FAQ - Using Transcribe!

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General

1. "How do I get started transcribing music?"

   Click here for an introduction to transcribing music, and also read the Overview and Getting Started sections of the Help that comes with Transcribe! itself.
   Transcribing music is hard work and although Transcribe! makes it easier, it is still hard work.
   If you have never transcribed music from recordings at all then it can sometimes be a good idea to start by using traditional methods - using a perfectly ordinary CD player or iPod for your first transcriptions. Then try Transcribe! again. That way, you learn one thing at a time instead of trying to learn everything at once.
   Also see the query below, "Does Transcribe! actually do the transcribing?".

2. "How do I get started using Transcribe!?"

   Read the Overview and Getting Started sections of the Help that comes with Transcribe! itself.
   Also you will find short videos showing very basic use of Transcribe! near the bottom of this page

3. "Does Transcribe! actually do the transcribing?"

   No. There are (and have been since the 1970's) some very clever people working on this with very limited success on anything but the simplest music. You can find links to other people's efforts here.
   Transcribe! does attempt to guess what notes are being played at any chosen moment (marking them on the piano keyboard) and also to name the chords being played. But it makes no attempt to deal with rhythm, or to produce musical notation or midi.

4. "Does Transcribe! handle musical notation?"

   No, Transcribe! does not address the question of notating the transcription - some people use notation software, some don't write anything down at all (they are learning to play something by playing along). Personally I use pencil and paper.
   You can add textual annotations (see the Text menu) to the transcription, useful for lyrics, chord symbols, comments etc.
   I don't plan to add notational capability to Transcribe! - if I give it limited capability then people will immediately start complaining about the things it can't do, while full-featured music notation is a huge job, and there are already any number of software packages around for music notation, click here.

5. "Does Transcribe! record or playback MIDI?"

   No, Transcribe! is for transcribing music from sound recordings. There are any number of software packages around for MIDI, click here.

6. "Can Transcribe! display videos?"

   Yes, Transcribe! can display video synchronised to the audio at any speed. You may need to convert the video to a suitable format first, see Help - Various Topics - Video, and also see this page.

7. "Can I use Transcribe! for transcribing speech?"

   Yes, Transcribe! can be used very effectively for transcribing speech. There is some advice about this in Transcribe!'s help, under the heading "Various Topics".

8. "Can I use Transcribe! for play-along practice?"

   Yes, Transcribe! can be used very effectively for play-along practice. There is some advice about this in Transcribe!'s help, under the heading "Various Topics".

   Looping, Selecting and Markers

9. "How do I make a selection, or adjust an existing selection?"

   This has changed in version 8.2 so make sure you have the current version (free to existing users).
   To set the current point (the red triangle which marks the place where playback will begin) : click on the waveform.
   To make a selection (e.g. for looping) : sweep the mouse over the waveform with the button pressed, so the desired section is selected (highlit).
   To adjust one end of an existing selection : click and drag, near the end you want to adjust. You can also use the arrow keys, for details see the Help for Keyboard Commands.
   To move an existing selection : click within the existing selection. You can also use the square bracket keys, for details see the Help for Keyboard Commands.
   If you hold the shift key down then this will change the behaviour - you can tell what is going to happen by the shape of the cursor before you click. Also note that double-click will always collapse an existing selection.

10. "How do I delete or move the red markers?"

    In fact the little red triangles aren't really markers in the usual sense, they just indicate the current point, which is where playback will begin if you press the Play button or the spacebar. And since playback always has to begin somewhere, you can't delete the current point. See the query just above about positioning the current point and making selections, and see Help - Getting Started for more info. Also note that there is a "Back to the beginning" button in the lower toolbar which will move the current point to the start of the track.

11. "How do I get playback to loop continuously?"

    First, be aware that "markers" have nothing to do with looping. You choose what to loop by selecting it with the mouse. So:
    - On the "Play" menu, select "Play Selection" and "Loop" so that both of these items have tick marks against them. In fact this is the default anyway, as long as you haven't changed them.
    - Select the section you want to loop - that is, sweep the mouse over the waveform display with the button pressed, so the desired section is selected (highlit).
    - Press the Play button on the toolbar. That's it.
    You can also do it by pressing the "A-B Loop" button on the toolbar : once to set the loop start point and then again to select the loop end.

12. "How can I get a "jog shuttle" effect?"
    "How can I examine the spectrum and note guesses at a particular point, and move that point around?"

    This is where you listen to the track at one point (i.e. a very short loop), and then move that point around. The way to do it is to set a short loop playing - see the query above about looping - and then click and drag (or use the square-bracket shortcut keys) to move that short loop around. See the Help for Keyboard Commands (File menu) for details about these commmands.
    If you turn on the Spectrum (View menu), then you will see the Spectrum of the selection you have made (and optionally Note and Chord guesses), which will change as you move the selection around.

