Freeware site

Deutsche Fassung: hier klicken.

This page currently replaces the “provisional Estiminter homepage” as download site for all Java gratis software (conditions see below) authored by me.

Dr. Alexander Scheutzow, Berliner Str. 20, 68161 Mannheim, Germany, freelance developer, German VAT ID DE247447001. Contact me by email to the address .

The programs are

• Estiminter 1.06
• InZipBrowser 1.13
• MidiZyx2abc 7.03
• SonneLematine 3.01
• Stereopteryx 2.08
• TastoRagno 1.04
• VocisMagis 4.04

For any desire of contact, please use the email address .

If you or any acquaintances of yours happen to make music, you might be interested in my commercial product MidiCond as well, which you can find at http://www.midicond.de/index_en.html.

Estiminter

Estiminter is a special sort of quiz game for two persons sitting at a single computer keyboard. A number or a date must be enclosed in intervals of decreasing size; the winner is who estimates best.

As an outstanding feature, data from arbitrary database sources can be used, but self-made text files will do as well. You form questions containing placeholders, such as “When was [first_name] [surname] born?”, for which you obtain as many concrete questions as the associated table of persons has rows. The triple number of questions can be generated for that table—assuming, it contains dates of birth and death—by additionally asking for the latter and for the length of life.

A set about states (see image) is included ready for playing. The display will be in English if your Java locale suggests so, but the integrated user's help is currently only in German. Please view the English tutorial here or download the zipped version here.

Estiminter historically stems from a database utility, whence it is not optimized for use by the general public. Currently, I am collecting votes for a completely new version, easier to operate and with English help texts. It might do without database access, rather use local csv files only. Please mail me your wishes; in particular, tell me what you would consider an ideal connection between game and data. As soon as the 50th serious mail arrives, I will start working.

Conditions and download: see below (or click here).

InZipBrowser

The InZipBrowser is a tool to display and surf HTML pages within Zip files that are accessible from the local file system, usually offline. The most important use case is reading those many documentation packages of exactly that format, which need no longer be unzipped.

Good usability at minimal size was the design goal.

The InZipBrowser needs no installation, writes neither registry entries nor files, not even temporary ones, does not access the internet and calls no other programs. It uses the Java HTML mechanism, replugged only at few spots.

For the case that no legible results are obtained by that, the display can be switched to dispense with CSS, or even to surfable source code. Because of the overwhelming popularity of the latter function it has been extended and refined continuously.

Conditions and download: see below (or click here).

MidiZyx2abc

MidiZyx2abc converts Standard MIDI Files (“*.mid”) to ABC music notation code, in the tradition of other “midi2abc” converters. Typical use cases are multi-part scores and music with lyrics. The progam particularly cares for the orthography of accidentals. Additionally, it allows you to use your conventional MIDI sequencer or notation software to add those features of ABC for which there is no canonical equivalent in MIDI files, e.g. dynamic indications, repeat signs, clefs, slurs, and various ornaments. For this purpose, MidiZyx2abc abuses ordinary MIDI text events.

Special services include support for transposing instruments, scores and parts, administering variants according to user-named cases, cue notes (see picture), etc.

The software can be used in two ways: to open a window with a menu bar, or in command mode, e.g. plugged into popular ABC software. The picture above shows MidiZyx2abc in conjunction with the ABC notation freeware “abcm2ps”

Notably, MidiZyx2abc can be very helpful combined with Wim Vree's nifty gratis tool “abc2xml” to produce full-fledged files in the current universal music notation format MusicXML even from (legacy) notation software that can only export its proprietary file format and MIDI files.

New since version 7.01: Direct call of abc2xml, without a batch file, without typing a command.

All published versions of MidiZyx2abc are downwards compatible. I am still waiting to read from you about your personal experiences and wishes.

Click here to read more, leading to a page with an exact copy of the help text.

Conditions and download: see below (or click here).

Being a musical person, you are probably interested in my larger project MidiCond. Read more about it on the web site http://www.midicond.de/index_en.html.

SonneLematine

SonneLematine allows you to sing, play, or whistle canons with yourself (the popular genre commonly called round, such as “Three Blind Mice”). That is to say, you produce the music only once as the first voice, while the other voices will sound from your headphones or speakers, seemingly from various directions. What you hear is actually what you generated yourself only seconds before!

The result, a full-voiced round all of your making, can be replayed with an arbitrary number of repetitions. If you are satisfied, you can save it as an audio file. Such files can be played, burnt onto Audio CDs, reprocessed (reverb ...), and compressed, using common standard software tools.

SonneLematine expressly wants to address persons even with very little computer experience. The user help (English or German) should assist you at any level of technical or musical proficiency. Children just starting to sing, composers, merrymakers, teachers (general education, music, languages ...), audio gurus, creativity freaks, high-browers, persons keen to profess their convictions, and many other seemingly incompatible mentalities are equally served by SonneLematine!

