Songbook Creator

Convert text based chord sheets to LaTeX, making use of the leadsheets package. The resulting files can be turned into songbooks with adjustable formatting, utilizing the templating capabilities of the leadsheets package.

The conversion to PDF files works best using TeX Live.

Workflow

Add input files

Place multiple text files in the input folder:

input/interpret a - song 1.txt
input/interpret a - song 2.txt
input/interpret b - song 3.txt

Convert input files to LaTeX

Run the conversion script:

./convert.py input/*

A LaTeX file is created in the songs folder for each input file:

songs/interpret a - song 1.tex
songs/interpret a - song 2.tex
songs/interpret b - song 3.tex

Additionaly, the latex file songs.tex is created which can be used to include all the files from the songs folder:

\input{songs/interpret a - song 1.tex}
\input{songs/interpret a - song 2.tex}
\input{songs/interpret b - song 3.tex}

Convert LaTeX to PDF

Run xelatex on one of the songbook files that include the songs.tex file.

xelatex -interactio=nonstopmode -shell-escape -halt-on-error songbook.tex

Example

a simple chordsheet file

Interpret - Title

[Verse]
Em  Am
abc abc

[Chorus]
Em  B7
abc abc

is converted to the following LaTeX file

% test.txt

% Interpret - Title
\begin{song}{
interpret={Interpret},
title={Title},
}

% [Verse]
% Em  Am
% abc abc
\begin{verse}
\chord{Em}abc \chord{Am}abc
\end{verse}

% [Chorus]
% Em  B7
% abc abc
\begin{chorus}
\chord{Em}abc \chord{B7}abc
\end{chorus}

\end{song}

Features

A 'verse' refers to any 'verse-like' part, e.g. a verse, chorus, bridge, etc.

Verse Breaks

The convert.py script adds the \versebreak command at the end of each line in a verse. It must be defined in the songbook.tex file and can just contain a newline:

\newcommand{\versebreak}{\\}

For a more compact layout, a slash or other character can be used:

\newcommand{\versebreak}{/ }

Repetitions

Repetitions are typeset using music symbol bars and can be explicitly defined in the input files. In addition, repeating lines within a part and repeating (identical) parts are automatically detected.

These 4 examples lead to the exact same result:

[Chorus] x2
Em    Am
Lorem ipsum

[Chorus]
   Em    Am
|: Lorem ipsum :|

[Chorus]
Em    Am
Lorem ipsum

[Chorus]
Em    Am
Lorem ipsum

[Chorus]
Em    Am
Lorem ipsum
Em    Am
Lorem ipsum

Tabulatures

Tabulatures are converted into a series of \makebox commands which allow for using variable-width fonts in a fixed-width grid.

e|--1--2--3--|-----------|
B|-----------|--1--2--3--|
G|-----------|-----------|
D|-----------|-----------|
A|-----------|-----------|
E|-----------|-----------|

The following commands and a length must be defined in the songbook.tex file. They control the format of the different tabulature elements:

\newcommand{\tabformat}{\tiny}
\newcommand{\tabruleformat}{\color{lightgray}}
\newcommand{\tabnoteformat}{\bfseries{}\color{NavyBlue}}
\newcommand{\tabotherformat}{\color{black}}
\newcommand{\tabchordformat}{\tiny\bfseries{}\color{NavyBlue}}

\newlength{\tabcellwidth}
\setlength{\tabcellwidth}{1.0mm}

Variable formatting examples

Print format

from songbook.tex

E-Book format

from songbook-ebook.tex