Considering Captivate for Aural Training (Newbie)

[Monica3734]

Hi -

I have a 30-day Captivate trial, and am trying to determine whether this software will do what I need or whether there is something more appropriate.

Specifically, I want something that is purely interactive -- no timeline necessary. I need users to click on objects to play audio files, then answer questions about it in various ways. It seems the object-audio connection doesn't have interactivity, but rather, the audio begins when the object appears. Is this correct?

If that is correct, I'm surprised. Even less sophisticated programs make click=play simple.

If that is not correct, could someone point me to a tutorial? I have not found it in the user manual.

In either case, if there is a better Adobe program for creating interactive music experiences, please let me know.

Thank you!

Monica

[StevePixel]

HI Monica,

I would think this could be done relatively easily in Captivate, the button/audio portion-very simply. The question answer portion is doable, but you would need to be more specific around your envisioned design. For example by "no timeline" do you mean you just want one big page with multiple buttons and audio, or do you mean several slides with buttons and audio.

When would they answer the questions, after each button/sound or after all has been played? Do the questions need to be scored and retained or just acknowledge if correct/incorrrect.

Cheers,
Steve 

[Monica3734]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your reply!

By "timeline," I meant that it doesn't need to play like a video recording, or a Keynote (Powerpoint) slideshow designed to proceed ahead automatically. Instead, I'd like for things to happen when users make some action. I may be using the wrong terminology.

I imagine many slides. As examples, clicking a button might play a scale or chord, and the student would identify it; or the student might move notes on a staff according to some instructions, hearing the result when correct. Each slide would advance to the next when the user clicks to direct that.

For some questions, there is a right answer that could be scored. For others, the student might hum a pitch and then click an image to hear whether they have it right. They could then click "yes" or "no" to track their progress. So it's individual practice, but with some measured result -- "correct/incorrect" is probably enough to calculate.

Thanks for any help!

Monica

[StevePixel]

Hi Monica ,

If I am understanding you correctly then the answer is yes and no. The first two paragraphs would be easy to implement with Captivate The issue is with the scoring. The way Captivate creates test scores is in a separate scoring slide, I don't think it easily, or even maybe not at all, break out into certain scorable question/answer sections for an individual question. You could do it, but it wouldn't work well from an instructional perspective as it would have to keep going back to the question slide. 

There would be a way to simulate the question and answer scenario using Advanced Actions, but it would not track the scores and all of this would require a fairly good understanding of variables and Advanced Actions. You mentioned you were a noob, so something to take into consideration.  I use most of the Adobe Creative Suite and of them all, Captivate would be the best one for your purposes, it just wouldn't have the scores.

Cheers,
Steve

[Lilybiri · Accepted solution]

Sorry to interrupt your conversation with Steve. I already see some misunderstanding popping up in your original question which is worrying to me: I want something that is purely interactive -- no timeline necessary.

Timeline is essential in Captivate, and a lot of users do not understand its importance. Interactivity in Captivate is linked with that timeline, because you have the opportunity to pause the timeline using interactive objects or slide events. Based on my long experiences as trainer, consultant for Captivate (will not talk about the thousands of answers I give on this forum), recently I wrote an article about the three stumbling blocks for newbies. You will see that Timeline is by far the first of them.

Challenges for Starters - Captivate blog

I have quite a lot of examples on my blog, interactive tutorials, although very small ones. How to use audio is another subject that you'll find in several posts (I am a professional musician as well).  Here is an old one, illustrating what normally is meant by 'interactive tutorial', because there is a lot of misunderstanding about that word; you will see why the timeline is so important

Playtime with Audio and Widgets - Captivate blog

If you ask me whether Captivate is ideal for music tutorials, I would hesitate however, because it doesn't have a way to capture what the user is playing or singing. Do not forget that the hardware needed for correct interpretation of sound is a factor that is underestimated, and that having good quality audio in courses means that you often end up with large files. Not everyone can hear the difference between a WAV and a MP3 file as I do, and the way compression has to happen will define the quality.

Please do read some of my blog posts, and if you have more questions, fire away.

