FAQ - Miscellaneous Questions about Transcribe!

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1. "Is there a Transcribe! discussion forum?"

   There is a music transcribers' forum which contains a lot of Transcribe! users including me. See this page.

2. "Is Transcribe! available for the iPhone or other smartphone (or other very small screen devices)?"

   The short answer here is "No". My reasoning goes like this. It seems to me that the reason people like Transcribe! is because it is quite a full featured product : that's what distinguishes it from the large number of apps which can slow music down and do simple looping. If all you want to do is slow music down then you can get that for free on desktop computers (see this page), and there are already apps which do this on the iPhone.
   So if I was contemplating doing Transcribe! for the iPhone, how would I approach it? There would be no point in doing a stripped down version which just did slowdown and simple looping, because that would be throwing away everything that makes Transcribe! special, and you can already get such apps anyway. But if I try to make a full featured Transcribe! on such a tiny screen, it would be a horrendous job. It would be an enormous amount of work to try to fit a significant amount of Transcribe!'s features onto such a small screen and I'm not sure how practical it would be at all. What I'm saying is that I think the "right" application for the iPhone is indeed a simple slowdown and loop app, but that's not what Transcribe! is, or what it should become in my view.

3. "Does Transcribe! run on netbooks?"

   Netbooks are small laptops. They typically have screens from 7 to 10 inches, proper keyboard layout (though small) and internet connectivity by WiFi. Built-in 3G network connectivity is available on some models. For Transcribe! you need a colour display screen with a resolution of at least 800 * 600 pixels. All netbooks I know of do have at least this, but it would be worth checking if you are thinking of buying a very small one.

   Mac: you could call the iPad a netbook without a keyboard (9.7" screen, 1024 * 768 resolution) (there is an optional keyboard available). Transcribe! does not at present run on the iPad. I'm keeping an eye on the iPad but don't have any immediate plans for it.

   Windows & Linux There are lots of netbooks available. Most of them are available in both Windows and Linux versions. The Windows versions are running XP or Vista or Win7 so should naturally be compatible with Transcribe!. The Linux versions do in fact usually seem to be compatible with Transcribe! though this has to be tested for each model as they all use different Linux distributions.

   • The various Asus Eee models. I have the Asus Eee 900 (Linux) which runs Transcribe! very nicely, see here for more info. No doubt the Windows version would be ok too.
   • The Samsung NC10. Windows should be fine. For Linux, I'm told that Transcribe! runs nicely with Ubuntu 10.04.
   • The Everex CloudBook. Windows should be fine. Please let me know if you try Transcribe! on the Linux version.
   • Elitegroup ECS G10IL. Windows should be fine. Please let me know if you try Transcribe! on the Linux version.
   • Micro-Star International (MSI) Wind Netbook. Windows should be fine. Please let me know if you try Transcribe! on the Linux version.
   • Giga-byte M912X mini-laptop. Windows should be fine. Please let me know if you try Transcribe! on the Linux version.
   • Acer Aspire One. Windows should be fine. Regarding Linux, I have heard from someone who installed "Ubuntu Netbook Remix (9.04)" and says it works fine.
   • The "One Laptop Per Child" OLPC XO-1. Windows should be fine and I have heard that Transcribe! also runs fine on the Linux version.

   I'm interested to get feedback if you try Transcribe! on other small machines.

4. "Does Transcribe! work on 64 bit operating systems?"

   The short answer is "Yes". Transcribe! is a 32 bit application and I don't have plans at present to bring out a special 64 bit version. This is because I'm not at all sure that there would be any benefit. 64 bit is very beneficial for programs that want to deal with files or memory more than 4GB (such as movie production or large databases) but Transcribe! is not such a program, and might actually run slower in a 64 bit version.
   Windows: Transcribe! has been tested and runs fine on the 64 bit versions of Windows XP, Vista & Win7.
   Mac: it isn't an issue, Mac OS X does not have separate 32 bit and 64 bit versions.
   Linux: to run Transcribe! on 64 bit Linux you need to have the "32 bit compatibility layer" installed. If your distro has not included this by default then it won't run and "ldd -v transcribe" says "not a dynamic executable". You can install the 32 bit compatibility layer with "apt-get install ia32-libs" or something like that, appropriate for your distro.

5. "How do you slow down music without changing the pitch?"

   Click here for a discussion of the subject.

6. "Where can I find someone to transcribe some music for me?"
   "Do you accept music transcribing jobs?"

   No, I'm too busy working on the software and running Seventh String. Visit Google and search for "music transcription service". Or post a message to the MusicTranscribers discussion forum. Click here for more info about this.

7. "Is it possible to transcribe music automatically?"
   "Why does the automatic transcription program I have bought, produce such a useless result?"

   Automatic transcription of music is very difficult and as far as I know there is no program that can produce a usable result, unless possibly on some very simple material such as a one-note-at-a-time instrument recorded without accompaniment. Even then it probably won't get the rhythms anywhere near, though it should be able to recognise the notes.
   Certainly there is software out there that claims to do automatic transcription (click here) but in my view some of these products make rather exaggerated claims about what they can do. If you need help with using such products, ask them - not me!

8. "How can I get work as a music transcriber?"

   I would suggest you check out existing services to see what they offer (visit Google and search for "music transcription service"). Set up a website offering your services. And then use your imagination (but don't use spam) to make people such as musicians, music publishers, etc, aware of your existence. It might be worth contacting existing transcription services as they might want to subcontract. Also you could post a message to the MusicTranscribers discussion forum. Click here for more info about this.

9. "Is there any printed documentation?"

   No. The Help files are all the documentation there is. If they are missing anything, please let me know.

10. "Is Transcribe! available in any language other than English?"

    Not at present. Transcribe! is aimed at a small niche market and does not at present earn the kind of money that could justify such effort and expense. I consider that developing the software further is a more effective way to spend my time. Maybe in the future.

11. "Do you intend to continue supporting Mac Classic?"

    Version 6 of Transcribe! is available for Mac OS 7.5 - 9.2 (now known as "Classic" Mac OS). It will remain available for as long as anyone wants it but will not be updated any more.

12. "Do you intend to continue supporting Windows 95/98/ME?"

    Version 6 of Transcribe! is available for these Windows versions. It will remain available for as long as anyone wants it but will not be updated any more.

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