Guide 7.2.4 - 10 Mar 17| PDF Guide

Generative Music Mixer

Mixtikl has now GONE : it's evolved to the even more powerful  Wotja

Mixtikl is quite possibly the most powerful generative music mixer there is.

It features an underlying 12 track mixer / cell sequencer / arranger / performer with 4 central mixer cells per track. It comes with hundreds of generative music templates, and there are a number of downloadable free audio loop Tiklpaks. You can also use your own loops in it, and import generative music you have made with Noatikl.

Mixtikl's generative music content is composed by the integral Noatikl (MIDI) Music Engine (NME).

The sounds Mixtikl makes are generated either by the flexible and integral Partikl Sound Engine (PSE) and/or by audio & MIDI loops / recordings you put into it. You can also use Mixtikl Mobile to drive external MIDI software or hardware synths, FX units and samplers (iOS).

Don't forget to check out the 2 minute videos!

Tip: If you just want to get started with the minimum of fuss & figure stuff out as you go, then check out the Quick Start tutorials.

Mixtikl is available for the following:

• Mobile devices: Mixtikl for iOS, Mixtikl AZ for Android or Mixtikl GP for Android (Ad supported)
• Desktop PCs: Mixtikl Desktop Standalone for Mac, Mixtikl Desktop Standalone for Windows
• Desktop PC DAWs: Mixtikl Desktop Audio AUi plugin for macOS, Mixtikl Desktop Audio VSTi plugin for Windows

Because of its support for iCloud, some of the Mixtikl for iOS [iOS] screens are slightly different to those in Mixtikl for Desktop [DT] and Mixtikl for Android [AN]. The main differences are that some of the iOS screens have an additional toolbar at the top containing a Files screen link and an Action button, and in the Mixer screen a Randomise button replaces the Menu button, allowing mix randomisation to instead be carried out AFTER a mix file is created.

At the bottom right of most screens is a "?" for online help. Simply tap on it to go to the relevant page in this online Mixtikl User Guide or the PSE Guide. As Mixtikl is such a deep tool, this helps make it easier to find out about the operation of a particular screen or control.

Mixtikl 7 for iOS / Android and Mixtikl Desktop Standalone for Mac macOS are installed via the respective app stores as part of the download process.

The 30 day trial full versions of Mixtikl 7 for Windows can be downloaded here. They need to be installed and have Product Keys that are entered as below.

Installing Mixtikl 7 Desktop Software Downloaded from IM Website:

Launching Mixtikl 7

Once launched, the load screen will display for a few seconds as Mixtikl 7 loads up and show status updates such as "Loading skin" "version number " and "Loading content". Once Mixtikl 7 has loaded the load screen will disappear.

Note: If you want to remove Mixtikl so you can reinstall an older version, see the instructions here.

These quick tutorials are to get you doing some very basic things with minimum fuss. Mixtikl is a very deep app and quick tutorials are no substitute for further investigation - they are just to get you started! To that end, in most steps we link to further information where you can go on to read and learn more about various screens and what they are for.

Tip: Have a quick look at the 2 minute videos.

Tap to zoom

In Mixtikl for iOS [iOS] file actions such as open, save, rename, delete, duplicate etc. are done in a Files screen because of its iCloud-support. Mixtikl for Desktop [DT] and Mixtikl for Android [AN] instead both use a Menu screen to do these things.

Note: If you are using both Mixtikl 7.1+ for macOS and Mixtikl 7.1+ for iOS then for your "App Files" you may also want to use iCloud rather than local storage (i.e. saving your files to your iOS device). If you use iCloud your App Files will also appear in your Mac's iCloud Drive folder, meaning you can easily sync those files between macOS and iOS devices that share the same iCloud account. See the iCloud FAQ. Note that "Other Files" (such as zip, sf2 and any recordings etc.) still need to be transferred via iTunes App File Sharing. See the Copy In/Out section.

Top Panel

New: Select New to create a new file.

Action:

• iCloud Sync: Select this to resynch your iCloud files.
• Sort by Name / Sort by Date: This toggleable setting allows you to sort your files by Name or Date.
• Rename: Select to display a pop up dialog to rename the file
• Import from Clipboard: This option is displayed when you have a Mixtikl file on the clipboard.

Settings: Select for Settings used in Mixtikl, including a link to Info.

Edit:

• Duplicate: Select the jiggling file(s) and then press the Duplicate icon to create copies of the file(s).
• Delete: Select the jiggling file(s) and then press the Delete icon to delete the file(s).

Files Area

New: Select "Create New" to create a new file.

Saved File: Tap on one of the Saved File document icons to open a previously created file. A file's thumbnail will briefly jiggle when you close the file and return to the Files screen, making it easy to see what file you have just played or edited.

File Name: Tap on the File Name for a pop up dialog to rename the file.

  Menu (& Esc key on Desktop)

Note: This menu screen is displayed in Mixtikl for Desktop [DT] and Mixtikl for Android [AN] and visible buttons vary depending on version. Mixtikl for iOS [iOS], because of its' iCloud-support, performs file actions differently and instead uses a Files screen.

Menu

Top Buttons:

• Visualiser
• Mixer
• Play/Stop
• Global Volume
  Global Volume control: Drag the slider left or right. For iOS version see Settings.
• Vis Settings

Center buttons:

• New
  Start a new mix with plenty of randomisation options
• Open
  Open a previously saved mix.
• Save
  Save your mix.
• Import
  Import Mixtikl mixes.
• Export
  Export mixes and recordings.
• More
  Displays a list of links to source of new mixes, and communities.
• Rec & Preview
  Opens the Mix recording menu.
• User Guide
  Takes you to this online User Guide.
• Settings
  Opens the Settings menu.
• Please Rate
  Displays a pop up asking you to rate this version of Mixtikl.
• Forum
  Takes you to the online Mixtikl forum
• Tidy (Android only)
  Displays the Tidy screen where you can select Mixtikl related files you want to delete. If you want to delete Recordings or imported Samples in the iOS version, you can do that via the Recording Screen or iTunes App File Sharing - see Copy Content In/Out (+ Backup) and the entry "How do I transfer content in/out of Mixtikl".
• Wotja Info
  Opens the Wotja online webpage.
• Noatikl Info
  Opens the Noatikl online webpage.
• Store (Desktop Audio Plugin only)
  Opens a pop up dialog for the Mixtikl Desktop Audio Plugin where you can enter the Product Key.

Menu > New [DT/AN]

Mixer > Randomise Mix [iOS]

New Mix Screen

Mix Randomisation in Mixtikl is a powerful feature. It lets you randomise mixes in ways that can let you come up with new ideas fast. It comes with some default settings, but once you are familiar with Mixtikl you may way like to try customising the settings to suit your working preferences. This screen works slightly differently depending on the Mixtikl version.

Mixtikl [DT/AN]: This screen used to create new mixes which are randomised at the time of creation. It is accessed via the Menu screen.

Mixtikl [iOS]: This screen is used to randomise the current mix (there is no "From Mix" option, either). New mixes are instead created in the Files screen. It is accessed via the top left randomise button in the Mixer screen.

Random

The Randomise Button works with the Paks you have checked in the Pak list, and according to the various randomisation settings for Content cells, Track volume/pans, GenBars/Range, and CellRepeats/Range etc. (see Randomisation Settings).

1. From the Tiklpak list check all the Tiklpaks you want content to be selected from (tap on the checkbox to select/deselect).

   • Use the Default Pak Selection button (above) to to get back to the default selection of paks.

2. Tap right side of the Tiklpak list to select/highlight the Tiklpak you want to be the underlying base pak for your random mix, e.g. GenMix 1.
3. If, before you create [DT/AN] or randomise [iOS] a mix, you wish to change some of the randomisation settings, then select the Settings button and make your changes.
4. Select the Random button and you will be and you will be returned to the Mixer Screen.

Empty

The Empty Button is the simplest of all the options and selecting it allows you to create an empty mix [DT/AN] or clear out your mix [IOS] to be based on the Tiklpak you choose.

• Tap right side of the Tiklpak list to select/highlight the Tiklpak you want to be the underlying base pak.
• Select the Empty button and you will be returned to the Mixer Screen.

From Mix [DT/AN]

The From Mix Button lets you create a random mix based on a pre-existing mix.

• Select the From Mix button to display the Mix File List.
• Select the mix you want your new mix to be based on.
• You will be presented with the Mixer Screen and a new randomised mix based on the mix you selected.

Note: There are two alternatives, as follows:

1. When the "Use Mix Cells Only" check box is checked (see Randomisation Settings) only mixer cells that already include content will be randomised according to the randomisation rules.
2. When the "Use Mix Cells Only" check box is unchecked (Randomisation Settings) any mixer cell can be randomised according to the randomisation rules.

Show Paks

The Show Paks checkboxes at the bottom of the New Mix screen will filter what Tiklpaks you will see in the Pak list. Using these filters makes it easy to only select from certain kinds of Paks (or by deselecting the checkbox to clear those selections). For example, if you do not want to see/use any content from Loops paks (e.g. the FREE Audio Loops Tiklpaks), then make sure the Loops box is unchecked (default setting).

