Kaleidoscope Main Window
Kaleidoscope 95.1

Brought to you by Syntrillium Software Corporation

P.O. Box 62255, Phoenix, AZ 85082-2255, USA

Email:  sales@syntrillium.com

Sales:  +1-602-941-4327

Fax:  +1-602-941-8170

URL:  http://www.syntrillium.com

Congratulations!  You now have a fantastic, colorful, and beautiful screen saver for Windows.  If you have a sound card in your computer, you can choose to have Kaleidoscope flow and change in time to your music.  The music coming into your sound card controls various parameters, making strikingly beautiful patterns that would never be possible by just adjusting the given parameters.  The audio being monitored will continually adjust Kaleidoscope, causing totally different designs to appear depending on the style of music being played.  See the Audio section for more details.

Double-click on any of the Favorites listed on the right to recall all the settings for that pattern.  Checking the box to the right of a control will cause Kaleidoscope to choose that value at random each time Kaleidoscope kicks in, and during each new design interval.  When the New Design time elapses, a new pattern is chosen based on the control settings.  If synchronizing with audio, new values will be chosen for these settings between songs.

Click here to find out how to register Kaleidoscope.  Click here to find out how to use Kaleidoscope with Wind Chimes, Syntrillium's ambient music generator.

Kaleidoscope offers a variety of customizable settings.  Click on one of the following topics to find out what they do:

Symmetry	Free Floating

Spin	Splitting

Line Size	Coloring Rotation

Trail Length	Snazziness

Speed	Bands

Rotations	Band Width

Cheese Size	Polite

Cheese Type	Audio

Depth	Favorites

Width	Messages

Try experimenting with these settings!  The Cheese Size, Cheese Types, and Widths settings can have especially dramatic effects on Kaleidoscope's designs.  When you find something you like, you can add your new settings to the Favorites.

Click on one of the following topics to find out more about Kaleidoscope:

Slowing Kaleidoscope down

Limiting the color palette

Printing Kaleidoscope's designs

Running Kaleidoscope as a stand-alone program

About The Author

Troubleshooting

Version History

Warranty Disclaimer

Syntrillium Software Corporation (the Company) makes no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, including any warranties of fitness for a particular purpose.  In no event will the Company be liable for any incidental or consequential damages arising from the use of, or inability to use, this program.

Windows, Windows 95, and Windows NT are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.  All other products mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective manufacturers.


Registration Form
Kaleidoscope 95.1 registration information

You can register Kaleidoscope by fax or email, by mail, over the phone, or through the CompuServe ShareWare Registration service.  Regardless of the method you choose, Syntrillium will send your personal registration number within 2 business days by email and by regular mail, along with a receipt if you use a credit card.  If you have any questions about ordering, please do not hesitate to email Syntrillium Software at sales@syntrillium.com.

1) 	FAX or EMAIL:  Fill out the registration form, include your Visa, Mastercard, or American Express number and expiration date, and email it to sales@syntrillium.com or fax it to Syntrillium Software at +1-602-941-8170.

2)	MAIL:  Mail the registration form with your credit card information or a money order or check drawn in US dollars from a US bank to:

Syntrillium Software Corporation

P.O. Box 62255

Phoenix, AZ  85082-2255

USA

3)	PHONE:  Call Syntrillium at +1-602-941-4327 between the hours of 9:00am and 5:00pm Mountain Standard Time, to register over the phone with a credit card.

4)	CompuServe:  Use GO SWREG, select Register ShareWare, answer the questions that CompuServe asks, search for keyword "Syntrillium", and select "Display Selected Titles".

Click here to view and copy or print the registration form

Note to users in Benelux and Germany:  you can also order Kaleidoscope from Syntrillium's agent in the Netherlands, CopyCats Software & Services.  Click here to view and copy or print the CopyCats registration form.


Registration Form to fill out
Kaleidoscope 95.1 Registration Form

To use this form, choose Print Topic from the File menu, or select the entire form with your mouse, press Ctrl+C to copy the form, and then paste it into a word processor.  Click here to find out about available registration and payment methods.

