NAME

       abcmatch - Search for specific sequences of notes in an abc file composed of many tunes.

SYNOPSIS

       abcmatch  abc file  [-c]  [-v]  [-r] [-con]    [-fixed nn] [-qnt] [-lev] [-a] [-ign]    [-br %d] [-tp abc
       reference file] [-ver]    [-pitch_hist] [-wpitch_hist] [-length_hist]    [-interval_hist]  [-pitch_table]
       [-interval_table] reference number

DESCRIPTION

       abcmatch  is  used to  search for specific sequences of notes in an  abc file composed of many tunes. For
       example, if you know a few bars of a tune, you can use this program to find the tune having this sequence
       and  perhaps  identify  the  tune.   At  a  minimum,  abcmatch requires two files. A template file called
       match.abc which contains the bars that you are searching for and a large file consisting of a hundred  or
       more  abc  tunes.  The program automatically loads up the match.abc file and then scans every tune in the
       large file

OPTIONS

       -v and -c
              mainly used for debugging when the program does not do what was expected.

       -ver   prints version number and then exits

       --norhythm
              Causes the matching algorithm to ignore the length of notes in a bar, thus E3/2F/D GA2 would match
              EFD G2A. The option ignores -r parameter since it is now irrelevant.

       -pitch_table
              Used to produce a interval weighted pitch histogram for each tune in the file. If this is saved in
              an external file, that file could be used as a database  for  finding  tunes  with  similar  pitch
              probability density functions (pdf).

       -r     Controls  how  the matching criterion handles small rhythm variations in the melody. The -r option
              must be followed by a number which specifies the temporal  resolution  for  the  match.  When  the
              number  is zero, this indicates that a perfect match should be performed, meaning that the lengths
              of each note in the bar must match exactly in order to be reported. For  larger  values  a  looser
              match will be performed as described below. Note lengths are converted into temporal units where a
              quarter note normally is assigned a value of 24. Therefore an eight note has  a  value  of  12,  a
              sixteenth  has  a  value  of  6,  a half note has a value of 48 and etc. If you specify a temporal
              resolution of 12, then the pitch values of the notes only need to match at time  units  which  are
              multiples of an eighth note.

       -fixed n
              Causes  the  program  to  disregard  bar lines when does the matching. It allows matching of notes
              between tunes having different time signatures.  n is a number which specifies the exact number of
              notes  to  match.  For example if n is 4, the program could match |C E G E| .. with |C E|G E| Note
              the matcher still starts at a beginning of a given bar for both the tune and template.

       -con   Specifies contour matching. In this case, the program uses the  key  signature  only  to  indicate
              accidentals.  The pitch contour is computed from the pitch difference or interval between adjacent
              notes.

       -qnt   Uses the contour matching algorithm but also quantizes the intervals using the following table:

              unison and semitone    0 minor 2nd to major 2nd 1 minor 3rd to major 3rd  2  any  larger  interval
              3

              Negative numbers are descending intervals.

       -tp file name, reference number
              Substitute  any  tune for the template match.abc. When using this feature, the entire tune is used
              as a template. Abcmatch does not match the template with itself, and only bars which match bars in
              other tunes are reported.

       -br threshold
              Runs the program in a brief mode designed to identify groups of tunes sharing common bars. In this
              mode, the program counts the numbers of bars in the test tune which are also present in match.abc.
              If the number of common bars is larger or equal to the threshold then the program reports the tune
              and the number of common bars.  The program scans all the tunes in the abc file and returns a list
              of  all  the  tunes  which  have  more than a specific number of bars in common with the template,
              match.abc. In actual use, the program is run repeatedly by a script. For each tune in a abc  file,
              it  creates a template file called match.abc and then executes abcmatch. The outputs are displayed
              on the screen in a form easy to interpret. The user has no control of the matching criterion.  The
              rhythm  must  match exactly and the notes are transposed to suit the key signature. In other words
              the -r parameter is independent of what is specified in the parameter list.

       -pitch_hist or -length_hist
              Runs the program in another mode. It produces a histogram of the distribution of the notes in  the
              abc  file.   The  pitch  is  indicated in midi units. Thus middle C is 60 and the pitches go up in
              semitone units. Following the pitch is a count of the number of times that note occurred.

       -pitch_table or -interval_table
              Used to create a database for a collection of tunes in a file for future analysis.

SEE ALSO

       abc2abc(1), abc2midi(1), mftext(1) ,midi2abc(1) ,midicopy(1) ,yaps(1)

AUTHOR

       This manual page was written by Ross Gammon based on abcmatch.txt by Seymour Shlien.

VERSION

       This man page describes abcmatch version 1.35 from January 15 2006.

                                                                                                     ABCMATCH(1)