Editing a Mood 
(Note that if the SonicMood
window is in its "small size" ("zoomed") state, the Moods
and Themes lists will not be visible. In order to see the
lists, click the green "+" 
in the titlebar first.)
Moods can be created, deleted, and edited to change their
qualities. Each Mood's sound is the sum of its instruments,
octaves, note effects, scale, key, and soundfiles.
SonicMood allows you to change any or all of these
qualities.
Some changes affecting Moods can be made from the Mood
menu. From here or from the Moods list contextual menu
(right/control-click on the Moods list) you can Create a
Mood, Clone a Mood, Reset a Mood, or Reset All (Moods).
You can save Moods by highlighting them in the list and
selecting “Save Selected Moods...” from the “File” menu. Or
save all the Moods in the list by selecting “Save Mood File
As...”, also from the “File” menu.
To return the current Mood to the way it was at the start
of the current SonicMood session, select "Reset Mood"
(⌘Z)
from the "Mood" menu. If you want to restore all the
original Moods (removing any you've added) and reset them
to their initial defaults, select "Reset All".
You can select one or more Moods (in the Moods list) and
cut, copy, or delete them all using the Edit Menu. You can
cut and paste Moods between Themes too. See the Help topic
MenuBar for more information. Note
that you can't delete a Mood unless it's in the "All
Moods" Theme, you can only remove the reference to it.
See the Moods and Themes Help
topic for more information.
Most Mood Editing will be done from the "Edit" window. All
editing of MIDI instrument settings, note timings, octaves,
key, scale, and soundfiles is done here. See the next
section for more information.
Using the "Edit"
Window
Most of the changes to a Mood
are made from the "Edit" window. That window is opened by
selecting (highlighting) a Mood in the "Moods list" and
clicking the "edit" button on the toolbar, or selecting
"Edit Mood (Info)" (⌘I)
from the "Edit" menu. You could also "option-double-click"
a highlighted Mood, or right-click on a Mood and select
"Edit Mood (Info)" from the contextual menu.
The “Edit” window will open with the name of the
highlighted Mood in the gray edit field near the top. Note
that clicking the "edit" button again will close the
window.
You may change the Mood's name by clicking on it in the
gray edit field near the top. The background color of the
box will change from gray to white. Make your changes and
then either press the "return" (or "enter" or "tab") key or
click outside the box (press “esc” to cancel the changes).
The "Edit" window has 3 pages, selected using the toolbar
buttons at the top: One page for selecting the instruments
and all the individual instrument properties, a page for
shared note properties (musical key and scale, note
“patterns” used to select notes), and a page for selecting
and adjusting the sound of "Soundfiles". Changes take place
immediately so you can bring up the "Edit" window to tweak
settings and listen to their effect, assuming you're
editing the Mood that's playing.
Below the Mood name in the edit field are some buttons.
They can be used to edit the "Previous" or "Next" Mood from
the current one, to start playing the Mood in the edit
field above, or to get and edit the Mood that’s currently
playing. You can select the Mood you want to edit by
clicking on it in the SonicMood window's "Moods list". It
won't play unless you double-click it so keep that in mind
too. Don't forget that you won't hear any changes as you're
making them if you're not editing the Mood that's playing.
If that large button in the “Edit” window says "Play Me"
instead of "Now Playing", that's a hint! Click the button
to hear the sound of the Mood you're editing.
What follows is a discussion of the controls available on
each of the three pages in this window.
Editing Individual Note
Properties
SonicMood plays notes that are
split up between the three selected MIDI instruments. You,
the user, can select for each instrument the average
relative volume, the way its volume varies from note to
note, its location (pan), how many notes it can play at
once, what the timing is between notes, what octave they’re
in, and a number of other things. There are 128 MIDI
instruments to choose from, and a total of 16 notes that
can be played at one time.
On this page there are three columns, one for each of the instruments. In each column there are four horizontal areas of related settings: The first area is the instrument selection itself, followed by volume-related settings, note timing, and finally note selection.
Instrument
Selection
Each column is topped by an
instrument group selection button with the name of the
selected group. Below that is the instrument select button
with the name of the selected instrument. Between the two
buttons is the name of the group that instrument is in. If
you are only interested in, say, percussive instruments you
can select that group and the button below it will only
display instruments in that group.
