Starbound ABC to MIDI converter

Converts Starbound style ABC tunes into MIDI files.

Dependencies

• Python=3.10
• pretty_midi==0.2.10

Usage

First, locate your Starbound installation directory. The ABC files are in the Starbound/assets/user/songs directory under the installation directory.

The usage of convert.py is as follows:

Bulk convert the ABC files in the songs directory into MIDI file

python convert.py convert-songs --songs-dir <songs_dir_path> --output-dir <output_dir_path>

example:

python convert.py convert-songs --songs-dir /path/to/Starbound/assets/user/songs --output-dir ./songs_midi

Convert and combine one or more ABC song(s) into a single MIDI file as separate tracks

python convert.py convert-and-combine --song-paths <song_abc_path> [<song_abc_path> ...] --output-path <output_mid_path>

example:

python convert.py convert-and-combine --song-paths "path/to/songs/On The Beach - Piano.abc" "path/to/songs/On The Beach - Violin.abc" "path/to/songs/On The Beach - Oboe.abc" --output-path "./On The Beach.mid"

Limitations

This script is developed closely around the ABC files that come with the Starbound game. It might not work for other ABC files. Most notably, it:

• Does not handle bar lines
• Does not handle transpositions
• Does not reflect time signature, key signature, and bar lines in the converted MIDI file

Currently, the following files from Starbound cannot be converted due to the limitations mentioned above:

• Awake Sweet Love.abc
• Bourree.abc
• Sarabande.abc
• Sonata Zapateado.abc

Additionally, the transpositions comments in the files will be ignored, and the file will be converted w.r.t. the key signature information fields.