The User Interface

Muzys uses a platform-independent Graphical User Interface.

This means that it has it's own routines for drawing to the screen, and handling user-input like keyboard and mouse.

It has the advantage that we can add extra functionality to standard GUI objects, while Muzys still works 99.9% the same on all platforms.

But, this also means that some things may work a little bit different than the standard OS behaviour you are used to.

So that's why we here list some detailed info on Muzys' GUI objects :

Important note for MacOS users : Everywhere in Muzys a "right-click" is done by a "command-click".

Menus/Lists


When you have to choose out of several options/objects, a menu is used.

You can use the keyboard & mouse to control a menu :

When a multi-selection can be made, you can also use :

On the Mac, use [Command] instead of [Control].

Note that in some local menus, there may appear a character combination at the right of the menu options, which can be used to quickly type to that option, for example : "CrossFade Loop CL".
Thus typing a [C] and a [L] will immediately choose "CrossFade Loop".

Scrollbars


Muzys' scrollbars behave as standard scrollbars.

In addition to that, when clicking the arrow buttons, you can use [Shift] or the right mouse button to scroll faster.

When dragging the slider, you may hold [Control] for finer scrolling.

Messages/Questions


Sometimes Muzys must tell you something, or ask you a question.
That's when a Message or Question box appears.

Messages can be easily acknowledged by pressing any key or clicking the mouse.

A question can be answered by clicking the button of your choice, or pressing the first character of the option of your choice.

If a "Cancel" option is available, you can also use [Escape] to cancel.

Controlling Knobs and Faders

Knobs and Faders can be tweaked by clicking and dragging on them.
They change relative to your mouse.

With a [Shift]+click on a fader, you can force an immediate jump to that position.

And you can do fine adjustments by holding [Control].

If the fader has the input focus (indicated by a colored rectangle), you can also use the Arrow Keys and the Mouse Wheel.
When holding [Shift], changes will be more extreme, and while holding [Control], changes are more subtile.

Sometimes, you can also click the value display of a knob or fader for an immediate edit.

On many places in Muzys, you can also right-click/command-click a knob or fader so to popup a little menu :

Value Edits


All Muzys value edits are designed to be as intuitive and as flexible as possible.

They all work following the same principles :

Here are some specific possibilities for specific types of value edits :

Text edits

Just type in the text you want.

[Home] : Clears the text.

Choice edits

When clicking on the drop-down button, you can choose from a drop-down menu, with all facilities of Menus/Lists.

Player edits

A Player edit is just like a Choice edit, except that it offers some extra icons :

Note Key edits

When clicking on the icon at the right of the value, you can enter the key by playing your MIDI instrument.

It's like you're saying : "I want THIS key", and you press the key on your MIDI keyboard.

This button can also be switched by pressing the [*] key.

Controller edits

When clicking on the arrow-down button, you can choose from a drop-down menu, with all facilities of Menus/Lists.

When clicking on the icon at the right of the value, you can enter the Controller by playing your MIDI Controller.

It's like you're saying : "I want THIS Controller", and you slide or bend the MIDI Controller.

This button can also be switched by the [*] key.

MidiValue 1/2 edits

When clicking on the icon at the right of the value, you can enter the value by playing your MIDI instrument.

This button can also be switched by the [*] key.

Position/Length edits

With the numeric keys, you can directly enter a position.
Use the [.] key to separate bars from beats and beats from tix.

For example, if you want to enter 2.3.192, just type this key Sequence : [2][.][3][.][1][9][2][Enter]

The [Page Up/Down] keys as well as the 2 arrow icons at the right let you scroll thru the Current Grid positions.

By clicking on the icon at the right, you set the position to the 'Infinite' value.

By clicking on the icon at the right, you set the length to the 'Trigger' value, which means that only the Note-On message will be transmitted.
This is interesting for percussion or special-fx sounds.

More info on lengths -> Positions/Lengths

Tempo edits

With the numeric keys, you can directly enter a tempo.
Use the [.] key to separate integers from decimals.



Positions/Lengths

All positions and lengths are expressed as bars.beats.ticks.

The value "2.3.192" means 2nd bar, 3rd beat, the 192nd tick.
Currently, there are 960 ticks in a beat.

You can define a time signature (beats per bar) via the 'Options' button of The Song Composer, or by right-clicking/command-clicking the Time Bar in The Song Composer.

For example, a length of "0.2.000" means 2 beats.

It is sometimes useful that Note Events can have their length set to 'Trigger' (). This means that only the Note-On command will be transmitted, and thus the whole sound will play until its end.
This is interesting for percussion sounds or special-fx.



File- & Folder-Chooser

Here you can navigate through your system to select some files or folders ...
Basically the File- & Folder-Chooser behaves as two Lists, one for the folders, and one for the files within the current folder.

When you're navigating for Audio Files, you can easily monitor them by clicking the speaker icon at the right of each Audio File, or by pressing the [Tab] key. Also read the info on Choose-A-Sound.

The buttons at the right give some extra support, in order : Desktop,Favorites,Filter,New Folder,Rename,Delete. When holding the mouse over a button, a tooltip appears.

The Desktop button brings you to your desktop. This can also be done by :

The 'Favorites' button allows you to quick jump to one of your previously selected folders.
Or to add or remove the current folder from your favorites list.

The 'New Folder' button creates a new folder inside the current folder.
This can also be done via :

To quickly jump to the Library Folder, press [Control]/[Command]+[L]. To quickly jump to the Waves Folder, press [Control]/[Command]+[F].

The 'Filter' button controls which files are shown. This file filter is set by Muzys, but in some cases you may want to switch off any file type filtering, so that you see all files of any type.



Messages

'Out of memory'

There is no more memory available.

Tip for MacOS : Try increasing the amount of memory for the Muzys application via the Finder's Get Info dialog.

'No current Composition'

There is no current Composition, because there is no Composition at all or you didn't select a Composition.
So, create or select a Composition.

'No current Part'

There is no Part selected, so select a Part.

'No current Sequence'

There is no Sequence selected, so select a Sequence.

'No current Event'

There is currently no Event selected.

'No current Player'

There is no Player selected, so select a Player.

'No current Patch'

There is no current Patch.

'No current MultiPlayer'

There is no current MultiPlayer.

'No current Wave'

There is no current Wave.

'No current Project'

There is no current Project.

'Nothing selected'

There is nothing selected, so select something.

'System Too Slow'

When you get this message, Muzys has detected that you cannot do anything anymore ...
So the audio engine is paused.

Normally this is due to heavy CPU usage.
Try to find what causes the overload.

Starting or stopping the sequencer will restart Muzys' audio engine.

You can change the threshold for this message via System menu:Technical Preferences.

'No good DirectSound device'

This Windows-specific message means that the DirectSound device is not a real DirectSound device, but just running in emulation mode.

Or it's not supporting the 44100 Hz, 16 bit modus.

Use the MME driver instead !

Next : FastKeys Table Of Contents