q re lyrics text files

keys · Post by **keys** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:58 pm

just a question regarding recommendations for what font works best for the text file viewer in the PA1xPro.....i have tried using it and when the text file opens on the lyrics screen on the pa it doesn't display as i would have thought...for example lines are truncated, and wrapped incorrectly, sometimes with just one word on a line and then it moves to the next line etc etc...is there a particular font and line width i could set up as a template in word? any suggestions would be helpful
thanks
dennis

dschultze · Post by **dschultze** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 7:10 pm

Hi Dennis,

I've tried all sorts today as I have the same problem as you. It seems that there's no consistency with line break, carriage returns, spaces or tabs within the text files.

I'd like to have a seperate line for each of the lines of the lyrics but they seem to appear in 1 long string making it very hard to read.

Perhaps Paolo would be able to tell us what is the best way to format the files.

cheers

David.

keys · Post by **keys** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 5:32 am

hi david,
yes lets hope he can shed some light....if theres a format that works i will make up a template in word...but then text files are always a bit general in layout and format.....anyway we'll have to wait and see what info is available.
dennis

hwh · Post by **hwh** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 11:34 am

I had the same problem.
Because of lack of time, I bought the tool I needed.

For my MIDI files

I bought PG Music`s Power tracks pro software.
http://www.pgmusic.com/powertracks.htm
Here you can edit your lyrics as you like.
Finish your midi file project by adding lyricks in powertracks.
Even if you are using an other sequencer for your MIDI files,
this is a fairly cheep peace of software for getting your lyric’s in place.

For audio files

Here you probably have a lot of choices for what kind of software you can use.
I bought a program called: Lyred Pro.
http://mp3.downloadatoz.com/lyred-pro/
Is easy to use, and get the job done fast.

Best regards
HWH

keys · Post by **keys** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 9:01 pm

thanks for that HWH...i have sonar which can perform the task of embedding lyrics extremely well...what i want to do is essentially load in a lead sheet...you know just chords and lyrics for songs that i play just with the arranger, and as you would know these have no "tags" and you cannot use tags with the pa in style mode....i have counted the number of "spaces on the screeen on the PA and even if you stick with this in the text editor, the PA still wraps text incorrectly....i dont know if it possible, but being able to load say a word .doc file would certainly solve the problem as the fromatting is saved with the file.....
dennis

hwh · Post by **hwh** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 3:39 pm

I’m also using Sonar, but I never got the lyrics function in Sonar to function on the PA1X Pro.
It seems like the standard MIDI text function in sequencers, like Sonar and Cubase is not working for the PA1X.
Something about standards for MIDI text format………
The PA1X is accepting the karaoke lyrics format.
So I take advantages of the karaoke function in Power Tracks.

1. I do my work in Sonar, or in Cubase.
2. Then I load in the midi file in Power tracks, and add / edit lyrics.

I know, this is not the easiest way to handle the problem.
But at least it’s working.....

dschultze · Post by **dschultze** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 6:58 pm

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies so far. I think there's a little confusion here.

Dennis and I are talking about the display of text files which are linked to Songbook entries. These are just standard *.txt files stored on the disk and referenced by the Songbook entry. They don't have a follow function or any links to a MIDI file and are used in Style Play mode.

The type which is created in Sonar (or another DAW application) is a Standard MIDI file with Lyrics to be used in Song Mode. I can create these with Logic but I don't want to use MIDI files.

If I'm not mistaken, Dennis has the same problem as I do in that the text files displayed in Style Mode do not have any formatting.

I hope that helps to clarify a little and thanks again for the replies so far.

Cheers

David.

keys · Post by **keys** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 8:00 pm

dave, thats it exactly!!
dennis

dschultze · Post by **dschultze** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:50 am

OK - I did little more investigation tonight. If you don't want to read all of the details then skip straight to the last line of the post...

First I checked the files in TextEdit (a sort of notepad for Mac), Smultron (a more advanced file editor) and Microsoft Word. The text files looked fine in all applications but the line breaks were not recognised in the PA1X.

Then I decided to look at the files from the command line using Unix Vi (a command line text editor in Unix). Looking at the text files in their standard format they look like this:

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
It's not warm when she's away
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And she always gone too long anytime she goes away

So looking at the file it would appear that the line breaks should display correctly but on the PA1X screen it looks like this...

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone It's not warm when she's away Ain't no sunshine when she's gone And she always gone too long anytime she goes away

Then I decided to enter a forced carriage return at the end of each line like this....

