2.7 Controls
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| mouse | click a slider band and drag left / right (free play only); the cursor shows while the mouse moves and hides after 2 s |
↑ ↓ |
select a parameter: the three radii, the three weights, max speed, max force (“> ” marks it) |
← → |
adjust it: left less, right more (hold to accelerate) |
1 – 3 |
visual theme: paper, club, night (2.6) |
+ / - |
add / remove 5 boids (5 – 400; fewer than 5 can't form a flock, beyond 400 real time loses its margin) |
r / x / SPACE |
reset parameters (and the octave) / scatter boids / pause |
m |
mute (for listening; never written into scores) |
0 |
the classic / the club edition (2.5) |
h / g / t / b |
HUD / overlay / trails / boid shape |
c |
flock colours behind the flocks in paper (off at the start; separate from the lines of g, which are on) |
k |
beat layer on / off (on when free play starts) |
, / . |
beat grid finer / coarser: 40 · 60 · 80 · 120 · 240 px |
< / > |
club edition: tempo −1 / +1 bpm |
[ / ] |
shrink / enlarge glyphs and text (viewing distance) |
s |
save a still to captures/ (the file name shows at the bottom of the window) |
i |
MIDI info line on / off: each control's number and what it did (window only) |
TAB |
choose the next score (every .txt in data/; on the controller also the previous one) |
P |
play the chosen score in real time (preview) |
V |
render the chosen score to renders/Swarm Synth V - <number> <title> - Take <seed>.mp4 |
F |
back to free play |
Shift+R |
write free play down as a score; again to stop and save (2.8.2) |
Shift+A |
build the sound atlas (about 3 minutes) |
Shift+B |
build the beat atlas (about 2½ minutes) |
? |
show / hide this list of keys on screen (window only, never in renders or stills) |
ESC |
quit |
In the club edition the player adds what a DJ adds: the tempo (< >, knob 7) and the volumes of the beat, the drones and the notes (faders 5 – 7), to bring a layer forward or let it recede. Both editions share one layout of keys and controller; the tempo knob does nothing in the classic edition.
2.7.1 MIDI controller
The instrument is also played with a MIDI controller, at present a Korg nanoKONTROL2. The layout lives in a mapping file per device, so another controller — or a panel built for visitors — plays the same instrument with its own layout.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| knob | sep weight | ali weight | coh weight | max force | beat grid | octave | tempo (club) | boids |
| S | 75 % | 75 % | 75 % | 75 % | 75 % | 75 % | 75 % | function map |
| M | 50 % | 50 % | 50 % | 50 % | 50 % | 50 % | 50 % | pause |
| R | 25 % | 25 % | 25 % | 25 % | 25 % | 25 % | 25 % | reset |
| fader | separation | alignment | cohesion | max speed | drone volume | note volume | beat volume | volume |
| Transport | Action |
|---|---|
| track ◀ ▶ | the classic / the club edition (lit: the one playing) |
| cycle | scatter |
| marker set | save a still |
| marker ◀ ▶ | previous / next theme |
| ◀◀ ▶▶ | previous / next score |
| stop / play / rec | free play / play the chosen score / write free play down as a score (Shift+R) |
- Faders 1 – 3 are IV's three sliders, the radii; the knobs above them are the same rules' weights. Max speed is fader 4, max force knob 4.
- Faders 5 – 7 are the volumes of the drone, the notes (with the crackle) and the beat: 50 % is the sound as designed, 100 % twice as loud. In the club edition the beat fader moves the whole beat layer — the beat and the pulse, the blips, the ticks and the shaker, the bass and the percussion. They replace the layer mutes of earlier days (2026-10-12).
- Faders and knobs pick up: a control only takes over once it reaches the parameter's current value (or crosses it), so nothing jumps at the start, after reset, or after the keys or the mouse moved the value.
- S M R of strips 1 – 7 jump that fader's parameter or volume to 75 / 50 / 25 % of its range (radii 150 / 100 / 50 px, speed 7.8 / 5.5 / 3.3); the fader then picks up from there. Free play only.
- Knob 5: the beat grid, left 240 (slow) … right 40 (fast). Knob 6: the octave, five zones −2 … +2 (2.4.1). Knob 7: the club edition's tempo (it does nothing in the classic edition). Knob 8: the number of boids, 5 – 400 in steps of 5. Fader 8: the speakers' volume only (never in renders, scores or measurements).
- Buttons play their keys, so Shift+R writes what they do just as the keys would; the volumes and the edition are written too, mute is not.
- Lights: a button is lit while its state is on (pause, the edition playing, the function map); the 75 / 50 / 25 % buttons are lit while their parameter stands exactly on that value.
- The function map (S8) draws the controller on screen with every control's function, the current values, the lights, and a hollow mark where a fader stands until it picks up (window only, like the key list; one of the two at a time). Without the controller it shows the layout as “not connected”.
ishows a line at the bottom of the window with each control's number and what it did: the learn mode for a new mapping.
2.7.2 Running the instrument
- Processing 4.5 or later; no extra library. ffmpeg is needed for rendering to video and for the atlas clips.
- Full screen by default.