Writing from music sheet into mml guide

[🎶WinterWyvern]

 

The Guide

 

Nothing too much to ask, just start taking piano lessons and you are well on your way to writing mmls

 

Will continue updating or fixing stuff up if people spot mistakes etc.(my music theory is a little hazy)

 

Jokes aside this is just my style of writing 3ML by looking at a music sheet; it most likely is different from most mml writers in the community. In my opinion, this method of writing is easy to understand when you read it and help find those mistakes easily, I’m not the most proficient with 3ML so there are probably shortcuts that could have been done that I have not done. At the end of the day when you’re done writing the mml, you can optimize it so it hopefully can be composed in mabi so the shortcuts are done there. This guide hopefully will show you how read music sheets and compose in mml form on the program 3ML. Can be used for music sheets for piano and any music piece that has a treble clef in it. That means instruments like viola which has a clef of its own (alto clef) is not covered here.

 

Getting started

 

First read the 3ML (basics section to learn the basic stuff of the music writing program 3ML. Then you can move on to music theory that will hopefully allow you to read music sheets to convert into mml format using 3ML.

 

I recommend remembering the keys of a piano, as it helps visualize what the notes are and how to go about writing it. If you can try memorizing that it will be really helpful when writing mmls.

 

Here’s a link of a piano octave and try memorizing it:

http://www.pineviewchoirs.org/uploads/1/7/2/9/17292140/6001963_orig.jpg

or just type in google images ‘one piano octave’ This can helpful as it helps you visualize the notes on the music sheet. The ‘♭’ in this picture are hard to see and kind of looks like a comma, so be vary it’s a flat!.

 

3ML(basics)

 

3ML is a good way to know what your composing and plays roughly what you would hear in-game in mabinogi. There are restrictions with this program, but the only ones that come to my attention are: flats, vibrato, note values, triplets and characters. Methods of doing this in 3ML are explained further on. If you want to compose an mml in 3ML by reading off the music sheet, first read the basic music theory.

 

Characters: In 3ML you can compose whatever length of song you want, but keep in mind that in mabinogi, there is a character limit for composing music scores.

(rank 1 composing: Melody and Song notes Max 1200, Harmony 1 notes Max 800, Harmony 2 notes Max 500).
Tip: if you have say 3 tabs worth of music that have roughly 1000 characters, you will have to turn that to a 3-man ensemble. i.e. cut paste each tab to the melody bar of each score.

 

Basics of 3ML

 

3ML format is strange, if you tried reading the basic music theory on notes/rests, you would know that in a 4/4 time signature: a crotchet is 1 beat, semiquaver is ½ a beat, etc. but in 3ML it’s written different. The table below shows the difference (hopefully). The note ‘C’ will be used as an example for the 3ML column:

 

British/American Terminology	Value (beats)	3ML (note length)
Semibreve/Whole Note	4	C1
Minim/(1/2) Note	2	C2
Minim/(1/2) Triplet Note	2	C3
Crotchet/(1/4) Note	1	C/C4
Crotchet/(1/4)  Triplet Note	1	C6
Quaver/(1/8) Note	0.5	C8
Quaver/(1/8) Note	0.5	C12
Semiquaver/(1/16) Note	0.25	C16
Demisemiquaver/(1/32) Note	0.125	C32
Hemidemisemiquaver/(1/64) Note	0.0625	C64

 

-Note that some sites refer 1 value to be a semibreve and hence crotchet would be named ‘quarter note’ (4 crotchets in a semibreve) but in this guide 1 beat (not value) is 1 crotchet. So 1/8 is not 0.5 technically speaking.

-The Default note value is 1 beats called a crotchet, so if you write in 3ML of the note ‘g’, it will be the same as ‘g4’ i.e. a ‘G’ note with the value of a beat.

 

Music Theory

 

Now for the fun part and to confuse you all.

 

Reading music sheets: musical Symbols/Terms

 

When reading music sheets refer to the Wikipedia symbols list and learn what they mean if you can:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musical_symbols
There are some things Wikipedia surprisingly missed out or didn’t explain properly as well so watch out for those.

 

If you’re unsure about something ask on the forum and others will answer it, if not I’ll have a go.