Name:	____________________________________________

Address:	____________________________________________

____________________________________________

____________________________________________

City:	_______________ State/Prov: ________ Zip:________

Country:	________________________

Phone #:	____________________________________________

FAX #:	____________________________________________

Email address:	____________________________________________

Choose the level of registration you prefer:

[   ]	$15	Basic Registration for Kaleidoscope WITHOUT using the Audio feature.  You will be sent a registration number that will turn off the "Please register" message and authorize you to use Kaleidoscope without the Audio feature.

[   ]	$25	Basic registration for Kaleidoscope WITH Audio.  You will be sent a registration number that will turn off the "Please register" message and authorize you to use Kaleidoscope with the Audio feature.

Within two business days of receiving your order, Syntrillium Software will send you by email and regular mail a personal code to register your copy of Kaleidoscope and remove the registration reminder.

You can pay with a US check or money order or with an international money order drawn in US dollars.  We also accept Visa, Mastercard, and American Express; just fill in your card number and expiration date below.

Visa/MC #: ________/________/________/________ Exp Date (required): _________

AmEx #: ________/________________/____________ Exp Date (required): _________

You may answer these if you like!  Just fill in the blanks.

Where did you find Kaleidoscope?

Syntrillium's WWW site___	Other WWW site___ (if so, which: ___________________)

CompuServe___	America Online___	Magazine Cover CD___

Friend___	Product bundle___ (if so, which: _____________________)

Other:________________________________________________________________________

Brand of PC: _____________________________   Operating system: _____________________

CPU: ________   Sound Card: _________________   RAM:  _______   Hard Drive size: _______

Favorite Setting: ________________________________________________________________

------  THANK YOU!!!!  ------

Syntrillium Software Corporation     	Phone (sales only):  +1-602-941-4327

P.O. Box 62255                                	Fax: +1-602-941-8170

Phoenix, AZ  85082-2255                	Email: sales@syntrillium.com

USA                                                 	URL:  http://www.syntrillium.com

Please note:  this form expires on 31 July 1998.  Please check Syntrillium's web site at www.syntrillium.com after that date for an updated version of Kaleidoscope.


About the author

David Johnston has been been writing graphic programs since the early eighties and with sound technology since 1991. He started programming while in high school on a Commodore PET computer.  In 1982, he started his programming career on an Atari 800; he has since written software for Apple ]['s, Commodore 64's, Macintoshes, PC-compatible computers, and numerous mainframes and workstations.

David attended Eastern Montana College for two years and then moved to the Seattle area, where in 1991 he acquired a Bachelor's Degree of Science in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Washington.  He worked as a software engineer for several years at Microsoft, both during and after finishing college.  In his spare time, he wrote programs for the challenge and fun of it.  Kaleidoscope began as one of those spare-time programs and has since become one of the most popular shareware programs available.  David also began the work that evolved to become Cool Edit, a professional digital audio editor.  Cool Edit has since enabled thousands of users all over the world to bring recording studio effects and editing ability to their own computers.

In 1995, David and Bob Ellison co-founded Syntrillium Software Corporation to enhance and market Kaleidoscope and other products.  David now devotes all his programming energies toward creating the most powerful and easy-to-use software products around, with a special emphasis on applications that work with sound.  In 1996, he created Wind Chimes, which simulates the sound of real wind chimes on the computer.  It can also sound like a pianist playing with a tune, a violin section working on theme variations, or even a crashing surf.

You can find out more about David's creations on Syntrillium's web site at http://www.syntrillium.com.


Symmetry

The Symmetry setting controls the number of reflections about the main axis.  For example, choosing a symmetry of 5 will always generate /i star-like patterns, while a symmetry of 6 will generate /i snowflake-like patterns.


Spin

Spin controls overall spinning of the elements being drawn.  Positive values spin clockwise while negative values sway the pattern between clockwise and counterclockwise.


Width

This is the thickness of the lines drawn.  Also, increasing the width will dramatically slow down the evolution of the designs on most systems.  If the speed limit was turned down, it can be turned back up again if using thick lines.


