deadmanlsh
Regular
Auditory Cubing Notation
Introduction (You can skip this without missing any important information):
I was trying to memorise some algorithms the other day and realised that reading the notation is quite cumbersome at times. I chiefly use visual memory (yes, not muscle memory, so my TPS is rather low for my times), so I prefer to be able to look at my cube while I execute them. Hence I usually say out the notation a few moves in advance to hold them in my memory. But all the "prime"s and "two"s often disrupt the flow of speech, resulting in me saying things like "R U R U" when it's really R U R' U'.
When scrambling, I formed a habit of saying the moves out by mouthing them, mentally saying them or actually saying them out loud. However, I usually leave out the "prime"s and "two"s out most of the time, because honestly, the fingers can scramble faster than I can say them.
That is what I noticed of the widely-used notation scheme. While easy to comprehend, it's not very convenient when trying to speak them out physically or in my mind. So I decided to come up with a simple system to make saying out the notation easier.
How it works:
Although I said "come up with a simple system", I really didn't do much. The new system has zero compression of information, meaning each move has single-syllable sound instead of combining multiple moves to form a sound, so as to speak.
Moreover, the system does not require the learning of anything new other than the written notation; in fact, in its purest form, it's simpler than the current notation. Without further ado, allow me to show you how we can make saying out the notation simpler. It's so simple you'll probably feel cheated at how I made you read this wall of text.
Basically, for normal moves, add "a (ah)", for inverses, add "i (ee)" and for double moves, add "u (oo)" to the back of the moves to make a single-syllable sound. This is with the exception of the U layer, where we drop the consonant completely. For example, R U R' U' will become "Ra-a-Ri-i" and R' F R F' will become "Ri-Fa-Ra-Fi". For MES slice moves, the same applies, but replace the "E" with "N", so we can distinguish between E' and U'. For rotations, add "l" after adding the vowel (for disambiguation for y') and the vowel for x will be "sh (as in 'sheet')". For wide turns and layer turns on big cubes, I have no simple solution. Below is a list of consonants and vowels for these two special cases.
Consonants:
1: Silent/none
2: T
3: Thr
4: F
5: V (since "five" has a "v")
6: S
7: J (a random consonant. I would say "j" looks close enough to a rotated or a badly-written "7")
8: M (a random consonant. Maybe "8" cut into half looks like an "m"?)
9: N
Wide turns:
"o (oh)"
Layer turns:
"ae (as in 'rat')"
This should cover all cubes in physical existence for now (10 + 1 + 10 = 21). What you need to do is to add the sound in front of the normal (narrow?) version of the move (i.e. Rw becomes "o-Ra", r in cubes bigger than 3x3 becomes "ae-Ra"). For 3x3, I would say just saying two syllables is easier, making Rw (or more commonly "r" since there's no ambiguity in 3x3) become "Mi-Ra" (M' and R executed together).
Advantages:
First of all, it makes spoken notation much more fluid. This means it is easier to get a rhythm going, which I think can help memorisation as well. Moreover, relaying algorithms and scrambles can be faster and less confusing. It only requires you to know the notation that we already have, with the exception of wide turns and slice turns of cubes bigger than the 3x3.
The reason why I chose the vowels may already be evident to you. You may have seen "Ri" instead of "R'" on some sites and "u" just comes from "two". It's an intuitive way to learn the system, so grasping a hold of it shouldn't be too hard for beginners and experts alike. It will come naturally if you just apply it frequently enough.
Possible Improvements:
Wide turns and slice turns. I don't think it's very helpful, it's just there for the sake of completeness, almost, even though it may be the most helpful of it all if I had a better system.
Also, L and R can be a little difficult to differentiate. Just ask the Japanese, who only have "R", or Koreans, who only have "L". Somehow the Chinese have both. It's better if the system can be used by people speaking different languages. I already adapted some vowels and consonants for wide turns and slice turns for English-speaking users instead of other ones which are more intuitive/obvious for me, but it's best if anyone from anywhere can use them.
I'm not sure what would be the most convenient system for most people. Maybe using different vowels and consonants may be more intuitive or faster for some people. Maybe I've made some contradictions/mistakes in the system. Maybe I left some other cases out. Maybe just saying out the notations as it is faster and easier. Maybe this system is completely useless and a waste of time without any benefits. Suggestions are welcome. So are criticisms.
Suggestions by you all:
Seems like many of you (by "many" I mean two, for now at least) prefer using the consonant "W" over dropping the consonant for U. I think it's a good idea. However, there is a small problem of "W" being a little similar to "R", especially in "RI"/"WI". If you just relax your tongue for "R", it becomes very similar to "W". Imagine 2GLL, where all algs can be executed in two-gen. Try saying this out a few times: R U R' U R' U' R U R' U' R2 U' R2 U R U2' R' U2 R. I think in this case, it's better without the "W", since it reduces mouth movement, which is important since it increases speaking speed. Still a good suggestion I will ponder over.
