Everything music & ear training related

ToneGym

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Miles Walker
Jun 23, 2022
Noob here. Would love to hear from people that have been using tonegym for a while how radically they think it has helped them in their musical endeavours (or not?).

I'm a sucker for gamified learning/competition so can feel myself getting sucked in by this more than other ear training apps... Somebody tell me it's a good thing 😵
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Kaleb Stock
Jun 23, 2022
I've been using ToneGym and SoundGym for about a year now. I haven't seen any drastic changes for myself. But I do recognize little consistent improvement and I see the daily exposure to these games and helping my ears become more critical of what I'm hearing in the real world. I think it's been a worthwhile investment. You get out of it what you put in.
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Amar Sadikovic
Jun 23, 2022
I couldn't read music at all. I played guitar all my life only using tabs. Notationist helped me learn in a very fun way :)
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Michael Price
Jun 23, 2022
it has definitely helped me. Been consistent for a couple months, but started back in November. Most noticeably improved in interval/chord recognition and sight singing, but still a long way to go!
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Kurt Owen
Jun 23, 2022
I play tonegym AND soundgym M-F each morning (sometimes skip if it's a busy day). It's def made a difference in my ability to mix more intuitively, as well as my ability to work with other musicians, and I'm better at referencing other tracks as a music producer. On a VERY subjective level, I think I hear things that I simply wasn't able to pick up on before just from training my auditory system to become more adept, and it's fun to feel like I hear more detail in everything I listen to.
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Miles Walker
Jun 24, 2022
Thanks guys, it's great to hear positive reviews from people who have used it a while. I'll definitely check out soundgym!
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Cuantas Vacas
Jun 24, 2022
I came here around a year and a half ago in order to refresh my old knowledge of music theory I got as a kid. I had already been at SoundGym for 3-4 months (with zero previous experience with mixing and production) and I was feeling very comfortable with the game-based ear training, so why not?

First months were easy, as I was familiar with all the tasks (except for inversions) and I had no problem for passing levels everyday just with daily workouts. And I could see my improvement on tasks in which I hadn't been very good back at school, like complex chords construction and nomenclature. I also was understanding things I had never had the chance to learn properly, especially scales and modes. I can honestly say I wouldn't have been able to improve my skills and learn all these things with any other method today. And I'm still here, training everyday and having some fun with competitions, a great way to test your skills with limited time!

So yes, it's working for me. It's a slow, day-by-day process, but it helps not only your ears to improve at listening and understanding what's inside music. I would go for it!!
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Victor Wilburn
Jun 24, 2022
It's a good thing. I think the gamification of ToneGym is very effective. Another good thing about it is the variety of games, which often reinforce each and come at things from different angles.

The process is slow, but I've been at it three months now doing the daily workouts (frequently, but not always, replaying a game if I don't advance a level), and I am definitely improving.

Just note that Inversionist is really hard, as you may have already seen comments to that effect. Have a keyboard or other instrument nearby, listen for the lowest note in the chord, match it on the keyboard, and deduce the inversion from there. Over time, you should start to recognize intervals within the chord and maybe be able to make a guess without matching the lowest note, but again, that is a SLOW process. At least it has been for me, but more and more often I'm able to make a guess based on what intervals I can pick out and where they are relative to the rest of the chord, then confirm it by matching the lowest note. But I also still guess wrong a lot, too. I am a long way from not having to use low-note matching. But that's OK, it's still helping me hear things better.