Line size

Use this setting to adjust the the size (length) of the line segments that Kaleidoscope draws.


Version history

Version 95.1

Fixed a few bugs to enable better integration with Wind Chimes.

Added Messages feature.

Version 95

Kaleidoscope is now a 32-bit native code screen saver for Windows 95 and NT.

New Cheese Type setting added to allow for using complex shapes instead of just straight lines when the Cheese Size setting is non-zero.

New Width setting draws thicker lines for a more solid look.

Fixed audio enabling problem that made the Audio feature not work with some system configurations.

Added double-buffering to the audio capture to help eliminate clicks that were present when using some sound cards.

Added gentle registration reminders.

Old presets that used a Cheese Size default to the Hearts cheese type.

Version 2.8

Added a divisor setting to Speed Limit to more smoothly slow down pattern evolution on fast machines.

Changed address to Syntrillium Software Corporation.

Modified spin parameter so that negative values sway pattern clockwise/counterclockwise.

Version 2.7

Added customized registration.

Fixed color choice bug to keep designs from going black as often.

Version 2.6b

Added the Dream Time setting  (maximum time Kaleidoscope stays blank when no audio is present before starting to display whatever it wants to).  The default setting is 10 seconds.

If audio device is being used when Kaleidoscope starts, and it is in audio mode, then Kaleidoscope will try again in 10 seconds to use the audio input port for synchronizing.  Before, if the audio card was busy, it never synchronized with audio.  This would happen if a sound was attached to "application startup" - the sound would play and take over the audio card not letting Kaleidoscope start its monitoring.

Version 2.6a

Enhanced color selection ability when synchronizing with audio.  Designs do not go black as often, and colors are more consistent each time the same audio is played.

Added CD Audio track controls when synchronizing with audio.  Pressing the number keys will advance the CD player to that track.

Version 2.6

Made a Speed Limit button for slowing the patterns down.

Added a Palette button for customizing the color palette used.

Version 2.5

Added Splitting sensitivity control to audio settings.

Fixed a bug that caused the entire kaleidoscope to go black, and stay there, if a random design was chosen that had a Static color rotation.

Version 2.4

Fixed a bug in coloring while Audio is playing.  If the color bands were changing too fast, Kaleidoscope simply went dark.  Now it doesn't just go dark for what seems like no good reason when running while controlled by music.

Added an Audio Configuration dialog to easily adjust the sensitivity settings to fine tune Kaleidoscope to your sound card.

Added the ability to slow down the designs on faster PCs.  (see Speed Limit)

Version 2.3

Fixed bug in using Polite with Password Protection.  Entering invalid password sort of locked up system.

Version 2.2

Fixed various bugs (like setting symmetry to zero was crashing with faster line drawing).

Version 2.0

Added Audio feature to make Kaleidoscope change patterns based on incoming music.

Sped up line drawing by 30% or so.

Version 1.1 to 1.7

Added the following controls:  Depth, Free Floating, Migrating Depths, Splitting, Snazziness, Politeness.

Made Favorites multiple-select so you can choose among your very favorites.

Added more presets.

Version 1.0

First kaleidoscopic screen saver.


Trail length

The Trail Length setting controls the length of the trail of images that Kaleidoscope draws.  A setting of 10, for example, means that each element will be drawn 10 times as it moves before the first-drawn element is erased.

NOTE:  A setting of 0 leaves an infinite trail (no elements erased).  This can yield interesting results, as the image grows increasingly more complex the longer Kaleidoscope is left running.


Slowing Down for fast PCs
Speed adjustments

You may want to slow down or speed up Kaleidoscope's display.  Speed settings are really a matter of personal taste, but you may find it runs too fast if you have a fast computer, or you might want to speed it up to see more lively action.  You can do so by pressing the Speed Limit button.

