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Tab Transcriber
Version 1.01
User's Manual
(c) 1993 Michel Brazeau
Disclaimer
Although every effort has been put in Tab Transcriber to
ensure its reliability, the author makes no warranty of any kind,
either expressed or implied, including but not limited to implied
warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose,
with respect to the software, and the accompanying documentation.
In no event shall the author by liable for any consequential damages
(including damages for loss of business profit, business interruption,
loss of business information, or other pecuniary loss) arising from
the use of or inability to use this product, even if the author has
been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Table of Contents
Overview..........................................................2
Features..........................................................2
Tablature used in Tab Transcriber.................................3
Chord Symbols.....................................................4
Operation of Tab Transcriber......................................5
Operation Hints...................................................7
Future Releases ..................................................8
Registration......................................................9
Page 2
Overview
Welcome to Tab Transcriber (TT). This software will convert
the musical information contained in a standard midi file, to
guitar tablature.
TT can be used for different purposes. For the apprentice
guitarist, it provides a useful tool. A song can be listened to
with a sequencer and a midi set-up, at a reduced tempo if desired,
and with the guitar transcription it is very easy to follow along
in order to learn the song progressively. Another use of TT is to
adapt songs for guitar even if they were originally intended for
another instrument. It also provides an inexpensive way to acquire
a large repertoire of guitar transcription since many midi files
are available on computer bulletin boards.
Many programs such as sequencers and scoring software will
convert musical sequences to traditional musical notation. This is fine
for the well trained and disciplined guitarist, put many guitarists
have a limited sight reading ability, since sight reading for a
guitarist is not an easy task: the same note can sometimes be
located at five different positions on the fret board. Tablature is
a graphical system of notation which identifies notes to be played
by specifying both the string and fret position. It does not present
rhythm information, but if the song can be heard (the sequence can
be played on a sequencer), if is very easy to "pick up" the rhythm.
Features of Tab Transcriber
- Pitch bend detection.
- Vibrato modulation detection.
- Transposition of any track.
- Variable bend sensitivity.
- Editing features to modify the transcription according
to the taste of the player.
- Recognition of 27 different types of chords in all keys,
to provide for easy guitar arrangements.
Page 3
Tablature Explanation
Guitar tablature is used often by many guitar publications. It
is a fairly standard notation to many guitarists. Tablature will be
explained in this section as it applies to TT.
──────────────────────── high E string
──────────────────────── B "
──────────────────────── G "
──────────────────────── D "
──────────────────────── A "
──────────────────────── low E "
The horizontal lines represent the guitar strings in the
standard tuning.
On the strings appear numbers which indicate the fret position
where the note has to be played. Following is a small example of a
tablature transcription as used by TT.
C Em V B½
├─────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────
├──────────1──────┼─1──1──0──────────────────────────────────
├───────0─────0───┼─0──0──0──────────────────────────────────
├────2────────────┼─2──2──2──2──2────────────────────────────
├─3───────────────┼─3──3──2──────────────────────────────────
├─────────────────┼───────0──────────────────────────────────
1 2
The vertical lines indicate a change in measures. The numbers
below these lines indicate the bar number. In bar 1, the notes C,
E, G, C, G, are played successively.
If more than one note is played simultaneously, and the chord
name is identified, the chord symbol will appear above the
tablature lines. If a chord is played twice, the chord symbol is
not repeated (which is the case for the C major chord in bar 2).
Following the C major chord is an E minor chord. The V symbol
indicates that the note below it has to be modulated with a
vibrato. The B symbol is for a pitch bend: the following number is
the pitch value. ¼, ½, 1, 1½, indicate values for quarter, half,
full, and one and a half note bends, respectively.
Page 4
Chord Symbols used by TT
The examples are given with the tonic note C.
C : C major
Cm : C minor
C7 : C dominant seventh
Cm7 : C minor seventh
CM7 : C major seventh
Cdim : C diminished
C+ : C augmented
CM6 : C major sixth
Cm6 : C minor sixth
C7#5 : C seventh sharpened fifth
C7b5 : C seventh flattened fifth
C7b9 : C seventh flattened ninth
CM7b3 : C major seventh flattened third
Cm7b5 : C minor seventh flattened fifth
C7sus4 : C seventh suspended forth
C9 : C ninth
CM9 : C major ninth
Cm9 : C minor ninth
C9+ : C ninth augmented
C9#5 : C ninth sharpened fifth
C9b5 : C ninth flattened fifth
C11 : C eleventh
C11+ : C augmented eleventh
C13 : C thirteenth
C13b9 : C thirteenth flattened ninth
C13b9b5 : C thirteenth flattened ninth flattened fifth
C/D : C major with D bass note (can be any combined chord)
Page 5
Operation of Tab Transcriber
TT is menu driven with drop and drag menus. Click the left
mouse button on the menu selected, and then release the button on
the desired option.