• Gen: Shows/lists Tiklpaks that contain generative content (default on).
• Loops: Shows/lists Tiklpaks that contain audio or MIDI loop content (default off).
• Default Pak Selection (small button with "flash" on it): Applies the Mixtikl default selection of paks which is most likely to give you the best random mixes.
• Use Content Filter (only visible if "Show Mixtikl 6 Tiklpaks" is on): Filters out content from Mixtikl 6 Tiklpaks so that only the best is available for selection when you create random mixes (all content is still available from the Content button accessed via the Mixer Cell). If you deselect this checkbox then all content from all the paks you have selected can be chosen for random mixes (default on).

Menu > Open

Open Mix Files Screen

This is where you open a previously saved mix. Mixes you have saved are coloured black, and mixes/example mixes included with any Tiklpaks you may have installed are shown in grey and at the bottom of the list. Do check out the example mixes, as they are a great place to start!

Tip: You can show or hide the example mixes included in the Mixtikl 6 paks with the "Show Mixtikl 6 Paks" toggle in Settings.

Note: You cannot rename Mix files, and if you want to change the name, simply save the mix again with the name you want and then delete the original.

Tip: You can delete Mix files you have saved as below, or via the Tidy screen:

• +<OPTIONS>
  • Select to show the options. When <HIDE OPTIONS> shown, select to hide the options.

  • -[DELETE MIX]

    • Select this and then, from the list that displays, select the item you want to delete. Select Cancel to close the list.
    • Note: You cannot delete the demo mix files.
• List of mix files, black ones are the ones you have saved

Menu > Save

Save Mix Screen (Desktop)

The first thing you need to do is to save your new mix! When saving files, renaming mixes etc. in Mixtikl, you will be presented with the Text Entry screen.

• On iOS / Android devices we use the native text entry mechanism which is a pop up keyboard (not shown here). Once you have entered your mix name with the pop up keyboard, press the keyboard's "Return" button and your mix will be saved.
• On Mac/PC, where we are unable to provide access to the native text entry abilities of a mobile device, we display a different screen (shown above):
  
  • Desktop: Select the text field and enter text with your keyboard.
  • Select the top left OK (tick) button to accept your changes, otherwise select the Cancel button.
  • The "H" on the one from bottom row is "Home"
  • The "E" on the one from bottom row is "End"
  • The "BS" on the bottom row is "Backspace"
  • The "D" on the bottom row is "Delete"

Where Mixtikl saves mixes:

All mix files in Mixtikl are saved to the /Music/Intermorphic/ folder as below (see here for more info).

• Mac:

  ~/Music/Intermorphic

  (the tilde [~] in the pathname is a shortcut for your user account name)
• Windows:

  %HOMEPATH%\Music\Intermorphic

  (the %HOMEPATH% in the pathname is a shortcut for your user account name)

Menu > Import

Imports a mix that has been pasted to the clipboard (the "mixtikl://" data string), perhaps copied from an email or forum posting. See also importing to a Mixer Cell and Importing mixes, Tiklpaks, audio loops .

Menu > Export

Export your mixes to clipboard or email.

• "mixtikl" to Clipboard
  • Your mix is then copied to the clipboard (e.g. "mixtikl://datastring...") for you to e.g. paste into an email.
• "mixtikl" via Mail (attachment)
  • Your mix is inserted into a new email as an attachment.

Mixer Screen [iOS]

Mixer Screen [DT/AN]

The Mixer Screen is where most of the action happens in Mixtikl. It is where you set up your mix so this is where you need to start.

Tracks: There are 12 tracks and each track contains 4 Mixer Cells. Tracks can be muted/soloed, have their volume and pan changed and have FX applied. A Track's Mixer Cells have one of 4 different track selectable behaviours: A) "Sequence" - each mixer cell plays its content through once and play moves to the next mixer cell in the track, B) "Looping": a mixer cell plays/loops forever, C) "Spot": a mixer cell plays once but only when "triggered" to play, and D) "Tap": when in the Visualizer and the screen is tapped notes are played using the sound generator in the selected Tap Cell.

Mixer Cells: A track can play only one Mixer Cell at at a time, whether it has content in it (a generative "part" or loop) or it is silent or empty. A part's sounds, FX, root, pitch offset and rules can be customised on a per cell basis.

Cell Highlight: An orange surround indicates the cell in any screen that has current focus. A red surround means the cell is sticky (see Tools). Tip: in the Desktop versions the cell position can be selected by keyboard arrows (see Navigation).

Top Orange Bar [iOS]

Contains the following buttons:

• Files
  Select to access the Files screen where you can perform file actions such as open, save, rename, delete, duplicate etc.

  If you press this button you will see a popup with the following options:

• Save & Close

  Saves your changes, closes the file and takes you back to the Files screen.

• Save & Continue

  Saves changes to the file and lets you continue editing the file.

• Save a Copy

  Creates a new file (which you can rename) based on the current state of the open file, but leaves you in the current open file - meaning if you then exit the file you will see this pop up dialog again letting you choose what to do with the file. Note: This is NOT the same as Save As.

• Discard

  Lets you discard any changes you have made to the file since opening it.

• Cancel

  Closes the dialog.

• Action
  Select to access the Action pop up where you can:
  • Import a Mix (creates a new Mix file)
    • Imports a mix that has been pasted to the clipboard (the "mixtikl://" data string), or perhaps copied from an email or forum posting.
  • Export a Mix to Clipboard
    • Your mix is then copied to the clipboard (e.g. "mixtikl://datastring...") for you to e.g. paste into an email.
  • Export a Mix as an Email Attachment
    • Your mix is inserted into a new email as an attachment.

Top Display Area

Contains the following buttons:

• Randomise [iOS] / Menu [DT/AN]

  iOS: Select to go to the Randomise screen where you can randomise the current mix.

  DT/AN: Select to access the Menu, or on desktop (once Mixtikl Standalone, VST or Browser Plugin has the focus) press the escape key.

• Visualiser
  Select to enter the Visualiser screen.
• Time, Name, Tips
  The middle area displays the play time, mix name and (briefly) any tooltips there might be for the currently highlighted cell.
• Vis Settings
  Select to enter the Visualiser Settings screen.

Top Toolbar

Contains the following butons:

• Track Vol/Pan Display Toggle
  Toggles between the Vol and Pan icon to indicate whether column 1 is displaying either track volume or pan settings (orange bars for volume, grey bars for pan).
• Mute/Solo
  Toggles between the Mute and Solo icon which then determines what is applied to the relevant track cell in column 2, when selected.
• Play/Stop
  Press to play or stop the mix (PC/Mac: Also use spacebar or App Window Action Play/Stop).
• Mix Record
  Press to launch the Mix Recording screen so you can save the mix to an audio file.
• Mix Tempo, Pitch & Rules Button
  Press to launch the Mix Tempo, Pitch & Rules screen, where you can change the tempo of the mix, change the mix root (and pitch shift all the loops in it) and set the mix generative rules.
• Microphone Recording
  Press ot launch the Microphone Recording screen, where you can make a microphone recording for the mix.
• EQ
  Press to launch the EQ List, where you can apply EQ to the mix and customise it.
• Global FX
  Press to call up the Global FX menu, where you can select a FX to be applied to the whole mix (a global FX).

Tracks

There are 12 tracks each with 8 cells; the four central cells (in between the two dark vertical lines) are the "mixer cells" via which content is added to the mix.

• Vol / Pan (Col 1)

  Depending on the track vol / pan toggle setting in the Top Toolbar, tap and then drag the cell or drag the bottom pop up slider, or select this cell and (on desktop) use the navkey left/right to decrease or increase the track volume (central indicator is black) or pan (central indicator is grey).

  Release the slider or select another cell to lose the focus.

• Mute / Solo / None (Col 2)
  Depending on what the Solo/Mute column toggle is set to in the Top Toolbar, select this cell to apply / remove solo or mute to that track.
• Mixer Cells (Cols 3-6)

  This area contains the "Mixer Cells", which is where you add in your content of a supported content type.

  To add content to a cell, select it and select the Content List Button from the pop up Mixer Cell Menu, which is also where you find the controls to be able to customise your content (e.g. if generative content, then its sounds, FX used, scale and harmony rules, and generator parameters).

  When a cell has content in it, you see the name of the content in the cell (skip and silent cells have their own identifiers).

  Cells that show red mean that the content in that cell cannot be found. When you see this it is most likely because you have got a tweeted mixtikl and you do not have that content pak (Tiklpak) installed, whether an add-on loop pak or a user saved loop or mix/mic recording.

  Black text in a cell indicates Audio and MIDI loop content and blue text in the cell indicates generative content.

  Play Indicator:
  The golden dot at the top of the active mixer cell in the track is the "play indicator" (there is only ever one play indicator shown for each track as there can only be one active mixer cell in a track); for a cell with multibar content this moves within the cell every bar that is played, up to 4 bars, before starting over again. The play indicator in an empty cell which is always 1 bar in length, so it does not move within the cell.

  For a "sequenced" track, the play indicator will move to the next mixer cell when the content has played through once.

  Other Indicators:
  • An orange bar at the top indicates a cell that has either been forced to loop and the content in that cell will continue to play until the looping is turned off (generally by tapping/holding the cell or via the Loop On/Off button), or it has been triggered (see Track Rule - One Shot).
  • A blue bar at the top indicates a cell that contains generative content that has (effectively) infinite length and so will play for ever. A blue dot top left indicates a non-default Gen Bars setting.
  • A black dot top right indicates a non-default Cell Repeat setting.
• Track Rules (Col 7):

  Selecting the Track Rules cell will toggle the Track Rules between the 4 available states, below.

