Synthia's PC operation falls into the two categories of Basic and Advanced PC operation. The difference between them is that the Basic Operations were designed to be used by everyone, even people with little computer expertise,  to develop, download and run music lists on Synthia. The Advanced Operation features were developed for those who want to manage and maintain a more comprehensive musical database by changing, adding and cataloging new music. You don't need to use the advanced features of Synthia, but they are there if or when you want them.

 

Basic PC Operation


The Basic PC Operational features are designed to be used by music ministers with little computer expertise to select and play single songs and to plan, prepare, practice and save a music list to be used in a church service.  This service list is then saved to be used by Synthia for playing during a service. 

  • Play A Single Song  -  You can select a single song to play and set its number of verses to play, its tempo, starting key offset and instrument.


  • Produce Service Song List  -  For church services where a number of songs will need to be played, you can build up a list of music to play, with all of its parameters (verses, tempo, key, instrument, audio level) preset to what you will want to hear during the service.  You can even listen to the music in advance, if a keyboard is attached, and change the parameters until the music sounds just right to you.  When you're done, you can print out a music list and then download the list to Synthia for playing during a service.


  • Play Music During Service  -  During the church service, you would use a net-book or notebook PC to have full control of playing and even changing music during the service. 


Advanced PC Operation

The advanced PC features were designed to be used by music ministers or assistants with some PC experience who want to add or change the music content stored in their Synthia music database. 

  • Add Music - You can add new music to your Synthia in several ways.

    • Recorded Music - Record music from your organ or keyboard and merge it into your PC's music database . You can also edit your recorded music into an 'Introduction', 'Verse', 'Chorus' and 'Ending' to be compatible with Synthia's versatile playback format.

    • MIDI Music Import  -  Import MIDI music files and convert to Synthia compatible storage format and add to your music database.

    • Import Synthia Music  -  Add additional Synthia produced music from Suncoast or other Synthia users to your PC's music database.

  • Music Database Maintenance  -  Synthia's PC music database keeps track of every song (title) stored in Synthia.  You can, using the Music File Maintenance Utility, change the information and parameters for any song such as default tempo and key values, song categories, etc.  You can even add or delete songs from the music database.

  • Print Music Lists  -  Print out up-to-date music lists for your database.