There are a couple of possibilities for this problem, which you could check:
Can you see any colour bars appearing on the Level meter at the right of the screen? If not it means that sound is not getting into the Sing & See software. The simplest thing to check is whether the microphone is actually plugged into the right place, and of course whether it is switched on (an easy mistake – I have done it myself!)
Do you have more than one audio input device on your PC? For example a webcam could have its own audio input. Sing & See simply selects the “default” Windows audio input device, so you need to make sure that you have selected the appropriate device in the Windows “Sound” control panel. You can access this from Sing & See by clicking on the “Options” menu then “Audio Properties”. Click on the “Recording” tab and select the appropriate microphone input device.
If you have a “Professional” audio input device you may need to check that it supports “WDM” channels – see this page here for more details.
So far in these lessons we’ve covered the basics of using the program, and gone through some pitch and singing exercises. Today we’re going to look at keeping consistent volume while changing notes.
So far in these lessons we’ve covered the basics of using the program, and gone through some pitch and singing exercises. Today we’re going to look at keeping consistent volume while changing notes.
In this lesson you will learn about the some more options you can change in Sing & See and some simple exercises to check your ability to sing intervals.
More detailed instructions on operation – how to change the recording duration
Singing intervals
Let’s start singing!
Plug in your microphone. Start up Sing & See. Once you’ve warmed up your voice, let’s start singing!
Time for exercises
OK then, let’s do some more exercises. Today we’ll try some simple intervals. Start with a Major 3rd – click on C on the keyboard, then on E. Depending on your range, you might like to start at C3 (a typical male range) or C4 (women and children). Wherever you’re most comfortable!
Play the two notes. Mentally try to hear the interval, then sing an ‘e’ vowel on the two notes. You should see the line move cleanly from the middle of the C up to the middle of the E note. If the Pitch Line is not perfectly straight don’t worry; however try to keep it as smooth as possible, without too many pitch wobbles and without going sharp or flat.
As you sing the notes in the interval, you will see the blue line move along on the first note, then up to the second note. Check that you hit the middle of each note.
Practice some more. If you’re having trouble, read this article about breathing – having correct breath support can make a big difference to getting intervals. Or talk to your voice teacher.Now save an example of your interval singing – this will be useful when you’re looking at your progress. Just click on “save”, and find your files from last session. Save this one with a new name – e.g. “Intervals – 2013 May 16”. Later on in the week we’ll take a look at your old files so you can see how you’re progressing!
Keep your options open
Sing & See is designed for real-time feedback – to see what you’re singing. But as we saw last time it also lets you play back what you’ve just sung, so you can hear yourself.
The length of time that can be played back can be changed in the Options. Click on the menu item “Options”, then scroll down to “Record Time”. You can change the playback duration from 15 seconds all the way to 60 minutes.
Sometimes it’s useful to have a short duration. For instance, if you are doing exercises that are about 15 seconds long, you may just want to leave it running. This way you can just stop it and listen to the last phrase you sung. Just press the Space Bar and Sing & See will play back what you’ve just done.
Changing the options to 4 minutes will obviously be good if you’re working on a whole song. Since the recording time can go all the way to 60 minutes, you could even work on your entire set.
That’s all for today. Keep on practicing – you’ll hear from us soon!
Welcome back! Last lesson we got you started on Sing & See – a program that allows you to visualize what you’re singing. We’ve found that this tool helps singers really see their voice’s strengths and weaknesses – helping them learn at a faster rate.
Most singers will attest to the fact that there are two things that make them improve their singing: lots of practice, and being able to get good feedback about their performance. Just like with any other instrument, focused practice will reap benefits.
Sing & See helps with this because it gives real time and precise feedback. You can use Sing & See to experiment with different techniques and exercises so you can get the very best out of your voice.
The great thing about the feedback that Sing & See gives is that it is shown to you on clear and direct displays. Humans are very good at seeing visual patterns so it is very easy to see just what your voice is doing as you sing. So if for example you’re struggling to stay in pitch, it will help guide you to getting on pitch more often. And if you’ve never quite been sure whether you’re on pitch or not, it may help instil you with confidence. And when you’re fine with your pitching, there are more advanced displays showing other aspects of your voice (we cover these later on).
Take your next steps
In this lesson you will learn about the basic toolbar controls of Sing & See and some simple exercises to check your ability to match notes. We’ll tackle the following:
More detailed instructions on operation, including how to record / sing / play, and how to use keyboard shortcuts
Simple pitch exercises – match a note: play it, sing it, listen to it, and read the display
At the end of the session, we recommend you save all your exercises. This will allow you to keep track of your progress over the next couple of weeks.