13. "How can I start playback at a specific point without changing the current point or selection?"

    You can control-click (command-click on Mac) on the waveform at the required start point. Also if you show the Time Line (View menu) then you can click on the Time Line.
    Remember also that if you want to play other parts of a track without losing a loop you have carefully set up, then the answer is to save the loop (on the Misc page of the Fx window). Then you can restore that loop any time you want.

14. "What is the recommended way to use markers?"

    My preferred way of marking a section of music is to play it through once, tapping the 'M' key at the start of each measure. If you want the beats marked then double-click the first marker and specify auto subdivisions - I very seldom use actual beat markers. And if you want the sections marked then double-click (or right-click) the relevant measure marker and convert it to a section marker (or use 'S' instead of 'M' for marking it in the first place).
    Remember that the Navigation Bar (View menu) allows you to go directly to any marker.
    Also note that if you want to mark events that happen in arbitrary places (e.g. the place where a particular lyric or chord or note happens) then Text Blocks are usually more suitable - see the Help for more about Text Blocks.

15. "Can I generate markers automatically?"

    Every now and then, someone proposes a scheme for automatically generating markers at fixed intervals, or for converting Transcribe!'s automatic subdivision markers into "real" markers. However I have so far resisted such suggestions as they would add to the complexity of using markers, and I am not at all convinced that they would offer significant benefit. My preferred way of marking a section of music is described in the query just above. This is very simple and it gets the measures marked in the same time it takes to play them. If you have some more complex scheme in mind then please ask yourself, is it really any quicker or easier than the method I have just outlined?

16. "How can I jump directly to a specific marker?"

    In Help - Menus & Toolbar - File Menu - Keyboard commands, you can read about keyboard shortcuts such as alt-[ and alt-] which will take you to the previous or next section marker.
    In Help - Getting Started - The Transcription Window, you can read about the Navigation Bar which you can right-click (control-click on Mac) to get a pop up menu where you can jump directly to a chosen marker.
    And on the Misc page of the Audio Effects and Controls window you will find buttons to take you to the next or previous marker.

17. "How can I adjust a selection to a whole number of beats or measures?"

    Let's suppose that you have placed some beat or measure markers in your transcription. You can create or adjust a selection with the mouse (shift-click or right-click will extend an existing selection) or with the keyboard (see the Help for Keyboard Commands) but how about if you want to adjust the selection to start or end exactly on a beat or measure marker? The answer to this is in Help - Getting Started - The Transcription Window : "If you hold down the <alt> key when clicking or dragging then the selection will 'snap' to the nearest marker if there is one near. The <alt> key may not work if it is used to bring up a system menu instead. In that case you can instead press <control> after you have started making your selection, for the same effect."
    You can also set up keyboard commands to do this kind of thing if you want, though they are not configured by default because there are so many possibilities to choose from. Transcribe! has many commands which are not immediately visible. This is deliberate as I don't want to scare new users with a complex interface.
    Read the Help for Keyboard Commands which tells you how to configure any command to be triggered by a keystroke of your choice. You will see a group of commands with names like "SelectionIncreaseRightMeasure" which increases the current selection at the right by one measure, and so on.
    For example: to select a whole measure around the current point, configure a keyboard command with its "press" command as "SelectionIncreaseRightMeasure" and its "release" command as "SelectionIncreaseLeftMeasure". Then to advance the selection to the next whole measure, program another key with its "press" command as "SelectionIncreaseRightMeasure" and its "release" command to "SelectionDecreaseLeftMeasure".
    These commands can also be triggered from foot pedals of course.
    Also see the "Move" buttons on the "Misc" page of the Audio Effects and Controls window. Read the Help for that page, to find out more.

    Exporting modified sound files

18. "How can I edit the sound file itself?"
    "Will Transcribe! do multitrack recording or mixing?"

    Transcribe! is not a sound file editor or multitrack recording package. It records, reads and plays sound files but does not modify them. It can also export modified sound files (e.g. with pitch or speed change applied) although this is not its primary purpose.
    You can find links to editors and other sound-related software here.

19. "How can I save a modified sound file from Transcribe! ?"
    "Why can't I load the XSC file saved by Transcribe! into my sound file editing or playing software, or burn it to audio CD ?"

    If you want to save a modified sound file from Transcribe! (with altered speed or pitch for instance) then the command you need is called "Export Sound File" (on the File menu).
    XSC (transcription) files don't contain any sound. They are text files containing information about your transcription. Read the Help for the File Menu (in Transcribe!'s Help) for more information.

