Transpose by Fred Bolder

General information

If there is normal text in the chord line and the Input format is not "[C] Inline", the line will be ignored. An exception is the "|" character, which will not be visible in the result. Some text like 2x can be in a chord line. The first letter of a note name must be a capital (uppercase letter), except when Lowercase=minor is enabled or when the Input format is set to Roman. When the Output format is set to Roman, the note names for minor and diminished chords will be in lowercase.
The text after a slash is interpreted as a bass note, so don't use chord names like D6/9. You can use D69 or D6add9 instead. Inversions that are sometimes used in Roman numerals are not supported.

Feel free to contact me by e-mail (fgh.bolder@gmail.com) for questions or feedback.

Commands: Comment

Select the command type that you want, put the cursor in the line (not at the end) that you want to change into a comment and press the Comment button. Keep in mind that Box is not always supported.

Commands: Title

Press the Title button to find the title and create a directive for a better styling. Make sure that you have selected the Input format that matches with the input for the best result.

Preferences: Chords=bold

Enable this option if you want the chords to be bold. When the Output format is set to Inline the chords will not be bold.

Preferences: Compact

Enable this option if you want compact chord symbols. If in the original text long chord names are used, they will be converted to short chord names. For example minor will be converted to m and maj7 will be converted to M7 or even just a delta symbol when Special chars is enabled.

Preferences: Ignore colors

If this option is enabled, color changes from directives are ignored, so all text will be black.

Preferences: Space between chords

When this option is enabled, there will be always at least one space character between two chords. When the Output format is set to Roman there will be always at least one space character between two chords independent of the "Space between chords" setting, because when there is no space between the I chord and the V chord, it is in fact the IV chord.

Preferences: Special chars

Enable Special chars if you prefer real music symbols for sharps (#), flats (b) etc., but keep in mind that if you want to use the result in other software these characters might not be supported.

Preferences: Strict

Normally it is best to have Strict enabled to prevent normal text from being changed. If there are unusual chords in the text, you can disable Strict and correct some text later if needed.

Preferences: Simplify chords

For beginners it is handy to enable this option. Of course a song sounds different when chords are simplified, but often it still sounds good.

Preferences: Text size

The Text size setting is used for the output and for printing.

Preferences: Uppercase notes

When this option is enabled, the letters of the note names will be in capitals. This option has only influence on the result when the Output format is set to "Do Re Mi" or Greek. For example, Solm7 will be converted to SOLm7.

Preferences: Use Ti

If the Output format is set to "Do Re Mi" and you want Ti instead of Si on the result, enable Use Ti. If the Input format is set to "Do Re Mi", both Ti and Si are recognized independently of the Use Ti setting.

Clear

Press the Clear button to clear the input. After that you can easily paste or type a new text.

Surprise me

Press the "Surprise me" button to load a random song. This is handy to learn how Transpose works. The current song will be overwritten. You can get an overview of the available songs by making the input area empty (Clear button), only writing index (or ?) on the first line and pressing the "Surprise me" button. You can load a song from the index by making the input area empty, only writing the number on the first line and pressing the "Surprise me" button.

Theme

Select the color theme that you pefer. If Theme is set to Dark, the color black will be converted to white. For printing, always the color theme Light is used.

Input format

It is important to choose the correct Input format. For example, when there are chords within the text lines, the Input format need to be set to "[C] Inline". If the format is set to "[C] Inline", you can change the type of the brackets (square or round).

Lowercase=minor

When this option is enabled, the lowercase notes in the input will be capitalized and the chord type will be changed to minor.

Use sharps (#)

Enable this option if you prefer to see sharps (#) instead of flats (b) on the result. This option has only influence on the note names, so D7#5 will not change. Enable Special chars if you want real music symbols, but keep in mind that if you want to use the result in other software these characters might not be supported. When the Output format is set to German, there are no sharp or flat symbols in the note name, but if Use sharps is enabled, you will see for example Cis instead of Des.

Key

The "Key" setting is only used for Roman numerals and the Nashville Number System. The key of a song is mostly the last chord.

Semitones

With this setting you adjust the number of semitones that the chords will be transposed up or down. When the number is negative, the chords will be transposed down. When you only want to convert to another format, Semitones must be set to 0. When the Output format is set to Roman, the Semitones setting is ignored.

