TextMachine 3D Tutorials

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Audio Input
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In this tutorial you will learn how to:

 

Use Audio Input to control TextMachine 3D Parameters

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Control Description

Select audio input device.

Open Windows Volume Control to select the source channel on the input device.

Enable/disable audio input functionality.

Indicator of the loudness level for specific band. The red line indicates threshold, which is used when assigning band to a logical (Boolean) parameter (values above threshold mean "on", values below mean "off"). Thresholds may be set individually per band (left click on the corresponding indicator) or all at once (right click on any indicator).

Gain control for adjusting sound level in case it is too high or too low.

SRL Sustain/Release Toggle

(On) keep the audio controlled value until the audio band level rises again over the threshold level (red line) or to
(Off) set the audio controlled value real-time to the current bad audio level.

Band control button.

To assign the band to the logical/boolean control (such as button) do the following: click on the band number to enter band assign mode, click on the control button which you want to animate with sound, click on the band number button again to exit assign mode.

Band Hold. This does not remove the established links to the controls, but release them temporarily, so that you can change controls manually. Pressing this button again removes Hold and resumes Audio control over the linked parameters.

Band Reset. Clears all existing links from this band to the controls. Please note that this clears all the links from this specific band! For the moment it's not possible to clear links individually per control. Reestablishing links after band reset requires repeating the steps described above. As with any automation techniques don't forget to adjust parameters after the automation stops ::)

BPM counter. Tap it to set approximate value, use "+" and "-" for fine corrections. Hint: tapping by spacebar gives better results than by mouse button.

Include Audio into Preset.
If this button is "on", the audio setup is saved within the preset when you capture and save the Machine State in "Machine State Presets" window; if not - audio setup is ignored.
Similar story for Machine State preset loading: if this button is "on" and audio setup is found within saved preset, that saved audio setup is loaded. If the button is "off" or there was no audio setup in the preset, audio configuration is not changed.

Save Audio Setup. The audio setup saved this way is "global" and not preset-dependent.

Load Audio Setup.

 

Introduction

The Audio Control Window is used to make the parameters of the Text Objects react to the sound. The whole spectrum of the sound frequencies is divided for 10 bands; each band can be assigned to one or several parameters. Parameters may be selectable/measurable (like sliders or dropdown menus) or Boolean ones (such as buttons).

Examples (Adapted to Electronic Music)

Start TextMachine 3D. Toggle  Include Audio into Preset, then drag/drop the presets below to the TextMachine 3D design pane.

If you get an audio device initialization error, please select your audio device from the list. 

Audio Setup 01

Audio Setup 02

Audio Setup 03

 

 

Define, Save and Load different Audio Input Setups

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How to Setup Audio
  • Select your audio device from the list

  • Enable audio input, If you have no signal click on and check Windows Volume Control to select the source channel on the audio device.

  • Position the desired target control (Slider, Button, Drop Down list) to the desired start value then enable the desired band by toggling the corresponding button [1] to [10].

  • Position the target control (Slider, Button, Drop Down list) to the desired end value. You may repeat this step multiple times on different controls but the same band.

  • Toggle the band control button off

How to Hold Bands

  • To hold one or more bands toggle the band hold button

How to Save and Load Audio Setup

  • To save your audio setup into your preset click the  button than save your preset.

  • To save/load the audio setup to/from file, respectively click the save or load button

 

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