Procyon Editor Manual

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ProcyonEditorSoftwareUser'sGuide

Introduction

ThisdocumentdescribeshowtousetheProcyonEditorsoftware. TheProcyonEditorisafreesoftwareapplicationthatallowsyoutocreateyourownsessions.Youcanalsoeditexistingsessionssuchasthefactorysessionsthatcamepreinstalledonyourmachine.ThelatestversionoftheProcyonEditorsoftwareandfactorysessionsareavailableforfreedownloadathttp://www.mindplacesupport.com.

WhattheProcyondoesespeciallywellistosynthesizeawiderangeofcolorsandpatterns.Theeditorprovidesawaytoaccessalloftheparameterstocontrolthemovement,intensity,andplaybackacrosstimeoftheLEDsontheProcyon.The

softwareincludes

a

graphical

editor

in

addition

to

the

text

based

editor;

this

can

provehelpfulsincetherearesomanyprogrammablefunctionsforeachsessionsegment. Wealsointroduceavaluablenewfeaturewiththissoftware: looping. Thisallowstheconstructionofverycomplexsessionswithoutconsumingexcessivesystemmemory.

TheProcyonincludesaUSBport.TousetheEditoryouwillneedtohookacablebetweentheProcyonUSBconnectorandanopenportonyourcomputer.

Installation

First,downloadtheProcyonEditoranddriverfromthe Procyonsoftwaresectionofhttp://www.mindplacesupport.com. InstallthedriverFIRST,andthentheEditor.DuringtheEditorinstallation,followanyinstructionsyouseeonscreen(answeringyestoanydialogbox). Onceyou'vecompletedinstallation,connectyourProcyonviaUSBandstarttheProcyonEditorsoftware;thiscompletesinstallationoftheUSBdriver.

Note: ThissoftwareisforWindowsPCsonly;it runonXP,Vista,andWindows7. Ifyou

are

running

a

Mac

it

is

possible

to

run

the

Procyon

Editor

using

a

PC

emulation

programorWindowsOSonMacviaBootCamp,ParallelsorVMWareFusion.(requiresseparateinstallsandconfigurationnotcoveredinthisdocument).

Thesecondhalfofthisguide,HowtocreateaProcyonsessiondescribesindetailhowsessionsarestructured,andwhattheparametersareforandwhattheycando.Sessionsarecomprisedofoneormoresegments,eachofwhichcanhaveitsown
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uniquesettings. Lightandsoundattributescaneitherbecontinuous(i.e.,12Hzthroughoutthesegment),orcanramp(startat12Hzandendat4Hzforexample).

Menuitems

ThissectiondescribesthefunctionsofthevariousmenuitemsintheProcyonEditorprogram. Someofthemenufunctionscanbeaccessedbyfunctionkeyorkeycombinationshortcuts;theseshortcutsareshowninparenthesisfollowingthemenuitemsbelow.

WhenyoufirstopentheProcyonEditor,youwillseethefollowingwindow:

Thisisthedefaulttexteditorscreen.UponinitializationtheEditorshowsonlyasinglesegmentinthiscase,segment1(asshowninthe"currentsegmentnumber"boxonthelowerrightsideofthewindow). We'lldescribethevariousparametersshownonthisscreeninthefollowingsection;fornow,let'sreviewthemenufunctions.

File/NewSession

Thiscommandclosesanysessionyouarecurrentlyworkingon(afterofferingyouthechancetosaveit),thenopensanewonesegmentsessioncalled"scratch.PRw".

File/OpenSessionFile

ProcyonEditorUser'sGuideCopyrightTheMindPlaceCompany. Allrightsreserved.

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Opensasessionfile. Procyonsessionsusethesuffix.PRw.

File/SaveSession

Savesthecurrentsessionwiththefilenamewhichshowsonthebaratthetopofthewindow;the"scratchpad"filewhichloadswhenyoulaunchtheprogramiscalled"scratch.PRw",soyoullwanttochangethis. Besttousethiscommandforworksinprogresswhichhavealreadybeennamed,andSaveSessionAsfornewwork.

File/SaveSessionAs

Savesthecurrentsessionwithanameotherthantheoneshownonthewindow'stopbar. Thisisusefulforcreatingmultipleversionsofasessionaswellaschanging

the

name

of

the

current

session.

File/CloseSession

ClosesthesessioncurrentlydisplayedintheEditor. Noticethatclosingasession(preventingfurtherchangestoit)doesnotcausethesessioninformationbeingdisplayedtochange;inordertostartanewsession,youneedtochooseNewSessionfromtheFilemenuorexitandreopentheEditor.

File/CancelCommand(F2)

Thiscommand

is

only

used

if

for

some

reason

the

USB

link

to

the

Procyon

fails

during

alargefiletransfer,suchasanalbumorOSupgrade. Inthiswayit'ssimilartothe"escape"keyonyourcomputer. Itsunlikelythatyoullneedtousethiscommand.

File/Exit

TerminatestheProcyonEditor.

Edit/InsertSegment(F3)

Inserts

a

new

segment

after

the

current

segment

number.

If

you

insert

a

segment

betweentwoothers,thentheendingvaluesoftheprevioussegmentwillbecomethedefaultstartvaluesfortheinsertedsegment,andthestartingvaluesofthesegmentwhichfollowstheinsertedonewillbecometheendvaluesfortheinsertedsegment. Inotherwords,theinsertedsegmentvalueswillbesetupasarampbetweenthetwosegmentsbetweenwhichitwasinserted. Ofcourseyoucanchangethesevaluestowhateveryouwish;wechosethisapproachbecauseitseemedmostlikelytofacilitaterapidsessioncreation.


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Edit/DeleteSegment(Shift+F3)

Deletesthecurrentlyselectedsegment,whichisshowninthe"currentsegmentnumber"box.

Edit/LoopControl(CtrlL)

Bringsuptheloopcontrollistscreen,asshownintheimagebelow. Loopingwillbedescribedinmoredetaillaterinthisguide.

Edit/Undo(CtrlZ)

Undoesthelastthingthatyoudid.