Entering data: click on the left mouse button on the region where
the data is to be entered. Enter the data with the
keyboard. Click the right mouse button or press
Enter to accept the data. Press Esc to ignore the
changes. Page Up and Page Down clears the input.
For an example, try setting the song title from the
print menu.
File Operations:
New: clears the work space, the current contents in the
transcription are lost.
Load.mid: Loads a midi file in TT to be transcribed with the
transcribe option.
Load.gtr: Loads a file which contains a transcription. The
.gtr file format is used to save transcriptions. It
cannot be played back with a sequencer since it
does not contain any midi data.
Save.gtr: Saves a transcription in .gtr format to be used
later.
Shell: Temporarily leaves TT and gives the user access to
the operating system prompt. This is used to perform
other tasks while within TT. Type 'exit' and press
Enter to return to TT.
Edit: Pressing the left mouse button on edit puts TT in edit
mode if a file has been previously transcribed.
Since the same note can be played at different positions on
the fret board, TT allows the user to select where the notes are to
be played. Editing a note does not change the note itself, but only
where it is to be played.
TT tries to optimize the position of notes on the fret board,
by minimizing the movement of the player's left hand. TT may not
always place the notes where the user prefers to perform them. The
editing of notes is as follows:
left mouse button: moves a note up one string if possible.
right mouse button: moves a note down one string if possible.
Page 6
F9: moves all the notes on a string up if possible.
F10: moves all the notes on a string down if possible.
The key Home goes to the first page, End to the last, Page Up
to the next, and Page Down to the previous.
To return to the menu mode both mouse buttons have to be
pressed simultaneously.
Print Operations:
Print Song: Prints the current transcription according to
the options currently selected.
Select Pages: Selects the pages to be printed. It is
important to remember that two screen pages
will fit on one page, and the values are
inclusive.
Set Title: Sets the title that will appear on the
printout.
Destination: The transcription can be printed to the
printer or to a file. When printing to a file
the user specifies a filename. The file
printout allows the transcription to be edited
further (such as adding lyrics) with a word
processor. It can then be printed from a word
processor. The output format specifies if regular
ASCII characters or extended ASCII characters are
used for the printout. Some printers and word processors
may not support the extended character set.
Page Numbers: Selects if page numbers are appear on the
printout or not.
Transcribe:
Once a midi file is loaded any track contained within the midi
file can be transcribed. After the transcribe option has been
selected, a track is chosen among the list. The transpose value is
the number of semitones that the song will be transposed. The bend
sensitivity value is used for pitch bends only. This value is the
number of semitones of pitch change per pitch bend range. The value
is usually two on most sound sources and synthesizers. To change
this value accurately, the user needs to know the bend sensitivity
that was used when the original midi file was created.
Page 7
Operation Hints
Transcribing chords: Some midi sequences have the chords spit
on different tracks. So before using TT,
these tracks should be combined with a
sequencer.
Transcribing bass lines: A bass guitar is usually tuned the same
as the guitar's lowest four strings but
one octave lower. Simply transcribe the
bass line with a transpose value of 12,
and edit the notes so that they are on
the lowest four strings.
Type 0 midi files: Type 0 midi files usually have more than one
musical part in one track. To avoid this, a
sequencer could be used to separate each
musical part ( they are usually on different
midi channels ) and saved the resulting song
as a type 1 midi file.
Page 8
Future Releases
For future releases, new features are currently examined:
1. Variable Tunings - have the user select the tuning
of every string on the guitar
2. Chord Replacement - A chord database will be set up in
order to replace any chord, for a
different chord shape. This will
simplify arranging songs for guitar
transcriptions. The chord database
could be maintained by the used who
he/she could customized the chord
dictionary.
Please send your suggestions!
Page 9
Registration
You are given a trial period of 30 days to evaluated this
software. After this trial period, if you continue using TT, you must
register by contributing 30$ to the author. You will receive a registered
version and serial number. For quantities of 10 copies and above the
price is 20$ per/copy. Specify the disk format ( 5¼" or 3½" ), and make
sure to include your return address, when ordering. Residents outside the
U.S. or Canada add 5$ for shipping. Your suggestions are welcomed.
Postal Address
Michel Brazeau
16 Ste-Madeleine
Rigaud, Quebec
J0P 1P0
Canada
Email: Internet ( until April 1994 )
m_braze@PAVO.Concordia.CA
