Tunepal app

[michael sam wild]

Could anyone explain the databases this app uses to identify tunes, can it search the whole web? By the way I find Google images a good way of finding dots for tunes as it also seems to trawl quite effectively.

[Dirge]

By the way I find Google images a good way of finding dots for tunes as it also seems to trawl quite effectively.

 

So you type the name of the tune in and hope to see a picture of the music, as simple as that?

 

(Sorry Mike I only have a vague concept of what an 'app' is, let alone being able to answer your Q)

[Simon H]

It's actually simpler. You press 'record' when you are listening to a tune in a session or a recording. A few seconds later after comparing the notes with a couple of databases, ( the session and Henrik Norbeck, and Nigel Gatherer , Michael) it returns the ABC files that most closely match the note sequence it heard from the snippet you recorded, it displays it as dots, and it will play the tune back for you in a choice of instruments. You can save the tunes you find onto your phone or iPad to play back and learn at your leisure, plus you can slow them down for slow learning while following the dots or ABC. I'd like Tunepal to have access to a few more tune lists, but what it does is quite amazing. Also allows you to find tunes by name or even by inputting a few notes in ABC.

 

It's hard to describe if you don't have a concept of what an app is, but think of Tunepal as a programme like ABC explorer on your phone, made in such a way as to be hugely user friendly and with features that makes it rather amazing to use.

 

I know a lot of people pooh pooh this sort of thing, but loads and loads of people use Tunepal to gather and learn tunes. I use it as a practice tool on my iPad regularly.

 

Simon

[michael sam wild]

Hi Dirge, I'm a bit of a technohoper too but am impressed by the speed and ease of these new phones. The Google thing puts up jpeg images of the dots that are to be found.

 

 

Siman, thanks for the info, I was an old Luddite but I can see the use . I am seriously thinking of a new phone , if only because they seem to be able to do all the things my varety of appliances did. Rather than buy a new compact camera or reocrding devie etc I| think I'll go for all in one phone.

 

 

 

What I'll do with my drawer full of DAT recorders, compact disc recorders, reel to reel, cassette recorders and SLRs etc etc I don't know.

 

 

 

 

Now if that larger size pull out 'scroll 'type LED screen were available so I could see it clearly as the old eyes peg out! I'm sure there's one out htere as I don't fancy lugging an iPad about

[David Levine]

I have found Tunepal to be helpful only about 50% of the time.

It doesn't always get the meter right and it often misses the melody.

How helpful have other people found it to be?

[RP3]

David, I agree that Tunepal is not all that accurate. Not even sure it hits the mark 50% of the time. I accept that my playing could affect the results but on a couple of occasions I repeatedly played a tune I knew into the Record function, and each time it gave me a different answer. But sometimes it is spot on. I think it is best to try to use it to see if it will point you in the right direction. Since I can read dots and can whistle, I can select the tune it names first and let it pull up the sheet music. With a quick scan of the melody, I can tell if it has identified the tune I was looking for or completely missed the boat. In any case, it can occasionally be a useful tool to help track down elusive tunes and their names.

 

Regards,

 

Ross Schlabach

[Azalin]

I find Tunepal to be very accurate mostly when I play a tune on whistle, relatively slowly. My concertina doesn't get much success. (maybe I suck at it!).

 

As for the initial question, Tunepal seems to be searching two major databases for tunes, http://thesession.org and http://tunedb.woodenflute.com/. It doesn't crawl the whole web as far as I know, or it would be very slow on searches!

[Michael Eskin]

I have found Tunepal to be helpful only about 50% of the time.

It doesn't always get the meter right and it often misses the melody.

How helpful have other people found it to be?

 

Hmm, I've found it to be nearly 100% accurate when using flute or whistle as the sound source...

[Bruce McCaskey]

I recently used it with Noel Hill playing a tune and it did well. He couldn't recall the name of the tune so made a point to play a simple unornamented version of it and Tunepal came back with the correct tune as its first suggestion.

[michael sam wild]

i'm still very interested in what databases it would use or would it be able to trawl all the internet sources?

[Bruce McCaskey]

I'm still very interested in what databases it would use or would it be able to trawl all the internet sources?

 

Try looking at this link - the specific tune reference sources are highlighted in blue. I interpret the explanation as saying the content of those sources has been copied into the TunePal servers so each new tune search request submitted is conducted on the local TunePal servers and not across the net. I imagine this permits a much quicker response as well as reliable data formatting control.

 

There is considerable information on the development of TunePal and related software over the years here, including a lengthy video adaptation of Dr. Bryan Duggan's PHD presentation related to TunePal. You'll need to be able to view "Flash" content to see it. That doesn't eliminate iPads and iPhones but will require an appropriate "App" to facilitate it.

 

If you seek additional detail, Bryan offers a book that explains how the software works. That said, I suspect he would respond to direct email if you have simple questions that don't require a detailed response. I exchanged email with him in the early days of TunePal (when it ran on "PDA's") and he was quite friendly.