Edit/Redo(CtrlY)

ReversestheeffectofUndo.

SessionTools/UploadalbumofsessionstoProcyon

ThiscommandallowsyoutouploadanalbumofsessionstoyourProcyon. Analbumisacollectionofindividualsessionsorganizedintoasequenceofyourchoice(see


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"Howtocreateanalbum"laterinthisGuide). Whenaddinganalbum,youhaveseveralchoices:

Appendifpossibleifenoughsystemmemoryremainstoholdthealbum,thenitwilladditattheendofthecurrentalbumlist. Forexample,ifyouaddanalbumof10

sessionsto

the

factory

album

(sessions

0

49),

then

the

sessions

in

your

new

album

willbenumbered5059.

OverwriteSessionTableThiswillreplaceanycurrentcontentsoftheProcyon'smemorywithyournewalbum. Ifyouchoosethis,anewdialogboxwillopenofferingthechoiceofbackingupthesessionsyouareabouttoeraseontoyourPC.Youcanalwaysrestoretheselater.

Therearealsoinformationboxesindicatingwherethestartofthenextsessionisinmemory,andtheamountofmemoryremaining.

Youalsohavetheoptionofcancellingthealbumtransfer. Albumshavethefilenamesuffix*.PRb.

SessionTools/UploadSessiontoProcyon

Thiscommandbringsupthesamedialogboxas"uploadalbumofsessionstoProcyon",butinthiscaseallowsyoutoselectindividualsessions(whichhavethesuffix*.PRw),andyoucaneitherappendthesessiontotheendofthecurrentlystoredsessionbank,orerasethatbankandreplaceitwiththeselectedsession.


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SessionTools/ArchiveProcyonSessions

YoucanbackuptheentirecurrentcontentsofyourProcyonasasinglealbumwiththiscommand(thesearestoredwiththesuffix*.PRk). Selectingthiscommandbringsupthefollowingdialogbox,whichallowsyoutoselectwhatdirectorytostore

thefile

in

as

well

as

naming

the

file:

SessionTools/RestoreArchivedSessions

UsethiscommandtoreplacethecurrentcontentsofyourProcyonwithanotheralbum. Whenyouselectityou'llseeadialogboxwarningyouthatthecurrentbankwillbereplaced,andgivingyoutheoptionforbackingitup:

SessionTools/GetSessionHeader

SessionHeadersareblocksoftextwhichcanbeassociatedwithasession,whichincludesvariousinformationaboutthesession. TheyareintendedmainlyforusewhencreatingSynchroMuseaudiosynchronizedsessions.

If:1) Procyonisconnectedtoyourcomputer,2) Theserialportisopen,3) ProcyonisinSESmodeandasessionselected4) Thecurrentsessionhassavedheaderinformation,


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ThentheHeaderfortheselectedsessionisretrievedanddisplayedonthescreen.

Ifyouareworkingonasession,thentheHeaderfileforthatsessioncanbeauthoredoreditedbyclickingtheEditSessionHeaderbuttononthemiddlerightsideoftheapplicationwindow.

Inbothcasesyouwillseethisscreen:

Thisisareadonlydisplay,youcannoteditthesessionheaderforsessionsstoredintheProcyon,unlessyouopenthatsessiondirectlyintheProcyonEditor.

TheMakeIDrawfileisusedtocreateaveryshortaudioidentifierfile,necessaryifyouarecreatingaSynchroMusesession. SeetheSynchroMuseTutorialintheProcyonsectionofwww.mindplacesupport.comfordetails.

TheeightcharacterSessionIDentryiswhatDAS(DigitalAudioSynchronization)usestoaccessandplaySynchroMusesessionsthathavebeenstoredintheProcyon.

The"SizeofHeader"boxindicateshowmanybytesofmemoryareusedbythe

session

header.

Note: remember,addingsessionheaderstoyoursessionsdoesconsumesystemmemoryandwillreducetheamountofmemoryavailableforothersessions.


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SerialCommunication/SetCOMport

Afteryou'veconnectedyourProcyontoyourPCandandturnedbothon,usethiscommandtoviewavailableCOMports;thosewhicharenotavailableare"ghosted".Forexample,intheimagebelow,theavailableportsareCOM1,COM3andCOM5. If

oneof

these

is

automatically

selected

you

can

proceed

to

open

the

port;

often

you

willfindthatyoudon'tneedto"set"aportsinceWindowswillusuallyhandlethisforyou. Oncetheportisopen,thecommandchangesto"CloseCOMport". Ifnecessary,usetheSerialCommunication/OpenCOMportcommandtoopenthisport.

Utilities/RunSegments

Thisallowsyoutotestyoursessionswhileyou'redevelopingthem. Touseit,youfirstclickinthe"CurrentSegmentNumber"boxandusethesliderwhichappearsto

selectthe

first

segment

in

the

sequence

you

want

to

test,

and

do

the

same

in

the

"RuntoSegmentNumber"boxtoselectthelastsegmentforthesequence. Thenselectthiscommandtorunthesegmentsyou'veselected.

Note: thisisidenticaltotheRunSegmentsbuttonontherightsideoftheProcyonEditorwindow.AshortcutforrunningallthesessionsegmentsregardlessofthesettingsinCurrentSegmentNumberandRuntoSegmentNumberistorightclicktheRunSegmentsbuttonwiththemouse.

Utilities/RunentireSession

Thisrunstheentiresession,overridinganyothersegmentselectionsyoumighthavemade.


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Utilities/Pauseandgetstatus

Supposeyouarerunningasegmentwithmultiplecolorramps,andsuddenlyaparticularcoloremergeswhichyouespeciallylike,andyouwouldliketopreserveit.ThiscommandallowsyoutoviewtheexactdataintheProcyonbeingusedatthe

momentthe

command

is

triggered.

The

data

looks

like

this:

Noticethat

information

is

organized

according

to

color,

and

each

one

includes

the

currentfrequency,amplitude,DCoffset,dutycycle,phaseshift,andwaveform.

