Recent Complications

I have started a new project as a gift to a cousin. As it will likely take some time away from Ear Trainer. Updates will likely take longer to come out. But on the bright side, once I am done with the gift It will also be available on the android market.

1.11 Changelog

I added a measure mode. This mode requires the user to correctly identify 4 notes in order to get the question correct. The notes that have already been answered appear in the top right corner. I also added a Version info page to the About section. There have also been minor bug fixes to the options menu.

Version 1.10 Changelog

I removed ad support from my app. This is due to the cancellation of my admob account. I do not know why, but my account was flagged for illegal activity and banned. I find it fairly humorous since In the 6 months of being active my account managed to make about 40 dollars before being banned. I was required to make 50 before I was allowed to withdraw any of it. I would have made more money begging on the street but google admob wouldn't even let me have that.

So anyway, I took the ads out of my app which is still available on the Android market and is now completely free.

1.08 - 1.09 Changelog

In 1.08 bass clef was added as well as two new instruments. The piano and cello both support bass notes. Bass clef is available for all modes. In order to accommodate bass notes the naming convention I had used for a single scale had to be changed. This resulted in much of the underlying code being changed as well.

1.09 saw a few minor bug fixes that resulted form these changes as well as things like forgetting to update the version on the title page.

Progress report

I've finished implementing the bass scale due to popular demand. Unfortunately I still do not have a device of my own to test on and I would like to test version 1.08 before releasing it. I should be able to borrow  a phone to test on soon.

Implementing the Bass scale was challenging because it required me to change the convention I was previously using for a single scale. This is probably for the better because I believe that the code is much more versatile now and it is a bit cleaner. The patch should be out by the middle of next week.

Recent Complications

My phone has been stolen recently and I can no longer test Ear Trainer on an actual device. I am in the process of getting a new phone, but this has delayed my updates until have a new testing device.

In other news I am currently working on adding bass clef to the app.

Version 1.07 Changelog

Added ability to toggle win and lose sounds. In Listening Quiz - timed mode, no win or lose sound will be played regardless of win/lose sound mode. This is because in timed mode the sound for the next question is played automatically and would conflict with a win or lose sound.

Version 1.06 Changelog

Version 1.06

a few quick fixes to version 1.05

fixed bug where the instruments was resetting when going back into the options menu.
fixed a problem where there would be two timers if a user switched between modes and options quickly.

Version 1.05 Changelog

Version 1.05

Added a start screen, options view, and about view.
Reworked the menu system.
Added a timed mode.
Changed the font of the text within activities.
Changed the win2 sound to be slightly more upbeat.

After struggling a bit trying to fit everything into the option menu, I found it was much easier and cleaner to have an option view to switch to. Using the menu resulted in a mess of submenus and resulted in a snag with trying to figure out how to trigger a new question when the user left an alert dialog. Adding an option view fixed this by allowing me to make use of the onResume calls. The option menu which is displayed when the menu button is pressed is now used for changing the view.

The win2 sound was changed since the previous sound was a bit to dreary.    

Work in progress

It has been a few weeks since the release of Ear Trainer on the android market and no major changes have been made yet. I am currently working on a way to record user profiles and statistics including percentage correct, this includes the correct and incorrect percentages of individual notes so a user can determine their problem areas.

Version 1.03 changelog

I received a comment saying that the messages were appearing over the buttons on his phone. I raised the location of the messages by 30 pixels and it should solve the problem.

There was an abnormality with the winning streak display on the listen quiz. It would occasionally stay "Winning Streak" instead of "Streak." It was changed to keep consistency with the rest of the app.

App Description

Ear Trainer is designed to aid an aspiring musician in learning to read sheet music and pick notes out by ear. It features three modes including a practice mode, reading quiz, and listening quiz.

Ear Trainer was conceptualized as part of Hawaii Pacific University's CSCI 4702 Mobile Programming course as a solo project.

Future additions
-Timed modes
-Statistics and records
-Chromatic Scale
-Bass Clef / instruments


Please send any questions, comments or suggestions to eartrainerapp@gmail.com

Design, Programming and Maintenance by Derek Kam.

Verison 1.02

Ok, so here is what was changed in version 1.02 of Ear Trainer.


-Added an Instruction option to the menu for in depth instructions of how the current activity operates.
The small blurb in the upper right hand will be removed in future versions.

-One of the sounds I was using for a correct chime was actually the trophy chime from Playstaion, so I removed it and replaced it with a sound I created my self.

-The About notice was changed to show my name rather than my screen name. This was done to give the app a more professional sheen.

Ubinuri, Inc.

So within hours of me publishing my app I get an email from Ubinuri, Inc's Lena Kwon saying they would like permission to distribute my app in Asian markets. I didn't know what to think at first, but with some research i found a few others that were approached by Ubinuri as well. These others were promised 300 dollars up front as well as 50% of the revenue made. I got no such offer with no mention of any type of compensation. This may be because my app is free to begin with, but either way I'm not biting.

Here is the blog of another developer who was also contacted about his app from Ubinuri.
http://dylanmtaylor.com/2010/08/16/ubinuri-inc-and-arm-digital-right-management/

If you want to check out the company for yourself, the website they included in their email is http://www.ubi-nuri.com.

Published!

The Ear Trainer Application is now live! You can download it on the Android Market. Search for Ear Trainer, it is about 10th down the list.

AdMob

Ok, so to add a banner to my mobile application I would have needed to create an AdSense mobile beta account. This would have been fine, but the beta is now closed and they are not accepting new applicants. The have redirected me to AdMob, which is now owned by Google anyway. It seems a bit redundant to me to have two services by Google that is essentially the same thing.

Approved

I got approval from AdSense within hours and after tinkering with it a little bit I figured out how to place ads on the site. It is a short jump to placing ads in my app as well. These ads require internet to use, but my app does not. This being I will probably try to release a paid version without ads and a free version with ads. I'm thinking it should go for about 2 USD.

Hello World!

This blog was created because Google AdSense requires I have a website to use it. I plan on only using AdSense ads in my Android application, Ear Trainer; maybe I'll place some here too since it can't hurt.


Ear Trainer is an Android app I conceptualized in Hawaii Pacific University's CSCI 4702 Mobile programming course. The app is designed to help aspiring musicians to hone their reading of sheet music as well as their ability to name individual notes by ear.

Ear Trainer is still in its early stages, and there are many features I wish to implement that I have not been able to yet such as multiple notes, a chromatic scale, a high score sheet, the ability to have to pick out tunes, and being able to drag and drop notes onto the measure rather than using a radio button.

I am currently waiting on AdSense approval, but I hope to push Ear Trainer onto the android market within a few weeks and have an iPhone version ready in a month or two.