Let’s start singing!
Run Sing & See. If you installed it according to Lesson 1, it should start up on its own. If you have trouble, you could try re-starting your computer. If that still doesn’t work, try carefully re-installing it. Please contact us if you’re having a lot of trouble and we’ll do whatever we can to get you up and running!
Make sure your microphone is plugged in and ready to go.
When you’re read to sing, click on the “record” button.
Note matching
For the first part of this exercise, we’re going to repeat the simple note matching exercise from yesterday. Click on the keyboard to hear a note, then sing into the microphone and observe that you match it.If you’re not getting it then experiment a bit with your voice, adjusting your pitch higher or lower. You will see the Pitch Line going up and down as you sing higher and lower in pitch. A red or yellow line on the display marks the exact centre of the note.
Sing & See display showing note as it is sung. The blue line indicates the exact pitch of the note you are singing (including mistakes!). Notice how you can easily see here where the voice has gone flat (this is not good!).
Now let’s do that again. Click on “stop”. Then click “record” again to restart the recording.
Play the note again, and listen carefully to the pitch. Try to imagine the note in your mind. Then sing the note you imagine. If you’re not exactly on pitch, try again.
Now, click on the “play” button. You will be able to listen to yourself singing. Watch the line and listen to your singing, then click on the piano key and listen to the actual note.
If you’re having trouble staying on pitch, you might like to check with your teacher about how you can correct things like your breathing and posture – they can both have a big effect on pitch. In fact, even what you eat and drink (and things like medication/ drugs and smoking) can have an impact on your voice.
Please note that Sing & See is best used in conjunction with a professional singing teacher, who can teach you how to improve aspects of your voice – though using Sing & See on your own will still get results!
Handy hints
1. Using keyboard shortcuts
Two quick shortcuts:
Use the Space bar to play
Use the Enter key to record.
2. Saving your recordings It might be a good idea to set up a file of your recordings, so you can measure your progress. Best to save your first file with a descriptive filename, perhaps something like “Matching pitch – 2013-may-15”. Using the date in the filename will help keep track of when you sung this recording.
When saving your recordings, remember to use a descriptive label as the filename.
That’s it for today. Practice singing a few more notes to sharpen up your performance. The best thing you can do to improve your voice is to keep on practicing.
In this first tutorial we’ll get you ready to go with Sing & See.
By the end of the tutorial, you will have downloaded, installed and started to run Sing & See on your computer. And we’ll help you get your microphone set up so you can start on some singing exercises.
Then we’ll start the first part of a journey in being able to really see what your voice is doing on screen – which will help you make progress in working on the quality of your voice and performance as a singer. This week we’ll focus on the pitch of your voice – matching it to the keyboard notes and working on the steadiness of your pitch. Sing & See will help you visualize your strengths and weaknesses.
What you need
Here is what you need to start using Sing & See:
A computer.
For Windows the computer requirements are Windows 7, Windows 10, or Windows 11.
For Mac, you need Mac OS X 10.13, 10.14, 10.15, macOS 11, 12, 13 or 14.
A microphone. It’s best to plug in a hand held or headset type of microphone. The software will work with your laptop’s built-in microphone but not so well – it might suffer from glitches and noise, which might affect the readouts on the screen.
If you have a pro-level audio interface you might need to adjust its settings to work properly with Sing & See – check the FAQ page here
A singing voice – provided by nature. Now you’re ready to go!
What to do
Install Sing & See on your computer.
On Windows, just run the install file that you have downloaded or got as part of the CD ROM and follow the step-by-step instructions
On Mac, open the downloaded disk image (.dmg file) and drag the Sing & See App into the Applications folder.
Run the Sing & See program. It should start up on its own and open to a page allowing you to register or trial the software.
Click on the button “Run in Trial Mode”, and then you will be on the main page as below:
Sing & See pitch display (as available on Student Version and also as one of the display modes on the Professional Version). Click on the “Record” button to begin recording your voice.
Check that your microphone is working
Click on the red “record” button then sing into the microphone. You should see some action on the display!
If you don’t see the level meter filling with a colour bar, then you’ll need to check that your microphone is working. Is it plugged in? Is it switched on? Are your microphone settings correct? If it’s still not working it could be a problem with the actual mic and not the program. Check the FAQ page here.
Let’s exercise!
Now you’re ready to sing! It’s probably best not to go in cold. Just like exercising, it’s a good idea to warm up before you start something strenuous.
