NAME

       rumor - program for transcripting simple music played on (MIDI) keyboard to Lilypond text notation.

SYNOPSIS

       rumor [-lDfsv?V][-gN][-mP[/]Q][-tBPM][-w[BEAT]][-aNUM]
                   [-k NOTE] [--flat] [--grain=N] [--legato] [--meter=P[/]Q]
                   [--no-chords] [--tempo=BPM] [--wait[=BEAT]] [--accidentals=NUM]
                   [--absolute-pitches] [--no-dots] [--explicit-durations] [--full]
                   [--key=NOTE] [--lang={ne,en,en-short,de,no,sv,it,ca,es}] [--strip]
                   [--sample-sheet] [--verbose] [--alsa[=[IC:IP,]OC:OP]] [--kbd]
                   [--oss[=DEV]] [--script=FILE] [--help] [--usage] [--version]

DESCRIPTION

       This  manual  page explains the rumor program. It is a realtime monophonic (with chords) MIDI keyboard to
       Lilypond converter. It receives MIDI events, quantizes them according to its metronome  on  the  fly  and
       outputs  handwritten-like  corresponding Lilypond notation. Tempo, meter, key and other parameters can be
       set via command-line options

OPTIONS

       Default start-up values are --alsa=64:0,65:0 --tempo=100 --meter=44 --grain=16 --key=c.

       -g,--grain=NUM
              Set minimum time resolution to the NUMth note. Only powers of two are valid, from 1 up to 128.

       -l,--legato
              Ignore any rests between notes. Every note terminates upon the start of the next one.

       -D,--no-dots
              Do not use dotted notes (dotted rests are always disallowed).

       -m,--meter=P[/]Q
              Set time signature. Bar will have P beats of duration of the Qth note. Metronome will sound  every
              beat. (thus e.g. 4/4 and 8/8 will give the same output, only metronome behavior will change).

              Q must be a power of two. Slash may be omited if P and Q are both smaller than 10.

       -t,--tempo=BPM
              Metronome speed will be BPM beats per minute. Note that what is considered a beat is determined by
              --meter.

       -w,--wait=BEAT
              Start  metronome  upon  arrival  of  the  first MIDI note, at the beginning of bar (BEAT=1) unless
              overridden.

       --flat Output only pitches as you play, no lengths. Metronome will not be started.

       --no-chords
              Disables  chords  (groups  of  notes  pressed  and  released  "simultaneously",  with  regard   to
              quantization). Enabled by default.

       --explicit-durations
              Output duration indication after every note, even if it remains the same as preceedingly.

       --absolute-pitches
              Do  not  use  Lilypond  relative  notation.  Instead,  all  pitches have their octave indicated by
              (possibly zero) tics or commas.

       --lang=LANG
              LANG can be one of ne (default: ces, c, cis, ...), en, en-short, de, no, sv, it, ca, es. Languages
              match those used by Lilypond (not necessarily the version you have installed, though).  Note  that
              pitch names can be always overridden by rumor-pitches (see section 5. Scripting).

       -k,--key=KEY
              Set  base  note of current scale, used to resolve enharmonic ambiguities (i.e. fis vs. ges). Valid
              value for KEY is any pitch having less than two accidentals, in  current  language  (--lang;  this
              option must precede --key in order to have effect).

              Run  --sample-sheet  Produce  complete  Lilypond  file  showing  all possible rhythm notations and
              chromatic scale in all possible keys (see --key). It is influenced by --meter,  --grain  and  also
              user-defined notations (see --script).

       -s,--strip
              Strip leading and trailing rests from output. First and last bars may thus be incomplete.

       -f,--full
              Output  can  be  fed  directly  into  Lilypond.  It will be one--line staff in violin clef and key
              signature as determined by --accidentals.

       -a,--accidentals=NUM
              Set number of sharps or flats (if NUM is positive or negative,  respectively)  for  full  Lilypond
              output. No effect without --full.

