Using Tabledit with Lilypond

[Roger Hardin]

I know a lot of you guys on the Chetboard use Tabledit software and many of you create your own tabs with the registered version. Over time I have been torn betweens uing tabledit, or some of the so called big boy apps that are capable of creating beautiful engraving suitable for print. I don't mean to imply that tabledit is not suitable for creating print media, Larry Kuhns has demonstrated the abilities of tabledit to do first class work. Tabledit for me is a great tool for learning music and creating tabs on the computer. It's so much easier than anyting else I have tried.

A few weeks ago I started looking at a program called Lilypond. The purpose of this free open source app is to create first class music engraving. That is all they do. This allows them to concentrate on the engraving engine while other software programs or users generate the code for the notation. If you are a geek you will love the fact that you can create all of your notation using a simple text editor. The progarm has unlimited possibilities for changing the look of the notation and text on the page. However there is a learning curve and you have to generate the code with a text file, or another app that is capable of this task. Since I would prefer something easier, I emailed Matthieu Leschemelle at tabledit and thought I would give him something to work on for the next update. Of course Matthieu replys saying tabledit has been exporting to Lilypond for 2 years now and nobody uses it. Today Matthieu sent me a link to a new Lilypond page on his website. I think Matthieu is dedicated to making the export to Lilypond file a great experience for those that appriciate the aesthetics of printed music.

http://www.tabledit.com/screen/lilypond.shtml

Learn about Lilypond at http://lilypond.org

So Now we have the best of both worlds. Use the easiest input method I know of, Tabledit, along with a true music engraving engine that is absolutely free, Lilypond. Thanks Matthieu at Tabledit for making this happen.

[John Knowles]

Roger, This looks like a big deal. I looked at Lily Pond several years ago. The music notation was beautiful but entering music as text was too strange for me. Keep me in the loop as you work in TablEdit and Lily Pond.

[Roger Hardin]

Roger, This looks like a big deal. I looked at Lily Pond several years ago. The music notation was beautiful but entering music as text was too strange for me. Keep me in the loop as you work in TablEdit and Lily Pond.

I will keep you up to date John

Take Care.

[LarryK]

Roger,

After you emailed me last week, I have been experimenting the TablEdit Lilipond export. Your tip to use a previous version helped me determine why my tabs weren't being converted. The previous version didn't hang up and gave me a description as to what the errors were. What was happening is the barre chord indicators are not being exported correctly.

This weekend I completed a Howard Heitmeyer arrangement of "Serenade In Blue". As you mentioned, TablEdit is the quickest way to create music notation and tab. This arrangement took me 2 to 2-1/2 hours to complete. Below are links to three samples. The first is my original with all the bells and whistles (fret hand fingerings, articulations, etc.). The second is a modified TablEdit version with the barre chord symbols removed so it would compile in Lilipond, and the third is the output from Lilipond.

1: My TablEdit Original Notation
2: TablEdit Notation Modified for Lilipond Export
3: Lilipond Notation

Most of the differences between sample two (TablEdit) and sample three (Lilipond) are a result of the TablEdit export not being complete. You'll notice the Lilipond notation is spaced much closer and there are more measures per system. Some of this can be explained by the missing fret hand fingerings in the Lilipond notation. I could also reduce the spacing on the TablEdit notation by changing the "Proportional Note Spacing" from -2 to -5. Matthieu sent me a sample this weekend with fret hand fingerings in the Lilipond notation, but neither of us liked the result. By default Lilipond adds them above/below the notation staff. He could change the export to add them left/right/above/below the note heads so it would look like what I have done in TablEdit.

I frequently add a middle voice to the notation. An example is the last two beats of measure 2, although it is not 100% correct as I do not have a complete count for the middle voice. I could add a half-note rest on beat one to complete the count, but that just adds clutter. Fortunately, TablEdit allows me to do this. My guess is this would be very difficult for Matthieu to add to the Lilipond export.

Some noticeable differences that I believe to be Lilipond:

1: The slur curves in some measures are not correct (see measures 27 & 28)
2: The "A" on beat 4 of measure 28 has a natural and a flat symbol. This I have never seen except in key signature changes, although it may be correct.
3: The "G" on the first half of beat four in measure 28 should have a natural symbol. This however I believe is an omission in the TablEdit export. If an "!" is added before the "G" in the text file, I think Lilipond would add the natural symbol.

