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Convert WAVE to
MIDI, MP3 to MIDI converter for live performance, making multi-track MIDI
files, transcribing music, and finding chord names from multi-instrument
WMA, WAVE and MP3 files.
Below are answers to some of the most
frequently asked questions about intelliScore. If you have a question that
isn't answered below, feel free to ask us using the
form below. You will receive a prompt, courteous response usually within
one business day.
Why
are there two flavors of intelliScore?
IntelliScore
comes in two editions: Ensemble Edition and Polyphonic Edition.
IntelliScore Ensemble Edition is the only product in the world that can
listen to a musical audio file (CD, WAV, MP3, or WMA) comprised of
several different instruments and convert it to a MIDI file containing
the notes played, broken down by instrument.
It also provides all the features of intelliScore Polyphonic.
Read the full Ensemble Edition FAQ.
If your music contains only one type of
instrument, such as a piano solo, consider the bargain priced
intelliScore Polyphonic. The
performance can be polyphonic (playing several notes at the same time)
or monophonic (one note at a time).
IntelliScore Polyphonic includes all the same advanced features
as intelliScore Ensemble, except that it will not break down the MIDI
file into multiple instrument tracks. If
you choose the Polyphonic Edition and decide later you would like to
upgrade to the Ensemble Edition, you will find that the transition will
be easy, as the two editions work similarly.

What's
it good for?
IntelliScore works in two modes: live
and prerecorded. In prerecorded mode, intelliScore listens to MP3, WAVE,
WMA, and CD files containing recordings of music and helps figure out
the notes played, as well as their duration and dynamics, tempo changes,
likely chord names, and the prominent key, and writes them to a MIDI
file. This saves you much of the time and trouble required to figure out
and write down the notes, so you can spend more time making music and
pursuing other creative endeavors. Once your MP3, WAVE, WMA, and CD
files are converted into MIDI, you can do things that are impossible
with audio files, such as changing individual notes and swapping
instruments. You can also play the MIDI file, notate it, and study it.
In live performance mode, intelliScore
allows you to control a MIDI-enabled instrument or your computer's sound
card in real-time while you play an acoustic instrument. In conjunction
with the included Hubi's MIDI Loopback Device under Windows Me/98SE, you
can record MIDI directly into your favorite sequencer, such as the
included Anvil Studio. If your
computer is running Windows Vista/XP/2000, we recommend using
intelliScore in conjunction with LoopBe1
instead (which can be downloaded free of charge for non-commercial use).
Traditionally, this capability would require an expensive, specialized
MIDI pickup hardware for your acoustic instrument. IntelliScore can save
you the expense of hardware MIDI pickups and additionally works with any
instrument.
IntelliScore is particularly useful in
helping you figure out the notes present in prerecorded MP3, WAVE, WMA,
and CD files, especially when you don't know (or don't remember) how to
play it. The music could come from live performance, an audio CD, a tape
recording, an existing MP3, WAVE, or WMA file, or another source. When
the audio is monophonic, intelliScore has the additional capability of
accurately tracking expressive changes in volume and pitch while notes
are being held, faithfully recreating effects such as pitch bend,
vibrato, tremolo, and portamento.
What
does intelliScore not do?
To give you a fair
representation of intelliScore's capabilities, we want to tell you a few
things that it cannot do (yet). First, it is important to understand
that MIDI cannot store as much information as audio. MIDI data can
indicate which notes to play, but not the sound of the notes or all the
possible nuances of expression. MIDI merely tells sound cards and
synthesizers what notes to play, when to play them, and some basic
instructions on how to play them. It is up to the sound card or
synthesizer to create the sounds, which may sound different from the
instruments used to create the original music. MIDI is not capable of
recreating sung words, although it can represent the pitches that were
sung.
Because intelliScore
listens for notes being played, it "hears" only those
instruments that have a strong pitch. Therefore, it cannot recognize
most drums and percussion (nor can any other software).
Finally, intelliScore can convert MP3, WAVE,
and CD files to MIDI files, but not the other way around. To convert
MIDI to WAVE, we recommend WAVmaker.
Also see the FAQ on accuracy.