20. "When I export a sound file, why is the speed change (or pitch change or whatever) not applied?"
    "When I export a sound file, why can't I select the "Karaoke" (or "Speed" or whatever) checkbox?"

    The idea about exporting modified sound files from Transcribe! is that first you set up the modifications you want using the Fx (Audio Effects and Controls) window, so that the file is playing in the same way that you want to export it.
    Then use the Export command and check the boxes for the effects you want applied to the exported file.
    So, if the speed change you applied is not appearing in the exported file then it probably means you didn't check the "Speed" checkbox in the Export dialog. On the other hand if the checkbox in the Export dialog is disabled, this is because you didn't apply the effect in the first place - cancel the Export command and use the Fx window to apply the effect you want, then Export again.

21. "Why won't Transcribe! export or record sound in mp3 format?"

    Transcribe! offers the choice of WAV or AIFF for exporting or recording audio files. These formats are "safe" in the sense that they are uncompressed and therefore cause no quality loss. They are also large but these days most people have big hard disks and you can always convert to mp3 or other compressed format using other audio utility software if you want.
    Audio compression is a tricky field : there is no one mp3 format, there are endless varieties of bit-rate, encoding method, etc, and even with the same options, some encoders are better than others. And many people prefer other compressed formats anyway such as AAC, WMA, or Ogg Vorbis. I simply decided that there is no need to get involved in this complex and rapidly-changing field.
    If you want to record from analogue source directly to a compressed format then there are many audio utility programs which can do this. See this page.

    Loading Sound Files

22. "Why won't Transcribe! open the tracks I bought from the Apple music store?"

    Transcribe! on Windows and Mac reads mp4, m4a & aac files but not m4p which is a protected format (usually from the Apple music store). However, Apple stopped using this format in early 2009 and these days all iTunes music downloads from the Apple music store are "iTunes Plus". "iTunes Plus" is a higher quality download and more to the point, it comes without DRM (digital rights management) - it's an "m4a" or "aac" file rather than an "m4p". This means you can play it on non-Apple devices and software, including Transcribe!
    You can upgrade previously downloaded tracks to "iTunes Plus" on the "Upgrade to iTunes Plus" page in iTunes. For more information, at the iTunes store click "Help - Support" (at the bottom of the page), "Music Purchases", "Music Overview", "iTunes Plus FAQ".

23. "Transcribe! won't open the track, what can I do?"

    This might happen because the track is in a format which Transcribe! doesn't read, or the track might be in a proprietary protected format such as m4p. Here are some suggestions. I've no idea if this is legal but it certainly seems reasonable to me that if you have paid for the music, you should be able to play it in the player of your choice.

    • Search the web for "convert xyz to mp3" (replacing xyz with the file type you have). This may well find you a way of doing the conversion.
    • Will the track load into an audio editing package (e.g. Audacity, which is free)? If so then load it, and "Save as" mp3 or whatever.
    • Burn the track to an audio CD, then rip the audio CD back to a non-protected format such as mp3.
    • Plug a cable from the headphone-out to the line-in and use Transcribe!'s "Record new sound file" command (or other audio recording software) to record it while it's playing. If you are using iTunes then you may need to start recording before launching iTunes, as iTunes will disable the ability to start recording once it starts running.
    • If you have an iPod or other mp3 player then transfer the track to the iPod, plug the headphone output of the iPod into the line-in on your computer, then record the file while it is playing.
    • There are applications capable of recording the audio which is playing on your computer. If you search the web for "audio capture mac" (without the quotes, and specify your OS as appropriate of course) then you will find them.

24. "Why has drag-n-drop from iTunes to Transcribe! stopped working (on Mac only)?"

    This is caused by an update to iTunes which does drag-n-drop a bit differently. Please update to the current Transcribe! version (free to existing users) and all should be well.
    This issue does not affect Windows. Or Linux obviously.

25. "On Windows, why do some sound files refuse to load when they worked fine before? ("Cannot open file")"

    This applies to QuickTime files (mov, m4a, aac, mpeg). First, make sure you have the current version of Transcribe! which you can download from the download page in the usual way. It's free to existing users, it will recognise the license key you already have.
    If that doesn't fix the problem then look in the Transcribe! "System Info" (on the Help menu) after you've tried to open the file. If you see a message saying "NewMovieFromProperties; Unknown error (Error OS:-1856)" then this is an Apple QuickTime problem, which affects some users after updating QuickTime on Windows. The solution is to try playing the file in QuickTime Player (which you have, it's part of QuickTime). QuickTime Player will tell you that some file associations need restoring and you should say "yes". After this, Transcribe! will be able to play the file.

26. "On Mac 10.7 Lion, why can I sometimes not open a file from the "MEDIA" section at the lower left of the "File Open" dialog?"

