Page 9: The main menu
The main menu
The menu in the main window gives you access to a lot of the functions MathSounds can perform. You can access the menu by using a mouse, but alo by using mnemonics. Each menu has one letter underlined. Press Alt + this letter to open the menu. Then you can choose an item by pressing the underlined letter of that item. Once opened, you can also navigate the menu system by using the arrow keys, and you can choose an item to execute by hitting the space bar. Furthermore the menu's list shortcuts for almost all actions. Use those keys to perform them without ever opening a menu. All menu's, submenu's and menu items will be described below.
The 'File' menu
This menu gives you access to MathSounds files stored on your computer and the internet. It also allows you to close the program. The various items are described below.
Load: Use this to load a sound stored on your hard drive. You will be presented with a dialog window that allows you to choose a file from those available. If you change your mind you can cancel the operation. If you choose to open one, MathSounds will verify that it is a legal MathSounds Setup File, and, if so, load it. MathSounds Setup Files use the extension .mss. If you loaded or saved a file before, during this session, that file will already be selected and you only have to confirm the choice, if you wish to do so.
Save: Use this to save your current setup on your hard drive. You will be presented with a dialog window that allows you to choose a file from those available, or to enter a new file name. If you change your mind you can cancel the operation. If you omit the obligatory .mss extension, MathSounds will add it for you. If you loaded or saved a file before, during this session, that file will be considered the file this setup needs to be saved to, so MathSounds won't bother to ask you, it will just save the setup using the name it already knows.
Save As: Use this to save your current setup on your hard drive using a different name than MathSounds already knows. You will be presented with a dialog window that allows you to choose a file from those available, or to enter a new file name. If you change your mind you can cancel the operation. If you omit the obligatory .mss extension, MathSounds will add it for you. If you loaded or saved a file before, during this session, that file will already be selected and you only have to confirm the choice, if you wish to do so.
Examples: Use this to access the sample sounds that are stored online. You will be presented with a list of setups. Pick one to load it, or choose the 'Cancel' option, if you change your mind.
Quit: Use this to close MathSounds. If you have an unprotected setup in the Setup creation area, you will be asked whether you want to save it. This question will never be asked if MathSounds is playing a sound, if you are in the middle of creating a connection, or if you have disabled all warnings. You can choose to cancel this operation, if you change your mind.
The 'Edit' menu
This menu allows you to make changes to your setup that involve multiple generators and connections.
Remove unnecessary connection nodes: MathSounds uses connection nodes to keep connections in place. Connection nodes are the little points that are a bit thicker than the rest of the connection. To keep connections in place only the ones on corners, where the line takes another direction, and the ones where two lines are connected to each other, are needed. After a while you might find that you have placed nodes at places that don't need them. Such nodes can be a nuissance, since they don't allow you to draw other lines over them. Use this menu item to remove all those unnecessary nodes in one go. To the right you can see a setup with a lot of nodes that are not needed, below you see the same setup after it has been cleaned up.
Remove generators without a connection to the speaker: After a while you might find that your setup has multiple generators that in no way contribute to the sound because there is no connection to the speaker, directly, or indirectly through other generators. These generators do waste valuable time of your computer, since their results have to be calculated, even if the results don't end up with the speaker. Use this menu item to remove all those unnecessary generators in one go. The setup to the right has seven such generators, the one below shows the same setup after it has been cleaned up.
Remove generators without any connections: This item is a bit less intrusive than the previous one. It can be used very well when your setup is not finished yet, but you do have a lot of generators without any connections, of which you are sure you will never use them again. This action will leave all those groups of generators that produce a certain signal of which you are not sure yet which ones will end up in the end result. The setup above shows three generators that will be removed by this action. The cleaned up setup can be seen below.
Remove all generators: Use this to remove all generators. It is very usefull if you want to start again with a clean slate.
The 'Format' menu
This menu allows you to make some general settings pertaining to how MathSounds produces the current sound.
Sample Rate: Use this to change the sample rate. A detailed discussion of the sample rate can be found on page 7 of the tutorial.
Sample Size: Use this to change the sample size. A detailed discussion of the sample size can be found on page 7 of the tutorial.
The 'Sound' menu
This menu allows access to the 'Sound info' dialog window, it allows you to make MathSounds play the current sound, and it can be used to focus the program on some input fields in order to make some general settings as to how MathSounds should produce your sound.
Info: Use this to open up a dialog that allows you to enter some information that will personalize your sound. A detailed discussion of the 'Sound info' dialog can be found on page 7 of the tutorial.
Play: Use this menu item to make MathSounds start playing the sound you have produced, or, when the sound has been paused, to resume playing the sound.
Pause: Use this menu item to pause playing the sound, so you can continue listening to it at a later time.
Stop: Use this menu item to make MathSounds stop playing a sound altogether. It can also be used to make MathSounds stop drawing curves.
start: Use this menu item to focus the 'start' input field in the Sound control area, so that you can enter a value there. A description of the 'start' input field can be found on page 8 of the manual.
stop: Use this menu item to focus the 'stop' input field in the Sound control area, so that you can enter a value there. A description of the 'stop' input field can be found on page 8 of the manual.