Wecreatedthiscommandfordevelopmentpurposes,andtoallowyoutofindexactsettingsforparticularlyinterestingvisualeffectswhiletestingasession. Thebestwaytosavethisinformationisasfollows:

a. Rightclickinthetextarea,andchooseSelectAll,whichwillhighlightallofthestatustext,andthenselectCopy.

b. OpenaNotepadwindowandpastethetextintoit. (Rclick/Paste).

Utilities/StopSession

Stopsthecurrentlyrunningsession.


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Utilities/SwapColorParameters

Thisswapsalltheinformationinonecolorchannelwithanotherone;thisisparticularlyusefulifyouareconvertingProteussessionstoProcyonsessionsusingourconversionsoftwareapplet,"Proteus_Procyon1_1.exe",availablefromthe

Procyonsection

of

www.mindplacesupport.com.

It'salsoaveryhelpfultoolforquicklyevaluatinghowvariousparameterchangescanaffectthevisualeffects. Intheexamplebelow,ontheleftsidethecurrentlyselectedsegmentusesjustredandgreenlight(notetheblueparametersare"ghosted");Ithenswappedtheblueandgreenchannelstoproducetheimageontheright. Thechoicesare: swapredandgreen,redandblue,andgreenandblue.

tilities/SendHighlightedInformation

hiscommand,whichcanalsobeaccessedviathe"SenddatatoProcyon"buttononhetoprightsideoftheEditorwindow,allowsyoutoupdate theProcyoninrealime.

henyouclickononeofthedataboxesthebackgroundishighlighted.Fromthere

ou

can

type

in

new

values

or

drag

the

scroll

bar

to

the

desired

value.

Once

a

value

asbeensetyouhavetoclickontheSenddatatoProcyoncommandbutton(orenuitem)toupdatethevalueintheProcyonunit.oteifyouclickonthecoloredRedStartFinishlabelallthestartingvaluesareighlighted.ClickingontheSenddatatoProcyonbuttonwillupdatealloftheRedolorsparameters.ThisworksfortheGreenandBluecolumnstoo.

U

TttW

yhmNhc


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The LFactivecheckboxesatthebottomofthecolorchannelsandthe Sound

etersaregrayedoutandcannotbeadjustedorsent.Youmuststartandstop

ternaloperatingsystem(OS)

opens:

activecheckboxintheorangeaudiosectioninthelowerleftsideoftheEditoronlyhaveaneffectwhenrunningsegments.Whenuncheckedthecorrespondingparamthesessionagainwiththenewsettingsfortheseadjustedvaluestohaveaneffect.

Utilities/UpdateProcyonOSThiscommandallowsyoutoupdatetheProcyon'sinwhennewversionsareavailable.Thefilesuffixusedforcodeupdatesis*.PR2.

Whenyou'veselectedtheOSfiletotransfer,a"progress"dialogbox

Wedon'trecommendcancellingthetransferonceitisunderway,aspartoftherwrittenanddoingsomayleaveyourProcyoninan

tilities/SetAudiostrobecolorsandbalance

hisisaconvenientwaytocustomizeyourAudioStrobeexperience. Whenselectedthiswindowappears:

originalOSwillhavebeenoveunstableorinoperativestate.

U

T

Youcanchooseanycolorcombinationforleftandrightaudiochannels. Inthisexample,greenismappedontotheleftchannelandredontotheright,sotheProcyonwillactlikeaProteuswhendecodingASsignals. Youmightwishtoaddbluetoeachchannel,orwhatevercombinationyoufindyouprefer. TheGainslidersset


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overallbrightnessforeachchannelsoforexampleyoumightsetthishigherforgreenandblueandlowerforred,. ThetestbuttonemulatesanAudioStrobesource,andSaveasdefaultstoresthesesettingsinyourProcyon. UsetheSetAnalogNoiseFloorslidertoadjusttheoverallresponseoftheProcyonwhileplayinganAudioStrobefilethroughit,andwhileinAnalogAudioStrobemode (shownasAS_in

thedisplaysee

the

Procyon

Manual).

NotethattheleftandrightAudioStrobechannelsarealwaysmixedthesamewaythatthethreecolorchannelsare: equally,tobotheyes.Utilities/ViewStatusBar

includedthisfortestinganddebuggingpurposes;younormallywon'tneedtoor

tmode.

forasingleparameteratatimeforeachcolorchannel.

Values

appearanceofthegraphicaleditorscreen.

Help/A

Weaccessthisfunction. Whenselected,messagesassociatedwithcommunicationsothererrorswillbeshowninabaratthebottomoftheEditorwindow.

Display/UseGraphicsEditor

Thiscommandopensthegraphicaleditorscreen,whichisdescribedindetailinalatersection;onceopen,themenuchoiceschangeasfollows:

Display/UseTextEditor

Changesthedisplaybacktotextedi

Display/Displaybycolor

Showsinformation

Display/Displaybyfunction

Allparametersaredisplayedforasinglecolorchannelatatime.

Display/DisplaySound

Thisallowsyoutoadjusttheaudiopitchandvolumegraphically.

Display/AdjustBorder

Allowsyoutotweakthe

bout


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Opens Sersion,Core(nonreprogrammable)version,andserialnumberoftheunit:

thefollowingwindow,whichdisplaysthecurrentProcyonEditorversion,Ov

Help/OpenLogFile

Help/RevisionDocumentation

YoucanviewchangesmadetoboththeProcyonEditorandOShere.

Currently,theProcyonEditordoesnotincludeonlinehelpbeyondthis.Thereferencethatyouwillrefertowhenhelpisnecessaryisthedocumentyouarecurrentlyreading,ortheProcyonManual.

HowtocreateaProcyonsession

hissectiondescribestheprogrammablefunctions(parameters)thatareavailablein

tureanddescriptionofparameters.

Thiswasdevelopedforinternaldebugginguseandinmostcasesyouwillnotneedtouseit. Thefilecreatedbythiscommandiscalled"Procyon_LOG.PRL"andislocated

theProcyondirectory.in

TtheProcyon,howtousethetextandgraphicaleditors,howtocreatealbums,andhowtotransferyourfinishedworktotheProcyon.

