Maestro MIDI to ABC converter for LOTRO

[Digero]

Digero,

Thank you for the updated Maestro with Bassoons! It's a fantastic little program, one that I have enjoyed for many years.

I have noticed that the volumes between the Maestro and ABC player differ, could you be able to tell me which one if more true to the in game volume levels?

If not I'll just make a few testers and find out for myself.

Cheers mate!

Interesting. Is this new with v2.5, or do you recall if it existed in 2.4 as well? There shouldn't be any difference in volume between the two, but it does sound to me that Maestro is louder than ABC Player.

It's possible that there's something wrong with the fix I did in 2.4 to remove the Chorus/Reverb MIDI effects from the preview in Maestro. Java's MIDI player has chorus and reverb effects on by default, which make it sound louder but they don't match how the game sounds. I tried to turn them off but perhaps it's not working...

I'll look into it when I have some time. I logged https://github.com/digero/maestro/issues/15 to track it.

[Casilune]

I do not recognize a Brusque Bassoon...where does that come from?

[zedrock]

I do not recognize a Brusque Bassoon...where does that come from?

Hi,

Take it as a preview. Brusque Bassoon will be added during the Yule fest.

For once Maestro is ahead of an update^^

./toasts

Zed'

[Mar-Evayave]

No problem.

A note though:
The stereo in Maestro messes up our ability to properly tune the volumes, as its hard to hear the volume of instruments that are panned differently.
Hope you will consider a stereo toggle option for Maestro ala. ABCPlayer, remove stereo in Maestro or at least make the panning much less. That would increase our ability to tune the songs better.

Glad you are back, I will stop working on Maestro, now that you are back.

I recently upgraded my Maestro and ABC Player (last time I updated was before violins and bassoons) and after some testing I have found that sometimes instruments heavily favor one side or the other. I am assuming this relates to the above bug regarding panning. The bug was present before the new instruments was presented, I just don't think it was noticeable as much with the vanilla instruments. I only noticed it after extensively switching between the violins. None of the other instrument types were on both sides of the fence (as you'll see in the list below), yet some of the violins favored left and some favored right, which is how I noticed it.

I have a 3-piece song that I composed. It is designed to feature a flute, a harp, and a violin. Prior to violins, I substituted in a clarinet and of course used the vanilla harp and flute. Now that we have extra instruments, I have been playing around with different instrument combinations. My preferred selection for this song is the MM Harp, the Basic Flute, and the LM Fiddle.

Left pan dominant:
All "Bowed Strings" category EXCEPT Sprightly (see below)
Basic Flute
Basic Bagpipe
Both Harps

Right pan dominant:
Traveller's Trusty Fiddle
Sprightly Fiddle
All bassoons
Basic Clarinet
Both Lutes
Basic Theorbo*
Basic Horn*
Basic Pibgorn*

*-Felt closer to equalization than the rest.

I generally dislike when instruments aren't panned equally to both ears/speakers (despite what the ear doctors said last time my hearing was checked, it makes me feel out of balance) and would greatly like to see the ability to manually pan instruments. When listening to the original midi, the instruments are panned equally and then the moment I switch to the LOTRO ABC instruments, they pan off to either side depending on which instrument I am using.

I do not know how noticeable (if at all) it is in-game, but I greatly enjoy using a combination of Anvil Studio, Maestro and ABC Player to create music for uses outside of LOTRO and would love to see the panning equalized.

Thanks for the great work on this project!

[linkofgondor]

could anyone give me a quick installation guide to installing the Lame the free MP3 encoder? I have downloaded the 3.100 Tar.gz files then extracted using WinRar...and all I got is a few files with a batch file. do i need a different file? Help!!!

[Altair6]

could anyone give me a quick installation guide to installing the Lame the free MP3 encoder? I have downloaded the 3.100 Tar.gz files then extracted using WinRar...and all I got is a few files with a batch file. do i need a different file? Help!!!

Not a program I'm familiar with but it does say on the Sourceforge site that you can only get the source code from there. If you want an executable file that uses Lame you have to look here - http://lame.sourceforge.net/links.php

Maybe WinLame? https://winlame.sourceforge.io/

[Ergil]

Thanks a lot! With midi-collection at midi.ru your program best for my weekend!

[Belriel]

I haven't used Maestro for a week or so. Today, I start it up and get a message that it requires Java 7.0 32 bit or higher. I have Java 8 64 bit. I have uninstalled and reinstalled both Java and Maestro, restarted the comp. Any suggestions?

[Ariwen55]

I would love to have an uncomplicated way to turn an MP3 into an abc file.

