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Most modern sound cards can play the tunes fine. Occasionally you will find one that can't play the pitch bends needed for microtonal music.
The chances are that your card is okay. You can test it after you download the program using the Test Pitch Bend Range wizard in the Out menu in Tune Smithy). Be sure to run the wizard to see if your soundcard is okay after you download the program.
You can also install a small test program before the download, which just runs the wizard. Since the chance is high that it will be okay, this is mainly relevant if you have a very slow internet connection. See Test my sound card.
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Things you need to know
You can start the test drive at any time. What you download is a freeware and demo version - until you start the test drive. All the features that require an unlock key are unlocked for the duration of the test drive. This lets you try it out before you purchase the program.
You can purchase an unlock key at any time, which will unlock the demo completely. If you have already tested it and want to buy it now, there is no need to redownload. Go to Purchase Tune Smithy and get yourself an unlock key for it.
The sounds for the Tune Smithy tunes are played using Midi. This means you can change the sounds for any of the instruments. For instance a violin may be played using the midi violin on your computer's sound card or chip. You can change this by adding extra software or hardware to your computer and selecting the new devices in the Out menu in Tune Smithy. You can also try the inbuilt Wave Shape Player sounds which come with Tune Smithy - these are especially useful if you want a pure type of a sound which is very accurate pitch wise. They should sound essentially the same on any soundcard or soundchip.
For more about this, see the Tips for better sound quality page. For example, most of the demo clips you can play the panel to the right were made using two software programs - the FM7 and Giga (using Dan Dean's solo strings).
That is all you need to know for the first install of FTS. If this is your first time, you are ready for:
Step 2 Download
If you are upgrading, you may have some questions to ask before the upgrade. This is especially likely if you are upgrading from FTS 2.4 as there were large changes between the 2.4 and 3.0 versopms.
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Upgrade FAQs
How do I tell whether I need to do an update?
Can I install on top of an earlier version of Tune Smithy?
How do I do a fresh reinstall of the program?
I am upgrading from 2.4, is there anything I need to know?
I took 2.4. for a test drive but haven't yet bought it. Can I try out 3.0 as well?
My unlock key from an old copy of Tune Smithy doesn't work any more - what should I do?
Help - I've lost my unlock key for Tune Smithy! Can you help?
I have an old copy of the FTS 3.0 release candidate and want to keep it - what should I do?
If you have any other questions, just send an e-mail to support@robertinventor.com and I'll answer as best I can.
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How do I tell whether I need to do an update?
Check the version number and the date of your copy of FTS. You can find this information from Help | About in FTS. Then compare it with the date at the head of this page.
If you have one of the later versions of the 3.0 release candidate then you can also check for updates from within the program itself from Help | About.
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Can I install on top of an earlier version of Tune Smithy?
Yes - you can - all your previous settings will be kept. The updater will replace files only if the file in the new installation is newer than the one you already have.
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How do I do a fresh reinstall of the program?
If you already have 3.0, the first thing to try is File | Reset Everything within Tune Smithy. This has the same effect as a reinstall for nearly all purposes.
If you still wish to do a complete reinstall, uninstall the program first (which you can do within the program from Help | About).
You can also get the same effect as a fresh reinstall if you install into a new folder when you run the installer. That will have the same effect as a fresh install as Tune Smithy gets all its settings from its install folder (except for file associations and unlock keys). This may be useful on some occasions if you want to keep the old folder intact for some reason.
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I am upgrading from 2.4, is there anything I need to know?
FTS 3.0 is automatically installed in a separate folder from 2.4. This lets you continue to use FTS 2.4 while you learn the new layout. The two versions can be uninstalled separately too, and have separate sets of shortcuts on the desktop and in the Start menu.
The versions are very similar in the general way they are organised - but the layout has changed in detail - hopefully usually an improvement :-). If you can't find an option where you expect it to be - check elsewhere in the original window - or you should find a button in the original window which takes you to the one you are looking for, usually it has just been moved to another closely related window - maybe the original was split into two windows for instance.
Also you can try a right click on the O organise windows button at top right of any window - this shows all the windows for the program organised by category - which may help you to find what you want.
If this doesn't answer your questions - or you have any questions at all about the migration to the new version just drop me an e-mail and I'll help sort it out. support@robertinentor.com
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I took 2.4. for a test drive but haven't yet bought it. Can I take 3.0 for a test drive as well?
Yes - you will automatically get a new test drive whenever the version number gets updated. You can also start a new test drive at any time even if the version number hasn't changed. Just contact support@robertinventor.com and say that you want another test drive.
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My unlock key from an old copy of Tune Smithy doesn't work any more - what should I do?
If you purchased FTS 1.082 or earlier you need a new unlock key as the system has changed. There is no charge for any updates of FTS. However, some of the new keys didn't get through when I sent them out to everyone, so if you haven't received your new unlock key yet, be sure to contact me at support@tunesmithy.co.uk
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Help - I've lost my unlock key for Tune Smithy! Can you help?
This happens quite often, just send me an e-mail to say you lost it and I'll send you a replacemnt key.
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I have an old copy of the FTS 3.0 release candidate and want to keep it - what should I do?
You may want to do this to use features maybe that changed or didn't make it to the final release. Before the install, rename your old desktop shortcut, and be sure to install the new release in a new folder.
I have kept installers for all the more recent release candidates if you want to go back to a particular date for whatever reason. In practice, nearly everything from the release candidate ended in the final release, apart possibly for some details of how scripting works for the fractal tunes.
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What are these?