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Tips & Tricks
# Right-click on an object for more options! You never can do something wrong by right-clicking somewhere. So right-click around! On Osx: you can also use Control+click.
# Whenever there is a Tool Box around, e.g. in the Composer, you can quickly select another tool by clicking the middle mouse button or by pressing T. This pops up a big Tool Box right at the mouse cursor.
# You can double-click a Part in the Composer to directly open its editor.
# All scanned VST plugins are listed in the vstplugins.xml file in your luna/settings folder.
You can edit that XML file directly, just make sure LUNA is not running (i.e. quit LUNA).
To delete a plugin: delete the <plug>...</plug> block where the filepath is the one you want to delete.
Though that may cause the plugin to be re-added on a next "Add Vst Plugins".
So to 'ignore' a plugin: set the <Valid> value to 0.
To rescan a plugin: This can be done via LUNA itself: goto File Menu->VST Plugin Manager->Add Vst Plugins and choose the plugin you want to rescan. If it's currently an ignored plugin, LUNA will ask: "Rescan Plugin?"
# Global shortcuts:
| * | Record |
| Spacebar | Play |
| Arrow Left | Rewind |
| Arrow Right | Forward |
| Control+O (OSX: Command+O) | Open Session |
| Control+S (OSX: Command+S) | Save Session |
| Control+Z (OSX: Command+Z) | Undo Last Action |
| Shift+Control+Z (OSX: Shift+Command+Z) | Redo Last Action |
| Control+Q (OSX: Command+Q) | Exit/Quit |
# If you paste a part in the Composer, it is selected. Now press the Arrow Right key, and the Position is set at the end of the pasted part. So now you can easily paste a second time. Press the Arrow Right key again, and you can easily paste the part a third time. And so on 
# You can save a session as "New.musession". This will then be the default on choosing "New Session".
Questions & Answers
Q: Windows: Why do i get "Couldn't start Audio Engine"?
A: LUNA needs an ASIO driver for your sound card.
If you go to LUNA's Edit menu -> Audio Setup, then choose the ASIO driver for your sound card.
If no ASIO drivers are listed, then you can try ASIO 4 ALL ( http://www.asio4all.com ) to make your sound card ASIO compatible.
Q: How can i import an audio file?
A: You can import audio by using Audio File Parts.
Just draw a new part in the composer using the pencil tool, then choose "Audio File", then browse for the file you want to play.
Then eventually doubleclick that new part and trim the start and end points in the Audio Lab.
Q: What's the difference between a single-timbral VSTI and a multi-timbral VSTI?
A:A single-timbral VSTI can only play one sound at a time, a multi-timbral VSTI can play up to 16 different sounds at a time.
Not all VSTIs are multitimbral, for example NI Pro53 is single-timbral, but e.g. NI Kontakt is multi-timbral.
If a synth is single-timbral, you can bypass that limit by plugging in the same synth multiple times
Q: How can i sequence my hardware synths?
A: Set the Target for the sequence parts directly to a MIDI output port. Or if you first want to process these events via a MIDI plugin, then go via a Rack, and set the event output of that Rack to the relevant MIDI output port.
If you don't know how to set the event output for a rack, read it here: About Racks
Note that you can choose the MIDI channel via the sequence part's context menu.
Also note that LUNA only lists those MIDI output ports that are actually activated in the MIDI Hardware Setup (Edit menu -> MIDI Setup).
Q: How can i use a MIDI controller to control VST parameters?
A:
- Open the VST plugin editor
- Give a little tweak to the parameter you want to control
- Click the Options button in the Part Property Panel(with that VST plugin selected)
- You'll see an option: "Assign MIDI Controller to X" where X is the last VST parameter you tweaked
Q: How can i bounce down MIDI instruments to audio tracks?
A: If you want to get the sound of your MIDI instrument into LUNA, you have to record the audio output of your MIDI instrument.
If you want to turn a sequenced VSTI into audio, then select the relevant parts and choose File menu -> Mixdown To Audiofile.
Q: Where does the name "Value 2 Editor" come from?
A: Each event has several properties like Event Type, Event Time, Event Value 1, Event Value 2 etc...
For many events, the Value 2 property defines the 'amount' of the event. For example: the Value 2 for a Note event defines the velocity of that note, that is: it defines how hard the note is played.
In fact the "Value 2" thing comes from MIDI land, where a 3-byte message has a Status, Value 1 and Value 2.
A good overview of MIDI can be found here: http://www.borg.com/~jglatt/tech/midispec.htm
Q: Can i make a skin for LUNA? Where do i find info about this?
A: You find it here: MUTOOLS Skin SDK.
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