Color Keys

More: Keyboard Shortcuts, Waveform Keys, Miscellaneous Keys

All lowercase letters of the alphabet (a-z) move the oscillators gradually towards specific colors. You must keep hitting the key to keep the synthesizer near that color. As long as the color synthesizer is moving, it will move away from any colors you choose if you stop hitting keys. The rate of change of the colors is determined by the speed of the oscillators.

All uppercase letters of the alphabet (A-Z) move the oscillators immediately to a specific color. The color synthesizer will then move away from that color according to the oscillator speeds and wave forms. Use the Shift key or the Caps Lock key to get uppercase letters. By alternating various uppercase letters, you can get stripes of color. By using musical rhythms, you can vary the width of the stripes and the proportions of colors. 

Color Keys Sorted by Letter:
A = lavender
B = blue
C = cyan
D = black (darker)
E = olive
F = pale yellow
G = green
H = leaf green
I = indigo
J = gold
K = pink
L = white (lighter)
M = magenta
N = evergreen
O = orange
P = purple
Q = turquoise
R = red
S = sky blue
T = tan
U = mauve
V = gray
W = brown
X = maroon
Y = yellow
Z = ultramarine

Color Keys Sorted by Color:
black (darker) = D
blue = B
brown = W
cyan = C
evergreen = N
gold = J
gray = V
green = G
indigo = I
lavender = A
leaf green = H
magenta = M
maroon = X
mauve = U
olive = E
orange = O
pale yellow = F
pink = K
purple = P
red = R
sky blue = S
tan = T
turquoise = Q
ultramarine = Z
white (lighter) = L
yellow = Y

By changing oscillator ranges with the range control keys, you can generate more limited palettes. From a limited palette, it is easier to get an effective contrast. In other words, for one to appreciate “loud,” there must be “soft”; for one to appreciate “dark,” there must be “light.” This is only one of countless ways of composing with color.

Limited palettes are good for expressing certain moods, like ragas in Indian music. A raga is a set of pitches (somewhat like a scale) with suggested orders for the pitches and various ornamentations for melodies created with those pitches.

So that many of the keyboard commands will have a sensible effect on the color synthesizer, the triangle waveform is automatically chosen when you first use the keyboard. To prevent the triangle waveform from being automatically selected, hit the Escape key before hitting a sequence of other key commands. You can also change waveforms for all oscillators at once using key commands.

When using Bliss Saver, you can see a listing of the common keyboard controls for the color synthesizer by choosing the command Keyboard Map from the Bliss menu. You can also look at the keyboard map quick reference card included in this Bliss Saver package.

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