Sheet Music

Obsidian Sheet Music

This plugin renders playable music notation directly inside Obsidian. It currently supports three notation formats:

• abc for staff notation with playback, tempo control, and transposition
• strumming for rhythm and chord-pattern blocks with playback animation
• chords for lyric-and-chord sheets with highlighted chord and section markers
• MIDI keyboard capture that transcribes live playing into an abc code block

Features

• Render ABC notation directly in markdown notes
• Play ABC notation with adjustable tempo
• Transpose ABC notation up or down while viewing
• Pass custom abcjs render options from a JSON header
• Render strumming patterns with timing rows and optional chord rows
• Render chord sheets from chords code blocks
• Highlight chord and section markers enclosed in brackets (for example [C] and [Verse 1])
• Toggle note auto-scroll from a top-right view action button
• Capture live MIDI input and insert it as ABC notation into the active note

Usage

ABC notation

Use an abc code block for inline notation:

T: Greensleeves
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
K: Em
E2|G3A B2|c3B A2|

ABC blocks render notation, add playback controls, and support note selection plus transposition.

ABC with custom render options

Place a JSON object at the top of the block, then a separator line ---, then the ABC body.

• The JSON header is optional.
• The separator is only needed when you provide a JSON header.
• Invalid JSON does not block rendering. The tune still renders and an error banner is shown above the score.

{
  "tablature": [{"instrument": "violin"}]
}
---
X:1
T: Cooley's
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: G
|:D2|EB{c}BA B2 EB|~B2 AB dBAG|FDAD BDAD|FDAD dAFD|

Example with swing rendering:

{"swing":70}
---
X:1
T: It Don't Mean A Thing
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K:_B
V:Guitar clef=treble
V:Bass clef=bass
[V:Guitar]
_d_d z2 c2 _b,2| G4 z4 |
[V:Bass]
_E,,4 D,,4|G,,4 z4 |

See the abcjs options reference for supported render options: https://docs.abcjs.net/

Strumming patterns

Use a strumming code block for rhythmic guitar-style patterns:

{
	"part": "Verse",
	"bpm": 96,
	"denominator": 8,
	"isTriplet": false,
	"measures": [1, 101, 1, 101, 1, 101, 1, 101]
}

Strumming blocks render stroke rows, timing labels, optional chord rows, and a playback animation with speed control.

Example with chords:

{
	"part": "Chorus",
	"bpm": 120,
	"denominator": 8,
	"isTriplet": false,
	"measures": [1, 102, 1, 102, 1, 102, 1, 102],
	"chords": ["G", "", "", "C", "G", "", "Em", "C"]
}

Chord sheets

Use a chords code block for chord sheets where chord and section markers are enclosed in brackets.

Am[x02210]
C[x32010]
Dm[xx0231]
Dm7[xx0211]
F[133211]
G[320003]

[Verse 1]

[C] La luz de tu mirar[G], tu hermoso caminar
[Am]  No existe nadie como [F]tú
[C] The sky magenta blue,[G] it's only me and you
[Am]  Your eyes lit up are just the [F]moon

[Pre-Chorus]

Sé que habrán momentos de sufrimiento
But w[G]e'll be o[Am]kay
N[G]o soy perf[F]ecto
Pero[G]

[Chorus]

[C]En dondequiera que esté[G]s, ahí esta[Am]ré
Hoy y ma[F]ñana, por siempre, mi amo[C]r
Y si me voy[G], recuerda que[Dm]
For now and to[F]morrow, forever my love[C]

Auto-scroll

Use the top-right note action button to toggle auto-scroll while reading a note.

You can configure the scroll speed per note in frontmatter with autoscroll-speed. If omitted or invalid, the default speed is 5.

autoscroll-speed: 5

MIDI capture

Connect a MIDI keyboard and use the ribbon button (music note icon) to record directly into a note.

1. Open a note in edit mode and position the cursor where you want the notation inserted.
2. Click the Start MIDI capture ribbon button — the icon changes to a stop square while recording is active.
3. Play on your MIDI keyboard.
4. Click the button again to stop. The captured performance is inserted as an abc code block at the cursor.

The ribbon button is hidden automatically when no MIDI input devices are connected, and reappears as soon as a device is plugged in.

What the transcription produces:

• Key detection — the key signature is inferred automatically from the notes you played (prefers simpler keys when there is a tie).
• Grand staff — if notes span both above and below middle C, two voices are written: V:V1 clef=treble and V:V2 clef=bass. Single-range performances use one voice with the appropriate clef.
• Chords — notes played within 50 ms of each other are grouped into a chord [...].
• Rests — gaps longer than 50 ms between notes are transcribed as rests (z).
• Duration quantization — note lengths are quantized to the nearest sixteenth note (L:1/8 half-unit).
• Sustain pedal — sustain CC 64 is tracked; notes held by the pedal are finalized when the pedal is released.
• Tempo — the BPM configured in plugin settings is written into the Q: header and used for quantization.

You can configure the capture BPM in Settings → MIDI Capture.

Settings

The plugin settings let you enable or disable each notation package independently.

• ABC settings: staff width, scale, playback instrument
• Strumming settings: package enable toggle
• Chords settings: package enable toggle
• MIDI Capture settings: capture BPM

Development

Install

npm install

Run in watch mode

npm run dev

Build

npm run build

Test

npm test

Lint

npm run lint

References

• Obsidian API docs: https://docs.obsidian.md
• abcjs docs: https://docs.abcjs.net/