I. Sessionstruc

Asessionismadeupofanumberofanumberofsegments.


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15/36

Thistextdisplayshowsalltheprogrammableparametersforasinglesegment. Toviewothersegments(ifpresent),clickinthe"currentSegmentNumber"boxonthelowerrightsideanddragtheslidertothesegmentnumberyouwis toedit. Ifyou

avejustlaunchedtheEditor,onlyasinglesegmentispresentuntilyouinsert

ts

y

is

about

1,500;

this

number

is

actually

a

variable

and

depends

nhowcomplexeachsegmentis. Thereisalimitof250sessionsthatcanfitinto

requency Therateatwhichlightsareflickering. Thismayrangefrom0.1to75.0

mplitude Thissetsthebrightnesslevel,andrangesfrom0(off)to255(maximum).

elevelofshimmerinalightchannel. InpracticethisovesthebaselineofthewaveformupordownalongtheYaxisaccordingtothe

Thedefaultsettingis127,whichwouldmodulatenormallybetweenonandoffasdeterminedbytheselectedwaveform. Thisproducestheunalteredwaveform

hhadditionalsegments.

Thereisnoparticularlimittothenumberofsegmentsinyoursession,otherthanhowmuchmemoryremainsinyourProcyon; themaximumnumberofsegmen

that

can

fit

into

memoromemoryatanyonetime.

Programmableparametersforvisualeffectsincludethefollowingitems,whichmaybesetindependentlyforeachofthefourcolorchannels:

FHz,in0.01Hzincrements.

A

DCOffset Usedtosetthmsetting,essentiallyflatteningthewaveform.


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shape.Asettingof250forexamplewill barelybeflickeringasthebottomofthewaveform(lowestbrightnesspartofthecycle)ismovedtowardsthetop(brightespart)ofitscycle. Settingthistoavaluebelow

t127willcausethewaveformtoclipat

opandbottom,whichcangenerateadditionalinterestingvisualeffects.

o

liptheottomofthewaveform.0willshutthecoloroff.Highervaluescanclipthetopof

m.ing

of127correspondstoatruesquarewave,whichsomerefertoasochronous. Strictlyspeaking,changingthisvalueresultsinapulsewaveform,and

orthetechnicallyinclined,apulsewidthwhichchangesovertimeiscalledpulse

m.If55onaTrianglethenthewavewouldfadeupslowlyto

aximumbrightnessandthenabruptlydroptotheminimum.TheSinewavehas

rcolorchannels. Ifthisissetto0foreachcolorchannel,allcolorswouldbeligned,turningonandoffatexactlythesametime. However,veryinteresting

esofdConcepts,below.

t

Whenthe

number

is

set

to

a

value

above

127,

the

lights

never

turn

all

the

way

off,

s

intherange128255,youaremixingunflickeringlightwithflickeringlight,andtheflickerportionshrinkstowardszeroasthenumbersincrease.

Torecap,fortheDCoffsetfunction,127isthemidpoint.Lowervaluescancbthewaveform.Asettingof255willresultinafulloncolorwithnoflickeratallotherfunctionswonthaveanyeffecttheoutput. Tryexperimentingwithvaluesintherange200250.

DutyCycleThisdeterminestheratioofontoofftimefortheSquarewaveforRangesfrom0(offalways)to254(onalmostalways). Typically,themostinterestvisualeffectsareintherangeofroughly50to90,butthiscanvarywithfrequency.Thedefaultsettingisfwidthmodulation.FortheSineandTrianglewaveshapes,theDutyCyclesettingshiftsthepeakofthewavecloserorfurtherawayfromthebeginningofthesegment. Forinstancewitha

Trianglewave

and

a

Duty

Cycle

setting

of

0,

the

wave

with

turn

on

quickly

at

the

beginningaccordingtotheamplitudesettingandthenfadeslowlytotheminimutheDutyCyclewas2msimilarcharacteristicsbutissomewhatmorecomplexduethethecurvatureoftheshape.

Sinewavesproducenoharmonics,whileotherwaveformsincludeharmonicsmathematicallyrelatedtothewaveshape.

Phase

Determines

when

a

waveform

starts,

relative

to

the

start

of

a

segment

and

theotheaeffectsareobtained(especiallyatverylowfrequencies)byoffsettingthephasthevariouscolors. SeeColorChannelAdvance

WavetableUsethispopdownmenutoselectsine,square,triangleoruserwaveforms. Eachoftheselightwaveformshasadifferentapparenteffect;sine


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wavesarethe"softest",square(pulse)waveformshavethemostintenseshiftsbrightnessandtendtocreatethebestvisualeffects,andtrianglewavesareinbetween.

in

andthis

d,

sme

s. Asofthiswriting,thewaveformbeingmodulatedisalwaysasineave.

Building

a

session:

adding

segments

thispoint,asliderbarappearsinthewerrightportionoftheeditwindow,whichlookslikethis:

TheProcyon'ssoundcanbemodulatedbyoneormoreofthelightchannels,

willaffect

the

sound

output;

square/pulse

waveforms

produce

a

"thumpier"

soun

whilesineproducesthesmoothest. Forthisreason,nearlyallofthefactorysessionusesinewavemodulatedaudio. Again,squarewavemodulationiscalledbysoisochronouw

Noticealsothattherearecheckboxesbeloweachcolorchannelwhichallowyoutoturnachannelonoroffforeachsegment.

Whenyouvefinishededitingthesegment,youcaninsertanotherafteritusingtheF3key(or: SessionTools/InsertSegment). Atlo

Usethisslidertotogglebetweenthesegmentsyouareediting. BesurethattheCurrentSeg.#boxispurple(active)inthiscase,ratherthantheRunToSeg.#box.

