# Overview

Better Ears is an educational music and ear training program, which helps you grow your musical skills and train your ear. There are thirteen different exercises, starting from interval recognition all the way to chord progressions - perfect for beginners and music-masters alike!

## You decide how you train

With Better Ears you can decide yourself what your training routine will look like. There are no rules you have to follow, you decide when to start and how often to practice.

Better Ears can be used in two different modes: Training Mode and Learning Mode.

### 1. Training Mode

Put your knowledge to the test in training mode. Better Ears poses questions at random and, listening to the accompanying sound track, you have to choose the right answer. You can either click on the answer in the sidebar or play the notes yourself on the Keyboard/Fretboard.
Better Ears remembers what you get right or wrong and makes a note of your score in the stats.

### 2. Learning Mode

Learning mode lets you expand on what you already know. Choose an entry from the sidebar and Better Ears plays a sound and/or shows you the notes on the staff. A relevant Wikipedia entry will also be shown, so you can read around the subject.

## 13 different exercises

Better Ears includes 13 different exercises:

- Interval recognition
- Scale recognition
- Chord recognition
- Chord progressions
- Pitch recognition
- Melodic dictation
- Tempo recognition
- Key Signature recognition
- Music reading
- Interval music reading
- Scale music reading
- Chord music reading
- Melody music reading

Depending on what you choose, there are two different types of exercise: Audio exercises and note-based exercises.

During audio exercises, for example "Interval recognition", Better Ears will play audio via the built-in synthesizer or via a connected MIDI keyboard (or sound module).

During note-based exercises, for example "Key Signature recognition" or "Note reading", Better Ears will show you the notes on the staff.

You can answer a question either by clicking on the correct answer in the sidebar, or by playing the notes on the keyboard/fretboard shown on screen.

## Answer with the microphone*

The integrated pitch detection allows you to answer the questions with your voice or a real instrument (eg piano or guitar). Simply sing or play the individual tones with the instrument when the microphone button lights red.

In the Audio / MIDI settings, you can use the "Threshold" setting to setup the volume level to start the pitch detection.

## Four preset levels and unlimited custom levels*

Better Ears ships with four preset levels:

- Beginner
- Easy
- Normal
- Professional

The chosen level determines the selection of entries for each exercise, separated by their complexity. The more difficult a level chosen, the more entries there will be in your sidebar to choose from. In training mode, the questions are chosen at random.

| Additionally you can can customize your own levels in the preferences, letting you train to your own specific needs. Put yourself in "Training Camp" to learn church modes, or concentrate on those two pesky intervals that constantly cause you problems.

## MIDI Support Better Ears supports routing sound through an external MIDI device, allowing you to use your existing MIDI master keyboard or sound module. You can even control Better Ears using a connected keyboard. If there's no MIDI device connected, an integrated soft-synthesizer will be used. |

## Dropbox sync between different devices

This feature allows you to keep your Macs and iOS devices in sync. You can select the areas you want to synchronize:

- Statistics
- Custom Level
- Preferences

With the Dropbox Sync function you can start practicing with your phone on your way and continue later at home on your mac wit the same settings. Your statistics and Custom Levels will be also synchronized. Thus you automatically have the same conditions on all your devices.

*Only available in the full version of Better Ears