The 'Generators' menu
This menu allows you to make some general settings that will be applied to all generators. Any setting made using this menu will change the default settings for new generators.
Waves: Use this to change the wave all of your generators produce in one go. Just pick one from the list. A description of all waves can be found on page 12 of the manual. Excluding generators from responding to overall settings is described on page 11 of the manual.
frequency: This menu item will pop up a dialog, as shown here, that allows you to change the frequencies of all of your generators to the frequency you specify here. A detailed discussion of frequency can be found on page 2 of the tutorial. Excluding generators from responding to overall settings is described on page 11 of the manual.
amplitude: This menu item will pop up a dialog that allows you to change the amplitude of all of your generators in one go. A detailed discussion of amplitude can be found on page 2 of the tutorial. Excluding generators from responding to overall settings is described on page 11 of the manual.
The 'Modulation' menu
This menu allows you to make some general settings as to how MathSounds should process modulation in your setup. A detailed description of modulation can be found on page 3 of the tutorial. Any setting made using this menu will change the default settings for new generators.
Inverted mode: Check this item to set all of your generators to inverted mode. Inverted mode is discussed thoroughly on page 4, page 5 and page 6 of the tutorial. Excluding generators from responding to overall settings is described on page 11 of the manual.
frequency asynchronicity: This will pop up a dialog that allows you to set the frequency asynchronicity for all of your generators in one go. The tutorial deals with frequency asynchronicity on page 6 and page 7. Excluding generators from responding to overall settings is described on page 11 of the manual.
amplitude asynchronicity: This will pop up a dialog that allows you to set the amplitude asynchronicity for all of your generators in one go. The tutorial deals with amplitude asynchronicity on page 6 and page 7. Excluding generators from responding to overall settings is described on page 11 of the manual.
The 'Viewers' menu
This menu allows you to make some general settings pertaining to all viewers. The viewer is described on page 10 of the manual.
Silent mode: Check this item to run MathSounds in silent mode. In silent mode you can play a sound, but you won't hear it. Instead the viewers you have open will show the graphs that represent the sound at a slower pace. Normally a viewer might show several thousands of graphs per second. Ofcourse your eyes will only process a few of them. In silent mode you can specify how many miliseconds MathSounds has to wait between samples, significantly slowing down the speed at which graphs are shown. This way you can study a series of curves at any speed you like, in case you want to figure out exactly how a signal is created. Use the 'delay' input field in the Sound control area to specify the number of miliseconds between samples. A sample equals one number that gets sent to the loudspeaker. See page 7 of the tutorial for a description of the sample rate and the sample size. If you have the 'Frozen when playing' option checked it will be unchecked when switching to silent mode.
Frozen: Use this menu to change when MathSounds draws curves. Check the 'Frozen when playing' option if MathSounds shouldn't draw graphs when playing a sound. This is usefull if you have many controllers open in order to be able to change the waves of their generators. If MathSounds doesn't have to draw all those curves it normally has to draw in that case, it can produce sound much faster. You can check the 'Frozen when not playing' option if you have several controllers open that specify long time intervals for their viewers and you no longer wish to be bothered by all these curves that take so much time to be drawn. You can use the 'Never frozen' and 'Always frozen' items to change both settings in one go.
Redraw: Use this to make MathSounds redraw all graphs in all open viewers.
Close all: Use this to close all controllers in one go.
delay: Use this to focus the 'delay' input field in the Sound control area, so that you can enter a value there. This item is only available when MathSounds has been switched to silent mode.
time interval: Use this to set the time interval for all of your open viewers in one go. Excluding viewers from responding to this setting is described on page 11 of the manual.
The 'Info' menu
From this menu you can control what information MathSounds should display.
Sound: This menu item pops up a dialog with some information about the current sound. It is shown here. At the top it shows the information that has been entered using the 'Sound info' dialog that can be accessed using the 'Sound' menu.
Help: This menu item pops up a dialog with a list of shortcuts that can be used in the Setup creation area and that are mentioned nowhere else.
About: This menu item pops up a dialog with some information about this application.
Enable messages: MathSounds will sometimes present you with information you haven't asked for, usually when you do something wrong. This information is rated using three categories of severity. 'Messages' are the least important ones, they merely serve to help you to operate MathSounds as well as possible. Each message allows you to disable this showing of messages. With this menu item you can re-enable this feature, or you can switch it off altogether, if you think you know MathSounds well enough to do without them. The second category of information rated by severity are warnings. They're described below. 'Errors' represent the most important kind of information. You can't switch it off. They find themselves so important they'll allways show.
Enable warnings: MathSounds will sometimes present you with information you haven't asked for, usually when you do something wrong. This information is rated using three categories of severity. 'Messages' are the least important ones, they're described above. 'Warnings' are the second most important kind of information. Each warning allows you to disable this showing of warnings. With this menu item you can re-enable this feature, or you can switch it off altogether, if you think you know MathSounds well enough to do without them. The third kind of information, rated by severity, are 'errors'. They're described above.
On the next page this manual will continue with a discussion of controllers.
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 8: Manual: the main window
Page 13: Release notes, known bugs and issues
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