Youcanalsousetheslidecontroltochoosewhichsegmentstopreviewfromtheurrentsession. Forexample,supposeyoursessionincludes8segments,andyouishtopreviewnumbers3to8. FirstclickintheCurrentSeg#boxandadjustthe

e

cwsliderto3. ThenclickintheRuntoSeg#boxandadjustthesliderto8. Thresultswilllooklikethis:


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Wheninsertingsegments(whichmaybedoneatanyplacewithinasessionexceptbeforethefirstsegment),the"start"valuesdisplayedinthenewlyinsertedsegmentwillbeidenticaltothoseofthesegmentprecedingit,andthe"finish"valueswillbethesameasthe"start"valuesforthesegmentwhichfollowsit. Thisisintendedto

akethe

process

of

session

creation

faster

and

easier,

since

the

newly

inserted

egmentremembersforyouwhattheadjacentsegmentsettingswere.

ClickyourmousepointerintheCurrentSeg.#box;itwillconfirmselectionbyturning

purple.

Usetheslidertoselectthefirstsegmentyouwishtotest.

ClicktheRunSegmentsbuttonontherightsideofthescreen.Somet d,whilerunningasegment,thatacertainspecialcolororvisualp duceforalongerperiod. willproducealistof

en.

opreserve

this

information:

ssories/]andpastethetextintoitforfuturereference.

esinanewsegment.

Notice show2flashingdotstoindicate

tha h d

setting Statusbuttonispressedagain.

Alsonote:hereareadditionalsessions,tutorialsandinformationintheProcyonsectionof

ms

Testingsegmentsandsessions

Youcantestanindividualsegmentoragroupofsegments(includingtheentiresessionyouareediting)bydoingthefollowing:

ClickyourmousepointerintheRunToSeg.#box,andusetheslidertoselectthelastsegment.

imesyoumayfinatternemergeswhichyouwouldliketocaptureandrepro Todoso,clickthePauseandGetStatusbutton,which

currentparametersinapopuponthescre

T

RightclickonthetextareaandchooseSelectAll. RightclickonitagainandchooseCopy. OpenNotepadorWordpad[Start/Acce

Manuallyenterthevalu

thatthedisplayontheProcyonconsolewill

t

t e

session

is

paused.

Also,

the

LEDs

will

continue

flashing

at

the

current

pauseuntilthePauseandGet

Twww.mindplacesupport.com,anduserprovidedsessionsandfurtherdiscussiononourForums(atthesupportsite).


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Colorchanneladvancedconcepts.

hefollowing

image

illustrates

the

effect

of

shifting

the

phase

of

the

red,

green

and

bluelightsrelativetooneanother. Inthiscase,asinewaveisbeingused.

Inthissectionwelldiscussthecolorchannelprogrammingoptionsinmoredetail.

T

Onefullcycleofawaveformoccursover360degrees,andifthereisnophaseshift,itstartsat0degrees,risesandfallsinahalfcircle,intersectstheXaxisat180degrees,andcompletesthelower(negative)halfcircleat360degrees. Intheexampleabove,thisisillustratedbythecolorred. Noticethatblueisexactlytheoppositeofredandsotheyare180degreesoutofphasewithoneanother.

ightness,andreachesitsaximumbrightnessasredisjustturningoff. Sotheredandgreenarechanging

reenreachesitsmaximumbrightnesslevelasblueisstartingtoturnon,soalthough

egrees. Soa90degreephaseshiftrequiresavalueofabout64,and180degreesa

Thismeansthatwhenredisatmaximumbrightness,blueisoffandviceversa.

Greenisshiftedbyaboutaquarterofafullwavetotheright,a90degreephaseshift.Soitstartstoturnonjustasredreachesitsmaximumbrmbrightnessrelativetooneanother,producingarangeofintermediatecolors.

Gredandbluearenotonatthesametime,theybothareonwhilegreenisonandmixwithit.

Noticethatyoucanspecifyphaseintherange0255,whichcorrespondsto0360dvalueofabout127.


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Inthenextexample,wellexaminetheeffectofvaryingthepulsewidth,usingthesquarewaveform.

hesquarewaveformismoreaccuratelyapulsewaveformsinceitswidthmaybearied. Itswitchesfromofftomaximumbrightness(andviceversa)almost

mediately.

Thepulse

can

have

a

variable

width;

if

it

is

50%,

then

it

is

a

true

square

ut10%.

Tv

imwave. Intheexamplebelow,bothblueandgreenhaveawidthofabout40%,whiletheredisnarrow,abo

Alsoillustratedistheeffectofphaseshiftonthemixingofpulsewidthmodulatedcolors. Noticethatblueandredturnontogether,startingat0phase. Thecolorwouldbepurpleuntilredturnsoff,thenblueuntilgreenturnedon,thenbluegreen.

Thiscombinationofpulsewidthmodulationandphaseshiftingcan eate

pectacularvisual

effectsallowing

you

to

present

entire

sections

of

a

rainbow

ime);thesearetheequivalentof0%to100%. Apulsewidthof127,then,wouldbe

cr

swithineachpulseperiod.

Pulsewidthissetbyanintegervaluerangingfrom0(notonatall)to255(onallthetabout50%asquarewave.

Exampleapproximatepulsewidthsettings

Pulse

width%

SettingPulse

width%

Setting

10 25 60 153

20 51 70 178

30 76 80 203

40 102 90 229

50 127 100 255


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Noticethatafundamentaldifference ween pulse eandtrianglewaveformsisthat,whileth lsewaveforms ona finstantly,sineandtrianglewaveformsincrease minimumto asmoothmanner.

Tryexperimentingwiththe and glewaveforms nthepulseratesarelow,

especiallyin

the

1to

8

hz

range,

and

pulse

wav ms

w the

pulse

rates

are

in

owphaseshiftaffectscolormixing

choosetovaryeitherorbothacrossasegment. Whenthehaseofonecolorischangingatadifferentratethananother,theresultingcolorsreconstantlychanging. Wecallthisdynamicphaseshift,illustratedintheexample

bet the ,sinepu turn ndof

from maximumin

sine trian whe

efor hen

higherranges(8+hz).

H

Sofarwehaveconsideredonlythecasesofstaticpulsewidthandphaseshift.However,youcanalsopa

shown

below.

Forsimplicity,onlythefirstandlastpulsesfromasegmentareshown. Thephaseshiftisprogrammedasfollows:

Color Start phaseshift Finish phaseshiftRed 0(degrees) 90Green 90 0

redsinewaveismovingslowlyforward,whilethe

haseof

the

green

sine

wave

is

slowly

moving

backwards.

