Lyrics not saved in midi?

• Apr 8, 2015 - 10:13

This software is great I like it!

One problem for me is: the lyrics are loaded when I open a midi file, however looks like the lyrics is not saved into the midi file, if I choose save as and then choose standard midi file. Saving to mscz format is good with Lyrics but seems saving to midi not working.

Is it something not supported or I got something wrong?


Comments

MIDI is an industry-standard "Musical Instrument Digital Interface". It contains notes, tempo changes, and little else (e.g., key signatures). It does not contain lyrics, graphics, score notations, or other artifacts that an instrument doesn't need to know.

In reply to by goldyliang

The best way to get something uncontroversial to happen in MuseScore is to write the necessary code to implement it and then submit a pull request.

Given that the MIDI spec supports lyrics amongst other text events means that the only job required is to add a routine which does this to the MIDI export routine.

I don't think anyone on the development team is against the idea, it is just needing someone prepared to implement it.

In reply to by ChurchOrganist

I agree and I have formally requested this feature again - to create KAR files (see https://musescore.org/en/node/290163), and Kar files with chords. Do you realize the numbers of school teachers, and church choir leaders would would find this useful for teaching, conducting parishioners, choruses etc.? And why not lyrics from several voices simultaneously?

Do you realize how useful these files could be with karaoke software?! I am a programmer and I see the arguments as "beside-the-point" and not at all insurmountable. With all the lyric-typing I do I am insulted that I can't export the lyrics with the midi. Please help!

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

Great thank you for the response. I would consider to implement it. I may need ones' help who already involved into the development of this project, so as to better understand the current structure of the software.

Could you please point me out some shortcut about how to start?

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

I agree and I have formally requested this feature again - to create KAR files (see https://musescore.org/en/node/290163), and Kar files with chords. Do you realize the numbers of school teachers, and church choir leaders would would find this useful for teaching, conducting parishioners, choruses etc.? And why not lyrics from several voices simultaneously?

Do you realize how useful these files could be with karaoke software?! I am a programmer and I see the arguments as "beside-the-point" and not at all insurmountable. With all the lyric-typing I do I am insulted that I can't export the lyrics with the midi. Please help!

In reply to by salve

I agree and I have formally requested this feature again - to create KAR files (see https://musescore.org/en/node/290163), and Kar files with chords. Do you realize the numbers of school teachers, and church choir leaders would would find this useful for teaching, conducting parishioners, choruses etc.? And why not lyrics from several voices simultaneously?

Do you realize how useful these files could be with karaoke software?! I am a programmer and I see the arguments as "beside-the-point" and not at all insurmountable. With all the lyric-typing I do I am insulted that I can't export the lyrics with the midi. Please help!

If the Save As MIDI function in Musescore is changed to include lyrics, I hope it would be as an added option, keeping the option to Save As MIDI without lyrics.

I write new hymn texts (lyrics) for public domain hymn tunes, which I download from hymnary.org. After I enter my lyrics and modify the tune to suit, I send a PDF to the music ministers who preview my new stuff. Then I Save As MIDI and post the MIDI files on my website so they can listen to the tune while viewing the lyrics on the PDF. //www.LindaBonneyOlin.com/audio

I use MIDI because it's easy and the file size is so much smaller than wav or MP3. Unfortunately, I would not be able to post MIDI files on my website if people could use them to access my lyrics, because that could hinder my eligibility to submit my hymn texts to publishers or competitions who strictly demand unpublished work. I'd rather not have to go to the trouble of stripping out the lyrics every time I want to save a MIDI to post online.

Thanks.

In reply to by Linda O

FYI, stripping out the lyrics is as simple as right-clicking on a lyric, choosing "select all similar elements", and then hitting delete. We could add a "MIDI without lyrics" option, but it doesn't quite seem worth it to me when the solution is so simple. In my opinion it is better to have everything exported in each format (providing the format supports it). Creating a plugin to strip the lyrics would be a relatively simple task, but again not worth the trouble in my opinion given how simple it is to remove all the lyrics in one go anyway.

In reply to by shoogle

I have no dog in this race, but if I indeed wanted a MIDI file without lyrics, deleting all the lyrics from the master copy of my score would not be an acceptable solution. If this were important, there should be an option in the Preference dialog, where there already is another option for MIDI output.