Conclusion:
I've just spent my time coming up with a simple system for a spoken cubing notation. That is all.
Below are tables of 1-to-1 conversions of the moves.
A very similar idea has been explored unbeknownst to me years ago by qqwref.
Introduction (You can skip this without missing any important information):
I was trying to memorise some algorithms the other day and realised that reading the notation is quite cumbersome at times. I chiefly use visual memory (yes, not muscle memory, so my TPS is rather low for my times), so I prefer to be able to look at my cube while I execute them. Hence I usually say out the notation a few moves in advance to hold them in my memory. But all the "prime"s and "two"s often disrupt the flow of speech, resulting in me saying things like "R U R U" when it's really R U R' U'.
When scrambling, I formed a habit of saying the moves out by mouthing them, mentally saying them or actually saying them out loud. However, I usually leave out the "prime"s and "two"s out most of the time, because honestly, the fingers can scramble faster than I can say them.
That is what I noticed of the widely-used notation scheme. While easy to comprehend, it's not very convenient when trying to speak them out physically or in my mind. So I decided to come up with a simple system to make saying out the notation easier.
How it works:
Although I said "come up with a simple system", I really didn't do much. The new system has zero compression of information, meaning each move has single-syllable sound instead of combining multiple moves to form a sound, so as to speak.
Moreover, the system does not require the learning of anything new other than the written notation; in fact, in its purest form, it's simpler than the current notation. Without further ado, allow me to show you how we can make saying out the notation simpler. It's so simple you'll probably feel cheated at how I made you read this wall of text.
Basically, for normal moves, add "a (ah)", for inverses, add "i (ee)" and for double moves, add "u (oo)" to the back of the moves to make a single-syllable sound. This is with the exception of the U layer, where we drop the consonant completely. For example, R U R' U' will become "Ra-a-Ri-i" and R' F R F' will become "Ri-Fa-Ra-Fi". For MES slice moves, the same applies, but replace the "E" with "N", so we can distinguish between E' and U'. For rotations, add "l" after adding the vowel (for disambiguation for y') and the vowel for x will be "sh (as in 'sheet')". For wide turns and layer turns on big cubes, I have no simple solution. Below is a list of consonants and vowels for these two special cases.
Consonants:
1: Silent/none
2: T
3: Thr
4: F
5: V (since "five" has a "v")
6: S
7: J (a random consonant. I would say "j" looks close enough to a rotated or a badly-written "7")
8: M (a random consonant. Maybe "8" cut into half looks like an "m"?)
9: N
Wide turns:
"o (oh)"
Layer turns:
"ae (as in 'rat')"
This should cover all cubes in physical existence for now (10 + 1 + 10 = 21). What you need to do is to add the sound in front of the normal (narrow?) version of the move (i.e. Rw becomes "o-Ra", r in cubes bigger than 3x3 becomes "ae-Ra"). For 3x3, I would say just saying two syllables is easier, making Rw (or more commonly "r" since there's no ambiguity in 3x3) become "Mi-Ra" (M' and R executed together).
Advantages:
First of all, it makes spoken notation much more fluid. This means it is easier to get a rhythm going, which I think can help memorisation as well. Moreover, relaying algorithms and scrambles can be faster and less confusing. It only requires you to know the notation that we already have, with the exception of wide turns and slice turns of cubes bigger than the 3x3.
The reason why I chose the vowels may already be evident to you. You may have seen "Ri" instead of "R'" on some sites and "u" just comes from "two". It's an intuitive way to learn the system, so grasping a hold of it shouldn't be too hard for beginners and experts alike. It will come naturally if you just apply it frequently enough.
Possible Improvements:
Wide turns and slice turns. I don't think it's very helpful, it's just there for the sake of completeness, almost, even though it may be the most helpful of it all if I had a better system.
Also, L and R can be a little difficult to differentiate. Just ask the Japanese, who only have "R", or Koreans, who only have "L". Somehow the Chinese have both. It's better if the system can be used by people speaking different languages. I already adapted some vowels and consonants for wide turns and slice turns for English-speaking users instead of other ones which are more intuitive/obvious for me, but it's best if anyone from anywhere can use them.
I'm not sure what would be the most convenient system for most people. Maybe using different vowels and consonants may be more intuitive or faster for some people. Maybe I've made some contradictions/mistakes in the system. Maybe I left some other cases out. Maybe just saying out the notations as it is faster and easier. Maybe this system is completely useless and a waste of time without any benefits. Suggestions are welcome. So are criticisms.
