touchp(o)int Sound Palette (trial version)    
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How to play with the touchp(o)int Sound Palette

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Graphic controls
  1. Where you click, the sound starts to play (with a little ascending of volume in the beginning).
  2. Right click stops the sound (with a little decay which creates an overlap from window to window).
  3. Clicking in another window stops the former sound(s).
  4. You can suppress the auto-stop mentioned in 3. If you check the checkbox in the fourth position of the little toolbar, then the former window will continue to play.
  5. Click in a high position = max. Volume, click in a low position = low Volume, so each click can come directly with a different volume, check it out.
Slider controls
  1. First slider underneath can be also used to continuously control volume.
  2. Second slider controls panorama. In addition, each click in the sound graphics changes the panorama randomly.
  3. Right click >-Symbol: Open bar to change Fade In value (A-ttack). Current value is displayed. Left click bar to change value (Left 1 ms. Right approx. 4s.).
  4. Right click M-Symbol: Open bar to change Fade Out value (D-ecay). Current value is displayed. Left click bar to change value (Left 1 ms. Right approx. 4s.).
  5. Right click loop-Symbol: 1x4: New set values will apply to all open members (default). 4x1: Values apply to the member only.
  6. Left click bar to change mode. Right click bar to leave without changes.
Sound navigation buttons
  1. The first gray button starts the sound from the beginning.
  2. The second button loads usually the next following sound. You can use it to show the same window twice in order to overlap similar areas of sound.
  3. The third button loads usually the next following sound group. Click this button on all 4 windows in order to get to a new window group.
  4. The fourth button (if given) links usually back to the first sound group of a multi-group Palette project. Click this button on all 4 windows in order to get back to the first group.
  5. The button at the most right position loads usually the former following sound. You can use it to show the same window twice in order to overlap similar areas of sound.
Toolbar buttons
  1. The play button [>] starts and pauses [=] the sound at any position.
  2. The loop button [§] restarts the sound at the left click position till the right click position. Left and right click values can be changed during play. Check it out.
  3. The mute button [M] mutes and unmutes the sound.
  4. The checkbox [ v ] allows to keep the sound playing while clicking into another sound (see above).
  5. The infobox [ i ] links to the sound home page at Freesound.org with additional information (Freesounders that contributed to this mix etc.).
Using Hypersound touchp(o)ints
  1. Right click the black square at the left lower corner to enter the Edit mode. All Hypersound touchp(o)ints will be spread along the bottom line, appearing in gray tones.
  2. Click left on a Hypersound touchp(o)int (in any order) and drag it up to the sound image to the desired position. Click left again to release the Hypersound touchp(o)int.
  3. Move mouse over Hypersound touchp(o)int to watch its number (1 through 27).
  4. Right click any positioned Hypersound touchp(o)int to remove the complete Hypersound touchp(o)int line (be careful not to destroy your current touchp(o)int line accidentely). If you don't define a new touchp(o)int line, a pre-defined touchp(o)int line may return after you refresh the sound window. This predefined touchp(o)int line may also appear when you open the Palette for the first time. You may delete it with a right mouse click as just explained.
  5. Right click any square along the bottom line to get back to the Play mode. All touchp(o)ints will be stapled back at the left lower corner appearing in black. In the Play mode, no touchp(o)int can be edited and the touchp(o)int line cannot be deleted.
  6. Press shift and Right click on any square to get your position set as a text sequence into your email editor (you may share it with friends).
  7. Copy a text sequence (created through 7., or provided by the default code page right from the sound window identifier, for example S93111, into your clip board and then press shift and click left on any square to apply the sequence to the sound file (be careful not to destroy your current touchp(o)int line accidentely).
Recording and sharing a trip through the sound windows
  1. Please follow the context-sensitive descriptions in the red window left to the recorder control buttons.
  2. In the Edit mode (see 4. above), they will be recorded together with the sound clicks and be placed back to the screen when being played. You can use this as a convenient way to save and load Hypersound touchp(o)int sequences spread over various sound windows. You may also want to move Hypersound touchp(o)ints and to record a new sequence based on the changes, or simply replay along with Hypersound touchp(o)int positions that have been placed during the play from the recorder.