  Cell Looping / Triggering: To toggle the loop state of any cell or trigger it (if Track Rule is Trigger), either tap/hold the cell for a few seconds or tap on it to load the Mixer Cell Menu and then select the loop button or trigger button respectively. If a cell is "looping" or "triggered", it will display an orange "cell loop indicator" at the top of the cell.

  • Sequence
    When the content in any of the track's cell has finished playing, the next mixer cell in the track will play (unless it has been forced to loop). This is the default cell state.
  • Loop
    No track cell will play UNLESS it is forced to loop. Advanced: Cells in Loop tracks will also play ONCE when the section lock is first applied to a section (if a cell is not already looping).
  • One Shot
    No track cell will play UNTIL it has been triggered (it will display the orange "cell loop indicator" at the top of the cell). Once triggered, any content will play through ONCE (like a sting) and then the cell will stop playing and the "cell loop indicator" turns off.
    • In desktop version, you can also trigger a cell by selecting it and pressing key 3.
  • Tap
    The active mixer cell in that track will play ONLY when tapping the screen in visualizer mode.
    • You can set any number of tracks to be of Tap Cell type and so you can layer up sounds in different tracks, and they all get played when the screen is tapped. Tap cells otherwise behave like sequence cells and so will sequence unless locked: this lets you have some very interesting results in mix visualisation!
    • When you select Tap Play > Auto in the Message / Visualizer Display Settings screen, ONLY track 12 will revert to a standard sequenced voice type so that it can play (and if you uncheck the setting the track reverts to a Tap Cell type).
• Track FX (Col 8)

  Selecting this cell will launch the Track FX Menu from which you can select an FX Preset via the Preset button or create/edit (Mixtikl Full only) a FX Network (via Edit Network button) that you wish to apply to this track (FX is processor intensive, so use Track FX sparingly in your mix, unless on a PC!).

Bottom Toolbar

Contains the following buttons:

• Online Videos
  Takes you to the online Mixtikl YouTube page.
• Store / Recall

  Press this button to store the solo/mute settings for all the tracks, and then clear them from the mix. Press again to apply the stored values.

• Mix Sections 1-4

  Affects ONLY *non-looping* Sequence cells: Press a section button to force any non-looping sequenced cell in that column to play. Press any locked section again to release the lock. If no section is locked, then when a cell has played its content (once), the next cell in the track with play until it reaches the end of the track, when play moves to the first cell in the track, and so on.

• Clear

  Press to see the Clear Mix Content options.

• Tools

  Press to launch the Tools List, where you will see a list of macros and other tools to help with your mix making.

  Red Cell Highlight: This means that the tool you selected will be applied to any (releveant) cell you tap UNTIL you turn off "sticky" behaviour by tapping the Tools button again.

  Visualiser

Visualiser Screen

The visualiser can be driven by any music that Mixtikl creates or plays, e.g. generative music as well as audio or MIDI loop beats and samples! It can also driven by the notes generated by tap-play and a mix can have a number of these "tap parts" which can even be different sounds on different tracks to create a multi-layering effect. Tap parts can be customised in many ways in Mixtikl, such as by changing the sound, the FX, the generative rules, the pitch and pitch range, the harmonisation etc.

Included text can also be displayed onscreen in a number of ways including: as a message (with "karaoke" style highlighting), in random order, revealing words one at a time, as random words chosen from an included word bank, with floating words and even as a jumbled up message.

Note: If you don't hear any notes being played when you tap the screen it is either because no tap-part has been included, or the tap-part is not configured correctly.

Visualiser controls

• 
  • Tap: Menu
  • Tap/hold: New random mix (if running Mixtikl on a mobile device, also shake the device for the same)
• 
  • Tap: Message & Display settings
  • Tap/hold: Mixer
• Middle area
  • Tap: play a note, where up/down is pitch axis; left/right is pan
  • Tap/hold: Sometimes it can change the pitch of a note by a semitone or 2

Mixer > Mixer Cell > Menu

Mixer Cell Menu

Mixer Cells are at the heart of Mixtikl, so this menu is one of the most important screens in Mixtikl. It lets you access the Content List to enter/change the content in a cell, loop/un-loop a cell, trigger a cell, import audio loops from another app (iOS only, via audio clipboard), get info on the content in the cell (if from a properly constructed Tiklpak) and to set the cell root, pitch offset and cell rules etc.

Tapping on any mixer cell in the Mixer screen will load this screen.

Trigger

Choose this to force the mixer cell to play. What happens depends on what the Track Rules are set to:

• Sequence
  • The mixer cell will play once then (at next bar boundary;
  • the next cell played
• One Shot
  • The mixer cell plays immediately (not synched to bar boundary) and once only;
• Loop
  • The mixer cell starts looping immediately until cell looping is stopped or cell type changed

Content

Displays the Content List, which provides you the means to preview and/or add content your to mix. This content can be from the included Tiklpaks or other content accessed from the "User_Content" folder such as your own loops (see also Add-on Content). The "User_Content" folder is also where any recordings you make in Mixtikl are saved to.

Tip: To access the "User_Content" folder, tap the (..) list item once and then scroll down the list of paks to see it (it is at the bottom). For information on how to copy your content to this folder, see here.

• [Pak HOME]: Pakname
  • This displays the name of the Pak on which this mix is based
  • Select this item to get back to a list of content from that Pak
• (..)
  • Selecting this allows you to browse for other content under the Mixtikl directory i.e. from other installed Paks (in which case it can be auto pitch shifted or time stretched) or recordings you might have made and saved.
  • Desktop Tip: To browse outside of the application (and load Add-on Content "as is"), use the Advanced > BROWSE option below.
• Content Items
  • Selecting one of these will add it to the Mixer Cell.
  • Tip: To preview content in the Content List, tap the right side "speaker" icon (or use Left or Right keys on Desktop), and it should play for a few seconds.
  • Content items are shown in different colours
    • Generative - blue
    • Audio and MIDI - black

Loop

Tap this to force the cell to loop continously, or to un-loop it. What this button does, depends on what the Track Rules are set to:

• Sequence
  • The mixer cell loops continuously (from next bar boundary) until cell is unlooped, then;
  • The next cell is played
• One Shot
  • The mixer cell loops immediately (not synched to bar boundary) until unlooped;
• Loop
  • The mixer cell loops continuously (from next bar boundary) until stopped or cell type changed.
  • Note that when the track rule is set to this, the only way to play the mixer cell is to loop it. This is useful when you do NOT want any of the cells in the track to play UNLESS they are looped.

Gen Bars/Range

These two controls determine the bar lengths for generative content and help you to "arrange" a mix so as to allow it to breathe better. The settings have no effect for non-generative content (i.e. content that is not Noatikl based).

• Gen Bars:
  • The left control defines how many bars a generative part will play for before the cell either e.g. loops or play moves to the next cell should it be a sequenced cell (see track rule).
    • Value: Infinite
      If the value shown above the control is "Infinite", this means the setting is as defined in the underlying part, which is generally something like 32,000 seconds, and so effectively infinite in length.
    • Value: Other
      If this value is any other value a blue dot shows to the top left of the cell, indicating it plays only for a certain number of bars.
• • Gen Bars Range: The right control (Gen Bars Range) defines the range to be added to the Gen Bars value, allowing for a spread of possibilities.

Info

This will only display if there is content in the Mixer Cell, and tapping it will open a browser window. This will display a webpage with further information on the pak that this content items comes from (if known). Note that if the mixer cell is showing as red, then it means Mixtikl cannot find that content (it is not present / installed in your version of Mixtikl). This button can be useful to help find out more about that content and where to get it, should you want to hear the mix as intended.

Cell Repeat/Range

These two controls determine how many times the content in the mixer cell repeats, helping you to "arrange" a mix so as to allow it to breathe better. This setting applies to both generative and non-generative content, and goes on the length of the underlying content in the cell, e.g. if the cell contains a 4 bar audio loop, this just sets how many times that loop will repeat.

• Cell Repeat:
  • Defines how many times the content in a cell will repeat before play moves to the next cell, should the cell be a sequenced cell (see track rule).
  • If this value is non-default, a black dot shows to the top right of the mixer cell.
• Cell Repeat Range:
  • Defines the range over the above value, allowing for a spread of possibilities.

Roots & Rules

This buttons will only display if the content in this mixer cell is generative (e.g. Noatikl-based). In which case, select it to launch the Cell Noatikl Rules screen.

