Synth Burst On and Off Times

Controls: Edit Menu >> Synth Controls >> On/Off Time
Macros: SynthBurstOn, SynthBurstOff

When Synth Burst is active, these control the duration of the burst (On) and the time between bursts (Off) in milliseconds. Due to the resolution of Windows timers, the minimum value you can set is 10 msec.

Although you can set higher values in steps of 1 msec, note that there is an effective resolution that is really the same as the minimum value. So you can only get 10, 20, 30, (etc) msec. However, the actual duration may vary depending on the computational load of Windows.

If you set the Off time to 0, there is only a single burst that stops after the On duration. This is especially useful for producing a single macro-initiated MIDI Synth tone of specified duration. Here's a simple example:

SynthOn=1      ;Burst starts after Synth turns on
WaitSecs=SynthBurstOn / 1000 + 100m    ;Wait for burst done
SynthOn=0      ;Turn of Synth to re-arm

Be sure to note that WaitSecs expects values in seconds, while SynthBurstOn is in milliseconds, hence the divide by 1000. Also note the added 100m to allow for start-up lag.

Note that when Audible Error Alert is checked in the Run Preferences dialog, any error or status message will be announced by a single burst of On duration, regardless of the Off setting or whether Synth Burst is active.

See also Synthesizer Control Dialog.