Aestesis Elektronika Manual Part 1
Revised: 10/04/12
In order to encourage others to use and develop Elektronika this manual has been started as an ongoing project. I would like to invite others to add their own knowledge, especially in regards to each module. (Go to aestesis Elektronika group on Facebook.) Debra Daun
Step 1) OVERVIEW
Drag cursor from this corner to resize screen
Splash Screen/ Window A Output
Elektronika Effects Panel
“ABOUT” Dialog Box
Figure 1- Initial layout
Hover Cursor here to lengthen program window
This is what you see when opening the program. The first green window is the splash screen, where you will see the output of your program when you output to “Window A”. You can drag this window around the desktop with the cursor. You may also re-size it by positioning your cursor on the lower right corner until you get diagonal arrows, then holding down the right mouse button and dragging the corner. The second smaller window behind the splash screen is the “About” Dialog Box, with a link to “HELP” file. It is a good idea to open the Help document and print it out for reference. This is where you will find a description of each module and it's function. Place your cursor on it, hold down the left button, and drag it out from behind the splash screen (this works with all windows). You can close this right away upon opening when you no longer need the help program. The third and largest screen is the Elektronika default program Effects Panel. This is already wired to demonstrate the working program. By moving this window to the upper corner of the desktop, then positioning the cursor over the bottom edge until you get vertical arrows, you can open the window to the full length of the desktop. To identify a control or feature, hover your cursor over it without clicking. A description should pop up. If you have not yet printed out the help file, do it now. It will be useful to refer to as you go through this manual. 1
Aestesis Elektronika Manual Part 1
Revised: 10/04/12
Step 2- BASICS On the Elektronika window, lower left corner there are a series of function buttons you should recognize: Module Power Button
Output Selection
Splash Screen
Stop
Start
Rewind
Record
Play
Fast Forward
End
Figure 2- Front View Elektronika works on the concept of stacking effects modules which can be hooked together in different combinations to produce a wide variety of effects. The effects modules are listed in the “HELP” document referred to earlier. The top brown module is the Dimension module. It functions as a video output/mixer. At the top of the Dimension Module you will see a little window that says [window] A window. That is the selected video output, which is the splash screen. More about this later on in the section on input/output modules. At the top right corner is the power button. There should be a black dot when the module is powered on. All modules have the same basic layout. Click on the “Play” button to start the program. You will see a video running on the splash screen. It's coming out of the QT module, which contains pre-loaded videos and is feeding it into the Dimension module via a virtual cable on the back of the array. Above Dimension are three words:
FRONT
BACK
SEQUENCER
You are looking at the front of the modules right now. Click on “BACK” to see the back of the modules and the connections.
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Aestesis Elektronika Manual Part 1
Revised: 10/04/12
The red and yellow lines are the virtual cables that connect the modules together. Red is for video, yellow is for audio. Inputs are on the left side of each module, outputs are on the right. Hover your cursor over one of the video inputs on the dimension module. You will see a small window pop up that shows you the signal on that cable (Figure 3). This will happen any time you hover over either an input or output with a live signal. That allows you to track a pathway for signals without having constantly switch to the front view. (see Examples in Step 3) Clicking on “FRONT” will bring you back where you started. For now, don't worry about the “SEQUENCER”. Module Input Pins Video Inputs – Red Audio Inputs - Yellow
Live Signal (appears when hovering cursor)
Active Splash Screen
Module Output Pins
Figure 3- Back View Virtual Video/Audio Cables
Step 3- REMOVING, ADDING AND CONNECTING MODULES Modules are easily deleted by right clicking on the module itself and choosing “Delete Module” from the menu. The program will ask “Are You Sure?” Similarly, you can add a module by right clicking in the area you want the module to install and choosing “Add Module” from the context menu. Another menu will appear with categories of 3
Aestesis Elektronika Manual Part 1
Revised: 10/04/12
modules. Pick one, and you will see yet another menu showing your choices for that type of module (See Figure 4). In Figure 4 we have selected the IN/OUT menu and now see the list of input and output modules. If you hover over the entry without clicking, a description of the module will appear, as shown. Left click to choose the module and it will appear in the window.
