional advanced settings such as printing multiple-pages per page and setting custom margins may be available in your browser's print settings dialog.
Experiment with both the browser's print settings page orientation and "multiple page on one page" options to see what is possible.
Note:If you want to print a tunebook automatically formated with multiple tunes per page, you must use the tool's PDF Export feature described in the next section.
Sharing Controls
ABC Share URLs and QR Codes are a quick and easy way to share your ABC tunes with friends or to post tunes on social media sites.
Anyone with the ABC Share URL or QR Code can view, edit, save, and share their own copy of the tunes.
Share URLs and QR Codes also include the instrument selected, whether or not to show the top bar and links, display size, line spacing, PDF tunes/page setting, page number position, and page number on first page settings.
For Mandolin, Bouzouki, Mandola, and Guitar tablature, the link also includes the capo setting and whether or not to show the tablature name.
Share URL: Copying and pasting this link in a browser address bar will open the ABC Tools website and copy in the tune set ABC and tablature settings.
If the share URL link is too long to work in most browsers, the Share URL buttons will be disabled and you will see a message suggesting sharing fewer tunes.
Test Share URL - Opens the ABC Share URL in a new browser tab.
Copy Share URL - Copies the ABC Share URL to the system clipboard so you can easily paste it into social media posts, emails, or other tools.
Save Share URL - Saves the ABC Share URL to a text file.
The saved file will be in your browser's Downloads directory.
Generate QR Code - Once an ABC Share URL is generated, if it is short enough to fit in a QR code (less than 2600 characters), this button is activated.
The QR Code is a visual representation of an ABC Share URL that you can scan with the Camera app on your iOS or Android device.
Clicking the button will generate a QR code in .PNG format for the ABC Share URL and open it in a new browser tab.
In the newly opened tab, you can click the link below the image to save the QR code to your system.
ABC Share URL Examples
Clicking these ABC Share URL links, created with the tool, will launch the tool and load the listed tune set you can start working with immediately:
Three sets of polkas from the group "Sliabh Notes"
Michael Coleman set ("The Tarbolton" - "The Longford Collector" - "The Sailor's Bonnet")
"Muireann's" jig (by Niall Vallely) for Anglo Concertina
QR Code Example
Michael Coleman set ("The Tarbolton" - "The Longford Collector" - "The Sailor's Bonnet"):
Try scanning this code with the Camera app on your iOS or Android phone.
I have several example QR codes for tune sets on my Flickr account at:
ABC Tune Set QR Codes on Flickr
Adding a QR Code to the PDF Export
To append a QR code for your tune set as a final page on your PDF, add the following comment-based annotation anywhere in the ABC:
%qrcode
Note that the QR code page itself includes the PDF page header and footer but does not include a page number.
Here is an example of a tune set QR code included in the exported PDF:
Note: If a QR code has been requested, and the Share URL for the set of tunes is too long to generate a QR code (more than 2600 characters), you will see an informative message at the end of the PDF export suggesting sharing fewer tunes.
If you are able to generate a QR code in the Sharing Controls, then the Share URL is short enough to embed a QR code in a PDF.
Reading the QR Codes
All devices should easily be able to read the simpler QR codes generated for sets of one to three tunes.
Most iOS devices are able to read even the most complex QR codes generated by this tool using the built-in Camera app.
Some Android devices may have trouble reading the most complex codes with their built-in Camera app.
I suggest trying the free Google Lens app, available on the Google Play Store:
Shared Tunes Open Full Screen
Shared tunes, when opened from a Share URL or QR code, are initially displayed with the ABC Editor and controls hidden so you can see the music full-screen.
Click the Maximize/Minimize arrow to show the ABC Editor and controls.
iPhone/iPad Chord Entry Issue Fix
If you are trying to enter ABC chords, for example "D" or "Am", on an iPhone or iPad, iOS will, by default stick in "smart quotes" instead of standard double quotes.
To fix this, go into your device's Settings and under the General/Keyboard tab, and turn off "Smart Punctuation".
After you do this, you will be able to add standard double quotes.
ABC Specification
The full specification for ABC notation can be found at The ABC Music Standard 2.1 (Dec 2011)
ABC 2.1 Quick Reference Card
Download this handy ABC 2.1 Quick Reference Card put together by Stephen Merrony:
General MIDI Instrument List
Visit https://www.midi.org/specifications-old/item/gm-level-1-sound-set for the full list of MIDI instruments and their program numbers to use for choosing instruments in the abcjs Quick Editor for playback.
Donate
If you find my ABC Transcription Tools useful, please consider tossing a few bucks into one of my virtual tip jars:
PayPalhttps://paypal.me/MichaelEskin
Venmo@MichaelEskin
Support
Have an issue with a specific tune, want to report a bug, or suggest a new feature?
Click here: ABC Transcription Tools Support to go to the support page for the tool.