    Unfortunately this seems to be a Mac bug, which I have reported to Apple. I will update this FAQ when I get a reply. Here is the report I have filed with Apple (bug id 10193405):

    Summary: This relates to opening files by selecting them in the "MEDIA" section at the lower left of the File Open dialog. The Navigation Services "File Open" dialog can be used once to open a file in this way, but the second time we try to do this, the Open button is permanently disabled, we can't open the file.
    Steps to Reproduce:
    - Build the SimpleAudioExtraction sample code, using Xcode 2.5 on OS 10.4.11
    - Copy the resulting app to a 10.7.1 machine
    - Launch it
    - File - Open, and click on a file in "MEDIA - Music" at the lower left. Click "Open", all is well.
    - File - Open again, and click on a file in "MEDIA - Music" at the lower left. This time the "Open" button remains disabled, we can't open the file.

    The workaround is: (1) Open files by drag and drop, or (2) Use the "File - Open" dialog but don't use the "MEDIA" section, instead navigate "manually" to the file, e.g. click on your home folder at the upper left of the "File Open" dialog, then click Music, then iTunes, and so on.

27. "How can I open a transcription from an audio CD?"
    "Why does Transcribe! respond sluggishly or have gaps in playback, when playing from audio CD?"
    "Why does the Review (backwards play) button not work properly, when playing from audio CD?"

    You can use the "Open" command (File menu) to open an audio CD track directly in Transcribe!, but this is not usually the best way. Although your CD player is of course capable of playing in the usual way, it may nevertheless be sluggish when used with Transcribe! - this is because Transcribe! needs access to the audio samples and so has to use a different method for reading the data from the CD.
    The answer is to use the "Copy Sound File" command (File menu) to copy the track to your hard disk first, then play it from there. This gives better performance and also has the advantage that the track will still be there after you take the CD out. There are also many programs other than Transcribe! which can copy ("rip") tracks from audio CD to hard disk.
    Note that the "Track 01.cda" etc. files which Windows shows you on an audio CD are not in fact sound files and there is no point in copying these to your hard disk.

28. "Why does Transcribe! only play the first part of my mp3 file?"

    Sometimes mp3 files have faulty data in them, and different programs handle this in different ways. Transcribe! chooses to stop, because there is a danger of speaker-destroying or ear-destroying noise. So if you have some other software which plays the whole mp3 file, listen closely at the point in the track where Transcribe! stops : you will very likely hear a strange noise and/or a dropout caused by faulty data. The solution is to update the software you are using to produce mp3 files. Or load the file into some editor which will read the whole thing and re-export it, to get a copy without faulty data.

    Sound Output or Input Problems

29. "Why does sound output fail or turn into random noise, after playing for a while?"

    This is probably a soundcard or driver issue : it doesn't normally happen if you are using the built-in sound system, it only happens with third-party sound hardware. In fact this seems to be commonest on the Mac - I've had it reported for Alesis Multimix8 and Focusrite Saffire.
    To fix it make sure you have the latest version of the software and drivers to go with the sound hardware, then configure it to increase the size of the playback buffer.

30. "Why won't Transcribe! play on Windows while using ASIO or RTAS with other audio software?"

    ASIO & RTAS drivers achieve low latency by taking exclusive control of the soundcard so other applications cannot output sound at the same time. There are two possible workarounds. (i) Install another soundcard and configure Transcribe! to use it (in Preferences). (ii) Don't use ASIO or RTAS, instead tell your VSTi's to use the standard drivers that are part of the OS (meaning that you have to put up with higher latency).

31. "Why won't Transcribe! play through my Digidesign sound hardware on Mac?"

    First of all, close ProTools down. If ProTools is running then it is not usually possible for other applications to use the DigiDesign hardware at the same time.
    Recent Digidesign sound hardware on Mac should work ok - it's just a matter of going to "System Preferences - Sound - Output" and selecting the Digidesign device. If it's not there or doesn't work then it may help to go to the Support section of DigiDesign's website and download and install the "CoreAudio Driver". However some older DigiDesign hardware is not fully compatible with OS-X and won't work. In this case they themselves recommend that you should have other sound hardware for use with other applications.
    DigiDesign's "CoreAudio Driver" is the crucial piece of software involved, you probably have documentation for this already supplied with your ProTools setup, and you can find more if you search the Support section of the DigiDesign website for technical documents on CoreAudio, for instance this: http://akmedia.digidesign.com/support/docs/CoreAudio_Usage_Guide_25695.pdf

    Regarding the Digidesign Audiomedia III : this card was discontinued some time ago and Digidesign have stopped supporting it. It is not fully compatible with OS-X and this is why Transcribe! cannot use it.

