Rhythm Training Section

[mikesmithson]

I hate to be a wet blanket but I think the Rhythm training section of EMP needs to be completely revamped or removed. It really is substandard. When I clap along in the rhythmic sightreading section, the clicks of the metronome are picked up by the mic. In addition, there is no count-in so one person trying to start a question and then clap along is maddening at best, terrible at worst. Rhythmic imitation is also fraught with the same issues as well, it is extremely confusing how it works, to the point, I don't even bother with it and feel ripped off. Please consider improving this feature or remove in its entirety.

[Quentin]

Hello,

Thank you for your feedback. We are indeed going to improve that part of EarMaster so that it gets easier to use. Notice however that several of the issues are actually just a matter of selecting the options that work best for you:

1. The clicks of the metronome are picked up by the microphone, so your answers are not evaluated correctly. You can solve this very easily by either using headphones (as is recommended for all exercises that involve the use of the microphone), or by lowering the volume of your speakers as well as the mic sensitivity (in TOOLS-->Mic Calibration Tool) until the metronome ticks are not detected by your microphone. Also, if you have a laptop, on some models the mic is close to the speakers. In that case, the only solution is to use headphones.

2. There is a count-in and it's unlimited. The software starts evaluating your answer as soon as it detects a clap. And that's were trouble starts. Because if your mic is picking up metronome clicks, it will consider that as a part of your answer and start evaluating.

I guess it doesn't necessarily make sense for the user that the software mistakes claps for metronome clicks, but as far as sound detection algorithms work, those are extremely difficult to differentiate for the software. This should be better explained in the software UI, and we should probably make the use of headphones mandatory for those exercises so that it is not up to the user to do volume adjustments. We will work on that.

Notice that both points above are also applicable to the sight-singing and melody imitation exercises.

I hope you will give these exercises a second chance, they can be great fun!

[Tradesman]

Use headphones instead of you speakers.
That's what I do.

I'm certainly fervently opposed to the Rhythm Training section being removed on one persons opposition.
A suggestion for it to be improved is welcomed.
Removed? No thank you!
I benefit greatly from all functions of Earmaster and rhythm training section is up there amongst them.

Thank you very much!

[Quentin]

We do also enjoy them very much, they can be great fun and I have personally improved my rhythm skills greatly with them. What we need to improve is the user experience with the exercises. At the moment, there are too many unnecessary manual settings. In the iPad version, mic input is set up automatically but it's easy because the hardware is pretty consistent in all devices. With computers, we need to make sure things work out of the box with many different devices and setups. We have made some great adjustments in the BETA of v7, and it will become much easier to use a Mic in EarMaster in the future.

[Nicovrt]

I used the rhythm training section very intensively in version 6. It was wonderful and I learnt a lot.
Now in version 7 this is completely ruined. Whoever did this, is someone who should stay away from rhythm studying forever.
EM completely fucked up something that was wonderful.
I bought EM only for the rhythm sightreading exercises. EM should really solve this asap. The rhythm section is an abomination in EM7.

[Quentin]

Hi,

I am not sure what you mean. All the rhythm functions of EarMaster 6 have been moved to EarMaster 7 and then some. The only major difference is the absence of microphone input, but even that is going to be added in the coming months. Can you be more specific?