Skip to main content

Settings Window

The settings window is where you can configure various aspects of your audio interface, MIDI connections, and other application-level parameters. You can reach this page by clicking the gear icon on the bottom right of the app or by selecting which settings window you'd like to open from the Sensory Percussion menu on Mac or File on Windows.

There are also some keyboard shortcuts you can use::

  • Audio settings: ⌘/ctrl + ,
  • MIDI devices: ⌘/ctrl + .
  • Keyboard shortcuts: ⌘/ctrl + K

Environment​

The Environment dropdown at the top of the settings window saves and loads your whole setup: the Audio, MIDI Devices, and OSC Network pages below it, plus your hardware inputs and outputs. Each of those pages shows which environment you're in, in a grey line under its title. See Environments.

The Environment dropdown open in the settings window

Audio Settings​

The Audio Settings page is where you configure your audio interface: the audio engine, input and output devices, sample rate, and buffer size. If your machine is fast enough, a buffer size of 64 samples gives lower latency than 128.

The Inputs and Test Output meters show your signal levels. Click the play button to the left of the output meter to play a test tone.

Under Devices, a card shows your main interface. Below it, the input channels and output channels lists show every channel on the device; click a channel to turn it on or off. With the EVANS Portal, that's 12 inputs and 16 outputs.

The Audio Settings page with an EVANS Portal as the main interface

With a second Portal connected, a second card appears next to your main interface, and the Sensor Expansion dropdown under Output Device lets you use it for seven more sensor inputs. See Sensor Expansion.

With any interface other than the EVANS Portal, the main card shows a generic interface picture and lists that device's channels. If a Portal is also connected, the card offers Use Portal as main interface, and the Portal can still be your sensor expansion:

The Audio Settings page with MacBook Pro Microphone and Speakers as the main interface and an EVANS Portal as the sensor expansion

If you switch to a different interface, your hardware inputs and outputs can be moved to it in one step. See Hardware Remap.

General Settings​

This page allows you to view the email your Sunhouse account is registered to and sign in/out of this account.

The EVANS Portal General Settings page

Account settings​

See which email address your Sunhouse account is registered to and sign in/out of this account.

Analytics settings​

You can also opt in/out of our anonymous analytics collections. This data helps us improve the Sensory Percussion software and make it more stable. We don't collect any personal information, just data about how the software is being used that can't be traced to any individual user. Read more about our data collection practices here.

Remember live changes​

This sets what happens to values your playing moves. With it on — the default — the values the engine is currently using are written into your session when you save. With it off, only the values you set by hand are saved, and live movement is discarded unless you commit it deliberately.

Individual modules can override this setting for themselves. See Parameters for more information.

Sound packs directory​

Choose which folder Sunhouse sound packs are stored in. This is useful if you have a custom folder structure for your sound packs or want to store them on an external drive.

User packs directory​

Choose which folder your own packs are stored in. This defaults to Music/Sunhouse/Sensory Percussion 2/user packs, where exported sound packs are installed.

Plugin installation​

Manage the installation of the Sensory Percussion 2 VST plugin here. If you're having trouble with the plugin, you can try reinstalling it from this page.

Zoom​

You can adjust the zoom level of the Sensory Percussion app window here. This is useful if you're using a high-resolution display and the app is too small to see comfortably. You can scale from 50% to 200%.

Recording Settings​

These settings allow you to configure the recording options for your session. You can choose the recording format (WAV, AIFF, or FLAC), the sample rate, and the bit depth. You can also choose the folder where your recordings are saved.

Recording settings

MIDI Devices​

On this page, you can view and activate/deactivate MIDI inputs and outputs. If you're using an interface that has MIDI in/out, it will appear in these dropdowns, as well as any virtual MIDI ports that are active on your computer. For more information on using MIDI with Sensory Percussion, check out our how-to articles on receiving MIDI in and sending MIDI out.

The MIDI Devices settings page

Keyboard Shortcuts​

On this page, you can view and edit all keyboard shortcuts for the Sensory Percussion app. Click on any of the existing default shortcuts to change/remove them. You can also add shortcuts that don't exist by default.

The Keyboard Shortcuts settings page

OSC Network​

This page connects Sensory Percussion to other software over OSC. It can receive OSC, letting another app trigger and control it, and send OSC, broadcasting what it's doing so another app can follow along. The two directions are independent, so you can turn on either, both, or neither. Both are off by default.

The OSC Network settings page

Receive​

Turn on Receive OSC messages to listen for incoming OSC, and set Incoming port to the port to listen on. The port defaults to 9000 and has to be between 1 and 65535.

Send​

Turn on Send OSC messages to broadcast out to another app or machine.

Remote host is where to send — an IP address or hostname, defaulting to 127.0.0.1, which is this machine. Remote port is the port to send to, defaulting to 9001, with the same 1–65535 rule.

The filter beside the toggle sets how much traffic goes out:

  • Exclude internal sends only your hardware and hit traffic — the hits and sensor data coming off your controller. This is the default, and it's what nearly everyone wants: it's the setting for driving another app from your playing.
  • All also includes the app's internal parameter traffic, so every knob move and internal update goes out too. It's a firehose meant for debugging and deep integration.

Feedback protection​

Sending and receiving on the same port on the same machine would make Sensory Percussion talk to itself in a loop. When your settings would do that, it switches one of the two toggles off for you and turns its label orange, with a feedback detected tooltip. The side you just changed is kept, and the other one is switched off.

This only happens for a real loop: the remote host has to be this machine (127.0.0.1, 0.0.0.0, or one of your own network addresses) and the ports have to match. Sending to another machine on the same port number is fine.

Drumset Layout​

Configure how you arrange your inputs in Sensory Percussion 2. This not only customizes how the drumset appears in the Play view, but also ensures compatibility with any library sets you play.

For example, if you are only using one tom, is it a floor tom or a rack tom? If you are using two cymbals, are they a ride and crash cymbal or two crashes? Establishing the role you intend for each input allows Sensory Percussion to remap the input filters of anything you pull from the library to match your physical setup.

Turn on Left-hand layout to mirror the whole kit left to right, so the hi-hat and snare sit on the right and the floor toms and ride on the left. It only changes how the kit is drawn, in the preview here and in the Play View, and it's remembered across launches. Your input mapping doesn't change.

Drumset Layout settings with Left-hand layout turned on

The Play View kit mirrored for a left-handed setup