I have music I absolutely love but don't have the patience to use some of the programs out there.

[Cloudster]

The Wiki hasn't been updated, and all I can find are references to Windows pathing which aren't valid on a Mac.

I'd greatly appreciate some help! I have one Windows laptop, but normally play on Mac equipment.


Thanks!

[Cloudster]

I would love to have an uncomplicated way to turn an MP3 into an abc file.

I have music I absolutely love but don't have the patience to use some of the programs out there.

I don't have a direct recommendation, but I think what you'll need to do is convert your MP3 first to MIDI, then use Maestro to convert it to ABC. I am not an expert, but I've been working with Maestro and ABC for a week or so and they're pretty easy for basic stuff.

There's an excellent tutorial on ABC at http://www.lesession.co.uk/abc/abc_notation.htm, but LOTRO doesn't implement the full language, so it's easy to do something in your notation that doesn't parse.

[Cloudster]

I would love to have an uncomplicated way to turn an MP3 into an abc file.

I have music I absolutely love but don't have the patience to use some of the programs out there.

I should have added, Ariwen, that with a little web searching you can frequently find MIDI versions of most music, then you're half-way to making an ABC. If you can't find a MIDI, then finding guitar chord tabs would be a good start to crafting your own ABC.

And here's another good bunch of possibilities: https://www.google.com/search?q=convert+mp3+to+midi

[SavileRow]

I haven't used Maestro for a week or so. Today, I start it up and get a message that it requires Java 7.0 32 bit or higher. I have Java 8 64 bit. I have uninstalled and reinstalled both Java and Maestro, restarted the comp. Any suggestions?

Same for me, any ideas?

[Linawillow]

Same for me, any ideas?

Have you tried installing Java 32-bit too? You can have both 32- and 64-bit versions installed at the same time. Maestro runs well for me with both versions of Java 8 installed.

[SavileRow]

Thank you Lina, I'll give it a go.

**edit**...it worked, thank you so much Lina!

[Cloudster]

The Wiki hasn't been updated, and all I can find are references to Windows pathing which aren't valid on a Mac.

I'd greatly appreciate some help! I have one Windows laptop, but normally play on Mac equipment.

Thanks!

Song locations on a Mac after the Wine update go in Documents\The Lord of the Rings Online\Music. Plays just fine on a Mac. I've been able to run Poetical on my Mac, works just fine. I haven't yet worked on getting Maestro/ABC Player working, but theoretically they may work since they're Java apps, you just can't load the Windows MSI installation package.

[Aminbolt]

Mac users don't need to install MSI file.
Just extract MSI file or download a zip file and extract it.
They should be able to open .jar files:
AbcPlayer.jar
Maestro.jar

If you get error, update your java.

[Jyndahl]

Hello Guys,

Since I downloaded the newest Java-Version 8u261, Maestro tells me I dont have Java7 or higher on my PC and refuses to work.
Any Ideas how to fix it?

I already tried downlowading (and installing) older Versions of Java, and reinstalling Maestro, but it still says no Java :/

Alright I fixed it,

Even if your PC uses Java64bit, you also need to install Java32bit extra, then everything works fine again.
Maestro really ONLY works with 32 bit.

Thanks,

[Delesius]

Hello, everyone! First of all I want to thank everyone, who was involved in work on this Maestro and ABC player. This things is awesome! Good job!
However, I'm stuck because of error issues. I can do simple songs with 2-3 parts, but it's not epic. The game is epic, so the music should be epic too!
So. Goal: export music with 6(or more, if possible) parts.
Error issue: when I'm done with editing MIDI, then done with editing in Maestro, I'm trying to put those parts in ABC player. And this happens: Error reading (file name) on line (line number). Too many parts (max = 15).
What I'm doing: I'm going to those lines in .abc file. It always says "X:_" where _ is a number of part (I believe).
Questions: If this error happens in ABC player, will it happen again in-game? If max parts=15, I can do only music with 5 parts? (1+2+3+4+5=15) Is there a way to pass this errors or limitation itself?

After I saw big bands in-game, that plays cool colorful and deep music, I just can't stop thinking about make such cool music. Any help will be good. Also, if there is much to discuss - please, feel free to PM me!

Thanks to everyone!

[Splik]

I have abc files with X: numbers way over 100, so thats not a limitation.
There must be something else wrong.
Make sure the X: numbers are positive.
Make sure there is no two X: numbers that have the same number. They don't have to be consecutive, they can be like 1, 2, 5, 10 or something like that if you want.

