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What is ModLobe?
A program Barry began to teach AP (Absolute Pitch). It strives to provide users a way to acquire and improve AP skills using a variety of drills and exercises he and the Prolobe AP community have conceived. Because the exercises are varied, the software is organized into "modules" which organize the exercises. The first module is Melodic Dictation and is nearing completion. Other modules slated for production include:
- MIDI Edit: Import any MIDI file into the software and dictate it. Slow down or speed up as needed. Transpose randomly to practice determing the key. For studying purposes, vary the volumes that particular notes play at to make it stand out. (Make all but A quiet for example.)
- Tuning: Tune an instrument. Software prompts you to tune to a note. You slide a knob back and forth to adjust the pitch of a tone being sounded. Click a submit button when you think it's tuned.
- For Beginners: Do exercises that might not seem relevant to AP, but are in fact very important (yet easy) to do for anyone aspiring to learn AP. There are two basic exercises that fall under this mission: Given four notes, three of which are the same note but different octaves, pick out the one that "doesn't belong". eg Bb2 Bb7 D4 Bb3 -- the third doesn't belong. The second is one where familiar tunes are played but each note placed in a random octave. eg C2 C4 D3 C2 F5 E4, C6 C5 D3 C5 G4 F2, C6 C4 C6 F3 E4 D5, Bb7 Bb5 A6 F3 G5 F4 -- sounds weird but it's Happy Birthday. Both of these exercises stress the importance of hearing circularity of octaves.
- Melody Triggers: A simple module for listening to melody triggers and trying them out on single notes.
How do I run ModLobe
First of all, you need Java installed. Even if you're able to view websites done in Java (eg Prolobe) this does not mean you have Java installed. Java does not come installed automatically on Windows. (Sun Microsystems, proprietor of Java, and Microsoft are competitors after all.) Go here to download Java.
.jar files are Java executable files and can be double clicked like one. Running ModLobe like this is fine for the most part. However, ModLobe is not at a version 1.0 yet and though the software is quite useable for training as it is right now (version 00.04), it still has gaps. The only really big one is its inability to notify you of correct answers. Fortunately there is a workaround! If you run the software from the command line, correct answers are printed. What follows is the steps to take to run from the command line on a Windows machine.
1: Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt
2: Navigate to the folder where you downloaded the .jar using the cd (change
directory) and dir (list contents of folder) commands. Let's say it's saved on your
Desktop, then you'd type 'cd Desktop' (assuming you're in C:\Documents and
Settings\YourUserName).
3: Type 'java -jar ModLobe.jar'.
4: Now the answers to all questions are displayed in this Command Prompt
window!
When will there be a version 1.0 of ModLobe?
Not any time soon. I am not currently programming for ModLobe because of insufficient interest in it. I am open to picking up the project again, but for now I'm following other pursuits.