Single Cell Software

TIP TAP TOE SHORTCUT GUIDE FOR CAUSTIC

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PARENT SCREEN

Perforated, vertical gray ribbon on the left-hand margin of the screen:
Look closely, it's split into three thirds by teensy tiny black markers.

Double-tap the lower third:
jump to the Sequencer pane

Double-tap the middle third:
jump to the Mixer pane

Double-tap the upper third:
jump back to whatever machine you had been viewing before viewing the Effects, Mixer, Master or Sequencer panes

Double-tap the upper third AGAIN:
Sometimes it seems to jump back to whatever machine you had been viewing before viewing the machine you just jumped back to, like a breadcrumb-style history.
Sometimes it seems to jump back to the topmost machine.
Sometimes it seems to have no effect.

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PARENT SCREEN - TOP/BOTTOM BAR (whether it's at the top or bottom depends on your configuration)
All buttons are one-tap only.

* The first button brings the Machine Grid window.
Tap any machine once to jump to its corresponding view.

Tap-and-hold any machine for about a second to bring up the Replace and Delete buttons, then drag the machine into the Replace or Delete button as you desire.
ATTENTION: that action cannot be undone until you recreate the machine, its patterns and knob values entirely by yourself.

There isn't any double-tap shortcut in the Machine Grid window.

* The second button in the top/bottom bar brings up a dialog. The first tab is SONG. The LOAD button has a secret: click it once and bring up the File Browser. Tap-and-hold any item for about a second. A menu pops up with additional functions.

Also in the SONG tab, tap-and-hold the TEMPO value (the number itself) to push it to 250, which is the maximum value. Tapping that number once or twice causes it to change at random (?).

Also in the SONG tab, the SHUFFLE amount knob seems to be the only knob in Caustic that doesn't reset to a default value when double-tapped.

There isn't any other tap-and-hold or any double-tap shortcut in this entire dialog, including its multiple tabs.

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MACHINES - ALL

Each machine has its default name printed on the top, left-most corner. Tap-and-hold it for about a second to change its name. That change will be reflected on every corner of the application where machine names are displayed.

Double-tap any knob to reset it to its default value. The default value is usually 0 (zero), which may point straight upwards (twelve o'clock) or all the way to the left, but some knobs default to maximum, i.e. all the way to the right.

PCMSYNTH
PCM Synth machines have two Filter faders. When you double-tap them, the CUTOFF fader deafults to maximum, while the RES fader defaults to zero.

FMSYNTH
On the FM Synth machine, most knobs have buttons above that look like ordinary labels, but they are actual buttons. Tap them once to toggle them.

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PATTERN EDITOR

* Note grid
Double-tap any note (or beat in the beatbox) to delete that note.
Note 1: it doesn't matter if multiple notes are highlighted, only the one double-tapped note will be deleted.
Note 2: double-tapping a pattern in the Sequencer will not delete the pattern. Instead, the current view jumps to the corresponding machine.

* Bank grid at the top
Tap-and-hold any letter or number to bring up an additional editor. Refer to the manual to learn about its functions.

Note: the BANK:[A] and PATT:[A1] buttons don't seem to do anything.
(Personally, I always expected them to move patterns around/across banks, similarly to tap-and-holding a pattern in the Sequencer)

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EFFECTS

There are two slots (two effects) for each machine. The default name of the machine or the new name you chose for it is displayed above the two slots. Double-tap that name to jump to that machine.

Every effect you add has its name and a red square on top of it, and a red X at the bottom.
Tap the name or red square to enable and disable the effect.

Tap the red X at the bottom to delete the effect. That action cannot be undone unless you add the effect again and reapply all the values, which can be difficult.

Double-tap any knob to reset it to its default value. The default value usually points straight upwards (twelve o'clock), but some knobs have different default values.

All effects have knobs and some effects have some kind of graph representation of their effect. Most of these graphs can be touched so you can adjust them. The two exceptions are the Limiter and the Parametric Equalizer; they just provide visual feedback, touching them causes no action.

