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.)
SonicMood plays notes that are split up between three MIDI
instruments that you can choose. Each instrument has its
own 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. In addition to
the instruments, SonicMood can play looped recordings of
pre-recorded sounds in a way that makes them appear
non-repetitive. Those pre-recorded sounds are called
"Soundfiles." The combination of a set of specific settings
for the instruments and Soundfiles is called a "Mood."
Moods can be created, deleted, and edited to change their
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 Clone a
Mood or Create a Custom Mood. You can save any Moods you
create or modify by highlighting them in the list on the
main window 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. You can
select one or more Moods in the 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 "Cut" 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
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
settings, a page for the instrument's group settings
(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.
Open the Edit window by selecting (highlighting) a Mood in
the "Moods list" and clicking the "Edit" button on the
toolbar, or selecting "Edit Mood..." (⌘I)
from the "Edit" menu.
To the left of the Mood name are four buttons. The “double arrow” buttons can be used to step through and edit other Moods. If you’re editing the Mood that’s playing, use the "play/pause" button between them to pause and resume playing. If you edit a Mood that’s different from the one playing, clicking the "play/pause" button will cause that Mood to start playing. Also, the fourth button will become enabled with the caption “Edit Mood Playing” so clicking it will change the edit settings to those of the Mood that's playing. Don't forget that you won't hear any changes as you're editing if you're not editing the Mood that's playing.
What follows is a discussion of the controls available on each of the three pages in this window.
Editing Individual
Instrument Settings
On the "Individual Instrument
Settings" page you'll find controls to select and affect
each instrument. On the rest of this page there are three
columns, one for each of the instruments. In each column
there are five areas of related settings: The first area is
Instrument Selection itself, followed by
Volume-related Settings, Note
Timing, Note Selection, and
finally Special Effects.
Instrument Selection
Each column is topped by the
instrument group selection popup menu
button labeled with the name of the selected group ("All
Instruments" to start). Below that is the
instrument selection popup menu button
labeled with the name of the selected instrument. The
yellow "Help Tag" for this button gives the name of the
group that instrument is in. So if you are only interested
in percussive instruments you can select that group and
this button will only display instruments in that group.
The small round buttons flanking the selection buttons move
you back or forward one item in the current list.
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 knobs below it to adjust its
relative volume, pan location, and note-to-note variation
in volume. The small round, blue buttons just right of the
"Rel Vol" (volume) knobs mute and un-mute the sound for
each instrument.
Rel Vol
Adjust the instrument’s volume relative
to the other two instruments (100% is normal). To mute an
instrument, click the small round button just right of the
knob.
Pan
This is just the location (left/center/right) of the
instrument’s sound.
Vol 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.
Note Timing
The timing of each note is
determined by the controls in this section.
BPM/Sec buttons
Click the "BPM" or "Sec" button to work in BPM (Beats Per
Minute) or Sec (seconds) with the "Time" / "Tempo" slider
below (the slider scale changes to reflect your choice).
The length of a whole note is set by the slider. The
buttons below the slider set the type of note and rest
used. "x1/4" for a quarter note, etc. The average length of
a note appears to the right of the "note" button, while the
average rest between notes appears to the right of the
"rest" button.
Timing Methods
There are five different methods you can choose from to
control note length (sustains) and rest (pauses). The first
four use the button next to the "Timing" label, while the
last one uses notations added to a "Pattern."
Both "Uniform" (equal chance) or "Gaussian" (bell-shaped
curve) methods provide somewhat random note timings, picked
from the given time value settings.
The "Incremental" method results in an increase in the note
timing for each note that's played. The starting time value
is equal to the selected time for either the "note"
(sustain) or "rest" (pause) values minus three times the
"Timing Variation %" when converted to seconds. The
increment time is the selected time divided by the
variation plus a small value to prevent division by zero.
The ending value (where it wraps around to the start again)
is the selected time plus three times the variation.
The "Fixed" method uses the selected "note" or "rest" time
alternating with each note plus or minus the "Timing
Variation %."