  3. The Palette Recorder is part of the trial mode. If you encounter any problems, please reload the page or write a message to the webmaster.
  4. Instead of copying the surfcode from an email page you may also copy it from the default code page underneath the touchp(o)int line section. Just highlight the code, copy it into the clip board and click the "Enter" button of the recorder.
Using touchp(o)int colors
  1. Recorder windows offer a touchp(o)int color slider. Move the touchp(o)int color slider to the desired color displayed at the button. (White color - most left position - is reserved for Strike&Stroke display or surf touchp(o)ints, depending on the sound window version, see below.)
  2. All further touchp(o)ints created will appear in the set color until the color will be changed again, no matter if the touchp(o)ints will be created through re-play or manual operation.
  3. Colors are recorded for later use. Once saved and re-entered, the original colors will be displayed.
  4. When clicking on a touchp(o)int, the touchp(o)int color will automatically be set for further editing or entering new touchp(o)ints to the colored group.
Using a Colorstrip
  1. [Till version 66, use better "Black mode"] When pressing ctrl and clicking on a row of touchp(o)ints even from multiple windows, the touchp(o)int colors will be written into a temporary Colorstrip file.
  2. [Till version 66, use better "Black mode"] When pressing ctrl and Right clicking on a touchp(o)int, the temporary Colorstrip will be attached to the active window of that touchp(o)int and be placed at the bottom line instead of the black square.
  3. Press shift and Right click the Colorstrip to copy it into an email window. Pressd shift and click the Colorstrip to copy another Colorstrip from the clip board to the window. [Till version 66, use better "Black mode"] You cannot copy a Colorstrip directly to the black square. Create a temporary Colorstrip (ctrl click and then Right click a touchp(o)int) and copy then onto the colored touchp(o)int at the bottom.
  4. "Black mode" (Play mode only, suitable for touchscreen): Put the color slider to the right (black color). Now each touchp(o)int played will be recorded for a Colorstrip (without the need to press the ctrl key). After your sequence is complete, simply (right-[new])click on the latest Colorstrip (or at the single black touchp(o)int) at the bottom to replace it with the new one.
  5. Clicking a second time on the Colorstrip will remove it.
  6. [newer Palettes] When clicking a touchp(o)int from the Colorstrip the original touchp(o)int will be played from the exact coordinates from where the touchp(o)int play event was created (so it may differ even with the same touchp(o)int). Simultaneously the touchp(o)ints from the Colorstrip and other usual touchp(o)ints as well can be played as one sequence and created as a new Colorstrip as explained above. This function works across the 4 open windows of a touchp(o)int Sound Palette.
  7. [newer Palettes] In addition, the next stored element of a Colorstrip will be marked in the sound window where it belongs to (it will be skipped in the straight position). This allows to play the sequence of a Colorstrip right away on the target touchp(o)ints. In order to jump to another element in the sequence, another Colorstrip element can simply be clicked. When the last element is being played, the first element of the sequence will be marked again. If the Colorstrip of another window is being clicked, all elements will now relate to this new strip. This is also valid when a new Colorstrip is being loaded into a window.
  8. [newer Palettes] The creation of a playable Colorstrip can be used to "instrumentalize" the sound windows (creating a kind of colored sound keyboard). The inherent re-play and re-recording turbo principle allows continous design improvements of intended sound sequences.
  9. [newer Palettes] Versions above V64 consider the time factor when creating a Colorstrip. In return the next playable touchp(o)int will only be shown when the recorded time elapses. The time that applies is shown in the bottom gray text field when hovering with the mouse over the relevant Colorstip element (rounded to full seconds).
  10. [From version 67] Press ctrl and Right click to export all Colorstrips of the same window with different prefixes (for example, A0099 and B0099) at once. Press ctrl and Left click to import them from a text file via the clipboard. This function is useful when organizing multiple Colorstrips as temporary segments or as a table of contents.