32. "Why won't Transcribe! play through my Digidesign sound hardware on Windows?"

    First of all, close ProTools down. If ProTools is running then it is not usually possible for other applications to use the DigiDesign hardware at the same time.
    If you are using recent versions of DigiDesign hardware and software then you may be able to go to Transcribe!'s Preferences - Playback, and select the Digidesign device. However if that doesn't work then read on.
    Transcribe! uses Windows' "WaveOut" group of functions for sound output, and DigiDesign's "WaveDriver" is the crucial piece of software involved. So if Transcribe! does not find the DigiDesign hardware, or fails to open it, then this normally means that you need to install or update or reconfigure the DigiDesign WaveDriver. You probably have documentation for this already supplied with your ProTools setup, and you can find more if you search the Support section of the DigiDesign website for technical documents on WaveDriver, for instance this: http://akmedia.digidesign.com/support/docs/WaveDriver_Usage_Guide_25693.pdf
    Note particularly what they say about disabling Windows' System Sounds, and about adding third-party apps (such as Transcribe!) to the "WaveDriver Opt-In List". If this all seems rather complicated, don't complain to me, complain to DigiDesign.

    Regarding the Digidesign USB MBOX : The mbox does not by default work for audio playback with Transcribe! and many other application programs (though it does work with Windows Media Player).
    In this document: http://akwww.digidesign.com/support/docs/WaveDriver_Usage_Guide_6.7.pdf I find: "WaveDriver is not multi-client. Only one application at a time can use the WaveDriver. Be sure to disable the Windows system sounds. It is also recommended that you use a separate sound card for games or other general work. For third-party soft-synthesizer and samplers, use the Digidesign ASIO Driver (refer to the ASIO Driver Usage Guide)."
    So, maybe if you disable system sounds, close any other app which might be trying to use the mbox, then close & relaunch Transcribe!...?
    Single-app-only for the mbox is clearly a drawback, which is presumably why they recommend having another soundcard as well.

33. "On Mac: why won't Transcribe! record sound from the Edirol FA-66 interface?"

    I have had reports that it will work on the front inputs, but not the line inputs on the back.

    Audio Effects and Controls

34. "Why don't Transcribe!'s keyboard shortcuts work after I click on the Audio Effects (Fx) window?"

    The point here is that the Fx window also uses keystrokes for its own purposes - for instance there are boxes in the Fx window that you can type numbers into. It would be perfectly possible from a technical point of view for the Fx window to use the keystrokes it's interested in and pass the rest across to the transcription window in case they might be shortcuts, but the potential for confusion would be enormous.
    The solution is to use the <esc> shortcut which does work in the Fx window, and which takes you straight back to the transcription window.
    Another solution is to use Transcribe!'s "global shortcuts" - see the Help for Keyboard Commands (File menu).

35. "How can I remove the vocal?"

    Transcribe! cannot work miracles, but there are techniques which may help. The first is Karaoke mode, which means combining the left and right stereo channels but with one of them phase-reversed. This has the effect of cancelling out anything which is panned in the centre of the mix, which often includes the main vocal. However if the recording is mono, or if the thing you want to remove is panned to the same place in the mix as things you want to hear, then it won't help. For more info go to the Mono/Karaoke page of the Audio Effects and Controls (Fx) window, and press Help.
    The EQ page of the Fx window may also be useful. However if the thing you want to remove is in the same part of the frequency spectrum as things you want to hear, then once again it won't help.
    Don't forget that if the thing you want to hear is very low or high pitched then using the Tuning page of the Fx window to raise or lower its pitch by an octave or two can make it easier to hear. Bass parts are often much easier to hear when raised by an octave or two.

36. "How can I increase the speed?"
    "How can I have more preset speed settings?"

    You can have any speed you want from 5% (one twentieth speed) to 200% (double speed) by using the slider on the Speed page of the Audio Effects (Fx) window, or by typing into the box on that page. But perhaps you want to set the speed without bringing up the Fx window.
    You can choose what speed buttons appear on the toolbar, in Preferences - Toolbar. If you want more preset speeds than that, then you should use keyboard commands (see Help - File menu - Keyboard commands). There are commands for increasing and decreasing the speed, and you can create new keyboard commands for any speed in 5% increments from 5% to 100%, and then in 10% increments up to 200%.
    Also remember that you can adjust the speed using the mousewheel on the speed button in the toolbar (see Help - Toolbar), or using a continuous MIDI controller (see Help - File menu - MIDI commands).
    Also if you want to get seriously technical about it then see Help - Various Topics - Automation.

37. "How can I set the speed to a specific number of beats (or bars/measures) per minute?"

