With the Menu bar you can load and save SoundHelix XML files. Below that, you can click "Play" to play your SoundHelix settings. Clicking "Stop" will stop the player.
Song Writer Documentation
Structure / Song Name Engine
The first tab is a combination of the Structure and Song Name Engine.
Under the structure tab, you can set the Ticks per Beat (default is 4), the Beats per Bar (default is 4) and a Random setup for the number of Bars. The higher the ticks and beats, the faster the song will be. This section is validated for minimum required entries.
The class name is hardcoded to "CFGSongNameEngine". This section is prepopulated with the standard variables as defined by the SoundHelix webstie. You can add Variables to the song name engine, by pressing on the "Add Variable" button. For more information on the CFG Song Name Engine, check out the Sound Helix site. With Song Writer you can easily use the "standard" Song Name Engine, by selecting "Set Default Song Name Engine". The variables will be built automatically, and you can edit their values. The Song name engine values are validated for minium required entries.
Harmony Engine
The Harmony Engine tab allows you to add Chord Patterns and Chord Random Tables. It also has a button for setting a standard harmony engine, as defind at the Sound Helix website.
Arrangement Engine
The Arrangement Engine tab is fairly complex. This is the bulk of the data, and this section is divided into three tabs. The main tab is setting up the main attributes of the Arrangement Engine. The class defaults to the SimpleArrangementEngine, which is the only Arrangement engine defind in version 0.3 of Sound Helix. This screen is validated when play is pressed.
Activity Vectors
The Activity Vectors tab allows you to add activity vectors and edit its data. The values entered for the name are automatically transfered over to the Tracks tab. Activity Vectors need to be define before you can add one to a track.
Tracks
And last the Tracks. It allows for multiple tracks, with multiple Pattern Engines, Patterns Conditional Patterns and multiple Activity Vectors. You will need to select the Sequence Engine first. For more information on Sequence Engines go to Sound Helix.com. All sequence engines from version 0.3 are editable here. Upon selecting a sequence engine, the screen changes to include attributes available for that engine.
The StringPatternEngine screen is converted into a Music Sheet. This is
only a representation of a music sheet. A pitch of 0 is treated as middle
C, and negative values are not allowed. To edit the notes, click on the
note and then move the mouse up and down to reposition. All half movements
are treated as a Sharp (#), which is a Flat of the note above it. Once the
note is in the desired position, click again to set. Moving the note all
the way down and clicking it will delete the note.
A pattern engine can be deleted by clicking the X at the right side.
Player
The Player tab allows you to set up the midi information. The Device is pre-populated with the standard midi device. With the "add Map" button you are able to add multiple mappings from instruments to the midi device. Clicking "Sample Instrument" will play a short notes with the selected instrument, allowing you to sample what it sounds like.
