A List Available with the 150 Included Songs on Synthesia?

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arthurwhite
Posts: 15

Post by arthurwhite »

Dear Synthesia Forum members and moderators and staff,

Is there a list available (updated and current list) of included songs on Synthesia please?

Someone asked this question on Reddit :
https://www.reddit.com/r/synthesia/comm ... ded_songs/

but the response included songs that were perhaps from an older version?
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

It's the same list with the addition of five more songs from semi-recent videogames: 4x from "Five Nights at Freddy's" and one more from "Undertale".
arthurwhite
Posts: 15

Post by arthurwhite »

Nicholas wrote:It's the same list with the addition of five more songs from semi-recent videogames: 4x from "Five Nights at Freddy's" and one more from "Undertale".

That is great but is it possible to have this list available somewhere official perhaps (instead of pastebin)? so people may view it ?
Some place centralized like the official website which may be easily updated by people?
Even like a wiki would do and then the official webpage can put a link to it if its too much work for the admins?
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

The official place to view the list is inside the app. It's a free download and the entire list is available in two clicks from the title screen. (That also means it's guaranteed to always be up to date, which isn't true of a separate page on the website.)

For what it's worth, I'm the only admin. And business guy. And support guy. And the only (full-time) developer. Being spread very thin, the fewer pages I have to maintain, the better.
arthurwhite
Posts: 15

Post by arthurwhite »

Nicholas wrote:The official place to view the list is inside the app. It's a free download and the entire list is available in two clicks from the title screen.
.... the fewer pages I have to maintain, the better.
Thank you for this lovely app and I commend you for this app and this work you are doing!

In order to get the updated list people have to download the app, right? That is more than two clicks. Most people when they are looking to evaluate or buy the app look at the songs that are supported (or that are included).

I came to Synthesia because I was looking for a Chordana app for my Casio lighted key keyboard 280 . Since Chordana does not work with LK 280 I decided on Synthesia but only after someone else recommended it.

It took me a long time to download the app primarily because the webpage is very confusing and I first thought that after buying the app I would have to buy the songs (lilsted for 0.99c) and few of them seemed to be for beginners. Then much later I discovered that there are free songs that come with the app (some that are free with the demo version also). I went with Synthesia eventually because there are no other similar products out there.

Nonetheless, if you need help with software development (of any kind) I would be happy to help.

It is perhaps possible to have the software automatically update the webpage with the list of songs everytime the synthesia app song list is updated, perhaps.
I dunno, sorry if I am being a little lazy but I personally felt very harried and overwhelmed when working with my new piano and then the accompanying software.
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jimhenry
Posts: 1899

Post by jimhenry »

The REALLY important feature of Synthesia is that you can use almost ANY MIDI file with it, including ones you make yourself. The included songs are a small bonus but probably not a reason most people buy Synthesia.
Jim Henry
Author of the Miditzer, a free virtual theatre pipe organ
http://www.Miditzer.org/
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

arthurwhite wrote:I personally felt very harried and overwhelmed when working with my new piano and then the accompanying software.
Did you mean Chordana or Synthesia? These are the stories I like to hear most about. I actually track a list of the worst pain-points new users run into and try to tackle those as soon as possible.

I understand the confusion between our music store and the included songs. That one is kind of tricky. I've been considering maybe bundling them up into 15-20 song packs (which would allow for lower prices; at $1, payment processors eat almost half the transaction amount) and then including a list of "premium song packs" or whatever right on the purchase page as extra options you can add. Would that help to remove some of the confusion?

Did anything else strike you as hard to understand? Having worked on the project for 12 years now, it is becoming increasingly challenging to see through the eyes of a new user. So, any help I can get from you guys is very useful!

(By the way: you're the first person to mention Chordana. I hadn't seen that one yet. If the project description given to some poor software engineer at Casio wasn't just "Clone Synthesia!" then it's hard to tell otherwise. :lol: Some of the feature descriptions on their page would work interchangeably on the Synthesia website. hehe. At least a few of the other falling-note competitors out there have tried to carve their own path.)
arthurwhite
Posts: 15

Post by arthurwhite »

Nicholas wrote:Did you mean Chordana or Synthesia? These are the stories I like to hear most about. I actually track a list of the worst pain-points new users run into and try to tackle those as soon as possible.

