Making ring tones

Subject: Making ring tones
From: pavane
Date: 28 Sep 03 - 04:06 AM

As an experiment, I have added to HARMONY (But not yet released) the ability to convert tunes, including abc files, to mobile phone ring tones. This works by displaying the sequence of keys to press in the COMPOSER function of my phone.

I have two questions

1: Is this something which would be useful to keep in the program for general use

2: Do different phones use the same system as my Nokia for encoding notes from the keypad?

( 1=C, 2=D etc, 8 = shorter note, 9=longer, * = octave, # = sharp)

A tune then looks like this: 6*9 588 3 2 1 29 2 6 68 7 (Spaces just shown to separate notes for clarity)

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From:
Date: 28 Sep 03 - 07:10 AM

Nearly 30 years ago, there were two books, sadly out of print I think, which were how to make tunes with Touch-Tone(TM) phones.

I've lost them, but it was fun at the time.

I vote to keep it in!

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: pavane
Date: 28 Sep 03 - 03:08 PM

I will keep it in, then, but not sure if it only works for Nokia phones, or if others use the same system. Can someone let me know?

(I now have My Johnny was a Shoemaker as my ring tone.)

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: running.hare
Date: 28 Sep 03 - 06:33 PM

My phone's composer has a stave & the different numeral keys give different lengths of note.... But I cant for the life of me work out how to change the note (e.g pitch)!!! Which makes inputing tunes imposible,
I managed a failing heart monitor though!!! @ least it's distinktive I guess :(

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: pavane
Date: 29 Sep 03 - 03:03 AM

OK so there are differences, as I expected. Lizabee, what make/model is your phone?

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: Pied Piper
Date: 29 Sep 03 - 05:56 AM

I managed to program Mrs McLeod of Raasay into my very ancient (in MP terms) Ericsson, but I've forgotten how.

TTFN
PP

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: treewind
Date: 29 Sep 03 - 08:26 AM

I think phones are all different, and the new ones that do multi part harmony must be very different! Also new ones will come out all the time, and you'll be struggling to keep up.

Is there a MIDI-over-GSM standard yet?

Anahata

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: pavane
Date: 30 Sep 03 - 03:12 AM

I don't think keeping up will be too much trouble, as it only took about an hour to knock up the Nokia version. As my program can already do multi-part harmony, that shouldn't be too difficult either. Why don't they just put a MIDI player directly into the phone - surely not too difficult, compared with video!

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 30 Sep 03 - 03:22 AM

ring tones are a big rip off.john

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: pavane
Date: 01 Oct 03 - 03:26 AM

The ones my program makes are free!

I have now added Panasonic, which uses a very different system.
I will have to carry out some research into other makes.

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: pavane
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 03:10 AM

I have released the program now, so you can try it out. Download from
http://www.greenhedges.com

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: running.hare
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 05:35 PM

Mines a Motorola

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: Blowzabella
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 07:33 PM

Mines a pint of cider!

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: hesperis
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 12:44 AM

Mine's a motorola, I think... I totally haven't figured out how to make ring tones though. I'd love this program!

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: pavane
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 08:18 AM

In order to make it work for Motorola phones, I would need to see the description from the phone's manual. If you can enter ring tones from the keypad (possibly using a menu entry called Composer), then the way to do it will be described in the book.

Maybe you could scan and send the page if so? PM me for my email address and I will be glad to try. (let me know the phone model as well)

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: Watson
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 09:10 AM

I would need to see the description from the phone's manual.
...not always possible - if you get the phone from Orange, for instance, you don't get the manufacturer's handbook - they replace it with their own, which misses out the interesting bits like composer.

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: sheila
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 10:28 AM

Watson -
We have 3 Orange phones, and as you say, they come with Orange's version of the manual - BUT - most phone maunfacturers have their manuals available on the web. I've downloaded the ones for my phones.

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: Watson
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 10:41 AM

Ditto.
Otherwise it would have taken me for ever to work out how to have Bonny at Morn for my ring tone!

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: pavane
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 10:42 AM

Well then, if you point me to the one you want, I will see what I can do.

(Not all phone have the facility though)

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: sheila
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 04:51 PM

I would love to have 'The Waters of Kylesku' as a ringtone on my Nokia - but I doubt if I'd be able to figure out how to do it. Unless there are VERY simple directions somewhere.

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: rangeroger
Date: 04 Oct 03 - 01:09 AM

I just finished reading a novel "Bangkok 8" by John Burdett about a Thai police detetctive who is a practicing Bhuddist. There was a passage in it that I thought was great and is partcularly relevant to this thread.

"I wonder if a miracle of modern technology will help me in my hour of need? I take out the Motorola that Rosen gave me and decide to change the ringing tune.I work steadily through the instructions in the manual and find that I have been given a choice of fifteen different tunes which includes the American national anthem but not that of any other country. Star Wars is the only attractive option,but I hesitate to copy Rosen. Angrily i realize that Motorola has led me down a labyrinth of apparent choice leading to a dead end. I have found the perfect paradigm of western culture,but without Pichai to share it with,who gives a shit anyway? I retun the tune to the factory setting,a perfectly acceptable bleep.Te excercise has not improved my sense of well-being."