[Monica3734]

Hi Lieve (and thanks, Steve) -

Thank you! I've been reading through your blog -- extremely comprehensive -- and trying to wrap my brain around the program's capabilities. You are correct that the timeline is hard for me to grasp.

Can I make an object play a sound and pause, both, when clicked? Or do I have to make one object, which makes another one appear (another slide?) and the appearance of that object causes the sound/pause to occur?

(By the way, a couple of links in your "Playtime with Audio and Widgets" are broken.)

For music, what I'm thinking of making would not require recognition of the user's singing/playing. That is more for self-checking -- sing first, then click an object to hear the correct pitch.

Is there another program that would be better to use for this kind of project?

Thank you again!!

Monica

[Lilybiri]

I copy a sentence from my blog post about Pausing TImeline:

Object audio: will be paused by the strict command Pause, but not by a pausing point! There is no workaround for this behavior for a Pausing point.

This means that you pause an object that is moving (I don't know why you would have to pause that object in other situations) AND the audio which is attached to that object, by using Pause.

What you want can be done with Captivate.

I will check the links in that old blog post. It is a lot of working hours trying to keep everything online (besides what I have to pay for it).

[Monica3734]

Is that the "pause" on the user's end?

Meanwhile, I am having a hard time getting Captivate to accept audio files exported from Finale. It keeps saying the .wav files are invalid. I have to export from Finale to Midi to MP3, which usually works. Could be a Finale issue.

One more: Can I lock in parameters somehow? I'm using an 11" laptop and every time the curser slides over the "properties" it makes changes!

Thanks!

[Lilybiri]

You need to trigger the command 'Pause'. If you use the default playbar, there is a Pause button which is doing exactly that. If you want a custom button, it needs to trigger the command 'Pause'. It is explained in that article.

Did you try to import the WAV files to the Library? I have no longer a license for Finale, cannot test. It is always better to import WAV than to compress to MP3.

I don't understand your last question. What do you mean by 'lock in parameters'?

[Monica3734]

Thank you. I am reading your blog, watching tutorials, and still the program is driving me CRAZY!!!

The audio file seems to be a problem with Finale. There is a $150 upgrade that would probably fix it. It seems there's more than one type of WAV file, and Captivate doesn't like the old Finale kind. When I've exported to midi and then go to audio, I can select a better .wav and Captivate recognizes that.

The basic formatting is now the problem. My last question was about the "Properties" on the right side of the screen. I'm using a small computer with a touch-pad. When I move the cursor across the Properties panel to select something and/or scroll, anything the cursor even moves over -- without clicking! -- is changed (fonts, colors, backgrounds, actions, anything). I wish it could just keep the settings locked in until/unless I CLICK into one of the panels.

I've been working for at least an hour on a stupid little formatting issue in a multiple choice. Answers are do, ré, mi, etc. including flats. "Re" (the answer to the first question) came out smaller than all the other answers in preview. I checked everything compared with the other answers, and the formatting was the same. I deleted it, replaced it, copied another one into it, etc. etc. --- still smaller. Finally I deleted it, dragged down "Doh" and called it Re, created a new Doh -- and now the Doh is smaller!!!!! I'm pulling my hair out .... It looks fine on the back end, just the preview is wrong.

[Lilybiri]

Captivate has a UI with a lot in it. I do use it sometimes on a small screen (Surface Pro 4) but never with a touch pad, and never for a long time. It should be a pain, I understand, but that is due to your hardware at the first place. At least replace that touch pad by a mouse, which gives you more control.

Whatever marketing tells, CP is not an application you can just jump in and start using, this is the cause of your frustrations. Same could be said for applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, Audition. Depending on the way you are learning, the mostly very basic video tutorials can not be sufficient. Once you get the basics, videos, blogs can help.

[RodWard]

With regard to importing an WAV file into Captivate:

The solution is to check the format of your audio files and make sure they are 16 bit PCM, not 24 bit or 32 bit. 

[StevePixel]

Hey Lieve,

Happy to pass this one over to you-Musician and Captivate Expert. Monica is in fine hands!

Cheers,

Steve