In addition, if you find an instrument you think you'd like
to use again, add it to the "Favorites list" using the
“Add” button (and remove it using the “Del” button). If you
select the “Favorite Instruments” group you'll find listed
all the instruments you've added. You can have up to 30
favorite instruments.
Volume-related
Settings
Once you’ve selected an
instrument, you can use the sliders below it to adjust its
relative volume (50% is normal), note-to-note variation in
volume, and pan location. Also in that area is a
“diminuendo” (sound fading in-and-out over a period of
seconds) control and a “mod depth” (rapid volume modulation
with the depth varying over a period of seconds) control.
volume var %
For each instrument, this slider sets the amount of
variation introduced in the volume. In other words, each
note will be played with an average volume +/- some
deviation that's a percentage of the volume setting. So
some notes sound louder and some softer than the average.
That just gives the sounds more interest - they're not all
played at the same level. The higher the setting the more
variations in the volume of the notes.
pan
This is just the location (left/center/right) of the
instrument’s sound.
diminuendo
You can use the "diminuendo" (% and period) sliders to make
the volume fade down and back up over a period of time. Set
different percentages and periods of volume change for each
instrument to achieve an interesting mood effect. Setting
the percentage too high and the period too low could result
in you hearing very few notes.
mod depth
Note "modulation" is an effect that causes a note's volume
to change fairly rapidly (a few cycles per second - sounds
like a sort of "wah-wah"). This control allows you to
select how much change happens ("depth") and also the
period of the variation in the change. You're not
controlling the period of the modulation itself, however.
Note
Timing
The timing of each note is
determined by the controls in this section. A note will
play for an average length of time determined by the “note
timing” slider for that instrument, as adjusted by the
“note play” multiplier (actual average note duration is
given to the right of the multiplier). The pause between
notes is set by the “rest pause” multiplier.
Some instruments have a natural note time and won't be
affected by the "note timing" slider setting. Percussion
instruments, for example, fall into this category.
BPM/sec buttons
As an alternative to specifying “seconds” on the “note
timing” slider you can press the “BPM” button and select a
number of “beats per minute” along with the “note” and
“rest” multipliers.
timing var %
For each instrument, the “note play” and “rest pause” times
can vary. The “timing var” slider sets the value of that
variation as a percentage of the times.
timing method
The “timing method” refers to the way the “note play” and
“rest pause” are determined. There are four ways that notes
can be timed, using the settings just discussed. The first
two ways select the time randomly, with either a "uniform"
(equal chance) or "Gaussian" (bell-shaped curve) pick from
the given settings. The third way causes an "incremental"
change in the time using the settings to provide the time
increment and bounds of the time. The last way provides a
"fixed" time value which alternates a fixed amount from
note-to-note, also based on the settings.
Note Selection
The last area is concerned with
note selection. Note selection determines how the next note
is chosen for each instrument. You can select the number of
notes each instrument can play at one time, how those notes
are chosen, what octave they start in and over what range
they can sound, also whether their pitch varies slightly
and over what period.
note pattern
The “Note Pattern” button lets you select the order in
which the notes in the current musical scale are picked.
This selection only matters if you’ve specified “pattern”
as the “selection method” for one (or more) of the
instruments.
In general, "pattern" is a way of choosing a note based on
a list of note numbers. The next note is determined by the
next number in the list, wrapping around to the first
number when the end of the list is reached. Note numbers
are adjusted so they always select an appropriate note in
an appropriate octave. The actual pattern values are listed
with their names on the "shared note properties" page. They
can be edited, deleted, and new patterns added using the
same methods as the musical scales.
One pre-defined "pattern" is the Fibonacci sequence. The
Fibonacci sequence is a simple number sequence that goes
like this:
Start with 1. The next number in the sequence is also 1. So
you've got 1, 1. Now apply the recursive procedure "add
together the last two numbers" to get the next number in
the sequence. So you've got 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13,... Each
number is just the sum of the previous two numbers! Simple,
huh? But the sequence shows up in nature all over the
place. And the "golden ratio" is derived from the sequence.
If you go out far enough (mathematically you should "take
the limit" as the length of the sequence goes to infinity)
the ratio of the "last two numbers" (last number divided by
the next-to-last number) is the golden ratio which also has
lots of interesting properties. It's one of those things
that makes you see the universe in a whole different light.
