The Kyma Language for Sound Design, Version 4.5

♦ If the file name has a complete path and the file exists, Kyma uses the file name directly.
♦ Kyma removes any path information from the name.
♦ If that file name has been found recently, Kyma uses the file that was found at that time.
♦ Kyma checks the most recently used folders for a file with the same name.
♦ Kyma checks each folder and subfolder in the list of frequently used folders for a file with the same
name. During this process, Kyma will periodically put up this dialog:
♦ Click Keep looking to have Kyma continue checking the frequently used folders list, click Use file
dialog to locate the file using a file list, or click Cancel to stop Kyma.
♦ At this point, Kyma has exhausted all automatic ways of finding the file and opens a file list.
Because Kyma keeps track of recently accessed files and folders, it is important to inform Kyma whenever
a file or folder has been changed using another application (for example, renaming or deleting files using
the Finder on the Macintosh, File Manager on Windows 3.1, or Windows Explorer on Widows 95). To do
this, click on the Recycle button in the Status window (see File menu: Status on page 425).
Substituting for missing files
If you use Sounds developed by someone else on another computer, that person might have used a different
set of files or might have created some files you do not have on your computer. When you try to
load a Sound that uses a file you do not have, a dialog box will prompt you to locate the file. The same
thing could happen if you rename a file on the host computer’s hard disk but have not changed the reference
to that file name in the Sounds’ parameter fields.
To have Kyma substitute a different file in place of the missing file, choose the replacement file from the
file list. This substitution will remain in effect until either the Recycle button in the Status window is
clicked or the Capybara is initialized via Initialize DSP under the DSP menu.
Spectrum Analyzer…
The spectrum analyzer preferences control the settings for the spectrum analyzer that Kyma creates when
Spectrum analyzer from the Info menu is chosen. (Kyma also includes a separate SpectrumAnalyzer
Sound that displays the spectrum of its input, but the Sound is unaffected by the these preference settings.)
Spectrum Analyzer Length controls the length of the FFT used by the spectrum analyzer. The larger the
number the better the frequency resolution.
Spectrum Analyzer Window controls the window function applied to the signal before using the FFT.
Each of the window functions has different properties; in general, resolution increases in the following
order: LinearEnvelope, Hamming, Hann, and Long Kaiser.
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