Window 42

=  Midi Out Devices, and Parts for Devices =

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Set which parts from the Parts window to play on which out devices

All
Set highlighted device(s) to play all parts. Shift + click to set all for all

None
Set highlighted device(s) to play no parts

Out | Opts...
Options for Midi Out...

Multiple Devices - Play all the "on" devices
Play midi out on several devices - select On for all the ones you want to use

Single Device - Play highlighted device
Play midi Out on a single device - highlight the one you want to use

MTS .TUN tables....
Here you can load .tun tuning tables or configure the MTS sysexes

All exc. mapper
Switch on all highlighted device(s) apart from Device set in Control Panel...

The Device set in Control Panel ... isn't really a separate device. It is usually set to one of the other devices. So when playing on several devices at once, it is best normally to unselect it since otherwise FTS would attempt to open it twice.

More >>
Shows this window with either more space, more options, or alternative layout

Pause
Pause playback, or continue play

Play
Play midi clip, chord progression, fractal tune or metronome..

What this plays depends on the task selected from the Tasks menu.

SHORTCUT FOR FRACTAL TUNES OR METRONOME

You can use Shift + click to fast forward...

Also Ctrl to fast forward even more. Shift multiplies the tempo by 10 and Ctrl multiplies it by 100, so the two together would play a fractal tune at for instance, 60,000 instead of 60 as the tempo. This is useful sometimes for fast forwarding through fractal tunes.

Volume
Set overall volume. Check also Bs | Play control - Volume, && Parts window...

The volume is also affected by the volume for individual parts in the Parts window. Also in the case of midi instruments you can configure the volume for windows as a whole using Bs | Play Control - Volume.

For the Waveform player (triangle wave etc), go to the Waveform Player Audio Properties window (Ctrl + 188)

For CSound instruments, you can set the overall volume in the CSound Options window (Ctrl + 168)

You can also vary the volume in Out | Options | More | Volume Remapping (Ctrl + 158) and if playing from Midi In there's another setting at In | Options | Keyboard Options | Touch (Ctrl + 91)

See also Help | FAQ - trouble shooting | Why is everything so quiet

Out Channs...
Set which midi out channels to play for each part...

You have sixteen midi channels to share out between the parts. On some devices however, the same instruments can share channels, so that you can have a flute and oboe say playing at once in the same channel, while with others you need to share the channels out between all the parts in play.

Notes at (12) equal tempered intervals with each other can all be played on the same channel. However in other tunings, unless you use tuning tables, often notes for the same part will need to be played on different channels.

How many you need to set aside for each part depends on the scale and the level of polyphony. For instance, quartertone music can be played on just two channels with the normal level of polyphony in Midi, one channel for the ordinary notes and another for the same notes a quarter tone sharp (or flat).

You can play notes in a pentatonic scale, whatever the tuning, with at most five channels without any extra limitations on polyphony. Also any octave repeating twelve note scale can be played on twelve channels with no extra polyphony limitations.

You can manage with less channels if you have less polyphony. If you have at most eight note polyphony say, then you may need only eight channels - that means polyphony involving eight separate scale degrees in octave repeating scales, as notes an octave apart can be played on the same channel. It is often good to have spare channels or so in addition to requirements, however because if you go right up to the limit of the number of channels and then change the chord, you can get pitch bend artefacts with the resonances of notes that continue to sound when they are switched off - or else they get abruptly stopped by an all sound off if you have that option selected. In that case sixteen channels would be safer for eight note chords and eight channels for four note chords - i.e. four notes ignoring any voices at octave intervals with each other.

Highlight on, rest off.
Switch on the highlighted device(s) and switch off any unhighlighted devices

Help = F1
Click for help for this window. Or F1. Other opts: Shift, Alt, Ctrl + click...

F1 or click shows the help for the current window in your web browser.

Some windows may have no help yet in which case the help icon is shown crossed out with a red line.

Shift + F1 or Shift + Click brings up the tool tips extra help window (this window) to show any extra help for a tool tip.

You can tell if a tool tip has extra help if it ends ... like this one.

Ctrl + F1 or Ctrl + click takes you to the list of keyboard shortcuts for Tune Smithy.

Alt + F1 or Alt + click (alternatively Caps lock physically held down + F1 or Click) takes you to the on-line page at the robertinventor.com web site about the current main window task - which gives a short introduction to it for newbies to the program. If there is no on-line page specific to a task, takes you to the main tune smithy page on the web site.

Since the help for Tune Smithy is currently a bit out of date and needs to be redone completely for the new 3.0 release, then you may find the on-line page for some of the newer tasks particularly useful.

Organise Windows = F2
Or F2 - Reset / save / open for individual windows, right click for cat. list...

Shows the Organise windows window - which you can use to reset all the parameters for the current window - or save them all, or open previously saved parameters for just this window. Also has a drop list of all the windows and their shortcuts.

You can also right click on this icon as a quick way to get the floating drop menu of all the Tune Smithy windows organised by category

Midi Out Dialog Star
Tip of the day - Midi Relaying category - right click for neighbouring windows...

Left click for a tip of the day in this category.

Right click to see a menu of neighbouring windows.

The neighbours are the ones you most often move to after this one or within a minute of this one, arranged by popularity.

So as you continue to use FTS, it will learn your habits, and the neighbouring windows listed here, should be the ones you most often visit after this one.