Mixer Cell Roots & Rules

• The left-hand list displays the Cell Root, and if you leave as the top value (i.e. no offset) then the cell plays with the Mix root.
• The right-hand list displays the Pitch Offset and this can be used to adjust the lowest note that can be composed/played by this part (whilst following harmony and scale rules).
• Harmonize with me (default setting - checked): This determines if Mixtikl needs to take the notes played by this part into account when composing/playing other parts.
• Harmonize with others (default setting - checked): This determines if Mixtikl needs to take the notes played by other parts into account when composing/playing notes for this part.
• Harmony Rule Button: Displays the name of the currently selected cell harmony rule (refer to the NME Guide for further information on Harmony Rules):
  • Use Cell Rules (default setting): use the rules that are in the part.
  • Custom: Override the rules in the part with your customised rules. Tap/drag the sliders at the bottom to change the various interval weightings for the rule. This affects composition in real time.
  • Default: The NME default harmony rule values.
• Scale Rule Button: Displays the name of the currently selected cell scale rule (refer to the NME Guide for further information on Scales Rules):
  • Use Cell Rules (default setting): use the rules that are in the part.
  • Custom: Override the rules in the part with your customised rules. Tap/drag the sliders at the bottom to change the various interval weightings for the rule. This affects composition in real time.
  • Default: The NME default scale rule values.

Import

This button allows you to import into the Mixer Cell suitable content that has been copied to the clipboard, i.e. Noatikl files or Audio/MIDI files. Noatikl file import is supported by all versions of Mixtikl; audio/MIDI import is iOS version only.

See also Copy Audio/MIDI to clipboard.

Mixtikl for Mac/PC or Android: To get audio/MIDI into a Mixtikl Mixer Cell you should skip this section and instead see Advanced Settings > Browse and the instructions on how to transfer files to < > device/PC/Mac.

Mixer > Mixer Cell > Import >

Mixer > Record > Clipboard >

First copy some suitable content to the clipboard and then select the Import or Clipboard button as above and you will get a pop up message asking you "Choose Import Clipboard". Select the relevant option from one of the following:

1. AudioPaste (Audio including any available metadata)
   • In the popup Retronyms AudioPaste control, select where you want to copy from and choose the Recording that you want to paste into Mixtikl.
     
   • The Mixtikl "Import As" screen is then displayed, with a name already in the edit field (Appname_Date_Time) to make it quicker to get the recording in, and you do not have to change this if you do not want to. Tap or double tap the displayed file name to edit it and then the bottom Return button when done.
     
   • You see a message telling you that the file has be copied.
   • Press OK to see the Mixtikl "Imported File Meta Info" screen. We make a guess at the Tempo and Bars of the recording from information we can back from AudioPaste, but it depends on the App you are pasting from, so please double check! You will need to set the Root and Time Sig settings if different from those shown. See also FAQ entry "Loop Import".
     
     • Root:
       • Set the root note (e.g. C#) for the imported loop
     • Time Signature:
       • Set the time signature (e.g 4/4) for the imported loop
     • Tempo:
       • Set the tempo (e.g 120bpm) for the imported loop
     • Bars:
       • Set the number of bars (e.g 4) for the imported loop
   • Once done, press the top left check (OK) button and you see a message saying "Clipboard import all done". Once you press OK to dismiss this message you will see the name of the recording appear in the Mixer Cell. It can take a little while for the name to appear, especially for big recordings, as Mixtikl is loading the recording into memory so that it is ready to play. To copy this recording to other cells, use the Copy command in the Tools menu.
2. General Pasteboard (Audio/MIDI with no metadata)
   • When the import is completed you will also then see the "Imported Meta File info" screen where you will need to set the Root and Time Sig settings if different from those shown. See also FAQ entry "Loop Import".
     
     • Root:
       • Set the root note (e.g. C#) for the imported loop
     • Time Signature:
       • Set the time signature (e.g 4/4) for the imported loop
     • Tempo:
       • Set the tempo (e.g 120bpm) for the imported loop
     • Bars:
       • Set the number of bars (e.g 4) for the imported loop
3. Noatikl / Partikl (Noatikl file)
   • Once imported you can then edit the Generator, Synth and FX parameters via the Generative button, below.
4. Cancel
   • Select to cancel

Export

Note: button displayed only if Cell contains generative content

This button and allows you to export the Noatikl generative content to the clipboard, perhaps for use in Noatikl or Wotja. See this FAQ entry.

Generative

Note: button displayed only if Cell contains generative content

This button launches Mixtikl's Generator Network Screen. From this you can tap one of the left hand generator buttons to launch Mixtikl's NME Generator Editor or one of the right hand Synth or FX buttons to launch the revelant version of Mixtikl's integrated PSE Network Editor.

Generator Network Screen

NME Generator Editor

Note: For full details what each of the parameters do, refer to the NME Guide.

Generator Editor Screen

The Generators button will only display if the content in this mixer cell is generative (e.g. NME-based content); it will not display if the cell contains and audio or MIDI loop.

You have access to all NME parameters except those for the Piece and File Objects, and noting also that Mixtikl Mobile does not support scripting or listening voices. Experimenting with NME parameters is a great way to learn about how the NME works!

The NME Editor in Mixtikl is different to the one in Noatikl, but it still allows powerful real-time & inline editing/customisation of the core NME parameters used in a generative part. This includes adding, deleting and renaming Voices as well as editing pattern strings. It is a drill down editor, and is meant for editing of generative content rather than creating new NME content from scratch, for which we direct you to Noatikl itself (but you can do that if you have the patience and then export it from the cell to import into Noatikl!).

There several buttons at the top of this dialog which allow you to create a new .noatikl file, import, export or save one (the folder button) or copy, cut, rename etc voices (the pencil button). The Left / Right arrow buttons allow you to undo or redo your last action.

• Object List:
  • This shows the list of available NME Voice Objects (blue) and NME Rule Objects (black). Rules have their own editor, but to edit voices first select one (e.g. Voice) and then select a Parameter to edit via one of the lists below.
• Parameter Group (Voice Objects): List
  • This displays groupings of NME Voice Object parameters, some of which are relevant for the Voice Type of the Object selected above. To change the Voice Type of the selected object, select the Basics > Parameter Group and then the Parameter > Voice Type list item and select the type you want.
• Parameter List:
  • This is the list of parameters available in the selected Parameter Group for the selected Voice Object e.g the Pattern Parameters.
• value:
  • There are 3 kinds of control to set the value for the parameter you have selected:
    • a slider with an edit box above it for data entry if required.
    • the pattern editor which, when the folder button next to it is pressed calls up the pattern randomiser: select a pattern to create a random variant; beneath this is the sub-pattern list and you can order the sub-patterns with the up/down arrows.
    • a rule editor similar to the one used in mix and cell scale/harmony rule editing.

Clear

This clears the content from the current cell.

Advanced

This displays a list containing advanced settings for the Mixer Cell. In all probability you will never want to or need need to check these out!

• -[BROWSE]
  • Tip: In the Desktop version this control is how you find and import audio content into your mix where that content is not in a Tiklpak. It is always treated as streamed content.
  • Lets you choose different top level folders in which to search for content.
• -[SKIP]
  • Skip
    After selection the mixer cell will be designated a skip cell (shown left).
  • When no section lock is on, a skip cell is skipped and next cell in the track plays instead.
• -[SILENT]
  • Silent
    After selection the mixer cell will be designated a silent cell (shown left).
  • When no section lock is on, a silent cell plays silence.
• <STREAM SKIP ms: 0>
  • Note: In the Desktop version this setting applies only to audio content loaded via a correctly configured Tiklpak.
  • This allows you to start playback of a mic recording at a set period of time into the recording.
  • The recording must be set to Stream in the option below.
• <AUDIO: value>
  • Note 1: In the Desktop version this setting applies only to audio content loaded via a correctly configured Tiklpak.
  • Note 2: In Mixtikl Desktop audio content can be imported into a mixer cell via Mixer Cell > Advanced > Browse. This imported audio is ALWAYS treated as a stream meaning that if you change the mix tempo or root it does not get pitch shifted or time stretched.
  • Determines whether the cell audio content (if any) is played back in a mix as a stream (e.g. for long recordings) or a sample (e.g. for short recordings, or those you want to be able to change pitch/tempo, as below):
    • Sample [default value]:
      • Recording gets loaded into memory when mix is playing
      • Means it can be looped on a bar boundary
      • Suitable only for shortish recordings, e.g. up to about 16 bars max in length
    • Stream:
      • Recording when played in mixer cell will play once, and will not loop
      • Select this item if you're using sounds that you simply don't ever want time-stretched and/or pitch shifted (e.g. ambient sounds like wind/rain etc.)

Mixer > Global or Track FX cell

Track & Global FX Menu

Note: For full details on how the PSE works, refer to the PSE Guide.

Track FX cells and the Global FX cell are at the heart of Mixtikl as they determine what FX, if any, are applied to the content in each track, as well as to the whole mix (i.e. globally). They also let you access the FX Preset List to select a preset, disable or enable a FX, access the FX Network Editor or clear an FX etc.

Select either the Global FX cell or a Track FX Cell in the last column of the Mixer Screen.

• When selecting an FX cell with an FX in it, you will see the FX Cell Menu above.
• When selecting an empty FX cell you will be presented with a list of FX Presets to choose from.
• If you touch/hold an FX Cell with an FX already in it, then you display the relevent FX unit directly.
• Note: FX uses up processing cycles more than most things (and Reverb uses by far the most), so use carefully. Also, where possible, use a global FX instead of the same FX applied to multiple tracks. See also the FAQ.

Network

Selecting this will display the PSE FX Network Editor for your selected FX so that you can change the values of any FX unit or controller and then save them back to the mix file.

