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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
24 hours.
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 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/98/95, you can record MIDI directly into your
favorite sequencer, such as the included Anvil
Studio. If your computer is running Windows NT/2000/XP, we
recommend using intelliScore in conjunction with MIDI
Yoke 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 saves you the expense of hardware MIDI
pickups and additionally works with any instrument.
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.
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 of notes being played, it recognizes 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 recognition
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
recognized better than others. Some MP3, WAVE, CD, and MP3 files may
simply refuse to be recognized. Recognition 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
will 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 recognition speed. In fact, most computers today are fast
enough to recognize 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 recognize 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 recognition is the musical equivalent of speech recognition.
If this is true, then polyphonic music recognition 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 music recognition has lagged
behind speech recognition.
Conventional wisdom suggests
that Fourier transformation and wavelet theory would be the best
approaches to polyphonic music recognition and wavelength determination
for monophonic recognition. If these methods really worked, however,
there would be many more programs out there that claim to recognize
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.
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 MIDI
Yoke 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 used with Boot
Camp, Parallels,
Virtual
PC, or Fusion.
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