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3D-printed music scores help the blind feel every note
It's increasingly apparent that schools can do exceptional things when you give them 3D printers. Need proof? The University of Wisconsin's Mechanical Engineering department is using its advanced selective laser sintering printer to make a wide range of intricate projects, including 3D music scores for the blind. The creation replaces Braille (which sometimes omits crucial details in music) with extruded versions of the same notes you see on regular sheets -- you can interpret those arpeggios in the same way as any other performer, rather than learn a separate system. The university is still refining the concept, so it may take a while before blind virtuosos are using 3D sheets in concerts. You'd need an easy way to mass-produce them, for one thing. If the technology pans out, though, it could open doors for vision-impaired artists. [Image credit: Scott Gordon]
Weezic for iPad, an augmented sheet music app for classical musicians
Weezic, an iPad app for classical musicians, is a relatively new sheet music app. In essence, Weezic displays sheet music, but with some interesting pedagogic features to help you learn and grow in your music reading and playing. As is customary with most apps that display sheet music, Weezic utilizes MIDI to illustrate the different instruments in the music with a complete virtual orchestra. A cursor moves through the score as it plays, too, making it easy to follow the music. Instruments can be soloed or muted and volume levels are adjustable. Tempo and pitch are customizable, too. Even the pages will turn automatically for you! One of Weezic's best features is its Evaluation Mode. When playing through a score, Weezic will "listen" to what you're playing using the iPad's built-in mic. In real time, Weezic will analyze your performance and indicate which notes you got wrong or were out of time -- helping you focus on areas to practice -- giving you a final score at the end of the piece. It's actually quite fun. Weezic comes with 14 free demonstration pieces, but their full catalog will be updated to the app in the coming weeks. Weezic is available now for free on the iOS App Store.
iPhone app makes learning to read music even less appealing (video)
From Paul McCartney to Irving Berlin, the list of songwriters who famously never learned to read music before hitting it big is a long one indeed. Why? Because it's hard, mostly. Of course, they've managed to have successful careers as songwriters, even without the aid of an iPhone app that could read music for them. Surely they could have found some use for the new app from Kawai, which scans music notes from sheet paper and plays them back in real-time or with a delay, should you so choose. The app is available in the Japanese App Store ¥350 ($4.50). Japanese language video of the app in action after the break.
Bluetooth AirTurn BT-105 gets real, aims to flip digital music sheets on November 16th
Remember this guy? He's back, and better than ever before. In fact, he's bringing all sorts of good news for digital sheet music readers, namely that the AirTurn BT-105 is just weeks away from shipping. This Bluetooth-enabled system -- which links up with standard page-turners and connects with your iPad, Mac or PC in order to flip from page to page without ever taking your hand away from your McCartney replica bass -- even includes a debounce filter to prevent multiple page turns for each foot switch press. The system plays nice with forScore, MusicReader, and unrealBook, and the rechargeable battery is said to be good for a solid 100 hours. It'll ship to Americans on November 16th for the tidy sum of $69, but before you rush away and jot down the date on your pocket calendar, head on past the break and mash play. It's worth it, trust us.
Found footage: iPad app turns sheet music pages with the tap of a toe
Ever since the iPad hit the market, my visits to the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Opera Colorado, and the Central City Opera have been frustrating. Why? I think about my iPad, and I see a great way to display sheet music. On stage, however, I see the same old paper sheet music that's been prevalent for hundreds of years. Why not go digital, then? There's only one problem -- a musician would still need to use his or her hand to swipe at the sheet music and turn a page. A company called Airturn has developed the BT-105, a Bluetooth foot switch for turning pages on the iPad forward and backward using a tap of a foot. As Hugh Sung explains in the video above, it allows instrumentalists who are busy with both hands to use a toe to tap one of the two switches to move through the score easily. I'm not sure what Airturn is going to do with percussionists and pianists, who are often busy with both hands and at least one foot. Perhaps the next generation device will listen to the music and anticipate when to turn the page. The BT-105 is still in the prototype stage, but should be available later this year. [via Wired]
AirTurn's BT-105 footpedal is a real page turner (video)
If you carry your sheet music in a laptop, AirTurn's got a USB dongle for that, but if you've migrated your musical cues to an certain slate, never fear, Bluetooth is on the way. The AirTurn BT-105 will bring the company's page turning technology to iPad, using a transmitter that attaches to standard professional footswitches, allowing you to turn full pages and half pages of sheet music while keeping hands firmly affixed to your instrument. Though there's no word on price, we imagine it'll cost close to the existing 2.4GHz version, which runs from $40 for a dongle to $100 for a package with two Boss pedals, and when it surfaces in Q4 of this year, we're hoping it will extend bicycling input to all the other wild and crazy apps you dream up. PR and video after the break.