The Divisor setting will slow down the patterns smoothly by slowing down the actual drawing algorithm (simulating a slower display driver).  The other two settings make adjustments to system timing.  The Update Interval parameter specifies how often lines are drawn (this setting is in milliseconds, so a value of 10 is 1/100th of a second).  The Sets of Lines per Interval parameter specifies how many sets of lines will be drawn during each of these intervals.  It is always OK to specify values that are too fast for your PC (for example, drawing 40 sets of lines each 10 milliseconds); this will just tell Kaleidoscope to run as fast as possible on your PC.  Lower values will slow it down.  For example, if you own a Pentium, you might try drawing 2 sets of lines every 30 milliseconds; this will tend to slow drawing down to about 66 sets of lines per second.

For general purpose slowing down of the pattern for faster PCs, try increasing the Divisor setting.  After increasing this value to as much as 40, and the patterns still move too fast, then try reducing the Sets of Lines per Interval first, until you reach 1.  If that is still not slow enough, start increasing the Update Interval from 20 on up to 100 or more.

For interesting effects, try other combinations, like 10 sets of lines at an update interval of 80ms. This will give a strobing effect on faster PCs-- the design will jump from one pattern to the next 12.5 times a second.

The previous throughput (in lines per second) will be displayed in the box near the bottom for those who are interested.


Speed

Speed of lines.  This value controls the spacing between the lines that are drawn.  Larger spaces between the lines give the illusion of the patterns going faster.  Higher values add more space between lines, thus speeding things up.  To slow the entire kaleidoscopic drawing process on faster PCs, see Speed Limit.


Rotations

The Rotations setting varies the speed of rotations of the individual line segments.


Cheese size

This setting adjusts the size of the "cheese wedge" (the individual drawn element is called a "cheese").  If set to zero, lines are drawn instead of wedges.  There are numerous varieties of cheeses, so more than just wedges may be drawn!


Cheese type

When the Cheese Size is set to anything other than zero, you can also choose from among various cheese types, including triangles, hearts, figure 8's, and other shapes.


Depth

This controls the number of simultaneous reflections.  For each successively high number, Kaleidoscope draws reflections of each element at smaller and smaller scales.


Secret Reflections Parameter
!!!! Reflections !!!!

How did you find this screen???  Well, anyway, here's the scoop.  Since you were so diligent in looking through the help file, there is another parameter you can adjust to get wild variations on in the design.  The only way to change this setting is to open the CONTROL.INI file and go to the [Kaleidoscope] section (search for "Kaleidoscope").  You will notice a line that reads "Reflections=0" somewhere among all the settings.  You may enter any value between 1 and 9 to get interesting reflections - that is - the entire kaleidoscope is drawn in multiple places around the screen.  Setting Reflections to 3, for example, will triplicate every line that would normally be drawn otherwise.  You will find some interesting new patterns that you have never seen before by adjusting this parameter.

Have Fun!


Free floating

With depths of 2 or more, if free floating is not checked, each depth is half the way closer to the center than the previous depth.  If checked, the depths move in and out.


Splitting

This setting controls the length of the contiguous trail.  Once the trail reaches this length, it starts again, but in in a new position.


Coloring Rotation
Color rotation

This setting controls the style of color rotation to use.  Color rotation produces stunning effects on 256-color displays by rotating the color palette.  The following styles are available:

Static - Uses a pre-set palette.  Not very interesting.

Flowing - Colors flow, and follow in the direction of drawing.

Wild - Colors flow, and go in the opposite direction of the drawing.

No Rotation - Colors palette is constantly changing, but colors do not flow.

NOTE:  Color rotation is unavailable in color resolutions higher than 256.


Snazziness

This controls the rate at which the colors change, from slowly changing colors (Eerie) to very quickly changing colors (the bands choices, and Out of Control).


Bands

If not zero, this controls the number of black bands present.  If set to zero, there are no bands (black segments).


Band width

If bands are chosen (Bands not set to zero), then this controls the width of the black bands.


Polite

If checked, Kaleidoscope will let other applications that are running in the background run first, before drawing.  This will allow other programs to run at their full speed without the screen saver slowing them down.  Kaleidoscope is computationally quite expensive.  To see Kaleidoscope run at full speed, though, this can be turned off.  If turned off, other applications will still run in the background, but they will not get as many CPU cycles, and will run slower.