Output format

With this setting you can adjust the format of the result. If the format is set to "[C] Inline", you can change the type of the brackets (square or round).

Transpose / Convert

Press this button to generate a result in the second text area.

Down

Press the Down button to decrease (if possible) the Semitones setting and to generate a result.

Up

Press the Up button to increase (if possible) the Semitones setting and to generate a result.

Select all

Press this button to select the complete result. After that you can press Ctrl-C to copy it. Copying to the clipboard is not done automatically, as browsers may prevent this for security reasons. Depending on the browser, the formatting can be different.

Directives

Transpose supports several directives that are used by ProChord.
The directives {title: text}, {t: text}, {subtitle: text}, {st: text}, {artist: text}, {comment: text}, {c: text}, {comment_italic: text}, {ci: text}, {comment_box: text}, {cb: text}, {chordcolour: colour}, {chordcolor: color}, {textcolour: colour}, {textcolor: color}, {titlecolour: colour} and {titlecolor: color} are supported. You can use them with all Input formats.
The directives {new_song}, {ns}, {start_of_chorus}, {soc}, {end_of_chorus}, {eoc}, {start_of_tab}, {sot}, {end_of_tab}, {eot}, {define: ...}, {textfont: fontname}, {tf: fontname}, {textsize: fontsize}, {ts: fontsize}, {chordfont: fontname}, {cf: fontname}, {chordsize: fontsize}, {cs: fontsize}, {no_grid}, {ng}, {grid}, {g}, {titles: flush}, {new_page}, {np}, {new_physical_page}, {npp}, {columns: number}, {col: number}, {column_break}, {colb} and {pagetype: type} are not really supported, but they are hidden when the Output format is not Online.
Directives that are not supported are shown in a nice way. Lines that start with a # are ignored when the Input format is Inline and the Output format is not Inline. With the directive {scroll: msec/pixel} you can set the Auto Scroll speed.

Print

Press the Print button to print the complete result using the standard print function. The result can be different depending on the browser. Mostly you can also print to a PDF file.
This is just a fast way to print. If you copy the text and past it in a document, you can change the layout the way you like and print the document.

Export

Press the Export button to download the complete result in plain text format or in HTML format.

Auto Scroll

If the lyrics don't fit on the screen, it is handy to use Auto Scroll. Press Start to start scrolling. Press Stop to stop scrolling. Press Slower or Faster to change the scrolling speed. The number indicates the time (msec) per pixel.

Chord information

Type or copy a chord name (example: Dm7) in the left input box and press the Info button to see the notes that are in that chord. Notes in round brackets may be omitted. You can also see how to play the chord on a piano. For the keyboard picture, the selected chord position (root, 1st inversion, 2nd inversion or 3rd inversion) is used. Chords with three notes have only two inversions. If you select "3rd inv" for these chords, you will see the chord in root position, but one octave higher. If you have entered a valid chord and you change the position, you don't need to press the Info button. You can also see and hear drop voicings.
The first letter of a note name must be a capital (uppercase letter). Enable the option Use sharps if you prefer to see sharps (#) instead of flats (b). All chord formats are supported. If you want to get the information (for example) about the Sol chord, the Output format has to be set to Do Re Mi. There is information available for chords. There are many ways to write the same chord, so if you don't get information, you can try to write the chord in a different way. Don't use a slash in a chord name like D6/9. You can use D69 or D6add9 instead. A bass note like the G in C/G will be ignored. Keep in mind that Ab5 is not the same as A(b5). Ab5 is an Ab chord without the third and A(b5) is an A chord with a lowered fifth. You can also enter the notes of a chord in the left input box to find the matching chord(s). The notes have to be separated by a comma. The order of the notes have no influence on the result. For example C, F#, D, A will give the chords D7 and Gbdim6. The notes A, B, E will give the chords A59, Asus2 and Esus4.
You can hear the displayed chord by clicking on the keyboard picture. If you click within the first octave, the notes of the chord are played simultaneously. If you click within the second octave, the notes are played with a slight delay between them, like strumming on a guitar. If you click within the third octave, the chord is played as an arpeggio.