[linux-audio-user] abcmidi question

[Samuel S Chessman]

On Sat, 14 Dec 2002, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:

> from the documentation of abcmidi, i would think this would play a Dm7:
>
> X:1
> T: testing
> M:4/4
> L:1/4
> Q:1/4=40
> K:C
> "Dm7"
>
> but instead it gives absolute silence, and reports no errors.  do i need
> to do anything special to enable guitar chords with abcmidi?
>

This prints Dm7 on the score, but doesn't make a midi representation.

> at the very least, is there an alias scheme that i can use so i don't
> have to type [DFac] everytime i want a Dm7?

I play Dm7 [DAcf] :)  I don't think abc has a macro facility.
See http://abc.sourceforge.net/abcMIDI/abcguide.txt where the
%%MIDI gchord string is defined.  It says

<quote>
%%MIDI gchord string
sets up how guitar chords are generated. The string is a sequence made of
of z's, c's and f's for rests, chords and fundamental notes respectively.
This specifies how each bar is to be played. An optional length is allowed
to follow the z's, c's and f's  e.g. czf2zf3. If the abc contains guitar
chords, then abc2midi automatically adds chords and
fundamentals after encountering the first guitar chord. It keeps using that
chord until a new chord is specified in the abc.
<quote/>

I think you can get a reasonable walking bass line out of this.

Sam
-- 
   Sam Chessman                                         chessman (a) tux.org
    First do what's necessary, then what's possible, finally the impossible.