Timers

SonicMood uses four types of timers. The first type controls the note timing. That is, the length of notes (sustain) and the space between notes (pause). The second type measures elapsed time and (when running) determines the time interval over which a Mood plays (or a Picture displays) before going to another Mood (or Picture). The third type is the sleep/wake timer that controls when SonicMood goes to sleep or wakes up. Finally, the fourth type will play a Mood at a specific day, hour, minute, and second. There are actually a few other timers running, but they control things like the scrolling of messages and can't be changed by the user so we won't talk about them here.

Note Timing

You can adjust the pause and play time values for each instrument in a Mood from the "Edit" panel. Click the "Edit" button at the bottom of the main window if the Edit panel isn't visible. Note timing is adjusted on the "Inst, Vol, Notes" page. More information specific to the editing of Moods can be found in the Help Topic Mood Editing.

Mood and Picture Timers

The Mood and Picture timers operate in essentially the same way. What follows describes both.

The area near the top center of the (SonicMood or Picture) window (the "marquee") controls the timer. The small rectangular buttons to the left and right let you toggle the timer on/off and set the timer, respectively. When you click the button on the left, the timer will start and a "progress bar" will appear between the buttons. Click the button on the right and the timer "set" window will appear. You can also start/stop and modify timer settings from the Moods menu, " Mood Timer On," and "Mood Play Timer Settings…" respectively.

You can set the behavior of the timer from the timer window. Each Mood or Picture can have its own time setting. The time for each is displayed in its list, next to the checkbox. The slider sets the time between Mood or Picture changes (in minutes).

Select one of the "Play Order" modes to establish the order in which Moods are played or Pictures are viewed: "Shuffled" - a random Mood/Picture is selected after each interval, "In Order" - Moods/Pictures occur in sequential order starting from the current one, and "✓Marked: xxx" - the Moods/Pictures with check marks next to them in their list will happen in order (xxx indicates how many Moods/Pictures are checked in the list). Timer settings are remembered.

"Apply Setting To" specifies whether the slider and the "✓ Mark(s)" settings apply to the highlighted row or rows, or to all rows. Selecting "All Rows" will change every Mood or Picture.

Another way to change the timer setting is by direct editing of the value displayed in the list. This works the same way as editing a Mood/Picture name. Highlight the item and use the "select-pause-click" technique on the value.

While running, the timer displays a "progress bar." At the left of the bar is the elapsed time and at the right is the total time (both in mm:ss format). The next Mood/Picture starts when the time has elapsed.

If a row is highlighted in the list, you can toggle its checkmark by pressing "⌥-spacebar".

Mood Play Schedule Timer

SonicMood will play a Mood at a given time, if it's been scheduled using the "Mood Play Schedule" timer. If SonicMood is paused it will un-pause to play the scheduled Mood. Click the "Schedule" button at the bottom of the window or select "Mood Play Schedule Settings" (⌘U) from the Moods menu, to open the scheduling window.

When the window opens, select a Mood from the “Add” pop-up menu or select an item in the schedule list (if any). You can set the time of day to start a Mood "At" (including a "day" number, which is the number of days from the current day) or the elapsed time to start a Mood "In." Then select a repeat interval and the minimum time a Mood should play (if two or more Moods vie for the same start time). The minimum play time (“Play For At Least”) and repeat interval (“Repeat Every”) settings are remembered if they were set/changed by the user. Finally click "+" to make a new entry using the Mood in the "Add" menu, or click "Update Highlighted Mood" if you want to change the Mood highlighted in the schedule list.

To change a time setting click on a digit to select it, or use ← and → to move one digit back and forth. Use ↑ or ↓, click the up/down arrow buttons, or use the mouse wheel to change the highlighted value. You can also just type a new time in the appropriate places. You'll notice that the current digit is highlighted. You can use Tab and Shift-Tab to move between the three time entry fields and the schedule list.

Delete a highlighted schedule entry by clicking "-". To start the timer, click the "On" radio button. If you need to, you can resize the window by dragging its “resize tab” at the lower right. To exit the window, click "Done" or "Cancel."

In the Moods list you should see the time you've set for a Mood in the "Schedule" column.

If the Mood timer (discussed in the "Mood and Picture Timers" topic above) is running when a Mood is scheduled, the Mood that's playing will pause and the scheduled Mood will start playing. While it's playing, the "progress bar" will increment up to the minimum time (“Play For At Least” slider) the scheduled Mood was alotted. When that time is up, the previously playing Mood will resume. Note that the “volume fade down” and “volume fade up” times are observed (“preferences” window, “general” page), so there may be a delay before the volume is back up and the “progress bar” starts to move again.

Sleep and Wake Timers

Clicking the "Sleep/Wake" button at the bottom of the main window, or selecting "Sleep/Wake Schedule Settings…" (⌘T) from the SonicMood menu, will open a sheet window where you can set a time of day for SonicMood to sleep and wake. When the time is reached, the volume will fade down or up over an interval determined by the "Sound Fade Time" slider. When the fade is complete, SonicMood will stop or start playing (and sleep or wakeup the computer if selected), as appropriate.

To change a time setting click on a digit to select it, or use ← or → to move one digit. Use ↑ or ↓, click the up/down arrow buttons, or use the mouse wheel to change the highlighted value. You can also just type a new time in the appropriate places. You'll notice that the current digit is highlighted. You can use Tab and Shift-Tab to move between the three time entry areas ("Sleep," "Wake," and "Repeat Every") - a black border indicates which field is selected.

If you want the computer to also sleep and wake at the scheduled times, check the "Sleep/Wake computer" box. Be aware that checking the box will cause an "authentication" window to appear. You will need to enter an admin's name and password to allow SonicMood to set a wake up for the computer. You should only need to do this once, as SonicMood saves the information using 448 bit Blowfish encryption to use as needed when setting or canceling computer wake ups. Note that an identical checkbox setting can be set in the Preferences, on the "Sleep/Wake" page.

We have found, during testing here, that the computer wake up doesn't work reliably on older Power Mac G4s and G5s. The issue appears related to one users have experienced with applications not resuming execution after waking from "forced" (as opposed to "idle") sleep. If you're unsure about your computer, please try using SonicMood's computer sleep/wake first before using it to wake you for that important meeting!

Checking the "Link Wake On/Off with Sleep On/Off" box will cause the "Wake" radio buttons to follow the "Sleep" buttons. This is useful if you want to use sleep/wake like an alarm clock. If you un-check the "Link..." box then you are free to only set a sleep without a corresponding wakeup, and vice-versa.

Once a time is set either timer can be started by clicking its "On" radio button. If the "Link..." checkbox, mentioned in the previous paragraph, is checked, then clicking either "On" radio button will cause both buttons to be set the same way, although when you check the checkbox the "Wake" radio button will be set the same as the "Sleep" button.

To have the same event repeat, set a repeat time. After a sleep and/or wake event, the event's timer will be incremented by the "Repeat..." amount.

Click "Done" once the timer(s) are set and running. The event times (sleep and wake) will be displayed in the Marquee, if any are set.