>Abacus is an abc editor/player/printer programme -
>Windows only I'm afraid.
Nice program ! I like when there are new abc applications, so I
can complete my collection :)
> The print quality is adequate without being outstanding.
The display is good.
I'll give you my first impressions, if it can help. It's quite
long, but you'll get my full impressions.
1) Installation and download
- For the future you should write down on your homepage which
version is the current for Abacus (and ABCcheck as well) so pple
would know if they have to download a newer version or if they
already have it.
- Are the different dll and ocx files standard or specific for
your program ? Are they necessary for the download or could the
user already have them in his system ?
Those two files are quite big :
msvb...dll
mscom....ocx
hmhm, I see in the installation log :
ACTION: SystemFile: "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSVBVM60.DLL"
(File currently on disk was already up to date)
so this *huge* file was not compulsory to download.
2450 ko is really much for an application ! (but to be honest I
was occupied on Irc when I downloaded it so it was not really a pb
for me.)
It could retain some pple to try it.
You should made different packages, a full installation one and a
light one with only your program, and/or propose to the user to
download from your site the libraries they don't already have.
If I remember well it was the same pb for ABCcheck (which is an
interesting prg too).
2) System :
- It's a pity it doesn't support "drag n drop"
- ark, it doesn't support either command like ctrl+A for "select
all"
- it crashes from time to time. ("execution error 13. Incompatible
type" or something like that)
There are several reasons, but I find among others I had a tune
with X:12b . I know it was a silly idea, but it is a tune in
addition in a tunebook and I don't want to change the order of the
others. I could have found something better but it's a weak point
in a program if it can't handle this sort of problem. It cashes
too in some copy/paste functions, or if I try to save it at a
wrong place, or in the "open" subwindow if I click on delete in
some cases.
- when you start Abacus, it comes in a sort of full screen mode
and hide the MSwindows taskbar and you have to resize Abacus (like
for some old windows 3.11 applications) : ok, it's a minor pb, but
a bit annoying.
- there is not shortcuts for play / pause / stop
3) functionalities :
- I really like the real-time display of the partition !! It's
really efficient and nice to see the notes displaying when you
type them in abc !
- The way of changing "clefs", L: fields etc. is good also. It's
not compulsory to have those tools, but it's user friendly and
nice for newcomers in abc.
- "redraw score" is not always active (it becomes active after a
print). The fact that Abacus is displaying notes when you type
them in in abc implies maybe the drawback the display is quite
"loose" : I mean if you display music, and then an other
application is coming in front of the display window, the notes
disappear, and you have to redraw them. I type a space in the abc
and then the partition come back, but it would be great not to
have lost it.
4) others :
- I didn't noticed bugs in the parsing, but I didn't tested all my
tunes either. It seems to be accurate at least. It seems to
support all the abc fonctionnalities of the abc standard. And,
well, it's great : IT SUPPORTS NOTATIONS like [Af2], displaying a
chord with a quarter "A" below a half "f". If only it could
inspire other applications to act such... I don't know why it's
not in the standard, with for example a rule saying that in such a
notation the longest note prevails in the counting of the times,
for example
X:1
T:Derri�re chez nous
M:2/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=140
K:F
G2GF | G3 A| B>AGF | G2 DE | F2FE | F3 G | A>GFE | [D4A2] :|
could be legal
and
/.../ | A>GFE | [D4A6] :|
wouldn't be (or the result would be unexpected)
Let's go back to your application...
- I didn't managed to print scores with my HP DeskJet 520 Printer.
I'll try with an other one on another computer. It works well if I
print with ghostscript but not directly to my printer : there are
parts of the partition that didn't print at all (like big parallel
lines, and it's not because the cardridge is empty !)
- The few I saw of the printing is that the staff lines are too
thick. I noticed with abc to postscript tools that depending they
are printed on ink printers or laser printers, the same lines may
not be the same at all, if it's too thin it may display well on
ink printers but not on laser printer (but we can find
compromises). You could think to have an option to select the
thickness of the lines.
- If I play music, display full abc and then type "ok" to close
the full abc display, it stops playing.
- I would maybe have prefered the playlist selector on a window
more accessible (at the side of the main window, instead of a
"subwindow")
- The playing is not as good as abcmus (it's a bit "jerky" (quite
unnoticeable), abcmus is more fluid) but it's rather O.K. In fact
the notes are cutted before they end, a quarter won't be a full
quarter (example : A2) but rather a A>>A . The pb doesn't appear
for eighth and below.
- I didn't tested to load and save tunes I have with %midi
commands, or special commands for abcm2ps (like !alcoda!), I just
hope it won't suppress what it can't display but it doesn't seem
to be the case.
5) The interface :
not bad, but not optimised I think. For example I could be good to
have the possibility to switch between a "full abc" window and the
other for the standard editing (even if I like the facilities
given by the editing fields for time signature, tempo etc., I'm
used to create and manipulate the whole abc text for a tune.) So
the field for editing abc could be even larger.
In comparaison to Skink which offers the same fonctionnalities
(but lacks on the playing), Skink is more efficient to use,
especially because it can edit the full abc file. Skink can also
play several tunes one after one, and display/print several tunes,
you just have to select them from the list on the right. It's even
quicker to pick one because you don't have to come to a second
subwindow. Iabc is also a promising program, but it's the same
problem for the selection of the tunes and there are also several
other bugs.
I think Skink can be a good program to quick glance throughout
some tunes (to find a nice one to play/study for example), so sad
it still has problem with the sound, whereas Abacus is more
oriented for the creation and instant editing of tunes (because of
the subwindow). It's difficult to find an application that could
have all those advantages.
The fact that you have to confirm in Abacus that for example you
don't want to store the tune, before coming to a subwindow, slow
down the process to select quickly a tune. To give warnings is
good, but it would be nice if we could turn them off (for example
if I'm creating some tunes and I fear to loose data I can turn the
warning on, and if I'm just playing with tunes I don't need them)
Apart for the fact it's heavy to download (a compact program is
often more popular), I'll recommend Abacus to newcomers in abc.
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