Suggestions by you all:
Seems like many of you (by "many" I mean two, for now at least) prefer using the consonant "W" over dropping the consonant for U. I think it's a good idea. However, there is a small problem of "W" being a little similar to "R", especially in "RI"/"WI". If you just relax your tongue for "R", it becomes very similar to "W". Imagine 2GLL, where all algs can be executed in two-gen. Try saying this out a few times: R U R' U R' U' R U R' U' R2 U' R2 U R U2' R' U2 R. I think in this case, it's better without the "W", since it reduces mouth movement, which is important since it increases speaking speed. Still a good suggestion I will ponder over.
Conclusion:
I've just spent my time coming up with a simple system for a spoken cubing notation. That is all.
Below are tables of 1-to-1 conversions of the moves.
[table="width: 250, class: grid"]
[tr]
[td]Vowel[/td]
[td]Pronunciation[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]A[/td]
[td]"ah"[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]I[/td]
[td]"ee"[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]U[/td]
[td]"oo"[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]O[/td]
[td]"oh"[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]AE[/td]
[td]"rat"[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
[table="width: 500, class: grid"]
[tr]
[td]Rotations[/td]
[td]Clockwise[/td]
[td]Anticlockwise[/td]
[td]180 Degrees[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]x[/td]
[td]SHAL[/td]
[td]SHIL[/td]
[td]SHUL[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]y[/td]
[td]YAL[/td]
[td]YIL[/td]
[td]YUL[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]z[/td]
[td]ZAL[/td]
[td]ZIL[/td]
[td]ZUL[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
[table="width: 500, class: grid"]
[tr]
[td]Face Turns[/td]
[td]Clockwise[/td]
[td]Anticlockwise[/td]
[td]180 Degrees[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]U[/td]
[td]A[/td]
[td]I[/td]
[td]U[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]F[/td]
[td]FA[/td]
[td]FI[/td]
[td]FU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]R[/td]
[td]RA[/td]
[td]RI[/td]
[td]RU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]D[/td]
[td]DA[/td]
[td]DI[/td]
[td]DU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]B[/td]
[td]BA[/td]
[td]BI[/td]
[td]BU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]L[/td]
[td]LA[/td]
[td]LI[/td]
[td]LU[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
[table="width: 500, class: grid"]
[tr]
[td]Slice Turns (3x3)[/td]
[td]Clockwise[/td]
[td]Anticlockwise[/td]
[td]180 Degrees[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]M[/td]
[td]MA[/td]
[td]MI[/td]
[td]MU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]E[/td]
[td]NA[/td]
[td]NI[/td]
[td]NU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]S[/td]
[td]S[/td]
[td]SI[/td]
[td]SU[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
[table="width: 500, class: grid"]
[tr]
[td]Wide Turns[/td]
[td]Clockwise[/td]
[td]Anticlockwise[/td]
[td]180 Degrees[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Uw[/td]
[td]O-A[/td]
[td]O-I[/td]
[td]O-U[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Fw[/td]
[td]O-FA[/td]
[td]O-FI[/td]
[td]O-FU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Rw[/td]
[td]O-RA[/td]
[td]O-RI[/td]
[td]O-RU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Dw[/td]
[td]O-DA[/td]
[td]O-DI[/td]
[td]O-DU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Bw[/td]
[td]O-BA[/td]
[td]O-BI[/td]
[td]O-BU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Lw[/td]
[td]O-LA[/td]
[td]O-LI[/td]
[td]O-LU[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
Add the following in front of "O", with respect to the number of layers turned.
[table="width: 250,class: grid"]
[tr]
[td]Number of Layers[/td]
[td]Consonant[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]1[/td]
[td]None[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]2[/td]
[td]T[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]3[/td]
[td]THR[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]4[/td]
[td]F[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]5[/td]
[td]V[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]6[/td]
[td]S[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]7[/td]
[td]J[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]8[/td]
[td]M[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]9[/td]
[td]N[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
e.g. 3Fw: TO-FA (2 inner layers are turned)
[table="width: 500, class: grid"]
[tr]
[td]Inner Slice Turns[/td]
[td]Clockwise[/td]
[td]Anticlockwise[/td]
[td]180 Degrees[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]u/2U[/td]
[td]AE-A[/td]
[td]AE-I[/td]
[td]AE-U[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]f/2F[/td]
[td]AE-FA[/td]
[td]AE-FI[/td]
[td]AE-FU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]r/2R[/td]
[td]AE-RA[/td]
[td]AE-RI[/td]
[td]AE-RU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]d/2D[/td]
[td]AE-DA[/td]
[td]AE-DI[/td]
[td]AE-DU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]b/2B[/td]
[td]AE-BA[/td]
[td]AE-BI[/td]
[td]AE-BU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]l/2L[/td]
[td]AE-LA[/td]
[td]AE-LI[/td]
[td]AE-LU[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
For other layers, refer to the syllable table for wide turns. Append consonant in front of "AE".