  11. Color grouping can help you also to remember certain sets of Hypersound touchp(o)ints which stand for a specific musical relationship between soundfile locations.
Using Strike&Stroke display (newer versions)
  1. Right click the checkbox [ v ] from the Toolbar to determine the sound window version. If a version number is shown in the bottom gray text field and if the version is higher than V65 then the Strike&Stroke display will appear instead of the surf touchp(o)int feature described further below.
  2. With the Strike&Stroke display you can get information where shorter ("Strikes" - skipped touchp(o)ints) and longer ("Strokes" - straight touchp(o)ints) sound elements can be found. This allows to differentiate fast from preferably lower touchp(o)int actions where longer sounds should be given some time to appear. Note that longer sounds provide the opportunity to apply other controls as well, like the slider controls described above.
  3. The Strike&Stroke display mode behaves the same way as the "Black mode" described in the "Using a Colorstrip" section above, except for indicating the next playable touchp(o)int of a Colorstrip by showing a straight touchp(o)int.
  4. Move touchp(o)int color slider to the left edge (white color) in order to change to the Strike&Stroke display mode.
  5. Refresh the sound window to display the differentiated touchp(o)ints. Now you have an easy orientation to play fast the shorter and slow the longer sound parts of the window.
  6. In order to create your own Strike&Stroke display, you can right click any touchp(o)int. Unlike in other modes where the sound would stop playing, the rotation of the touchp(o)int will be changed with each click.
  7. After creating your own display you can export it to your email text window while holding the Shift key and right clicking on a touchp(o)int.
  8. Hold the Shift key and click a touchp(o)int to import another touchp(o)int line from your computer cliipboard.
  9. Note: Import and export of a touchp(o)int line can be done in any mode regardless the Strike&Stroke display. The display information will be transferred in any case but is made visible only through applying the Strike&Stroke display mode as described above.
  10. Tip: When should you use the "Black" and the "White mode"? The "Black mode" should be used for applying a determined sequence of touchp(o)ints like a composition. The "White mode" invites rather to improvisation without any strict sequencial determination.
Using surf touchp(o)ints (older versions)
  1. Right click the checkbox [ v ] from the Toolbar to determine the sound window version. If no version number is shown in the bottom gray text field or if the version shown is lower than V66 then the surf touchp(o)ints feature will be provided instead of the Strike&Stroke display described above.
  2. surf touchp(o)ints reflect the actual play with the touchp(o)int Sound Palette, click by click.
  3. Move touchp(o)int color slider to the left edge (white color) in order to change to the surf touchp(o)int mode.
  4. Make sure that the Edit mode is selected. The Edit mode appears with all touchp(o)ints in a shaded row at the bottom of the window. If you see only one black touchp(o)int at the left corner you are in the Play mode. Click right on the touchp(o)int to change to Edit mode. (The same way you will change later on back to the Play mode.)
  5. Play a sequence from the recorder in the Edit mode in order to create the surf touchp(o)ints. They appear as small numbers in gray boxes one after the other during the recorder play. You may use a sequence across the windows. In this case, the numbers will be spread across the windows as well.
  6. Press shift and Right click in on one of the touchp(o)ints in order to copy each surf touchp(o)int list (the "surflines") into an email window.
  7. Right click one of the surf touchp(o)ints to remove the touchp(o)int line.
  8. Copy the email text sequence into the clipboard, press shift and click on a specific touchp(o)int to save the windows' surf touchp(o)int line into a specific location. The location number is shown in the gray display field on top of the two sliders at the bottom when moving the mouse over the touchp(o)int.
  9. Save all surf touchp(o)int lines of all windows to identical locations using the above method.
  10. surf touchp(o)int lines of multiple windows can be loaded simultaneously. Remove the touchp(o)int lines (Right click a touchp(o)int). Press Ctrl and click the touchp(o)int in one of the windows where they have been stored. All touchp(o)int lines of that memory location will be restored in all windows simultaneously. Limitation: Refresh the browser window before simultaneous load, or load the windows separately.