Here are some terms you may wanna remember if you want to read off music sheets as it will help you understand what I’m blabbering about further. (Or read the part you want and refer to this later)

 

Octave:  An octave consists of the notes: C , C#/D♭, D , D#/E♭ , E , F , F#/G♭ , G , G#/A♭ , A , A#/B♭, B. If you don’t understand refer to the image from the first link in ‘getting started’

Where C is the lowest note and B is the highest. The next octave will have the notes in the exact same order, expect they will be of higher values, or lower values if it is the octave below. C on lets say octave 4 (middle octave of a piano) compared to octave 5 will sound the same, expect higher. Hard to explain until you hear it.

 

Flats/Sharps(♭/#): These are written depending on the key signature usually and rarely will you see both flats and sharps here and there in a music sheet. If you remember from the one piano octave picture, C# = D♭,D# = E♭and so on.

Natural(♮): This symbol just means play the original note (no flats/sharps).

 

Clefs: Just remember that the notes are different in both respective clefs so make sure you are reading the right clef. See ‘reading musical notes’ for more information.

 

Flats/Sharps(♭/#): When a note in a bar has a flat/sharp written on it, which tells you to play a flat/sharp for that note in the bar only. So if there is a C# represent in the bar, any other C notes that appear in this bar has to be played as C#. If you memorized one octave of a piano and its notes to its corresponding keys, you might wonder: what about C♭,E#,F♭, B#. This isn’t often used, but when it is, it just means you play the notes D,F,E,C (one octave higher) respectively.

Natural(♮): This only happens in music sheets if there are flats/sharps present, especially when there is a key signature. Like flats and sharps, whenever is this applied on a note in a bar, it lasts for the duration of the bar. Sometimes it will appear twice for the same note in the bar to remind you it’s a natural (optional for the writer).

 

Time Signature:  The number on top of a number (a bit like a fraction) or the letter ‘c’ in the beginning of the bar of a song. This is optional and is not really needed for mml formatting, but if you understand how it works it can be helpful to track down if you have the right values of notes in a bar. See time signature (advanced) for more detail.

 

Time Signature (advanced):  The top number of the time signature represents the number of notes in a bar. The bottom number represents the number of beats one note will have in a bar. Most songs are of 4/4 or C time signature, which means 4 notes of the value 4, which is a crotchet, similar to 3ML format. Thus other signatures such as 4/8, 8/16 will mean 4 notes of the value 8 (quavers) and 8 notes of the value 16 (semiquavers) and so on.

 

Key Signature:   The stuff in front time signature often has a number of sharps or flats at different places. If there is no sharps/flats in the beginning bar of the song present you can read the sheet normally. If there is, your life is just made harder.

 

Tempo: Most music sheets should have this and will be displayed as a crotchet symbol = a number above the treble clef.  The higher this number is, the faster the whole song is to be played and the lower the number, the slower it is played. When there is not crochet symbol = a number written, there probably will be an Italian word there such as: moderato, allegro. Refer to this link to get your tempo number:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo#Italian_tempo_markings

 

Reading music sheets: musical Notes

 

Open this link here to show you some notes along the treble and bass clef:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Bass_and_Treble_clef.svg/2000px-Bass_and_Treble_clef.svg.png

 

Note that these notes do not have ‘staves’ or long vertical line that appears on the note, so they do not really have values (except for G4 which is semibreve). This is merely an example, you will not come across stateless notes in an actual music sheet.

 

In the treble clef, you can see an octave and a half worth of notes, starting with C note in the octave 4 ending with G note in the octave 5. In 3ML the default octave is o4, so writing ‘C’ in 3ML is the note labelled C4 in the link shown above. You will notice two ‘C’ notes present. Refer to musical terms: octave to learn why is this case.

 

Writing the treble clef notes in 3ML will have the following format, assuming all the staveless notes are crotchets:

cdefg1ab>cdefg

If you do not understand this format, scroll down to read the 3ML section

 

In the bass clef, the starting note is E in octave 2 (two octave lower than E of the 4th octave) up to the note B in octave 3. Note that in the treble clef, the note of the same position is note C in octave 4, so be wary which clef you are reading.

