All Windows/Metronome/Seed/New Seed (Ctrl + 3)



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Controls Common to Many Windows

Screen Shot (More)




This is what you get in the More version of this window (you use the More button to show it).

Play and record a new seed using the PC Keyboard, mouse or Midi keyboard...

How to get here

Bs | SEED, or Ctrl + 3 or via a button in many of the fractal tune main windows.

How to use this window

To make a new seed - first select Edit.

To clear the current seed ready to start a new one, use Clear, or press the Esc. key on your PC keyboard.

Then play a new seed from your PC keyboard using the keys 1, 2, 3, 4,... along the top row (continue with the other rows if you want to go higher).

Or using the mouse, click on the notes in the music keyboard picture in this window to play a new seed.

You can also play the seed from a Midi keyboard.

When you are done, press the ENTER key on your keyboard. This will end the last note. This is especially necessary if you use the With Timings check box - the last note continues until you end the note or stop using this window.

Use Play button to hear the result.

To add new notes to the end of the seed, choose Edit again and click on the new notes or play notes from the PC keyboard or Midi keyboard as before.

To remove a note from the seed, right click on it.

When you are finished, use Apply to use your new seed with the current fractal tune.

You can vary the volume as you play from mouse or PC keyboard by selecting "Vary vols by mouse pos. on key" in PC Keyboard Player - To Play (Ctrl + 24) or Ctrl + K2.

For more details especially for editing from the Midi Keyboard, see the tool tip help for the Edit button.

Seeds that go below the 1/1

If you want to record a seed that goes both ways, up and down using mouse or PC keyboard: choose Both from the Auto, Left, Right, Both drop list.

You will then be able to click below the 1/1 to add new notes, and you can play the notes from the PC keyboard using the 'a' key to play the 1/1 and rows above to play notes below the 1/1 e.g. ']' to play the note immediately below the 1/1.

From the midi keyboard, just play notes on the keyboard below middle C. If set to Auto, then the display will automatically change to show notes below the 1/1.

Part for PC keyboard
If this shows Highl. Part it plays whichever part is highlighted in Parts window...

Or the first part highlighted if it is a multiple selection.

To set this to the highlighted part, enter 0 for the part number or adjust the number downwards below 1 using the up / down control

Deg. 0: - DROP LIST
Show the 1/1 on the left, right, in the middle, or auto...

The auto option chooses between left, right, or middle depending on whether the scale to select from has only intervals above the 1/1 (usual situation), only intervals below it (e.g. subharmonic series) or both types of intervals.

Most scales will only have intervals above the 1/1, so usually Left is what you want. Sometimes when one is working with the fractal tunes one may want to make a scale which has intervals below the 1/1, or both types of interval.

The Auto option detects intervals below the 1/1 automatically and positions the 1/1 so that you can see the scale intervals.

You can also set this by hand - for instance choose BOTH to add notes below the 1/1 to a seed, scale or arpeggio with notes only above the 1/1.

Various options that affect the pitches and so on as played from the PC keyboard.

Play in this tuning from PC keyboard

Edit (Alt + D)
Edit using mouse, PC keyboard or Midi keyboard...

Editing from PC keyboard

Use the keys 1 2 3 to select the first, second, third etc. notes in the scale or arpeggio. If you prefer to use the key to the left of the 1 for the first note, you can select that option in the more version of PC Keyboard Player - To Play (Ctrl + 24) or Ctrl + K2

To clear press the Esc. key on your PC keyboard.

For seeds - when you are done, press the ENTER key on your keyboard. This will end the last note. This is especially necessary if you use the With Timings check box - the last note continues until you end the note or stop using this window.

Use Play button to hear the result. To add new notes choose Edit again and click on the notes or play notes from the PC keyboard as before.

Use the Apply button to apply the seed scale or arpeggio to the main window.

You can vary the volume as you play from mouse or PC keyboard by selecting "Vary vols by mouse pos. on key" in PC Keyboard Player - To Play (Ctrl + 24) or Ctrl + K2. These volumes are used for the Seed volumes if you use this with New Seed (Ctrl + 3).

Editing from Midi Keyboard

In Midi In Options (Ctrl + 25)  under What to play from Midi In, select "Edit New Seed / Arpeggio / Scale". If you have the Auto Select option there switched on, this will happen automatically whenever the focus is set to a New Seed window in Edit mode.

If necessary, click on the desired window to activate it for editing, and make sure it is set to Edit.

You can then play a new seed, arpeggio or scale from the midi keyboard using middle C to select the first note.

You can use midi keyboard shortcuts to make the editing easier - means you don't have to lift your hands off the keyboard to press the on-screen buttons.

Press these keys on the keyboard for

C2 (two octaves below middle C) - erase seed

E2 - end seed and apply to main window

F2 - play / stop fractal tune

Other shortcuts are:

D2 - Play seed, arpeggio or scale

C2# - End seed (without apply)

D2# - Apply seed etc without times

F2# - Apply seed etc with volumes

G2# - Apply seed etc with vols & rests


 * Apply seed etc with rests

G2 - Reverse seed

A2 - Invert seed

B2 - Reverse seed rhythm

C3 - Shift seed up one arpeggio degree

C3# - Shift seed down one

D3 - Set 1st note of seed to 1st note of arpeggio

D3# - Maximise seed volumes

Those are the preset shortcuts. You can change any of them using Music keyboard regions (Ctrl + 26)

Play (Alt + L)
Play using mouse or PC keyboard, can edit in dots area using mouse...

You can also play the scale or arpeggio in this window from Midi In by selecting Play New Seed / Apreggio / Scale Midi In Options (Ctrl + 25)

Play kbd only
Play this scale or arpeggio from mouse and PC kbd, not midi in...

