The 50 Most Frequently Asked Questions by People Who Are Learning Kyma

• 1. How do I play a sound?
• 2. How do I stop a sound from playing?
• 3. How do I get a sound to start (Trigger, Gate, etc.)?
• 4. How do I see the parameters of a sound?
• 5. How do you create a new document?
• 6. How do you change the name of a sound?
• 7. Where do I get help?
• 8. How do I load in a different wave file?
• 9. How do I get a fader or other controller to show up on the Virtual Control Surface?
• 10. How do I delete a module from the synthesis process?
• 11. How do I save my work?
• 12. How do I change the values in a parameter field?
• 13. What is a parameter?
• 14. How do I find a prototype?
• 15. How do I connect one Sound to another?
• 16. How do I get a Sound to control the parameter of another Sound?
• 17. How do I get all the modules at once to be visible in the Sound Editor?
• 18. Why are there only 38 of the "top 50" questions?
• 19. How do I play only part of a timeline?
• 20. How do I start at a particular time of a timeline?
• 21. How do I record into Kyma?
• 22. How do I monitor what is going on inside of Kyma?
• 23. How can I see a waveform inside of Kyma?
• 24. How can I get information about sounds and audio files used in Kyma?
• 25. Is there a chart with all the quick-key combinations you can use in Kyma?
• 26. How do I find a particular window when it is covered up by other windows?
• 27. How can I get help in the sound design process?
• 28. How do I make a parameter field larger?
• 29. How do you update the view in the Sound Editor after the signal flow has been changed?
• 30. How do I see the output of Kyma visually?
• 31. How do I record a sound to disk?
• 32. How do I direct one source to multiple destinations?
• 33. How do I make one fader control multiple parameters?
• 34. How do I produce parameter values within a specified range?
• 35. How do I replace one sound-design component with a different one?
• 36. How to have Kyma autoload User Microsounds on launch?
• 37. How would I implement an arpeggiator in Kyma?
• 38. How do I record Midi notes on the timeline?

1. How do I play a sound?

• Space bar
  
• Ctrl+Space bar
  
• Ctrl+P
• Action menu > Compile, load, start

2. How do I stop a sound from playing?

• Space bar
  
• Ctrl+K
  
• Ctrl+P
• DSP menu > Stop

3. How do I get a sound to start (Trigger, Gate, etc.)?

• Use a MIDI keyboard event:

!KeyDown

• Use a MIDI switch

!sw01, !Gate, etc.

• Use any hot value and change it into a button in the Virtual Control Surface

!AnyNameHere

• Use a metronome (e.g. the expression below creates a trigger once per beat at the rate set by the BPM fader)

1 bpm: !BPM  

• Use the tick expression (e.g. the expression below creates a trigger once every 5 seconds)

5 s tick   

• Use a logic test (e.g. the expression below has a value of 1 whenever the incoming MIDI notenumber equals 60)

 !KeyNumber eq: 60

• Paste a Sound into the field
  • For example, find the PulseTrain in the Prototypes; copy it; paste it into the Trigger or Gate field (The PulseTrain changes from 0 to 1 at a regular rate)

If the Sound doesn't have a Trigger or Gate parameter, you can multiply it by an amplitude envelope. For example, if you are in the Sound editor and want to apply an amplitude envelope to targetSound:

• Find AR Drag&Drop in the Prototypes
• Drag it onto the line coming out of targetSound (to the right of targetSound) and drop it
  • NB: Do not drop it onto the plus sign (+) icon as that will create a Mixer; drop it onto the line instead
• The result is a Product of targetSound and AR. AR has a Gate field, so you can create a trigger using CapyTalk or by pasting a Sound into the field.

4. How do I see the parameters of a sound?

1. Double-click the Sound icon to open the Sound editor
2. Double-click a Sound icon in the signal flow graph (upper half of Sound editor) to see its parameters (lower half of Sound editor)

5. How do you create a new document?

• Ctrl+N
• File > New
• Double-click an icon in the Prototype Strip (opens a new Sound file window)

6. How do you change the name of a sound?

• Select the Sound and press Enter

7. Where do I get help?

• Position the cursor over a parameter name.
• Position the cursor over the Sound class name (lower right corner of Sound editor)
• Info menu > Describe Sound
• File menu > Documentation...
• Kyma X Revealed!
• Send email to info_kyma AT symbolic sound DOT com (where AT is @, and DOT is .)
• The Kyma Forum
• Help Menu In the Kyma Software
• Video Tutorials in the Learn section