The last method is set on the "Shared Instrument Settings"
page and involves adding notations to the "Pattern" for an
instrument, if the "Pattern" note selection method is used
for that instrument. See "Editing a Scale or Pattern" under
the "Shared Instrument Settings" section below for more
information on "Pattern" based timing and note selection.
Some instruments have a natural note length (sustain) which
won't be affected by the "Time" / "Tempo" slider setting.
Percussion instruments, for example, fall into this
category. However, the time between notes (pause) for any
instrument IS affected by the slider and the "Number of
Notes" assigned to that instrument.
Timing Variation %
For each instrument, the note length (sustain) and rest
(pause) time values can vary. The “Timing Variation %”
slider sets that variation as a percentage of the values.
If the slider is set to zero then the time will not vary
and will always be what is shown.
Note Selection
Note selection determines how
each note for an instrument is chosen from a musical scale.
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.
Number of Notes (max)
You can specify how many notes each instrument can play at
once using the “Number of Notes (max)” slider. SonicMood
can play up to 16 notes simultaneously, spread over the
three instruments.
Selection of Notes
There are five ways a musical note (C, E, G#, etc.) is
selected from a musical scale. All five methods involve
picking a "note number" which indicates the position of the
note in a musical scale. Musical scales are selected,
displayed, and edited on the "Shared Instrument Settings"
page (see that section below for more information).
The button to the left of the “Notes” label is used to
choose one of the five methods (Uniform, Gaussian,
Incremented, Decremented, or Pattern).
Like the note timing above, the first two methods 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.
“Incremented” increases the note number by one 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. Similarly, “Decremented”
decreases the note number by one.
If you select "Pattern" for an instrument, the button just
below the "Notes" button will become enabled. When clicked,
this button will list all existing note scale patterns, and
allow you to select one. Patterns are displayed and edited
on the "Instrument Group Settings" page, and can be
selected there too. For more information see "Editing a
Scale or Pattern" under "Editing Shared Instrument
Settings" below.
Using a pattern is a way of choosing a note based on a list
of numbers, each number referring to a note’s position in
the selected scale. For example, if the pattern is “1, 3,
4” the first, third, and fourth notes in the current scale
would be played in order. If the scale is “C Major” the
notes would be “C, E, G”. 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 (i.e., within the "Octave Range").
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.
Special Effects
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.
Modulation
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 ("%") and also the “Period” of the variation in the change. You're not controlling the period of the modulation itself, however.
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 Variation %" 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 whole note
“Time” for each instrument to no lower than 2 seconds, the
“note” multiplier to x1, and the "rest" multiplier to x2.
Reducing the “Timing Variation %" to perhaps 10% or 20%
will also help. Be sure each instrument’s "Number of Notes
(max)" is no higher than 3.
A general rule for quieter Moods would be to have the
“rest” time longer and the “note” time somewhat shorter.
Reducing the “Timing Variation %" helps too.
Active Moods
If you set short "note" and "rest" times and a larger
timing variation you'll get a faster paced Mood. You can
liven it up more by increasing the "Number of Notes (max)"
settings for each instrument.
Setting Cadences
To have a cadenced mood, all "note" and "rest" times must
be equal, and the “Timing Variation %" slider must be set
to 0. You can press the BPM button to set the cadence in
beats per minute.
Using Patterns
The note "Pattern" will affect many things, especially when
the instrument octave range is set to play only an octave
or two. For example, with the pattern 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. See the
next section on "Shared Instrument Settings" for more
information.
Editing Shared
Instrument Settings
Musical Key
Use the slider to change the musical key
for the Mood being edited; it defaults to the key of "C".
Random Key Step
If this 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.
Sound Motion (Instrument)
The sliders select the "Period" and “Type” of sound
motion, while the small round button just left of
the "Period" slider enables or disables it.
"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 “Soundfile Settings” section
below and look at the “Soundfile Settings” page).
Multiple instrument sounds are separated spatially as their
sounds move around. The spacing is based on their nominal
pan positions, set on the “Individual Instrument Settings”
page.
Musical Scales and Note
Patterns
The top list
contains the Scale Names and the
Musical Notes that define them. The lower
list contains the Pattern Names and the
Note Selection Patterns used to select
from a scale and optionally time notes for the “Pattern”
note selection method. You can drag the
separator between the two lists up or down
to give one list more height.
