Before Downloading, please refer to the section below entitled "License Terms and Conditions."

Version 1.0.4
Bundled for Mac OS X (10.4 and above): download here

Version 1.0.4
Unbundled Java Jar File (for everyone else): download here

PTETSuite is a post-tonal ear training program developed by Jeremiah Goyette, a doctoral student at the Eastman School of Music. It's main focus is on set-class and pitch-class interval recognition. Above is just one of the activities in the suite, namely the trichord recognition trainer. By hitting "Begin", a random three-note chord is played, after which the user must try to respond by pressing the correct set-class type. If you are not familiar with set classes, and have no idea what the above program does, try looking for music theory literature of the last few decades that deals with musical chords as sets. Googling "Allen Forte sets" would be a good start, or the wiki page on set theory.

The game is quite simple. Once the begin button is pressed, the user should not need to press it again through the course of the training, since the next chord is played once the correct answer is given. However, if the user wishes to pass, pressing the begin button will give a new sound, but at the price of gaining an incorrect answer, lowering the overall accuracy. The textbox on the left-hand side gives the on-going tally of correct and incorrect answers, the percentage of correct answers, the average time and the score.

Currently the suite is comprised of four set recognition activities, starting with unordered interval classes, followed by ordered pitch-class intervals, trichords, and tetrachords. There are hopes that since the foundation has been built more activites will be added in the future.

A nice feature that was recently added is the option to select the midi instrument, thus allowing the user to choose something besides the default midi piano. The collection of sounds available to you will be dependent on the midi instruments on your computer. This is a nice feature since change in timbre can have a dramatic effect on how well the listener is able to recognize acoustic objects. Changing up the sounds while playing can greatly broaden the flexibility of the user's perception.

The score is based on a formula that is dependent on the overall accuracy and the average time. Before looking at the formula, let us look how the average time is determined. The average time is the total time from when the begin button was first hit or when the begin button was first hit after pressing the "Start Over" button, divided by the number of correct answers. The average time thus includes all sorts of other chunks of wasted time, like computer processing time and the slight pause before each play. However, do not fret. Just take this into consideration and judge yourself against a reasonable average time. In general, you are doing very well if you are responding in less than 5 seconds. This is not always the case, though; for example, in the ear training suite, the tetrachord trainer is particularly difficult and thus longer times are unavoidable.

The score is calculated by the formula: accuracy * ( ln(6) / ln(averageTime) ). This formula is logarithmic, based on log6, which means that you must keep your average time below 6 seconds or your accuracy will be lowered. If you keep your average time below 6 seconds, you will be rewarded.

The best method is to shoot towards a specific number of correct answers, say 20 or 50. Once you reach that goal, stop and check out your status, making a mental note of the score. Then, after a short mental break, press the start over button and then the begin button to start another round. In general it is better to work harder in smaller chunks than in longer chunks that become tiresome and unproductive.

Furthermore, it is better to take time and to try not to get any incorrect answers. For the skill building process it is much more fruitful to carefully listen than to simply throw out guesses that are not well thought out. The scoring system accounts for this, in that incorrect answers have more of an effect on the score than do a few extra seconds of calculation time.

PTETSuite is written entirely in Java, and employs some classes from Java 1.5. If you do not have Java installed, or have Java 1.4 or below, then PTETSuite will not work on your computer. As for mac computers, this means that you should have OS 10.4 "Tiger" or later.

The above trichord recognition trainer is a Java applet, so if it isn't working properly, or isn't displayed at all, then this is most likely to be a problem with running Java in your browser. First, try simply refreshing this page. If that doesn't work then try closing all browser windows, then relaunch your browser and visit this page again.

If the version of PTETSuite downloaded from the above link is not making any sound even though you have Java installed, try using the alternate version. The alternate version uses a different means to generate the midi sound, one that is more reliable but a bit rougher in quality (actually it is used in the above trichord trainer). The option to change midi instruments, unfortunately, had to be left out of the alternate version.

Alternate Version Java Jar (v1.0.4): download here

PTETSuite is Copyright 2009 JeremiahGoyette Limited. All rights reserved. It is provided on this website for free use by anyone, subject to the following conditions:

• You may use it as provided on our website and you may download it for local use as described above, but you may not host it on any other server. You are welcome to link to it from your site: you must link to http://www.jeremiahgoyette.com/ptetsuite
• You may also freely distribute the downloaded zip file, as long as you distribute it exactly as downloaded, without modification.
• You may not modify, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, or create derivative works of PTETSuite or any part of it.
• While we make all reasonable efforts to ensure that PTETSuite is bug-free and performs as it should, we cannot guarantee that it will always perform as expected or accept any liability for any aspect of its use.
• We do not promise to provide support but in fact you will probably get a helpful reply if you email jsgoyette@gmail.com
• This License will be governed by the laws of the United States of America. If for any reason any part of this agreement is unenforceable, the remainder shall continue in full force and effect.