v4.8.2
We’re working on a new alpha, v4.8.2. It will include (among other things) the ability to choose how notes are selected and how pauses and sustains are determined. For example, you’ll be able to specify a pattern like the Fibonacci sequence to generate notes. This won’t be completely deterministic (you’re not going to be able to feed a musical score into SonicMood), but will give you more control over the kinds of sounds SonicMood can make.
If you have any ideas or suggestions for new features, feel free to give them here
January 24th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Please give more predefined presets
I would like to see a more fluid ambient music
January 24th, 2008 at 2:10 am
Hi Chriswan,
I’ve added your suggestion to “the list”. Have you looked at the “Create A Mood” menu item under the “Mood” menu? You can customize your own Moods there by choosing a range of attributes (Tranquil to Lively, Moody to Upbeat, Mysterious to Mainstream). That might be something to try.
But we’ve thought about “presets” before, it’s a good suggestion.
Thanks,
John
January 24th, 2008 at 2:21 am
I tried to make I own presets, but I’m a little bit overwhelmed by the abundant parameters
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You could also improve the quality of the scenes. Current scenes are in low res and suffer from JPG compression artifacts
January 24th, 2008 at 2:45 am
You also could ask pictures from your farm pictures*, into scenes perhaps?
* the pictures from ParadisePics.htm in this site
January 24th, 2008 at 3:12 am
Hi Chriswan,
I agree there’s a lot of parameters to play with. That’s why we added the “Create a Mood” option, but it’s a bit on the other side - not enough variation possible. We will look at a way to have a middle ground - something that allows variations without being too overwhelming…
Re the pictures. You can add your own pictures just by dragging and dropping. We do limit the resolution tho. Perhaps we should increase it or make it user adjustable? We’ll look into that too!
Thanks for the comments!
John
January 24th, 2008 at 5:08 am
Hi, smee again John
I can’t help but feel overly excited with this little app
Another suggestion (I hope I won’t upset you with barrage of wishes)
It would also be great if you could integrate the support files with the .app file so one can more easily manage the app as a single entity .app file in Applications folder, instead of as a sub folder
January 24th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Do you mean the soundfiles? I agree we could do better with them, but I don’t want to embed them in the app because the user needs to be able to access them easily to add or remove files. But, maybe there’s a way… The only other disadvantage is that, since the soundfiles don’t change (usually) from release to release, a user can just download the app for a new version without having to re-download the extra weight of the soundfiles each time.
Cheers,
John
January 24th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
I purchased SonicMood within 15 minutes of the first launch. I can tell already that it will be a constant companion.
I can already foresee a problem: while reading a website, I’ll encounter a music clip or video … jump to the Dock to pause SonicMood … play/watch the clip … return to the Dock to resume SonicMood … rinse and repeat.
It would be fabulous if SonicMood could detect other audio and automatically pause for the duration, plus a short period to give me a chance to choose another song/video.
For the time being, I’ll make due with a global QuicKeys keyboard shortcut.
January 24th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
I can look into that. I don’t know if I can figure out a way to do it or not, but I’ll see what can be done.
BTW, when SonicMood has the focus you can just hit the spacebar to pause SonicMood. That probably doesn’t help you here, since the browser (or whatever) would have focus. You’d still have to switch over to SonicMood before you hit the spacebar…
I’ll see what I can come up with. Thanks for the idea!
Cheers,
John
January 28th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
We’re adding a “floating” window with a large “pause/play” button to make it easy to pause SonicMood even if the main SonicMood window is hidden. This floating window will stay on top and can be put anywhere on the desktop. It’s optional and can be opened or closed at any time.
We’re adding this in order to address Ward’s concerns about pausing SonicMood to listen to something else and then returning to SonicMood’s sounds.
We could add back/forward buttons, a volume control, and the name of the current Mood. What do you think?
March 28th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Thanks for this great software, I enjoy a lot Sonicmood.
It would be fabulous if:
1-I can set a overall tempo, to have notes played in a kind of rhythm. I could imagine SonicMood playing on a beat, to choose if he plays one note/beat or two notes/beat etc…
2-Insert AU or VST audio plugins, to add specials effects ( actually I use AudioHijack pro as a host to add sound effect, that’s make SonicMood more beautifull and bigger, especially with stereo delays and wide chorused reverb)
3-A mix window, to easily control level & pan of the 3 midi voices and audiofiles instead of going back to the edit window of a mood.
You are developping a great software here.
Thak you.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Hi san,
Thank you for your kind compliment
I have added your suggestions to “the list”. I’ll see what can be done to implement them.
Re #1. You can affect the tempo somewhat now using the “Note Pacing” slider that’s just below the pause/play buttons near the top left of the main window. But it doesn’t provide a specific beat per note, just a general speed up or slow down of the notes overall.
Re #2. I did try to add some reverb, etc, but couldn’t seem to make it work. You might want to check out the “sound motion” page in the edit window. You can get a pretty interesting echo effect using “Echo” with a short cycle time.
Re #3. I’m not sure I understand why the edit window isn’t adequate? You don’t have to edit the Mood that’s playing, you know. Are you asking for all the level and pan controls to be in one window? That’s a possibility; but maybe you could describe your thoughts on this in a little more detail?
Thanks for the suggestions!
John
March 28th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Hi John,
Sorry, I don’t speak very well english, it’s not my native language.
#1: Does SonicMood follows a tempo, have you develop it like that? I feel he does a little bit, I would just hear sometimes repetitives claves, less syncopation. But ok, that’s fine. Or I was thinking to a sync with GarageBand, like midi time code or rewire.As a musician, I wish I can include SonicMood into some compositions.
#2:I understand that it can be very difficult to develop audio effect in SonicMood, but he is so wider and beautyfull with. So I recommand using AudioHijack Pro to add some effect. Or the idea sould be to be able to choose audio out driver, because of SoundFlower 2ch, SonicMood could be send to other audio application like GarageBand.
#3: Yes, I was thinking about 3 faders for the instruments and one other for audiofiles available on the window. Actually we have only 2 controls availables.
It’s because sometimes, I need to quickly adjust balance between the three instruments in playing mode. It’s just an idea.
It is just some ideas, and I repeat, you are developing a beautifull software, and I appreciate your constant progression and work. I wish to be a developer.
best,
San
March 28th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Hi san,
You’re doing fine
#1: SonicMood uses timers to control when notes happen, but there is a random element to that which precludes a beat. It’s meant to be more like wind chimes. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t come up with a setting which allows a beat pattern to be used. I have added your idea to my list of good suggestions.
#2: I do use Audio HiJack Pro sometimes to record Moods. In fact, we’re looking into making some recordings - sort of SonicMood for iTunes. That’s a project that’s going on now.
#3: I could do something like that. For now be aware that you have faders, mute buttons, and pan on the “Instruments” page of the edit window (for the MIDI instruments), and a fader and pan for each soundfile on the “Soundfiles” page. What I would probably do is “mirror” those controls (maybe just one fader for the soundfiles) onto a “mixer” window.
Thanks again for your ideas!
John