The ABC Plus Project


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Introduction

One of my hobbies is music: I play folk and early music on a bunch of wind instruments and guitar. I find that the ABC music notation language is a wonderful tool to typeset sheet music. ABC is one of the best designed, easy to use, well-thought out, and nicely implemented notation formats I've ever seen. It's an excellent alternative to other good notation languages like GNU Lilypond, or MusiXTeX, or Philip's Music Writer. You can write music in a very simple ASCII format and convert it to MIDI, or typeset it to make professional-looking scores.

ABC was originally designed for simple melodies, but there have been efforts to extend the notation. The ABC Music Standard is now at version 2.2, and supports polyphony and lots of other features.

Some ABC applications implement most of the the ABC 2 language; low-level details (formatting and MIDI effects) are supported too. The purpose of the ABC Plus project is to provide software and documentation for this extended ABC release. This is an example of classical music written in ABC Plus; it sounds like this. What I informally call ABC Plus is, in practice, the current implementation of ABC 2.

This site provides binaries for FOSS, multiplatform ABC 2 applications only. Please refer to the ABC page for a complete list of available software.

All binaries, included those in RPM and deb packages, were built on a GNU/Linux Mint 21.1 box with Cosmopolitan libc (cosmocc 3.3 compiler). Cosmopolitan makes these static binaries truly multiplatform: they will run on GNU/Linux, macOS, Windows, *BSD, and BIOS on both AMD64 and ARM64 architectures. Cosmopolitan is beyond awsome!


A couple of notes.

First of all: please note that I am not the author of abcm2ps, abc2svg, abcmidi, and EasyABC. I wish I were such a great programmer! I just provide the packages or the links. Please refer to the authors for any questions.

Secondly: please refer to The ABC Notation software page for a full and quite long list of ABC software.

Finally: please, please, don't write to me asking how to do this or that. I've run out of time. I recommend that you join the abcusers mailing list, and ask questions there. Thanks!


Making Music with ABC 2

I have written a manual that explains how to write music using ABC 2. It focuses on using abcm2ps, abc2svg, abcmidi, and the ABC/MusicXML translators, but most of the information it contains can be applied (at least to some extent) to all ABC applications. Many thanks to Norman Schmidt who helped me translate parts of the manual.

I release this manual under the GNU Free Documentation License 1.3. This basically means that it's free and that you can freely modify it, as long as you make your modifications publicly available.

Read the manual here or download the latest release (please report errors and omissions!):

Previous versions:

I rely on your feedback to fix errors and omissions, and in general to make this manual more useful. Please feel free to make translations!

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Some ABC 2 choral music

As a demonstration of the capabilities of ABC 2, I have prepared a few examples of choral sheet music. They're free to use and share. Please report bugs, should you find any.

All scores include this choral.abc file. MusicXML files were created with Wim Vree's abc2xml version 79. The sources are compatible with both abcm2ps and abc2svg.

Description ABC PDF MIDI MusicXML
"Ave Maria"
Jacob Arcadelt (c. 1514-1557)
Ave_Maria_Arcadelt.abc Ave_Maria_Arcadelt.pdf Ave_Maria_Arcadelt.mid Ave_Maria_Arcadelt.xml
"Ave Maria"
Nicolas Gombert (c. 1490-1560)
Ave_Maria_Gombert.abc Ave_Maria_Gombert.pdf Ave_Maria_Gombert.mid Ave_Maria_Gombert.xml
"Ave Maria"
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)
Ave_Maria_Palestrina.abc Ave_Maria_Palestrina.pdf Ave_Maria_Palestrina.mid Ave_Maria_Palestrina.xml
"Ave Regina Coelorum"
Guillaume Dufay (c. 1400-1474)
Ave_Regina_Coelorum.abc Ave_Regina_Coelorum.pdf Ave_Regina_Coelorum.mid Ave_Regina_Coelorum.xml
"Ave Verum"
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Ave_Verum.abc Ave_Verum.pdf Ave_Verum.mid Ave_Verum.xml
"Il bianco e dolce cigno"
Jacob Arcadelt (c. 1514-1557)
Bianco_Dolce_Cigno.abc Bianco_Dolce_Cigno.pdf Bianco_Dolce_Cigno.mid Bianco_Dolce_Cigno.xml
"Son questi i crespi crini"
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
Son_questi.abc Son_questi.pdf Son_questi.mid Son_questi.xml
"Coro della notte"
Pietro Alessandro Yon (1866-1943)
Coro_Della_Notte.abc Coro_Della_Notte.pdf Coro_Della_Notte.mid Coro_Della_Notte.xml
"Gaudeamus igitur"
music by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Gaudeamus_Igitur.abc Gaudeamus_Igitur.pdf Gaudeamus_Igitur.mid Gaudeamus_Igitur.xml
"Halleluia"
Philipp Heinrich Erlebach (1657-1714)
Halleluja_Erlebach.abc Halleluja_Erlebach.pdf Halleluja_Erlebach.mid Halleluja_Erlebach.xml
"Magnificat" (RV. 610 in Re minore)
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Magnificat.abc Magnificat.pdf Magnificat.mid Magnificat.xml
"O sacrum convivium"
Andrea Gabrieli (c. 1510-1586)
O_Sacrum_Convivium.abc O_Sacrum_Convivium.pdf O_Sacrum_Convivium.mid O_Sacrum_Convivium.xml
"O vos omnes"
Carlo Gesualdo (c. 1561 - 1613)
O_Vos_Omnes.abc O_Vos_Omnes.pdf O_Vos_Omnes.mid O_Vos_Omnes.xml
"Otche nash" (Pater Noster)
Nikolai Kedrov Sr. (1871-1954)
Otche_Nash.abc Otche_Nash.pdf Otche_Nash.mid Otche_Nash.xml
"Pater Noster"
Igor F. Stravinskij (1882-1971)
Pater_Noster.abc Pater_Noster.pdf Pater_Noster.mid Pater_Noster.xml
"Selig sind die Toten"
Heinrich Schutz (1585-1672)
Selig_Sind_Die_Toten.abc Selig_Sind_Die_Toten.pdf Selig_Sind_Die_Toten.mid Selig_Sind_Die_Toten.xml
"Tourdion"
Pierre Attaignant (c.1494 - c.1551)
Tourdion.abc Tourdion.pdf Tourdion.mid Tourdion.xml
"Unendliche Freude"
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Unendliche_Freude.abc Unendliche_Freude.pdf Unendliche_Freude.mid Unendliche_Freude.xml