How
accurate is it?
IntelliScore employs three different
conversion algorithms based on several new discoveries in
psycho-acoustic physics and are very complex. For example, intelliScore
uses data obtained by analyzing over ten thousand recordings of musical
instruments to help convert polyphonic music. IntelliScore’s
specialized monophonic algorithm is remarkably accurate on MP3, WAVE,
CD, and live audio that contains only one note at a time, and even
detects slight variations in pitch and volume. Nevertheless, some
instruments and forms of music are converted better than others. Some
MP3, WAVE, CD, and MP3 files may simply refuse to be converted.
Conversion is best on audio files that are not too complex and contain
only a few instruments and minimal drums and percussion. To find out if
intelliScore will work for you, we recommend you download
our free demo. You can also evaluate some of the unedited results
from our own sample MP3 files.
Don't expect intelliScore to convert a
CD to a finished MIDI file, but intelliScore can get you well on your
way. Although after using intelliScore you may need to clean up the MIDI
file, users say this saves them an average of 35% over having to figure
out and enter the notes into a sequencer without intelliScore's help.
You can use the time you save to pursue more creative endeavors than
picking out notes. 
Don't
I need a supercomputer to run it?
Although intelliScore performs millions
of calculations to generate a single MIDI file, all you need is a
Pentium II class computer (or better) to handle the job. The faster the
CPU, the faster the conversion speed. In fact, most computers today are
fast enough to convert in real-time, so that each second of audio takes
less than a second to process. See the system
requirements for a full list of what your computer needs to run
intelliScore. 
Do I
need to be a rocket scientist to use it?
No. IntelliScore is designed for use by
musicians with average computer skills, not physicists. All program
settings use familiar musical and MIDI terminology. You don't need to
know how to read music to use intelliScore, although it would be
helpful. Most musicians become comfortable using intelliScore and
creating MIDI files in less than an hour, followed by learning the more
advanced settings at a comfortable pace later on. In fact, intelliScore
is so intuitive, many users start using intelliScore without ever using
the help system or reading the manual. IntelliScore includes a wizard to
guide you through the process of preparing intelliScore to convert your
MP3, WAVE, CD, WMA, or live audio. IntelliScore also includes
context-sensitive detailed descriptions of all settings, troubleshooting
tips for error messages, examples of several conversion projects with
settings, handy solutions to common problems and questions, and several
tutorials. 
How
does it work?
It has been said that automated music
conversion is the musical equivalent of speech recognition. If this is
true, then polyphonic music conversion is like listening to several
conversations going on at once and figuring out all the words spoken by
everyone. Perhaps it is due to this extra complexity that the technology
of automated music conversion has lagged behind speech recognition.
Conventional wisdom suggests that
Fourier transformation and wavelet theory would be the best approaches
to polyphonic music conversion and wavelength determination for
monophonic conversion. If these methods really worked, however, there
would be many more programs out there that claim to convert music.
Due to the inherent limitations of the
above methods, intelliScore uses a combination of new, revolutionary
approaches based upon several new discoveries in psycho-acoustic
physics. The core technology is patented. IntelliScore is now in its
sixth generation and combines additional proprietary capabilities. 
What
else do I need to use intelliScore?
It depends how you intend to use
intelliScore. First, be sure you are using a Pentium II-class (or
better) PC with 64MB of memory and a sound card. If you are recording
from a microphone, connect the microphone to the "mic in" jack
on your sound card. If you are recording from a CD, place the CD in your
CD-ROM drive. After converting your recording to a MIDI file, you can
use a sequencer program to edit and/or convert the MIDI file to notation
and print it out. The full versions of intelliScore include the
award-winning Anvil Studio
program, but just about any sequencer will suffice. (Printing
from the included Anvil Studio requires purchase of the optional Print
Sheet accessory.)
If you want to use your analog
instrument as a realtime MIDI controller, be sure you have a MIDI
interface to connect your playback synthesizer to your computer's sound
card. If you want to use your analog instrument to record directly into
your sequencer, you will also need to install Hubi's MIDI Loopback
Device (included with intelliScore) if your PC is running Windows
Me/98SE. Alternately, if your computer is running Windows Vista/XP/2000,
we recommend using intelliScore in conjunction with LoopBe1
instead (which can be downloaded without charge for non-commercial use).

How
do I see the chord names detected by intelliScore?
Not only does intelliScore detect the
notes present in prerecorded MP3, WAVE, WMA, and CD files; it also
attempts to identify the names of 144 different chords and the prominent
key. Even if your audio file is monophonic, intelliScore determines the
names of implied chords based on the groupings of notes. These chord
names are written to the MIDI file as marker events. The included Anvil
Studio displays the chord names directly above the staff. Some other
sequencers will show the chord names with the notes in the notation or
piano roll views. If your sequencer can't do this, it should still be
able to display the list of detected chords in an event list. Check your
sequencer's documentation for instructions. 
Does
intelliScore run on a Macintosh computer?
We do not currently offer a native Mac
version of intelliScore. However, people have claimed that intelliScore
runs properly on a Mac if you are running Windows in conjunction with Boot
Camp, Parallels
Desktop, Virtual
PC, or Fusion.
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