How to add custom music to Starbound (For newbies)

I've decided to do post this since I haven't really seen any guides on this forum describing how exactly to import your own music into Starbound. Sure, you can search it online, but there are only a couple of good guides and the Starbound Composer doesn't have a guide on using it (Either it's not there or I haven't seen it)
The person who egged me on, to make this guide, in-game was YamahaMomo68 (Elysia Kenway).

First of all, I'll be putting the links of ALL downloads at the end of this page (Please remind me in the comments if I've forgotten)
The directory you put it in (As of Starbound Furious Koala edition), while it may not be the same on yours, is E:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Starbound\assets\user\songs (Most computers will have it in the C: Drive since it's the default, and some Starbound players might have the songs file in the assets folder instead of the user sub-folder)

Let's start with some introductions to Starbound music.

Starbound uses music that's changed to the ABC format, which is basically text. Basically it uses the letters A to G which symbolizes the notes. It's reminiscent of ASCII art which is basically pictures in text form, using a myriad of symbols to create fabulous images.

Second, Starbound instruments were made to be compatible with all types of instruments, which means they've most likely coded it so that the instrument files read the ABC text and turn it into notes that sound like the instrument's actual notes, which is very useful BUT that also means some songs don't sound very good or sound very different with different instruments (Such as Demons, which sounds weird on an acoustic guitar {Strangely, because it sounds great in real life, I know cause my boyfriend can play it} while it sounds like a bed time song on a xylophone, haha).

First of all, I'd suggest going to LOTRO-ABC.com to get some ready-made ABC files, if they are there. There are many, many songs here (This is where I get all my Beatles, Queen and Guns N Roses songs). Most of these files come in either .abc or .zip files.
For .abc files, just save it directly into your Songs folder. For .zip files, extract then do the same. Easy.

HOWEVER! Certain songs, especially the more modern ones or the lesser known ones, won't have an ABC file on this website. The easiest thing to do is to turn the song into MIDI format (You can just download it, most songs already have it anyway, made by other people) which is basically another digital musical format that is primarily used in Keyboards (Because it's a digital musical instrument).

First, we acquire the MIDI file, then we turn it into ABC format. How do we turn it into ABC format, you say?
Well, we have a program from the SAME website, Lotro.com (Not sure why they called it LOTRO, so far I haven't seen much related to LOTRO), known as Maestro that changes MIDI to ABC!

When you open it up, press 'File > Open MIDI or ABC file' and find your MIDI file.
After that, just select all the boxes next to the various instruments (If you'd like, you can listen to each individual instrument and remove the instrument you don't want playing) then press 'File>Export' and save it in your Songs folder again!

Ta-daah!
You've successfully imported new music into Starbound! Play it everywhere! The bar, the streets, in your ship, in some guy's house, maybe even annoy Aiko while she's trying to RP! (Mayhaps you can remind her of not being able to get new fins?)

Edit: Added a link to a site that has a ton of pre-made ABC songs that you can download together. It has some of the basic/popular songs.
Credit goes to the creator!

Links:
Premade ABCs
MDI-ABC Converter
400-ABC Pack


MIDIs can be found anywhere. Just google them or check them out on Youtube, most will have a download link.

 

A player-helping-player section in the OOC sub-forums?