Mark Vandenbroeck wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Is there any documentation on the Finale format (text or binary). I might give this
> abc2finale a try.
The Finale text format is called ETF (Enigma Transportable File). It was
an early - and rather half hearted - attempt to create a common file
format for notation program. It hasn't had any practical uses for a
while (Coda claimed that you needed the format to transfer Finale files
between Windows and Mac computers, but that isn't true), but recently
somebody published a ETF-Lilypond converter (se the links Ewan A.
Macphearson provided). I've seen some of the results from that
converter. It doesn't seem to work very well at the moment, but it's
certainly promosing for the future.
The ETF format is vastly more complicated than ABC. It contains all the
layout data to recreate exactly the postscript output from the original,
a complete set of midi functions and much much more - and all in a
syntax that is more primitive and far less intuitive than ABC.
I suppose an ABC-ETF converter should be possible (using a stationary
file for all the functions not covered by ABC). The other way would be
more difficult.
Coda Software has released the ETF specifications as a 133 KB PDF file.
I can't post that here, but I'll send it to anybody who asks me for it.
Frank [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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