Customer Reviews

Singing Coach Unlimited [Old Version]

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

The designers have done a very nice job. Excellent user interface--I don't see any "bugs" at all! Extremely well designed and fun to use. No regrets. (No I don't work for them!)

A few of the reviews have suggested this tool is more suited for beginners--but it's not. Here's why:

1) You can choose from a variety of easy/med/difficult songs; It might be pretty easy to sing "Hot cross buns" but not so the more challenging songs;

2) You can adjust the precision level to your ability, so that your pitch must be more precise to get the same "score." In other words, you can make it as challenging as you want.

I especially enjoyed the feature that lets you see your vocal range. (It confirmed my bass range--So I shouldn't keep trying the Barry Manilow songs.)

I heartily recommend this program. I am very glad I spent the money. Both fun and educational, all in one!

The software appears to work quite well, and I believe that using this product will improve my singing. The real-time pitch tracking is a tremendous aid for anyone who (like me) has trouble finding notes with their singing voice. On this basis, I would have given the product 4 1/2 or 5 stars. However, the bad news is that the presentation of this product is really designed for kids. There are characters who guide you through the process, and unfortunately there does not seem to be a way to turn them off. It is a bit like watching an episode of Barney in terms of the level of hokiness (e.g., an opera singing octupus who talks like Chef Boyardee. Yuck!) Ideally, Carry-A-Tune should design a professional version designed for the over 13 crowd. The new version would just contain the core technology and do away with the annoying characters and story line. But as I said, the technology seems to work so I guess that I will suffer through the cartoonish qualities.

This could definitely be something to buy for your children, but be warned: It's very buggy. Expect glitches in the voice recordings analysis. Some notes don't even register in the software when hummed to (which is a very important part of learning a new song).

The cartoon characters are fun, but there is no way to turn them off in the lesson mode. In lesson mode the characters talk, demonstrate the lesson, and then it's your turn to practice. There is no way to bypass the first two steps, which means that you must listen to their entire dialog every time you want to repeat a practice lesson. This gets _very_ annoying when you've repeated a lesson for the 15th time.

The music editor/composer is a nice thing to have, especially for teachers. There are many software glitches here too. The editor is very unintuitive, and has no easy way to copy and paste parts of your composition. This makes creating drills and other practice lessons extremely tedious. Also, the undo and redo operations are very buggy: use at your own risk.

Singing Coach Unlimited is helpful software for someone first beginning voice training or for "retuning" your voice after a long idle time. However, the lessons appear to be geared toward kids. I found the pitch tracking to be a nice feature.
The compose feature is limited and will only allow composing the melody (no accompaniment).
The ability to change keys for any song is great.
The song download selection from Carry-A-Tune is limited, although you can import songs form other sources.
I have had some software glitches (recording failures and recording delays) on my Windows XP PC which meets the recommended system requirements. (Carry-A-Tune has not yet responded with a fix.)

I bought this so I can practice in my home and I am so glad I did. I take lessons from a really good vocal teacher and she recommended I use Singing Coach while I am at home to go along with her lessons. Very cool program and it has been a great help.

I run WinXP Pro. this program is not compatible. And when you e mail customer support for assitance, all you will get is a automated mail telling you to. Turn off any anti-virus programs and lower your internet browser security setting to low. After 4 days, many e-mails, phone calls, and alot of waiting I can honestly say they were worthless.

People who have trouble installing should. (it just can't be me!)

1. remove the current shockwave player and go to their web site and install a fresh copy
2. Install program.
3. Wait for singing lesson section start then freeze
4. Return CD in packaging
5. Thank Amazon for having a easy return policy

Singing Coach Unlimited is a great product. My girlfriend tends to make fun of my singing in the car and claims I've ruined many songs for her. Well since I bought the product, she thinks my singing has improved and I'm no longer ruining songs for her. I enjoy the easy format that the software enables and the ability to download songs from the online store. My little sister likes the cartoon characters and finds them very entertaining. Although I've only had the product for a few weeks, I think my singing has improved greatly. I would recommend this program for the singer in us all.

The concept of this program is excellent, however there are some serious shortcomings in the software. Once you enter a song in the compose mode and then go into the sing mode and sing with it you can no longer go back to the compose mode to edit the song with out changing it's title. Also if you enter a song in a given key, save it, there is no option to allow you to open it up in the original key - the program automatically changes the key to fit your voice and if that's not where you want it, the onus is on you to remember the key in which you entered it if you want to reset it back to that key. An extensive tutorial would be a welcome improvement.

Singing Coach Unlimited is a great product, and I give it two thumbs up. I have always grown up with music in my family and I can play my Tuba great, but when it comes to singing my wife would say I'm no Elvis. I purchased this product to improve my singing secretly so that I could impress my wife at our anniversary. After practicing and practicing I felt and heard a dramatic change in my voice. And when I sung, "When a man loves a woman" to my wife I actually saw tears of joy as she had heard my newfound voice. When she asked me if I had hired a vocal coach I said no honey, I purchased singing coach unlimited and now we are both hooked on the software.

I am an above average singer and want to take the next step to becoming a professional and found that my pitch accuracy needed some help. Problem is that I can't always hear when I'm off pitch and have to depend on my husband to tell me - which is a pain when you're a singer. I got this program for that purpose which is to train this very important part of singing. I would definitely recommend this program if you are a beginning singer - it will help with understanding the basics and pitch accuracy. If you are an intermediate singer or expert singer this can still help you - not in improving your vocal flexibility, range or tone (I recommend Brett Manning's Singing Success CD set for that), but if you want to improve pitch accuracy. I must say in the week that I've had this, I think I've improved. Yes it is a cheesy program - with lots of cheesy animated characters but it is easy to skip this stuff if it annoys you as it does me. I just wish that we could have more interesting songs on the program - the songs that already come with the program are songs like Amazing Grace and Danny Boy - which are good but get a little boring. This gives you 12 free downloads of better songs (i.e. pop etc.) but I do wish it was 20 or something like that. Would be nice if Carry a Tune had a bigger selection of songs - like I couldn't find a single Jewel song! That's my only real gripe. I'm pretty happy with it overall...