I understand the confusion between our music store and the included songs. That one is kind of tricky. I've been considering maybe bundling them up into 15-20 song packs (which would allow for lower prices; at $1, payment processors eat almost half the transaction amount) and then including a list of "premium song packs" or whatever right on the purchase page as extra options you can add. Would that help to remove some of the confusion?
Firstly thanks once again for this software! and your individualize and empathetic attention.
Maybe I am not explaining myself so clearly. When I first heard about Synthesia being an alternative to Chordana on the casio forums (for the casio LK 280) I came to your website. The first thing I wanted to find out was "Ok Synthesia will work with my casio LK 280 but what I want to know is that if I want to learn how to play the piano through my favorite songs, which songs does Synthesia include". This information did not seem like it was readily available. I clicked on "Songs" in the menu to the top right. It gave me a list of songs out of which two were free and the rest were per song . My first thought at this point was "I can't believe it, I have to buy the software for 29$ and then I have to pay per song". Then while going through the list of songs I was thinking "Some of these songs are definitely songs I would like to learn but they are not beginners songs or very easy songs ". At this point I still did not know about the 150 included songs that were free or maybe I did but I could not see the list of songs. I think the 150 songs included ought to be a feature of the app that perhaps ought to be a good selling point? When I eventually found out about the 150 included songs (from someone else) I came back to the website to look for it. I could not find the 150 free included songs. Then I did a google search and someone had posted the list on reddit.com . Then after going through the included songs and researching a bit more I came to the conclusion that I could download the demo version and test it out.

As I test out ode to joy (two versions here easy vs easiest) I notice that the easy version has some notes (particularly #5 green key) not lighting up my casio keyboard.

This is what I have encountered in my research.

Now the reason why I was attracted to the software was that primarily it was helping me read notes. I would like to learn the reading of notes process along with the lighting keys in my keyboard. I was attracted to chordana and synthesia after I saw a demonstration of the mccarthy music piano .



What attracted me to mccarthy music piano was how the reader for the notes scrolled through the notes until it stopped at a particular note and the key lighted up. I wanted to learn the piano that way. That is what attracted me to chordana and now Synthesia. I am not into the falling notes thing so much (since that is perhaps obvious from the key lightings as in the musical notes in the top left). If I could see the notes as though it was sheet music as is demonstrated in the mccarthy music video that would be great.

Also is it possible for me to fix the key lighting for the ode to joy myself ? is this open source?
Last edited by arthurwhite on 12-23-17 6:08 pm, edited 4 times in total.
arthurwhite
Posts: 15

Post by arthurwhite »

jimhenry wrote:The REALLY important feature of Synthesia is that you can use almost ANY MIDI file with it, including ones you make yourself. The included songs are a small bonus but probably not a reason most people buy Synthesia.
In the beginning I would like to begin with the included songs since I have never seen or used a midi before.

In the beginning I would like structure and direction as much as possible since I barely know how to navigate my piano let alone the midi protocol.

Yes the extensibility of Synthesia is great (I can add any midi and learn that song) that is lovely. But in the beginning I would like to know what songs are the easiest and how I may learn those easiest of songs first.

If I add a midi song to synthesia will it also mean that the particular midi song will light up my keyboard keys on the casio lk 280 ? because I much prefer not having to look at the software to identify the key honestly...
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

Sorry for the wait!
arthurwhite wrote:... I can't believe it, I have to buy the software for 29$ and then I have to pay per song...

I think the 150 songs included ought to be a feature of the app that perhaps ought to be a good selling point?

In the beginning I would like to begin with the included songs since I have never seen or used a midi before.

In the beginning I would like structure and direction as much as possible since I barely know how to navigate my piano let alone the midi protocol.

Yes the extensibility of Synthesia is great (I can add any midi and learn that song) that is lovely. But in the beginning I would like to know what songs are the easiest and how I may learn those easiest of songs first.
These are all good points. I just added a little internal (debug-only) code to Synthesia that can now automatically generate a definitive list of the built-in songs. This list should always be up to date from now on. I'll try to figure out where else it makes sense to advertise its existence.
arthurwhite wrote:As I test out ode to joy (two versions here easy vs easiest) I notice that the easy version has some notes (particularly #5 green key) not lighting up my casio keyboard.
Hmm, strange. What do you have your Casio's "Key Lights" option set to under Settings --> Music Output? If any lights work, hopefully all of them should.
arthurwhite wrote:If I could see the notes as though it was sheet music as is demonstrated in the mccarthy music video that would be great.
This is the goal of the Synthesia 11 release: much higher quality sheet music that is able to be shown full-screen. (Even the very next development preview of Synthesia 11 will have the "full-screen" part. The "much higher quality" part will follow in subsequent development preview builds.)
arthurwhite wrote:because I much prefer not having to look at the software to identify the key honestly...
Played looking only at the key lights, won't you always be late? By the time the key lights, your finger should have been in the middle of striking it.
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