False notes and their sources

Evan · 2015-04-14 15:39:28

False notes is a broad term for when imitone picks up notes which either aren't there or weren't desirable.

They fall into three major categories:

Glissando

So far, imitone has been designed to play notes which are as close as possible to the tone it hears. If the tone changes enough, imitone will gliss to a different note.

This means that if you are singing a long note and your pitch fluctuates for a fraction of a second, imitone might gliss in response, before jumping back. This is especially problematic when your singing isn't in perfect tune, making the border between notes easier to cross. It can also become a problem if you sing with a strong vibrato.

Tone Stabilization (the blue button with a picture of a spinning-top) was designed to eliminate vibrato, and can help to smooth out these issues -- but it's a work in progress and isn't perfect yet.

When sliding from one note to another, imitone will quickly play every note in between the two. This is a the intended function of glissando, but isn't always what you want imitone to do. The next versions of imitone will add other note modes, allowing you to turn glissando off.

Background Interference

Various sounds in your environment can trigger notes in imitone when you're not singing. This includes machines such as fans and refrigerators, passing cars, people speaking, other music and animal sounds. It's always best -- but not always possible -- to use imitone in the quietest place you can find.

Volume auto-calibration, the yellow light in the corner of the volume bar, is meant to address this, but isn't perfect yet. Setting the volume threshold manually as per this guide allows you to block all sounds below a certain loudness. It should be above the level of loudest background sounds, but below the level of gentle singing (if possible).

Ghost Notes

When you are singing into imitone, and it plays notes other than the ones you're singing, these are called ghost notes. They are usually very short, at least an octave lower or higher than the true tone, and much more noticeable with stricken or plucked instruments.

Flaws and weaknesses in imitone's technology are primarily to blame for ghost notes, but it's possible to reduce them greatly by following the steps in this guide:

Read: Getting the most out of the imitone beta

Ultimately, it's on me to keep developing imitone and eliminate ghost notes for all but the worst signals.

donik · 2015-07-15 15:15:56

How we change instruments?

Evan · 2015-07-21 11:08:00

Hello, Donik --

imitone does not have instruments. Open another music app, and imitone will act as its controller, as if a MIDI keyboard is plugged into your computer.

(Sidenote: that post isn't really relevant to this topic, and would be better suited to a new one in Q&A.)

buckfumbler · 2016-03-02 18:45:31

What about imitone generating an absurd amount of extra notes instead of sustaining single notes?

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jonnybwright11 · 2016-03-12 09:20:29

YES! THIS. what about the hundreds of midi notes over the span of one 10 second vocal note?-- it makes u have to go back and redraw it, which takes longer than playing it on a piano, even for people who can't play the piano. this plus the cpu makes this unusable at its current incarnation.

Evan · 2016-04-21 11:46:10

Hey, Jonny --

Per my response to your thread, very high CPU load can cause the audio input to corrupt. Try a smaller pitch-range. If your computer is a laptop, plug it in. If neither of these helps, you may need to wait for future, less CPU-intensive versions of the software.

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