Audio

When the Audio box is checked, Kaleidoscope will respond to any sound present at the recording inputs.  These inputs can include your computer's CD player, a MIDI source (such as Wind Chimes, a microphone connected to the sound card, or any other audio source connected through the "Line in" port on your sound card.  Kaleidoscope accomplishes this by using the digital audio recording function of your sound card.  Kaleidoscope doesn't save the recording on your hard disk; it just analyzes the sound as it passes through the card.  Note that because most sound cards cannot simultaneously play and record, Kaleidoscope cannot ordinarily respond to .WAV files being played via the same sound card.

When Kaleidoscope is responding to audio, you should see colors and movement change in response to different frequencies and amplitudes. Kaleidoscope doesn't necessarily respond to the "beat" of the music, but it will tend to respond dramatically to sudden changes in amplitude (e.g. when the music suddenly gets very loud or very soft).  The effect can vary widely according to the type of music being played.

While Kaleidoscope is running, you can select which track on the CD player to play by pressing the appropriate number on the typewriter keyboard (above the letter keys, NOT on the numpad on the right side of the keyboard).  To select a track numbered 10 or higher, type the appropriate number in quick succession.  To stop the CD entirely, press the 0 (zero) key.  NOTE:  you must exit all other CD player applications to use the track-selection feature.

If you aren't sure Kaleidoscope is responding to the music coming from your CD player correctly, first make sure Kaleidoscope can monitor the music by trying to record from the CD with the Windows Sound Recorder (Start - Programs - Accessories - Multimedia).  If it records and plays back OK, then Kaleidoscope should have access to the music.  If it doesn't, make sure your CD player is wired either internally to the sound card or externally from the headphones port on the CD to the "line in" port on the back of the sound card.

Second, load your sound card's mixer applet and make sure the recording level for the CD is high enough and that it is enabled.

Finally, make sure Kaleidoscope's "Audio" box is checked ON.

If you hear the sound volume change or drop out suddenly when Kaleidoscope kicks in and then return to normal when Kaleidoscope exits, you need to adjust your record level.  See Troubleshooting to find out how to do this.

To fine-tune the way Kaleidoscope responds to music, press the Configure Audio button.


Favorites

Kaleidoscope's "Favorites" feature enables you to choose from among pre-installed groups of settings, or to create and save your own patterns.  To select a pattern, double-click on its name in the list.  To choose randomly between all the items in the list, click the Choose Randomly option.  To choose randomly between only certain patterns, highlight all the patterns to choose between (hold down on the control key to highlight more than one), and then check the Choose Randomly box.  NOTE:  When Choose Randomly is selected, most other settings in Kaleidoscope are unavailable (greyed).  You must turn OFF Choose Randomly to gain access to the other settings.

Because there are literally millions of unique patterns that can be generated, we encourage you to experiment with different settings on your own.  Start with one of the presets, and go from there.  Move one or two sliders to see what effect it has on the design.  Only a handful of favorites are listed-- far fewer than the millions of unique patterns that are possible.

At any time, you can save your current masterpiece by typing a name for your creation and clicking the Add button.  If you had any parameters set to random, and you see a design you particularly enjoy, go back to the Settings screen and click the Last Pattern button to bring up the exact settings that were used.  You can then add this to your collection of favorites if you like.


Custom palette

Pressing the Palette button brings up the customized palette dialog.  You can restrict the range of colors Kaleidoscope uses by choosing lower and upper limits on the amounts of each of Red, Green and Blue that are used in the patterns.  A value of zero is the lowest, while a value of 255 is the largest.  For example, if you like blue, you can set the minimum brightness for Blue to 128, which will guarantee that Blue will always be present in the patterns.  To remove a color from all patterns, set the maximum brightness value to a low value such as 64 or less.  Be sure the low value is always lower than the high value; otherwise the high value will be bumped up to the lowest value after you hit OK.