Overall, Lilipond creates exceptionally nice notation with no note or symbol collisions. Thus it does not require adding spacing markers like I have to do with TablEdit to avoid collisions. If I wasn't currently working on another project with Matthieu, I would probably document what It would take to make the TablEdit export more complete.

Larry

[Roger Hardin]

If I wasn't currently working on another project with Matthieu, I would probably document what It would take to make the TablEdit export more complete.

Roger, This looks like a big deal.

Larry, Just saying. Priorities!

Kidding

Hope you finish that project soon.

Thanks

[Doug_H]

LOL! Yeah, Roger, that hint about needing to use an older version of Lilypond would have been helpful before I spent a couple of frustrating hours trying to find a Tabledit file it would work with last night. But I figured it out when I opened a Lilypond export in Notepad and noticed the version it was exported for. I had been using the latest greatest stable version of Lilypond, 2.14, and the Tabledit export was for version 2.10 (a 9Meg difference in the install files so I figured it wasn't a trivial difference). So I uninstalled Lilypond and reinstalled with version 2.10...Voila!!! It works!

Here's another hint: On a Windows system (can't speak for any other OS) you'll want to open your exported Lilypond file in Notepad to change the header title for the pdf before you generate it. It's easy to find. Otherwise, the header on your pretty pdf file will just be the filename of the Tabledit file, complete with the '.tef' extension. Also, you might need to rename your instrument modules in Tabledit to just a null string (blank). Otherwise, Lilypond will try to print the module name and apparently doesn't allow enough characters to do it in some cases...so you get this straggling partial name that looks funky. As an alternative, you can rename the module to something shorter in the Lilypond file before generating the pdf.

I haven't had time to investigate further, but will definitely keep up with reports here. I realize this is a little geeky for most people, but kind of right up my alley. lol.. Thanks Roger and Larry.

[Roger Hardin]

HI Doug

Sorry I didn't post the info about the version. I just didn't think about it. A few more tips. You can also scroll down to the bottom of the text file before creating the pdf, and delete the entire line with the instrument name. Another thing if you haven't found out already is there are style sheets for this and Mark up stuff. Just read about them have not tried. Another tip, find some of the source files online and copy, paste and edit just like with web stuff. Also do a search for Frescolbaldi text editor (disigned for Lilypond. http://frescobaldi.org/ I like to use notepad++ myself.

Doug, I can see someone like you doing all of your tab work from a notepad file. Don't do that. Folks like me need the tabledit user interface.

Take Care

[Doug_H]

HaHa! Thanks for the extra tips, Roger. I wasn't aware of the style sheets and such. I'll have to look into that. I discovered that I could hack in a title by the tab line by adding a line..

\set TabStaff.instrumentName="TAB"

where it sets up the tab section. Here's a first attempt on something short, but it needs a lot of work.

http://hendrixmusic.com/tab/Intro.pdf

http://hendrixmusic.com/tab/Intro.mid

Yeah, there's no danger of me doing it with just a text editor. Though I used to enter midi keyboard lines one note at a time without a keyboard for input in orchestration programs...and it sounded awful. lol!

Thanks alot for turning me on to yet another thing I will eat up way too much time with.

[EDIT]
PS- I use these intros ...and a lot more stuff to tie together a medley of

Deep River Blues
Tongue Twister (by John Knowles) ...and
Jiffy Jam (but I call my version Jiffy Spam since I've messed with it so much...the 'core' is still there)

...and I call the medley 'Deep Tongue Jam'..

[Roger Hardin]

Thanks Doug. those files look good. The Deep tune does not have a link. Can you also post the .ly file if you don't mind. That would be great. I really like what you did with the tab and staff.

You-re off and running. Hey, I don't regret turning you onto this. There are worse things to waste time with.

Thanks

[Doug_H]

Ah...yes, I just 'underlined' the title for Deep Tongue Jam; there isn't a link. Though I've been working on a tab for the whole medley it's only half done...and I wouldn't be comfortable releasing it without John Knowles' and Jerry's estate's permission. I think Deep River Blues is probably public domain. I could be wrong about that.

Here is the ly file... http://hendrixmusic.com/tab/Intro.ly

Agreed...there are worse things...and I'll probably find those too. LOL!