Count The Beats: Learn to read and play sheet music with Etude on your iPhone
From the creators of ShoveBox, Wonder Wrap Software has just launched their new iPhone / iPod touch app Etude. Etude is a beautifully designed app that helps you learn to read and play sheet music on the piano. While the built-in synthesizer plays through a piece of music, Etude will scroll through the sheet music being read (correlating each note heard to each note read). A virtual keyboard will also display each key being pressed at the same moment each note is being read and heard. To make things even easier the playback speed can be altered so you can make sure you're hitting every note of Bach's Air! Etude comes preloaded with a few 'Scores' to get you started, but you can download (from within the app) hundreds of other songs for free from the Etude score store. Etude is certainly a novel way to develop your piano playing skills, and a fantastic application of the features of the iPhone / iPod touch for those who love music. Plus, Wonder Wrap Software is developing a version for the iPad, too. Anyone get those pre-orders in? To celebrate the release of Etude this week Wonder Wrap Software is running a promotion where you can get yourself a free copy of their desktop app SimpleChord. All you need to do is tweet.
Noteput music table plays the notes as you lay them down (video)
Finally we get the chance to literally lay a track down. The Noteput interactive music table was concocted by a pair of German design students back in October of last year, but watching it in action is still a mesmerizing experience. Employing a simple camera beneath the surface, the table can tell what notes you're placing upon it and play them back -- individually when you position them or as a group once you hit the big play button. The coolest feature for us is the ability to loop playback and replace notes on the fly. It's like being a really old school kind of a DJ. Click past the break to see what we mean.
Leaked BlizzCon VGL sheet music points North
This might be the closest thing we've heard to news about the next expansion yet-- an anonymous tipster sent us a note that the Video Games Live orchestra, scheduled to play in the final concert at BlizzCon, has received their sheet music for the show, and hidden within the pages is three pieces called "Northrend 1, 2, and 3."That track doesn't appear in the Warcraft III, World of Warcraft, or Burning Crusade soundtrack lists at all. Warcraft 2's soundtrack was released as mp3 tracks by Blizzard, and Northrend doesn't appear there, either. So unless this is an old midi track from Warcraft or Warcraft II, odds are that we're looking at a brand new piece of music, and that players will be headed to Northrend very soon.Now, of course when you think Northrend, you have to think Arthas. Blizzard has said in the past that a full raid of level 80 players would be needed to beat him (at least), so if we are going to Northrend in the next expansion, we may be looking at yet another 10 level cap raise. Then again, just because Northrend opens doesn't mean the cap is going up yet. And of course, even if we do go to Northrend, there's no guarantee that it will be the only new land in the expansion, so you Emerald Dream dreamers can still hold out hope.But I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that at some point during BlizzCon (my guess is still during the opening ceremony), we're going to hear more about the big continent to the north.
Downloadable videogame sheet music
If you want to star in one of our Friday music posts but lack the ability to play an instrument, we can't help. But if you can play and only need sheet music to game songs, Brian Auyeung's Video Game Sheet Music site is the answer.While the site hasn't been updated recently, it lovingly hosts a few dozen direct song transcriptions and arrangements, as downloadable PDFs. So start practicing, and internet-fame may soon be yours.[Via del.icio.us]