[Hannariel]

I uninstalled and reinstalled the latest 'latest' version and now it seems to work fine. It will take my ears a bit of adjustment to the volume.

[durinsbane]

Hello, everyone! First of all I want to thank everyone, who was involved in work on this Maestro and ABC player. This things is awesome! Good job!
However, I'm stuck because of error issues. I can do simple songs with 2-3 parts, but it's not epic. The game is epic, so the music should be epic too!
So. Goal: export music with 6(or more, if possible) parts.
Error issue: when I'm done with editing MIDI, then done with editing in Maestro, I'm trying to put those parts in ABC player. And this happens: Error reading (file name) on line (line number). Too many parts (max = 15).
What I'm doing: I'm going to those lines in .abc file. It always says "X:_" where _ is a number of part (I believe).
Questions: If this error happens in ABC player, will it happen again in-game? If max parts=15, I can do only music with 5 parts? (1+2+3+4+5=15) Is there a way to pass this errors or limitation itself?

After I saw big bands in-game, that plays cool colorful and deep music, I just can't stop thinking about make such cool music. Any help will be good. Also, if there is much to discuss - please, feel free to PM me!

Thanks to everyone!

I know it has been 6 months since this was posted, just wondering if you found a answer? Sounds like you have a second X:_ in the body of the song file, instead of the start of another header for a new instrument. But without seeing the file myself I am only guessing.

[Delesius]

I know it has been 6 months since this was posted, just wondering if you found a answer? Sounds like you have a second X:_ in the body of the song file, instead of the start of another header for a new instrument. But without seeing the file myself I am only guessing.

Yeah, 6 months and 1,5 year passed already
I already forgot about it and dropped the game for a short period of time... But I always coming back
However, when I started to make own music for lotro again - I bumped into that error again.
Double checked the X:_'s, so they won't repeated any other, and no - didn't helped.

Sorry everyone, but I don't know how to put this thing into a spoiler.
That's just what I have in a header of last (drums) part. There is no more any instruments.

---

%abc-2.1
%%song-title Avoid the Light
%%song-duration 5:40
%%abc-creator Maestro v2.5.0
%%abc-version 2.1

X: 2
T: Avoid the Light (5:40) - Misty Mountain Harp
%%part-name Misty Mountain Harp
M: 1/4
Q: 112
K: C maj

|]


X: 3
T: Avoid the Light (5:40) - Basic Theorbo
%%part-name Basic Theorbo
M: 1/4
Q: 112
K: C maj

|]


X: 5
T: Avoid the Light (5:40) - Basic Clarinet
%%part-name Basic Clarinet
M: 1/4
Q: 112
K: C maj

|]


X: 7
T: Avoid the Light (5:40) - Basic Bassoon
%%part-name Basic Bassoon
M: 1/4
Q: 112
K: C maj

|]


X: 8
T: Avoid the Light (5:40) - Basic Drum
%%part-name Basic Drum
M: 1/4
Q: 112
K: C maj

---

UPD.
Figured out, that I'm dummy. If someone had/have same problem - check your header in any txt editor. For every part there must be only this parts' header. Like, Basic Drum - for drums, Basic Lute for lute, and no other instruments in header of other instruments.
Thanks to everyone for help!

[Splik]

Error issue: when I'm done with editing MIDI, then done with editing in Maestro, I'm trying to put those parts in ABC player. And this happens: Error reading (file name) on line (line number). Too many parts (max = 15).
What I'm doing: I'm going to those lines in .abc file. It always says "X:_" where _ is a number of part (I believe).
Questions: If this error happens in ABC player, will it happen again in-game? If max parts=15, I can do only music with 5 parts? (1+2+3+4+5=15) Is there a way to pass this errors or limitation itself?

Lotro's limitation is 24 parts. Abcplayer limitation is 15. I am not sure if you use Maestro 2.5.0 or one of my newer versions, but if it is the latter then Maestro is able to make songs with more than 15 parts, sometimes up to 24 if your smart about how you assign instruments.
If abcplayer refuses to play a song with only 5+ parts, there seems to be an error, could you perhaps share this abc file with less than 15 parts that wont play in abcplayer? You can send a private message to me if you wish.

[Hoppa_Joel]

.

You still want a few "hopes" for maestro, on my wishlist?

I would love to see a "split stave at note" option, if that is possible.

I would love to have a "lock number" for a song part.
some times I set a specific part number, ( like I use 1 for solo, 102 for string duet and 105 for wind duet parts )
but when I add them in often the numbers randomly change as I add more staves.