 

 

3ML(advanced)

 

‘♭’ in 3ML

There is no such thing as a flat in 3ML so you need to convert it to a sharp. Referring to this link again for the example:

http://www.pineviewchoirs.org/uploads/1/7/2/9/17292140/6001963_orig.jpg

Examples: G ♭= F#,  B♭ = A#, C♭ = B

 

Key Signature in 3ML:

 

If you read the previous explanation of key signature it will explain what it is. Now if you apply it to 3ML it can be helpful to spot mistakes or notes that you entered that are assigned the wrong value. In 3ML you will notice two sets of piano keys. One on the very top that’s in blue and black and the one that is facing sideways in black and white with a grey columns everwhere. Notice that there is a silver bar on top of the grey columns and black/white piano keys as this is important for time signature. The numbers displayed represent the bar number and will have a dark vertical line to differentiate between each bar. And the columns between two light/dark coloured vertical lines represent a beat of the assigned value in the time signature. So in a 4/8 time signature, there will be 4 columns a bar. Each column represents a value of 1/8 of a beat (quaver). In a 4/4 time signature, there will also be 4 columns in a bar, but compared to 4/8 the columns will noticeable be smaller as their beat values are different.

 

The coloured bars:

 

If you’ve seen music videos on youtube, you might have come across something similar to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lOnEth0p-Y

This works exactly how it does in 3ML, but if you still do not understand, read further.

 

The coloured bars just represents the note value according to the time signature assigned. Reading this can help you determine whether a note has the wrong value or is not the right note before even playing the ‘play’ button to listen to what you have written. The coloured bars closest to the piano on the left is shows note what is being played according to the piano keys (so if you memorized the piano octave earlier it will be helpful). The length of the coloured bars will represent the note value. Read the “key signature” in 3ML for more detail.

 

Commands:

 

You can also refer to this site, or you can read mine and see which one you prefer and understand better from:

http://wiki.mabinogiworld.com/view/MML

 

‘o1,o2,o3,etc’

‘o’ refers to octave and the number in front refers to which octave. In mml, you can see there’s all the keys to a typical piano. So o1 being the lowest, and o8 being the highest. The default octave is the middle octave (o4) so you don’t have to type it in.

 

‘>, <’

 ‘>’ makes the next note you write an octave higher, while ‘<’ makes the next note you write an octave lower.

 

‘&/.’

These are used for tied notes or a dotted note.  So a dotted minim (2beats+half=3beats). Will be written as : ‘a2&a’. Occasionally used for ties.

 

‘t120’

The ‘t’ before the number represents the word tempo and the number after it the tempo speed. In 3ML is can be seen has BPM (beats per minute). Higher values mean a faster paced song. Ranges from t32 – t255

 

‘l8’

The ‘l’ represents length and the value after it represents the note length/value.

 

‘#/+’

These two mean the same thing. So C# = C+

                               

‘l8’

‘l’ represents length and the number after it represents the note value. So any note written after this is assigned the note value stated by the length command. So for ‘l8’ , writing the following notes: cdefg is the same as writing c8d8e8f8g8. This is merely a shortcut in writing notes, especially when a bar is composed of nothing but quavers.

 

‘r8/c8’

‘r’ represents a rest and ‘c’ is the note (can be any note i.e. A,B,D,E,etc). The value after r and c is the note value. In this case it is a quaver (half a beat/quarter note).

 

‘n35’

‘n’ represents ‘number’ and 35 represents a particular note in the octave ranges, in this case n35 is the note B in the octave 2 . Refer to this link to find the note and its octave:

http://www.electronics.dit.ie/staff/tscarff/Music_technology/midi/midi_note_numbers_for_octaves.htm

 

‘v5’

‘V’ represents ‘volume’ and the number after v is the intensity/loudness of the volume. Where v0 is the softest and v15 is the loudest. Anything after you set the v5 command will be played in volume 5 until you change it. Default volume is v8, so if you write your music without including v15 in front, all notes will be played in v8 unless changed.

 

After writing an mml of this format,  right click each tab and click optimize. As the word suggests it will turn whatever you created into the shortest form possible.

 

Note/rest values:

 

Because it’s hard to show pictures/symbols of notes here ill direct you to a Wikipedia site:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Note_value

 

Refer the Wikipedia table from 4^th row downwards; I’ll try to explain those better than Wikipedia.