Like what "e" is, or pi.
notes maximum
You can specify how many notes each instrument can play at
once using the “notes maximum” slider. SonicMood can play
up to 16 notes simultaneously, apportioned among the three
instruments.
selection method
There are four ways a musical note (C, E, G#, etc.) is
selected from a musical scale. All four methods involve
picking a "note number" which refers to the position of a
note in a musical scale defined on the "shared note
properties" page.
The “selection method” button provides four methods
(uniform, Gaussian, incremental, and “pattern”). If the
“selection method” is “pattern”, then you can select the
type of “note pattern.”
Like the note "timing method", above, the first two ways
involve a random selection of the next note based on either
a "uniform" or "Gaussian" pick of its note number. The
range of the selection depends on the number of notes in
the chosen musical scale.
Also like "timing", the third way causes an "incremental"
change in the note number to determine the next note. If a
number is larger than the number of notes in the selected
musical scale, the number and octave are adjusted
appropriately.
Selecting "pattern" will use the setting of the “Note
Pattern” button, discussed above. You can specify the type
of pattern using this button. You can also select the
pattern from the “shared note properties” page. The second
list on that page (“Pattern Names”, etc.) is where you
edit, add, or delete patterns. You can just double-click a
row to select that pattern. More info is in the next
section.
base octave and octave range
SonicMood can play notes across 10 octaves (0 thru 9). So
if an instrument's "base octave" is "4", the "octave range"
could be "6" (4 thru 9). Setting the "octave range" to a
larger value won't hurt anything, however. Notes above the
9th octave are just not played.
pitch bend
"Pitch bending" involves adjusting the frequency of a note
in half-step increments. A half-step, or "semitone" is
equivalent to moving one key on a piano - from C to C#, for
example. The "pitch bend" control lets you play with an
effect that causes a note to vary in pitch while it's
playing. When you set a period the notes played by that
instrument will move up or down in pitch over that period.
It's a very interesting effect.
Timing and Note
Selection Tips
These are just a couple of
ideas for making some basic timing adjustments to affect a
Mood.
Quiet Moods
Notes with short play and long pause times don't sound very
often, making for a generally languid, quiet Mood. Setting
the "timing var %” lower will make for a more precise
rhythm, more and more like a cadence. Fewer notes will
produce an even more languid effect.
For a quiet Mood, I would suggest setting the “note play”
to around 5 seconds, and the "rest pause" to around 10
seconds. Reducing the "timing var %" to perhaps 10% or 20%
will also help. Be sure the "notes maximum" is no higher
than 8, also.
A general rule for quieter Moods would be to have the
pauses longer and the note sustains somewhat shorter.
Keeping the variation in the pauses and sustains down helps
too.
Active Moods
If you set a short play and short pause times and a larger
timing variation you'll get a faster paced Mood. You can
liven it up more by increasing the "notes maximum" setting.
Setting Cadences
To have a cadenced mood, all note play times must be equal.
For a fast tempo set to 0.1 sec and for slow tempo
set to 3 or more sec. The timing variation % slider
should be set to 0. Then the mood tempo slider can adjust
the speed.
Using Patterns
The "note patterns" will affect many things, especially
when the instrument octave range is set to play only an
octave or two. For example, with the "note patterns" set to
"1, 3" it will produce unisson, with it set to "1,5" it
will produce root/fifth, and so on, for a given musical
scale.
Editing Shared Note
Properties
The shared note
properties page contains controls for changing the
musical key and amount of key change over time, motion of
the musical instruments in the sound field, the musical
scale, and the note patterns. What follows is a brief
explanation of these various controls.
Musical Scales and Note
Patterns
You can add/delete/edit scales and patterns using the buttons at the top left of the window. The section below titled “Editing a Scale or Pattern” gives details on how to do that. SonicMood knows which item to select for editing based on which list (scales or patterns) has the focus. Patterns can also be selected (for use, not editing) from the "individual note properties" page by pressing the "Note Pattern" button for an instrument and choosing a pattern. To use the selected pattern with an instrument click the “selection method” button and select “pattern.”
The notes for a scale are defined using standard notation. They are separated by commas so any editing should include a comma between notes. There is no symbol for "flat", simply use a "sharp" (#) sign instead (i.e., B-flat = A#). A keyboard is available to facilitate entering notes. Click on the "Show Keyboard" button to display the keyboard window. More information on the use of the keyboard can be found in the Using the Simulated Piano Keyboard topic, below.