    Transcribe! does not have any magic way of determining the tempo so you must first place markers : set the music playing and tap the M key at the start of each measure. You don't need to mark the whole piece, maybe about 8 measures is plenty. If you mark only a couple of measures then the result may be inaccurate if the markers are not very exactly placed. If you want to set the tempo in bars (measures) per minute then measure markers are all you need. If you want to work in beats per minute then you should mark the beats too, so in 4/4 you would tap "MBBB" to mark a single measure. Or you could mark just the measures, then use auto-subdivision to mark the beats (see the Help for the Markers menu).
    Then bring up the speed page of the Fx window and select the marked part of the piece using the mouse. The Fx Speed page will show you the speed in bpm and you can change it to what you want.
    If you want to copy the new version to CD or iPod or whatever then you should use the Export Sound File command to save the modified sound file. There are some more FAQs about that elsewhere on this page if you need them.

38. "Can I make Transcribe! gradually speed up while looping?"

    Yes you can, see the "Speed Up" command on the Play menu. Some people who are using Transcribe! as a play-along practice tool like to do this. You can also create more complex practice sequences of loops, speeds etc. by using automation. See Help - Various Topics - Automation, which describes the use of scripts to control Transcribe!. Scripts can do a lot of things, but in the Help there is a specific example for speeding up while looping. You can download this script among others, on this page.

    Spectrum, Piano, Note & Chord Guessing

39. "After updating to Transcribe! 8.2, why I am not seeing the spectrum or note guesses below the waveform?"

    You need to go to the View menu and turn on "Show Spectrum/NoteGuesses/ChordGuesses" according to your taste. This is because the defaults have changed in 8.2 : we used to show these things by default but now that there is also the Piano Roll available, I decided it was better to default both "off", and let you decide which you prefer.
    But do not despair - you can set the default to whatever you like. Set your current transcription the way you like it, then Preferences - New Windows - "Set defaults from current window" and press "Ok".

40. "Can I print out Transcribe!'s chord guesses?"

    Yes you can but we don't provide a fully automatic way of doing this because normally you will need to edit the chord guesses and remove the bad ones. So instead, the way to do it is to copy the chord guesses into Text Blocks, edit them there as necessary, then export the text blocks to a file (this is on the Text menu) so you can print them in any way you want. The best way of copying chord guesses into text blocks is to use the Piano Roll - see the Help for the Piano Roll menu. You can shift-click the piano roll to see chord guesses, and you can right-click (control-click on Mac) to get a menu for inserting a selected chord guess into a text block. Remember that you may need to adjust the track tuning as you will not get any useful guesses if the track is off pitch.

41. "How do I change the sound used for Transcribe!'s built-in keyboard?"

    You can adjust Transcribe!'s keyboard timbre on the Tuning page of the Fx dialog and you can adjust the volume by moving the mouse up and down while playing a note on Transcribe!'s piano keyboard. The sound used is pretty crude, synthesized internally. It's not intended to sound beautiful, it's only intended as a pitch reference.

42. "How can I play notes from my MIDI keyboard in Transcribe! ?"

    I don't plan to turn Transcribe! into a "performance instrument" in this way (for one thing, the built-in sound is not very pretty). However it shouldn't be necessary - the right way to do it is to use other software to play the sounds from MIDI.
    What software are you using now to play sound from MIDI? You should be able to leave it running while you use Transcribe!, and it should continue to work.
    It may be a good idea to switch off Transcribe!'s own MIDI responses to prevent confusion. Also if your MIDI player app stops playing when you bring Transcribe! to the foreground then it may be possible to fix this. It's a matter of telling the player app to continue responding to MIDI even when in the background. Otherwise, many apps suppose that if they are in the background, you don't want them to respond to MIDI. Check the Help for your MIDI player app to find out how to do this.
    Alternatively you might choose to keep your MIDI player app in the foreground, while using "Global shortcuts" to control Transcribe! in the background. See Transcribe!'s Help for Keyboard Commands (File meu) about global shortcuts.

43. "Can I change Transcribe!'s built-in piano keyboard to show a different instrument?"

    The short answer is no. The piano keyboard aligns with the spectrum above it, indicating which notes appear at which point of the spectrum. A piano keyboard is the most suitable way I know of for graphically indicating a full range of notes from left to right.
    However there is help at hand for string instrument players who are wondering where to find a certain note on their instrument. If you right-click (control-click on Mac) a keyboard note then you get a pop-up box showing string and fret information for that note. You can select your particular string instrument and tuning in Preferences - Fret Display.

44. "Can I print out a picture of the spectrum?"

    You should take a screenshot and use that. On Windows the PrintScreen key copies a screen image to the clipboard from where you can paste it into a document. On Mac OS-X use "Grab" (in Applications/Utilities), which creates a tif image file. Or use shift-command-3 which creates an screen image file on your desktop.

