
 Options provide the means to tailor RhythmAce to
 your personal needs.  For example, you may
 control the note values used in the drills
 presented by using the 'Included notes' option
 menus.

 The options settings are tracked for each user.
 Values are stored away at the end of each session
 and retrieved at the start of the next.



 In general, to change an option setting, follow
 these steps:

  1. Pull down the Options menu and select the
     desired option. The selected option's dialog
     box appears.

  2. Make your changes and select OK.



 There are three basic types of dialog boxes.

 The first type contains a list of options with
 check boxes next to them. When you select a check
 box, it changes visually to indicate its status.
 An empty box indicates 'off' or 'not selected'. A
 check in the box indicates 'on' or 'selected'.

 The Included notes dialog box uses a slightly
 different type of check box.  Instead of just two
 states - 'on' and 'off', there are three.  This
 will be explained in more detail a little later.

 The second type contains a number in its center,
 and arrows pointing away from it on each side.
 For example, the Exercise Length, Lead-in or
 Sound options dialogs. To decrease the number,
 select the left arrow. To increase the number,
 select the right arrow.

 The final type asks you a Yes/No or Cancel/OK
 question. Select the appropriate answer button.


 Now for some information about a few commonly
 used options.

  Drill length:  Sets the length of an individual
    rhythmic phrase in measures.

  Included Notes:  Defines the palette of notes
    used to compose each drill.  As mentioned
    before, each item has three states, namely,
    'S' for 'should', 'M' for 'must' and blank for
    'never'.  Let's say that we have the quarter
    note set to 'M', the eighth note set to 'S'
    and all others set to blank.  The program will
    select measures that always contain at least
    one quarter note and may or may not contain
    eighth notes.

    Note: Do not overuse the 'M' setting. Only one
    or two values should be 'must' values at any
    one time.  The more 'M' values, the harder it
    is to find a suitable measure.

  Included time signatures:  You may specify one
    or more time signatures to be used to generate
    the drills.  Depending on the library, some
    time signatures may contain more drills than
    others.

  Performance:  This sets the expected sustain of
    the drills.  'Staccato' sets the sustain time
    of each note to one half of its full value.
    'Normal' inserts a gap of about one 32nd note
    between the last note's off time and the next
    one's on time.  'Legato' forces notes to their
    full value, with no gap between adjacent
    notes.

  Metronome:  You may have the metronome sound
    throughout each drill, or have it silenced
    during your response.

  Sound options:  Use these to control the sound
    coming from your hardware.

 Refer to the "Options" chapter in the manual for
 detailed information about each option.



 When you quit Ace, you have the opportunity to
 save your current option settings to disk. If
 you have made any changes in the options since
 you started Ace, Ace asks if you want to save
 those changes when you quit. Select Yes to save
 the changes, No to abandon them.


                     (END)