Figure 4 NOTE: The window is usually not large enough to show all modules in a setup, but by placing your cursor between controls on any other part of a module and holding down the left mouse button you can drag up and down in the window to scroll the setup and view the other modules. Once you have added a module you have to connect it at the back with virtual cables. These work just as they would in real life. You have to plug one end in where the signal comes out of one module and the other end where the signal goes into another module. To create a cable, simply left click on an input/output pin, drag the cursor until it rests on top of the other output/input pin and release the mouse button. You can start at either end, it doesn't matter. To remove a cable, left click on one end and drag it off the pin a bit. The cable will disappear. If you happen to try to make an improper connection such as audio to video, for example, the cable will not connect. It will just disappear. As it says in the HELP file, you can connect any number of cables to the same input/output.
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Aestesis Elektronika Manual Part 1
Revised: 10/04/12
Step 4- MODULE BASICS Working module controls is simple but takes a little practice to be able to do it smoothly. For a dial, left click and hold down the mouse button. Dragging up will cause the knob to turn to the right. Dragging down will cause the knob to turn to the left. For a button (square) left click on it to turn on, click again to turn off. A black dot in the middle of the square indicates that it is on. Color buttons allow you to change effect/background colors. They are also squares. Double click (left) on a square, and a pallette of colors will appear at the bottom of the screen. Your cursor will become an eyedropper. Slide the cursor down and click on the color area you want. The box will change to that color. You can pick colors from anywhere in the Elektronika window, including other color buttons. Sliders allow you to raise and lower the levels of effects. Left click on the slider at the top of the green line, or at the bottom of the slider if no green is showing. Hold the button and drag the top of the green area up or down as desired. AUDIO: Some of the video effects modules are sound reactive. Hooking up a microphone to your computer lets your show move with live music. It will also pick up from the computer's internal sound device. Below is the AUDIO IN module, showing the available drivers: Dials
Color Buttons
Slide Controls
Figure 5 Audio Input module with driver context menu 5
Aestesis Elektronika Manual Part 1
Revised: 10/04/12
Right click on the window to bring up the menu, and click to select the one you want. The module will then be active and you will be able to turn up the levels and volume. You now know the basics of the Elektronika program. With what you have learned it is now time to play with the program until you feel comfortable with it. Here are some points to remember: 1) If you have connected all your modules together and are sure they are correct, but nothing happens, try hitting the “PLAY” button. Every time you change the program, or save settings, it stops and you have to hit play to start it again. 2) People who are familiar with hooking up video and audio equipment in real life already know this: Audio and video signals are like water running through a pipe. The signal (water) is brought in through an input (Video/Audio input module). From there it goes through an output at the back of the module and enters a cable (pipe). The cable carries it to the next module's input, and so on. You can route the signal through multiple modules to get different effects. That's the fun part! Changing the order changes the effect. The last stop is when the signal is fed into the input of an output module that will allow you to see the final product on the splash screen, through your projector, or other device. At this point the best thing you can do is play with the modules, cables and controls until you are comfortable with them.
EXERCISE: 1) 2) 3) 4)
Open Elektronika. Close HELP/TITLE window. Delete all modules. Add the following modules: V-Out (Video Out), Audio In, Dancer, Wrapper 98. Aestesis. Turn to back view, connect Dancer output to Video 1 input, Aestesis to Video 2, and Wrapper 98 to Video 3. (All will be red.) Connect Audio output to Aestesis Audio Input. (All will be yellow.) 5) Turn to FRONT view. Drop the Video Out menu (currently reads “NONE”), choose Window A. 6) Click the Play button. Modules load as “ON” and you should get the Dancer on the splash screen. He is on Channel 1. Select Channel 2 to see Aestesis, and Channel 3 to get Wrapper 98. You can experiment with the different controls to see the effects. 7) Just below the PLAY button you will see a small row of Icons. One of them is SAVE, represented by a small diskette, just as on your computer. Click on this and save your program settings for later practice.
If you were able to to the above with success, you are well on the way to using this program successfully. The more you experiment with each module the easier the overall process becomes. The next chapter will show how to set up your own configurations and save them. It will also cover a few of the modules that will allow you to create & project your own basic show. 6