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Fretsource tools and trainers update (and a request)

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(@fretsource)
Posts: 973
Prominent Member
Topic starter
 

Just letting you know I've upgraded my tools and trainers, for anyone interested. Nuno and Misanthrope offered some great suggestions on my previous upgrade some of which I've incorporated.(others not yet)

The collection so far is:

Multi tuner - tuning by ear same as previously but now it offers a wide variety of altered tunings (customisable too). All tunings are still down from standard so no complants about me breaking your strings :D

Tab/ treble staff blank printout tools. Choose number of staves and optional barlines. No change there but I'm thinking of combining those tools to offer both treble staff and tab on the same page.

Fretboard tab trainer - same as previously. Learn to name the notes on the fretboard using tab at a level that suits you

Standard Notation note trainer - same as previously - naming notes on the treble staff.

Interval ear trainer - Now with more options including scoring so you can test yourself. Both harmonic and melodic intervals included.

Chord ear trainer - new. Listen to a chord with named root and try to identify the chord. Choose from over 20 chord types to include in the test. Scoring and non scoring (auto play) options. Also includes chord tutorial in the help section.

Interactive Circle of Fifths click on any key within the circle to see the scales and chords associated with each key.

A request
Recently I changed the sharp and flat signs in a couple of the trainers from lower case B (b) and hash mark (#) to the proper flat and sharp signs. But I've since heard that some people can't see them. They just see a small square. So please take a look at the interval ear trainer and click START. Look at the note name beside each interval on the right hand side. Please let me know if you can see the sharp and flat signs properly or if you just see a small square. I need to know if it's a big problem or just a few isolated instances. Thanks - much appreciated.

And any other comments - feel free to express them - I can take it :D

Here's the site - the list is on the front page
www.fretsource.com

 
Posted : 10/12/2008 12:00 am
(@slejhamer)
Posts: 3221
Famed Member
 

I see squares for the bs and #s. I used both Firefox and Internet Explorer in Windows XP w/ SP3 - same result.

"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."

 
Posted : 10/12/2008 12:27 am
(@boxboy)
Posts: 1221
Noble Member
 

Recently I changed the sharp and flat signs in a couple of the trainers from lower case B (b) and hash mark (#) to the proper flat and sharp signs. But I've since heard that some people can't see them. They just see a small square.

No problem for me with either Mac Firefox (3.0.4) or Safari (3.1.2).

Don

 
Posted : 10/12/2008 1:16 am
(@fretsource)
Posts: 973
Prominent Member
Topic starter
 

Thanks for checking it out guys - one of you can see the flats and sharps and one can't. So the jury's still out.

I was hoping that my request for help would have got a few more responses. Maybe this forum (Site/product promotion) wasn't the best one to post it in.

 
Posted : 10/12/2008 7:06 pm
(@slejhamer)
Posts: 3221
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I thought it might be a windows vs. mac thing, but I checked it on my work computer (also windows based) and I do see the flat and sharp symbols. So there's something else causing it. (Sorry, that doesn't help!)

"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."

 
Posted : 10/12/2008 7:53 pm
(@fretsource)
Posts: 973
Prominent Member
Topic starter
 

Thanks Slej - that does help in fact, because I now believe the problem isn't to do with browsers or operating system but whether or not you have that particular font installed in your computer.

 
Posted : 10/12/2008 8:06 pm
 Nuno
(@nuno)
Posts: 3995
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Congrats on the new features and new tools! The circle of fifth is amazing!

On your request. It works for me, too: Safari 3.2.1 and Firefox 2.0.0.14 (I thought my Firefox was newer...).

Just a comment. If you are using a specific font that it is not supported by a specific operating system, it will use another font (usually there are lists with compatible fonts that can be swapped). Those characters are not 'usual' so the system does not have alternative in 'usual' font and it represents them like squares.

Summarizing, tell the font name to Mitch, and Mitch, look for it between your installed fonts. Surely it will not be available in your computer.

 
Posted : 10/12/2008 8:47 pm
(@fretsource)
Posts: 973
Prominent Member
Topic starter
 

Thanks Nuno - Yeah, I must admit I'm quite proud of the circle of fifths :D especially the red/blue Yin-Yang symbol in the centre with red for sharps and blue for flats showing that flats and sharps are just different sides of the same coin. Drawing a yin yang sign turned out to be much harder than I thought :o

Thanks also for the technical info which confirms my suspicions that the squares instead of sharps and flats is a font problem.
Unfortunately I don't know which font it is that I've used. All I did was copy and paste the sharp and flat signs from a website (maybe this one).

