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Post by martinrowe on Dec 26, 2022 11:47:08 GMT
Does anyone use any of these programs. I'm almost at the point of downloading Transcribe I think. Any thoughts or tips would help. A bit of a selfish post really, I think I'm past the stage of spending time discovering that the software that has raised my hopes is not what it purposes to be.
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Post by Onechordtrick on Dec 26, 2022 12:39:03 GMT
Not selfish at all! I don’t know Transcribe but I use Amazing Slowdowner. It doesn’t do much but it does it well; I just use it to change the speed but you can also change the pitch up or down. That’s bout it really but I find it really helpful when I’m trying to learn something new as I lack the talent of most folk round here
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Post by delb0y on Dec 26, 2022 18:15:47 GMT
I've used Transcribe for years. I love it. One of the top three learning / improving things that I've ever come across.
I slow things down, fine tune the tuning,loop sections I'm working on, and even export files into different formats.
Can't recall what it cost but was money very well spent!
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Post by martinrowe on Dec 27, 2022 20:06:27 GMT
Thanks Onechordtrick and delb0y for your comments. I've gone down the Transcribe route. I watched a couple of videos and it seemed fairly easy, I downloaded it, tried it, and it didn't frustrate me after 2 minutes. I had success opening a sound file, highlighting a small part of the file, slowing it down, and starting some analysis on it - 2 minutes or so, that's good. If anyone else is interested it costs around £40 pounds for a lifetime's use and at the moment there is a free legitimate dowloadable license key available on the site that expires at the end of February. So two months to try it and after that it is a one time payment of £40 - that's my kind of software
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Post by otis1960 on Dec 28, 2022 9:28:40 GMT
Sounds jolly interesting; does this work with any format of sound file?
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Post by Onechordtrick on Dec 28, 2022 9:59:47 GMT
Sounds jolly interesting; does this work with any format of sound file? For Amazing Slowdowner it depends on the platform you’re running on. For example on an iPhone it can import from your iTunes library or mp3/wav files. I think more obscure formats (ogg, flac etc.) are supported on the desktop version. What formats do you have in mind?
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Dec 28, 2022 10:42:17 GMT
Sounds jolly interesting; does this work with any format of sound file? Dunno, but there are, or at least were, various free sound file converters around to download that cope with most things. Keith
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Post by martinrowe on Dec 28, 2022 10:47:29 GMT
otis1960 Onechordtrick and delb0y know more about this than me. It'll handle the mainstream file formats I think - I've only heard good things about it. It doesn't provide tab but it gets you within striking range of getting a foothold on a piece of music. You've probably found it but here's the link: Transcribe
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Post by delb0y on Dec 28, 2022 19:04:33 GMT
Quick look at my version (which is quite old), and the help file says:
Supported Formats Transcribe! reads audio sample data files. There have been dozens of formats used for audio sample data on various computer systems at one time or another and it is not our intention to support the more esoteric ones. Transcribe! currently reads :
WAV (all platforms). This is the Microsoft standard. Mono or Stereo, 8/16/24 bit.
AIFF/AIFC/CDDA (all platforms). This is the Apple Macintosh standard. CDDA files are what you find on audio CDs when you look at them with Mac OS-X. Mono or Stereo, 8/16/24 bit.
MP3 (all platforms) MPEG Layer III. This is a very popular compressed format. About MP3 versions : so called MP3 files are actually MPEG-1 (MPEG version 1) or MPEG-2 (MPEG version 2) both of which are recognised by Transcribe!. There is also a "Version 2.5" but this is not an official ISO standard - Transcribe! will read these using Windows Media or QuickTime as available (instead of its own native mp3 decoder). Within MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, audio can be encoded as Layer I, Layer II or Layer III. Layer II is basically an update on Layer I, offering the same sound quality in a smaller file. Layer III is more sophisticated, and is usually superior when very high compression is desired. Transcribe! reads Layers II & III but not Layer I as this is seldom seen these days, having been essentially superceded by Layers II & III. So, don't tell your MP3 encoder to produce Layer I.
WMA & WMV (Windows only) Windows Media Audio & Video, including DRM (digital rights management) protected files, if you have a license for the file. The video in a WMV will not be displayed, but if you convert the WMV to a QuickTime MOV file or MP4 then you can see the video too.
OGG (all platforms) Ogg Vorbis. This is a popular compressed format which has the advantage of being open source and patent-free.
FLAC (all platforms) Free Lossless Audio Codec. This is a popular lossless compressed format which has the advantage of being open source and patent-free.
AAC/M4A/MP4 (Windows & Mac only, with QuickTime) MPEG-4. This is a popular compressed format used by Apple iTunes and others. MP4 may contain video in which case Transcribe! should show this too.
MOV (On Windows you need to install QuickTime) QuickTime movie. Transcribe! should open the soundtrack and show the video too.
