Copyright: Copyright (c)1998 Fast & Soft


Sight-Singing Trainer

Copyright © 1998 Nick Baciu

Fast & Soft

www.EarPower.com

How to Register

What this program does

Requirements

Troubleshooting

www.EarPower.com

The Interface


What this program does

It helps you train sight-singing skills.

Wouldn't you like to look at a music score and be

able to hear that music in your mind? Well trained

musicians can do it. This program may help you

develop this ability.

You need an unidirectional microphone plugged

into the computer's sound card.

The screen has two staves:  the top staff displays

a short melodic line. Take a look at the notes and

try to hear them in your mind. But since the computer

cannot hear your mind you will have to sing or hum the

notes Sing each note in order, slowly, until the note

shown on the bottom staff matches the original.

You can change the voice range - Bass, Bariton, Tenor,

Contralto, Mezzo-soprano or Soprano - from the 'Settings'

button.

An ability of singing from sight is an

invaluable asset to music students and amateurs.

Sight-Singing is the ability to read music at first

sight using your voice, not an instrument. This require

a good ear and knowledge of melodic intervals.

As with our other programs  (Ear Power and Ear Steady)

Sight-Singing Trainer uses an intuitive method to develop

your musical abilities. Playing with this program daily for

10-20 minutes will improve, slowly but surely,

your ear and pitch reading skill.

Back to contents


How to Register

The fee is only US $20.

After the evaluation time, the program will stop working.

Then you will need the registration number, which is

rather some sort of a password.

After you type this number at the beginning,

the program will be reactivated.

There are several ways to get this number:

1.Credit card

2.Compuserve

3.Regular mail

What else you will get as a registered user:

1.A copy of a little utility - Ear Steady, which

will help you with the rhythm, to keep a  steady beat at different tempos.

2.Free future upgrades for either Sight-Singing or Ear Steady.

3.Technical support. Send e-mail to :

sheep13@aol.com

or visit the Ear Training WebSite.

 Back to Contents


1. CREDIT CARD ORDERS - US $25.
CREDIT CARD ORDERS - US $20.

Important - don't forget to mention the product number is 30305

You can order with MC, Visa, Amex, or Discover

from Public Software Library

1. If you have a Web browser installed

You can safely use your credit card to pay

the $20 registration fee to Public Software Library

over the Internet; you can do it right now:

Click HERE.

Or start your browser and go to

http://www.pslweb.com/cgi-win/psl_ord.exe/ITEM30305

2.  by FAX to 713-524-6398,

(PLEASE type or print VERY plainly) or

3. by Email to @pslweb.com, or

4. You can also mail credit card orders to PsL

at P.O.Box 35705, Houston, TX 77235-5705.

Important - don't forget to specify the product number 30305

PsL will notify us the day of your order and we will send you

the registration number right away, either by regular mail or,

 more conveniently, e-mail, if you have an e-mail address.

How to Register


By regular mail
Registration by regular mail

send a $20 check or money order to:

Nick Baciu

402 Onderdonk Ave. #1R

Ridgewood, NY 11385

USA

and I will send you the registration code

either by regular mail or, more convenient,

e-mail, if you have an e-mail address.

How to Register


If you have an account with Compuserve - $20
Registration from Compuserve - $20

This is most convenient.  You can use the on-line

software registration service. This service will charge

your account a $20 fee for a single-user license and

will automatically send me an e-mail message

notifying me that you have registered.

To use this service:

type GO SWREG, select Register Shareware,

and search for Sight-Singing, or for the ID# 16742.

How to Register


Requirements:

at least a 486DX or anything with a

Math Coprocessor. Also the microphone should be either

condenser- those cheap mics with a stereo jack or

dynamic - with a mono jack, but in this case you need a

good one, uni directional.

We tried several mics and the condenser performed

the best, even cheap ones. For instance,  we tried a

$5 Labtec microphone on a $20 Media Sound card

and every note we tested was read accurately.

With a dynamic microphone the lower notes were read

inaccurately. In this case a baritone should sing one

octave higher, using falsetto.

Also, depending on the computer speed, it may take up

to 1 second to get the reading, so you should sing

slowly longer notes.

The voice quality is also important; ring a pitch-fork

in front of the microphone and the reading will be

100% accurate.

Back to contents


The Interface

Back to contents


Staff

The random melodic line from the top is supposed to be duplicated on

the bottom part of the staff.

Sing each note into the microphone, slowly, until the note shown on

the bottom staff matches the original..


Note Buttons

Click on any of these buttons to hear how

the corresponding note from the top staff

sounds.


Settings

Click on this button to change the :

- voice range

- difficulty level

- the scale. For the Custom Scale just click the mouse on the notes

which you want selected and type a name for this new scale.

- the time (number of cycles) which the computer takes to estimate if

the note is correct.


New

Get the computer to create a new random melodic line.


Hear

The computer will play all the notes from

the top staff. Useful as an ear training exercise,

if you try just to memorize the line and sing it

back from memory.


Restart

After you click this button the notes on the bottom

will be erased and you can restart. Useful if you would

like to practice a certain melodic line several times.

In this case make sure the "Auto-new drill" from

"Settings" is not selected.


Troubleshooting

I receive the error: "Wave device cannot open!"

I don't hear any sound  .

I sing into the microphone but I don't see any notes on the bottom staff .

I sing the correct pitch but the note shown on the screen is jumping up and down a lot .

Back to contents


I dont hear any sound.
I don't hear any sound.

When the program starts the computer will play the first

melodic line as an audio test. If the MIDI device is being used

by another application, normally Sight-Singer will use the PC speaker.

- close any other program which may use the sound card

- check the volume settings for the MIDI port

- try other music programs using MIDI, the sound card

driver may need to be reinstalled


I sing into the microphone but I don't see any notes on the bottom staff.

- try other program which uses the Wave device ( a sound recorder).

If it doesn't work the sound card driver may need to be

reinstalled, or you may need a different microphone.

- close any other program which may use the microphone.

- check the wave recording volume, it might be too low

(for Win95 click the right mouse button on the

little speaker from the Task-Bar and select

"Adjust Audio Properties")


I sing the correct pitch but the note shown on the screen is jumping up and down a lot.

The microphone picks up too much of the background noise.

- use an unidirectional mike (not an omni directional)

- lower the recording volume  (for Win95 click the right

mouse button on the little speaker from the Task-Bar

and select "Adjust Audio Properties")

- sing or hum softly - don't blow too much air into the mike.

Try using certain vowels ("OO" or "AAh" are better

than "EE")

- some microphones are not sensitive to low pitch, so Basses and

Baritones may need to select Tenor from "Settings" and

sing one octave higher (using falsetto).


Wave device cannot open

- close any other program which may use the microphone

and restart Sight-Singing

- some sound cards (particularly  AWE 64) seem to have

an aversion towards this program. Solution: go to 'Settings'

and change the MIDI out port; do not use the Midi Mapper or

the Wave Table but the Synth device. Then restart Sight-Singing;

this may help.