45. "Why do guitar notes show up an octave lower in the spectrum than I expected?"

    If you read music on the guitar then you will know that the open top string is written as E in the top space of the treble clef, but Transcribe!'s spectrum of a recording of a guitar playing the open top string shows it as E above middle C - the bottom line of the treble clef. This is quite correct, because the guitar is a transposing instrument which sounds an octave lower than written : the open top string in fact sounds as the E above middle C although it is written in a guitar part an octave higher. The same issue applies to double bass.

    Video

46. "Can Transcribe! play videos?"

    Yes certainly. See Help - Various Topics - Video, and also see this page for more information about video formats and how to use them with Transcribe!.

47. "Will Transcribe! export slowed-down video?"

    Yes on Windows and Mac, but not Linux. You need QuickTime 7.1.1 or later (on Windows, it's a free download from Apple) and on Mac you also need OS 10.4.6 or later. This command always creates a .mov movie file regardless of the original video format. It's a fun little feature. Of course it's useful for creating videos with speed and pitch alterations, but the time-offset slider in the Video Viewer means that you can also use it as a very quick and simple way of correcting synchronisation errors.

48. "How can I get the video to synchronise more quickly when we start playing?"

    With some videos, when you start playing (or go back to the start of a loop) it can take some time - up to a second - for the video to get synchronised with the audio. One workaround of course, is to start playing a little bit before the section you are interested in. This relates to the way in which the video is encoded and you may be able to improve matters by using a different encoding. See this page for more information about video formats and how to use them with Transcribe!.

49. "Video playback is jerky, what can I do?"
    "I have a video which doesn't play, what can I do?"
    "Export Video fails, what can I do?"

    First make sure you have the latest version of Transcribe!, and of QuickTime if you are on Windows or Mac.
    It can sometimes happen that although QuickTime or other software can play a video, Transcribe! cannot. This is because Transcribe! has to use a different way of playing the video, as it needs to control the playback speed very precisely in order to synchronise the video with the audio at any speed you choose. Some video formats work better than others for this purpose.
    These problems relate to the way in which the video is encoded and you will probably be able to improve matters by using a different encoding. That means using video editing software to load the video and export it in a different format. See this page for more information about video formats and how to use them with Transcribe!.

    Miscellaneous Problems

50. "I created a lot of markers and saved my transcription, but when I loaded it again the markers have gone"

    You probably loaded the sound file again, when you should have loaded the XSC (transcription) file which was saved. Read the Help for the File Menu (in Transcribe!'s Help) for more information.

51. "Why can't I assign keyboard shortcuts for some specific keys such as 't', 'm', etc?"

    Some keyboard shortcuts are hardwired already - the ones which are listed against the corresponding menu items when you look at the menu. 't' is New Text Block, 'm' is New Measure Marker, '.' is Stop Playback etc. You can't change these. This only applies to those shortcuts which actually appear alongside the menu item.

52. "Why isn't Transcribe! responding to MIDI or Foot Pedal commands?"

    The most likely cause is that when you ran the "MIDI commands" or "Foot Pedals" dialog, you configured the commands but left the "Respond to... " selection (at the top of the dialog) as "Never".
    Also be aware that if you unplug the MIDI interface or the pedal then Transcribe!, not being able to find it, will set "Respond to..." to "Never" in order to avoid endless error messages as long as the thing is missing. So when you plug it back in again, you will need to run the dialog again to switch responses back on again.

53. "On Windows when I press a Help button, why am I seeing the Help contents page but not the content! ("The page cannot be displayed")"

    Microsoft have released a security patch that makes it impossible to view Help (.chm) files that are stored on a network drive (as opposed to .chm files stored on your own computer). The Help contents page appears, but instead of the topic text you will see a message "The page cannot be displayed".
    Click here for Microsoft's own description of this problem: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896358
    Click here for Microsoft's description of how to solve it, which ain't easy: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892675
    Click here for a free utility for fixing it (I haven't tried this myself): http://www.ec-software.com/products_hhreg.html
    The alternative of course is to install Transcribe! on the local hard drive, not on the network. Don't blame me, this is Microsoft's Help system.

54. "How can I change the size of the font used by Transcribe!'s Help"

    On Mac & Linux, there's an Options button at the top of the Transcribe! Help Viewer, where you can select font and size.
    On Windows we use the Windows "chm" Help Viewer which is a Microsoft thing - part of Windows - and rather surprisingly, it isn't easy to change the font size.
    Click here for Microsoft's own answer to this question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/192391. This actually made no difference whatever for me, but might work for you.
    Apart from that, the only solution appears to be to use a different Help viewer application, e.g. Help Explorer Viewer. The actual help file which you need to load into that viewer is (depending on where you installed Transcribe!) "C:\Program Files\Transcribe!\xschelp.chm"

55. "How can I transfer a transcription to a different computer?"
    "Why won't my transcription (xsc) file open when I transfer it to another computer?"

