the [macronaut] hub v1.0
quick reference

1. system requirements
2. installation
3. dual screen support
4. calibration
   1. auto sensing
   2. beat detection
5. keyboard shortcuts

1. system requirements
to successfully run this application and its modules the following hardware is required as minimum configuration:

- Pentium 3, 800MHz+ CPU
- Windows 2k/XP
- 64MB+ RAM
- GeForce3 or better graphics card (16MB+ VRAM)
- DirectX 7 or OpenGL
- Soundcard input functionality
- up-to-date sound and video card drivers
- standard keyboard

please note that for a show/exhibition environment a better configuration is desired. software has been written & tested on: Dell Inspiron 8500, 1.4GHz Pentium 4, 512MB RAM, GeForce 4Go with 64MB VRAM, SigmaTel soundcard.
2. installation
this app can be run from anywhere on your hard disk or even directly from CD, although in the latter case it is advised to have a fast CD-ROM drive to avoid delays when switching between modules. no other installation process is necessary. simply launch the file "macronaut_hub_v019.exe" and follow the instructions below.
3. dual screen support
if you're using a dual screen setup, make sure both monitors are activated and configured correctly before launching the application as this setting is only checked during startup of the software. if 2 screens are available, the visuals will be shown on the 2nd screen, whereas the interface will remain on the primary display. in any way, visuals will always be rescaled to the dimensions of the currently used screen. if only a single screen/display is available the visuals and console are both displayed on that screen. the console can be toggled by pressing "C" on the keyboard.
4. calibration
the macronaut application hub implements a very simple user interface to help adjusting the visual modules to changing and unpredictable audio environments, as well as hardware setups.
once launched, the software will automatically load & display the first available module and show the console window with the user interface (UI). via the console you can adjust which sound input device and source to use as input for sound reactive modules. depending on your setup, more than one sound device (sound cards) might be available, so please press the "> next" button (or "d" on the keyboard) to switch to the next available device. repeat the same for selecting the correct source from the currently selected device (here it's the "s" key). most sound cards should offer at least these 3 options: "Microphone", "CD Audio", "Sound Mix"...
4.1 auto sensing
the "auto config" feature ("a" key) will cycle through all available sound devices and sources and try to determine the most likely currently used sound input and amplification settings. depending on the number of sources available, this will take several seconds (2sec/source) and sound should be playing during this process. after all possible variations have been tested the app will settle on the input with the strongest signal and adjust the amplification factor (see below). please note though, that this setting is only a guidance and will most likely have to be finetuned by you, the user.
4.2 beat detection
one of the features of the macronaut engine is a quite simple, yet sufficiently effective beat detection algorithm. apart from the actual sample data, its other parameters are the amplifier and sensitivity threshold settings. all sound reactive modules will depend from the correct settings of these values, whose default setting should be purely understood as starting point. to help you with the calibrating process, the top right corner of the console window has a beat indicator, a red flashing dot, which should only be re-triggered whenever a "beatlike" change in the audio signal occurs. really, you'll have to feel when it's right. anyone with a bit of musical understanding will... eg. if using the microphone as input source, you can test this by clapping your hands close to the microphone. though, playing music (with beats) will most likely work better...

- the amplifier factor is used to adjust the gain of the actual sound signal. a value of 1.0 equals the signal being interpreted at 100%. depending on the club environment, you might have to decrease or increase the value in order to get proper results. use the 2 arrows buttons or keys "-" and "+" to adjust this value.
- the beat detection threshold itself depends on the current amplification setting and specifies the magnitude of change of volume in the amplified audio signal. a lower value will result in a higher sensitivity of the algorithm and potentially in more triggered "beat events". similarily, a higher threshold will potentially reduce the sensitivity of the beat detection. use the 2 arrows buttons or keys "[" and "]" to adjust this value.
- use the minimum time interval between beats setting to adjust the overall visual behaviour of a module. in most modules, triggered beat events have strong impact on camera settings/scene cuts. if the beat detection is too sensitive, scene changes might be too radical/often, so by increasing this minimum time delay between successive beat events, these changes can be reduced (or increased vice versa). in principle, a new beat event occuring within this period (since the last successfully triggered beat) will be simply ignored. the corresponding "BPM" value again is only to be taken as guidance & refers to the principal tempo of the visuals (assuming visual "beats" can be triggered with a precision of 1/16th of a bar).

as a rule of thumb: if the visuals are not reactive enough, slowly increase the amplifier setting and/or reduce the threshold value.
on the contrary, slowly reduce the amplifier and/or increase the threshold setting and min. interval between beats if you feel the visuals are too "hectic".
5. keyboard shortcuts
use the following keyboard shortcuts to adjust the engine's settings without using the UI of the console window

- - / + : adjust amplification of audio signal
- [ / ] : adjust beat detection threshold
- o / p : adjust min. time interval between beats
- s / S : switch to next source on current device
- d / D : switch to next available sound device
- a / A : automatic input configuration
- c / C : show/hide this console (always visible on dual monitor setup)
- x / X : skip/exit current module
- ESC : quit application