|
|
ToneGen is some software I put together quickly, in order to give the ability to generate continuously varying tones easily, for fine-grained tonal perception exercises. (You can use your voice or a violin for the same purpose, but your voice may have control issues, and vs. the case of your voice or the violin, this software allows you to use headphones and not wake the neighbors.)
NOTE: 5/4/09: ToneGen still has some uses not covered in other of my software (and the highest pitch accuracy), but you should note that I have added the ability to generate continuously varying MIDI-instrument tones to my free Midi Music Analysis Software. (That program does much more -- the continuously varying tone is merely a late add-on. When you combine it with my Spectratune, and use the Spectratune / MIDI Analysis interconnect and a microphone, you really have a complete musical sound immersion system (for Western music, of course). However, note that ToneGen is still usually substantially more accurate in terms of generating very exact pitch than my MidiAnalysis software, since the MIDI analysis software uses the MIDI hardware or software that you have, which is typically a few hundredths of a half step off. That is still good enough for musical perception uses -- the ear does not have absolute accuracy, anyway. But if you want the most accurate pitches, use ToneGen.)
The software was intended to be used with my Spectratune software, although if you are willing to do the half-step math, you should be able to use it without the Spectratune.
Note that the program will not allow you to select the sound output device on a computer that happens to have more than one such device. Basically, it assumes that your computer, like mine, has only one sound output device (the soundcard). If you have more than one, it will take whichever your computer counts as the first one.
This is a screenshot of ToneGen, which should give you an idea how it works.
Here is a
video shot of someone trying to develop a very precise sense of tones in the scale, using the ToneGen. They also have on my other software, Spectratune, which displays the notes nicely, but strictly speaking it is not necessary for that purpose.
The software is for Windows XP and Windows Vista.
It is quite light and simple software, as it is just one small .exe file (about 200 Kbytes), that doesn't call anything else, and doesn't write anything to your files or registry, and doesn't access the internet or anything.
If you have any questions about how to use it, I'll be glad to try to answer if you email me (norm@nastechservices.com).
Also, if you find a bug, a suggestion for improvement, or just feedback, I'd really appreciate your input (norm@nastechservices.com).
Please make sure you accept this license agreement before downloading the software. (The software is free at the moment, but note it is still protected by copyright, and you can not redistribute it.)
Since the software is just a single .exe file, you can just download it and click on it to run it, and make your own shortcuts, if you know how to do that.
This link is for the manual install version:
I accept the license agreement -- please give me the .exe for a manual install. (If you want a really quick trial without even putting it on your computer, it also seems to work if you click "Run", rather than "Save" after you click on the link. You can try the program that way, but if you want to reuse the program without coming back to the site, you should download it.)
Note that you may need to adjust microphone or CD volume as it makes it through your soundcard, or webcam mike volume, on your PC volume controls/mixer, which is outside my software. That is, you need to open it separately from my program, and adjust "record" volumes (not playback volumes) until you see the soundwave, at substantial amplitude, but not so high that the top is squished, on the Spectratune's top rectange.
RETURN TO MAIN SPECTRATUNE PAGE.
Notes on the Harmony/Theory Books:
Schoenberg is a classic, articulate and opinionated, with considerable reference to overtones as explanations for the rules of harmony.
Schonbrun is elementary, geared towards all types of music.
Piston is a classic, geared toward classical music, with numerous examples from classical music.
Henry is geared towards both classical and popular/folk.