As described above under "individual note properties", there are four ways SonicMood selects notes, "uniform", "Gaussian", "incremental", and "pattern". You can select a note pattern at any time and it will be used when the “pattern” note selection method is used with an instrument.
For both the scale and the pattern list, the arrow pointer at the left will always indicate which item is selected for the Mood being edited. Just double-click a row to use that item.
Right/control-clicking anywhere in either list brings up a contextual menu. At the top is "Help". Selecting Help brings up the help window with this topic. Below "Help" are some selections for editing the list or highlighted item. They basically mirror what's available on several of the buttons at the top of the page.
Below the edit-related selections on the contextual menu is a list of any Moods which use the highlighted item. If you select one of those Moods, it will become the Mood you're editing (but not the Mood that’s playing - you have to press “play me” at the top for that).
musical key
Use the slider to change the musical key for the Mood being edited; it defaults to the key of "C".
key change
If the slider value is greater than zero, SonicMood will change the key from time-to-time. Those changes generally occur when SonicMood has finished playing a long string of notes in a kind of arpeggio. How large the changes are, on average, depends on how big the slider value is.
instrument motion
The checkbox enables the sound motion, and the sliders select the kind of motion and its "period,” just like the sliders for the soundfiles on the “soundfiles” page.
"back and forth" means the sound will slip smoothly back-and-forth in the soundfield with a total travel time (in seconds) indicated by the "period" slider.
"random" causes the sound to "bounce around" with an urgency set by the same "period" slider. Lower slider values will increase the speed of the bounces.
"echo" produces an interesting effect whereby the sound seems to reverberate around the soundfield. As with "random", the lower (faster) the slider setting, the more pronounced the effect. Setting the slider all the way left and listening to the result with headphones is quite interesting, especially with an energetic Mood (e.g., Fireflies Dance) and soundfiles (you can do the same thing with soundfiles - see the “Soundfiles” section below and look at the “soundfiles” page).
Multiple instrument’s sounds are separated spatially as their sounds move around. The spacing is based on their nominal pan positions.
Editing a Scale or
Pattern
A contrasting background color
highlights the cell to be edited. You may highlight any
cell in the list and click the "Edit" button to change the
contents of that cell, or you can use the Click-Pause-Click
technique described in the General page section of the Help
file's Preferences topic. When the cell becomes editable,
make the changes and then press "return", "enter", or click
outside the cell to save them.
To Delete or Add another item in the list, simply select a
row and click "Delete" or "Add". You can select more than
one row for deletions.
You can sort the rows by clicking the heading above the
column you want to sort. Click once to sort ascending.
Click again to sort descending.
Select one or more rows and drag them around to rearrange
their order, if you wish. Note that if rows are moved via a
drag, the column header no longer indicates that sorting is
in effect.
The first column in the list contains an arrow which
indicates the item selected for the Mood being edited. Note
that another row can be highlighted for editing. You don't
have to edit the row the arrow is pointing to. In other
words you can change a row independently of the Mood you're
editing.
The second column contains the names of items (scales or
patterns). They only serve as a label for the item. You can
change the name to anything you'd like. It won't affect the
playing of the Mood at all.
The third column holds the notes or patterns. The next two
paragraphs describe the meaning of the contents in the case
of the musical scale and the note patterns.
In the case of the musical scale, the leftmost "C" refers
to the note one octave below "Middle C", and so forth. You
may enter other notes, being sure to separate the notes
with commas. There is no notation for flats, use a # with
the next lower note instead (i.e., use "A#" for B-flat).
You can also enter notes using the keyboard (see "Using the
Simulated Piano Keyboard", below).
The note pattern column contains a string of note numbers
each of which represent a note in the scale selected. For a
scale consisting of "C, E, G, A", the pattern "1, 3, 4"
would cause the first note in the scale to be played ("C"),
followed by the third ("G"), and then the fourth ("A"). In
other words, the next note is determined by the next number
in the string, wrapping around to the first number when the
end of the string is reached. Note numbers are adjusted so
they always select an appropriate note in an appropriate
octave.
Editing an Item
When you click the "Edit"
button or choose "Edit List Item" (⌘E)
from the Edit menu, the cell that's highlighted (with a
contrasting color) becomes editable. You can use the
standard editing keys to make changes, and press "return"
to finish. If you edit the "Musical Scale", you can enter
the notes in lower case and they will be converted to upper
case when you press "return". Be sure to include a comma to
separate notes or pattern values.