  11. In order to play with the help of the surf touchp(o)ints, Right click one of the bottom touchp(o)ints to switch to the Play mode. All numbers will now be displayed in larger size (suitable for touch screen).
  12. Click the surf touchp(o)ints in the numbered order across the windows in order to reproduce the former recorded sequence. Each time a touchp(o)int is being clicked, the sound will play at the touchp(o)int location and the touchp(o)int will disappear allowing to follow-up also with formerly hidden touchp(o)ints. (In the Edit mode, the touchp(o)int would not play but being moved to a new location till another click appears, see description in former sections.)
  13. A red number indicates that an automatic load of the next surf touchp(o)int line and/or new windows is made available by the window author. These settings cannot be changed by touchp(o)int functions. If you want to avoid those predefined links, use the Edit mode to apply free (black) touchp(o)ints.
  14. In order to delete a touchp(o)int line, simply copy an empty clipboard onto the touchp(o)int.
This version was tested on Windows Vista with Internet Explorer 8.0, Safari and Google Chrome. It requires the > Adobe Shockwave player plug-in <.
Macintosh users report inconsistencies with the Shockwave format (for example the behavior of the right mouse button.)


More information



10 Hot Surf Tips for creating great Sound Paintings with the touchp(o)int Sound Palette




1. Move smoothly
  • Each following click should appear in another window. This allows the former sound to fade out while the new sound will fade in.
  • If you click in the same window, make sure that the interruption of the former sound position will not disturb and that the new sound will not appear as a sudden 'shock' (for example, if you click in a high position, which creates a high volume).
2. Don't jump
  • Try to make any change in a way that no-one will know that you actually moved to another place.
  • Use Hypersound touchp(o)ints (see above) to mark and remember smooth transitions from location to location. Experiment a lot to find the best combinations (Hypersound links).
3. Glue with low or high volume
  • Don't be too extreme in using different volume values.
  • Consider the place of presentation where your Sound Trip will be heard.
  • When a high volume runs, change it only to low volume if you have a high volume somewhere else.
  • When changing to another fairly loud sound, select first a fitting sound with a lower volume from another window to glue the transition.
4. Look for good similarities and contrasts
  • Play in between similar sounds that differ a bit, or look for great contrasts as a good surprise, but don't overuse the change effects.
  • If you can't find similarities, open the same window twice while pressing the second gray button at the top of the adjacent window.
5. Let it play
  • Don't be 'hyperactive' :-) with Hypersound links and let the sounds play some time. A lot of efforts have been spent to create these landscapes. Enjoy them a bit as they are.
  • While letting the sounds go, you may use the volume and the panorama slider at the bottom in order to continuously change their appearance.
6. Extend your trip
  • After a while of good combinations in between the windows, their musical potential may have been exhausted. Extend your choice of windows by navigating the gray buttons at the third position (online users need to be patient until the background downloading has been finished).
  • Plan bigger changes ahead using different windows.
7. Shape a story
  • Think as a true travel guide, leading your audience from sensation to sensation, but don't exhaust them.
  • Plan different experiences for your listeners: For example, start your play with a silent introduction (the "intro"), and plan a great finish (the "extro").
  • Change extensive (an "excite" passage) and intensive (an "insight" passage) scenarios during your play.
  • Think creatively in using the given resources to keep the attention for your Sound Trip high: Don't use too much different material or bore your listeners with not moving ahead.
  • Try to group different experiences.
8. Improve your Sound Trips
  • Try multiple versions of your click sequences to find out the best combinations.
  • Compare between different versions you develop on a click-by-click level and on a level of changing parts.
  • Be always open to find new listening sweetspots or listening sensations to include and highlight them in your Sound Trip.
  • Study the given musical landscapes in your chosen windows well in order to pull out the best of it and to beat others using the same material.
9. Learn from others
  • Check Hypersound touchp(o)int lines from others or use the predefined suggested ones (when published) to learn to improve your own touchp(o)int positioning.
  • Listen to the final results where published and try to think how to achieve this experience by you. Ask others how they did it.
10. Share!