Home Premiere Ensembles Godel Color Keyboard

Color Keyboard

November 28, 2009

The on-screen keyboard displays active notes, arpeggio output, and the transpose key in color: Different colors indicate different states for each note, to help you make interesting arpeggios and snaphots.

This section describes the colors, which are significant. The keyboard behavior itself is set in the GLOBAL panel, described in the next section.

Red

Any input notes which are ON, both from pressing keys on screen with the mouse, and from MIDI, are bright red. All these keys will save in the snapshot too, and recalling the snapshot will restore and play them in the same order as they were originally.

When the arpeggiator is off, then playing any new notes always causes them to be turned on and played immediately. So bright red always indicates a key that is turned on, regardless whether it was input by pressing the color keyboard's keys with the mouse, or whether the instrument received it as a note-on event from MIDI.

Blue

A single key is blue, indicating the pitch offset applied to all output from the color keyboard when it is set in TRANSPOSE mode. For more information, see MODE in the description of the GLOBAL panel.

Green

These are simply notes currently being played by the arpeggiator. Some of the keys for the arpeggiator output notes may also be yellow or purple.

Yellow

When the arpeggiator is running, then yellow highlights all keys which are both turned on, and also, simultaneously being played by the arpeggiator.

If the key is additionally the transpose key too, then it is light yellow.

Brown

The brown color simply indicates notes which are turned on, but their output is turned off because the the arpeggiator was stopped.

When you turn on the arpeggiator, then the arpeggio sequence replaces any active output notes After the clock has been running the arpeggiator and the clock is turned off, then the arpeggio notes all turn off after their set duration. Some notes which were previously on (from MIDI on from mouse presses on the on-screen keyboard) may still be active and stored in the snapshot note buffer, but as the arpeggiator was turned off, there is no sound output to be heard from them. To indicate those notes, the color keyboard shades them as brown.

After turning off and restarting the arpeggiator, any brown keys are still in the arpeggio and play again in sequence just as before, and their color again brightens again.

When you save the snapshot, brown keys also store in the snapshot. When you recall the snapshot, they are restored in the same order they were played. When you save a snaphot, you always save the active notes, even if the arpeggiator is off in the snapshot. Any new notes you put into the arpeggio are added after the restored notes in the note sequence.

After recalling a snapshot in which the arpeggiator was turned off, the brown keys will be restored as they were initially and bright red again, just like any new notes you play before turning the arpeggio clock on.

Purple

When turning on the same note as set as the TRANSPOSE key, it displays as purple. The shade darkens after the arpeggiator has been running and is turned off.

The tranpose key is also stored in the snapshot, just as for brown keys, described in more detail above.

When the arpeggiator restarts, then the shade brightens again to light purple.