This

causes

the

amount

of

ofyellow/goldis ffect wfrequenciescanproduce

tingc mi ingef cts.

Inotherwords,thephaseofthe

peachcolortomixslightlydifferentlyineachcycle,producingarangecolorsaswellasgreenandred. Usingth e withlosomeespeciallyinteres olor x fe


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ThereisanExcelspreadsheettoolavailableonoursupportsite,calledtheVisualSegmentDeveloper,whichprovidesanexcellentmeansforvisualizingtheeffectsofallvisualparametersoncolormixing:

Soundcontrol

hesound

produced

by

the

Procyon

is

controlled

via

the

orange

box

on

the

bottom

ftsideoftheEditorwindow:Tle

Noticethatyoucancontroltheleftandrightchannelsindependently. Functionsinclude:

SoundActivecheckbox: Usethistoturnsoundonoroffforeachsegment.


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Pitch: Thefrequencyoftheinternallysynthesizedsound. Rangesfrom60to600Hz

pwardsordownwardsoverthecourseofthesegment.,in1Hzincrements. Noticethatthepitchcanchangeovertime,ramping

u

Volume: Howloudthesoundis. Rangesfrom0(off)to255(maximum).

SoundModulation: determineswhichcolorchannelmodulatesanaudiochanne eats,

sethe"None"option.l. ChoicesareNone,Red,GreenandBlue. Ifyouwishtocreatebinauralb

u

Phase: Determineswhetherthesoundispulsingtogetherwiththelights(0phase)orinbetweenlightflashes(180degrees). Clickinginthephaseboxestoggles

etweenthesetwooptions.

hissectiononthelowerrightsideofthedisplaylookslikethis:

b

TheProcyonsynthesizessinewaveswhicharepure,cleantonesasitsoutput.

Segmentcontrol

T

CurrentSegmentNumber: Leftclickinthisboxanddragtheslidertothesegmentyouwishtoview/edit,ortosetthefirstsegmentinasequenceyouwishtoruninrealime. Turnspurplewhenactive.t

RuntoSegmentNumber: Worksasabove,anddeterminesthelastsegmentinthe

sequence

you

wish

to

run.

SegmentTime. Determinesthelengthofthesegmentduration. Whenyouleftclickinthisbox,anewbarappea

rswhichshowsthecurrentsegmenttime;youcandraghebartowardsthetimeyouwishtouse,and/orusetheleft/rightarrowkeystofinet

tunethetime. OryoucantypethelengthoftimeintotheSegmentTimebox.


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Theformatdisplayedis: minutes:seconds:tenthsofasecond. Themaximumtimeallowedis10minutesandtheminimumallowedin0.5seconds.

Ifyourightclickonthesegmenttimesliderbar,youwillseeachoiceoffouravailabltimes: 30seconds,oneminute,fiveminutes,andtenminutes.

e

Totaltime. Thiskeepsarunningtallyofthelengthofallthesegmentsinyoursession,includinganyloopedsegmentsequences.

session.

hebasicstepsforcreatingasessionareasfollows:

. ConnectyourProcyontoyourPCandturniton.

. OpenaCOMport.mberofsegmentsincludingloops.

rittoyourProcyon.

theprocessindetail. We'llusethedefaultTextEditorthistime

Gettingstarted

neimportantpointtobearinmindwhencreatingasessionis: whatisyourgoal?Thisdetermineswhichfrequencies r segmentschangequicklyor

lowlyandramporjumpbetweensegments,etc.

dgedintotheconnectorontopof

theunit,andplugyourheadphonesintotheappropriatejackontherightside

Noteth

butift ,USBwillstillsupplypower,tomaximizeyourbatterylife.SBwillnotrechargethebatteries.

willooseonewhichisnotghosted. Usually,those

withlowernumbersworkbest,astheProcyoncanonlyaccess ports116.Onceyouhavemadeyoursettingitwillberememberedunlessyoure

II. Createa

T

a

b.

Open

the

Procyon

Editor

software.

cd. Createasessionwithyourchosenvaluesandnue. Testyoursession.f. Saveit,andtransfe

Thissectiondescribesaround.

Oyouuse,whethe

s

Onceyou'rereadytostart,plugyourProcyonintoanavailableUSBportanturniton. BesureyourGanzFramesareplug

oftheconsole.

atyou

don't

need

to

have

batteries

installed

when

it's

connected

to

USB

heyareinstalledU

OpenProcyonEditor,andselectSerialCommunication/SetCOMPort. Youseealistofavailableports;ch


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configuretheportsatsometimeinthefutureinwhichcasethissettingwillneededtobeupdated.

ChooseSerialCommunication/OpenCOMPort. ThesmallredcircleattheupperleftsideoftheEditorwindowshouldturngreen,indicatingthatyour

Procyonis

now

commun

icatingwith

the

Editor.

You re

It'soft duringthefirstsegment,ndto"fadeout"duringthelast,solet'sstartbychangingtheaudiovolumeand

a nowreadytostartyourfirstsession.

endesirabletohavethelightandsound"fadein"abrightness.

Here'swhattheaudiosectionwilllooklikewithafadeinadded:

NoticethatI'vesettheaudiopitchto220Hz("A")inallthe"Pitch"boxes. Thismeansthatthesamesoundwillbeheardinbothears,anditwill changeinpitch

uringthe

segment,

because

the

start

and

finish

values

are

the

same.

Phase

has

eensetto0degrees,sothelightandsoundwillpulsetogether,andsound

andr

(255),becausereenlightdoesnotmakeitswaythroughyourclosedeyelidsaswellasdoesred:

notdbmodulationisbeingcontrolledbythebluecolorchannel. Ifyouwouldprefertoinclude(say)an8Hzbinauralbeat,settherightsideto228Hz.

