Shakuhachi Score

Being a musician does not only imply skill when playing an instrument, with a large load of knowledge behind this form of art. Cultures developed different instruments in time, and now there are specialized applications like Shakuhachi Score which provide a suitable environment to practice instruments like Shakuhachi, Shinobue, and Taishogoto.

With the setup process done before you realize, you quickly get to check out the set of features. A custom, clean design houses all functions you have control over, while most space is dedicated to lyrics display, and note progression.

The application is only a notes reader, and you’re not able to make any changes to songs. This means it needs a target file to run, and you can only work with those under the MIDI format. However, MIDI input is not read, so hooking up an instrument or virtual audio driver doesn’t work.

Before the song is analyzed and all lyrics show up on the canvas, you can choose the output MIDI channel to play it through, just in case you’re currently holding specific ports for other purposes. Lyrics are shown in a neatly organized score, which is incredibly easy to read for the type of instruments you get to play. There’s a rich library of preset songs you can load to practice on.

Playback can start immediately, and there’s even a play function in the prompt prior to song analysis. For an enhanced playback experience, or proper song attributes, it’s possible to adjust tempo through dedicated controls. The tonic value field can be used to modify audio pitch.

The instrument can’t be changed, even though playback is routed through the MIDI driver, you do get to change the actual type of instrument for which to show notes. If you play Shakuhachi, Shinobue, or Taishogoto, you can choose specific score display, with additional types for Shakuhachi like Tozan, and Kinko.

Shakuhachi Score is a practical musical reading application with which practice with instruments like Shakuhachi, Shinobue, and Taishogoto becomes a walk in the park. You can easily switch through types of display, while the rich library of songs keeps you busy for quite a while.