vocalstim

About vocalstim

vocalstim is a timing game for people who sing along in their heads. You press play and the song's intro starts, with a clock running from the first note. Before the singer comes in, the music fades out, but the clock keeps going, and you have to keep the song going in your mind and hit Stop at the moment the vocals would start.

Then the game plays the real moment the voice comes in and shows your stop against it on two waveforms. Each song is worth up to 1,000 points, with 250 more for a bullseye, and songs with longer silences before the singing get more leeway. There are three songs a day, and new ones arrive every midnight. A practice song shows the idea before your first go.

You can play without an account; signing in by email link or Google keeps your streak and stats across devices. Past days can be played any time but do not count toward your streak. The songs play through YouTube's player, and vocalstim itself sets no cookies.

How to play vocalstim

1. Open vocalstim.app and press Play today's songs, or try the practice song first.
2. Listen to the intro; the clock starts with the song.
3. When the music fades out, keep the song going in your head.
4. Press Stop, or the space bar, at the moment the vocals would start.
5. Hear the real vocal entry, see how close you were and move on to the next of the day's three songs.

Tips

• Tap along with the beat during the intro so you keep time after the fade.
• Count bars: many intros are four or eight bars long before the singer comes in.
• Do not rush: a long silence gets more leeway, but stopping early still costs points.
• On iPhone and iPad the music simply stops rather than fading, so start counting straight away.

Questions