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My friend Hunter has posted a blurb on the Honor's Blood forums on how to use the Lord of the Rings Online music system. This is a pretty awesome system if you are not familiar with it and really allows some added immersion into the grand world of Tolkien that Turbine has re-created. Click the link for the full article and be sure to check out some pre-made .abc files available at http://www.lotro-music.com.
Ok. Top of this post will be the "easy" stuff that everyone should know.
Lotro uses ABC files to play pre-recorded music.
The following site has a great deal of music that you can download and play. You can download the whole library by clicking on the musical note on the top of the page.
www.lotro-music.com/
Music files are stored in the following folder:
My Documents\The Lord of the Rings Online\Music
You will need to extract any downloaded songs to that directory in order to play them in game.
To play these files in game, type:
/play
(without the < >, and leave off the ".abc")
Lotro supports syncing with your friends. You have to be in their fellowship in order to sync. To begin sync, type:
/play
Once everyone is synced up, type:
/playstart
to start playing the music.
MAKING YOUR OWN ABC FILES
First, it's a good idea to know what ABC is all about. ABC Notation is a plain text version of written music. The complete history and documentation for ABC notation can be found at the following site:
www.walshaw.plus.com/abc/
Now, LotRO does use ABC notation, but LotRO does not have complete support for it. There are several limitations. There is an entry in the lotro lorebook about these limitations:
http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Mechanics:ABC_Notation
Sadly, that information is out of date. For one thing, Chords are now supported.
More up to date info can often be found on the official LotRO Music System Forum:
http://forums.lotro.com/forumdisplay.php?f=108
The most important things of note are the range limits and note duration limits.
All instruments support 3 octaves + 1 note. The 3 octaves are different in-game per instrument, but with regards to the ABC notation, the first playable note is C, and the last playable note is c'. If you use a standard midi editor, these will be C4 and C7 respectively.
As far as note durations, the shortest duration supported is a 16th note at Q:1/4=250. This is a limit of 1000 notes per minute. As I rule, I stick to making 16th notes the smallest notes that I use, and I have not made a piece in excess of Q:1/4=250.
TOOLS
Midi2ABC - http://www.penguin-soft.com/penguin/man/1/midi2abc.html
Midi2ABC is the best midi to ABC converter that I've found. However, it imports rests as hidden rests, which LotRO does not yet support. This is easily fixed, however. Open your favorite text editor and convert all of the lowercase x's to lowercase z's.
Mid2ABC - claremusic.tripod.com/music.htm
Mid2ABC is a "first generation" Midi to ABC converter. It has a lot of problems and does not do a very good job of converting.
ABCExplorer - abc.stalikez.info/abcex.php/
This is an interesting piece of software that has a GUI for importing Midi files and converting them to ABC. It uses the Midi2ABC conversion program for the conversion.
Anvil Studio - www.anvilstudio.com
Anvil Studio is the Midi editor that I'm currently using to make my music. The interface is a bit confusing at first, but I've gotten use to it. It has a staff editor, a tab editor, and a piano roll editor. Don't know what the heck those are? Well, they're different ways to put music into the computer.
My recommendation, if you want to get started, is to grab Anvil Studio and the Midi2ABC conversion program. Start simple and work your way up.
