SonicMood Window

The SonicMood window is the main window. It contains controls for viewing Mood-related information, changing Moods, changing volumes, opening other windows, and so on. If you don’t like the look, you can change the “color scheme” of SonicMood in Preferences (⌘,), on the "windows" page.

If you want SonicMood out of your way, you can shrink it! The green "+" in the titlebar (the “+” only appears when the mouse cursor is over it) is the "Zoom" key. Clicking it transforms the SonicMood window between a small size and its normal size. This is the same as selecting "Zoom" from the "Window" menu. The position of the “zoomed” small window can be different from its "un-zoomed" position. To make the window even smaller, you can hide the toolbar by clicking the oval at the upper right corner of the titlebar.

Just below the titlebar is the toolbar (assuming it isn’t hidden - click the oval on the right side of the title bar to show). By default it displays the Mood "Edit", "Pictures", and "Record" buttons, the "Sleep", "Schedule", and "Wake" timer buttons, and the "Mixer", "Prefs", and "Help" buttons. You can add, delete, and rearrange these items by right/control-clicking on the toolbar and selecting "Customize Toolbar" from the menu that appears. In other words, it's just a regular modifiable OS X toolbar.

Click the "Edit" button to open the Edit window and make changes to the highlighted Mood. The "Picture" button has a Scenic picture on it. Clicking the button will cause the Picture window to open. Drop an image file or an image from a web page onto the Picture window to add that image to the list of pictures. Click the "Record" button to open the Audio Recording window and record SonicMood's instrument sounds to a MIDI file or all sounds (instruments and soundfiles) to a “digital audio” file. The "Sleep", "Schedule", and "Wake" button functions are covered under the Timers Help topic. The "Mixer" button opens/closes the Mixer window, which contains the volume sliders and the tempo slider. "Prefs" opens the Preferences window, while "Help" opens this window.

Not shown by default on the toolbar are the "Chimes", and "Colors" buttons. They can be added by customizing the toolbar. Click the Chimes button to open a window containing moving chimes. A window of flashing horizontal bars color-keyed to the instrumental sounds will appear when you click the Colors button. Clicking a second time on a button that opens a window will close that window (it's a toggle). They can all be opened/closed from the "Window" menu, too.

Just below the toolbar, centered horizontally in the window, is the "Marquee", a large area which contains details about the current Mood. Within the Marquee are two lines of text. The top line flips between the current Mood's name and the name of the “Moods file” where the current Moods are saved. The second line alternates between the names of the MIDI instruments, the musical scale and key, and the names of the soundfiles used in the Mood. When a line of text is too long to fit completely within the Marquee, it slides to the left, pausing for a moment at each end.

Also within the Marquee, on either side below the textual information, are small round buttons. These buttons control the Mood interval timer. The left-hand button toggles the interval timer on/off while the right-hand button brings up the timer setting window. Just right of the timer on/off button is the elapsed time counter. Just left of the timer set button is the total play time. When the timer is "on" a progress bar will appear and give a graphical indication of the time remaining until the next Mood starts playing.

The "Mood play controls" are to the left of the Marquee and consist of the previous, pause/play, and next buttons. Click the previous or next buttons to go back or forward a Mood. Hold the ⌥ key down while clicking to go back or forward one Picture (useful when the Picture window is open). Click the play/pause button (or press the space bar) to pause or resume playing a Mood.

"Overall Volume" for all Moods is controlled by the slider to the right of the Marquee. Instrument, Soundfile, and Overall Volume, and Mood Tempo can also be controlled from the "Mixer" window. This window is opened/closed by clicking the "Mixer" button on the toolbar or by selecting "Mixer Window" from the "Controls" menu. The small blue buttons just left of their respective sliders are "mute" buttons for each volume control. With the exception of "Overall Volume", which always affects all Moods, each slider can change volume or tempo for individual Moods or all Moods. When the "Change All Moods" button is depressed the sliders below it change the volume or tempo for all the Moods. Note that depressing the button won't change a setting for all Moods until that setting's slider is moved.

"Mood Tempo" determines the speed or rhythm of the MIDI instrumental notes. Moving the slider right increases the rhythm. A faster tempo will result in more notes playing together and playing more often

You can also use the mouse-wheel to change sliders. Or, hold the ⌘ key and press the ↑ or ↓ keys to change the "Overall Volume". Do the same with the ⌥ key to change the "Instruments Volume". Use the control (⌃) key to change the "Soundfiles Volume".

You can open a window containing a large play/pause button so you can minimize SonicMood and still mute or change its volume. Select "Pause Button Window" (^⇧spacebar) from the "Controls" menu to toggle display of this window. The green button will hide or show all non-floating SonicMood windows (the “chimes,” “colors,” and this window are all floating). Note that until you move the mouse cursor over the window it will be semi-transparent. Also note that the slider at the bottom of the window can be used to control the volume just like the equivalent slider in the SonicMood window.

The Moods List, a list of the Moods available, and the Themes List for organizing Moods, occupy the rest of the SonicMood window, below the controls. If the SonicMood window is in its small "zoomed" state, the Moods and Themes lists will not be visible. In order to see the lists, click the green "+" in the titlebar first.

Each row in the Moods list represents a Mood and contains the Mood name and the instruments and soundfiles which make that Mood unique. The currently playing Mood is indicated by a "loudspeaker" icon at the left side.

Add more Themes by clicking on the "+" button below the Themes list. Delete Themes by clicking on the "-" button (the button is disabled when the "All Moods" theme is highlighted). In a similar fashion, add and delete Moods using the buttons under the Moods list. Add Moods to Themes by dragging them from the Moods list or by using the standard Edit menu items (cut/copy/paste). You can cut, copy, or drag more than one Mood at a time to a Theme.

Rename Moods and Themes by selecting "Edit Highlighted Text" (⌘E) from the "Edit" menu when a Mood (or Theme) name is highlighted. Type in a new name, or edit the existing name, and press "return."

The Moods and Themes lists are sortable by clicking on a column header. Change the ordering of Moods and Themes by dragging the rows to new positions in their lists. Note that if one or more lines are moved via a drag, the column header no longer indicates that sorting is in effect.

Check the box next to the Moods you’d like to play in “Marked” order when the Mood Timer is running. You can toggle the check-mark using "⌥-spacebar", if you wish. See the Timers Help topic for more information.

Mood Search

The search field at the bottom of the window can be used to find a specific Mood. Click in the field and start typing a word in the Mood’s name. The highlight in the Mood’s list will move to the first match. Press “return” if that’s the Mood you were searching for and it will start to play. Press “Command-g” (⌘g) to search for another match. When you press “return” the Mood you’ve selected will be added to a list that you can go back to by pressing the “search symbol” at the left side of the field.