Whistler

Music creation application where you whistle to create tunes.

This is a work in progress and so may contain bugs.

For more information on how to use Whistler click on the Help button in the top right corner of the application.

Important

You must enable microphone access to the application in your operating system to be able to record whistling.

If you are using a Mac you must also set the microphone's sample frequency to 44,100 Hz in the Audio MIDI Setup application. This is due to a limitation of Godot which was used to make Whistler.

I recommend using headphones when recording so the sound of the existing tune being played back does not interfere with the recording. Alternatively you can turn off tune playback while recording in the Settings.

Using on a Mac

Whistler has been created with a generic signature and has not been notorised. To launch it on a Mac you will need to first download and expand the zip file. Then right-click on the Whistler application and select Open from the pop-up menu. A window will be displayed saying that Whistler cannot be run. Close that window then right-click on the Whistler application again and select Open again. A new window will be displayed which will include the option to Open Whistler. Click on Open and Whistler should run. From then on you will be able to open Whistler as normal.

Using on a PC

I created Whistler on a Mac and do not have access to a PC to be able to test the PC application. A friend has made basic checks that the PC application runs on a PC but there may be unexpected bugs.

Making a tune

Whistler uses a 4/4 time signature of 4 beats per Bar / Measure. Each beat block is a Sixteenth note / Semiquaver.

Set the Beats Per Minute (BPM) you want to use for the tune by clicking on the BPM button and selecting from the preset options. You can change the BPM later if you want to.

Click on the track you want to record to where you want the recorded beat blocks to start to place the playback marker.

Click on the Record button and the metronome will begin playing. Recording will be paused until you start whistling. Click on the red Stop button to stop recording.

You can select beat blocks by clicking on them and then move them with the arrow keys or delete them with the Delete key. You can create new beat blocks by holding Ctrl / Command while left clicking in the track's score. See the full set of selection and editing controls below.

To listen to your tune click in any track's score to place the playback marker at the start of where you want to begin playing. Then press the Play button to start playing and the red Stop button to stop. Alternatively you can press the Spacebar to start and stop playing. Playback will automatically stop when the end of the tune is reached.

You can set the key that the track is played in by setting its Base key and its volume by adjusting its Volume adj.

You can select which sample to play for each track by clicking on the track's Sample popup menu button. There are a few basic samples provided but you will probably want to import your own which you can do by clicking on the Import sample button. Only 44.1 kHz 16-bit .wav, .ogg and .mp3 format samples can be imported.

You can save your tune in an editable format by clicking on the Save button and later reload it by clicking on the Load button.

Once you have created your tune you can export it as a 44.1 kHz 16-bit .wav file by clicking on the Export button. The whole tune will be played to record the audio and then you will be prompted to save the resulting .wav file.

Controls

Left mouse button click and release while on a blank part of the track to place the playback marker.

Spacebar to play/stop the tune.

Left mouse button click + Ctrl / Command to place a beat block.

Right mouse button click + Ctrl / Command to remove a beat block.

Left mouse button click + Ctrl / Command on an existing beat block to play its note.

Left mouse button click and release when over a beat block range to select it.

Left mouse button click and release + Shift while over a beat block range to add it to the current selection.

Right mouse button click and release when over a selected beat block range to deselect it.

Right mouse button click and release when not over a selected beat block to deselect all beat blocks.

Left mouse button click, drag and then release to select beat blocks.

Left mouse button click, drag and then release + Shift to add selected beat blocks to the current selection.

Right mouse button click, drag and then release to deselect beat blocks.

Left mouse button click and release + Shift while on a blank part of the track to add all the beat blocks between the playback marker and the pointer to the current selection.

Right mouse button click and release + Shift while on a blank part of the track to remove all the beat blocks between the playback marker and the pointer from the current selection.

Left mouse button click and release + Alt / Option to select all the beat blocks in the currently active track.

Right mouse button click and release + Alt / Option to deselect all beat blocks in the currently active track.

Arrow keys to move the selected beat blocks.

Delete to delete the selected beat blocks.

Delete + Shift to delete any unselected beat blocks.

Ctrl / Command + C to copy the selected beat blocks.

Ctrl / Command + X to cut the selected beat blocks.

Ctrl / Command + V to paste the copied beat blocks.

Ctrl / Command + = to insert a blank column in the currently active track at the playback marker.

Ctrl / Command + - to remove the column in the currently active track at the playback marker.

Ctrl / Command + Shift + = to insert a blank column in all the tracks at the playback marker.

Ctrl / Command + Shift + - to remove the column in all the tracks at the playback marker.

Ctrl / Command + Z to undo the last action.

Ctrl / Command + Y to redo the last action.