 
Posted : 10/12/2008 9:03 pm
 Nuno
(@nuno)
Posts: 3995
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The yin-yang symbol isn't easy to draw! I also like the list of the chords associated with each note/scale.

Then you are using more or less a "default font". You said you knew other computers in which it doesn't work. Are they Windows based?

Mitch, do you have the MS-Office in that computer?

 
Posted : 10/12/2008 9:29 pm
(@fretsource)
Posts: 973
Prominent Member
Topic starter
 

Yes Nuno - all so far have been Windows based. Most show them ok - a few don't. Boxboy's is the first Mac report I've had and he sees them ok.

yeah - I think showing the chords for every key in the circle of fifths will be useful.
Another addition I think is useful is the very one that's causing a problem for some i.e., the notes in the interval trainer, next to the intervals. It occured to me that you can only identify an interval such as a major 3rd, if you know what the term major 3rd means to begin with. So for those that don't know interval names, the actual notes are shown, correctly named and changing depending on the lower note chosen.

 
Posted : 10/12/2008 9:44 pm
 Nuno
(@nuno)
Posts: 3995
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Yeah, the tools are very useful and they are very well designed. I should use them more frequently, they help a lot for the ear training.

I also use Mac! Sorry, I forgot to mention it.

Probably the font that you are using is installed by some very common software like the MS-Office or similar and the people that doesn't see the characters, haven't installed that software (sorry, I don't know if I'm expressing correctly the idea).

 
Posted : 10/12/2008 10:16 pm
(@fretsource)
Posts: 973
Prominent Member
Topic starter
 

Probably the font that you are using is installed by some very common software like the MS-Office or similar and the people that doesn't see the characters, haven't installed that software (sorry, I don't know if I'm expressing correctly the idea).

Yeah I understand that Nuno, thanks, I'm just not sure what to do about it :?

 
Posted : 10/12/2008 10:31 pm
(@slejhamer)
Posts: 3221
Famed Member
 

I have MS Office at home and at work, but not the same fonts! I did some more sleuthing:

I copied and pasted the Bb from the trainer into Word at work, then scrolled through all the available fonts. Only three of them gave me the b. I have two of those fonts at home, so we can rule those out: MS Reference (with and sans serif), and Lucida Sans Unicode.

The other that worked at work was called Arial Unicode MS. I do not have this font at home. Regular Arial does not produce the b, only the square, so the Unicode version is necessary.

Oddly, Microsoft says: "If you are using Microsoft Windows XP, the universal font for Unicode is automatically installed." Well, ha.

They also say: "Because of its considerable size and the typographic compromises required to make such a font, Arial Unicode MS should be used only when you can't use multiple fonts tuned for different writing systems. For example, if you have multilingual data from many different writing systems in Microsoft Access, you can use Arial Unicode MS as the font to display the data tables, because Access can't accept many different fonts."

Apparently this Unicode font is NOT automatically installed because "international support" must be selected in the advanced options field in Office Setup. My guess is I have this at work but not home.
The complete scoop on that is here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HP052558401033.aspx

I went a step further and went to the site of the font creator:
http://www.ascenderfonts.com/font/arial-unicode.aspx

In the test box, I again copied and pasted the Bb (actually the B and the square) from the trainer into the test field. Voila, Bb.

So, that is most likely the culprit font, and when it's missing the closest font is probably regular Arial which does not generate the b character.

Whew!

"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."

 
Posted : 10/12/2008 11:19 pm
(@danlasley)
Posts: 2118
Noble Member
 

Based on the investigation above, it should be possible to include and install the Arial Unicode Font with the software package, and reference it from your application. Since it is already a Microsoft distributed font, there shouldn't be a licensing issue for Windows.

 
Posted : 11/12/2008 12:47 pm
(@fretsource)
Posts: 973
Prominent Member
Topic starter
 

That's quite a bit of sleuthing you did on my behalf Slej -Thanks a lot for your help. It's much appreciated.

So it seems the problem is the font that the sharps and flats were in when I lifted them directly from a webpage. So far, the majority of computers can display them, so I'm wondering whether I should just leave it as it is or go back to the usual # and b signs.

Laz - thanks for your suggestion. I'll certainly look into it. Unfortunately, I don't yet know how to include a font with a Flash program (.FLA file). I'd better study more. I'm glad music theory isn't this complicated
:?

 
Posted : 11/12/2008 1:12 pm
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