

  ----------------------------- PLAY IT BY EAR -----------------------------


  Thank you for purchasing Play It By Ear!


  Please refer to the manual and on-line help feature for information on
  the general use of the program.  This file simply covers some undocumented
  features and emphasizes some important things that you should know before
  using the program.


  COPY THE MASTER DISK TO A NON-WRITE PROTECTED DISK BEFORE USING THE PROGRAM!
  Play It By Ear writes configuration and progress information to the current
  directory.  You will not be able to run the program from the master disk.
  For more information refer to the manual.


  MOUSE SUPPORT.  You MUST have a mouse installed on your computer to use
  Play It By Ear.


  USING THE PC INTERNAL SPEAKER.  The IBM PC internal speaker hardware was
  never intended to be used for serious musical performance.  The sound
  quality is adequate and the pitch is accurate.  Unfortunatly, this is only
  true for single voice melodies.  Simultaneous pitches, like intervals and
  chords, are not feasible.  We have seen some resourceful programmers make
  the PC hardware approximate chords, but for the purpose of ear training the
  results just were not good enough.  Therefore, if you do not own sound
  enhancing hardware, Play It By Ear will arpeggiate, i.e. play like a melody,
  all interval and chord forms.


  MORE ABOUT THE INTERNAL SPEAKER.  The volume slider has no effect on the
  sounds coming out of your PC internal speaker. Once again, the hardware
  is too limited to make this practical.  In addition, some MIDI keyboards
  may not be sensitive to note volume commands. These keyboards will not
  respond to the volume slider either. To regulate the volume, simply use
  the keyboard's volume control.


  COMMAND LINE OPTIONS.  Play It By Ear supports HERCULES, EGA/VGA and CGA
  video adapters.  At the start of the program the highest resolution mode
  of your hardware is detected and used. You may force the program to use a
  specific video mode by invoking the program as such:

    EAR C   (for CGA)
    EAR E   (for EGA)
    EAR EM  (for EGAMONO)
    EAR V   (for VGA)
    EAR M   (for Hercules).


  At the end of each exercise drill a message pops up that indicates how
  you did for that particular response: "OK" or "OOPS!". For you power users
  a command line option is provided to suppress this feature:  EAR X. This
  option may be mixed with one of the above video options, e.g. EAR C X.


  The "O" (the letter, not the number zero) command line option may be
  used to override sound card autodetection and force the program to
  use MIDI.  A diagnostic program, TESTMIDI.EXE, is also included on the
  program disk to help you, and us, troubleshoot your sound hardware if
  necessary.


  Some older MIDI cards, when installed on fast (386, 486) computers, may
  have trouble communicating with the program.  If Play It By Ear does not
  seem to be responding to your MIDI instrument try running the program
  with a numerical command line option like 100.  If this doen't work, try
  1000 or even 10000.  For example,

    EAR 100
    EAR 1000


  If you changed the I/O port address of your MIDI card from the default
  (330 hexadecimal) then you must use the 'D' command line option.  For
  example:

    EAR D3ac


  Some MIDI setups consist of a separate keyboard controller and sound
  module.  The command line option 'T' may be used to force the program
  to echo controller data to the sound module.  Like so:

    EAR T


  SOUND BLASTER SUPPORT.  If you own a Sound Blaster card you will need
  to run the program using the "S" command line option.  A convenient BAT
  file, EAR_SB.BAT, has been included on the master disk that does this for
  you.  So, to make the program recognize your card, type either of the
  following at the DOS prompt:

    EAR S
    EAR_SB


  SOUND BLASTER MIDI.  To use the MIDI Expansion module of your Sound Blaster
  card you simple need to run the the program with the "SM" command line
  option:

    EAR SM


  In using the 'SM' option, both input to and output from the program use
  MIDI.  You may force the program to output (play) using the SOUNDBLASTER
  FM circuitry instead of MIDI by using the 'SMI' command line option.

    EAR SMI


  If you have changed the I/O port address of the SOUNDBLASTER card then
  you must use the D command line option:

    EAR SM Dnnn      (where nnn is the I/O port address, 220, 230, etc.)


  Finally, if you would like to offer suggestions for enhancements or
  let us know about anything else - please do!  Just send your comments
  to our NEW address (after June 15, 1991):

    IBIS Software
    625 Second Street
    Suite 308
    San Francisco, CA  94107
    (415) 546-1917







