April 28, 2014
Please contact us at support@musictoolssoftware.com
iPad users, please download xBeat as an iPhone app.
I still don't get how to play xBeat.
xBeat is supposed to be somewhat of a puzzle. For some of us who have trouble hearing when there is background noise there is the added challenge of differentiating the instrument and click sounds. The following paragraphs provide some additional help to get around the common hurdles in learning how to play xBeat.
xBeat is just like Simon Says.
To get a basic understanding of how xBeat works imagine playing Simon Says where your leader says, "Simon Says clap this rhythm: (clap clapity clap)" How would you respond to that? You would clap, long short-short-short long, after the leader has finished, echoing what they have clapped.
I don't get what I'm supposed to listen to.
xBeat has two different sounds playing, sometimes at the same time. One of the sounds is the drum-sound and the other sound is the click-sound, meant to keep time. In the game, you choose the drum-sound from the left list and the click-sound from the right.
Let's say you choose snare as your drum-sound and piano as your click sound. What will happen is that the piano sound will play regularly so that you will know how fast to play. But what you're really listening for is the snare. The snare sound will always happen at different times and this creates a unique rhythm. You copy the snare-times after it is done playing.
I don't get how long the rhythm is supposed to be. When do I tap? What's the difference between +Play and -Play?
The click-sound is altered at the beginning of each section in order to let you know when things begin. Choosing piano as your click-sound will make it really clear because the altered piano click is a higher pitch. What you can do is start counting over again from 1 whenever you hear the high piano pitch.
One thing to keep in mind is that the number of clicks will always be the same in a given level. So in level 1, 2, and 3 there will always be two clicks. In level 4, 5, 6 there will always be three clicks. You can also verify this after round has finished by looking at the analysis bar at the bottom. If you count the number of black slash-lines, that will be the number of clicks you should be counting.
So if you press plus-play on level one you'd be counting to two, four times, "1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2". The first two are free clicks, the second two are where the rhythm happens, the third two are where you have your first chance to repeat the rhythm and the fourth two are where you have your last chance to repeat the rhythm.
If you press minus-play, it will be exactly the same as above except without the first two clicks; the rhythm section will start things off. Minus-play is great for later levels where you won't want to wait a long time before the rhythm begins.
Now let's look at the rhythm section in detail. If you press plus-play the rhythm will happen the second time you count, "1 2", and only within that section. There are only three possible rhythms. Say snare is your chosen instrument. One possibility is that you'd hear the snare on 1. Another possibility is that you'd hear snare on 2 only. The only other possibility is that you'd hear snare on both 1 and 2.
Why isn't my Name showing up on the Leader Board?
If you typed in a name and the switch to the left is set to on and you are not showing up on the leader board, there was probably a time-out with the internet connection and the name didn't get registered. To solve this, go back into Leader Profile and enter the name again.