Next,let'ssetupthecolorchannels. Thefrequencieshaveallbeensetto10Hz,amplitude(brightness)fortheredandgreencolorchannelsrampfrom0tohighenumbers. I'vesetthepeakredamplitude(200)lowerthangreeng


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Noticethat,althoughallthreecolorchannelsaresetasactive(viathecheckboxesatthebottomoftheimage),theamplitudeforbluehasbeensettozero. Inthiscaseweusethebluechanneltomodulatethesoundwithasinewavenottriggerthe

lights.

Youcan

have

the

lights

turned

down

all

the

way

and

still

affect

the

sound

but

theLFActiveboxshouldstillbechecked(lightchannelon)

We'reusingthesquarewaveformtomodulateredandgreen,andI'vesetthedutycycle(pulsewidth)forthosechannelstostartat50andendat90.

Finally,let'sleavethesegmenttimeatavalueof20seconds. Itshouldlooklikethis:

You'renowreadytotestyourfirstsegmentjustclickthe"RunSegments"buttonontherightsideofthescreentoseewhatyourfirstsegmentislike!

Addingsegments

Pressthe

F3

key,

or

use

the

Edit/Insert

Segment

command

to

add

a

second

segment

toyoursession. Noticethatthecolorchannelandsoundsettingsaremirrorimagesofthefirstsegmentthesoundvolumedecreasesagaintozero,andlikewiseforthevariouslightbrightnesssettings. Thesesettingsareidealforthelastsegmentinyoursessionprovidingagradualfadeoutatthesession'send. Let'skeepthatsegmentasthefinalone,andaddathirdonebetweenthetwo.


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Inordertodothis,clickinthecurrentsegmentnumberboxandmovethesegmentslidertotheleft;the"currentsegmentnumber"willnowshowas1,asbelow:

Whenyouinsertasegment,itisalwaysinsertedfollowingthecurrentsegmentnumber. PressF3toinsertonenow.

Noticewhathashappenedtothesettingswhichappearbydefaultinthesegmentyou'vejustinserted:

Thesettingsareall"flat"andshownoramps. That'sbecausetheparametersfor

insertedsegments

always

copy

the

"finish"

values

from

the

preceding

segment

as

thenew"start"values,andthe"start"valuesfromthefollowingsegmentasthe"finish"values.

Let'schangethesoundforthissegmenttoabinauralbeat.


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NoticethatthesoundmodulationhasbeenchangedfromBluetoNone,andthepitchfortherightsideisnow225Hz. Thismeansthata220Hzsinewavewillplayintheleftearwhilea225Hzsinewaveplaysintheright;theresultisa5Hzbinauralbeat.

Thisalsomeansthatthebinauralbeatdoesnothavetobelockedtothefrequencyofanyofthecolorchannels.

Tryplayingtheentiresession. Todothis,makesurethatthecurrentsegmentnumberissetto1,andthenruntosegmentnumberissetto3. Onceyou'vedonethis,clicktheRunSegmentsbutton. Alternatively,youcouldchooseUtilities/Runentiresession.Youcankeepaddingandtestingsegmentsuntilyouhaveexactlythesessionyouwant;tryexperimentingwithdifferentvisualwaveforms,amplitudeandfrequencyvalues. Onceyouhaveasessionyou'dliketokeep,selectFile/SaveSessionAsandsaveitwithwhatevernameyouwish. Nowyou'rereadytotransferittoyourProcyon.

Todo

this,

select

Session

Tools/Upload

Session

to

Procyon.

When

you

see

the

followingdialogbox,selectAppendifpossible.

You'vejustsavedyoursessionasthe50thinternalsession. Remember,session000isthe"random"session,whichcannotbedeletedorchangedandisn'tcountedasoneofthestandardsessionssoyournewlyaddedsessionwillshowas051onthedisplay.


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Addingloopingtoyoursession

Aloopissimplyasequenceoftwoormoresegmentswhichrepeatmorethanonetime. Thisisagreatwaytoaddcomplexitywithoutusinguptoomuchmemoryintheprocess. Youcanhavemultipleloopsinasession,andtheycanoverlap(nest)as

longas

two

or

more

loops

don't

start

on

the

same

segment.

Toaddalooptoyoursession,dooneofthefollowing:

SelectEdit/LoopControl UsetheshortcutL ClickontheblueLoopingboxjustbelowthewords"Wavetable"onthe

middleleftsideoftheEditorwindow.

Thefollowingwindowappears:

Loopsareconstructedaslists;toaddaloop,clickinthefirstStartbox,typeinthesegmentyouwishtostarttheloopfromanddothesameintheFinishbox,andaddthenumberoftimesyouwantthelooptorunintheTimesbox. Youcanincludeupto32loopsinasession,andeachonecanrunupto32times. ClicktheUpdatebuttontocompletetheprocess. TheLoopeditorwillsortthevaluessothattheearliestsegmentsareatthetopofthelist.Also,althoughasinglesegmentcanbecontainedinmorethanoneloop,allloopsmuststartonauniquesegmentnumber.

NoticethatwhenyouclicktheRunSegmentsbutton,the"totaltime"nowreflectsthetimeconsumedbyallloopsinyoursession.

Youcancreatevery,verylongsessionsorverycomplexonesinthisway.


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Youhaveenoughinformationnowtocreateyourownsessions,thoughwe'llcoverthissubjectinmoredetailinfuturetutorialspostedtowww.mindplacesupport.com.

III. Usingthegraphicseditor

Thegraphicaleditorallowsyoutodisplaymultiplesegmentsonthescreentoeditatonetime,andtocreatesegmentsbyclick/draggingontheendsoflinesegmentstochangethevariousparameters. It'sespeciallyusefulforkeepingtrackoffrequenciesandamplitudes,butcanbeusedtoworkwiththeotherparametersaswell.

OpenthegraphicaleditorbyselectingDisplay/UseGraphicsEditor.

OnceyouopentheGraphicsEditor,youcandisplayinformationinanumberofways,asyouwillseebyselectingtheDisplaycommand. Theoptionsaredescribedbelow.

Display/DisplaybyFunction

Thiscommandopensascreenshowingallthefunctionsforagivencolor.

Clickontheoptionbuttonstochangecolor;intheexamplebelow,redisselected.

