Voyetra Sequencer Plus Gold for IBM PCs

Abstract

Interval, Chord, and Scale Identity exercises use a similar approach and have similar options. The only difference is that instead of playing back the example, the user selects the correct answer from a list on screen. All the exercises functioned flawlessly. Spending a few hours with Ear revealed that some of my ear-training skills have grown rusty. Working with Ear, I was able to improve those deficiencies in a remarkably short time. In fact, I find only three things to criticize about Ear. From time to time, Ear leaves graphical artifacts on the screen. For example, when it removes a dialogue box overlaid on the on-screen keyboard, a small amount of the box may not be erased, blocking part of a key. It would be useful to be able to interrupt the exercises and simply play on the MIDI controller and have Ear route the input straight through to the MIDI Out port. For example, the user might wish to play pairs of major and minor sixths back to back, to impress the difference on the ear. Yet the only time the MIDI controller is active is when Ear is waiting for response to an exercise. Finally, although it appeared at first that Ear would run properly in a maximized window under Microsoft Windows 3.0, that was not the case. The software somehow garbles the MIDI data sent to and received from the MIDI interface, resulting in doubled notes, stuck notes, and a variety of garbled MIDI messages. I used Ear with the Music Quest MQX-32m interface, and Ear scrambled the contents of the interface's registers, requiring a complete power-down to restore the interface's integrity. While there is no representation in its advertising or documentation that Ear is Windows-compliant, I was surprised that a program with no sequencing, synchronization, or other timing-related functions would wreak such havoc on the system if run under Windows. I remember ear-training classes as the least appealing, most tedious of all my music classes. While Ear cannot be expected to substitute for a class leader in a music education environment, it eliminates much of the tedium caused by the limitations of a group situation. It could be of equal value as part of a comprehensive secondary or college-level ear-training program, or as a refresher course for any musician whose aural skills need improvement. Play It By Ear is priced at $99.95. For additional information, contact Ibis Software, 90 New Montgomery, Suite 820, San Francisco, California 94105, USA, telephone (415) 546-1917, FAX (415)543-0346.