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Contents Beamz Controller Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Getting Started Your First Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Beamz Player Software Beamz Player Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Playlists Button . . . . . .
Beamz Controller Overview The Beamz controller comprises four class 2 pulsing laser triggers and eight control buttons. The lasers have been carefully chosen to balance power requirements and reliability, while the pulsing operation insures minimal interference from ambient light. 1 3 2 6 4 7 5 8 1. Volume down 2. Volume up 3. Vocals mute (button will light up when this is an option) 4. Advance to previous song in playlist 5. Advance to next song in playlist 6. Start/stop recording 7.
Getting Started Your First Performance Once you’ve got the Beamz software and music installed, and the Beamz controller is connected to your computer, you’re ready to play. 1. Launch the Beamz Controller-Double-click the Beamz player icon on your device. The Main Playing screen is a virtual representation of the laser beams, buttons and controls on the Beamz console. The console will always play the instruments that are displayed in the main playing screen.
. Press The Swap Button To Get To Unit 2 Instruments-Get to know the instruments in the Unit 2 selection the same way you did with Unit 1. 6. Press The Swap Button To Get To Unit 3 Instruments-Get to know the instruments in the Unit 3 selection the same way you did with Units 1 and 2. When you’re finished, press the center button again to Swap to the Unit 1 instruments. 7. Press The Rhythm Button-Now you know which instruments are available and how they sound when they are played.
Beamz Player Software Beamz Player Window The Beamz software interface is the mind of the Beamz music system. The interface mimics the actual physical interface of the Beamz music controller and lets you choose different songs, manage playlists of songs, and customize song configurations. 1 2 3 6 5 10 11 7 12 4 8 13 9 14 15 16 1. Song Name 2. Beats Per Measure: Displays the musical time of the song. 3. Unit Number: Three units of instruments (4 on each page). 4.
Multi-Unit View Click on any of the buttons located in each of the corners of the screen to open windows displaying the other two units. Clicking will close them. Each window can be resized and dragged anywhere on the desktop to suit individual needs. Mouse-over playing works in all windows. Beamz Laser Triggers And Their Display Status On The Playing Screens The Beamz console has 4 lasers located inside the center post, which are trained on a matching light sensor in the outer arms of the console.
Playlists Button Click on the Playlist button to get a menu of choices where you can choose a song to play, work with playlists, or visit the Beamz music store to buy more songs. To choose a song from the Master Song List, hover the mouse over Master Song List. Another window will open that displays all Beamz songs currently installed on your computer—sorted alphabetically. Simply click the song you wish to play and it will be loaded into memory.
Create A New Playlist When you open the dialog, if you have not created any personal playlists, by default, an empty playlist, imaginatively named playlist with a number appended (Playlist1, Playlist2, etc.) is created. You can rename the playlist by selecting and typing over the default existing name, located at the upper right of the dialog under the Playlist Library label. If you have created playlists, the last playlist you loaded will be selected by default.
Custom Layout The Custom Layout screen allows you to: 1. Re-arrange where the instruments are located to suit your playing style. 2. Make your own mix of the song. Clicking on the Custom Layout button on the main playing screen will open this window. The left pane shows the Default Layout for the song – the pre-assigned instrument pallet – the way it was originally composed. Clicking the button will restore the custom layout to this. The right pane shows your Custom Layout.
Drag an instrument in the Custom Layout area to a different location within custom layout. When dragging on top of another instrument at the new location, they will swap – the two instruments will switch locations. Making A Custom Mix Each instrument location in the Custom Layout pane has its own volume slider that can be used for making a custom mix. The Song Volume slider for all of the instruments is at the bottom of the custom layout pane. Drag the slider left or right to change the volume setting.
Beamz Options Window The Beamz Options window allows you to configure how Beamz software works. To open, click on Options in the Settings Menu. At Startup-You can either load the last song played or load no song when the Beamz interface is launched. Auto-Saved Recordings-A recorded performance is automatically saved in your personal music folder when a recording is stopped, the song itself is stopped (and the ending is played), another song is loaded, or Beamz Player is exited.
Beamz Video Songs When a Beamz Video Jam (vJam) song is loaded, a window will open for the video player. The video window can be resized and dragged anywhere. Click inside the video to expand it to full screen. Click again to exit full screen view. * Hint-Connect your PC to a second monitor (like a large screen TV) and drag the video window onto it. ** Note-To drag and drop a window to another display, you need to set your second display to run in “Extended Desktop Mode.
Getting The Most From Your Beamz Playing a Beamz Song With The Mouse and Keyboard Mouse Over Playing Move the mouse over any beam to play it. Click on the buttons to “press” them. Keyboard Playing You can play the Beamz by pressing these keys on your keyboard as illustrated below. The QWERTY keys will play Unit 1 instruments. The ASDFGH keys will play Unit 2 instruments. The ZXCVBN keys will play Unit 3 instruments.
Recorded Performance Beamz Player automatically saves your recordings, saving you the time & work of doing it yourself. Whenever a recording is stopped, it will be automatically saved in .MP3 format in a special Beamz folder within your personal music folder. If you want change the file type or destination folder, Beamz Options allows for this. See Beamz Options Window When a recording is Auto-Saved, it is saved with a file name that shows the name of the song being recorded.
Advance Triggers-allow you to advance the melody of the currently playing song to the next “section” of the song. For example, let’s say you’re playing a classical piece and you’re in a slow-going, low energy “tearjerker” section. If you’d like to advance to the next section of the song, a high-energy full-on brass and percussion festival section, you can trigger an Advance beam.
Beamz Player – Tobii Edition Tobii Edition Beam Width Setting Options The Beamz Player Tobii Edition software provides users the option to adjust the “width” of the visual laser beam representation in the Beamz Player dashboard. The widest setting is Level 4, which is the default setting the first time the application is opened.
The “width” of the laser beams decreases from Level 4 to Level 1, with Level 1 as the narrowest visual representation. These varying settings are available for the Beamz Player Tobii Edition software users to adjust the dashboard for playing comfort and/or skill improvement exercises. Level 3 example Level 2 example Level 1 example note: When using the Multi-Unit View feature, the secondary and third windows will only display the beams in the Level 1 setting.