 

Notes and rests have the same value, but different symbol. Obviously note=play, rest=pause/silence for the duration of the beat(s).

 

Whatever is in first three rows: I’ve never seen these before so I won’t bother explaining, never seen them on music sheet either, I highly doubt that will be on whatever music you wanna compose.

Semibreve: Value of 4 beats. Tip: the semibreve and minim rests are very similar, expect ones upright and the other upside-down, a tip one of my music teachers taught my long ago that you could use to differentiate between the two is upside = stronger (can support its weight), therefore higher value. Upright=weaker (needs support). No matter the time signature, one semibreve is a rest for the whole bar.

Minim: Value of 2 beats.

Crotchet: value of 1 beats

Quaver: value of ½ a beat (half a crotchet), also known as a quarter note.

Semi Quaver: value of ¼ a beat (quarter of crotchet, half a quaver)

Prefix Quaver : personally I did not learn any quavers below semiquaver, but if you see a note that has say 3 curly ends of a semi quaver it is half the value of the note with 2 curly ends of a semi quaver. So looking at Wikipedia you can tell that by the note values they give you. Often when reading music, you usually won’t come across demisemiquaver or lower.

 

Reading a music sheet to convert into 3ML format

 

Again, you might want to refer to : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musical_symbols
when reading through this.

 

Key Signature:   Depending on the number of flats and sharps on the key signature, you make have a hard time remembering what note is what especially for flats, where it needs to be converted to sharps in 3ML. The number of #/♭has their respective major/minor, but that will not need to be covered. Reading the flats/sharps from the left they have the order:

 

Key Signature
Number of #/♭	#	♭	3ML (♭)
1	F#	B♭	A#
2	F#, C#	B♭, E ♭	A#, D#
3	F#, C#, G#	B♭,E♭, A♭	A#, D#, G#
4	F#, C#, G#, D#	B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭	A#, D#, G#, C#
5	F#, C#, G#, D#, A#	B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭,G♭	A#, D#, G#, C#, F#

There are more, but I cannot be bothered listing more and its unlikely the music sheet will have that many. So basically whatever key signature you have with the respective number of #/♭, the notes according the table will be applied to EVERY note in the whole music sheet UNLESS the key signature changes elsewhere, so look out for those key signatures.

 

Natural(♮): If this is come across in the key signature, then certain notes that are meant to be played as a sharp/flat is played normally. So, according to the table above, if you see ‘##,N,#’ from left to right for a time signature for #, it means that only F#, C#, D# are changed, the G note is played normally.

 

Dotted Note: If you come across a note with a dot on the right hand side of the note, it means add half the value of the dotted note when you play that dotted note. So a dotted minim (2 beats) means play a minim plus half a minim (1 beat) which totals to 3 beats to be played for that dotted note.

 

Tie: This appears as a curved convex time linking two notes together. This just means you play that one note for the value of the two notes combined. Composers use this when a value of a note they want played is not half the value of the original note.

For dotted notes: crotchet + quaver = 1.5 beats, if the composer wants crotchet + semiquaver, by definition that is not a dotted note, so a tie is used: crotchet + semiquaver = 1.25 beats.

 

Staccato: This appears as a dot on top of a note and means it’s played at roughly half the value of the note. To imitate this on 3ML write the note of half its original value and add a rest also half fo its original value.

Example: A staccato placed on a crotchet ‘C’ note will be written as the following in 3ML: ‘c8r8’

 

Accent: This tells you that the note with a ‘>’ sign on top is played louder than the other notes without the accent. So in 3ML change the volume to a higher value i.e. v10 (higher than base volume 8)

 

8va----------: This is written on starting note and the ‘----‘ part will span to all notes that this is applied to. This is usually written so that the instrument player doesn’t not need to read ridiculously high notes that they probably will not know (unless they start counting from the highest note they know. It means play those notes an octave higher. So in 3ML you will just need to up the octave by one.

 

Vibrato/Arpeggio: This tells you that all those notes are played quickly in ascending order for the duration of the value.

 

Using the Wikipedia example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musical_symbols#/media/File:Music-arpeggio.svg

Assuming treble clef, 3 notes: G,B,D with the value of 4 beats. So G is played first, followed by B then D.

