Welcome to Tone Master! I've created this little NVDA add-on just for fun, but also for you to have fun while using it.
I always wanted to create musical tunes with NVDA, rather than just listening to NVDA's progress and error beeps. However, it's not too easy to do, so first I wanted to make it easier. That's why I wrote Tone Master. Just imagine how it could be for you to hear NVDA playing song by Mozzart or Beethoven, or may be greatest hits by Rolling Stones. Although the final result sounds like those ringtones on old mobile phones, it may still be funny.
Tone Master simplifies process of playing tone sequences by implementing tone data files. These files can be edited with your favorite text editor and then saved for playback with NVDA. Read on for instructions!
Before you can play your first musical tune with Tone Master, you have to create and load your tone data file first. Tone data files are simply text files with .tdf extension. Tone Master uses these files for processing and playing back tone sequences. To create tone data file for Tone Master to be able to play it successfully, you have to follow simple rules described below.
Example: Play a sequence of 3 tones
1500:100:0.5
1000:100:0.09
500:100:0.7
In this example, the first tone in a sequence has a pitch of 1500, duration of 100 and 0.5 silence. The second tone's pitch is 1000, duration is 100, and the silence is 0.09. The last tone in a sequence has pitch 500, duration 100, and the silence is 0.7.
Note, the silence parameter is necessary to specify even if you think that it's not, because if not specified, NVDA will override the previous tone by the next one, and you will get unexpectable results. That's why I made it to be necessary.
To get more familiar with tone data files syntax, please view and try editing the example file included with this add-on. It's located in the "tones" subfolder, where all your .tdf files must be located as well.
You can also create, edit and load tone data files, or open tones folder where these files are located by going into the NVDA menu, Tools SubMenu, Tone Master SubMenu.
When the dialog for creating new tone data file is displayed, type the name without .tdf extension. The extension will be automatically added by Tone Master. If no name was specified, Tone Master will use the default name "untitled.tdf". Tone Master will automatically create and load new file for you, and it will also be opened in Notepad for editing. Press Escape at the file name prompt to cancel new file creation.
Note: Tone Master uses Notepad for editing tone data files, since it comes with Windows by default and therefore any computer should have it available.
When the dialog for loading tone data file is open, use the arrow keys to select a file to load and then press Enter. Press Escape to cancel loading.
When you open a folder with .tdf files, you can then load them in your text editor for viewing or editing. However, in order to hear your results on the fly, I highly recommend you to load the file into Tone Master first if possible. Then you can edit the file, save your progress, and after each save you can use play command to hear your last result.