Singing Coach Unlimited.(Product/Service Evaluation)

* Singing Coach Unlimited, Carry-A-Tune Technologies (5401 Hangar Ct., Tampa, FL 33634), 2004. www.carryatune.com, $99.95.

The packaging for Singing Coach Unlimited suggests that its targeted consumer is an American Idol wannabe, and, had I seen it in the store I would have walked on by. In fact, the liner note "ages 8 through adult" would be a better description of the population of amateur singers who could benefit from this software. The primary goal is to use computer-aided pitch tracking to "teach people to sing in tune." Singing Coach Unlimited comes with 20 singing lessons, 24 practice songs, 12 free downloads and a high-fidelity headset with microphone.

This is a wonderful idea: the computer never tires of repetitive teaching, humans sometimes do! The target pitch is represented, and the pitch tracking system traces the pitch sung and gives visual feedback of the accuracy of each note, with a score upon completion of the exercise or song. I would like to know more about the technology used and about how the scores are calculated --sometimes the tracing does not reflect what I expect or the reading of my hand-held tuner. Would the use of a USB port be better than the sound card? The microphone signal would sometimes disappear, and after the low score a cheerful voice would say, "Come on, you can do it! Try again?" I discovered that if I positioned the microphone by my nose and set the level for humming, I could keep the signal. Straight tone resulted in the highest scores, and while it would still calibrate with vibrato, the scores were lower. The instructions said "not to worry about vibrato, for that go to a professional;" however, many untrained singers have a natural vibrato, and it would be a nice refinement if the software could accommodate it more accurately.

The singing lessons began with how to produce a tone: "Kerry" is instructed by an octopus named Octavio, who speaks with an Italian accent and sings with an ...