To imitate this is 3ML I would write:

g8b8>d2&d2 or  g16b16>d8&d2&d8

The first two notes are played at whatever speed you prefer then the last note is held for the remaining duration of the note value. So in case 1, two quavers are used (1 beat) and the remaining duration is (4 - 1 = 3 remaining beats). While in case 2, 2 semiquavers are used (0.5 beat) and the remaining duration is (4 - 0.5 = 3.5 beats)

 

If the vibrato has more than 3 notes piled on top of each other, the method does not change, only the last note (the remainder) will have a different value.

 

 

Triplets (tuplet): Triplets are typically notes that have 3 joined quavers (can be 3 minims, crotchets, etc too!) with a ‘3’ written on top. This indicates that those 3 notes are played for duration of 2 quavers (or crotchet). Refer to the basics of 3ML table for the triplet values.

 

You do not need to know this unless you encounter other tuplets or triples in semiquavers or higher: For triplets, you need to get the total beat duration (American terminology) divided by the number of notes to get the 3ML note length.

Example:

Crotchets: beat duration (2 crotchets = 1 minim = (1/2) note) / number of notes (triplets: 3) = 1/6

So C6 is used.

Likewise for quavers: beat duration (2 quavers = 1 crotchet = (1/4) note) / note duration (triplets: 3) = 1/12

So C12 is used.

 

Appoggiatura/Acciaccatura: These are notes (usually quavers or lower values) that are printed really small before or in between notes. This wants you to play that note quickly without playing the next note. This is notably seen in most versions of “River Flows in You” by Yiruma.

 

 

Fermata: To do this in 3ML obviously just assign that note value to be longer. So if a fermata is placed on a semibreve for example, perhaps play it for the value of two semibreves.

 

Example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musical_symbols#/media/File:Music-fermata.svg

Assuming treble clef, the note is ‘G’ with a value of 1 beat.

So instead of writing ‘f’ you write ‘f2’ or ‘f1’ or however long you want the value to be.

 

 

Crescendo, Decrescendo: These are the wide ‘greater than or less than signs’ on top of a group of notes. Crescendo being the long less than, and the decrescendo being the long ‘greater than’, each meaning gradually getting louder and gradually getting softer. To imitate this, change the volume of each note or group of notes i.e. assigning v10 for louder notes, v6 going softer, v2 going even softer…etc. The volume increments are entirely up to you. A little playing around may help.

 

3ML layout

 

When reading from sheet to 3ML, you should assign the line of bars (several bars of music writing in a line before starting a new one below the previous line of bars) on the music sheet to also be a line of notes in 3ML by pressing ‘spacebar’. This will allow you to quickly navigate what sections of music of the music sheet you have already written, opposed to writing one song is one long line in 3ML. You will also notice that after you pressed spacebar there will be an arrow pointing down, which juts indicates that the next note to be played will be found on the next line. If you follow the time signature, you can also tell whether the notes you write are of the right values by checking the time signature lines (see 3ML (adv), time signature).

 

 

Basic 3ML Example

 

Using ‘mary had a little lamb’ as an example from: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/music/sheetmusic/maryhadalittlelamb.shtml

 

The entire first row of bars it can be written as:

 

bagabbb2aaa2b>dd2

 

Notes: Notice that there is a sharp before the time signature, which is F#. There is not ‘F’ note on the first row so it is not used. As the first note starts in octave 4, there is no need to write ‘o4’ in front as it is the default octave.

 

Intermediate 3ML Example

 

Using ‘Axel F’ as an example:

http://musime.excalibur-nw.com/sites/default/files/sheetmusic/axel_f_beverly_hills_theme-trnscrbd-mattie.pdf

 

The entire first row of the TREBLE CLEF with (5) bars it can be written as:

 

Bar1: fg#8&g#16f8f16a#8f8d#8

Bar2: f>c8&c16<f8f16>c#8c8<g#8

Bar3-4:f8>c8f8<f16d#8d#16c8g8f8&f2r2

Bar5: fg#8&g#16f8f16a#8f8d#8

 

Whole row: fg#8&g#16f8f16a#8f8d#8 f>c8&c16<f8f16>c#8c8<g#8 f8>c8f8<f16d#8d#16c8g8f8&f2r2 fg#8&g#16f8f16a#8f8d#8

 

 

