Page 8: Manual: the main window
The main window
The main window is what you'll see when you start MathSounds. It is also shown here. It consists of five different parts. The Setup creation area is the large part in the middle, the Sound control area is the yellowish part in the bottom left of the window, the Play control area is the purple part in the bottom right corner, the Information area can be found in between the Sound control area and the Play control area, finally the Menu can be found above the Setup creation area. Below all parts will be explained in detail.
The setup creation area
The Setup creation area is divided into cells. The cells are separated by conduits. Each conduit consists of five connection lines. Each cell can hold one wave generator. Wave generators are connected to each other using their connectors and the connection lines in the conduits. The speaker can be connected to exactly one wave generator. All will be explained below.
The cells
The setup creation area consists of 962 cells separated from each other by conduits. The cells are numbered from A1 to Z37. To place a wave generator in a cell you left click on it. To delete a wave generator and all of its connections you right click on it. Left clicking on a wave generator will open its controller. Each controller shows in its title bar at the top to which cell it belongs.
The conduits
The conduits are what separates the cells in the Setup creation area from each other. Each conduit consists of five connection lines
The connection lines
The connection lines are the light grey lines that run between the cells in the Setup creation area. All connectors of wave generators are connected to each other by means of a connection line. The speaker is also connected to this network of connection lines. Connection lines in itself don't make active connections. In order to create an active connection between two wave generators or between a wave generator and the speaker you have to follow the procedure as described on page 3 of the tutorial
.The wave generators
The wave generators are the basic units MathSounds uses to produce sound. A detailed description of how this is done can be found on page 2 of the tutorial. Each wave generator can be set to produce one of several predefined waves, and for each wave, settings can be made to alter its behaviour. All of this can be done using its controller. Connecting wave generators to each other can be done using their connectors and the connection lines in the Setup creation area, as described on page 3 of the tutorial.
The connectors
Each wave generator has three connectors attached to it. Connectors are where signals leave and enter the generator. The connector where the signal leaves the generator is an output connector, the two connectors where signals enter the wave generator are input connectors. The three kinds of connectors can be distinguished from each other by their color and the names printed next to them. All three of them are described below
The output connector: The output connector is green and can be found on the right side of each wave generator. The output connector is where the signal its generator produces leaves it. From there it can be send to one or more input connectors of other wave generators, or to the speaker. You can't make a connection such that a signal eventually would return back to where it came from.
The frequency connector: This connector is blue and can be found on the left side of each wave generator. The frequency connector is where a signal enters a wave generator in order to be used for frequency modulation. A detailed description of frequency modulation can be found on page 5 of the tutorial.
The amplitude connector: This connector is red and can be found on the left side of each wave generator. The amlitude connector is where a signal enters a wave generator in order to be used for amplitude modulation. A detailed description of amplitude modulation can be found on page 3 of the tutorial.
The speaker
The speaker can be found by scrolling the Setup creation area all the way to the right and setting it exactly in the middle between the top and the bottom. The speaker is where the signal, that has been produced by a series of interconnected wave generators, should eventually end up. This is where the sound leaves MathSounds and is sent to the sound system of your computer, which will then deliver it to the speakers that will make you hear the sound you created.
The sound control area
The Sound control area is where you can make some general settings to how MathSounds should produce your sound. It contains three input fields you can use to enter numbers. They're described below. Every input field in MathSounds requires you to hit Enter to confirm what you have entered.
start: This is where you enter at which point in time MathSounds should start playing your sound. The number entered represents a number of seconds. Usually this will be set to 0.0, which will play the sound from the beginning, but it can be set to start playing the sound up to several hours in the future.
stop: This is where you enter at which point in time MathSounds should stop playing your sound. The number entered represents a number of seconds. The actual length of the sound will be its stop time minus its start time.
delay: This input field can only be used when MathSounds has been switched to silent mode. It then shows the number of miliseconds MathSounds has to wait between samples.
The play control area
The Play control area contains three buttons to control the sound. They're described below. When MathSounds is playing a sound many things you can normally do will be disabled.
Play: You use this button to make MathSounds start playing the sound you have produced, or, when the sound has been paused, to resume playing the sound.
Pause: You can use this button to pause playing the sound, so you can continue listening to it at a later time.
Stop: You use this button to make MathSounds stop playing a sound altogether. It can also be used to make MathSounds stop drawing curves.
The information area
The Information area shows a couple of items that tell you what MathSounds is doing and how well it does that. These items are described below.
The buffer status display: You'll find this to the left in the Information area. When MathSounds is playing a sound you'll see a bar moving back and forth on top of the white background. This bar shows how well the buffer MathSounds uses for storing the created sound is filled. If it is green and well to the right, then the buffer is well filled, meaning your computer can cope well with the workload you have bestowed upon it. If the bar is mostly to the left and shows in red, the buffer is poorly filled and this sound is too much for your computer to handle. You can reduce the workload by closing viewers, reducing the sample rate and the sample size, and by removing generators.
The clock: The clock will show how much of the sound has been played. It will quietly run along when playing a sound. It will run fast if you have instructed MathSounds to start playing a sound at some point in the future, as it tracks how much of the sound has been calculated. It will also run along if for some reason MathSounds has to redraw the curves in your viewers, to indicate how far it has progressed doing that.
The menu
The menu will be described on the next page.
Page 1: Introduction, news and installation
Page 2: Tutorial: creating a simple sound
Page 3: Modulation: wave generators working together
Page 4: Inverted mode and the interval of a wave
Page 5: Frequency modulation, waves and inverted mode
Page 13: Release notes, known bugs and issues
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Please send your questions, comments or remarks to info@mathsounds.com