Disable/Enable

Select to enable or disable the FX. When the FX is enabled it shows in the mixer as a icon of the normal colour for that FX. When disabled, the colour is muted (duller).

Edit FX

Select to customise the relevant Track or Global FX unit or network you have already applied.

Preset

Select to display the FX Preset List. There are a wide range of FX Presets that come with Mixtikl, to get you started, but you can also customise and save them.

• +<OPTIONS>
  • Select to show the options. When <HIDE OPTIONS> shown, select to hide the options.
  • [RENAME]
    • Select this entry to see the list of FX available for renaming
    • You cannot rename presets that are included with Mixtikl or are in Pak zip files.
  • [DELETE]
    • Allows you to delete any FX presets you have saved.
    • You cannot delete presets that are included with Mixtikl or are in Pak zip files (but you could delete those Pak zip files).
• FX Presets
  • Selecting one of these will add it to the FX Cell.
  • Tip: To scroll through the list to see all the Presets, tap and drag the list up/down or (on desktop) use the Up / Down or Page Up / Page Down keys or the mouse center wheel.
  • Tip: Touch the top right of the display area to toggle to the top and bottom of the list.
  • See also Navigation.

Clear

Select to clear the Global FX or selected Track FX, as relevant.

Mixer > EQ

Mix EQ Screen

You may never have the need to use this, but the EQ Screen is where you can set the global Mixtikl EQ setting, applied to all mixes. You can also select from a number of EQ Presets.

Select the EQ Preset List at the bottom to open the list of Presets, and choose the preset you want. Alternatively, drag the sliders to customise the mix EQ to suit!

Mixer > Mix Record

Mix Recording

Note: This capability is not present in Mixtikl GP for Android.

Tip: You can also get to the Mix recordings screen from the Preview button on the Main Menu.

IMPORTANT: Depending on tempo, audio quality, mix complexity and bars you want to record for, on mobile devices it can take a LONG time e.g. tens of minutes (for longer settings) to making recordings during which time the UI will be unresponsive. You can estimate how long a mix recording will take by recording it for 1 bar. Simply multiply that time by the number of bars you want to record for.

Mixdown Audio Recording

Live Audio Recording

To make a mix recording:

• Record
  Select the Mix Recording Button from the Mixer Screen and then:
• Live Audio Recording:
  • 
    Select the Live Recording button and you will be presented with a popup asking if you want to make a recording. Once accepted, your recording starts.

    Tip: Whilst you are recording you can play along in the visualizer screen and you can, of course, make changes in the the mixer screen as well.

  • Stop: In the Mixer, Vis Settings or Mix Recording screens, press the stop button or or simply wait for it to reach the bar length specified in Mix Recording Settings.
• Mixdown Audio Recording:
  • 
    Select the Mixdown button, select the OK button and the mixdown will start. When the mixdown has finished a popup will advised you of the size of the recording and the recording will then appear in the recordings list so that you can preview it.

    Tip: The Mixtikl screen will be unresponsive whilst the recording is being made, and it can take a while depending on the settings in Mix Recording Settings.

  • Stop [desktop version only]: Select the stop button to stop the recording or wait for it to reach the bar length specified in Mix Recording Settings.

Email mix recording

Note: On Mixtikl for Desktop, this will only work with the OS preferred Email client.

• Select the item in the recordings list that you want to email.
• Select the Email Button in the top toolbar.
• Fill in the details in the email, and send it!

Audio / MIDI

You can select whether to record your mix to either an audio file, or a MIDI file (but not both at the same time).

Tip: Note events and music generated by tap events in the visuallizer also get recorded, too!

• Recording Type (checkbox)
  • Audio
  • MIDI

Play/Stop

• Select an item in the recordings list
• Press the Preview button to start playback
• Press the Preview button again to stop playback

Copy to Clipboard [iOS]

1. Select an item in the recordings list
2. Press the Clipboard button, and then either select:
   • Pasteboard
     • Choose this to just copy the item to the clipboard without any meta information
   • AudioCopy
     • Choose this to use Retronyms AudioCopy, which can include meta information
     • In the popup AudioCopy control enter a name for the recording and select the "Copy Audio" button to copy the recording.
       

Delete

• Select an item in the recordings list
• Press the Delete button to call up the text edit screen
• Press OK if you want to delete the recording

Rename

• Select an item in the recordings list
• Press the Rename button to call up the text edit screen
• Rename the file and press return to accept the change

Mix Recording Settings

Select the Settings button to show the Mix Recording Settings screen. Here you can define the settings for both Live recordings and Mixdown recordings, and (aside from the preface) they can be different for each.

Mix Recording Settings

• File name preface
  • Allows the prefix to the recording (e.g. mix_*.wav) to be changed. This is particularly useful if you are making a series of recordings that you want to easily identify etc.
  • The name of the file recorded is as follows: prefix_mixfilename_barlength_date[Y/M/D]_time [H/M/S]
    e.g. mix_GenMix1-Demo_4_4b_20110223_143818.wav
• Bars Duration (Live Recording / Mixdown)
  • The bar length of mix recording, up to 99 bars.
  • Tap the control to display the pop up bar list, and select the value you want
  • Live recording: 2 bars (default); Mixdown recording: 4 bars (default)
• Format (Live Recording / Mixdown)
  • The file format for the recording.
  • Tap the control to display the pop up format list, and select the value you want
  • 16-bit Wav (default), 8-bit Wav
• Audio Quality (Live Recording / Mixdown)
  • The different available output frequencies for recordings.
  • Tap the control to display the pop up list of audio qualities available, and select the value you want
  • Live recording: 22Khz stereo (default); Mixdown recording: 44Khz stereo (default)
  • Live Recording: The range of options will be up to that of the quality set in Options for the Audio Output. If this is set, for example, to 22KHz stereo, then that is the maximum quality at which you can record.

Where Mixtikl saves recordings:

All recordings in Mixtikl are saved to the /Music/Intermorphic/ folder as below (see here for more info).

• Mac:

  ~/Music/Intermorphic

  (the tilde [~] in the pathname is a shortcut for your user account name)
• Windows:

  %HOMEPATH%\Music\Intermorphic

  (the %HOMEPATH% in the pathname is a shortcut for your user account name)

Mixer > Mic Record

Mic Recording Screen

Note: This capability is not present in Mixtikl for Android.

IMPORTANT: Depending on tempo, audio quality, mix complexity and bars you want to record for, on mobile devices it can take a LONG time e.g. tens of minutes (for longer settings) to making recordings during which time the UI will be unresponsive. You can estimate how long a mix recording will take by recording it for 1 bar. Simply multiply that time by the number of bars you want to record for.

It is easy to make a mic recording of specified bar length, and attach it to a particular cell. You can do the same things with a mic recording as you can with any other loop (e.g. pitch shift/time stretch it if you change the mix tempo or root, or just stream it so that it never changes).

Large/long microphone recordings are best set to play as a "stream" meaning they can be played right off the storage media/hard drive and do not have to first be loaded into memory (which can take time which will also mean a mix can take a long time to load). Samples need to be first loaded into memory so it can be pitch shifted/time stretched as required).

Songwriter Note: The mic recording facility is designed for recording (and using in mixes) ambient sounds, speech etc. that do not require a precise "bar boundary" start. However, in the Mixer Cell Advanced Settings we do provide a "Stream Skip" setting that you can experiment with.

To make a mic recording:

1. 
2. Start:
   • Select the Mic Recording Button above from the Mixer Screen.
   • You will see a pop up message asking you "Mic Record - Select the cell to which you wish to record".
   • Press OK and you are taken back to the mixer screen where you will notice that the bottom right toolbar "Tools" button now has a red outline.
   • Select the desired cell to then see the Mic Recording screen.
   • 
     In the Mic Recording screen select the Live Rec recording button to start the recording.
   • The mic recording will now being made according to the bar length defined in Mic Recording Settings, unless you otherwise stop it.
3. Stop:
   • In the mixer screen, press the stop button, or wait for it to reach the bar length specified in Settings.

Play/Stop

1. Select an item in the recordings list
2. Press the Preview button to start playback
3. Press the Preview button again to stop playback

Copy to Clipboard [iOS]

1. Select an item in the recordings list
2. Press the Clipboard button, and then either select:
   • Pasteboard
     • Choose this to just copy the item to the clipboard without any meta information
   • AudioCopy
     • Choose this to use Retronyms AudioCopy, which can include meta information
     • In the popup AudioCopy control enter a name for the recording and select the "Copy Audio" button to copy the recording.
       

Delete

1. Select an item in the recordings list
2. Press the Delete button to call up the text edit screen
3. Press OK if you want to delete the recording

Rename

1. Select an item in the recordings list
2. Press the Rename button to call up the text edit screen
3. Rename the file and press return to accept the change

Mic Recording Settings

Select the Settings button to show the Settings screen. Here you can define the settings for mic recording.

