Customer Reviews

Teach Me Piano Deluxe

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

What they don't tell you is that, you can add midi songs from the internet to the trainer, so that you can learn thousands of songs.
In the lessons, you can change the tempo, if it goes to fast. You can ask it to label the notes with the corresponding letters, as well as, the fingers to use. You can pick a range of measures to go over, instead of the entire song. The most important part of learning music is the timing and this program teaches it from the beginning.
The sequence that the material is presented and studied is thoroughly professional and challenges you every step of the way. This program with a midi keyboard connected to a computer is an ... alternative to traditional music lessons for children and adults.

I really wanted to make use of Teach Me Piano Deluxe (TMPD), and tried working with it for six weeks. I've been working with computers for twenty years so I figured I could handle any unexpected problems I encountered. Wrong...

The first problem I encountered was a noticeable lag between when I pressed a note and when the program recognized it. Voyetra's technical support web site indicates that "if your PC makes use of a Wavetable GS Synth, then this is a problem... that makes it not very useful for this type of application." Well, guess what? If you have a Pentium 4, the motherboard comes with SoundMax audio built in--which uses a Wavetable GS Synth! So if you have a Pentium 4 motherboard, give up right now.

But being stubborn, and after much trial and error, I found a way to bypass this by making the MIDI return directly to my Roland keyboard, and wearing the keyboard's headphones. Very inconvenient, since the program's audio/video comes out through your PC's speakers, but a fix I could live with.

Then, I noticed that the program's "Grading" feature worked inconsistently... the program could not seem to tell what keys I pressed. I thought OK, I can also live with that bug, because I'll have a good idea whether or not I aced the lesson and could move on to the next one.

Then I encountered TMPD's infamous "tied notes" problem. And trust me, there is no solution.

When I came to the first lesson that used "tied notes" (notes held down between measures), TMPD skipped ahead as I played, losing my place during the lesson. Voyetra's support web site listed three things to try to fix the "Tied Notes Issue," so this had clearly been a problem for many people. I tried all three of their suggestions without success. Then, I went out and bought a $50 USB-MIDI cable, thinking that might help. No difference. I borrowed a friend's MIDI keyboard and tried it instead of my Roland. No difference. I e-mailed Voyetra's customer service (no phone calls, just e-mail and fax) and they sent me back a form response to an unrelated problem. I e-mailed them a second time and was ignored. But interestingly enough, the next day I saw that they had removed the "Tied Notes Issue" page from their support web site. It seems that Voyetra's approach to a technical problem is to remove all references to it, ignore all related questions, and hope that it quietly disappears.

For those still unconvinced, I end with a disclaimer that I copied and pasted directly from Voyetra's TMPD "Troubleshooting" web page:

"All our Software products are sold on an *AS IS* basis. Voyetra-Turtle Beach does NOT warrant that the functions of the Software will be uninterrupted or error free."

Translation: go with another product, and save yourself a headache! : (

This program has amazed me. I've been using it for three months, practicing about 1 1/2 hrs. a day and have become quite proficient. I'm 45 years old and have had no formal music training. I paid $45 dollars for the software and would gladly pay 3-4 times that amount, now that I've experienced it. Better than a private teacher because you can progress on your own schedule and choosing.
I don't believe it is intended for anyone under about 12 yoa even tho at times it seems very easy, yet VERY effective.
The instructional videos prior to the lessons are excellent. The ability to practice with evaluations, perform songs with a back up orchestra, quickly learn theory and technic,print and practice away from the pc, etc., makes practice fun and nearly addicting.
One shortcoming is the tech support (which is done only by e-mail). I had a hard time configuring my soundcard/synth initially, but soon found that the program includes an easy to use sound/configuration utility that helped alot. It also includes a sequencer/recording station!
This is one of the best values in software I have purchased.

I always thought it would be cool to learn how to play the piano. So I got this software and it really helped me out. It's nice cause it takes you from the I don't know anything stage to being able to play songs. It's a really good teacher. I would highly recomend to anyone who is looking into starting to play the piano. It was cool

Big Truck

This CD-ROM is cheaper than paying for a private teacher but has some problems.

Pros:
Cheaper that paying for a private teacher, which can be costly.
Take lessons whenever you want.
A lot included (although a good amount of it is filler).

Cons:
The lesson progression was too fast for my kids to keep-up. I was able to keep-up but took piano years ago.
Slightly dated program.
The material taught (songs) are very bland. I wish they would included more modern tunes.
The games included are worthless.

Conclusion: If you already have some piano experience, this program could be interesting. However, if you are learning from scratch or getting this for your kids, you might have some difficulty.

I was looking for a good beginner program and thought i found it until i checked Window's compatibility. Since it's not compatible with XP it leaves a lot of people out in the cold. Also it makes me wonder why a software developer is so late in putting out an XP compatible version. They have a lot of other music related software that sounds great but they should get on the ball since it makes me go hmmmmmmmmmm.

Despite all the negative reviews, I gave it a try, and I am glad I did. I would like to give it a fair review here.

I use it on my P4 1.6M Laptop with USB Midi 1x1 connector (so it works) and my Casio Keyboard. I ran it for couple days and did not see any bugs or crashes reported by other users.

This program allows everyone to learn at their own pace. You can spend more time on any song if you want to or otherwise.

One of the most amazing features of this software is letting you to import any midi song, which is all over the internet, into the program for you to practice.

This is the best $50 you can spend if you'd like to learn piano.

I initially thought the product would be great. I got it and practiced right out of the box dilligently; it became addicting. I could do five finger exercises with ease...after days my hand eye coordination improved and I could sight read with no effort (though only with my right hand and five fingers!). The second chapter starts and presents you with four new notes, videos that are somewhat irrelevant to the lessons you'll be learning in the proceeding chapter, and it takes you into exercises that don't really seem tangible for you to do at the time. I'm going to keep at it, but I was psyched for the program and have been pretty disappointed.

the videos thus far have been mostly useless - the program's real asset is simply the capability to let you play along with songs while it corrects your mistakes. Unfortunately, the program emits blood curdling applause, mooing, and horn noises depending on how well you play that are impossible to turn off. It seems kind of cheap, concept and design wise.

I'm going to keep at it and post another review in the future, but this is not, obviously, a program for the easily discouraged, and/or you might need someone who knows piano to kind of help you along the way sometimes when you and the computer can't communicate with each other.

All my children learned to play the piano using this software exclusively to learn piano. One ended up learning Moonlight Sonata well enough to wow the grandparents.

Yes, there are bugs. Sometimes (rarely) there is NO correct note that makes the program happy you are performing correctly. Grading is inaccurate and inconsistent - who cares? Music is typically fun to learn and it does teach you piano basics - one of its chief goals.

We've never had MIDI issues. We typically have used SoundBlaster sound cards with good luck. The music does come out of the keyboard though - fine with us.

The biggest bugger we have is not being able to control the sound feedback when you play the music (honks with wrong note, and other aural hints with you did/didn't do well).

All in all, I would get it again if we were starting up with a new learner!

Firstly, this software is NOT truly XP compatible. Yes, it does run on XP, but it is not native. My first install gave me a "16-bit subsystem" error. I haven't seen something like that in 6 years.

The range of features in the software is great. Unfortunately, most of them are implemented poorly and look like a throwback to Windows 95. There is also some sluggish inconsistency that other software doesn't seem to have.

Get your act together, Voyetra!