oudmad
Oud Maniac
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Music Transcribing Software
I'm not aware of any software that can transcribe Arabic music into notes. Any recommendations? Thanks.
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
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Transcription of sound files into musical notation seems to be more difficult and problematical for software developers than transcribing scanned
musical notation into sound files.
One company that I recently checked out - Innovative Music Systems - continues to develop its "Intelliscore Music Recognition Software" designed to
convert 'live' music (instrument or voice) or recorded sound files into MID files for conversion into notation using editing software (included in the
package).
Their web site is http://www.intelliscore.net and they provide unedited sound samples to demonstrate what can be achieved as well as free downloads so that you can
try out the software for yourself at no cost. It is not designed (yet) for the quarter tones etc in Arabic music but it apparently can accurately
render pitch 'bending', tremolo etc. so might still be of some use.
I recently briefly tested out the polyphonic version of the software with recorded mp3 files of lute music but was disappointed with the results.
Nevertheless I intend to keep an eye on future developments.
Worth a try to see if it might go some way towards meeting your needs?
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oudmad
Oud Maniac
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Thanks for the information. Clearly, you are much more privy to the issues concerned than I could possibly imagine. Being new to this area, it may be
too risky for me to attempt figuring out new software frontiers. Just wondered if there was anything a learner like myself could use. Again, thanks
for your help.
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jdowning
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Not too sure that I have any more expertise in this matter than you do - I am just curious about the future possibilities of the technology -
imperfect as it may be at this point in time. The software developers are aiming to help those of us that do not have 'in depth' theoretical musical
training as well as those who are experts and who want to use the software to save time in musical transcriptions.
There is no risk in trying out what is available - it costs nothing to test this 'user friendly' software and there is absolutely no obligation to
purchase - a big plus to the software developers in my opinion. They want you to be happy with the product before you buy I would reckon.
This software might work a lot better for the oud than it does for the polyphonic lute? Try it and find out!
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oudmad
Oud Maniac
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Perhaps my sense of adventure quickly dissipates when confronting the unknown. Regardless, I am downlaoding the software to see how far it takes me.
I did in fact try out WIDI 3.0 Pro but only managed to get as far as converting an oud piece into what sounded like an adulterated (disastrous really)
piano version. Know anything about that program? Nice talking with you.
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
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Thanks for the tip. I shall have a look at WIDI 3.0 Pro but it seems as though many, if not all, of the sound recognition/conversion software
currently available still have a long way to go in development. They appear to work sufficiently well for some applications and there are claims of
saving time for well trained musicians experienced in manually transcribing musical sounds into notation - but they don't work for me - yet.
Let us know how you get on with Intelliscore.
Good luck
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ALAMI
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Just an idea guys, I am not an expert either but I thought it makes sense:
Using many sound editors (Sound forge, Audition) or many more others, you can slowdown drastically a music without altering the pitch, why not try to
run the Music recognition software on a slowed down version of the music, it may help to enhance the accuracy the recognition algorithm.
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kamikaz
Oud Admirer
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a good logiciel to make transcriptons "transcribe"
i download it, and i found it very helpful to make transcriptions.
good luck
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Brian Prunka
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Fortunately we all already possess the most advanced transcription hardware available. 
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
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Thanks for the suggestions kamikaz and ALAMI. A 30 day free trial of "Transcribe" is available on the Seventh String site at http://www.seventhstring.com where the author provides a lot of useful information about how to use the software for transcriptions as well as a
lot of other relevant links. I had no idea how much transcription software there is out there!
'Transcribe' comes with a 'slow down' feature which suggests that you may be right ALAMI so I look forward to trying out both 'Transcribe and 'WIDI
3.0 Pro' over the next few days.
I agree with you Brian but for those of us who are not trained professional musicians we need all of the help we can get! Also playing around with the
software might have some training benefit. For me exploring these technologies beats messing around with computer games any day!
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kamikaz
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when you use transcribe, you make a sort of ear-treaning.
you have to make transcriptions yourself. but what i like whit this program is that you can chose your tempo, you tonality...etc. so it makes it
easier.
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amine2
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yes kamikaz, i use transcribe for transcibing jazz solo, it is exellent.
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jdowning
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I have not tried 'Transcribe' yet but I had a quick look at the literature about the software and see that it could well be a very useful tool to aid
transcriptions carried out in the usual manner i.e. by listening to sound clips, slowing things down, analysing and figuring out the notes, chord
sequences etc and then transcribing to notation - usually a pretty tedious operation even for a professional musician I imagine without the help of
the software.
I like the idea of the software being useful as a training tool for less experienced musicians.