There isn't any tap-and-hold shortcut in the entire Effects pane.

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MIXER

There is a mixer slot for each machine. The default name of the machine or the new name you chose for it is displayed below its corresponding mixer slot. Double-tap that name to jump to that machine.

Double-tap any knob to reset it to its default value. The default value is 0 (zero), which may point straight upwards (twelve o'clock) or all the way to the left.

There isn't any tap-and-hold shortcut in the entire Mixer pane.

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MASTER

The Master pane has five fixed components: Delay, Reverb, Equalizer, Limiter and Master. All of these components except Master have their names and a red square at the top. Click the red square (not the name) to enable or disable the component.

Besides the fixed components, there are two additional slots for effects. If you add effects to those slots, you can click their names or red squares to enable and disable them.

Double-tap any knob to reset it to its default value.

Tap the number of steps on the Delay component to adjust it.

There isn't any tapping action in the Equalizer graph.

Except for knobs, there isn't any double-tap shortcut in the entire Master pane.
There isn't any tap-and-hold shortcut in the entire Master pane.

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SEQUENCER - PATTERNS

All machines are lined up on a stack, with a thumbnail on the left.
Double-tap a thumbnail to jump to the corresponding machine.

Tap an empty white square to add a pattern.
There isn't any double-tap or tap-and-hold shortcut in the pattern selection dialog.

Double-tap any pattern to jump to its corresponding machine.
(Note: double-tapping a note in a pattern editor will delete the note, not jump to any machine.)

Tap-and-hold any pattern to bring up the pattern selection dialog and replace the current pattern with another one.

Any pattern can be dragged left or right, provided there is available room for them to move. If you move them into any space that is taken by another pattern, Caustic will light up a warning at the bottom of the pane (right above the Follow button) indicating errors. If you do not correct the errors, one of the overlapping patterns will not be played.

Patterns cannot be dragged up or down, i.e. across machines.

SEQUENCER - TOPMOST BUTTONS

* Twelve-square button
Tap it once to toggle across its functions (refer to the manual to learn the functions).

* Pan Tool (God's eye)
Tap it once to activate it so you can touch any point of the grid and jerk the entire grid around without destroying anything.

* Pattern stretching
Tap any pattern once so it is highlighted (it becomes orange), then drag this button left or right to make the highlighted pattern stretch or shrink.
or
Tap any pattern once so it is highlighted (it becomes orange), then press this button so it is highlighted (it becomes orange too), then drag the right-most edge of the pattern left or right to make the pattern stretch or shrink.

* Grid Control (minus sign, note, plus sign)
No secret tappings here. Refer to the manual for a full explanation of the functions.

* Selection Tools button
No secret tappings here. Refer to the manual for a full explanation of the functions.

* Copy/Paste Tools button
No secret tappings here. Refer to the manual for a full explanation of the functions.

* Numbers at the bottom of the grid

Tap any number once to determine the beginning of the playing sequence.

Tap any number and drag it to the right (never to the left) to create a loop and determine its length.

Once you have a loop, drag THE END of the loop towards LEFT to delete the loop.
Once you have a loop, drag THE BEGINNING OR THE END of the loop to discard the loop and create a new one. Or rather click and drag anywhere, because you can only have one loop at a time anyway.

Tap-and-hold any number to insert one or more measures (a.k.a. empty, available white squares) i.e. make room for a pattern where there isn't enough room available. All patterns (of all machines) that begin on or after that point will be pushed to the right. Patterns that begin before that point are not affected. This action cannot be undone with the Undo command, but...

Tap-and-hold a number within the loop to trim the loop -- that is one quick way to undo the insertion of additional measures.

* Follow button
Tap it once to toggle it.

SEQUENCER - RIGHT-HAND BUTTONS

There isn't any secret tapping here. Refer to the manual to learn what they do.