Notes from midi in play the main window scale or arpeggio with this option.

Width
Width to show in octaves

Width - SPIN
Increase or decrease width to show in octaves

Seed dots
Click with mouse, or press keys on PC keyboard to add or remove notes..

For the New Seed windows

click on a dot to play the seed note, or use the keys 1, 2, 3, ... on the top row of keyboard. Continue with the other rows if you need to go higher. If you select With timings, then the timing of your keyboard or mouse playing is used for the seed. Otherwise the timing is ignored

For the New Scale or Arpeggio Windows

When you use the mouse, click on a dot to add that note, click on the triangle to remove the note.

When you use the PC Keyboard, use the keys 2 3 etc to add or remove notes.

Normally the key 1 is assigned to the 1/1. Then the 1 on your PC keyboard has no effect when you select Edit, but plays the 1/1 when you select Play. The 2 on the keyboard then adds or removes the first scale value and so on.

If your keyboard has a key to the left of the 1, and you prefer the 1 to add or remove the first scale value, you can set it up like this. Go to Mouse & PC Keyboard Player - To Play (Ctrl + 24) | More. You will find an option to use the key to the left of 1 on the keyboard as the first note.

E
Echo the dots picture in a larger window

Seed keyboard picture
Music Keyboard picture - use to play notes or select them...

Keyboard Layout

This shows the notes on a picture of a music keyboard. It uses a standard black and white keys type arrangement, except that the white keys vary in width, with the D, G and A keys a bit wider than the others.

This makes it possible to display the notes as dots positioned exactly according to the pitch - those three white keys are wider because the interval from e.g. C# to D# is more than the interval from D# to the mid point of E and F.

The idea is that when you play chords, the interval between notes will be shown as the same distance, wherever you may play it on the keyboard. For instance, if you play a 6/5 anywhere on the keyboard, the distance between the dots will be the same.

How to make the seed, arpeggio or scale

Same approach as for the dots window.

For the New Seed windows

click on a dot to play the seed note, or use the keys 1, 2, 3, ... on the top row of keyboard. Continue with the other rows if you need to go higher. If you select With timings, then the timing of your keyboard or mouse playing is used for the seed. Otherwise the timing is ignored

For the New Scale or Arpeggio windows

When you use the mouse, click on a dot to add that note, click on the triangle to remove the note.

When you use the PC Keyboard, use the keys 2 3 etc to add or remove notes.

Normally the key 1 is assigned to the 1/1. Then the 1 on your PC keyboard has no effect when you select Edit, but plays the 1/1 when you select Play. The 2 on the keyboard then adds or removes the first scale value and so on.

If your keyboard has a key to the left of the 1, and you prefer the 1 to add or remove the first scale value, you can set it up like this. Go to Mouse & PC Keyboard Player - To Play (Ctrl + 24) | More. You will find an option to use the key to the left of 1 on the keyboard as the first note.

E
Echo the keyboard picture in a larger window

Apply (Alt + P)
Place the result back in the main window

Clear (Alt + C)
Erase your new scale

With timings (Alt + T)
Select this to use the note timings recorded when you played the seed...

When this option is selected, you can watch the note times in seconds as you play, in the Timings text box.

When unselected, all seed notes are played for a single beat (1 second at tempo of 60 per minute).

Silences between notes - with rests

Silences between notes are shown with underlines e.g. as _0.268_. It is a similar idea to the rests in music - but you will see silences shown for any gaps between notes (however small). For instance, they show up if you play staccato notes or have even the smallest gap between the notes.

If you want the rests to be recorded as part of the tune, then select "With rests".

Playback speed for play seed button

The playback speed for the Play seed button can be set from Bs >> Options for Seed, Arpeggio & Scale Play buttons (Ctrl + 28)  (or Ctrl + click on the play button)

When Use Timings is selected, you can play your seed back faster using Alt + click on the play button - with the speed depending on the time you have set for the fixed duration notes (set to 1 for the same speed you recorded it), Or if you have the option selected there to play t the same speed as the fractal tune seed button, then you hear it speeded up or slowed down accordingly.

Rests (Alt + E)
Select this to use silences between notes recorded when you played the seed...

The silences will be recorded as seed notes with volume 0.

How these are used in the fractal tunes depend on your setting of

Volume to play for Seed for fast layers of tune when slower layers play rests

in the New Seed, Scale and Arpeggio Options (Ctrl + 75)  window.

Vols (Alt + V)
Select this to use the note volumes recorded when you played the seed...

When this option is selected, you can watch the note volumes as you play, in the Volumes text box.

When unselected, all the notes you play are recorded for the seed at maximum volume (1).

To vary the volume as you play from PC keyboard

Go to PC Keyboard Player - To Play (Ctrl + 24) or Ctrl + K2.

Select Vary volumes by mouse position on key.

Then if you click near the top of the key the note is very quiet. Click near the bottom and it is loud.

When playing from PC keyboard, then the volume of the note depends on the position of the mouse in the window you are using (not it's position on a single key in the window).

New seed - SPIN
Increase or decrease all the seed numbers simultaneously...

This can be used for instance to move the seed up or down so that the first number starts at 0, especially useful if you have Ground 1st tune note switched off in the Seed & Tune Transformations & Tune Options (Ctrl + 33).

In the New Seed (Ctrl + 3)  you can find buttons to reverse or invert the seed as well.

\ (back slash) Options for play scale / arpeggio / seed (Alt + \)
= Previous Set Tempo Dial Range, Tempo Names and Design - Next New Seed

Controls Common to Many Windows=