EarToner is ear training software to help you learn to identify various musical sounds such as intervals, chords, scales and whether two notes are in tune with each other. It is designed to be easy to use and quick to setup. I originally wrote a rough version for myself just for identifying intervals. When I mentioned it to other musical friends they were very interested in using it also. I thought I would just formalize it a little more and release it for free on the internet to whoever wants to use it. Here are some screenshots if it running on a windows machine.

What Platforms/Operating Systems Does It Run On?

For my day gig I do web app development and the lingua franca these days seems to be java. I have done other commercial software that I wanted to be able to run on as many platforms as possible and found java to be suitable. This translates into this program running on Microsoft Windows, Apple's OS X, and Linux (assuming you're using X for Linux). It most likely runs on other platforms that have a Java Runtime, but I haven't tried it.

Current Status

Currently EarToner does intervals, chords, scales and tuning. The current version of the software is 1.2 and is stable. 2.0 will have customization features such as the ability to add your own chords, or sets of melodies (intervals) and you will be able to get as wigged out as you like on scales.

Roadmap (no timeline)

There are currently four main modules intervals, chords, scales and tuning. Let me go through each of these as well as general things:

1. General
   
   • Existing Features
   • number of items played - currently the scoring only indicates how many correct guesses you've made and how many guesses you've made total.
   • playback mode - click on the buttons and have it play the interval/chord (currently only has a testing mode, so clicking on the buttons is considered a guess at the last interval played)
   • documentation - info on working with the various modules and what their settings can do.
   • Planned Features (2.0)
   • history - will tell record how many correct/incorrect answers you give and for which items, so you can see where your weaknesses are.
2. Intervals
   
   • Existing Features
   • all intervals from a minor second up to a perfect 15th (two octaves) in half step increments.
   • direction of intervals (only play up or down, or both randomly)
   • set tonic - this helps newer ears learning to hear just a few intervals in from a single reference point.
   • allowable range - keeps the notes within a certain number of octaves above and below middle C so it doesn't get too ridiculous.
   • ability to play the intervals separately or together.
   • number of intervals - I found that after awhile I could start hearing intervals pretty close to 100&pct; of the time, so I thought I'd add an extra twist, in the spirit of most college ear training classes' requirement for dictation. This helps to develop an intervallic memory of sorts. EarToner will play a certain number of pitches, and you must identify the interval between them in the proper order.
   • note duration
   • Planned Features (2.0)
   • renaming of intervals - if you prefer the solfege way of referring to intervals, or some other way I'm not aware of you'll be able to change their label appropriately.
   • I thought it might be nice to do intervallic ear training on other scales. Most likely will allow you to get under the hood if you like and create your own tunings, or the ability to split an octave up into divisions other than 12.
   • visual representation of intervals - so you can associate visually what an interval looks like. I'm hoping this will help me to learn how to hear what a piece of music sounds like at sight.
3. Chords
   • Existing Features
   • chords able to be tested on Major Triad, Minor Triad, Augmented Triad, Diminished Triad, Major 7th, Dominant 7th, Minor 7th, Minor-Major 7th (1, b3, 5, 7), Half-Diminished 7th (1, b3, b5, b7), Full-Diminished 7th (1, b3, b5, bb7), Augmented-Major 7th (1, 3, #5, 7) and Augmented 7th (1, 3, #5, b7).
   • inversions - ability to select which inversions of chords as well as the chords you wanted to be trained on.
   • allowable range - keeps the notes within a certain number of octaves above and below middle C so it doesn't get too ridiculous.
   • set tonic - probably if someone is going to want it for intervals, they're going to want it for chords too.
   • arppeggiation of chord - seems handy for hearing all of the intervals in the chord when trying to learn new chords.
   • Planned Features (2.0)
   • visual representation of chords - like the intervals, this is so you can associate what a chord looks like.
   • custom voicings/chords - this will allow you to create your own chords, so you can learn to hear the difference between a Bill Evans dominant 7th chord and a Art Tatum dominant 7th chord.
   • group voicings together - this way you can not only have more obscure voicings for a particular chord, you can have multiple on the same chord. Woohoo!
4. Scales
   • Existing Features
   • scales able to be tested on Major (Ionian), Natural Minor (Aeolian), Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Locrian, Whole Tone, Chromatic, Major Pentatonic, Minor Pentatonic, Blues, Diminished Whole/Half, Diminished Half/Whole.
   • allowable range - keeps the notes within a certain number of octaves above and below middle C so it doesn't get too ridiculous.
   • set tonic - same as above.
   • Planned Features (2.0)
   • visual representation of scales, to see what the scale looks like.
   • custom scales - so you can do that hypermixolydian you've always dreamed of.
   • ability to divide the octave up into divisions other than 12 so you could use some microtonal scales of your liking
5. Tuning
   • Existing Features
   • Playing of two notes to identify whether the second note is sharp, flat or in tune
   • Variable length of notes in time.
   • Variable offset of the second note from the first note, from being played at the same time to playing immediately after the first note.
   • Ability to select different sound (MIDI patch) for the second note
   • User selectable maximum detuning, so the second note can be out of tune from the first one as far as a whole step (good for young ears learning to identify lower and higher).
   • Changeable granularity for the second note, so the detuning of the second note can be anywhere from 1/64th of a whole step all the way up to a whole step
   • set tonic - same as other modules
   • interval - separate the two notes by a set interval. Good for string players and others that need to learn to tune in 4ths, 5ths, etc.
   • direction - for using an interval other than unison allows the second note to be above, below or randomly selected by EarToner.

Downloading EarToner

There are for the 1.2 release no installers. I built a simple exe file for windows and on all other platforms the jar file should just work by double-clicking on it. It should also preserve all of your settings from version 1.0. You can get the files here:

• Windows: eartoner-1.2.exe
• Other Platforms: eartoner1.2.jar

Why Doesn't It Do [some feature]?

I'm sure there are lots of features that lots of people can come up with to make this program better. I think that is great. Please contact me via the forums so I can know what things are wanted.