The 'Transcribe' software does not appear to attempt to go the route of automatic conversion of sound clip to MIDI file output which is really what I
am curious about but recognising that it is likely a difficult (if not impossible?) task for software developers to achieve. So I start with low
expectations and hope to be pleasantly surprised in the future to find something that works reasonably well - but not a high priority for me.
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Cyberquills
Oud Junkie
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transcribe
Hi all
There is a software called Melodyne which will allow you to play a .wav into it then it spits out the notation in sheet music form. It is not perfect
but is quite amazing. I've tested the demo versions with some Sinbati and Atrash taqsims and it does work, but is not perfect. The full version may be
better. Here's the link:
http://www.celemony.com/melodyne/Details.html
If you choose the melodyne studio version you should get a good idea of how it works. Pretty amazing stuf.
CQ
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Microber
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Anybody knows that
http://www.ipemusic.com/index.php?lang=9&ml=3&pid=92
They say it is very good for wind instruments and string instruments like violin etc.
But they don't say anything about plucked instruments like oud.
Price is 200 euros
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
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I am now trying out "AKoff Music Composer", 30 day free evaluation from http://www.akoff.com which - although by no means perfect - looks as though it might work as well as can be expected for lute, guitar, voice and
possibly other instruments - although no doubt it works better for some applications than others. It costs only $29 US. the low cost, I assume, is
partly because it only attempts to do the conversion from WAVE input to MIDI. Therefore, to transcribe from an mp3 sound file to an edited musical
notation printout, some additional software is required - all available either for free download or free trial.
For conversion mp3 to WAVE there are lots of programs available. I use dBpowerAMP Music Converter version 9 that I have been using since the time it
was still available as freeware. It is fast and gives good results to my ear. The last freeware version 10 can still be downloaded from http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/page11.html although the current shareware version can be tested for free.
Another good shareware program is Acoustica MP3 to WAVE Converter PLUS from http://www.acoustica.com free to try $19.95 to buy on sale.
AKoff Music Composer converts the WAVE input to MIDI with a few available settings to play around with. The MIDI file can then be played back for
comparison with the original but cannot otherwise be edited using the software. The MIDI file in the registered version can then be saved - but not in
the trial version.
For editing and correction of errors, the MIDI file must be input to a music editing program that can convert to and print out a music notation. Again
there are many editing programs available either for free or shareware with free evaluation. I use Django (shareware) designed for early music
notation - with output in staff and/or tablature.
As I cannot save a MIDI file in the trial version of AKoff Music Composer, I have not been able to test this final stage of the conversion process.
I did a quick trial of some mp3 oud files but do not yet have the experienced ear to evaluate if the MIDI output would be of any value with all of the
quarter tones etc. On the few lute music tests I have made so far I can hear pretty well even many of the trills and other embellishments, so that is
encouraging, but too early yet to be sure.
I have also briefly tried out slowing down the sound files using other software designed to do this job but did not notice any increase in accuracy in
the conversion from WAVE to MIDI.
Interesting developing technology but certainly, I would imagine, a time consuming process even under optimum circumstances to get from a 'live' or
sound file input to a corrected musical notation printout. Probably not worth the trouble for an experienced musician who no doubt would be able to do
the job faster by ear and by hand?
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
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Also had a quick look at WIDI Recognition Software today. The transcription results sound similar in accuracy to 'AKoff' but the software is more
comprehensive for an extra $20 US, standard version. The Professional version, costs $100 US but includes 'True Tone Editor' which allows minute
manual correction of the inevitable transcription reading errors. Likely worth the extra expenditure if you are planning to use the program seriously.
Works on Western musical scales so, while it may be OK for lute, is probably not much good for oud at this stage of development of the software.
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
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Another monophonic WAVE to MIDI transcription software is "Solo Explorer 1.0" trial version available from http://www.recognisoft.com - registered version costing $69 US.
The software seems to be particularly suited for transcription of vocal sound files even those with wide pitch variations and complex embellishment.
The software developers provide examples of Lithuanian folk songs to demonstrate the capabilities of the software. The program may, therefore, be of
some value in transcriptions of oud music? Worth a try perhaps.
Before I leave this thread, there is a somewhat dated (2003) WAVE to MIDI monophonic/polyphonic transcription program that may be of interest. It is
"AmazingMIDI 1.70" freeware from http://www.tucows.com/preview/327319 .
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
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Another interesting freeware transcription program is Score Extractor 1.1 by Roman Yakimenko at http://www.scoreextractor.com This one is not automatic. It creates a 'sonogram' from a WAVE sound file that must then be manually edited - tone
by tone - by selecting (or deleting) the appropriate parts of this sound spectrum to create a MIDI file. Might produce acceptable results if you have
the time to spend. Good training otherwise.
Now I am definitely moving on to something else of interest!!
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