Just started using EarMaster Pro 5

[j3on]

Hi,

EarMaster Pro 5 is a very impressive program. I intend to purchase it. I have one question, one wish item, and a possible explanation on calibrating the delay of the internal midi sound generation.

When installing I was asked which instrument did I want to use, piano, guitar, other. I have an old and basic yamaha psr320 keyboard, a roland handsonic 10, but I am trying to improve my musicianship for a grade 6 Royal Conservatory guitar exam. I chose guitar, is there a way to change this default? Do I need to be aware of the default anywhere?

One item I have difficulty with is clap back. This is where a basic melody is played and the respondent "claps back" the rhythm. I am still trying to learn how best to do this. EarMaster Pro seems like it could help with Rhythm Imitation, is there anyway to get a true judgement on "clap back" where is melody is played and the program will score your rhythm input? EarMaster Pro is so very close, but does not quite do what is needed.

When I first tried EarMaster Pro I was very discouraged as the input was not in sync with the metronome. At 90 BPM, it was off by a eighth note. Quater note at 90 BPM is 666 Milli-Seconds, eighth note is about 333 Milli-Second. You have to keep in mind this was done by eye, but turns out to be not that bad of an error estimate.

When I used external midi instruments for both input and output no noticible delay was found. When using external midi input with windows 7 internal midi generation is where the delay was very noticible, 333 millisecond delay is unusable. I find the flashing box for setup to be equally unusable. It really doesn't make sense to ask someone to calibrate a system where the system is to be used to help with timing and rhythm. This is a bootstrap problem. I nearly threw away the program.

I figured a quick way to do closed loop calibration and it worked great. Turn up the output on the internal midi output, setup the microphone to be very close to the speaker and setup the speaker to respond to the internal midi metronome clap sounds. Using rhythm imitator setup for quater notes and see how far behind the metronome output is on the incorrect display screen. It is best to set Evaluation to severe. Increase the delay until you can get all the metronome beats to line up. I went a little further and reduced the delay until errors were introduced. I then increased the delay to find out what the maximum delay was that had not errors. The actual values for me were 305 min, 335 max. I set on 320 milliseconds and tested with 32nd notes, everything was dead on. There is no way that I could have done this with the goofy flashing calibration box. Also, the required delay is going to vary significantly from system to system so it is nearly impossible to use someone else's guess.

I think there is a way where this calibration could be done internally.

Thanks,
jonw

[Quentin]

Hello j3on,

Thanks a lot for your feedback.

As far as the current version is concerned, clap back activities can only be done using rhythm-only patterns. This is done, as you mention, with the Rhythm Imitation exercise. We are trying to make EarMaster as compliant as possible with educational programs of most countries, and of course the Royal Conservatory is on our list. Hopefully, that feature will be supported in the future.

For the delay part, your workaround is actually the most accurate method to use. A more automated setup would be ideal, but latency will not be an issue any longer in future versions.

Best of luck with your ear training exams!

[j3on]

Hi Quentin,

I am very impressed with the program anyways. It is a good start for training. It is so close to what is needed it will surely be a help. Glad to hear the latency will not be an issue moving forward because it is one of the first negative things experienced out of the box.

I found in the microphone tuning wizard that 261 Hz is reported as C3 not C4.

BTW - I am a C++ software developer. Are you looking for any help at the moment?

Thanks,
j3on (The 3 is silent)

[Quentin]

Hi J3on (notice I respected the silent 3 ),
You are welcome to send our resume to the contact address available from the "About Us" menu. You can be sure it will be read.

You are also welcome to add your question on C3/C4 in your e-mail, as the person with your answer will also be reading your resume.

Cheers