Troubleshooting

If the sound drops out or changes in volume abruptly when Kaleidoscope starts or exits, then you need to adjust your sound card's recording level for the sound input you're trying to use (e.g. the CD player).  You can do this with the mixer applet that came with your sound card, or with the Windows 95 Volume Control (Start - Programs - Accessories - Multimedia).  To use Volume Control, load it, select Properties from the Options menu in the mixer, click on the Recording button in the "Adjust volume for..." box, and press OK.  This tells the mixer that you want to adjust the Recording (input) levels; the Playback option allows you to adjust Playback (output) levels.  Finally, make sure Select is checked for the input source you want to use and move the slider up to the level you want.  If you still cannot monitor audio while recording, you may need to look for a "monitor while recording" setting for your sound card.  This can sometimes be found by pressing the Advanced button (if available) in the Recording Control dialog.  NOTE:  The "Record" (input) and "Play" (output) levels are separate settings.  One controls the input level of the audio source, and the other controls the volume of the sound going to your speakers.

If you can't adjust any of the settings in Kaleidoscope because they are all unavailable (greyed), then you must turn OFF Choose Randomly.  When Choose Randomly is selected, most other settings in Kaleidoscope are unaccessible.

If you find that Kaleidoscope is jerky when in the Audio mode and while playing a CD, try closing the CD Player application before starting Kaleidoscope.  The Windows 95 CD Player application has an option to keep the CD playing after the program is closed, or you can start any track playing while Kaleidoscope is running by typing the track number on the main keyboard's number keys (above the QWERTY).

If your screen quickly fades to black, then there is no audio present to respond to.  If this happens and you can hear the music playing, then check to see that your mixer control (software provided with your sound card) is set to record your music.  If this still does not work, make sure your sound card can record at 22050Hz (22KHz) at 16-bit, 44100Hz (44.1KHz) at 8-bit, or 22050Hz (22KHz) at 8-bit.  NOTE:  Sometimes audio cards are not configured correctly and will not handle 16-bit audio even if it is a 16-bit card.  To make sure everything is OK, record at 16-bit with a sound recorder program first to make sure your system can record at this rate.

If you experience any "Kaleidoscope Caused a General Protection Fault In..." errors, please let us know about them.  Kaleidoscope pushes some video cards to their limits.  Also, some video card drivers cannot handle the volume of line draw requests, or the drawing of lines outside the screen area. The following cards have had problems with Kaleidoscope reported.  If you suspect that your video card is causing problems with Kaleidscope, you may contact the video card manufacturer's Technical Support department and ask for updated video drivers.

Trident 9400 - Reports of Kaleidoscope not being able to run for more than a few minutes, stopping abruptly with a GP Fault in "Module CXiTLV.DRV AT xxxx:A9BA" where xxxx is any number.  Please contact Trident for updated drivers.

ATI Mach 32 - Some drivers cause Kaleidoscope to slow down dramatically while drawing large lines that go outside the range of the display.  The Mach 64 card works fine.

MediaVision sound card owners may have other volume control problems (and phasing out sort of problems).  If this is the case, go to the MediaVision mixer control and click OFF the playback of waveform (wave) audio, and make sure the playback of CD audio is ON.  While recording, the MediaVision card pipes the recorded audio back through the Wave out.  Since Kaleidoscope does not record constantly, you hear extra loud audio only while it is recording, and hear sudden choppy sounds when Kaleidoscope stops and restarts recording.  Turning OFF the waveform playback solves this problem and will allow you to enjoy the patterns based on audio input.


Messages

Once you have registered Kaleidoscope, you can instruct it to display one or more pop-up messages at regular or varying intervals while it is running.  To use this feature, check the Message checkbox.  Then click on the Messages button to customize your messages.

In the Messages dialog, type the message(s) you want to appear in the Messages box.  Each line you type will appear as a separate message.  Multiple messages are displayed in random order.  You can also choose a particular Font from those available on your system, and you can specify the minimum and maximum delay between message displays and the duration of each display (the time during which the message(s) show(s) on-screen).