e.g. 2r/3R: TAE-RA (the 2nd inner layer is turned)
[tr]
[td]Vowel[/td]
[td]Pronunciation[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]A[/td]
[td]"ah"[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]I[/td]
[td]"ee"[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]U[/td]
[td]"oo"[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]O[/td]
[td]"oh"[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]AE[/td]
[td]"rat"[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
[table="width: 500, class: grid"]
[tr]
[td]Rotations[/td]
[td]Clockwise[/td]
[td]Anticlockwise[/td]
[td]180 Degrees[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]x[/td]
[td]SHAL[/td]
[td]SHIL[/td]
[td]SHUL[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]y[/td]
[td]YAL[/td]
[td]YIL[/td]
[td]YUL[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]z[/td]
[td]ZAL[/td]
[td]ZIL[/td]
[td]ZUL[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
[table="width: 500, class: grid"]
[tr]
[td]Face Turns[/td]
[td]Clockwise[/td]
[td]Anticlockwise[/td]
[td]180 Degrees[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]U[/td]
[td]A[/td]
[td]I[/td]
[td]U[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]F[/td]
[td]FA[/td]
[td]FI[/td]
[td]FU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]R[/td]
[td]RA[/td]
[td]RI[/td]
[td]RU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]D[/td]
[td]DA[/td]
[td]DI[/td]
[td]DU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]B[/td]
[td]BA[/td]
[td]BI[/td]
[td]BU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]L[/td]
[td]LA[/td]
[td]LI[/td]
[td]LU[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
[table="width: 500, class: grid"]
[tr]
[td]Slice Turns (3x3)[/td]
[td]Clockwise[/td]
[td]Anticlockwise[/td]
[td]180 Degrees[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]M[/td]
[td]MA[/td]
[td]MI[/td]
[td]MU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]E[/td]
[td]NA[/td]
[td]NI[/td]
[td]NU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]S[/td]
[td]S[/td]
[td]SI[/td]
[td]SU[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
[table="width: 500, class: grid"]
[tr]
[td]Wide Turns[/td]
[td]Clockwise[/td]
[td]Anticlockwise[/td]
[td]180 Degrees[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Uw[/td]
[td]O-A[/td]
[td]O-I[/td]
[td]O-U[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Fw[/td]
[td]O-FA[/td]
[td]O-FI[/td]
[td]O-FU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Rw[/td]
[td]O-RA[/td]
[td]O-RI[/td]
[td]O-RU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Dw[/td]
[td]O-DA[/td]
[td]O-DI[/td]
[td]O-DU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Bw[/td]
[td]O-BA[/td]
[td]O-BI[/td]
[td]O-BU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Lw[/td]
[td]O-LA[/td]
[td]O-LI[/td]
[td]O-LU[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
Add the following in front of "O", with respect to the number of layers turned.
[table="width: 250,class: grid"]
[tr]
[td]Number of Layers[/td]
[td]Consonant[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]1[/td]
[td]None[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]2[/td]
[td]T[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]3[/td]
[td]THR[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]4[/td]
[td]F[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]5[/td]
[td]V[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]6[/td]
[td]S[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]7[/td]
[td]J[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]8[/td]
[td]M[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]9[/td]
[td]N[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
e.g. 3Fw: TO-FA (2 inner layers are turned)
[table="width: 500, class: grid"]
[tr]
[td]Inner Slice Turns[/td]
[td]Clockwise[/td]
[td]Anticlockwise[/td]
[td]180 Degrees[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]u/2U[/td]
[td]AE-A[/td]
[td]AE-I[/td]
[td]AE-U[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]f/2F[/td]
[td]AE-FA[/td]
[td]AE-FI[/td]
[td]AE-FU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]r/2R[/td]
[td]AE-RA[/td]
[td]AE-RI[/td]
[td]AE-RU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]d/2D[/td]
[td]AE-DA[/td]
[td]AE-DI[/td]
[td]AE-DU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]b/2B[/td]
[td]AE-BA[/td]
[td]AE-BI[/td]
[td]AE-BU[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]l/2L[/td]
[td]AE-LA[/td]
[td]AE-LI[/td]
[td]AE-LU[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
For other layers, refer to the syllable table for wide turns. Append consonant in front of "AE".
e.g. 2r/3R: TAE-RA (the 2nd inner layer is turned)
A very similar idea has been explored unbeknownst to me years ago by qqwref.
Last edited:
I like the notation, but there are two think I think could be improved. Firstly, as other people have said, having a letter for U. I think T would be good. Secondly, I think M and N could be misheard quite easily, because they're similar sounds, so maybe you could use another letter instead of N?
