Fretlight Studio Help Documents
From Fretlight Knowledgebase
Contents |
Welcome to the Fretlight Player
Here's a quick-start guide to get you going:
To take full advantage of this software, you should have your Fretlight guitar connected. When the guitar is connected and has been recognized by the software, the guitar icon will glow. If your guitar is equipped with a Fretlight pedal, connect that as well.
To open a Fretlight Video Player (.FVP) file or a Fretlight Song (.FLMID), you can either double-click on the filename in Windows, or run the Fretlight Video Player and use the Search Directory Window. When you open a video, it will immediately begin to play.
When the video is playing, the play button will become a Pause button. Use this button to start and stop the video.
To slow-down or speed-up the video, grab and move the Intellitempo slider ball. Move it to the Down to slow the video, or Up speed it up. When the video plays at normal (100%) speed, you will hear the video's audio track. When another speed is selected, you will hear a MIDI audio track if one is available for the segment of video you are viewing.
You may also use click on the playback speed percentage and select a new rate from a list.
The video will play from beginning to end and then repeat. The Chapters and Markers list will show you your position within the video. You can quickly jump to any position by double-clicking the name of a chapter or marker in the list.
Select additional topics from the Help table of contents to learn more about the advanced features of the software.
A set of "VCR like" video controls can be found beneath the video in the center the of the Fretlight Video Player window. The large red icon in the center is used to begin and pause playback.
When the video is playing, the play icon becomes a pause icon.
The smaller arrows immediately to the left and right of the play/pause icon are used to cue the video at high-speed either forward or backward. Click the icon once to go at 2x speed, and again for 6x speed. Click once again to return to the normal or Intellitempo playback speed (see below).
The arrows at the far left and right of the VCR controls are used to advance and rewind the video a chapter at a time. You will see the playback position change in the Chapters and Markers list.
At the lower-left corner of the video window, you will see the time-elapsed for the current chapter. The red ball represents the video position in the current chapter, and may be dragged to move the playback position as desired. Also shown is the green arrowhead used for looping the video.
At the lower-right corner of the video window, you will see the time-remaining for the current chapter. Also shown is the red arrowhead used for looping the video.
The Intellitempo feature allows you to make adjusts in the playback speed from 20-125% of realtime. This allows you to slow-down a section in order to learn and master it at your own tempo. At normal (100%) speed, the video's audio can be heard. At any other tmepo, the audio is muted, and a MIDI track is played if available.
Use the volume slider to increase or decrease the volume of both the video's audio track as well as the MIDI accompaniment tracks.
The guitar icon "glows" when a Fretlight is connected and detected. If you are a left-handed player, you can click the guitar icon to switch to a left-handed stringing and fingering for the Fretlight LEDs.
The Guitar Part Menu allows you to select between multiple Fretlight tracks if they are available. For example, a song may contain a Rhythm part as well as a Lead part.
A new feature in Fretlight Studio is the Lead Guitar and Main Vocal On/Off switches. These allow you to turn off the Lead Guitar or Main Vocal audio in a Video song letting you step into the spotlight.
If the switches are grayed out that means the video you are watching doesn’t take advantage of these features.
Chapters and Markers
The Chapters and Markers list provides a "table of contents" for the Fretlight video or song that is open.
Chapters appear with "music note" icons and markers appear as flags. Loops appear as circular arrows. If a chapter has markers or loops, a "+" or "-" symbol will appear to the left of the chapter allowing you to expand or close the list of markers for the chapter. The current position is shown with a green arrow. To quickly change your position within the video, double-click the chapter or marker to which you would like to move.
The video may have preset markers (shown in blue). To add a custom marker corresponding to the current playback position, click the + icon. You will be asked for a name for your new marker. Your custom marker will appear in the Chapters and Markers list with a red flag.
To delete a custom marker (shown in red), highlight it my clicking on it, then click the X icon. You may not delete a preset marker (shown in blue).
You may choose to view only custom or preset markers. By default, both are shown when this icon is depressed.
Click this icon to show only blue (preset) markers.
Click this icon to show only red (custom) markers and as well as custom loops.
Looping
The Looping controls are located beneath the Chapters and Markers list:
Looping allows you to select a portion of a chapter to automatically repeat. This is useful for drilling a particular riff or section of a song.
The beginning of the loop is marked with the green arrowhead beneath the video position slider. The end of the loop is marked with the red arrowhead. You can click and drag these arrowheads to place them where you like.
Instead of dragging the green arrowhead, you can click the A icon to move the green arrowhead to the current playback position.
Instead of dragging the red arrowhead, you can click the B icon to move the green arrowhead to the current playback position.
Turn looping on by depressing the circular arrows icon. Playback is only affected by the arrowhead positions if the looping icon is activated.
Once you have the loop positions set as you prefer, you can save the custom loop to the Chapters and Markers list by clicking the + icon, and it will be loaded each time you open the video. You will be prompted for a name for your custom loop.
To recall a saved custom loop, double-click its name in the list. The arrowheads will return to their saved positions, and the looping icon will be activated. Playback will then begin at the beginning of the loop.
To delete a saved custom loop, highlight its name in the list and click the X icon.
A new feature in Fretlight Studio is the SmartLoops™ function. SmartLoops are predefined loops created by Optek for sections that might require special attention like solos.
Footswitch Control
A foot switch controller may be available for your Fretlight guitar. This switch may be configured to control a variety of software functions. Click the foot icon to open the Foot switch setup window.
Choose the desired function for each the left and right pedal switch, then click Ok to save your selections.
Other Options
Click the wrench icon to configure other software options.
Flip video display. Select this option to view the video "mirrored" left to right. This may be desirable to learn finger positioning for left-handed players. Note that any text that appears in the video, however, will also be reversed.
Support and Troubleshooting
For product support, please visit the Fretlight website at www.fretlight.com/support
