Log in

View Full Version : Re: Posted this over at rec.audio.tech, have a look:


Bill Graham
February 15th 11, 02:22 AM
"geoff" > wrote in message
...
> Bill Graham wrote:
> > I and a few of my musician friends can recognize a song from just the
>> first three or four notes.
>
> Occasionally I can from the first fraction of a second.
>
>>There is no reason why a computer couldn't
>> do the same thing, but with more accuracy. The problem is, getting
>> those few notes into the machine. A lot of people can't read music,
>> so you would have to give the computer the ability to translate from
>> a whistle or something to a score, or, give it a variety of ways to
>> input the music.
>
> Audio isn't a score. You'd need to deconstruct the audio into frequencies,
> turn that into a scored arrangement, and then compare. Could be done, but
> rather hugely complicated methinks. Not quite as simple as Gracenote.
>
> geoff
>

Yes. People like you and me, with good musical memories, usually are lousy
at remembering the words, or the titles. I have been known to whistle a
common tune for days without being able to come up with the name, and when I
finally find someone who knows its name, it is a very common tune that I
have known since grammar school some 65 years ago. But computers have a
difficult time with music. Try to find a good program (for example) that can
import a photo of a score, in JPG or PDF format, into a music notation
program, or a MIDI file. The ones that I have tried are very poor at it, and
require so mush clean-up work that you are almost better off entering the
music note by note yourself. Especially if you are trying to enter piano
scores with multiple voicing's. There are programs that will generate scores
directly from the played music, but these tend to over exactly notate the
timing, and give you a score full of dotted 32nd notes and the like, in an
attempt to get the timing right.....They make for a very messy document that
is virtually impossible to read.

William Sommerwerck
February 15th 11, 02:36 PM
> I and a few of my musician friends can recognize
> a song from just the first three or four notes.

Some songs can be recognized from just two notes.

"Name That Tune" had a game in which the contenstants would bid on how few
notes they needed to name a tune to which a clue had been given.

Luxey
February 15th 11, 04:23 PM
On 15 феб, 15:36, "William Sommerwerck" >
wrote:
> > I and a few of my musician friends can recognize
> > a song from just the first three or four notes.
>
> Some songs can be recognized from just two notes.
>
> "Name That Tune" had a game in which the contenstants would bid on how few
> notes they needed to name a tune to which a clue had been given.

If I remember correctly, on facebook, ther's a quizz (I did not take)
to name The Beatless song from 1 note. Worst results were like
17 out of 20.

William Sommerwerck
February 15th 11, 07:46 PM
> If I remember correctly, on facebook, ther's a quizz
> (I did not take) to name The Beatless song from 1 note.

That's an odd way of describing their music. Most of their songs had a
pretty good beat.

Luxey
February 15th 11, 08:45 PM
On 15 феб, 20:46, "William Sommerwerck" >
wrote:
> > If I remember correctly, on facebook, ther's a quizz
> > (I did not take) to name The Beatless song from 1 note.
>
> That's an odd way of describing their music. Most of their songs had a
> pretty good beat.

Presumably that one note is sample from originial recording, opening
chord, or similar. I don't know really.

Tom McCreadie
February 15th 11, 09:03 PM
"William Sommerwerck" > wrote:

>Some songs can be recognized from just two notes.
>
>"Name That Tune" had a game in which the contenstants would bid on how few
>notes they needed to name a tune to which a clue had been given.

Some people can make do with visual- rather than aural clues: I recall a
classical music quiz show years ago on the BBC, where one regular feature was
the contestants having to identify a piano work that was played silently atop
the closed keyboard lid. Some incredibly quick and correct identifications..and
also a quick mic set-up for the crew :-).

--
Tom McCreadie

"Music is the greatest silent force in the world" - Lionel Richie, mtv

Bill Graham
February 15th 11, 10:05 PM
William Sommerwerck wrote:
>> I and a few of my musician friends can recognize
>> a song from just the first three or four notes.
>
> Some songs can be recognized from just two notes.
>
> "Name That Tune" had a game in which the contenstants would bid on
> how few notes they needed to name a tune to which a clue had been
> given.

I would recognize the tune immediately, from a minimum of notes, but
wouldn't be able to recall the name, so I would come in last. Unless they
changed the rules to allow me to whistle or play on my horn the rest of the
song. In that case, I would have a half-assed chance of winning the
game.....

Bill Graham
February 15th 11, 10:14 PM
Luxey wrote:
> On 15 феб, 15:36, "William Sommerwerck" >
> wrote:
>>> I and a few of my musician friends can recognize
>>> a song from just the first three or four notes.
>>
>> Some songs can be recognized from just two notes.
>>
>> "Name That Tune" had a game in which the contenstants would bid on
>> how few notes they needed to name a tune to which a clue had been
>> given.
>
> If I remember correctly, on facebook, ther's a quizz (I did not take)
> to name The Beatless song from 1 note. Worst results were like
> 17 out of 20.

1 note ain't enough. All songs start with 1 note.....

John Williamson
February 16th 11, 06:49 AM
Bill Graham wrote:
> Luxey wrote:
>> On 15 феб, 15:36, "William Sommerwerck" >
>> wrote:
>>>> I and a few of my musician friends can recognize
>>>> a song from just the first three or four notes.
>>>
>>> Some songs can be recognized from just two notes.
>>>
>>> "Name That Tune" had a game in which the contenstants would bid on
>>> how few notes they needed to name a tune to which a clue had been
>>> given.
>>
>> If I remember correctly, on facebook, ther's a quizz (I did not take)
>> to name The Beatless song from 1 note. Worst results were like
>> 17 out of 20.
>
> 1 note ain't enough. All songs start with 1 note.....

If you restrict it to the Beatles, which the quiz quoted as doing, then
it can be done. You'e choosing from a much smaller list, and they had a
habit of making a distinctive hook as the first note/chord.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

Peter Larsen[_3_]
February 18th 11, 07:33 AM
Tom McCreadie wrote:

> "William Sommerwerck" > wrote:

>> Some songs can be recognized from just two notes.

>> "Name That Tune" had a game in which the contenstants would bid on
>> how few notes they needed to name a tune to which a clue had been
>> given.

> Some people can make do with visual- rather than aural clues: I
> recall a classical music quiz show years ago on the BBC, where one
> regular feature was the contestants having to identify a piano work
> that was played silently atop the closed keyboard lid. Some
> incredibly quick and correct identifications..and also a quick mic
> set-up for the crew :-).

Setting up invisible mic +56.7% as pr. screen and movie techie union rates
O;-)

Kind regards

Peter Larsen