NOTE:  This feature is unavailable until you register Kaleidoscope.


Using Kaleidoscope with Wind Chimes

Turn off that radio and bring in the music of the wind!

Kaleidoscope can respond to any music your sound card can record, including music coming from Wind Chimes, Syntrillium's ambient music generator for Windows 95 and Windows NT. While Wind Chimes and Kaleidoscope are working simultaneously, you'll see and hear the images and sounds moving in synchrony.  You can download Wind Chimes from Syntrillium's web site at www.syntrillium.com.

If you have both Wind Chimes and Kaleidoscope 95 installed, you can also control Kaleidoscope from within Wind Chimes.  Click on the View button in Kaleidoscope 95 area to view the screen saver.  Click on the Settings button to change Kaleidoscope's settings.  Each pre-installed Preset in Wind Chimes has its own Kaleidoscope pattern associated with it.

See Other programs from Syntrillium Software for more information on Wind Chimes.


Printing Kaleidoscope's designs

To Copy or Print the Kaleidoscope display, copy it to the clipboard by pressing the Print Screen button at any time.  The show will continue after the snapshot is copied to the clipboard.  You can go to your favorite graphics program and paste in the image you captured at any time.  From there you should be able to print as well.


Running Kaleidoscope as a stand-alone program

To run Kaleidoscope as a stand-alone program, simply choose Start - Run - Syntrillium - Kaleidoscope 95.  You can also create an icon for it; just use the Explorer or start from "My Computer" to find Kaleidoscope in your Windows 95 System directory, then right-click and drag it to your desktop or favorite folder.  After dropping it to the destination, choose "Create Shortcut Here."


Audio configuration

To fine-tune the way Kaleidoscope responds to music, press the Configure Audio button.  You can adjust or select among the following settings:

If you have more than one sound board in your system, you can choose the sound board that Kaleidoscope will monitor by choosing the Recording Device from the list.

You may specify the Default Recording Method that Kaleidoscope uses to monitor the incoming audio.  If your board does not record in 16-bit properly, for example, you can set this value to 8-bit instead.  Some combinations of sample rate and bit rate may not be supported by your sound board.  Different sample rate values will give different results when Kaleidoscope tries to match the music.

A value of 100 for the rest of the settings is the default.  Slower systems generally look better with higher values (like 150), and faster systems look better by specifying lower values (like 80).  Good settings for a P5/100 are 50 for Bands, and all the Variations, 40 for Spinning, and 105 for Splitting at 22050Hz 16-bit.

The Bands parameter specifies how often there will be more stripes in the designs.  Higher values yield more stripes of all colors.

The Spinning parameter tells how fast the lines will spin in relation to high end audio (like cymbals).  The higher the value, the faster individual lines will spin.

The Splitting parameter controls sensitive the pattern is to splitting based on beats in the music.  More splitting will occur with higher values, as more subtle changes in music volume will trigger the restarting of lines in a new location.

The last three Variations parameters determine the chance that the color will change with certain kinds of music.  The higher the value, the more that that color will change.  For example, normally low frequency bass sounds cause blue stripes.  Increasing the Blue Variations value will make more blue stripes given the same music.  The closer the variations parameter is to zero, the less the colors in that range will cycle.  It is OK to set this value all the way to zero for constant colors based on the current audio.

The Dream Time value controls how long Kaleidoscope stays dark when no audio is present until it starts dreaming and displaying random patterns.  The default dream time is 10 seconds, which means if there is no audio present for more than 10 seconds, Kaleidoscope just starts up displaying whatever it feels like until audio is played again, then it will i wake up and start synchronizing again.

Double-clicking on the Audio Settings 95 Favorite is a good place to start for kaleidoscopic audio settings.  Be sure to also check the Audio checkbox!  Enjoy your own personal Laser Show now!


