=46irstly, 'Presto, The Solo Solution'.
I know Clay mentioned this recently but I don't think its been given
its due recognition, particularly in view of its price (about US35 I
think, and available over the net) and how easy it is to use.
Basically its a program that lets you put loops on a CD playing in
your CD Rom player, so you can play sections of the music over and
over while you transcribe them. The loops are customizable in terms of
number and duration (I can get them down to single notes if I want),
by simply clicking a mouse at the right time, and the program
remembers them for next time you play that CD.
You don't have to record a segment of music first, you just flip in a
CD and start the program up.
OK it doesn't do 1/2 speed, but if things are moving so fast you cant
hear them isolated at full speed, there can't be an awful lot of
crucial detail you're going to miss. And there's plenty of stuff out
there that doesn't need to be slowed down to transcribe.=20
You can get a free demo at http://wsdesigns.com/presto=20
which lets you try it out on a couple of CDs so there's no excuse.
If anyone is thinking of spending a few hundred on a slow-down tool
they should at least check this out first, it may do just as fine if
you've already got a CD-Rom.
Secondly, I notate all my transcriptions (from Presto) with a program
called Noteworthy Composer.=20
It's much neater than doing it freehand, can audit your note-lengths,
draw beams automatically etc, and a big plus is that it creates a
MIDI file for the notes you have written. i.e you can play back your
transcription to see what it sounds like. One small drawback is that
it doesn't swing jazz 8ths unless you notate them as such, so you have
to imagine the swing element, but its still a great way of writing and
checking your transcriptions, and you could send them to other people
to hear as well. e.g you could send a copy of your own transcription
for Reed to see and hear! The possibilities are endless:- Reed could
then transcribe from the sound of your transcription and send his
transcription back to you to compare with the sound of the original
music. A musical variation on Chinese Whispers???=20
Demo from http://www.ntworthy.com
Registered version costs US39
A freeware Player is available which just handles the playbacks
Anybody else use these kind of things?
Jonathan