In reply to by [DELETED] 1831606

Seems just knowing that it is possible to delete lyrics all at once is enough for the OP, which is great.

Moire generally though, I guess I can't see any more reason for having an "exclude lyrics" option for MIDI than to have one for MusicXML. Or an "exclude chord symbols", or "excldue dynamics", or "exclude articulations", or "exclude notes more than two octaves above middle C", or "exclude tempo markings added on a Tuesday", or whatever else someone might have some very unusual special case reason to want :-) Only reason I could see for any of these would be compatiblity - if there existed a singificant number of programs that read MIDI or MusicXML but choke on one or more of these element types. That would strike me as a valid reason to add such options.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

I've known some who have written new settings to old words. If you publish (let's say in midi) a song, wholly new notes, that "fits" or "sets" some text you might not want to mention for fear of copyright prosecution, whose copyright have you violated? If you write a setting of "My Darling Clementine" (or whatever it is) and it fits "Stairway to Heaven",by accident or design, will you be sued by Led Zeppelin (I guess the answer is "no, but by that group who is successfully suing them for the same.")?

In reply to by [DELETED] 1831606

Publishing new music for existing words potentially violates the copyright of the owner of the words, and publishing new words for existing music potentially violates the copyright of the owenr of the music. Both situations happen, although my sense the latter is probably more common, particular when one considers the extent of copyright (eg, most hymn lyrics are *long* out of copyright protection, often by a century or more). Far more common, though, is people publishing their own arrangements that keep both the existing lyrics *and* the existing music and hence potentially violates *both* copyrights (although the way copyright law is wored, in the US at least, these are not actually separate).

Anyhow, I can't see why MuseScore should be implementing features just to make it slightly easier to get around one particular case of this.

In reply to by [DELETED] 1831606

I agree and I have formally requested this feature again - to create KAR files (see https://musescore.org/en/node/290163), and Kar files with chords. Do you realize the numbers of school teachers, and church choir leaders would would find this useful for teaching, conducting parishioners, choruses etc.? And why not lyrics from several voices simultaneously?

Do you realize how useful these files could be with karaoke software?! I am a programmer and I see the arguments as "beside-the-point" and not at all insurmountable. With all the lyric-typing I do I am insulted that I can't export the lyrics with the midi. Please help!

Thank you, shoogle and BSG, for your input.

Well, live and learn.
I'm used to having to shift/click/drag, one wretched system at a time, to select and delete a line or two in order to change the order of the verses (a real pain in the wazoo). I didn't know I could dump all the verses with right-click/select all similar elements/delete.
So, shoogle, your FYI provided a satisfactory solution, which will also come in handy for other elements besides lyrics. :)
Actually, instead of closing the file and discarding changes, then reopening the file, I will just hit the undo button after generating the midi file. Quicker, plus I won't accidentally dump other work I'd done since the last save, if I forget to save the file right before I strip out the lyrics.

BSG, I am the queen of hit-button-in-haste-and-repent-in-leisure. I can vouch for the fact that you can still undo the deletion after hitting Save. Just don't close the file before hitting Undo, which it seems unlikely you would do with a lyricless score staring you in the face.

It's 2019 and we now have MS version 3.0.5.5992 and still no option for saving lyrics with .mid (midi) files. There are arrangers out here that would just love to use MS to create Karaoke files for many, many purposes. Why can't we have, on the File/Export screen, under "Save as type:" the option "KAR file (MIDI File with lyrics)" ?
Here are solutions for dealing with the two objections I hear from developers:

1: "We don't have line break characters." Well, introduce the newline "\nl" to be added to the last syllable on the line.
2: "We support lyrics in multiple voices. Which voice's lyrics would appear in the kar file?" Put the vocal selection option in "Preferences" - or better yet - in "Instruments"!!
3: And before you complain about this - you should be able to track which verse is playing during repeats as you spin out the repeats one-at-a-time.
4: And while you are at it, why not give us an option for "KAR file with chords" and we'll give you a standing ovation for what so many of us could really use!!! (Just place the chords over the syllables, the same way you space the lyrics using the lead line.

This would allow us to use a real Karaoke Player app for practice, performance, learning, teaching, etc. It's high time for this feature after 10 years. Let's see what other potential users say!

If the song doesn't come with lyric, there's nothisg you can do bout it. If it does, switch your player to "allow multiple lyrics". Becos there are 2 type of words in the song. "lyrics and Text".

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