Years ago I was learning violin, and found it really hard to read music, and connect the notes on the treble clef with where to place my fingers on the fingerboard. So I wrote a program which simply wrote random notes on a stave (aka staff), and I tried to play them. There was no concept of any specific musical key, or recognition of whether I played the right note, but I found it immensely useful and very quickly found it improved my sight-reading.
I’ve decided to re-make this program, but make it more useful. Notabene will allow you to set the key you are interested in learning, and, after it displays a note, it listens for you to play it, and gives you immediate feedback as to whether you played it correctly or not.
You can use your computer’s microphone, or an external microphone, or even an audio interface. I’ve designed it with guitar in mind (it has optional guitar transposition), but any instrument that either makes a sound or you can plug in via an interface should work (bear in mind this application only currently uses the treble clef).
So far Notabene is available for Mac only. It’s been tested on Monterey and later versions. It may work with older versions. An M-processor native build is available also. Linux and Windows versions are coming!
The unlicenced program is fully functional, with no time limits, but, as an independent software developer, I’d REALLY appreciate if you’d purchase it. It’s only £12 (approximately €14 / $15 USD) – that’s for a lifetime licence, with unlimited new versions covered under your licence. None of this recurring payment nonsense.
I’m always available if you have any problems or questions about the program. Feel free to contact me via the contact form or just reply to any emails you receive from me.
Purchasing
Downloads
Intel Mac
ARM (M-Processor) Mac
Windows (coming soon!)
Linux (coming soon!)