Window 25

=  Notes to play for PC keyboard keys =

Single part for P.c. Keyboard
Play a single part for the entire PC keyboard

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

Part to play
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

Each keyboard row plays a separate part
Lets each row play any pan position, controllers, octave shift etc...

Just set the parts up as you want in the various windows e.g. to stereo pan the first row to the left and second row to the right, set them to play parts 1 and 2 say and pan those parts appropriately in the pan window.

Similarly you can assign interval or octave shifts (using Parts window), different scales and tunings (Scales for Parts window), instruments, controllers etc independently to each row of the keyboard by this technique

Part for each row, top row first
Enter the numbers of the parts to play

Parts...
Set which instruments play in the various parts, and volume etc

Modulate each row by (play along only)
How much to modulate each row from the previous one...

Up to three values expected here, but you can also enter just a single value as the last one gets repeated as needed.

Example, 6/5 to modulate each row by a minor third above the previous one.

You can enter several values.

Example

6/5 5/4 6/5

second row is a minor third above the first one, third row a major third higher so an octave above the first one, and fourth row is a minor third above the third row

4/1 1/2 4/1

second row is two octaves above the first.

Third row is an octave below the second (so an octave above the first)

Fourth row is two octaves above the third (so three octaves above the first.

This way of showing it is most useful for lattice type scales, which is why it is done this way.

If you want to just shift the parts for the keyboard up / down by fixed intervals, an easier way is to apply octave shifts to the parts in the Parts window.

Vary volumes by mouse position on key
This lets you change the volume of the note by positioning the mouse high or low on the key in the picture

Volumes by keyboard row
Each row plays the same notes, with the volume only varying

Set a volume for each row so you can play, e.g. a loud ff using top row, and a quiet pp in last row.

Make lattice or Janko (changes main scale)
This is a type of layout in which triangles of keys play chords...

The especially interesting thing here is that the same type of chord has the same fingering wherever it is on the keyboard.

The PC keyboard is close to hexagonal in layout, so it works pretty well with these schemes. You set one interval for the step from each key to the next in the same row and another for the diagonal setp down and to the right.

Hor. and Diag. intervals
Some often used interval steps for this type of lattice arrangement keyboard

3/2 horizontally and 6/5 diagonally to right - this is a pattern of major and minor chords, with the major chord triangle pointing upwards and the minor ones pointing downwards.

The others with pure ratios also make various pure triads for upward and downing pointing triangles.

The 2//17 and 3//17 etc use an equal temperament notation where 2//17 is two steps of seventeen equal. These are usually arrangements with a whole tone one way and a semitone the other way. This means you can play a major scale using a staggered type pattern, for instance one may play three notes along any row then down to the appropriate note on the next row to continue, then finally down to the last note for the octave. The interesting thing about these patterns is that you can transpose very easily to any of the keys of e.g. 17 equal while still using the same fingering, and just shift your fingers to right or left or up / down as desired.

So you only need to learn the one fingering for any scale pattern to play it in any key.

Make Selected PC keyboard Preset
Make the preset selected in the drop list...

The preset also gets made automatically when you change the selection. Use this as a slightly quicker way to recover it if you change something.

What to show on pc.keyboard picture, and Sustain etc...
Sustain pedal, modulation wheel, what to show on the keyboard, more options

Play from PC keyboard...
Play in this tuning from PC keyboard...

What to show on pictures of music keyboards...
What to show on the music keyboard pictures - intervals, chord intervals etc

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

Quantise playing to fractal tune or metronome
When selected, notes from midi on or PC keyboard get played on next beat...

So your playing then will always be exactly in time with the metronome - but to do that you have to play every beat slightly ahead of the metronome as it can only delay the notes you play, and not anticipate them.

Lambdoma keyboard picture
Show Lambdoma notes as you play, & play them using mouse or PC Keyboard...

Tips:

You can use the arrow keys to move a sustained chord around after you have played it.

Show the Bs | Notes Played window to see your notes in a score like form as dots on staffs.

Click on the music keyboard icons - to show the notes on a music keyboard as you play. You can also play the notes by clicking on the music keyboard picture.

The menu under the Tune Smithy icon at top left of the Lambdoma Keyboard picture has a quick link to the options for this keyboard.

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

PC Keyboard Dialog Star
Tip of the day - PC Keyboard 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.