       --script=FILE
              Run guile script FILE before beginning. See section 5. Scripting.

       --alsa=[[IC:IP,]OC:OP]
              Use  ALSA interface. If argument is specified, connect input to client IC on port IP and output to
              OC:OP. By default, Rumor will try to use 64:0,65:0. If connection fails, you can use  aconnect  to
              do this manually.

              If you specify only one pair C:P, it will be the output port. This is useful with --kbd.

       --oss[=DEV]
              Use OSS interface. Device number 0 on /dev/sequencer will be used, unless overridden by DEV.

       --kbd  Emulate  MIDI  keyboard using ordinary keyboard. An ordinary MIDI interface (ALSA or OSS) is still
              needed for metronome and echoing. Standard input must be a terminal. There is  a  usable  keyboard
              layout  builtin;  however,  key  bindings  are  configurable  via  (rumor-kbd ...) (see section 5.
              Scripting).

       -v,--verbose
              Be verbose. This option may be used more times and every time will increase verbosity level by  1.
              If  it  is  greater  than  3  and Rumor was compiled with debuggins support, debugging and tracing
              messages will be printed. If verbosity is zero (default), Rumor will only report errors.

       -?,--help

       --usage

       -V,--version

NOTES

       Rumor's only purpose is to help out with music transcriptions (even of polyphonic  music  with  separated
       voices); typical usage is to write Lilypond file skeleton by hand and then paste Rumor output into it. It
       does  not  want to be a full-blown quantization program; fancy features like tuplets, polyphony and tempo
       tracking were ommited deliberately.

       Rumor mimics handwritten Lilypond source:

       (1) it uses relative notation and omits note length if it has not  changed  (both  can  be  switched  off
       though).

       (2)  it  writes  rhythms  intelligently, in relation to bar position (tied single notes, over barlines if
       necessary)

       (3) it resolves enharmonic ambiguities  (e.g.  gis/as)  given  the  --key=NOTE  option  (see  section  4.
       Invocation)

       (4)  It  is  scriptable,  with support for user-defined rhythm notations, keyboard layout and pitch names
       (dutch and italian being built-in). See section 5. Scripting.

       (5) It supports chords (simlutaneous notes), using the <c e>8 syntax.

       (6) It can talk to MIDI I/O via ALSA or OSS.

       (7) It can emulate MIDI keyboard using ordinary (computer) keyboard, key layout being scriptable.

BUGS

       Should be rewritten in python. Otherwise no known bugs.

EXAMPLE

       A minimalistic rumor session follows (play keyboard, then press ^-C).

         vaclav@frigo:~/ujf/quant/rumor$ ./rumor -m68 -kb -g32
         b'8 ~ b32 a g fis g16 e cis8 ~ cis16 g' fis8 |
         e d b4 ais8 r |
         ais b32 a g fis g16 e' g, fis32 e fis16 cis' e, cis' |
         e, d32 cis d16 b' ~ b ais ~ ais32 cis b ais b16 d ~ d cis ~|
         cis32 e d cis d16 fis ~ fis e ~ e32 g fis e fis16 b ~ b ais |
         b32 a gis fis gis16 b eis, fis ~ fis32 fis eis dis eis16 gis ais, b ~|
         b32 b ais gis ais16 cis eis, fis d'8 cis
         vaclav@frigo:~/ujf/quant/rumor$

       -m68 (or equivalently, --meter=6/8) sets six-eights bar, -kb  (--key=b)  indicates  b-based  scale,  -g32
       (--grain=32) sets resolution to 32nd notes.

AUTHOR

       Vaclav Smilauer

       thanks to:
         Graham Percival for many bug reports and suggestions
         Nicolas Sceaux for several suggestions

SEE ALSO

       The  full  documentation  of  rumor  is  maintained  as  info  page.  It  is  also  accessbile  online at
       http://www.volny.cz/smilauer/rumor/rumor.html.

                                                  April 3, 2009                                         rumor(1)