Notes: There are 4 flats before the time signature, which means there’s B♭, E ♭,A♭,D♭. So any B,E,A,D notes you come across are all flats. Since this is at a 3ML format you have to remember that it is A#,D#,G#,C# instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2015 by WinterWyvern

[👑Pokemonher01]

I don't think this is really the right way to start. Personally, I believe the best way is to give someone a visual to help them read music.
That is why I recommend this link
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Bass_and_Treble_clef.svg/2000px-Bass_and_Treble_clef.svg.png

It's very useful in the sense that it teaches people the name of the notes and the octave they're in.
I also like using this one to teach because it teaches note values
http://bunewmedia.net/youngmusicians/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/notate10.gif

You already showed them the note value but this is more Visual reference in the 4/4 Time.
(Notes that fit in a measure/ the value of notes)
3/4= 3 quarter notes per measure
5/8= 5 eighth notes per measure
If you have questions you're free to contact me.
Also here is to help with sharps and flats
http://www.pineviewchoirs.org/uploads/1/7/2/9/17292140/6001963_orig.jpg
Essentially, I give this one for in some music you might see in a Key signature you might see there is a C# in it. A composer might do the lazy way and put a B# when they want a normal C instead of a C(Natural Sign).
Again I will explain but note that in that picture it shows all Flats and Sharps so you have to pay attention to the black keys as well.

[🎶WinterWyvern]

I don't think this is really the right way to start. Personally, I believe the best way is to give someone a visual to help them read music.
That is why I recommend this link
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Bass_and_Treble_clef.svg/2000px-Bass_and_Treble_clef.svg.png

It's very useful in the sense that it teaches people the name of the notes and the octave they're in.
I also like using this one to teach because it teaches note values
http://bunewmedia.net/youngmusicians/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/notate10.gif

You already showed them the note value but this is more Visual reference in the 4/4 Time.
(Notes that fit in a measure/ the value of notes)
3/4= 3 quarter notes per measure
5/8= 5 eighth notes per measure
If you have questions you're free to contact me.
Also here is to help with sharps and flats
http://www.pineviewchoirs.org/uploads/1/7/2/9/17292140/6001963_orig.jpg
Essentially, I give this one for in some music you might see in a Key signature you might see there is a C# in it. A composer might do the lazy way and put a B# when they want a normal C instead of a C(Natural Sign).
Again I will explain but note that in that picture it shows all Flats and Sharps so you have to pay attention to the black keys as well.

like i said this is a draft so some things haven't been mentioned (octave/reading notes, black piano notes), but some of those links would be helpful. As for note values i explained that somewhere, and probably will add that when i mention joined quavers ,semiquavers, etc. Also the time signature is completely ignored when writing in 3ml. does not require it, but i guess i should explain it further? i try to skip unnecessary stuff, but there's probably unnecessary stuff  here and there.anyway. As for the natural sign in the key signature, i completely forgot about that, so thanks for mentioning it, it doesn't appear very often in music sheets.

[👑Pokemonher01]

like i said this is a draft so some things haven't been mentioned (octave/reading notes, black piano notes), but some of those links would be helpful. As for note values i explained that somewhere, and probably will add that when i mention joined quavers ,semiquavers, etc. Also the time signature is completely ignored when writing in 3ml. does not require it, but i guess i should explain it further? i try to skip unnecessary stuff, but there's probably unnecessary stuff  here and there.anyway. As for the natural sign in the key signature, i completely forgot about that, so thanks for mentioning it, it doesn't appear very often in music sheets.

Not really for me it bothers me but I can change the 3MLE settings for the Time signature because I find it useful it making sure I am writing everything correctly at the right value

[🎶WinterWyvern]

Not really for me it bothers me but I can change the 3MLE settings for the Time signature because I find it useful it making sure I am writing everything correctly at the right value

Again, using a time signature in 3ML is not needed, so if you copy and paste that in a new 3ML project they will sound no different. I've yet to explain my 3ML formatting but if you find it useful, go for it. I didn't know that you can change the time signature in 3ML as well and i won't pretend i know how to in 3ML so i wont be writing about it.

