The Kyma Language for Sound Design, Version 4.5

As you start to design your own Sounds, you will probably want to use some of them as templates. To
use one of your customized Sounds as a template, open the Sound file that contains the template as a
custom prototype strip. To open a Sound file as a custom prototype strip, choose Open… from the File
menu, select Custom prototypes as the file type, and select the Sound file to be opened. Any Sound collections
in the Sound file will show up as categories in the custom prototype strip; other Sounds will
show up under the General category in the custom prototype strip.
Sound File Windows
While you are in Kyma, a Sound file window allows you to examine and manipulate the Sounds contained
in a Sound file. It serves as a workspace for creating new Sounds and editing old Sounds.
When you leave Kyma, you have the option of saving your work in the Sound file on the disk. Sounds
stored in a Sound file are not sample files or digital recordings but instructions for producing sound on
the digital signal processor (DSP). This representation is much more compact than a digital recording.
A Sound file can contain individual Sounds and/or Sound collections. A Sound collection is itself a collection
of individual Sounds and/or other Sound collections. A Sound collection is a convenient way to
categorize or organize the objects in a Sound file.
The operations in the Action, Info and Edit menus (see pages 436, 439, and 425) affect the selected
Sound(s). Click a Sound to select it. Press Enter to change the name of a selected Sound. Use standard
click and drag techniques to select and move Sounds in the Sound file window or between windows.
Clicking and dragging the mouse in the background of the Sound file window lets you draw a box
around many Sounds at once, selecting all Sounds within the box. If you hold down the shift key while
performing any of these mouse operations, you will add to or remove from the current selection, rather
than starting a new selection.
To move a Sound, hold down the Control or Option key as you click and drag. Normally, you will not
want to move a Sound; it is safer to move a copy. To move a copy of a Sound, click on the Sound (without
pressing the Option or Control keys) and drag the Sound’s icon.
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