If you use the simulated piano keyboard (see below) to
enter notes, you don't have to be editing those notes
already. The new notes will be inserted in the "Musical
Notes" column on the row that's highlighted.
Restoring an
Item
The value for each item is
saved first when you edit it. After the edit, but before
you edit something else in the same list, you can restore
the original value by clicking the "restore" button.
Using the Simulated
Piano Keyboard
As long as the "Off" radio button is selected, you can only use the keyboard to play notes - they won't be added to the highlighted Scale. To add, delete, or restore the notes in the selected Scale, click the "On" radio button. Note that "On" is only selectable if you're on the "shared note properties" page, although it's possible to click "Show Keyboard" and then change to a different page.
To hear what different instruments sound like, you can select an instrument from the popup menu (the 3 instruments from the Mood being edited are initially available - click "All Instruments" to select from the full list of 128 instruments). To make notes sound louder or softer, adjust the key velocity using the slider to the right.
If you check the box labeled "Hold Notes", the notes you play will be held until you move the mouse away from the piano keyboard area. If the box is unchecked, the note will be held only as long as you keep the mouse button down.
In the list of “Musical Notes”, the leftmost note "C" corresponds to the lowest note "C" on the simulated piano keyboard. "Middle C" on the keyboard is the next "C" key up from that lowest "C". If you press that key, a "C" will appear to the right of the notes in the list. So the list of notes in any row under the heading "Musical Notes" corresponds to notes in the octave just below "Middle C".
As you enter notes using the piano keyboard, they will appear in the list in the appropriate places relative to the original notes. For example, if you have "C Major Pentatonic" highlighted and you press the "F" key in the lower octave below "Middle C", it will appear in the highlighted row between "E" and "G".
If you'd like, you can use the computer keyboard to enter/play notes too. The computer's "c" key will enter/play a "Middle C" note into the highlighted row. Pressing the "f" key will enter "C sharp" (C#). The "v" key enters "D", "g" enters "D#", and so forth. In other words, the computer keys are organized in the same spatial relationship as the piano keys. If you find the keys are not working (or are showing up in another program), click on the simulated piano keyboard window to restore focus to it.
To delete the last note (the one furthest to the right) in the highlighted row, click the "Backspace" (⌫) button. This is not necessarily the same as the last note you entered using the keyboard, since notes are entered in their proper relationship to the existing notes in the list.
Click the "Clear All" button to remove all the notes from the highlighted row. You can then enter any notes you'd like, by using the keyboard or by direct entry (edit the cell and type in the new notes).
The "Restore" button does the same thing as the button on the “shared note properties” page, i.e. clicking it will restore the last item edited to its pre-edit value.
Soundfiles
SonicMood provides for
"Soundfile Sounds" which consist of one or more digital
sound files (AIFF, MP3, etc., aka "soundfiles") played in a
repeating fashion (with varying play, fade, and pause
times) accompanying the MIDI instrument sounds. The
“soundfiles” page is for setting up pre-recorded soundfiles
to add to the Mood's sounds.
Setting Up
Soundfiles
SonicMood uses the soundfiles kept in a single folder, the "Soundfiles" folder, which is located in the “~/Library/Application Support/SonicMood/” folder. The soundfiles are initially moved from the "SonicMood Soundfiles" folder supplied with SonicMood. When you run SonicMood for the first time, it looks for the "SonicMood Soundfiles" folder in the same folder it is in. Those files are then copied to the “Soundfiles” folder.
If you don't see any files in the list on the "Soundfiles" page, click the button labeled "add folder" at the top left of the page and select a folder containing soundfiles from the window that opens. Or you can just drag a folder containing soundfiles and drop it onto the soundfile list area. All the soundfiles in the folder will be copied and added to the existing files and displayed in the list (subject to a soundfile size restriction that's adjustable in the Preferences window, Soundfiles page - see below for more information).
To add individual files you can either click the "add files" button or drag a file onto the list. To remove files from the list (and the “Soundfiles” folder), highlight the rows they’re on and click the “delete” button. Click the "remove missing files" button to remove the names of soundfiles in the list that are no longer in the “soundfiles folder”. This button is disabled if it isn’t relevant (meaning all the files are accounted for).
To quickly "uncheck" all the soundfiles in the list for a particular Mood, click the "Clear ✓" button. If that Mood is playing, the soundfile names displayed in the Marquee will be replaced with "(no soundfiles selected)", and no soundfiles will play.
