Windows 10 requires MIDI Synth

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.

Download VirtualMIDISynth from http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidisynth

On the webpage there are some “SoundFonts” that contain the actual MIDI synth sounds for each key. Any of these should work, however one of the smaller ones is TimGM6mb.

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:

virtualmidisynth-configure

 

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.

Reinstalling Sing&See

Question

I upgraded my computer and need to reinstall Sing and See. As I was trying to activate I received a message that I have already activated it.

Please help.

Kristen

Answer

The Sing&See registration system tracks when the software is installed. Upgrading your computer may mean that the system determines that the software is running on another computer. Currently the registration system allows the software to be re-installed twice before it gives a message that it has already been installed on too many machines.  Please contact us to re-enable your registration code so that you can get it on your new computer.

Noise reduction button no longer available

Question: Some years ago I bought a professional version of Sing and See which has proved very useful in my private voice teaching. Reading through the manual recently I noticed a reference to noise reduction using a ‘filter’ button. This button is nowhere on my toolbar. How do I access this button – since it’s in the manual I should be able to access it.

– Seamus

 Answer

The noise reduction function has been removed in recent updates to the software, because it wasn’t working properly on some people’s computers.

If you are having problems with audio, let us know and so that we can advise on how to improve.  Mostly, these can be solved by using a better quality input microphone – for instance a USB headset or vocal microphone.  Using the built-in microphone on a laptop is not recommended since it is likely to pick up vibration from the hard drive or fan.

Pasting in the registration code on the Mac version

Several people have reported issues with entering the registration code on the Mac version of Sing & See. The problem is that you can’t use “command+v” as the usual short-cut for Paste (this is a technical limitation of the Wine package that we used to produce the Mac version of Sing & See).

However, it is still possible to use copy and paste, even though you can’t use “command+v” for paste in the application. You can use “control+v”, which is the old Windows equivalent, and which does work in Sing & See (as an aside, most of the usual Windows short cuts work in the Wine version of Sing & See).

Alternatively, you can “right-click” with the mouse inside the entry box to get the paste popup menu (to do “right-click on a single-button mouse, you control+click, or on a multi-touch trackpad you can tap with two fingers or in the bottom corner depending on your trackpad configuration).

Using Sing & See with Professional Audio Interface (ASIO)

A few people have reported trouble getting Sing & See working with their professional-grade audio interfaces. Generally these require some configuration options to enable Sing & See to connect. The underlying issue with all these products is that they don’t use the standard “Windows” audio system but a specialized audio standard that is specialized for real-time audio production – “ASIO”.

Almost always, these audio systems have options that can be configured to route audio to the “WDM” standard Windows audio system. The trick is to figure out the specific steps you need to take for your particular device in order to enable this, and then to tell it to route your microphone through to the WDM audio channel. Please check your installation manual for your hardware device, or the support pages on the vendor’s website. They usually provide driver updates for download. Most professional audio interfaces have these “WDM” drivers either as an additional install or as an option that can be selected.

Following are some suggestions for a few of these audio devices.
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Can I restore Sing & See after reformatting my computer?

Greetings! I purchased your software on 08/06/11 And loved it. I recently formated my machine and no longer have it, where or how can I download it again? Thanks in advance.

Jesus

Can I use an external Keyboard?

Is there anyway to access the piano sounds in your software using a USB keyboard controller? I have a M-Audio 49 key USB keyboard controller, and would like to use it during my teaching sessions.

Thank You.
Christie Wersen

Question about jagged pitch trace

Hi there,

Having a problem with a trial version of Sing & See. I like the software, and would like to buy, if I can get this problem sorted out…

The attached screenshot shows the problem.

Sing and See jagged pitch trace
Here I am merely pushing a digital piano key, and recording the sound through a microphone.
Any notes below D3, are accompanied by this random, jagged ‘drop-dron’ in the waveform.

This occurs whether I use a piano, my voice, or an acoustic guitar (so not the instrument)
It also occurs whether I use an external microphone with focusrite soundcard, or just using my pcs internal microphone.

Any suggestions for a fix?

Warm Regards,

Ian

What do I do if I upgrade my computer?

I am enjoying using my Sing & See program on my computer. I purchased the professional version. I have a question, because I downloaded it I don’t have a restore disk. What will happen when my computer dies with the program on it? Am I legally, or can I at all download the program onto a disk of my own? My computer is about 4yrs old (I think) and I’ve been told they only last adv of 5 yrs. I hope I don’t have to buy the program again?

Thank you for your time
Kim
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Problem on Windows 7

I’ve been using Sing and See for a year… It just stopped working a couple of days ago… it simply will NOT start when I launch it…

I’ve tried uninstalling and re-installing it, to no avail…

I’m on Windows 7… I tried switching the compatibility to several operating systems, still no success…

What could be the problem, the program is not even starting…

Youssef
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