Mic Recording Settings

• File name preface
  • Allows the prefix to the recording (e.g. mic_*.wav) to be changed. This is particularly useful if you are making a series of mic recordings that you want to easily identify etc.
  • The name of the file recorded is as follows: prefix_mixfilename_barlength_date[Y/M/D]_time [H/M/S]
    e.g. mic_GenMix1-Demo_4_4b_20110223_143818.wav
• Bars Duration
  • The bar length of the mic recording, up to 99 bars.
  • Tap the control to display the pop up bar list, and select the value you want
  • Mic recording: 2 bars (default)
• Loop checkbox
  • Check (default) if you want the recording to be treated as a sample, or uncheck if you want it to stream.
  • See Mixer Cell Advanced Settings.
• Bars Count in
  • How many bars you want to count in before the recording starts, up to 3 bars.
  • Tap the control to display the pop up bar list, and select the value you want
  • Bars Count in: 0 bars (default)
• Quality
  • The different available output frequencies for mic recordings.
  • Tap the control to display the pop up list of audio qualities available, and select the value you want
  • Quality: 22Khz mono (default)
• Format
  • The file format for the mic recording.
  • Tap the control to display the pop up format list, and select the value you want
  • 16-bit Wav (default), 8-bit Wav
• Input FX checkbox
  • Check (default) if you want the mic recording to have input FX applied (currently a compressor unit), or uncheck if you don't want it applied.
• Input FX Button (Compressor)
  • Press the button to launch the Compressor Unit so that you can customise the settings.

Where Mixtikl saves recordings:

All recordings in Mixtikl are saved to the Intermorphic/ folder (see here for more info).

• Mac:

  ~/Music/Intermorphic

  (the tilde [~] in the pathname is a shortcut for your user account name)
• Windows:

  %HOMEPATH%\Music\Intermorphic

  (the %HOMEPATH% in the pathname is a shortcut for your user account name)

Mixer > Tools

Mixtikl Tools

There are a number of tools and macro functions available for the Mixtikl Mixer. When selected, the colour of the Tools cell highlight changes to red.

Tools are generally sticky (i.e. they operate until cancelled) and the method of operation is generally:

1. Select the tool entry
2. The list closes
3. Select a mixer cell
4. To turn off the mode, press the tools button again

[COPY CELL/FX]

• After selection (and until cancelled), select a mixer cell. Any other mixer cell you then select will then have this content pasted into it.

[TRIGGER CELL]

• After selection (and until cancelled), when selecting a mixer cell that cell will be forced to play. Normal operation for that cell resumes after it has been played once.
  • If you trigger a One-shot Track Rules cell (see Mixer Screen), then the content will play immediately, and not wait until the next bar boundary. This is ideal for "spot fx" such as stings and other incidental sounds.

[CLEAR CELL]

• After selection (and until cancelled), any mixer cell you select will have its contents cleared.

[RANDOMISE COLUMN]

• After selection (and until cancelled), every mixer cell in the columm (section) you then select (by selecting a mixer cell in that column/section) will have its content chosen at random from whatever the underlying pak is.
• The intention is to allow quick random combinations to be generated.

[RANDOMISE TRACK]

• After selection (and until cancelled), every mixer cell in the track you then select (by selecting a mixer cell in that track) will have its content chosen at random from whatever the underlying pak is.
• The intention is to allow quick random combinations to be generated.

[SKIP CELL]

• 
  After selection (and until cancelled), any mixer cell you select will be designated a skip cell (shown left).
• When no section lock is on, a skip cell is skipped and next cell in the track plays instead.

[SILENT CELL]

• 
  After selection (and until cancelled), any mixer cell you select will be designated a silent cell (shown left).
• When no section lock is on, a silent cell plays silence.

[LOOP CELL]

• 
  After selection (and until cancelled), any mixer cell you select will be designated a looping cell which displays an orange bar at the top (shown left).
• Looping cells continue to loop, whether or not a section lock is on in another section, until the looping is removed (which you can do by selecting Mixer Cell > Looping again).

Mixer > Clear

Clear Mix Content

The Clear Mix Content screen gives you quick toolbar access to a number of ways to clear cells in your mix.

Tip: You can also clear a cell directly from the Mixer Cell, or with use of sticky Tools.

Clear Menu

• [CLEAR CELL]
  • This is a sticky control (the Clear Menu button shows a red surround), so once selected (and until the Clear Menu button is selected again), it will clear out everything and all settings from any cell you select. Use CAREFULLY as there is no undo!
• Clear All Loops
  • Once selected (and you are asked to confirm), it will clear out all the loops from the current mix.
• Clear All Track Settings

  • Once selected (and you are asked to confirm), it will clear out from the current mix all track settings (track FX/global FX, track mute/solo) and reset track volume and pan settings to default values. Note: This will not clear loops, turn off looping on any mixer cell or reset track rules.

• Clear EVERYTHING
  • Once selected (and you are asked to confirm), it will clear out from the current mix ALL loops and ALL mix settings including turning off looping on any mixer cell. It does not reset track rules.

Files > Settings [iOS]

Menu > Settings [DT/AN]

System Settings

The Mixtikl Settings screen provides you with a number of ways to customise Mixtikl. The iOS version of the Settings screen is shown; the Android and Desktop versions look different but the differences are noted below.

iOS Note: Audiobus / Inter-App Audio support is enabled by default.

Information [iOS]

Links to a screen containing information such as the version number, and also various web links, including to this guide.

Miscellaneous

• Global Volume Slider [iOS]

  Sets the global volume for Mixtikl. In the Mixtikl DT/AN versions this slider is in the Menu screen.

• Show Mixtikl 6 Tiklpaks [Default: Off]

  This toggle allows you to hide the older Tiklpaks, making it easier to see what is new for Mixtikl 7.

• Check for update when Mixtikl Starts [Desktop Audio Plugins only]

  Check this for Mixtikl to check for updates when it starts. Uncheck this if you do not want Mixtikl to check for updates.

MIDI Out [iOS only]

• Core MIDI:

  Off by default. When enabled, tells Mixtikl to send-out MIDI events via Core MIDI. Apps that are Core MIDI enabled can take advantage of this.

• Virtual MIDI:

  Off by default. When enabled, causes Mixtikl to present a number of Virtual MIDI ports - one Omni (all channels) and 16 per-channel virtual MIDI ports - and Mixtikl sends MIDI events as Virtual MIDI ports over Core MIDI.

• Latency:

  100ms by default. Sets Latency (milliseconds) to apply to MIDI events sent-out to Core MIDI / Virtual MIDI by Mixtikl. Use to help remove jitter if using e.g. Network MIDI.

Audio Output

• System Audio Output options:

  • All the stereo audio output options that are detected to be system-available.
  • Select the option you prefer.
  • If your mix stutters during playback, it means your device is having problems playing your mix: you should either try removing content from your mix, or try lowering the audio output quality. Even if you lower the output quality, you can still make a high quality mix recording with the Mixdown capability.
  • We strongly recommending changing this setting with an empty mix as it can take some time to change the Audio Output if there are several audio loops in your mix, as each of these needs to be resampled.

• Sample Frames [Android only - default 1024]

  Akin to latency, allows you to adjust for device capability. The faster your device the lower the setting you can use.

• Block Count [Android only - default 10]

  Allows you to adjust for device capability. The faster your device the lower the setting you can use.

• AirPlay: Enabled/Disabled [iOS only]

  Note: When this option is enabled, you are not able to make Microphone recordings in Mixtikl for iOS.

  AirPlay : Disabled (unchecked - default)

  • Mixtikl audio plays through the speaker or headphone socket, as normal, and you are able to make Microphone recordings in Mixtikl.

  AirPlay : Enabled (checked)

  • Should you have one set up, you can direct Mixtikl's audio output to an AirPlay enabled Apple TV, an AirPort Express or paired Bluetooth device so that you can listen to Mixtikl through e.g. a Home Cinema, Audio system, Car stereo etc.
  • To select your preferred audio output:
    • Swipe the iOS screen up to reveal your iOS control panel options and select the little Airplay arrow on the bottom right to get a pop up choice of Airplay outputs.
    • Select e.g. Apple TV / AirPort Express / Bluetooth device.

Mixer > Tempo/Root

Mix Settings Screen

From the Mix Settings screen you can pitch shift & time stretch the entire mix (but it is not real time, and it can take some time). You can also change the generative harmony and scale rules that apply to all generative parts in the whole mix except where over-ruled on a per-cell basis.

Select the top OK button to apply any changes you make to the Tempo and Root settings (conversely, select the Cancel button to reverse all your changes and close the screen). Changes are made (non-destructively, i.e. in memory) to each content item in your mix.

Tip: Generative content should change as soon as you make a change to the pitch/tempo/rules values; audio loops will be changed as quickly as is possible to pitch shift/time stretch them. You can press the Cancel button at any time.

Tempo list

• Select the value you want.
• The time it takes for the mix to adopt the new tempo depends on how many loops there are in your mix, what quality you are mixing at (e.g. 22KHz).

Root list

• Select the value you want.
• The time it takes for the mix to adopt the new tempo depends on how many loops there are in your mix, what quality you are mixing at (e.g. 22KHz).

Global Harmony

• Ensures that the mix level harmony rule is applied to all mixer cells in a musically optimum fashion when composing, which may also mean some unexpected notes still occur. Can be over-ridden by rules at a cell level.
  • Checked - Rule applied (Default setting)
  • Unchecked - mix level harmony rule is not applied and parts do not attempt to harmonise with each other at all, but harmonise only withing themselves (cell level harmonisation).

