The abcMIDI reference explains MIDI commands and settings for music notation playback and conversion.
Runabc
Runabc provides documentation and a user interface for working with ABC music notation and related playback settings.
About Runabc
Runabc is a user interface for working with ABC music notation. It provides menus for MIDI playback settings, display and rendering options, file utilities, and editing. Its utilities include reformatting, multivoice extraction, splitting ABC files, and saving sheet music as PostScript or PDF.
The program depends on several external executables and scripts, including the AbcMIDI package and the abc2svg, abc2xml, and xml2abc files. Setup requires linking these in its options menus. The source describes the AbcMIDI package as no longer supported by its original author and as having security and memory issues. The source also describes the program as an older application that is not perfectly clean by current standards.
Key features
- MIDI playback options for tempo, pitch, arrangement, drum kit, and voices
- Display options and sheet music rendering through abcm2ps and abc2svg
- Analysis views including pitch histograms, chordgram, and notegram
- Save sheet music as PostScript or PDF files
- Editing tools, including a live editor and a TclAbcEditor
- Export to MuseScore
Best for: People who work with ABC notation files and want playback, rendering, analysis, and file conversion in one interface, and who are willing to complete the local setup.
Good for
- Combines playback, display, editing, and analysis tools in one interface
- Can save sheet music as PDF or PostScript files
- Includes an export option to MuseScore
Watch out for
- Requires linking several external files and executables before use
- Depends on the AbcMIDI package, which the source says is no longer supported by its author and has security and memory issues
- On Windows 11, the configuration folder is hidden by default and requires File Explorer changes to view
Runabc at a glance
- Website
- runabc.sourceforge.io
- Category
- Music & Audio › Lyrics & Sheet Music
- Type
- Website
- Pricing
- Not confirmed. Check the site
- Platforms
- Web
- Open source
- Not stated
- Language
- English
- Last checked
- Oct 6, 2026 · Online when checked
- Listed
- Oct 5, 2026
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Runabc FAQ
What setup is needed before Runabc can be used?
The source says Runabc must be linked with the abc2svg_files folder through the options menu, and with the abc2xml and xml2abc scripts through the ABC Executables property sheet.
Where does Runabc store its configuration?
It uses a folder called runabc_home. Its location can be set with an environment variable called RUNABC_HOME. On modern systems the folder may be hidden by a leading dot, such as .runabc.
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