Apart from the general requirements mentioned below, you need a microphone and either headphones or loudspeakers; built-in or cheaply available devices will do for want of the real thing. Your computer must have the respective sockets; use an adapter if necessary. A processor frequency of 500 MHz at least is recommended, with audio components of corresponding performance.

New since version 2.00: SonneLematine can now be commanded to produce less voices than a canon would allow mathematically. Or, put inversely: to deal with canons that are longer than given by the distance between two voice entries multiplied by the number of voices.

New since version 3.00: You can produce sound files starting with the complete piece in unison, followed by the multi-voiced version. Furthermore, SonneLematine can now save sets of settings, named e.g. with the titles of the respective rounds, and reactivate them as desired.

New in version 3.01: A recording that has been saved as a single voice can be reloaded, e.g. for training purposes.

Conditions and download: see below (or click here).

Being a musical person, you are probably interested in my larger project MidiCond. Read more about it on the web site http://www.midicond.de/index_en.html.

Stereopteryx

Stereopteryx (please do not write “Stereopterix”!) provides a stereoscopic view on stereo image pairs of arbitrary size, in particular photographs and results of raytracing. You need a computer, a monitor and a mouse or similar device, no additional hardware! One may call Stereopteryx a software stereoscope.

The method employed gives you a natural visional impression (as opposed to cross-eyed viewing). The computational eye distance can always be easily adjusted not only to your anatomy, but also to possible problems of getting started. Thus the threshold is particularly low.

Using the mouse, you can move the area of stereoscopic effect across the whole image. Furthermore, you can zoom quickly (e.g. using the mouse wheel) between detail and overall view, without losing the stereoscopic vision.

The user help (English or German, “worth reading” according to the German magazine c't) comprises a tutorial about acquiring stereo image pairs in various ways. It is directed at newbies as well as old graphic buffs.

New in version 2.08: Better compatibility with various operating systems and language environments.

An addictivity warning must be issued here. Please see to sufficient sleep between your Stereopteryx sessions!

Conditions and download: see below (or click here).

TastoRagno

Solitaire game similar to the one known as Spider Solitaire, rigorously designed for ergonomics, aimed at ambitious players (to avoid the word addicts). Full keyboard operation should facilitate the gameplay at least physically, in the long run: Instead of bustling with the mouse, your fingers can rest on the middle keyboard row.

The trapezoid shape of the cards is meant to help you recognize any gaps in a series.

Italian “tasto ragno” can be translated “spider key”.

Conditions and download: see below (or click here).

VocisMagis

Home training device for ensemble singers or instrumentalists who want to learn their part using a MIDI file. A sort of Missing Link between “vanBasco's Karaoke Player” and MidiCond. Visual effects such as display of lyrics have intentionally been dispensed with, in order to encourage working with the sheet music.

For your voice part, you can choose its relative loudness freely, and change its sound. Also, the tempo can be adjusted in relation to the original tempo. Other functions include transposition, loops, fermata immediately or at your next note, an acoustic metronome, acoustic count-in, and user-defined named positions or loops. The language of the user interface can be chosen among English, German, or French.

New since version 4.00: The user interface was redesigned entirely for better ergonomics.

Users of ancient MacOS versions may need an additional programme, e.g. “MMJ” or “Mandolane”. Consult the Apple homepage if necessary.

Latin “vocis magis” can mean “more of the voice”.

Conditions and download: see below (or click here).

System requirements

The products will run under any operating system for which a full Java (see below) exists, including—no guarantee—

• Windows 98 SE or later
• Mac OS X or later
• Linux, Solaris, Unix

In addition you need the Java Runtime, version 1.6.0 (alias 6.0) or higher, which is preinstalled on many computers and otherwise available free of charge. You can find out whether you have that already by typing

      java -version

to a command line (alias “shell” or “terminal”; in Windows: Start → “cmd”). If an error or a lower number is reported, you will find what you need easily on the website https://www.java.com. At least 256 MB of RAM are required by Stereopteryx and recommended for the other products.

Starting the programs usually works by doubleclicking the respective .jar file, or by right-clicking and selecting something like “Open with Java”, or by entering the command “java -jar ***.jar”, the asterisks suitably replaced. (A command line window that stayed open while you installed Java will not yet be up-to-date; use a fresh one.) In rare emergencies try “java -jar -Xmx200m ***.jar”.

Neither of these products will nest into your system (“installation”), access the internet, or call other programs. An exception from the latter assertion is MidiZyx2abc calling abc2xml if so configured by the user.

Conditions, download

Each of the products must neither be altered in any way, nor renamed. You are not allowed to extract or copy parts thereof, neither in unchanged nor changed form.

You may pass the files to personal acquaintances free of charge. They must not be published in any medium without my written consent (requests are welcome). All rights are reserved, including idea and realisation.

Before downloading, please read the above paragraph on system requirements.

Note: It may take quite a while until your requested download shows up. Please be patient, do not repeat your click immediately!

Get rid of your requests, error reports, complaints, gratitude etc. via the mail address mentioned above.

Have fun and success!