Audition

The audition lets Kiwisynth play itself, so you can hear a sound, and change it, without playing a keyboard.

The transport

The transport sits at the right end of the header's second row. Press play and a short phrase loops until you press stop. In the standalone app Space does the same. While it loops you have both hands free to turn controls and hear the result at once. You can also switch presets while it plays, to compare them in the same musical setting.

The transport shows a tempo. In the standalone app it is Kiwisynth's own and you drag it to change it. In a host it shows the host's tempo and cannot be changed here.

Which phrase plays

Two buttons to the left of the transport choose what plays.

The first names the phrase. Click it to pick from a list. Auto, the first choice, plays the phrase saved with the loaded preset. A preset without one gets the built-in phrase that suits its category: a bass preset is played a bass line, a pad a slow chord, a lead a lead phrase. The button reads "Auto" followed by the name of the phrase it chose. The other choices in the list are the built-in phrases, which play whatever preset is loaded.

The second button is the octave. It shifts the phrase up or down, so you can hear the sound in the register you intend to use it in. It is named after the note the phrase starts from.

Kiwisynth remembers the phrase and the octave you last chose.

Recording your own phrase

If the built-in phrases do not suit what you are working on, record your own. Press Rec on the transport. The loop stops, so you record what you play and not the phrase under it. Play something on the keys row or a MIDI keyboard, then press Rec again. The take becomes the phrase, and the phrase button switches to it.

A recorded phrase is kept with your project, so it is there when you open the project again. It does not travel with a preset by itself. Saving a preset keeps the phrase that is playing at that moment as the preset's own, and Auto plays it back the next time that preset loads.

In a host that plays clips

Some hosts play a demo clip of their own for a preset. When Kiwisynth is told that, it keeps its own phrase silent, so the two never play over each other.