[👑tanino]

For me the definitive BEST mml guide out there is this one on the Wiki, it explains everything in details without feeling too cumbersome, which is neat.
http://wiki.mabinogiworld.com/view/User:LexisMikaya/MML_101_Guide

[🎶WinterWyvern]

For me the definitive BEST mml guide out there is this one on the Wiki, it explains everything in details without feeling too cumbersome, which is neat.
http://wiki.mabinogiworld.com/view/User:LexisMikaya/MML_101_Guide

That guide is for reading mml only, if you look at a music sheet, you can't compose it on 3ML. I haven't seen that before, but may use it as reference for my mml writing part. 

My guide is meant to hopefully allow people to read music sheets then compose it on 3ML. (perhaps i should rename the title)

[🎶WinterWyvern]

Is there anything else i should add (other than more examples)? and also those that are actually trying to write mml from music sheet using this method, let me know if it works or doesnt, or something is unclear.

[🚩Blargel]

	Value (beats)	3ML
Semibreve	4	C1
Minim	2	C2
Crotchet	1	C/C4
Quaver	0.5	C8
Semiquaver	(1/8)	C16
Demisemiquaver	(1/16)	C32

 

Are you british? Those names are not the ones I learned but a brief Google search tells me those are British names. It may be helpful to include the American names for these as well.

• Whole note
• Half note
• Quarter note
• Eighth note
• Sixteenth note
• Thirty-second note

There is also C64 which you may want to include just for completion's sake (Hemidemisemiquaver or Sixty-fourth note). For the Crotchet/quarter note, I think you should just put C4 in the final column and explain that this is the default duration later on or something.

That's all I have for now. I'll read more later.

[🎶WinterWyvern]

Are you british? Those names are not the ones I learned but a brief Google search tells me those are British names. It may be helpful to include the American names for these as well.

• Whole note
• Half note
• Quarter note
• Eighth note
• Sixteenth note
• Thirty-second note

There is also C64 which you may want to include just for completion's sake (Hemidemisemiquaver or Sixty-fourth note). For the Crotchet/quarter note, I think you should just put C4 in the final column and explain that this is the default duration later on or something.

That's all I have for now. I'll read more later.

i learnt it those terms that way in high school, (also since i also learned the tempo stuff doesnt mean im italian). For the C64 note for consistently ill put it in i guess. I did write somewhere that note value 4 is the default duration somewhere, but i just included it there to remind them.

[🎶Flameberge]

http://ichigos.com/sheets/

would say use this site to get a midi file put it on 3ml then look at the music sheet to see how to code.

also a crotchet sounds alot more bad ass then a quarternote.

[🎶WinterWyvern]

http://ichigos.com/sheets/

would say use this site to get a midi file put it on 3ml then look at the music sheet to see how to code.

also a crotchet sounds alot more bad ass then a quarternote.

i don't know if its the case for all the music stuff there, but the ones i checked had music sheets that are far more complicated than some of the pitful attempts to transcribe the music sheet attatched. Some of them only have tab worth of stuff for a piano piece (i.e. right hand only no bass/left hand). Sure you could use those as an example but I'd say they won't help that much

[👑BeastExe]

You can make triplets in 3mle. When you want to have 3 notes for the same value as 2 quarter notes/crotchets, the duration of each note in the triplet would be '6' in 3mle. Or if we're looking at the example you used 

C4 C4 C12 D12 E12 C4.
In general for tuplets, you just need to multiply the number of notes you want with the value of duration. Of course, it's not always gonna be perfect, but that's when you play around with the duration of some of the notes until it ends where you want it to end. I do this so I can make use of my measure bars and keep track of where I am.

[🎶WinterWyvern]

Bump: Since I'm kinda back i can kinda keep working on this. I'm not sure if new people who joined the forums recently have seen this or has found it useful, so any feedback whether is was useful to those people would be helpful!

[👑opalthira]

I didn't really know this was here before making the 3ml guide that i did. Seems like there is a lot of advanced stuff in here that I can't even understand.

[🎶starflare145]

I keep a doodled form of this note guide on my desk when I compose, since my sight reading is absolute crap. When limited to E1-E7 (lute range), it fits pretty well on a note card. Add a few things about key signatures (D-flat major: everything flat but F and C), and I'm pretty much good.

This is, of course, a minimum for me because I understand rests and other basic notation. Maybe with a few more pictures it would work as a universal cheat sheet?