Moods and Themes

SonicMood plays "Moods" from various "Themes" which are meant to be relaxing, stimulating, and/or thought provoking. SonicMood comes with 37 pre-defined Moods and five pre-defined Themes (not including “All Moods”). A Mood contains three MIDI instruments, a note scale, octaves, note selection and timing, and soundfiles which are all intended to create a certain sonic impression.

You can add soundfiles (MP3, AIFF, etc.) to any Mood. Specific soundfiles are assigned to each Mood when you run SonicMood for the first time. To make changes to these assignments, go to the "Soundfiles" page on the Edit panel (press the "Edit" button to get there). See the Help topic Mood Editing under the heading Soundfiles and Sound Motion for more information on soundfiles.

The name of the Mood currently playing is displayed in the central "marquee" area. You can select a different Mood using the forward/back buttons at the left, by pressing the ⌘← and ⌘→ keys, or by double-clicking on a Mood in the "Mood list" below the marquee. Below the Mood name is the schedule for the next Mood, if any. If you are using the "Mood Timer" or the "Mood Play Schedule Timer" then the Mood that's up next will be displayed here. More information about timers can be found below, and in the Timers topic.

Pause the MIDI instruments and Soundfiles sounds by clicking the "pause" button between the arrow buttons, or pressing the spacebar.



"Master Volume" for all Moods is controlled by the slider to the left of the marquee. You can mute the volume by clicking the "loudspeaker" button to the right of the slider. More information is available in the Main Window Help topic.


By clicking the "Edit" button at the bottom of the window, you show or hide the Edit panel where you can edit the Mood highlighted in the Moods list. Here you can change many things including what instruments are playing and their relative volume and position in the sound field, the musical scale, octaves, note timing, number of notes, and the musical key for any Mood. In addition, you can select soundfiles which play along with the instruments. See the topic Mood Editing for more information on how to add, delete, and modify Moods.

The Mood List

The Mood List is simply a list of the Moods associated with the Theme selected in the Themes list on the left. The Moods list includes the name of the Moods and Timer and Schedule settings for each Mood. If the SonicMood window is in its "small size" (zoomed) state, the Mood and Theme lists will not be visible. In this case, click the green "+"

in the titlebar first to un-zoom the window.

The Moods list is sortable (ascending or descending) by clicking on the header of any column except the leftmost (speaker icon "Mood Playing" indicator). Moods can also be re-arranged in the Moods list just by dragging to a new position. You can move multiple (even disjoint) rows at one time. An outline of the row(s) you're moving will appear along with a horizontal line to indicate where the Mood or Moods will drop if you release the mouse button. Note that if one or more lines are moved via a drag, the column header no longer indicates that sorting is in effect.

You can select multiple Moods (in the Moods list) and cut, copy, or delete them all using the Edit Menu. You can paste Moods between Themes too. See the Help topic MenuBar for more information.

Mood Column Definitions
The Moods list has 4 columns. Each column (except the first) is capped by a header which uses a brief word or symbol to give meaning to its contents.

1. The first column indicates (using a loudspeaker icon) the Mood that's currently playing. If the Mood is paused (by clicking the Pause button or pressing the space bar, for example) then the speaker shows no "sound waves" emanating from it.
2. The second column has checkboxes and the Mood timer intervals. You may directly edit the timer values using the "select-pause-click" technique. Check a box to add that Mood to the "Marked" Mood Play Order (see the Timers topic for more information).

1. The third column has the name of each Mood. You can edit the name by selecting "Edit Highlighted Text" contextual (right/control-click) menu, or you can use the "select-pause-click" technique. When the cell becomes editable, make the changes and press "return/enter" or click outside the cell.

1. The fourth column shows a list of days and times for Moods scheduled to play. See the Timers Help topic to find out how to schedule a Mood to start at a time you select.

Working with Themes

The purpose of Themes is to group Moods together. You can add or delete Themes, except for the "All Moods" Theme which (as its name implies) lists all the Moods. The Theme selected when you quit SonicMood will be the Theme selected when you start SonicMood again. If you select a Mood that's in a particular Theme or Themes, that Theme (or Themes) will appear in italics.

There are contextual menus available for both the Mood and the Theme list. Right/Control-click in the list to show the menu and select an item.

To add a Theme, press the "+" button below the Themes list. Delete a Theme, previously added, using the "-" button (or just press the delete key on the keyboard). You can't delete the "All Moods" Theme (the "-" button will not be enabled).

To add a Mood to a Theme, use drag & drop, copy & paste, or "Copy Moods to Theme..." (^ +) from the Moods menu. For drag & drop, just select the Mood or Moods you'd like to add to the target Theme from any other Theme. Select them using the standard techniques: click the starting Mood then ⇧-click the ending Mood to select a range, or ⌘-click multiple disjoint Moods. Then drag them to the target Theme row and drop. The number to the right of the Theme name indicates how many Mood links are in that Theme. Copy & paste works like always: highlight a Mood or Moods from any Theme and press ⌘C to copy, or select "Copy" from the "Edit" menu. Now highlight the Theme you want to copy this Mood or Moods to and press ⌘V, or select "Paste" from the "Edit" menu. "Copy Moods to Theme..." works like selecting "Copy" - highlight the Mood(s) to copy then select "Copy Moods". A sheet window will drop down and you can select the Theme to copy to from a list.