Right/control-clicking anywhere in either list brings up a
contextual menu. At the top is "Help"
followed by several selections for editing the highlighted
item. Below that 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 necessarily the
Mood that’s playing - keep that in mind).
You can Add (+), or Delete
(-) scales and patterns using the buttons just
below their respective lists. The section below titled
“Editing a Scale or Pattern” gives details on how to do
that.
The arrow pointer in the left-most column
of the scale list will always indicate which scale is
selected for the Mood being edited. Just double-click a row
to use that scale.
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.
The left-most three columns of the pattern list represent
the three instruments, and correspond to instruments 1, 2,
and 3 on the "Individual Instrument Settings" page. A
checkmark in a column means the row's pattern is being used
by that instrument (1, 2, or 3) for its note selection.
Editing a Scale or
Pattern
To edit an item in a list,
highlight the row and then click the item you wish to edit.
After the cell becomes editable, make the changes you want
and press "return", "enter", or click outside the cell to
save them. 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. Also, 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.
To add or delete a row in the list, simply select the row
and click "+" or "-" respectively. 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.
Note that for both the scale and pattern lists you can edit
any row independently of the Mood you're editing.
The names of items (scales or patterns) 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.
The last column holds the note or pattern definition for
that scale or pattern. The next two paragraphs describe the
meaning of the contents for the musical scale notes 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 so 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 numbers each
representing a note in whatever scale is 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.
In addition to selecting notes in a scale, a pattern can
also set a sustain and/or pause time for notes they follow.
Pauses are set by entering a "p" or an "r" (rest), sustains
by a "s" or an "n" (note), followed by a decimal number.
The number multiplies the whole note length (set by the
"Time" slider on the "Individual Instrument Settings" page)
to set the pause/sustain for the previous note. For example
if you entered: "1, 3, r0.5, 4, s2" SonicMood will play the
first note of the current scale followed by the normal
pause, then the 3rd note of the scale followed by a 1/2
note rest (over-riding the normal setting), then the 4th
note with a 2 note sustain followed by the normal pause.
You can enter a pattern note number followed by sustains
and pauses without needing to separate them by commas. The
commas are only needed to separate note numbers. So in the
previous example you could have entered "1, 3 r0.5, 4 s2".
If you entered "1, 3 r0.5 s2, 4 s2" then SonicMood would
play the first note in the current scale with default
sustain and rest, followed by the third note with the
default sustain, followed by a half-note rest, followed
by the third note again with a two whole-note sustain.
Then the fourth note in the scale would be played with a
two whole-note sustain and the default rest.
When you enter or edit a pattern and press "return" the
values you entered are examined, formatted, and displayed.
If you use an "n" for "note" sustain or a "p" for "pause"
rest, they will be converted to "s" and "r" respectively.
Also, if you enter "1,3r0.5,4s2" the formatted and
displayed values will be "1, 3 r0.5, 4 s2".
Using the Simulated
Piano Keyboard
If you click on Show
Keyboard, a window with a simulated piano keyboard
will open. You can also open this window, even if the
"Edit" window isn't open, by selecting "Piano Keyboard"
(⌘7)
from the "Windows" menu.
As long as the "Edit Scale Notes" Off
radio button is selected, you can only use the keyboard to
play notes - they won't be added to the highlighted Scale.
The On button is only enabled if the
“Edit” window is open and set to the “Shared Instrument
Settings” page. Clicking the On button
will enable the other two buttons in the “Edit Scale Notes”
group box. Using those buttons and the keyboard you can
add, delete one, or clear all the notes in the selected
Scale. Details are in the following paragraphs.
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'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. The
Tab key toggles “Sustain” and the
return key stops all notes when “sustain”
is on. Hold down the shift key to shift up
an octave. 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.
If you depress the button labeled Sustain,
the notes you play will be held until you move the mouse
away from the piano keyboard area. If the button is not
depressed, the note will be held only as long as you keep
the mouse button (or computer keyboard key) down.
In the Musical Notes column of the Scales
list, the leftmost "C" corresponds to the lowest "C" key 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 further right in the notes on 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". The setting of the “Octave” slider does
not affect this, although the “Musical Key” slider does.
