I suppose this should be a new topic, but, since it's kinda related and this thread hasn't seen any responses anyway, I figure it would be okay to post here. (For some reason, I have an aversion to starting new threads.)The differences between LotRO ABC and "standard" ABC are something I occasionally try to puzzle out. (But I usually just give up and try to find another way to do whatever it was I wanted.)
Like most LotRO arrangers, I do most of my note-level and measure-level editing in a MIDI sequencer (because directly modifying ABC notation with a text editor is generally pretty cumbersome.) For that, I typically use Anvil Studio in "piano roll" view (not just because I'm not so good at sight reading staff notation, but also because, especially when one is not actually *composing*, that seems to me a more logical way of looking at note sequences intended for computer playback).
I frequently find myself in situations in which I have an ABC file that I need to modify but editing the MIDI would be inconvenient or not even an option (perhaps there have already been post-transcription changes to the ABC, I cannot locate my source MIDI, or maybe I even never had the source MIDI for it in the first place). As an example, someone recently gave me an ABC, but I find that the vocal track is pretty inaccurate. Because I do not have access to her source MIDI, and LotRO ABC usually cannot be viewed in music composition software, I'm pretty much stuck with deciphering the ABC code visually and entering the track note-by-note into a composition programme to create a MIDI track that I can edit graphically.
Also, if I wish to make note- or measure-level changes to a LotRO song (such as insert a note, move/delete sections, change the octave of a couple measures, usw) and have those changes reflected in the MIDI (so that I won't have to re-do them after every time I re-transcribe), I have to edit the MIDI in my sequencer, then open the output in my transcoder (usually Maestro), reapply my instrument assignments and track volume/transposition settings, and re-transcode it to an ABC file. That's a lot of work to do each and every time I make some tweaks, especially if I'm just changing a few notes at a time. Thus, I sometimes just do it directly in the ABC notation using a text editor...and hope I remember what I did if I ever need to work with the source MIDI file again.
My life would be *way* easier if there was an editing application that could natively work with LotRO ABC and present the tracks in a note/section-editable piano-roll view. But, of course, it's pretty darn unlikely that anyone will ever develop such specifically for LotRO ABC.
Absent that sort of programme, there are some MIDI editors that can import (and, of course, export) ABC files. However, they are only designed for *standard* ABC, and, if they can even successfully import LotRO ABC at *all*, the results are often way off from what was intended. (And, of course, one also loses the LotRO instrument associations.) Likewise, the output is not LotRO-playable.
Thus, what I'm hoping to find is something that can translate LotRO ABC to standard ABC (adjusting for problem areas, such as LotRO-ABC-specific conventions, and filling in any expected information that is missing in LotRO ABC that might otherwise cause the editor's importer to make some incorrect assumptions) and, conversely, convert a standard ABC into a LotRO ABC (eliminating any unsupported elements and perhaps asking for the desired LotRO instrument names, track IDs, and header information).
With a tool like that, I could more easily work with LotRO songs for which I lack the MIDI, without needing to decipher ABC notation. Also, even if I *do* have the source file, I could just ignore the source and easily make simple modification without ever again needing to bother with editing the MIDI and re-transcoding it every time I want to change something. (Even if it would still require me to do some copy-paste and corrections with a text editor to complete the process, it still might be more convenient than repeatedly retranscribing.)
Has anyone ever developed such? Either as a standalone LotRO-to-standard/standard-to-LotRO translator application or as import and export filter plugins for use with one of the popular MIDI editors?
