14. Bringing music in

PowerTab and TablEdit files

Stab doesn’t open PowerTab (.ptb) or TablEdit (.tef) files. TuxGuitar, a free and open-source tab editor, reads both and writes Guitar Pro 5, which Stab imports. The conversion takes a minute on a computer.

PowerTab and TablEdit files, through TuxGuitar

Available on every platform.

Convert a file with TuxGuitar

1. Get TuxGuitar from its site, tuxguitar.app: it runs on Windows, the Mac and Linux, and the site explains how to install its packages.
2. In TuxGuitar, choose File › Open and pick the .ptb or .tef file. (File › Import lists the formats one by one, if you’d rather pick it there.)
3. Choose File › Export › Export as Guitar Pro 5 and save the .gp5 file.
4. In Stab, import the .gp5 file like any other Guitar Pro file: see Guitar Pro files.

TuxGuitar leaves the original file as it was.

What may not survive

The song goes through two conversions, and each keeps what it can: what TuxGuitar doesn’t read from the original file, or Guitar Pro 5 can’t hold, is gone before Stab sees it. Then Stab’s own import applies, as for any Guitar Pro file (What isn’t kept).

• The page: the original’s layout and any text placed freely on it.
• Markings with no equivalent in TuxGuitar or Guitar Pro 5: they’re dropped, or written as the nearest thing.
• Older or newer files: TuxGuitar may not open every version of each format. If it can’t, and you have the program that made the file, export from it as Guitar Pro, MusicXML or MIDI instead: Stab opens all three.

After importing, play the song through against the original and check what matters most: tunings and capos, repeats and endings, tempo changes, and the chord names and lyrics.