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Siltharan
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re: So you want to play music? (LOTRO Music Tutorial)

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A few of you have been curious as to how exactly the music system works within LOTRO, and want to play your own music, or even join the Courserrim band. I decided to write up this tutorial from start to finish to get you prepared to play either on your own or with a group, with the added convenience of a plugin called Songbook and a MIDI-to-LOTRO-music converter/player called Maestro.

Here are the basics!

So you want to play music?

First of all, you need an instrument. Head to one of the bards in any major city/establishment (Bree, MD, Ost Guruth, etc.) and check out what instruments they have for sale. Every class has access to at least two instruments from the start, with Minstrels having the ability to learn all instruments themselves just by leveling up. The instruments usually cost about 2 silver, so they are affordable for everyone.

How to Play Music - As Easy As 123

Once you've purchased your instrument, you need to equip it. This replaces your ranged weapon (So be sure to re-equip your bows after playing, hunters! Same goes for other ranged users). Once you do, you can type /music to begin playing. The number keys that usually correspond to your skills turn into notes, with Shift and Control changing octaves when used in conjunction with a number/note.

As Easy As ABC

You can play your own music this way, though a much easier method is by using an ABC file. ABC files are text files with notation that LOTRO can read and play, without having to worry about timing or hitting any notes yourself. There are many websites hosting ABC files for LOTRO, such as www.lotro-abc.com, so you can try downloading one to use.

You need to make sure these ABC files are located in the right place for LOTRO to read them. In the Lord of the Rings Online folder in My Documents (typically C:\Documents and Settings\(username)\My Documents\Lord of the Rings Online\ for XP users, and C:\Users\(username)\Documents\Lord of the Rings Online\ for Win 7/8 users), you need to check if a Music folder is located there. If not, simply create a New Folder called Music within the LOTRO folder. Then you add your ABC files into the Music folder, and they will be ready to play!

Once files are added to the folder, you can follow the directions to pull out your instrument once more, then type /play (filename without the .abc extension) and you will start playing!

Imitating the Rolling Stones

So you want to set up your own garage band now, you say? Well, you need to start by gathering a group of people together with instruments. Some ABC files may have multiple parts, or may be split up into separate files. Everyone needs the respective file for the instrument they're going to play, so make sure everyone downloads the right file.

Next, you will need to be in a fellowship or raid (depending on how many members you have: Fellowships allow up to 6 members) together with your band members.

When everyone is ready with their instruments drawn, each member needs to type /play (filename) sync to ready themselves. The way my chat tabs are set up, an alert is shown in General as each player syncs up. Syncing is a lot easier than trying to play individually at the same time, especially when dealing with computer/internet/server lag.

Finally, with everyone synced up, one person needs to type /playstart, and everyone will begin to play!

But all these commands stink!

There is a solution for this problem! It comes in the form of a LOTRO plugin called Songbook. The page for the plugin is located on LOTROInterface's site here: http://www.lotrointerface.com/downloads/info380-Songbook.html

Plugins are additional programs that you can install into your LOTRO folder to add functionality the client doesn't currently provide. To allow your client to accept plugins, return to your The Lord of the Rings Online folder in My Documents and create a new folder inside that one (as you may have had to do with Music) called Plugins.

Now, return to the Songbook page and click Download on the right side. Extract the folder and file directly into the Plugins folder, and you're all set! Well, almost.

Next step, inside LOTRO, type /plugins refresh. This searches for all plugins in the Plugins folder and helps LOTRO recognize them. /plugins list will help you confirm that Songbook is now visible.

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Important next step: In order for Songbook to recognize your ABC files in your Music folder, you should download the standalone application called Songbook Filler from here: http://www.electricwarriors.net/SongbookFiller.zip Run this file (extract the filler application to wherever you feel necessary), and a library will be created for Songbook that will hold all of the files in your Music folder.

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Before you can use Songbook, you need to use one more command: /plugins load songbook. Finally, you should see a music note button show up right beneath your minimap. Songbook is now ready to use!

Playing Music Easily

Now, click the music note button. This brings up the Songbook interface. At the top, you will see several buttons. The M works the same as the /music command, and the > button will play a song solo once you've selected it below. The R button is used as a ready check for your fellowship/raid group. The next button over is your syncing button once you've selected a song and part you're playing, and finally, the next button will act as /playstart for a group song. The S button simply acts as a way to post what song you have selected and/or are playing, to broadcast to others.

As you can see, this method is MUCH easier through which to play music, so that is what most members in the Courserrim band will use.

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Note: If you add new songs to your Music folder while Songbook is running, you will need to restart the plugin and re-run the library filler for the new songs to reappear. To restart the plugin, type /plugins unload and then run the library filler. Then restart the plugin the same way as above.

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But I can't find the ABC file for the song I want to play!

There's a solution to that, too! It's a stand-alone program called Maestro that allows you to take MIDI files (Music files with separate tracks for each instrument) and  convert them to ABC files, allowing you to assign LOTRO instruments to each track and transpose tracks to fit the range of each instrument. You can find out more info and download Maestro here: https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?522150-Maestro-MIDI-to-ABC-converter-for-LOTRO

If you can't find an ABC file for a song you want to play, just try searching for "(song name) midi" without the quotes and chances are someone has already made a MIDI of it. You can listen to the MIDI within Maestro to hear whether it's faithful to the original song. If it is, you can see all of the tracks in the MIDI within the Maestro program. On the left hand side, you can add/delete parts for LOTRO. The drop-down bar in the upper middle of the window lets you select which instrument corresponds to that part, and the check boxes to the left of each track can be checked to add tracks to that instrument part.

When the "dots" in the tracks appear red for a certain instrument, those will play either an octave higher or lower than designed due to the range of the instrument you've chosen for the part. Click up or down next to the box that says "0" (i.e. the same pitch as the MIDI file) and the number will change to -12, -24, in the negative direction and 12, 24, etc. in the positive direction. This shifts the whole track a full octave to help you match the range properly.

Try to match your instruments to make them sound closest to the original MIDI. For example, many parts share the same name as a LOTRO instrument (Flute, clarinet, harp, etc.). Guitars can work as lute or theorbo, whether they're acoustic, electric, or bass. Ultimately, just test out your arrangement by clicking the button next to ABC Preview (beneath Original) and play the arrangement to hear it as you've set it up. When you're done, click Export ABC, and save the file to your Music folder within the My Documents\The Lord of the Rings Online folder. You've just composed a piece of music for LOTRO! Congratulations!

Any questions?

That's about all I can think of for this tutorial. If you have any questions, ask any of the Courserrim band members or reply to this thread.

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