This is a table of some of ABC's features versus software packages, showing which features are supported by which packages. Here's what the cells' contents mean:

(blank)

not known.

No

The package doesn't support this feature.

Yes

The package supports this feature.

Voices
program	abc2mtex	abc2ps				abc2win	abc4Mac	abc2midi	abcmus	AbcPlay	BarFly	Muse	YAPS	Skink
variant		mm	jc	ja	jm
Voices
V: voice lines		Y	Y	Y	Y							Yes
V: name=		Y	Y	Y	Y
V: clef=		Y	Y	Y	Y						Y
Annotations
!text!		N	Y		Y
"^text"		N	Y	Y	N
"24"|		Y	Y	?	Y
"B"|		Y	Y	Y	Y
x invisible rest		Y	Y	Y	Y
y unplayed rest		Y	Y	Y	Y
Ornaments
J slide		Y	Y	?	Y				Y
H fermata		Y	Y	?	Y
M emphasis		Y	Y	?	Y
R roll		Y	Y	?	Y
u up-bow		Y	Y	?	Y
v down-bow		Y	Y	?	Y
Lyrics
w: lyrics		Y	Y	Y	Y
Keys
K:Dphr^F		N	Y	N	N	No		Yes	Yes		Yes
K:Dphr ^F		N	N	N	N	No
Meter
M:none		N	Y	N	?		No				Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
M:23/44		Y	Y	Y	Y
M:2+3/4		Y	Y	Y	Y
M:2/4,3/4		N	N	N	N
Endings
:|3,4			Y					Yes				Yes
|:: ... ::|			Y		N
________
Output
PostScript out	Yes	Y	Y	Y	Y								Yes
Sound out										Yes	Yes
MIDI out								Yes			Yes
AIFF out											Yes
variant		mm	jc	ja	jm
program	abc2mtex	abc2ps				abc2win	abc4Mac	abc2midi	abcmus	AbcPlay	BarFly	Muse	YAPS	Skink

At present this is only known to be fully implemented in jcabc2ps. It allows the usual K:<tonic><mode> to be followed by a list of accidentals which are added to the key signature. Just K: is allowed, and specifies a tonic center and explicit list of accidentals, with "major" not assumed.

This indicates free-meter music. No time signature should be drawn, and no checking of measure length should be done.

Some kinds of music use measures of several different lengths. The southern German "zwiefacher" is an example. This extension allows for multiple meters as in M:2/4,3/4. Such time signatures should all be displayed at the usual place on the staff, and measure checking should accept all of them as valid.

(Is this fully implemented anywhere?)

Some programs accept bogus notation such as M:23/44 This is to be discouraged, as it confuses software that tries to understand and use it.

Some programs accept notation like M:2+3/4. This is not properly a multiple time signature. Rather, it means M:5/4, with the added information that beats are grouped 2+3 rather than 3+2 within each measure.

This is a rest that isn't shown but is played. It is mostly useful in multi-voice music, to cut down on the clutter of many rests. If software extracts a voice from a score, it might be a good idea to have an option to convert x rests to z rests.

This is a "rest" that takes space on the screen or paper, but is ignored otherwise. Players should ignore it entirely. This is only marginally a "rest", of course; it could be better described as a thin spacer.

Some programs implement a form of annotations that use !...! instead of misusing the "chord" notation. Generally, the contents of a !...! annotation must be one of a list of standard musical terms. Display programs may just display the text above or below the staff. For some annotations, music display programs should draw the corresponding musical symbol. Some symbols that have been suggested are:

!D.C.!	the letters D.C. (meaning da coda)
!D.S.!	the letters D.S. (meaning da segno)
!accent!	> mark
!breath!	a breath mark (apostrophe-like) after note
!coda!	a ring with a cross in it
!crescendo(!	start of a < crescendo mark
!crescendo)!	end of a < crescendo mark, placed after the last note
!diminuendo(!	start of a > diminuendo mark
!diminuendo)!	end of a > diminuendo mark, placed after the last note
!downbow!	downbow: squared n mark
!emphasis!	same as !accent!
!f!
!fermata!	fermata or hold (arc above dot)
!ff!
!fff!
!ffff!
!fine!	the word fine
!invertedfermata!	upside down fermata
!longphrase!	same, but extending 3/4 of the way down
!lowermordent!	short /|/|/ squiggle with a vertical line through it
!mediumphrase!	same, but extending down to the centre line
!mf!
!mordent!	same as !lowermordent!
!open!	small circle above note indicating open string or harmonic
!p!
!pp!
!ppp!
!pppp!	dynamics marks
!pralltriller!	same as !uppermordent!
!repeatbar!	repeat previous whole bar, a % symbol
!repeatbar2!	repeat previous 2 whole bars, a % symbol with a 2 adjacent this can be extended to an arbitrary number of bars
!roll!	a roll mark (arc) as used in Irish music
!segno!	2 ornate s-like symbols separated by a diagonal line
!sfz!
!shortphrase!	vertical line on the upper part of the staff
!snap!	snap-pizzicato mark, visually similar to !thumb!
!tenuto!	horizontal line to indicate holding note for full duration
!thumb!	cello thumb symbol
!trill!	"tr" (trill mark)
!turn!	a ~ turn mark
!upbow!	upbow, V mark
!uppermordent!	short /|/|/ squiggle
!wedge!	small filled-in wedge mark
!+!	left-hand pizzicato, or rasp for French horns
!0!-!5!	fingerings

This is not part of the standard yet, but is implemented by a few ABC tools. In the past, a lot of ABC has mis-used the "text" chord notation to place arbitrary text above or below the staff. The proposed extension uses:

"^text"

is placed above the staff.

"_text"

is placed below the staff.

PostScript is the language accepted by most laser printers, and can produce very good-looking printed music.

This means that the program plays the music using the computer's sound card.

MIDI is the Musical Instrument Digital Interface, the most widely-used encoding scheme used by electronic musical instruments.

Copyright 2001, 2002 by John Chambers