8. How do I load in a different wave file?

• Open the file dialog by clicking the disk icon next to the File parameter field
  • Or if you know the name of the wave file, simply type it into the File parameter field

• Locate the sample and select it
• Click the "Make this the substitute input" button at the top of the browser to the left of the text field
• All Sounds with cyan arrows next to their names will use this sample as their substitute input

9. How do I get a fader or other controller to show up on the Virtual Control Surface?

10. How do I delete a module from the synthesis process?

• Select it
• Press the Delete key
  • Kyma will replace the deleted module with one of its inputs

If the module has no inputs:

• Replace the module with another one (by dragging the replacment and dropping it on this module)

If the module is one of the inputs to a Mixer:

• Edit the parameters of the Mixer
• Locate this module in the Inputs parameter field of the Mixer
• Select this module & press the Delete key
  • To update the signal flow diagram, double-click in a white area

11. How do I save my work?

• Ctrl+S
• File Menu > Save
• File Menu > Save as...

12. How do I change the values in a parameter field?

• Click in the parameter field (or use the Tab key to move to the next parameter field)
  • When you first edit a parameter field, the current value in the field is automatically selected
  • If you have already edited this field before, use Ctrl+A (Select All) to select and replace the current value
• Type in a new value
  • OR type an exclamation point (!) and let Kyma do the typing for you
  • OR drag an expression from the Kyma > Expressions Library folder in the Sound Browser and drop it into the parameter field

13. What is a parameter?

By analogy, imagine that you have a recipe giving you step-by-step instructions for how to combine ingredients in a bowl, when to add the liquid ingredients, how long to mix them, when to transfer the mixture into a pan and the pan into the oven, and what to do with the results that you remove from the oven. That is the algorithm. The parameters of the cooking algorithm would be things like the amount of each ingredient, the temperature of the oven, and the duration of the cooking time. Some of these amounts are variable (e.g. "salt to taste") and sometimes the ingredients themselves are variable ("substitute blueberries for applies if you prefer").

Here's the Wikipedia definition for Parameter.

14. How do I find a prototype?

• Ctrl+B
• In the Prototype Strip, select a category from the list at the left; then scroll left/right to locate Sounds in that category.

15. How do I connect one Sound to another?

• Open a Sound editor on the modifier by double-clicking its name or icon. The modifier will already have a default input.
• Drag any Sound into the editor and drop it onto the _modifier_'s default input (replacing the current input with your new Sound)

• Open a Sound editor on the combiner and double-click its icon to show its parameter fields
• Drag any Sound into the editor and drop it into the Inputs parameter field of the combiner.

• Drag the new Sound into the Sound editor and drop it onto the plus sign (+) to the right of the existing Sound
  • This automatically creates a Mixer with the existing Sound and the new Sound as its inputs

16. How do I get a Sound to control the parameter of another Sound?

1. Select controller Sound and copy it (Ctrl+C)
2. Click in parameter field that you want to control, and paste (Ctrl+V)

17. How do I get all the modules at once to be visible in the Sound Editor?

• Double-click the elipsis (...) to the left of the last (rightmost) Sound
• Option+click the elipsis (...) to the left of the last (rightmost) Sound

18. Why are there only 38 of the "top 50" questions?

• Because we wanted to leave room for you to add your own questions! (it's the wiki way)

19. How do I play only part of a timeline?

• Mark the Sounds you want to hear using Option+Click (or Ctrl+Click). (Marked Sounds have white borders.)
• To listen to the marked Sounds only, use Shift+Space. To listen to the entire Timeline, use Cmd+Space (or Ctrl+Space).

20. How do I start at a particular time of a timeline?

• Click at that time in the Time Ruler at the top of the Timeline.
• Then press Space to play from that point in time onward.

21. How do I record into Kyma?

• To record a mono or stereo line-level audio inputs 1 & 2, use the Tape Recorder tool from the Tools menu.
• To record six input channels into six disk files, download the 'surroundrecording' Timeline from the Share Timelines section:
  • Adjust the durations of the audio inputs to the maximum duration of your recording
  • From the Action menu, select Record to disk
  • Check boxes 1-6, and select the desired format

22. How do I monitor what is going on inside of Kyma?

• To display the value of a hot parameter, you can use SoundToGlobalController.
• If the Parameter is named Index, you could drag a SoundtoGlobalController into the mix, set its Value to an expression, such as:
  • !PenDown nextRandom abs * 35 rounded
  • and its GeneratedEvent to: !Index
• Then in your MultiSample, change the Index parameter to !Index. That way you can view the value of Index as well as using it in your Sound.