Strict Harmony

• Ensures that the mix level harmony rule is absolutely obeyed by parts in all mixer cells when composing. You may wish to use this setting to ensure that ONLY certain harmonies occur. Can be over-ridden by rules at cell level.
  • Checked - Rule applied (Default setting)
  • Unchecked - the strict enforcement of a mix level harmony rule is not applied.

Harmony Rules

Harmony Rule Editor

Note: For details of what the Rules do, refer to the NME Guide.

• MIX OVERRIDE VALUE: Displays the name of the currently selected mix level harmony rule; only notes available in this harmony rule will play:

  • Use Cell Rules (default setting): use the rules that are contained within the various parts.
  • Custom: A customised mix harmony rule that will be applied to the mix in accordance with the two checkbox settings. See the Rule Editor Screen (side or below) where you tap/drag the sliders at the bottom to change the various interval weightings for the rule. This affects composition in real time.
  • Default: The Noatikl default harmony rule values.

Scale Rules

Scale Rule Editor

Note: For details of what the Rules do, refer to the NME Guide.

• MIX OVERRIDE VALUE: Displays the name of the currently selected mix level scale rule; only notes available in this scale rule will play:

  • Use Cell Rules (default setting): use the rules that are contained within the various parts.
  • Custom: A customised mix scale rule that is applied to the mix. See the Rule Editor Screen (side or below) where you tap/drag the sliders at the bottom to change the various interval weightings for the rule. This affects composition in real time.
  • Default: The Noatikl default scale rule values.

Mixer > Randomise > Settings [iOS]

Menu > New > Settings [DT/AN]

Randomisation Settings

There are a number of Mix Randomisation Settings that determine what content can be selected for randomisation, and how it is selected.

General Controls

• Tracks Control: Determines how many tracks (1-12) can have randomised content (the others are left empty).
• Cells Control: Determines how many cells (columns 1-4) can have randomised content (the others are left empty).
• Vol Min Control: The minimum volume a track can have.
• Vol Max Control: The maximum volume a track can have (where 86 represents 0db.
• Pan +/- Control: The maximum variation in the track pan from the center value of 64.
• Gen % Control: The percentage of cells that include generative content. If this setting is 100% then only generative content is used; if 0% then only non-generative content (e.g. audio loops) is used.
• BPM +/- Control: The maximum variation of the tempo from the tempo of the chosen Pak. If set to 0% then the tempo will not be randomised.
• Blank % Control: The percentage of cells that are empty; this can help thin out an otherwise dense mix.

Cell Controls

• GenBar Min (default value is 8): The minimum value for the GenBar mixer cell setting, where "Normal" (i.e. a value of 0) means the generative content will play for as long as it is set to play in the underlying Noatikl file. When the "Normal" value is used by a cell's content, a blue bar displays at the top of the mixer cell in the Mixer UI.
• GenBar Max (default value is 16): The maximum value for the GenBar mixer cell setting.
• GenBar Range (default value is 8): The maximum value for the GenBar mixer cell setting.
• CellRepeat Min (default value is 1): The minimum value for the CellRepeat mixer cell setting.
• CellRepeat Max (default value is 7): The maximum value for the CellRepeat mixer cell setting.
• CellRepeat Range (default value is 3): The maximum value for the CellRepeat mixer cell setting.

Checkboxes

• Cells Loop: If checked it means that all tracks will be of a looped type, and not a sequenced type - this is useful if you are using Mixtikl for performing live.
• Use Mix Cells Only : See "From Mix" button above.
• Mix Root: If checked it means that the root of the mix will be randomised (e.g. A or C or E etc); If unchecked, then the root will not be changed.

Mixer > Vis Settings

Visualiser > Vis Settings

Menu > Vis Settings [DT/AN]

Visualiser Settings Screen

Buttons at the top are shortcuts to a number of key activities such as saving mixtikls, getting more mixtikls, opening saved mixtikls, making recordings etc.

Top Buttons

• Vis
  • Tap: Accept your changes, display Vis screen
• Mixer
  • Tap: Accept your changes, display Mixer Screen
• Play/Stop
• Open
  • Tap: Open list of previously saved mix files
• Save
  • Tap: Save Mix file

Message and Visualizer Settings

• Mix name:
  • To the right of the screen is displayed the mix name
    • Tip: Before you email your mixtikl, save it with a catchy or relevant name, e.g. "Happy Birthday" or "Play this haiku" or "One for you Bill" etc.
• Display Text Checkbox: If checked, display text in the visualiser
• Text Box:
  • Tap in it to enter up to 140 characters of your own text
    • Tip: If you put 2 carriage returns after a word the next word will appear in a text block that is displayed once the previous text block has displayed.
  • Import Button: Import text from the clipboard
  • Export Button: Export text to the clipboard
  • Clear Button: Clear the text field
• Display Mode Radio Buttons:
  • Message: Select to display words in a block as an on-screen message
  • Words: Select to display words one at a time through display events (below)
• Word Xtras:
  • Extra Message Tap Words: Check to display floating text in addition to your message
  • Jumbled: Check to display the text box words in a random order / jumbled up
  • Wordbank: Check to also include words from the Mixtikl word pool (which includes over 600 words)
• Display Events:
  • Music: Check to allow music engine generated events to drive the visualiser, shapes or text highlighting
  • Taps: Check to allow taps to drive the visualiser, shapes or text highlighting
• Tap Play:
  • Auto: Check to have Mixtikl play the tap part for you!
• Defaults:
  • Press button to save current settings as defaults for new mixes
• Visualiser List: Choose one from the list visualizers available
• Shapes List: Choose a note shape from one of those available

There are a number of sources of such content that you can use in Mixtikl Mixer Cells, noting that add on content needs to be of the types listed in Content Types.

See the information on Transferring files to < > from your device.

• iOS Clipboards: WAV or Ogg samples or loops you have made yourself on your iOS Device with another app, such as microphone recordings or modular synth recordings, and that you copy into Mixtikl Mobile from the audio clipboard using the Mixer Cell > Import button (this is by far the easiest way on mobile, i.e. using another app that supports copying to the audio clipboard or uses AudioCopy/AudioPaste from Retronyms, or the Mixer Cell > Content List button where you can copy into the cell recordings made in Mixtikl.
• Mixtikl Desktop: WAV or Ogg samples or loops you have made yourself on your Desktop PC, such as microphone recordings or modular synth recordings, and that you copy into Mixtikl Desktop via the Mixer Cell > Content List button or Mixer Cell > Advanced > Browse button.
• The pre-installed Intermorphic Tiklpaks that come with Mixtikl.
• Add-on Intermorphic Tiklpaks or Paks that you have made yourself.
• Noatikl or MIDI files you have created yourself (old .partikl format files are still supported).
• Your own or 3rd party WAV/Ogg files or SoundFont (SF2)/DLS files:
  • You have purchased some loops
  • You have purchased a Music Magazine with cover DVD
  • You have a sequencer or other software tool that comes with some loops
  • You have downloaded some free online loops
  • Creative Commons licensed samples, e.g. One Laptop Per Child project.

Menu > More

Displays a list of weblinks to sources of shared mixes, and communities.

• Shared Mixes Forum
  • Goes to the Mixtikl shared mixes & pieces forum where you can get more community mixes.
• Mixtikl@Soundcloud
  • Goes to the Mixtikl soundcloud group where users upload recordings they have made.
• Mixtikl Support Forum
  • Goes to the Mixtikl support forum where you can get help and participate in the community.
• IM @ Facebook
  • Goes to the IM Facebook page where we will be releasing Mixtikl news. Please make sure you friend us!
• IM @ Twitter
  • Goes to the IM Twitter page where we will be releasing Mixtikl news. Please make sure you friend us!
• IM @ RSS
• IM Blog
• IM Website

Mixtikl allows the use or mixing together of many different audio and music files, namely "content". This content can be in a wide range of file formats, from audio clips to MIDI files and beyond. To keep things simple, we refer to any item of content in any format simply as "content" or "content item", but this section gives some more information on the different formats.

Mixtikl’s content flexibility allows you to be creative in ways that both suits the capabilities of your device and that match your personal preferences – namely how much memory you have on your phone, and how much space you want to set aside for storing content or recordings of mixes you might make.

Audio Content

Audio content is used where maximum sonic impact is required. The reason is that an audio sample (a short clip) contains a great deal of high quality pre-processed audio information (such as a real voice, electric guitar riff, orchestral theme etc). However, the downside is that memory usage is higher than for other content types (for both storage and operation). A typical 1 bar audio sample (in compressed Ogg Vorbis format, 48Kbps) is around 15Kb, but in order to be mixed it must first be expanded into your device RAM memory, where it might be >4 times larger!

Audio formats supported (file extensions capitalised for consistency):

• Ogg Vorbis (compressed audio format) – .OGG
• WAV (PCM and ADPCM) - .WAV (8 or 16 bit only at present)

Note: When using audio content, there are a number of factors that determine the size of the content item. The key ones are the tempo of the mix and how many "bars" there are in each item of content (a "bar" is a musical term which refers most commonly to 4 beats, and is the normal minimum size for a content item), and then for each item the sample rate, bit depth and whether the sample is stereo or mono.

Tempo is to do with how many beats per minute (bpm) you have in your mix, which is defined in each Pak. Tempo and the content size are closely interrelated in that a 1 bar 60bpm audio clip is 4 seconds in length (each beat is 1 second in length and there are 4 of them in a bar), and a 1 bar 120bpm audio clip a 2 seconds in length (each beat is ½ second and there are 4 of them).