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone^M
It's not warm when she's away^M
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone^M
And she always gone too long anytime she goes away^M

The little symbol ^M means carriage return in Unix and using vi the character codes are displayed literally giving me a chance to see what is actually in the file. Low and behold the result in the PA1X looked like this...

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
It's not warm when she's away
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And she always gone too long anytime she goes away

So it got me thinking how these text files normally end up with ^M's in them in Unix anyway. It's normally as a result of techie's who are not particularly command line adept editing raw files in Windows Notepad which leaves ^M carriage return artifacts all over the file causing all sorts of issues in Unix. Except in this case we're trying to get them not get RID of them.

So I tried to edit the file in Windows Notepad and abracadabra - one properly formatted file on the PA1X. This is because Windows Notepad saves the file in ANSI format which it seems that the PA1X can read properly.

All of this is fine but I guess what you really need is a summary:

The answer is simple - USE WINDOWS NOTEPAD TO EDIT THE FILES - NOT MS WORD.

Hope this helps to solve your problem Dennis - and anybody else who runs into the same issue.

Regards

Dave

wittid · Post by **wittid** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 6:43 am

hi dave,

is it possible to insert empty lines like:

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone

It's not warm when she's away
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And she always gone too long anytime she goes away

too?

For fixing the format

Detlef

dschultze · Post by **dschultze** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:31 am

Hi Detlef,

I did try as this was something that I wanted to do too. However I didn't have much success so I used a placement character (a full stop) like this...

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
.
It's not warm when she's away
.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And she always gone too long anytime she goes away

Hope this helps.

Dave.

admar · Post by **admar** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 3:56 pm

Hi all,
I drop in a little late in this thread (holiday), but I always use Notepad for making textfiles in this manner and it indeed works quite well, but has some disadvantages. Problem is that you can't select your fontsize freely (only Big or Small in Pa1X) and you rapidly run out of screenspace. For that reason I changed my originally used format from typing the chords above the textline in typing the chords into the textline, like this:

Ain't no sunshine when she's [Am] gone [Em-G-Am]
Only darkness every day [Em-G-Am]
Ain't no sunshine when she's [Dm] gone
And this house just ain't no [F] home
Anytime she goes a[Am]way [Em-G-Am]

Another disadvantage is that you have to turn pages every 6 lines.
Quartz has posted a solution for this. He uses a 7 inch LCD display, see
http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... highlight=

Admar

keys · Post by **keys** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:46 pm

thanks dave, i will give that a go...i was going to say that i already use notepad to do the text files and it has these line break, CR probs...BUT i just remembered whilst reading your post that i have WORDWRAP set to ON in my notepad...so i will try it without it...sometimes the simplest things.....
cheers m8
dennis

steve350 · Post by **steve350** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:38 pm

I really like that 7" LCD screen. Where can you purchase one and how much does it cost? Thanks.

Paolo@Korg · Post by **Paolo@Korg** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 4:33 pm

Hi All,

Some notes on the way Pa1X manages text files.

First of all, Pa1X only reads TXT files. MS Word's DOC and the RTF formats cannot be read. Apple's TextEdit RTF files cannot be read as well.

TXT files only allow the use of ASCII characters, and not Unicode. Pa1X supports the ASCII 1252, Western, Latin I character set, so that it can display most diacritical marks (accented vocals, tilde, and so on).

The TAB character (byte 0x09) is not supported, and is automatically replaced by a couple of blank spaces on the display.

Multiple spaces are treated as a single space. This is to prevent an excessive amount of blank lines are shown with some "dirty" files.

Paragraph breaks must be done with a bundle of Carriage Return (byte 0x0D) plus Line Feed (byte 0x0A), in this exact order. To save files in this format, you can use either Windows Notepad, MS Word 2003 for Windows, NeoOffice for Mac, or any other editor capable of saving in MS-DOS text format.

- Windows Notepad: This one uses the same TXT format of Pa1X.
- MS Word 2003 for Windows: Save as > Plain Text (*.TXT) > check "End lines with Carriage Return / Line Feed".
- Neo Office for Mac: Save as > Text Encoded (*.TXT) > choose "Edit filter settings" > check "CR & LF" and choose the ASCII character set.

Some other text editors for Mac and Unix/Linux only use the Carriage Return OR Line Feed byte for paragraph breaks, and this is understood by the Pa1X as a simple space.

Best regards,
Paolo