
CHANGES BETWEEN V1.4 & V1.3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Version 1.4 is not a major release and if you are happy using 1.3
with MusicTeX and single stave output, there is not much point in
getting it. However 1.4 does contain  two  important  extensions.
Firstly,  the  code  can  also be compiled to output MusiXTeX (an
extension of MusicTeX with some nice new features). Secondly  the
code  contains  limited  support for multi-stave output - so that
abc2mtex can be used as a fast preprocessor for classical music.


	NEW FEATURES (see userguide for full details)
	~~~~~~~~~~~~

Slurs can now be coded (MusiXTeX only) with an  S  to  start  and
terminate.

The code will now transpose accidentals (thanks to Jeroen Nijhof)
and  will  put transposed guitar chords into music.tex as well as
transpose.abc.

The E: field now accepts decimals.

Rolls are now done using ile and own. The old versions (using lur
and  lur)  are available by uncommenting the lines in header.tex,
but are not compatible with MusiXTeX.

	BUGS FIXED
	~~~~~~~~~~

In draw_tie, lower tie works for pitch "A,".

In draw_group, beam length enclosed in brackets to allow for more
than 10 notes.


CHANGES BETWEEN V1.3 & V1.2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note that some of the code file names have now  changed.  Roughly
speaking fields.c was output.c and abc.c & tex.c were abc2mtex.c.
The file zmacros.tex has gone  and  zHp-begin.tex  &  zHp-end.tex
have been incorporated in header.tex.


	NEW FEATURES (see userguide for full details)
	~~~~~~~~~~~~

The code now outputs raw MusicTeX and the zmacros have been elim-
inated.  This is far more flexible and allows for new notation to
be built in more easily and complicated grace note  and/or  chord
combinations  to be used without the need for handwritten macros.
TeX should also process the output slightly faster.

The way in which the information fields are  displayed  before  a
tune  can  now be customised (in header.tex). This makes the com-
mand "abc2mtex x" superfluous and so only  "abc2mtex  m"  is  now
available.

By default abc2mtex no longer limits the number  of  notes  in  a
beam but it will still do this if called with the -c option.

The program abc2mtex now accepts TeX commands within a .abc  file
(not just within tunes) and writes them to music.tex.

Transposed abc code is now put in the file transpose.abc and  the
transposition values can be specified on the command line.

Transposition can also be specified by interval.

The programs abc2mtex and sort_in can now read the standard input
(so that, for example, the output of search can now be piped in).

The program abc2mtex now checks bar lengths and outputs  warnings
about overlong or overshort bars.

The program abc2mtex will now attempt to prevent beams  and  note
heads colliding.

The program search can now read the search fields on the  command
line. It can also search for a range of tune numbers - i.e.
search -i X:1,6,9-11 -abc XE.abc.

Introduction of the Q: field to specify tempo.

Comments can now be added to the abc notation with a % symbol.

Note lengths can now be halved - e.g. 'A/2' and broken or  dotted
rhythms more easily notated with '<' & '>'.

The default note length can now be set to L:1/32 (for  demi-semi-
quavers).

The symbol * forces a right-justified line-break. Also use ** for
the last line of a tune.

Support for chords within beams.

Tuplets of any length (up to 9) can now be used - i.e. "(2ab"  or
"(7abcdefg".

Double and triple dotted notes are now possible (with note multi-
pliers 7 & 14 - double and 15 - triple).

The letters "U" & "V" can be used to denote up-bow & down-bow.

Guitar chords can now be notated by enclosing them  in   inverted
commas.

The double bar symbol now generates a thick line and   thin  line
rather than two thin lines.

Default note length for 3/2 changed to quaver (1/8th note).

W: field no longer allowed in tune header.

	BUGS FIXED
	~~~~~~~~~~

The program search does not now ignore the final field before  K:
when searching *.abc files. It also closes each file after use.

The function bar_count now counts rests as having a length.

The program abc2mtex will again accept TeX input  at  the  prompt
"select tunes:". This was a bug introduced into 1.2.


CHANGES BETWEEN V1.2 & V1.1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	NEW FEATURES (see userguide for full details)
	~~~~~~~~~~~~

A brand new all-singing,  all-dancing  search  facility  to  look
through your database and find your favourite tunes. Plus new fa-
cilities to allow the indexing of the tunes in any way  the  user
chooses. A new document index.tex deals with these topics.

Improved error handling.

There is now limited support for chords of  two,  three  or  four
notes on a single stem, although not within a beam.

New section in the userguide on customising the output,  together
with an example file.

Introduction of the L: field to change the default  note  length.
This  supersedes  the  use  of  the  s  & l meter modifiers (e.g.
M:4/4l) although these features will still be supported.

Any meter can now be used.

The default meter is no longer required at top of  file  (M:C  is
default).  Also  the default meter can be changed anywhere in the
tune file (between two tunes).

Introduction of default O: and   R:  fields   into   tune   files
(which work the same way as the default meter).

Introduction   of   the   H:   field   to   put   in   multi-line
stories/anecdotes.

Documentation of  the  A:  (area/region)  and  W:  (words/lyrics)
fields  (which  existed  before  but  somehow got left out of the
manual).

Introduction of the B: (book/bibliography), D: (discography)  and
G: (group) fields for archiving.

The T: field can now appear inside a tune to allow for naming  of
parts, such as in Breton suites.

Additional notation for first & second repeats - |1  &  |2.  This
will run alongside the existing [1 & [2.

Ties within bars now supported.

Input files can now be specified  on  the  command   line,   e.g.
abc2mtex x XE:1-3,7,9- XIJ:-10

If an input file has the extension .abc this does not need to  be
explicitly typed in.

	BUG FIXES
	~~~~~~~~~

Due to some changes in MusicTeX, abc2mtex v1.1 & v1.0 are  incom-
patible  with MusicTeX v4.99 onwards. This bug has been fixed for
abc2mtex v1.2 .

Bug in eval_beam fixed (uninitialised variable "median").

	OTHER CHANGES
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Default note length for 5/4 changed to quaver (1/8th note).

New meters 2/2 & 5/8.


CHANGES BETWEEN V1.1 & V1.0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The name of the executable has now been changed  from  format  to
abc2mtex and the name of the code changed to abc2mtex.c.

        NEW FEATURES (see userguide for full details)
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~

The K: field now accepts mixolydian & dorian modes (e.g.  K:AMix,
K:EDor), together with K:HP & K:Hp for highland pipes.

The new P: field can be used to mark parts inside  the  tune  and
the order of playing them in the header.

If the M: field is used to change meter and the change is just to
adjust the default note length (e.g. 4/4 -> 4/4l) then the change
doesn't show up in the printed music.

        BUG FIXES
        ~~~~~~~~~

,G corrected to G, etc. in transpose lists in abc2mtex.c.

        OTHER CHANGES
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The MusicTeX macro * is now used to generate extra space in front
of accidentals and all macros containing O have been taken out of
zmacros.tex. This has halved the size of zmacros.tex  and  allows
the  code  to  cope  with  any  arrangement of accidentals within
beams.

The z marks which generate rests can be `dotted', i.e. z3,  z6  &
z12, to generate two rests, one half the length of the other.

The z's are also recognised by the code to  terminate  beams  (so
that coding such as g3zgz will be treated properly).

There are new macros (from John Walsh) in zmacros.tex for 7  &  8
gracenotes & for acb patterns.

Notes lengths of 1 and of more than one digit (e.g. 12 or 16) are
now possible.