23. How can I see a waveform inside of Kyma?

24. How can I get information about sounds and audio files used in Kyma?

25. Is there a chart with all the quick-key combinations you can use in Kyma?

26. How do I find a particular window when it is covered up by other windows?

27. How can I get help in the sound design process?

• Kyma > Kyma Sound Library contains over a thousand examples you can use as starting points.
  • To see the contents of a folder or a file, click once on the triangle to the left of the file or folder name.
  • To listen, select a Sound and press the space bar
  • To edit, double click on the name of the Sound or other kind of file.

On the web:

• tweaky•share is a repository of Sounds, Timelines, expressions, Tools, and other sound design ideas contributed by Kyma users. Each item includes a Discussion link with an explanation and an opportunity to ask the designer questions about the Sound).

28. How do I make a parameter field larger?

• Ctrl+L

29. How do you update the view in the Sound Editor after the signal flow has been changed?

• Double-click white space in signal flow area of Sound Editor

30. How do I see the output of Kyma visually?

• Select the Sound.
  • Info>Full Waveform plays the Sound and then opens a window showing its waveform
  • Info>Oscilloscope shows the amplitude of the Sound as it plays
  • Info>Spectrum Analyzer shows the spectrum of the Sound as it plays
  • Action>Record to disk... records the Sound into a file that you can inspect using File>Open

31. How do I record a sound to disk?

• Select the Sound (or click in the Timeline to bring its window to the front)
• Action menu > Record to disk...

32. How do I direct one source to multiple destinations?

To connect DiskPlayer to both the Mixer and the Delay:

• Double-click Delay (Allpass) to reveal its parameters
  • Find the Input field (located at the lower left corner of the parameter fields)
• Hold down the Option key and drag DiskPlayer from the signal flow graph into the Input field parameter
  • When it asks you whether to replace Sample, say yes.
• Double-click in the white area of the signal flow graph to update the display

33. How do I make one fader control multiple parameters?

34. How do I produce parameter values within a specified range?

• Using the Virtual Control Surface (VCS):
  1. Play the Sound
  2. Unlock the VCS to open a small Virtual Control Surface Editor window
  3. In the VCS, double-click the fader whose range you want to change
  4. Find Min / Max / Grid in the Virtual Control Surface Editor window
  5. Enter the smallest value (50), the largest value (100), and the grid or the smallest change in value: 1.

• OR, you can use a CapyTalk expression in the parameter field:
  1. Multiply the expression by the range: max - min (In this case, it would be 100 - 50)
  2. Add the minimum (In this case, it would be 50)
  3. Round or truncate the result to get the step or grid of 1.

(!Fader * (100 - 50) + 50) rounded

35. How do I replace one sound-design component with a different one?

• In the Sound Editor:
  • Drag a Sound (from the Browser, Prototypes, Sound File Window or a different Sound editor) into the Sound Editor and drop it onto the icon of the Sound you want to replace, OR
  • Select and Copy a Sound (in the Browser, Prototypes, Sound File Window or the Sound Editor); then select the Sound you wish to replace, and Paste.
    • Edit>Paste special pastes the exact same Sound.
    • A normal Paste pastes a copy of the Sound.
• In the Sound Browser
  1. Select the replacement Sound.
  2. Click the repacement input button at the top of the Sound Browser. The name of your replacement Sound will appear in the text window to the right of that button.
  3. In the Browser, select one of the Sounds with a green arrow to the left of its name.
  4. When you Play, your input will be used in place of the Sound's default input.
  5. To save the Sound with your substitute input, drag it from the Sound Browser into a Sound File Window (and save the Sound File window to disk).
• In the Timeline
  • Option+Drag a Sound (from the Browser, Prototypes, Sound File Window or Sound editor) into the Timeline and drop it onto the Sound whose input you want to replace

36. How to have Kyma autoload User Microsounds on launch?

Place the file inside the "Kyma" folder and must be called "User Microsound Classes.asy".

37. How would I implement an arpeggiator in Kyma?

38. How do I record Midi notes on the timeline?

You can not. Synchronise Kyma to your DAW using MTC. Send it Midi notes. You can always load a midi file into the Midivoice prototype to play it back!

-- CharlieNorton - 17 Mar 2010