CDA (Windows only) CD Audio. This is what you see when you look at an audio CD in Windows. Note that the CDA file doesn't really contain the audio, it's just an index file. For this reason Transcribe! can only read these files in-place on the audio CD, it's no use copying them to anywhere else. Transcribe!'s "Copy Sound File" command will work however (and will produce a WAV or M4A file).
DSS (Windows only) This is a proprietary speech recording format jointly developed by Grundig, Olympus and Philips, and used for dictation. Note that you must have Olympus' "DSS Player Pro" software (Dictation or Transcription module) or "DSS Player 2002" installed in order for Transcribe! to read these files. Also note Transcribe! will only read "standard mode" files, not "long mode".
DCT (all platforms) This is a wrapper around a standard WAV file, used for dictation.
Was using Transcribe only today to figure out some Hank Marvin playing gypsy jazz on a great version of Coquette!
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Post by minorkey on Jan 9, 2023 7:06:35 GMT
I thought you guys all read music and learned tunes at the drop of a hat! I can't even follow TAB easily, it just doesn't go in. I guess I'm not the only one who plays by ear...
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Post by minorkey on Jan 9, 2023 7:09:49 GMT
I'd love to learn Blackbird but my fingers just can't cope with playing more than one string at a time. I tried from a sheet a few years ago, didn't get very far. I honestly don't know how people play guitar other than strumming chords!
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Post by delb0y on Jan 9, 2023 9:12:08 GMT
I thought you guys all read music and learned tunes at the drop of a hat! I can't even follow TAB easily, it just doesn't go in. I guess I'm not the only one who plays by ear... Sometimes I can hear the changes to a tune without even picking up a guitar - and I'm sure you can, too. A blues, or a three or four chord country song. Other times it's more difficult. For those occasions, i.e learning chords, these slow-down software packages don't help too much. The old-fashioned way of finding the key and playing along, bit by bit working out the chord sequence by ear and slowly building up the whole piece is still the way to go, much as it was back in 1976 when I started. Melodies are easier - generally. If they're singable one can get them into one's head and then figure them out by ear. Again, that's the way it's always been. No need for this software. But where a tune is flying by so fast that it's almost impossible to hear - maybe a fast bluegrass guitar solo, or a jazz saxophone solo - then these packages come into their own. If the solo is "hearable" at normal speed then the benefit is simply to use these things to loop a piece of music and play along. So much easier than rewinding a cassette tape back and forth, or lifting the needle back a groove or two on a vinyl record. A few minutes and one can generally work out the notes. But if the playing is very fast and what we're hearing is groups of notes that are hard to separate then these software packages not only loop the music but slow it down as well. Hey presto - I can now work out solos that back in 1975 only my buddy Nick could do (he had brilliant ears and went onto play professionally). I'm sure others here have Nick's talent, but not me. For finger-picking pieces the software can be a help, but not so much as single note lines. Like chords, with finger-picking, where there's lots happening simultaneously, the looping feature is great, the slowing down not so. As for reading music - yep. I'm a pretty good sight-reader on the clarinet. The guitar has the added complexity of having up to six notes played at once, and as many of those notes are available on multiple strings it's a lot more onerous. I can still read guitar music, just not sight-read it. I have to say, reading music is a wonderful thing - it opens the door on lots of great music publications. As regards TAB and things "not going in" I can't help but wonder how many times you play them, and what your process is? Memory is a three step thing - #1 you have to get the memory in, which means really concentrating and using all sort of means and devices and tricks to get it in your brain. #2 is to constantly reinforce that memory over the subsequent days / weeks / months. #3 is to be able to recall it. There are numerous YT videos on all of this. I'm terrible at remembering stuff - I genuinely doubt there's anyone worse on this site than me at remembering guitar stuff. So I have to work really hard at it. I've been learning some gypsy jazz lines this last six weeks. Just a few. I have played them hundreds of times, probably thousands. For me this is the only way to "get them in". It's certainly not easy. None of this is. But it is wonderful :-)
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minorkey
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Post by minorkey on Jan 9, 2023 12:18:56 GMT
My big problem is... I'm lazy! I'll pick up the guitar one day, have a good play and then it might be days, weeks or even months before I play it again. Trouble is I have too many interests, and too many instruments. I also have a clarinet but as the old joke goes, I suck at it (its the break, its a killer. Sax would be much easier)
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Post by fretter on Jan 12, 2023 0:45:35 GMT
If I initially learn something from eg TAB, I always struggle subsequently to play it without the support of having the source in front of me.
On the other hand, if I learn a piece by ear and do my own arrangement, it 'sticks' very quickly and I can play it from memory.
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minorkey
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Post by minorkey on Jan 12, 2023 23:48:46 GMT
Yes i can play a piece of music I know quite fluidly (not on guitar, that'll never happen) but if I have to learn a piece from sheet it just doesn't go in
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