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How to play Absolute Pitch Blaster

Playing a game

1. Start the game

Begin by pressing the button . The aliens will file into place.

The first sound you hear will be a short "melody word". The first note of this melody is the target pitch that you will be listening for-- be sure to pay attention!

2. Load a missile

Press the button to load your base with a missile .

3. Make a choice

As you load a missile, the game plays a short musical sound.

Listen to hear if this sound contains the target pitch, and respond by pressing one of these three buttons:

If you do hear the target pitch, the missile is live! Press the green check button and get ready to fire!

If you do not hear the target pitch, the missile is a dud. Press the red cross button to throw it away.

If you want to hear the sound again, press the blue spiral button .

3a. Check your response

If you're not sure, look at the panel of blue buttons. If any of these blue buttons are lit up (in this example, #1 through #4 are lit) you can press that blue button to hear a musical sound which contains the target pitch.

4. Blow up an alien

If the missile is live, and you pressed the check button , you can now fire that missile at an alien .

Press the left button or right button to move your base .

When you are positioned underneath your target, press the fire button to launch the missile.

Press the button to return to Step 2.

4a. Get blown up

If you attempt to fire a dud missile, or to throw away a live missile, then the aliens will bomb your base.

When this happens, you must enter a launch code to receive a new base.

Press each of the six blue buttons to hear a musical sound.

If the sound contains the target pitch, press the green check button .

If the sound doesn't contain the target pitch, press the red cross button .

Continue with each blue button until all six sounds have been designated either yes or no .

Then press the button to submit the code.

If you have unlocked the code, you will receive a new base and a new missile .

If you have not unlocked the code, the aliens will advance a step, and you may revise the code to try again.

After your third attempt, the game will give you a hint by un-lighting the numbers which need to be changed .

5. The Saucer

Occasionally a saucer will appear. When you launch a missile at the saucer, the aliens will retreat a row. (If the aliens are already on the top row they will retreat a step.)

Keyboard shortcuts


enter - or - spacebar	X	C	V


left arrow	right arrow	up arrow	D - or - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Advancement and Ranking

When you clear a wave of aliens you are awarded a flag . As you continue to clear waves of aliens, you will get more flags. Your flag count is saved from session to session.

As you continue to play, you are promoted (or demoted) in rank according to how many missiles you launch (versus how many bases you lose). Each pitch class has six ranks:

Cadet
Warrior
Captain
Major
Admiral
Avenger

In each new game, you start at the rank you were last playing. If you finish your game at the "4th class" of any rank, the next game begins at the 1st class of the previous rank.

When you have completed the sixth rank in a pitch class, you move on to the next target pitch.

Benchmarking (click the link for instructions)

What is a Melody Word?

A Melody Word is any melody that begins with a specified pitch. By recalling the Melody Word, you can mentally "check your work" and be certain of the pitch you want to recall.

Please read this article for a complete explanation.

It is extremely important that a Melody Word be only one phrase. Although any Quicktime-recognized media file should be playable with the Melody Word menu function, it is extremely important to use only one phrase of your song. If your media file contains more than one phrase, be sure to edit it down to only one phrase before using it with Absolute Pitch Blaster.

What about multiple (random) instruments?

You can choose your default instrument (under the Options menu), but you may have noticed there is no selection for random instruments. This is deliberate!

When you reach each new pitch, the sounds of the previous pitches will automatically start to play with random instruments, while the sounds for the new pitch will continue to use your default instrument.

Menu options

Game menu

Start Game begins a new game.

Stop and Save allows you to terminate the game, saving your flag count and current rank.

Customize... brings up a screen in which you can choose weightings from available pitch classes.

Custom Game activates your custom weightings.

Benchmarks... launches the benchmarking tools.

Quit to Interval Loader closes Absolute Pitch Blaster and launches Interval Loader.

Quit to Chordfall closes Absolute Pitch Blaster and launches Chordfall.

Options menu

Auto Load, when checked on, automatically loads new missiles (except at the beginning of a new alien wave).

Auto Fire, when checked on, automatically fires live missiles after the green check button is pressed.

Piano/Guitar/Other... allows you to select the default musical instrument sound.

Melody Words... allows you to select media files as alternatives to the built-in melody words.

Slower/Normal/Faster Tones changes the speed at which tones are played.