I've been using EarMaster 4 and recently upgraded to 5. I like the new features like the bass on-screen instrument, and the Sound2Midi is great.
I found a couple of issues that affect musicians that play the bass guitar but also the guitar. The issue is the note range in the custom exercise setup. Specifically, by going into "Exercise Setup" (F3) and clicking on the "Edit" button. You can set the upper and lower limit for the root. Two problems with this:
1) The lowest note that you can choose is an F. Sadly, this means that you'll never see an E note (only one semi-tone away!) which is the lowest note on a 4-string bass.
2) The range of notes may fall outside the range of the instrument. For example, if a low F is produced for the root and a decending note then it may easily be outside the range of the instrument. This affects both bass guitar players and guitar players as well.
I hope that you'll be able to correct these issues as they probably affect other bass guitar and guitar players.
Regards,
Lenny
Note ranges for bass guitar and guitar
Moderator: Quentin
Thank you for your comments 
1) I see the problem. The tonerange settings should of course use the range of the selected instrument. Right now, even if you choose the bass to set the tone range you cannot choose the lowest E, but we will change that some time in a future update.
2) EarMaster automatically transposes the notation on the instrument in case the tonerange of the question falls outside its range.
Best regards,
Hans Jakobsen
EarMaster
1) I see the problem. The tonerange settings should of course use the range of the selected instrument. Right now, even if you choose the bass to set the tone range you cannot choose the lowest E, but we will change that some time in a future update.
2) EarMaster automatically transposes the notation on the instrument in case the tonerange of the question falls outside its range.
Best regards,
Hans Jakobsen
EarMaster
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Guest
1) Great! I can't wait until I hear a low-E for the bass guitar. Most likely it will confuse me, as my ears aren't accustomed to such low rumblings.
2) I think that we have a misunderstanding about the note ranges.
I tried several setups and I can't get it to stay within a range of notes in the interval range exercises. This is with and without the on-screen guitar (standard tuning). For example: I set it up for ascending and descending and with octave intervals. EarMaster plays a low-E (the lowest note on a six-string guitar) and then goes an octave lower.
Maybe there is some setting that I can't find. I went through all the dialogs and tried to figure this out.
Help!
2) I think that we have a misunderstanding about the note ranges.
I tried several setups and I can't get it to stay within a range of notes in the interval range exercises. This is with and without the on-screen guitar (standard tuning). For example: I set it up for ascending and descending and with octave intervals. EarMaster plays a low-E (the lowest note on a six-string guitar) and then goes an octave lower.
Maybe there is some setting that I can't find. I went through all the dialogs and tried to figure this out.
Help!
Ok, I will explain: The pitch of the question is not changed to fit the instrument, instead the notation on the instrument is transposed.
For example, if the lowest tone in the question is the D just below the low E string on the guitar, then the notation on the guitar is moved one octave up, i.e. the tone will be shown on the tablature as the open D string.
Best regards,
Hans Jakobsen
EarMaster
For example, if the lowest tone in the question is the D just below the low E string on the guitar, then the notation on the guitar is moved one octave up, i.e. the tone will be shown on the tablature as the open D string.
Best regards,
Hans Jakobsen
EarMaster
-
Guest
Yes, I noticed this, but I find that this makes things more confusing than anything, as it breaks the WYSIWYG rule: the notation and pitch do not match at that point. Meaning, what you hear is different than what you see.
I would say that a better approach would be to simply skip to another question if the question falls outside the range of the instrument (i.e. if pitch.low < instrument.low or pitch.high > instrument.high then skip ).
Anyway, I hope that you'll consider changing this, as other guitar players would probably find it confusing as well.
Regards,
Lenny
I would say that a better approach would be to simply skip to another question if the question falls outside the range of the instrument (i.e. if pitch.low < instrument.low or pitch.high > instrument.high then skip ).
Anyway, I hope that you'll consider changing this, as other guitar players would probably find it confusing as well.
Regards,
Lenny