When you first start FTS Lambdoma
Make
sure you plug the USB MIDI device into your computer and keyboard. The software should auto detect it.
To
run the program, look for the red snowflake icon on your desktop, or go to Start >> All Programs >> Tune Smithy Lambdoma 4
>> Tune Smithy Lambdoma 4
When
it first runs you will be asked to enter your unlock key.
Introduction to
the software
You see the
Lambdoma on-screen keyboard at top left. This will light up when you play notes
from your keyboard. At top right you see the Lissajous patterns.
At
bottom right you see the instrument menus.
In
the middle, if there is enough space on your screen, you get a help window as
in the screen shot above.
On smaller screens you need to press the F1 key
on your keyboard to show the help.
At
bottom left you see the main window.
Here
you can select the quadrant, set your key note – the pitch of the 1/1 of the
keyboard – choose how to show the notes on the keyboard and so on.
Basic Lambdoma,
Rhythms and Bounce
In
the drop list at the top of the window you can choose between the Basic
Lambdoma, Lambdoma with Rhythm and Lambdoma with Rhythm and Bounce.
If
you want to hear the harmonic polyrhythms, choose “Lambdoma with Rhythm”. You
can then use the Play button to stop or start the rhythms.
The
Bounce feature shows bouncing balls which can help you to sing or play in time
with the rhythms.
Volume – what to
do if notes are too quiet or don’t sound at all
You
can vary the overall volume of the notes using the volume control
You
also have a volume control for your computer as a whole which you find in the
task bar. It may look something like this:
Also
if you hear no sound at all - make sure that the sound for your computer isn’t
muted.
You
can also get to this volume control from within FTS Lambdoma. To do that go to Play >> Volume Control for your PC
Synchronization
of bounce with sound
On
some computers you may find that the bounce is out of sync with the sound –
each bounce happens a fraction of a second after the
note is played.
If this happens to you, go to the Bounce
Preferences (Ctrl + 220) window and choose Set Bounce
Synchronization delay. You can then vary the amount of the delay if needed.
Most often however, you can just leave it at its default setting (200 ms or a
fifth of a second).
This
problem is most likely to happen with the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth, and
when this issue occurs the latency is usually a fifth
of a second (though with other computers using the same synth the issue may not
occur at all, delay too short to be easily noticeable).
Reset to
“Factory Settings”
You
can do a reset using File >> Reset Everything
(like
reinstall)
Updates.
When
updates are available, you can download the latest version of the FTS Lambdoma
software here:
http://robertinventor.com/software/tunesmithy/fts_lambdoma.htm
Out Devices
Most
computers only have the one device you can use to play notes. But some may have
more than one out device you can use.
You
can see these in the Out Devices window. Use Ctrl + 41 to show it.
On
a modern computer you can expect to play the Lambdoma notes at the correct
pitch (it uses DirectSound or a midi capable soundcard). But some optional
extra devices you can install may not have this capability. To test your
currently selected out device, use Play >> Out Device Capabilities Wizard.
In Devices
Your
USB Midi in should get selected automatically. If you have several midi input
devices on your computer you may want to choose which one to connect your
keyboard to, and if so you can do that in the In Devices window (Ctrl + 249)
Changing to a 4
quadrant keyboard – or back to a single quadrant keyboard
If
you attach a 4 quadrant keyboard, then please go to the In Devices (Ctrl + 249) window,
highlight your In Device, and then in the drop list below, select “FOUR
QUADRANT LAMBDOMA KEYBOARD with key highlighting”
When
you want to change back to a single quadrant keyboard, then in the same window,
select “SINGLE QUADRANT LAMBDOMA KEYBOARD with keyboard highlighting”.
Be
sure to contact me with any questions or suggestions. support@robertinventor.com