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An ABC package for LaTeX

Prof. Enrico Gregorio (University of Verona, Italy) has written a LaTeX package for including ABC/ABC Plus music in LaTeX documents. Thanks a lot!

The package is available from all CTAN mirrors, e.g. http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/abc/. Here's a local copy.


ABC command line tools bundles

The following archives contain the latest abcm2ps, abcmidi, abcpp, and abc2prt binaries:

abctools-20240321-cosmo.zip multiplatform binaries


abc2svg Scripts and Offline Webapp

The great ABC scorewriter abc2svg can be used in three ways:

The latter is quite handy: it turns abc2svg to a portable app that can be run from, say, a pendrive. All you need is a web browser, and there you are: ABC music on the go!

The GNU/Linux packages provide the commands abcjsc, abcmjs, abcnode, abcjqs, and abctopdf. A JavaScript engine must be installed; a multiplatform QuickJS package is provided for your convenience.

Version 1.22.14:

  New stable release
abc2svg-1.22.14-1.noarch.rpm RPM package
abc2svg-1.22.14-1.src.rpm source RPM
abc2svg_1.22.14-1_all.deb deb package
abc2svg-1.22.14.zip offline webapp. To run the abc2svg editor, unzip the archive then click on abc2svg.xhtml.
quickjs-20240113-cosmo.zip multiplatform QuickJS package


abcm2ps binaries

  New stable release
abcm2ps-8.14.15-11-cosmo.zip multiplatform binary, without Pango support.
abcm2ps_8.14.15-11_all.deb convenience deb package, for all platforms.
abcm2ps-8.14.15-11.noarch.rpm convenience RPM package, for all platforms.
abcm2ps-8.14.15-11.src.rpm source RPM

While you could use the binary included in the zip file, deb and RPM packages are provided for convenience. They contain the same binary as the zip file.

No Pango support, sorry. Please use SVG + XHTML output or switch to abc2svg if you need to display UTF-8 text.


abcm2ps/abc2svg extensions

An exciting feature of abcm2ps and abc2svg is the possibility of writing extensions as PostScript or SVG code. Some of the ABC files included in the abcm2ps distribution include some examples of such extensions.

I have gathered some code and written a few .fmt files. I remind you that to use the code in external .fmt files one has to write this command line:

abcm2ps file.abc -F formatfile

where formatfile refers to the file formatfile.fmt. In addition to format files, one could also write so-called header files (extension .abh) that can be included in ABC sources using %%abc-include. Optimally, they could be used by both abcm2ps and abc2svg.

There you are a list of my .fmt files, which will grow as I finish writing and testing them.

itachords.fmt

itachords-caps.fmt

Accompaniment chords using Italian note names (Do Re Mi).

Written by Jean-François Moine.

demo-itachords.pdf

demo-itachords.abc

guitarchords.fmt Guitar chords diagrams, version 1.3.

demo-guitarchords.pdf

demo-guitarchords.abc

percussions.abh Percussion notes.