    You can transfer transcriptions from one computer to another, even when the computers are running different OS's (Windows / Mac / Linux), as long as the destination computer supports reading the sound file format involved.
    First read Transcribe!'s Help for the File menu, to make sure you understand about transcription files (xsc) and sound files (wav, mp3 etc). Also check the list of supported sound formats in Transcribe!'s Help - Various Topics - Sound Files. If Transcribe! on the destination computer does not support the format of the sound file then you will need to convert it first. Transcribe!'s "Export Sound File" command on the original computer may be useful here, but note you will subsequently need to use the "Import Sound File" command to load the newly exported sound file into your transcription.
    Then copy both the sound file and the transcription file to the same folder on the destination computer. Or put them in different folders, but then you will probably need to use the "Import Sound File" command to find the sound file on the destination computer.
    When you open the transcription file on the destination computer then it can happen that although the xsc file does open (its name is displayed in the titlebar of the transcription window), it reports that it cannot find the sound file. In this case you should make sure that the sound file is present on the destination computer, then use the "Import Sound File" command to load it into the transcription.

56. "On Ubuntu 11.04, why have Transcribe!'s menus disappeared?"

    Please update to Transcribe! version 8.2 which you will find on the download page. The update is free to existing users.
    BTW (1): If, like me, you dislike "Unity" mode then : before you have logged in (when you are about to type your password), there are some options about keyboard layout etc. at the bottom of the screen. One of them allows you to select "Ubuntu Classic" which will get you a more conventional interface.
    BTW (2): If you want to disable the behaviour where app menus appear at the top of the screen then use Synaptic Package Manager (System menu) to uninstall the default installed package "appmenu-gtk". See here for more discussion: http://www.webupd8.org/2011/03/disable-appmenu-global-menu-in-ubuntu.html

57. "How can I transfer Transcribe!'s Preferences and other settings to another user or another computer?"

    There is no automatic way of doing this for the Preferences. However you can transfer Keyboard Commands and MIDI Commands, by using the Export and Import commands on the File menu.

58. "How can I use Transcribe! in a restricted amount of screen space?"

    If you are using Transcribe! with the Video Viewer or with another app such as a music notation program then you may want to reduce the amount of space used by the main Transcribe! window. Here are some suggestions.

    • Make the Transcribe! window smaller. If you do this then you may find it helpful to (1) Hide the spectrum display (on the View menu). (2) Hide the piano too, by dragging down the splitter bar so the piano & spectrum are completely hidden. (3) Preferences - General - Always display waveform in mono.
    • Move Transcribe! low down so the bottom bar is off the screen : it has the play controls, but you can use keyboard shortcuts for all of these anyway (see Help - File menu - Keyboard Commands).
    • If you are using the Video Viewer then remember that (on Windows or Mac) keyboard shortcuts will work when the video viewer is in front, so you can control Transcribe! this way without bringing the main Transcribe! window to the front.
    • Use Global keyboard shortcuts (see Help - File menu - Keyboard Commands). This way, you can control Transcribe! while it remains hidden behind other apps, not taking up any space at all.
    • Use pedals to control Transcribe! - see Help - File Menu - Midi Commands, and Help - File Menu - Foot Pedals. This also allows you to control Transcribe! while it remains hidden behind other apps, not taking up any space at all.

59. "Why doesn't the file I was last working on, appear in the "Recent Files" list?"

    The "Recent Files" list shows recent transcription (xsc) files. So if you don't save your transcription (the "Save" command on the File menu) then there is no transcription file, so it won't appear on the "Recent Files" list. Read the Help for the File Menu (in Transcribe!'s Help) for more information.

60. "Why does Transcribe! load transcription (xsc) files by default, not sound files?"

    Transcription (xsc) files store information about your transcription such as tuning changes you have made, markers you have placed, EQ settings, etc, and of course the name of the sound file. Transcription files are very small, they do not contain a copy of the audio data.
    If Transcribe! then offered to open the sound file again then you would be starting a new transcription and the markers etc. would all be gone - this would be very confusing for a beginner.
    But is is very easy to open sound files directly if you want to. Bring your file browser (Windows Explorer or Finder) to the front (but make sure you can see some of Transcribe!'s window behind it). Locate and select the sound file (or files) in the browser and drag-n-drop onto the Transcribe! window. You can also drag-n-drop from iTunes or (on Mac) Spotlight.

61. "Are there any sample Transcribe! automation scripts I can download?"

    I'm glad you asked - yes there are, on this page.

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