Use Sing & See to help you warm up. Sing a few notes and watch as the display responds to your voice. It maps out what your voice is doing in three different ways:
On the keyboard, the key that corresponds to the note you’re singing will light up in red
The note you’re singing is displayed on the music stave (bass or treble)
As you sing, a line appears on the large display which shows how your pitch changes over time.
Sing & See display showing note as it is sung. The blue line indicates the sequence of notes that have just been sung (including mistakes and pitching errors!)
You can use all three displays to see how your voice works in a musical framework, and to evaluate your performance.
Match a note
Now that we’re all warmed up and ready to go, try matching a note with your voice. What we’re aiming for is to get the note as close as possible to the middle of the note. Since the voice is an organic instrument, this is tough to do, because unlike playing an electric keyboard (for example), it will fluctuate. A little fluctuation isn’t bad, but in general being as ‘true’ as possible to the note will make you sound good.
To do this, first play the keyboard on Sing & See. You should hear the note in your headphones or on your speakers. If you don’t, check the audio troubleshooting guide.
Now sing. Make sure you’ve pressed “record” so you can replay what you’ve done later.
Try another note. You can see how steady your pitch is by looking at the Pitch Line – it should be relatively flat and smooth. Again, because the voice is an “organic” instrument, it will have natural variability and so there will be little bumps.
By looking at where the note is on the Pitch Line, you will be able to see how flat or sharp you are. If you are flat you will be at the bottom of the line (or under it), and if you’re sharp you’ll be at the top (or above it).
Next session… tomorrow
That’s all for the first lesson. We’ll be back tomorrow with details of more features and suggested exercises for improving your tunefulness!
If you are having any trouble getting the sound to work, visit our audio troubleshooting guide, and if this doesn’t help, don’t hesitate to contact us – almost all problems with sound recording or playback are solvable!
Question: Can anyone provide me with some info on how much variation around a particular note is considered “normal”?
The wave displays as being centered on the note that I’m attempting to sing (so that’s good), but the peaks and valleys stray from that line more than I would have predicted (edging on being both flat and sharp). I’m wondering if this is typical.
Thanks guys
The keyboard uses the MIDI synthesizer in Windows to generate notes. If you are not hearing any sound when clicking on the piano keys, but are hearing your singing when playing back, then there may be a setup problem with your computer’s MIDI synthesizer.
First, check that the MIDI is not muted in the volume control mixer (click on the Options->Audio Properties menu in Sing&See to get to the Sounds and Audio Devices control panel and then in the “Audio” panel click on the “Volume” button to open the mixer panel).
If that doesn’t fix it, you may have some problem with your MIDI output device. Check this Microsoft support page, or this one, for some suggestions.
Update – we now have a new version of Sing & See that doesn’t have the MIDI opening problem on Windows 10. On the Sing&See menu go to “Help” and then “Check for updates” to download the updated version for your system.
Update 2 – one person still had problems – it appears that some audio software may disable the inbuilt Windows MIDI Synth. The best alternative in this case (or if you want to experiment with changing the sound fonts used in your in-built Synth) is to download and install the VirtualMIDISynth program from the coolsoft website below. There’s a donation button on the site to help the developer of that software.
Some of the other sound fonts (e.g. the FluidR3_GM which is also good) require you to also download and install a decompression program called sfArk.
By the way, you might want to copy the extracted sound font file (e.g. TimGM6mb.sf2 or FluidR3_GM.SF2) to somewhere safer than the Downloads folder.
Then, install virtualmidisynth and run the Coolsoft VirtualMIDISynth Configurator program. You need to add a sound font file, so select the one you just saved above:
Click on Apply, restart Sing&See, and, hopefully, Sing&See will now play notes!
VirtualMIDISynth has other cool features such as the ability to add more than one sound font and choose which one you want to use at any time.
Singandsee is not just for singers! It is the perfect for harmonica players as well!
Without getting to involved in the technical aspects of harmonica playing (yes it can be quite technical) most harmonicas are 10 hole diatonic instruments – seven pitches. However, to play Blues requires ‘bending’ (altering the pitch) of notes and, for a beginner, this can be a real challenge but with Singandsee you can practice (and practice and practice) and see when you have it just right – not to mention playing it back and listening to the ‘cool blues’ that you are playing!!!
But wait there’s more; a diatonic harmonica can be played as a chromatic instrument as well (this is very advanced). Chromatic meaning 12 pitches each a semi apart – this requires advanced techniques, and a lots of practice. Once again with the Singandsee you can see the notes on screen and, equally important, use the playback for aural training and confirming when you have the scale and/or song just right.