Other programs from Syntrillium Software

You can find information on Syntrillium's other products at http://www.syntrillium.com.  You can also download the latest versions of our shareware products from there:

Wind Chimes is to hearing what lighting is to vision:  it creates an aural ambiance.  It can simulate the sound and behavior of real wind chimes, or a guitarist picking out a tune, or the gunfight at the OK Corral.  Wind Chimes is designed to run in the background, supplying a soothing alternative soundscape to the radio or other ambient noise.  Best of all, it can supply the music for Kaleidoscope!  When Wind Chimes and Kaleidoscope are running simultaneously, Kaleidoscope's screen designs respond directly to the sound coming from Wind Chimes.

How does it work?  Wind Chimes communicates via MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) with your sound card's built-in synthesizer to play the notes specified in a particular musical scale.  It employs algorithms designed specifically to simulate the way wind plays the notes on a real set of wind chimes.  Wind Chimes also lets you design your own ambient sounds.  User-definable settings include chime types (MIDI instruments) varying from pianos to ocean waves, wind speeds from a gentle breeze to a raging storm, and many others.

Cool Edit is a digital sound editor for Windows.  You might think of it as a paint program for audio- just as a paint program enables you to create images with colors, brush strokes, and a variety of special effects, Cool Edit enables you to "paint" with sound:  tones, pieces of songs and voices and miscellaneous noises, sine waves and sawtooth waves, noise, or just pure silence.  Cool Edit also gives you a wide variety of special effects to "touch up" your sounds:  reverberation, noise reduction, echo and delay, flanging, filtering, and many others.  It's like having thousands of dollars' worth of professional audio equipment all in one easy-to-use software package.  Cool Edit has been praised in Morph's Outpost, Windows Magazine, Electronic Musician, and other publications as the leading wave editor for the Windows platform.


CopyCats Registration Form
Kaleidoscope 95.1 Registration Form (Benelux and Germany)

Users in the Benelux and Germany can register Kaleidoscope locally and pay in their own currency. Please fill in this form and send it with your payment to our agents CopyCats Software & Services in Holland. CopyCats will send you the latest 16- and 32-bit versions of Kaleidoscope on disk and your personal registration code.

CopyCats Software & Services

Postbus 1088

1700 BB  Heerhugowaard

Nederland/Niederlande

Tel/Fax: +31 (0)72-5745993

Email 100121.1562@compuserve.com

BTW/UID-Nr: NL-185.152.119-B01

Name:       Mr / Mrs_____________________________________

Company:    _____________________________________________

Address:    _____________________________________________

Postcode:   ____________ City: __________________________

Country:    ___________________

Phone:      ___________________ Fax:_____________________

E-mail,CIS: _____________________________________________

BTW/UID #:  BE / DE  |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|

Note: Belgian and German businesses should fill in their VAT ID# (BTW-nummer / Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer).

If you do, CopyCats will not charge VAT and your order will be 17.5% cheaper! (please divide order total by 1.175).

Choose the level of registration that you prefer:

[   ]	Kaleidoscope 95 WITHOUT using the Audio feature. You will be sent a registration number that will turn off the "Please register" message and authorize you to use Kaleidoscope without the Audio feature. Price: fl. 30,00  -  DM 27,50  -  575 BF.

[   ]	Kaleidoscope WITH Audio. You will be sent a registration number that will turn off the "Please register" message and authorize you to use Kaleidoscope with the Audio feature. Price: fl. 44,95  -  DM 40  -  835 BF.

Order total:  Fl. ........   DM  .........   BF ..........   (the prices include shipping and BTW / MWSt.)

Method of payment:

[   ]  (NL,B,D) Enclosed cheque, eurocheque, girobetaalkaart, Scheck, Zahlkarte

[   ]  (NL) Overmaking naar Postbank 43.28.577

[   ]  (B)  Overmaking naar Postrekening 000.1656064.80

[   ]  (D)	Überweisung auf Postbank Saarbrücken Kto.Nr. 556 33-666 BLZ. 590 100 66

[   ]  (NL,B,D)  Op rekening / Auf Rechnung (major business, government, education only)

Where did you find Kaleidoscope?  ______________________________________________

------ Dank u voor uw registratie!  -   Vielen Dank für Ihre Registration! -----