Leftclickoneitherendofthelinesegmentsandwhileholdingthebuttondown,dragthelineupordowntochangeitsvalue. Atextboxappearsshowingthecurrent

value.

Noticealso

that

the

box

near

the

top

with

the

segment

number

turns

white

whenyouareeditingthatsegment.

TheUpandDownArrowscanbeusedtomoreaccuratelystepthevaluesIfonasegmentboundarythenpressingequalkeywillforcethesegmenttothevalueofthevalueoftheothersegmentboundaryendpoint.

Noticethatsegmentthreeintheexamplebelowisdarkerthantheothers;thisindicatesthattheredcolorchannelforsegmentthreeisinactiveinthissession(RedLFActiveoff).


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Ifyoursessionincludesmoresegmentsthancanfitintothedisplaywindow,abluebarwillappearnearthetopofthedisplaywhichlookslikethis:

Justclickonthisbaranddragittobringothersegmentsintoview.

Holdingdowntheand/orkeyswillaffecthowthecolorvalueschange.

Function FrequencyAmplitude, DC Offset,

Duty Cycle, Phase

Range 0.1 75 Hz 0-255

Shortcut Key(s)

None 0.1 Hz 1

Ctrl 1 Hz 4Shift+Ctrl 5 Hz 16

Shift 10 Hz 64


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Display/DisplaybyColor

Thisinvokesawindowshowingallthecolorsforagivenfunction.

Clickontheoptionradiobuttonstochangefunction;choicesincludefrequency,

amplitude,DC

offset,

duty

cycle,

and

phase.

Leftclick+dragtheendsofthelinesegmentstomakeadjustments,asabove. Withtheleftmousebuttonhelddown,thearrowandshortcutkeyswillprovidemorepreciseentries.

Display/DisplaySoundValues

ThiswindowdisplaysleftandrightHz(pitch)andvolume;ifyourightclickononeof

the

channels,

you

can

change

the

other

audio

parameters

available,

as

shown

below:


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Optionsinthiscaseinclude:

Toenable/disablethesoundforthatsegment. Ifthesoundisactivethenmoreoptionswillappear.

Toenable/disabletheleftandrightsoundmodulationforthatsegment. Ifthesoundmodulationisactivethenmoreoptionswillappear.

Setthe

phase

of

the

left

and

right

sound

modulation

(0

or

180

degrees)

relativetothedrivinglightsource.

Setthesourceoftheleftandrightsoundmodulation:Red,GreenorBluesource.Boththeflashrateandthewaveformtype(Sine,Squareetc.)willaffectthesoundmodulation.

Youcanchangeparametersusingshortcutkeysifyouprefer:

Function Frequency Volume

Range

60

600

Hz

0(off)

255

(full

on)

ShortcutKeys StepSize

None 1Hz 1Ctrl 10Hz 4

Shift+Ctrl 50Hz 16Shift 100Hz 64


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IfyouRightclickonasegmentwhileineitherthebyFunctionorbyColormodes,apopupmenuappears,allowingyouto:

Activate/deactivateindividual

color

for

that

segment.

If

the

color

is

active

thenmoreoptionsappear.

ChangetheWavetablethatdriveseachcolor(Sine,Square,TriangularorUserdefined)

*Note:'Userdefined'hasnotbeenimplementedinthisfirmwarerevision.

IV.How

to

create

an

album.

Inordertocreateanalbum,youneedtobuildalistofsessionsinthedesiredorderusingNotepadoranotherplaintexteditor,andsavethatlistinthesamedirectorythatyoursessionsresidein. Whenyousaveit,donotsaveitwiththeusual*.txtsuffix;instead,changethesuffixto*.PRb. Whenyoubuildthelist,besuretoincludethefullnameofthesessions,includingtheir*.PRwsuffixes. Forexample,the


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followingimagedisplaysthealbumfileforthefactoryprogrammedsessionsincludedinyourProcyon:


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ConvertingProteussessionstoProcyonformat

YoucanconvertanyProteussessionsyoumayhavedeveloped,orthe"factory"ProteussessionsincludedwiththeProteusEditortoProcyonformatusingtheProteustoProcyonconversionsoftwaretoolavailableintheProcyonsupportsection

ofwww.mindplacesupport.com;

instructions

are

included

with

that

tool.

SynchroMuse

YourProcyonincludesatechnologycalledSynchroMuse,whichallowsyoutocreatecompactdiscsorlowlosscompressedaudioformatssuchasWAV,FLAC,AACorOGGthatsynchronizeaudiotrackswithasessionstoredinternallyontheProcyon. Ineffect,thisactslikeafullcolorversionoftheAudioStrobetechnology. GotooursupportsitefordetailedinstructionsforcreatingyourownSynchroMusefiles.

BesuretovisitourYouTubechannel,forvideotutorialsonhowtousetheEditor,VisualSegmentspreadsheet,etc.: www.youtube.com/user/Themindplace.

Tips

Ifyouarenotusingoneormoreofthethreecolorsinasegment,turnthesegmentoff;thiswillsavememory.

Onewaytocreatea"ganzfeld"istosetthefrequencyto80Hz,whichwillappeartobeauniformfieldoflight.

ThebestwaytocreateaganzfeldistosettheAmplitudeto0thenadjusttheDCoffsetvaluebetween127(off)and255(fullon).Allvalueslessthan127willresultinzerobrightness.

Sales: www.mindplace.comSupport: www.mindplacesupport.com

www.youtube.com/user/TheMindplace;www.soundcloud.com/Mindplace

ThankstoScottHendricksonforassistanceinpreparingthisGuide.
http://www.mindplacesupport.com/http://www.youtube.com/user/Themindplacehttp://www.mindplace.com/http://www.mindplacesupport.com/http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMindplacehttp://www.soundcloud.com/Mindplacehttp://www.soundcloud.com/Mindplacehttp://www.youtube.com/user/TheMindplacehttp://www.mindplacesupport.com/http://www.mindplace.com/http://www.youtube.com/user/Themindplacehttp://www.mindplacesupport.com/

Documents

Procyon Editor Manual