melody-editor-so.lmms

Creates a plugin: libmelodyeditor.so - for LMMS under Qt6.

A text based melody parser plugin for LMMS; feeding Alda, SARGAM and English Notations. It is asscessible from Tools > Melody Editor.

This plguin allows a user to type in or drop in song notations file into an editor area. These notations are then parsed to create a MIDI Clip Data within the Piano-Roll window.

Features

• Ctrl + / toggles a comment in block of selections.
• Ctrl + Wheel to zoom in/out notations font size.
• Double click on text area to choose a notation file.
• Drag and Drop of a notation file into the melody editor area.
• Extremely powerful parsers
  • English and SARGAM notations
  • A little memory usage while operating.
  • Fast, light weight, and small footprint.
  • 20kb limits applied on input size.
  • Does not obstruct live playing in the Piano Roll.
  • Stable

Multiple parsers in progress (Carnatic, English, ABC, ALDA and some more).

Quick Manual

• Open song editor.
• Double click on it to open a piano roll window.
• Go to: Tools > Melody Editor.
• Fill in the notations
• Choose your proper parser.
• Click on Update MIDI Clip.

Thats it!

Next Steps

• Learn about how to write notations here for this plugin.
• Also in LMMS Discussion page here.

Compile as a native plugin for LMMS

1. Clone the source code somewhere.
2. Import this plugin into LMMS's plugin repository.

cd lmms/plugins
ln -s /media/USER/DISK/path/to/[melody-editor-so.lmms] MelodyEditor

Or, copy the plugin's source code (aka melody-editor-so.lmms) into lmms/plugins folder.

3. Enable/Add MelodyEditor in cmake/modules/PluginList.cmake file.
4. Then make or compile the copy of your LMMS.

It will create libmelodyeditor.so file into the plugin repository. There may be a corresponding .dll file in case of Windows. This plugin is now accessible from the Tools Menu;

Documentation

You need to format your notations into human readable form with the following considerations.

Features	Western notes Parser	SARGAM notes Parser	Virtual Keyboard Parser
Natural notes	C D E F G A B	S R G P D N, m	Alpha-Numerals (QWERTY) keyboard
Shaprs/Flat notes	C# D# F# G# A#	r g d n, M	Alpha-Numerals (QWERTY) keyboard
Higher octaves marker	Append octave number eg. C5 D6	Append an asterisk * eg. S*, R**	??
Lower octaves marker	Append octave number eg. C3 D2	Append a dot . eg. S., R..	??
Chord Making *	Brace notes within [ and ]	Brace notes within [ and ]	Brace notes within [ and ]
Longer chord lengths	Add a dash - BEFORE ].	Add a dash - before ].	Add a dash - before ].
Time shared / split notes	Comma eg. C#,D#	Comma eg. r,g	??
Silence / Pause marker	Use x wherever needed.	Use x wherever needed.	SPACE character
Longer silence marker	Introduce another x.	Introduce another x.	Introduce a pipe `
Continuation mark	Add a dash -	Add a dash -	??
Comments per line	Start a line with hash #.	Start a line with hash #.	??
Sharps / Flats	Only sharps understood. flats	Lower case for komal notes.	??
Example 1 - chords	[ C E G - - - ] A A,B A G	[ S R G - - - ] D D,N D P	[qwe]tyu-iop
Example 2 - long note	G3 A3 E4 D4 - G4,A4 B4 D5 C5 - - -	P. D. G R - P,D N R* S* - - -	??
Example 3 - silence / pause	C x D x E x G -	S x R x G x P -	??
Help Link / Discuss	here	here	here

*: Feature is in test mode

Trouble-Shooting

• Chords must have been terminated with corresponding ].
• Error Count: Number of notes that were NOT converted for use in LMMS is returned. Remedies:
  • Look for accidentally joined notations.
  • Or illegal notes or characters like: E#, J.

Testing Examples

• Set signature: 3/4, 180 bpm.
• Set active midi clip window.
• Open LMMS Menu > Tools > Melody Editor.
• Paste one of the notes from below, in the input area.
• Select the correct notation type or parsing engine.
• Hit "Update MIDI Clip".
• Now, play the song ;-)

Example: Happy Birthday song

• Courtesy: AI search results and human edits.
• Details here.

Example 1: SARGAM in Romanized Letters

x r,r g  - r M - m -
x r,r g  - r M - M -
x r,r r* - n M - g -
x N,N n  - M d - M -

For this notation set, pick "SARGAM".

Example 2: SARGAM in Devaganari Scripts

x रे॒,रे॒   ग॒   -  रे॒  मे  -  म -
x रे॒,रे॒   ग॒   -  रे॒  मे  -  मे -
x रे॒,रे॒   रे॒*  -  नि॒  मे  -  ग॒ -
x नि,नि  नि॒  -  मे  नि॒  -  मे -

For this notation set, pick "SARGAM".

Example 3: English, with Symbols

x C#,C# D#  - C# F# - F  -
x C#,C# D#  - C# F# - F# -
x C#,C# C#* - A# F# - D# -
x B,B   A#  - F# G# - F# -

For this notation set, pick "ENGLISH".

Example 4: English, with Octave Numbers

x C#4,C#4 D#4 - C#4 F#4 - F4  - 
x C#4,C#4 D#4 - C#4 F#4 - F#4 -
x C#4,C#4 C#5 - A#4 F#4 - D#4 -
x B4,B4   A#4 - F#4 G#4 - F#4 -

For this notation set, pick "ENGLISH".

Notes Allowed

You can pick your notation system and allowed notes. reference reading...

MIDI Key	60	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71
SARGAM	S	r	R	g	G	m	M	P	d	D	n	N
स र ग म	सा	रे॒	रे	ग॒	ग	म	म॑	प	ध॒	ध	नि॒	नि
English	C	C#	D	D#	E	F	F#	G	G#	A	A#	B
English	C4	C#4	D4	D#4	E4	F4	F#4	G4	G#4	A4	A#4	B4

Additional Notes (Table Expansion for Notes Allowed)

Completed?	MIDI	Notes	Help Wanted?
[ Yes ]	SARGAM	Romanized Letters	Yes
[ Yes ]	स र ग म	komal or flats are underlined. Devangari Scripts	Yes
[ No ]	Carnatic	Partial Performance; NOT tested	Yes
[ Yes ]	English	Without octave number	Yes
[ Yes ]	English	With octave number	Yes
[ No ]	German	Without octave number	Yes
[ No ]	Numeric	-	Yes
[ No ]	Virtual Piano	-	Yes
[ No ]	Alda	-	Yes
[ No ]	ABC Notation	-	Yes

Note: This table (Additional Notes) is a horizontal expansion of the table from above (Notes Allowed).

Symbols Allowed

• -: Note continuation marker eg. S - - - or C - - -
• x: Silence marker eg. S x R x G or C x D x E - lower cased 'x'
• .: Lower octave marker eg. A#.. - the dot
• *: Higher octave marker. eg. A#** - the asterisk
• ,: Beat's time sharing separated with a comma eg. A#,B
• NUMERALS: 0 - 9, for the Octave Number representation
• |: Optional meassures separator (bibhag or divisions)

Some special keys are also allowed, in order to be maximum user friendly typed notaions. Example: / for |. ~ for -. Please study the source code variables for find and replace.

ToDOs and History

• Need to support multiple instruments at once?
• Please see ToDOs file. Also, a help is needed.
• Please see History file for change logs.
• Please see references used to learn.