MIDI Content

MIDI content is an electronic version of sheet music (in that it only contains note playback information), and it is played through the Mixtikl integral MIDI synthesizer. MIDI content has the advantage of small size, and so uses far less device memory, but it does not have the sonic impact and richness of the much larger audio content. A typical 1 bar MIDI riff is around 1Kb.

MIDI formats supported (file extensions capitalised for consistency):

• SMF (Standard MIDI file, type 0 or 1) - .MID/.MIDI/.KAR

Advanced Content

Various advanced content options are available within Mixtikl, and these allow greater use of the device as a music "computer", creating rich sounds from small components. This kind of content is typically in .noatikl format, and it allows the use of real software synthesisers, FX and music engines. A 1 bar .noatikl file can be just a few Kb in size, but can be set up to allow the creation of hundreds of minutes of varied and sonically rich content.

Noatikl files may contain any combination of NME parameters and PSE Modular Synth and FX network settings. Noatikl files are generative content, meaning that they are composed for you in real-time by the Noatikl Generative Music Engine.

Advanced formats supported (file extensions capitalised for consistency):

• Noatikl - .NOATIKL or .NOA
• Partikl - .PARTIKL or .PAR

SoundFont (SF2) / DLS 1 Wavetables

The PSE multi-synth, via the Wavetable Unit, can be used to hook up MIDI or advanced content to a SF2 or DLS 1 Wavetable. The SF2/DLS Wavetable can either be in one of the pre-installed Paks, or included in a Pak you might have made. Either way, it has to be installed to your device and PSE must know the path to it.

SF2 / DLS formats supported (file extensions capitalised for consistency):

• SF2 (SoundFont 2) - .SF2
• DLS (DLS format 1) - .DLS

Being able to target SF2 / DLS 1 Wavetables via PSE means that MIDI playback, via the MIDI synth in PSE, can use some cool sounds and with the smallest performance overhead - all you need is the Wavetable!

Multi-bar Content

This is content in any of the above forms that plays for more than 1 bar. It can be even more effective than content of 1 bar length as it provides more continuity and variation over a longer period of time. Mixtikl is very powerful in that mixes can utilise not only 1 bar content, but also multi-bar content. Mixtikl intelligently caters for content of non-full bar length (e.g. 2 ¼ bars). When the content is not in a Tiklpak it will not simply loop the content, causing mix synching problems, but will instead pad it out with silence until it reaches the next bar boundary. Content that *is* in a Tiklpak is time- stretched/shrunk automatically to the nearest bar multiple.

The "mixtikl" file itself

When you add content into a mix, references to it are saved to the ".mixtikl" file. The mixtikl file stores all the information about what content is used in the mix and where used, together with sound FX, generative rule customisations etc. However, all content referenced in the mixtikl must be installed in Mixtikl in order for it to play - e.g. loops and MIDI files are not themselves saved to the mixtikl file!

Add-on Zipped Tiklpaks/Paks

There is a lot that can be used in Mixtikl. See here for what is available!

Navigating Mixtikl is pretty straightforward, and how you do it depends on whether you have the iOS, Android or Desktop versions.

To action or activate a cell, button or area

• Tap
  • Either tap or or mouse click the cell (i.e. desktop version).
  • Applies to :
    • All cells
• Tap/Hold
  • Either tap or mouse click the cell (i.e. desktop version) for a second or two.
  • Applies to :
    • Mixer Cell to loop / un-loop it.
• Keyboard (desktop only)
  • Either position the yellow Cell Selector with the nav keys (L, R, Up, Down) on to the cell or button and press the Enter key or press the relevant keyboard shortcut.
  • Applies to :
    • All cells

General Activation Areas

• Menu button for the Main Menu.
• Top middle area (volume slider) in the Mixer Screen for global volume.
• Bottom "?" in most screens for contextual online help on that screen.
• When in Content list via the Mixer Cell Menu, tap the speaker item at the far right of list item to preview content

Controlling Knobs and Sliders (DT)

1. Select the knob or slider control (as above);
2. Tap/hold the bottom pop up slider control and drag L/R to select new position;
3. Release

• On keyboard, select as above and use L/R keys to change value and Enter to accept the value.

Keyboard Up/Down, L/R & Enter (Desktop version)

• Use L/R and Up/Down to move around the screen
• Enter will select highlighted cell
• In an Options Lists, L/R will toggle option value
• In the Content List L/R can be used to preview / play content

Cancelling from lists

• Tap the top left hand display area when it says "Cancel" or "Mixtikl"
• Additional for Desktop versions:
  • Press the Escape key
  • Press the * key

Clearing contents of a Content or FX Cell

• Select the cell and select "clear" item from the pop-up Mixer Cell Menu or FX Cell Menu
• Select the Tools cell, select "Clear" from the pop-up Tools Menu and select the cell you want to clear.
  • IMPORTANT: Remember to tap the Tools cell again to turn it off; you can tell a tool is "Active" when the tools cell has a red outline.
• Additional for Desktop versions:
  • Press "0" key

Desktop Control

• Spacebar: toggles play/stop
• Escape key: cancel from a menu or list
• Delete to clear cell
• Left and Right arrows are L/R
• Others as below except that in lists 3 is page down, and 9 page up

Desktop Menus

These are shown at the top, and are only visible on the desktop versions.

• Mixtikl
  • About Mixtikl: Displays load screen with Version number
  • Quit or Exit: Closes Mixtikl
• Options
  • Restore Window Size
  • Show Mixtikl data folder
  • Check for Update When Mixtikl Starts (check or uncheck)
  • Output Devices: Select your audio output driver (Desktop Standalone, not Plugin)
  • Input Devices: Select your audio input driver (Desktop Standalone, not Plugin)
• Help
  • Online User Guide: Go to the online User Guide
  • Mixtikl Forum: Go to the online Mixtikl Forum
  • Online Licence: Go to the online EULA
  • Mixtikl Product Key: Enter your Mixtikl Product key and licence information
  • Intermorphic Creativity Tools: Goes to Intermorphic Website tool pages

Keyboard / Keypad shortcuts

In addition to being able to navigate and control Mixtikl with your mouse, the following shortcuts are available for the Desktop versions.

Mixer

• 1 - Play/Stop mix
• 2 - Up
• 3 - Trigger a cell or spot cell (also T) [See Mixer Cell Screen]
• 4 - Left
• 5 - Action / Select
• 6 - Right
• 7 - Key shortcut (7, Col, Row : e.g. 7, 2, 1);
  • Columns
    • 1 - Volume/Pan
    • 2 - Solo/Mute
    • 3,4,5,6 - Mix Sections
    • 7 - Rules
    • 8 - FX
  • Rows
    • top toolbar: Up
    • tracks: 1-9,*(10), 0 (11), #(12)
    • bottom toolbar: Down
• 8 - Down
• 9 - Tools Cell
• 0 - Clear Cell
• * - Menu / Cancel

Mixer Cell

• 2 - Up
• 3 - Page Up
• 4 - Stop Preview
• 5 - Select
• 6 - Preview / play content
• 7 - None
• 8 - Down
• 9 - Page Down
• 0 - Clear Cell
• * - Cancel

Quick Help & FX

• 2 - Up
• 3 - Page Up
• 5 - Select
• 8 - Down
• 9 - Page Down
• 0 - Clear Cell
• * - Cancel

• PDF
• Release History
• Videos
• PSE 3 User Guide
• NME 3 User Guide

Intermorphic is Tim Cole & Pete Cole - yes, just two brothers - and we have now been working together in generative music since 1990. However, without the incredible support and interest from so many over the years then we would not be where we are today with our current Apps, Engines and Content. Our thankyou list below is an ever expanding one, in no particular order, and does not include everyone (sorry to those we have missed!). We offer our heartfelt thanks and gratitude to:

• All our old friends and colleagues from SSEYO days including from the early days Jon Pettigrew, John Wilkinson, Steve Crawshaw & Chandra Modi and including from later days (1996 onwards) Jerry Leach, Paul Blampied, Jerry Swan, Nick Barefoot, Simon Robertson, Kerry-Anna Saia, Natalie Da Gama Rose, John Tenkoni and also including Jesper Bennedbaek, Wenwu Wang etc. from our Tao Group audio days (we are focusing primarily on audio and so there are way too many to list here, but they include all those who went on to work at Antix Labs!)
• Timothy Didymus and Mark Harrop, longstanding friends, colleagues and artists with incredible talent whose sublime generative music creations have, on the many occasions when times were hard, given us the much needed inspiration to press onwards.
• All customers, and most especially those who wish to continue with us as we move forward - we love you, thank you!
• Everyone who made contributions to our forums, has helped others and given feedback or who has blogged, tweeted, facebooked or otherwise written nicely about or shared content they have made with our apps and in so doing helped others to find us - we love you, thank you!
• Our outstanding beta testers for their testing efforts and everyone who has given feedback, found bugs and helped with suggestions.
• Early content creators such as David Muddyman, Andrew Garton, Paul Weir and Igor Dvorkin.
• Finally, a big thanks to Brian Eno for his support and kindness to us in the SSEYO Koan years.