The book is a very good detective novel with major insight into Thai culture.

rr

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: pavane
Date: 04 Oct 03 - 04:25 AM

Shiela
The instructions are not difficult. If your phone has the composer facility, it is just a matter of typing a long string of numbers and then saving it

My Johnny was a Shoemaker starts like this:

6*9 588 3 2 1 29 2 6 68 7 1*9
1 7** 7 6 6 58 3 2 1 29 2
6 68 7 1*9 1 7** 7 69

(Spaces not entered, just shown to separate the notes)

To get this, you need to find or make the tune, preferably as an abc, and load it into my program.

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: sheila
Date: 04 Oct 03 - 10:39 AM

Pavane -
I think I'm already lost!
Someday, when my brain isn't feeling overloaded, I'd love to try this.

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: pavane
Date: 04 Oct 03 - 04:43 PM

If I could sit down and show you, I am sure it would be crystal clear. Maybe I just don't describe it well.

Btw the example I gave was for the Nokia 3310 and compatibles, and taken from the first 8 bars of the 1870 version of the tune, possibly the original, not quite the same as the one currently used.

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: sheila
Date: 04 Oct 03 - 05:19 PM

I have a 3310!
I should try entering the tune you gave - if I actually manage it successfully, I'll see if I can manage 'Kylesku'.
I assume it will likely work the same way for a 3360?

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: pavane
Date: 06 Oct 03 - 03:02 AM

I believe that all older Nokia phones use the same system. (Not sure if the polyphonic ones do.)

Let me know how you get on.

It is worth noting that the display you get is NOT what you type in. Each note is show in a format like 4C2 8A3 where the first number is the length, the letter is the note, and the second number is the octave (1-3).

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: sheila
Date: 07 Oct 03 - 11:33 AM

Thanks, Pavane. It is beginning to make sense to me.
I haven't tried it yet, but I will, eventually!

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: mooman
Date: 07 Oct 03 - 11:40 AM

I have a polyphonic Siemens GSM (S55) and have succeeded in making several polyphonic ringtones for it without too much trouble using Anvil Studio but would be interested in Pavane's Harmony system.

Peace,

moo

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: pavane
Date: 07 Oct 03 - 11:47 AM

Hi Mooman,

Harmony just displays the key presses for you to enter the tune on the keypad. Of course, each manufacturer has a different system!

I don't know if it possible to enter polyphonic ring tones on the keyboard of any phone. I would be interested to see the relevant pages of the manual (Usually called Composer, Melody Composer or something similar)

My daughter has just bought a Sharp with polyphonic capability, but I haven't yet studied the manual. I do know it can use MIDI, but presume that must be downloaded from a web site somewhere.

I am not familiar with Anvil Studio, so I don't yet know what it does (I will do some research).

(Did you ever hear back from the guy who bought the melodeon?)

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: mooman
Date: 07 Oct 03 - 12:15 PM

No I didn't hear from him Pavane...guess he must be happy with it!

I used Anvil to create a multitrack midi on my laptop (you can enter notes from a virtual keyboard) and then transferred this to the GSM using the Siemens data exchange software. I guess, similarly, existing midis could be edited or adapted.

Best regards,

moo

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: pavane
Date: 08 Oct 03 - 08:35 AM

Thanks moo, & regards to you & family.

Harmony can make multitrack MIDI, so I suppose it could be done that way, but only if you have the data software.

For the time being, I will concentrate on the keypad / melody composer facility. The phone facility is easy to use, but difficult to get the tune right unless you have the list of key presses in front of you.

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 29 Jan 05 - 02:06 PM

This is an older thread but I have a new Motorola v551 cell phone. Can't figure out how to make any ring tones (or do much of anything else) and the manual is useless. Can anyone explain to me in babytalk how to add my own melody? I can get to the right screen, but all the numbers I put in end up being one long tone. (And up to now I thought I was a fairly intelligent person...)

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 30 Jan 05 - 05:51 PM

Anyone?

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: IvanB
Date: 30 Jan 05 - 07:41 PM

Barbara, we have a V551 supposed to arrive tomorrow. When it does, I'll see what headway I can make with it (even though it's my wife's, I have to make do with a lowly V180). Will let you know later in the week.

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 30 Jan 05 - 08:33 PM

Pavane, there was some discussion about this on the abc-users list about 2 or 3 years ago. I fell off the distribution a few yeats ago and can't for the life of me get back on.

Regards, John

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: pavane
Date: 31 Jan 05 - 06:03 AM

John,
I also seem to have fallen off the list, just after it recovered from that serious bout of Spam. Maybe they have a new URL now? I have been too busy with other changes to HARMONY recently.

And I lost a lot of the postings when my hard drive died recently. Everything was backed up OK except, apparently, the mail folder.

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Feb 05 - 09:30 PM

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Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: Fay
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 05:00 PM

I have two friends with unfortunate ringtone stories....

One (John) loaded extracts of all his friend's albums as their personal numbers (he knows lots of recording artists) so when they rang, their song came on. The problem with this is that he never knows it was his phone going off, he said the other day that he heard Tim on the radio, but it was just his phone - and he missed the call.

The other is Gillian who has herself recorded saying 'help, help, let me out I'm trapped in here etc.... we were recently at a funeral, well you can imagine.

Take care!
Fay xx

Subject: RE: Making ring tones
From: IvanB
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 06:56 PM

Barbara, as noted in my post above, our 551 arrived Mon. I agree with your assessment of the manual and I, too, have been unable to produce a tune from the menu instructions. We're traveling at the moment but when we settle down in a week or so I'll keep playing with it. If I have a breakthrough, I'll report it.