Jack
2009-11-03 19:43:23 UTC
Automatically transcribing, or pitch detecting, all the notes of a
digital music recording has long been the holy grail of audio
engineering. Over the past decade a handful of software products have
attempted this difficult task but most fell short in practical
application. However PitchScope, by Creative Detectors of California,
has come up with an effective software utility for transcribing
musical solos upon MP3 recordings. PitchScope's success seems to lie
in its ability to strike a particular compromise with the task of
polyphonic (multiple instruments playing at once) pitch detection:
only the most dominant note will be detected at any given instant in
time. This compromise, which allows much more effective pitch
detection, seems very acceptable for musicians who choose to only
transcribe musical solos, and only need to detect the notes of a
single instrument against a polyphonic background. To automatically
transcribe musical solos, such as saxophone or guitar solos, the user
only needs to drag the mouse over the solo portion of the MP3
recording and let the pitch detector go to work. After detection, the
notes are displayed in a graphic editor where they can be modified and
played back for easy learning at various slowed-down play speeds.
Transcribed notelists can also be printed out, or saved and reloaded
from hard drive. PitchScope also comes with some cool features like
Karaoke-style Instrument Removal that allows the solo instrument to be
stripped from the original MP3 recording so that the user can practice
along with just the musical accompaniment. More about PitchScope at
www.creativedetectors.com
digital music recording has long been the holy grail of audio
engineering. Over the past decade a handful of software products have
attempted this difficult task but most fell short in practical
application. However PitchScope, by Creative Detectors of California,
has come up with an effective software utility for transcribing
musical solos upon MP3 recordings. PitchScope's success seems to lie
in its ability to strike a particular compromise with the task of
polyphonic (multiple instruments playing at once) pitch detection:
only the most dominant note will be detected at any given instant in
time. This compromise, which allows much more effective pitch
detection, seems very acceptable for musicians who choose to only
transcribe musical solos, and only need to detect the notes of a
single instrument against a polyphonic background. To automatically
transcribe musical solos, such as saxophone or guitar solos, the user
only needs to drag the mouse over the solo portion of the MP3
recording and let the pitch detector go to work. After detection, the
notes are displayed in a graphic editor where they can be modified and
played back for easy learning at various slowed-down play speeds.
Transcribed notelists can also be printed out, or saved and reloaded
from hard drive. PitchScope also comes with some cool features like
Karaoke-style Instrument Removal that allows the solo instrument to be
stripped from the original MP3 recording so that the user can practice
along with just the musical accompaniment. More about PitchScope at
www.creativedetectors.com