Changing the “Musical Key” will affect the notes entered in
the list; for example if you set the “Musical Key” slider
to “D” and press a “C” key on the keyboard, a “D” will be
entered in the list.
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).
Soundfile
Settings
Setting Up Soundfiles
Soundfiles are standard MP3, MP4, AIFF, WAV, CAF, and MOV files which SonicMood plays to provide a sonic background to the MIDI instruments. The soundfiles available on the SonicMood web site include the sounds of nature like rain, thunder, frogs, whales, waterfalls, etc. You are free to add whatever files you'd like to include as a backdrop. SonicMood can play up to 32 soundfiles simultaneously, with sounds fading in and out on a semi-random basis. Note that the soundfiles must be 16 bit, not 8 bit, if you're running SonicMood on an Intel-based Mac. Since 8 bit soundfiles are of low quality, this shouldn't be a problem. All soundfiles supplied with SonicMood and on our web site are 16 bit and will not cause any problems.
TIP: If you have Apple’s iLife installed, you can add sounds that are installed with that app. You may find them here: “/Library/Audio/Apple Loops/Apple/iLife Sound Effects” (they’re “.caf” files).
Soundfile Settings Affect
If you'd like all Moods to use the same soundfiles and settings as the current ones, select "All Moods" from the "Changes to Soundfile settings will affect:" box. Other Moods won't be affected until a control on this page is actually changed after the selection.
Sound Motion
(Soundfile)
The sliders select the "Period" and “Type” of sound
motion, while the small round button just left of
the "Period" slider enables or disables it.
"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, set on the “Individual Note
Properties” page.
Soundfiles List
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 that comes in the SonicMood download.
The first time you run SonicMood, it looks for the
"SonicMood Soundfiles" folder in its folder. Those files
are then copied to the “Soundfiles” folder.
To add individual files you can either
click the "+" button or drag a file onto
the list. To delete files from the list
(and the “Soundfiles” folder), highlight the rows they’re
on and click the "-" button.
If you don't see any files in the list on the "Soundfiles"
page, click the button labeled +Folder
below the list 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).
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. So if another soundfile with the
same name (and file extension) is added later, any Mood
which references that soundfile name will play that
soundfile. To permanently remove the reference in a Mood to
the deleted soundfile, click the Remove File
Refs button.
To quickly "uncheck" all the soundfiles in the list for a
particular Mood, click the "Clear All
✓" 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.
Each soundfile that you select for a Mood can have its own
Rel Vol (Relative Volume),
Pan, and Play, Fade,
Pause time settings. To adjust a soundfile’s
settings, highlight its row, be sure it’s checked, and
change the control settings.
The normal setting for “Rel Vol” (relative volume) is 100%,
and the “Pan” setting should be in the center if the file
is “Stereo.” It is easier to adjust volume and pan settings
when the Play, Fade, Pause and
Sound Motion are not enabled.
SonicMood can randomly choose a starting volume for each
soundfile when a Mood starts playing. This feature is
enabled by checking the “Start each Soundfile with a random
volume” checkbox in the Preferences window, "Soundfiles"
page.
The Play, Fade, Pause 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, Fade,
Pause controls are inactive until you press the
small round button just left of Play, Fade,
Pause. If the controls are left unactivated, each
soundfile will play at a constant volume with no pause.
A soundfile can pause its play for a while and then resume.
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 Fade Time slider.
These features allow you to have frogs that croak for a
time (for example), then stop and start up again later (in
case you don't want frogs croaking all the time...).
Miscellaneous
The overall volume of all the
soundfiles for a Mood is controlled by the slider on the
Mixer window ("Controls" menu). You can also adjust the
volume using the
⌃↑ and
⌃↓ keys, just like you can use the
⌘↑ and
⌘↓ keys to adjust the "Overall Volume." The button
to the left of the slider is used to mute or un-mute the
sound.
The number of soundfiles in the list along with the number
selected is displayed in the header at the top of the
soundfiles list. All the valid (i.e., MP3, AIFF, etc.)
soundfiles will be displayed in the list unless the
"Maximum 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.