Once the folder's soundfile contents are displayed, double-click or check the checkbox next to, or press ⌥-spacebar ("option"-spacebar) on, the soundfiles you want to play with the Mood you're editing. You can select up to 32 for each Mood. Notice that when you highlight a soundfile, its name is displayed above the slider controls.
A soundfile can pause its play for a while and then resume. If you want a selected soundfile to pause from time-to-time, check the box labeled "play & pause on". The "play time" (minimum & maximum) and "pause time" (minimum & maximum) sliders set a range of play/pause times. The actual play and pause times are randomly selected within those ranges and determine how long each soundfile plays and pauses. When pausing, the sound of that soundfile will gradually fade out, fading back in after the pause. The time it takes for the sound to fade out and back in can be set for each soundfile using the "vol fade time" slider. These features allow you to have frogs that croak for a time, then stop and start up again later (in case you don't want frogs croaking all the time...).
Each soundfile that you select for a Mood can have its own relative volume, pan, and play/pause/fade time settings. To adjust these values for a soundfile, highlight its row, be sure it’s checkmarked, and change the control settings. Note that the controls are only active if the highlighted soundfile has a checkmark next to it, meaning it's been selected to play with the Mood you're editing. In addition, the play/pause/fade controls are inactive until you check the "play & pause on" checkbox for that soundfile. If left unchecked, each soundfile will play at a constant volume with no pause.
Adjust each soundfile's relative volume by sliding the "relative volume (%)" slider where you want it (50% is normal). Continue for each selected soundfile, while you're listening to them, until you get the relative volumes where you want them. If they're fading in and out, temporarily uncheck the "play & pause on" checkbox.
To adjust the "pan" setting for a soundfile, highlight its row and move the pan slider left or right until the sound is where you want it. Bear in mind that "stereo" soundfiles should probably have a pan setting in the center (at "0").
Don't forget you're editing the Mood that was highlighted in the SonicMood window. If that’s not the Mood playing you won't hear the changes. If the button near the top center of the window says "Play Me" instead of "Now Playing", just click it to start playing the Mood.
SonicMood can randomly choose a starting volume for each soundfile when a Mood starts playing. This feature is enabled by checking the checkbox in the Preferences window, Soundfiles page.
soundfile motion
The checkbox enables the sound motion, and the sliders select the kind of motion and its "period,” just like the sliders for the instruments on the “shared note properties” page.
"back and forth" means the sound will slip smoothly back-and-forth in the soundfield with a total travel time (in seconds) indicated by the "period" slider.
"random" causes the sound to "bounce around" with an urgency set by the same "period" slider. Lower slider values will increase the speed of the bounces.
"echo" produces an interesting effect whereby the sound seems to reverberate around the soundfield. As with "random", the lower (faster) the slider setting, the more pronounced the effect.
Multiple soundfile’s sounds are separated spatially as their sounds move around. The spacing is based on their nominal pan positions.
Miscellaneous
The “group volume” of the soundfiles for a Mood is controlled by the "soundfiles" slider on the SonicMood window. You can also adjust the volume using the ⌃↑ and ⌃↓ keys, just like you can use the ⌘↑ and ⌘↓ keys to adjust the "master" volume. The small round button just above the soundfiles slider is used to turn on/off the playing of the soundfiles. The button is green while soundfiles are playing and red when they're stopped. Click the button to toggle the sound.
The number of soundfiles in the “soundfiles folder” along with the number selected is displayed in the header of the soundfiles list. All the valid (i.e., MP3, AIFF, etc.) soundfiles in the folder will be displayed in the list unless the "Max Soundfile Size" slider on the "Soundfiles" page of the Preferences window causes larger files to be excluded.
You can bring up the contextual menu (right/control-click on the list) and accomplish most of the things you can with the buttons.
If you'd like all Moods to use the same soundfiles and settings as the current ones, just check the "use selected soundfiles with all Moods" checkbox. The soundfiles and their settings for the Mood being edited will be used for all Moods. Also, while the checkbox is checked, changes to those settings will affect all Moods.
If you delete a soundfile then it won't be played. However, that soundfile name, if associated with any Moods, will stay in the "Moods List" on the SonicMood window for those Moods (unless you remove it using the "remove missing files" button). So if another soundfile with the same name (and file extension) is put in the soundfile folder, any Mood which references that soundfile name will play that soundfile.