These maps work in abcm2ps, abc2svg, and abc2xml.

demo-percussions.pdf

demo-percussions.abc

newheads.fmt This format file provides slender black note heads, i.e. less round than the default shape. Version 1.4. For abcm2ps-8.* only.

demo-newheads.pdf

demo-newheads.zip

dacapo.abh This header file provides missing decorations:
D.C.alcoda, D.C.alfine, D.S.alcoda, D.S.alfine, dacapo, dacoda.

demo-dacapo.pdf

demo-dacapo.abc

bravura.fmt This format file uses the Bravura font, redefines dynamics glyphs, and provides a few extensions.
Version 1.3, for abcm2ps-8.* only.

demo-bravura.pdf

demo-bravura.zip

smufl.fmt Extension to bravura.fmt to use any SMuFL-compliant music font.
Version 1.3, for abcm2ps-8.* only.

demo-smufl.pdf

demo-smufl.zip

deco-marks.fmt Position marks. Obsolete: should be rewritten to make it work on both abcm2ps and abc2svg. demo-marks.pdf
renaissance.fmt Format file for Renaissance music, by Eric Forgeot charlotte.pdf
thinlines.fmt Draw thinner lines n/a
ps.zip Lots of new decorations and symbols, by David Lacroix Symbols.pdf

SpecialHeadsAndMarks.pdf

Easy Notes Easy notes: note heads including the note name. By Jeremy Cowgar. easynotes.png

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abcmidi binaries

The latest version is available as source from http://ifdo.ca/~seymour/runabc/top.html.

abcmidi-20240321-cosmo.zip multiplatform binaries
abcmidi_20240321-1_all.deb convenience deb package, for all platforms
abcmidi-20240321-1.noarch.rpm convenience RPM package, for all platforms
abcmidi-20240321-1.src.rpm source RPM

While you could use the binaries included in the zip file, deb and RPM packages are provided for convenience. They contain the same binaries as the zip file.

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EasyABC

screenshot EasyABC loading an ABC collection. Click to enlarge.

EasyABC is an open source ABC editor for Windows, macOS and Linux. It uses abcm2ps and abc2midi, and it has a rich feature list. Most notably, it can import MusicXML files and export tunes in SVG format.

EasyABC sources and binaries for Windows and macOS can be downloaded from this page: http://sourceforge.net/projects/easyabc/files/

Sorry, this package does not work out of the box on GNU/Linux. And I give up - I can't find a reliable way to make it work. Please bug the EasyABC maintainers!

easyabc_20240109-1_all.deb binary for Debian. You'll also need python3-wxgtk*, python3-wxgtk-media*, python3-pygame, and python3-pyparsing.
easyabc-20240109-1.noarch.rpm latest release for RPM-based distributions
easyabc-20240109-1.src.rpm source RPM

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abcpp

abcpp is a simple yet powerful preprocessor designed for, but not limited to, ABC music files. It provides conditional output, macros, symbol renaming, and file inclusion. I wrote it for two reasons: first, I wanted to overcome incompatibilities between ABC packages; secondly, I wanted to be able to write portable and more readable ABC files.

Inspired by the C and S-Lang ( http://www.s-lang.org) preprocessor, abcpp supports some directives that allow you to play a few tricks. You write your ABC music files with directives lines like #define or #ifdef, defining macros or excluding portions of text according to specific conditions. Then you preprocess your file with abcpp, producing an output file suitable for each ABC application or voice. Interestingly, abcpp is actively used with MusiXTeX-related programs.

In a nutshell, have your ABC cake and eat it too!

Download abcpp

Version 1.4.6:

abcpp-1.4.6.tar.gz sources
abcpp-1.4.6-cosmo.zip multiplatform binary

The source archive also contains the documentation. Many thanks to the developers who sent me patches!

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abc2prt

abc2prt is a simple tool to extract parts from multivoice ABC music files.

I wrote it because it's often desirable to give singers their own part in addition to the complete score. I know that Perl scripts exist that do the trick, and Unix users will be happy with them. However, installing Perl on a Windows machine only for running a script is quite an overkill.

abc2prt is a command line tool. Usage is

$ abc2prt -v voicename [inputfile] [outputfile]

If inputfile and outputfile are not specified, abc2prt will use standard input and standard output. An example is

$ abc2prt -v TII music.abc music-tii.abc

which will output the whole header and all the lines that belong to the voice defined as V:TII, including w: lines. At most five -v fields are allowed.

If there's enough request, I'll write a graphical version. The multivoice extensions were written by Matthew K. Junker, junker at alum dot mit dot edu. Many thanks, Matthew!

Download abc2prt

abc2prt-1.0.2.tar.gz sources
abc2prt-1.0.2-cosmo.zip multiplatform binary

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This site is maintained by Guido Gonzato, Ph.D.

For information, suggestions, etc, please drop me a line: guido.gonzato at gmail.com


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Made with Jed Abcplus at SourceForge.net