Transposition

The ABC string can be transposed to another key and output as a string.

Note that there are other forms of transposition using parameters to the abcRender call, but they do not output a string that can be used elsewhere. If you want to visually transpose you can use visualTranspose. If you want to transpose just the audio, use midiTranspose

Entry Point

var newAbc = ABCJS.strTranspose(originalAbc, visualObj, steps)

Parameters

All parameters are required

originalAbc

Default: none

This is the ABC string that you want to transpose.

visualObj

Default: none

This is the result of rendering that string. You must call renderAbc() before calling strTranspose().

steps

Default: none

This is the number of half steps to transpose. It can be positive to transpose higher in pitch or negative to transpose lower. It can be 12 or -12 to transpose an octave and can be larger than that to transpose more than an octave.

Example

var abc = "K:D\nDEFG|"
var steps = 2
var visualObj = abcjs.renderAbc("paper", abc);
var output = abcjs.strTranspose(abc, visualObj, steps)

For a full example, see the Transposition Exampleopen in new window.

Notes

There are some types of ABC that cannot be transposed and because of the wide range of ways to write ABC there are some ABC strings that won't be transposed completely.

For instance, lines that have a clef of "perc" will not be transposed. And some ABC strings contain notes and chords in the lyric line or using the "annotation" syntax. Those will not be transposed.

That said, most input strings use a subset of the full ABC spec and are transposed completely.

Bugs

This is a new feature and because of the complexity of the ABC specification there are bound to be bugs! Please let me know if you see an example of something that should have been transposed but wasn't.

Last Updated:
Contributors: Paul Rosen