When you “Delete” a Mood, you delete it from every Theme it’s in, including the “All Moods” Theme. Clicking the "-" button below the Mood list, or pressing the “delete” or “backspace” key “Deletes” the highlighted Mood. To “Cut” a Mood only removes it from the current Theme. To cut a Mood (or Moods) from the current Theme, highlight them and select “Cut” from the "Edit" menu, or right/control-click and select “Cut Mood(s)” from the contextual menu.

You can sort and delete Themes just like Moods (all except for the "All Moods" Theme). Themes can also be re-arranged just like Moods can. Simply drag a Theme row (or rows) to a new position. The only restriction is that you can't drag a new Theme to be above the "All Moods" Theme. If you try you'll hear a "boop" and the Theme will not be moved. Note that if one or more rows are moved via a drag, the column header no longer indicates that sorting is in effect.

Use the tab key to move around between the Mood and Theme lists, Search field, and lists on the Edit panel. In any list, use the ↑↓ keys to move the highlight. Press enter to play a highlighted Mood. In the Themes list, moving with the ↑↓ keys immediately changes to the highlighted Theme.

Loading, Saving, Adding, and Creating Mood Files

All Mood information is saved in a "Mood file". The default file is named "SonicMood Moods" (pretty original, huh?) and is kept in the "SonicMood" folder inside your Preferences folder. You can save Mood information to a different Mood file and/or in another folder. You can also create a new Mood file or add Mood files. Since you can add, delete, and modify scales and patterns on the Edit panel's "Key, Scale, Pattern" page, Mood files also contain the "musical scale" and "note pattern" information for that set of Moods.

IMPORTANT: If you want to make changes to Moods without affecting the original file you should first save the file under a new name.

Mood files can be identified by the "white notes and sunny ocean" icon. Double-clicking a Mood file will launch SonicMood using the Mood settings from that file. You can also drop a Mood file onto the Moods List when SonicMood is running to load the settings from that file. On normal startup, SonicMood will automatically load the last Mood file you've saved (if any). Otherwise SonicMood will use the default Mood file.

If you'd like to listen to the Moods in a different Mood file, you can load the file by selecting "Open Mood File..." (⌘O) from the "File" menu. Or, you can just drag and drop the Mood file onto the "Moods list" in the SonicMood window (hold the “command” (⌘) key down to replace the current Mood file, otherwise the Moods are added to the current file). Either way the "Moods list" will display the Moods in this file. To return to the "default" Mood file, "SonicMood Moods", select "Open Default Mood File" (⌥⌘O) from the "File" menu.

You can add one Mood file to another using "Add Mood File(s)..." (⇧⌘O) from the "File" menu. Doing this will add the Moods from the selected file(s) to the current file. Another way to do this is to simply "drag and drop" a Mood file onto the "Moods list" on the SonicMood window. Not holding the "command" key down insures that the Mood file you're dragging won't replace the current Mood file. Moods, Themes, Scales, and Patterns with the same name (case is ignored) are replaced by the ones in the added file.

You can save a Mood file by selecting "Save Mood File As..." (⇧⌘S) from the "File" menu. A standard "save dialog" window will appear; enter the name and location you'd like to save the file at. This Mood file will contain all the Moods and Themes in the current Moods and Themes lists. You can load it again with "Open Mood File..." (⌘O) from the "File" menu, by double-clicking it's icon, or just dropping the file onto the "Moods List" while holding the “command” key down. The current Mood file will be replaced with the selected file (the current file will be saved first).

You can also save selected Moods by choosing "Save Selected Moods..." (⌃⌘S). Only the Moods highlighted in the Moods list will be saved, and no added Themes are saved. Otherwise the comments of the previous paragraph apply.

You can create a brand new Mood file by selecting "New Mood File…" (⌘F) from the "File" menu. A "File Save" window will open, allowing you to specify a name for the Mood file, and a folder to save it in. Afterward, the Mood list will consist of the original Moods. You can then edit or delete the Moods you don't want and add others to make a completely new & different set of Moods.

Create a Mood
SonicMood provides you with an easy way to create a unique Mood to add to the current Mood file. Click the "+" button below the Mood list, or select "Create Custom Mood" (⌥⌘+) from the "Mood" menu. A sheet window will open displaying three steps. First set the Mood's "attributes" the way you want, then enter a name for your new Mood. After you've done that, click either "Create" or "Cancel".

Unless sorting is turned on for the Mood list column, the Mood you create is inserted above the highlighted Mood in the "Mood List". If no Mood is highlighted, the new Mood is inserted above the Mood that's currently playing. If you're on a Theme other than the "All Moods" Theme then your new Mood will show up there and in the "All Moods" Theme. Of course, if sorting is on for the Mood list column, then the new Mood will appear in its proper sorted order.

Mood Timers

Interval Timers

The "marquee" area near the top center of the SonicMood window provides control over the Mood timer. The Picture window's marquee works the same way for the Picture timer. Click the rectangular button on the right side of the Mood or Picture marquee to bring down the corresponding timer setup sheet window. Set the timer Play/View Order and timer Length here. You can start/stop either timer by clicking the rectangular button on the left side of the marquee. Look in the Help topic Timers for more information.

Mood Scheduler
Click the "Play Times" button on the toolbar, or the button at the bottom of the window, to access the Mood schedule window and set/start/stop the scheduler. When running, the scheduler will start a Mood at a particular time after zero or more days have passed. See the Help topic Timers for more information on this one also.