version: "1.0.0" name: Performing Orthonotone Polychoral Instrument description: Guides agents through launching, playing, sculpting, and capturing performances with the Orthonotone polychoral instrument MVP. Use when generating music, soundscapes, or live demos from this repository.

Performing Orthonotone Polychoral Instrument

Contents

• Stage setup
• Performance quickstart
• Control surface map
• Gestural choreography
• Scene design and snapshots
• Tempo and groove engine
• Recording and sharing takes
• Troubleshooting cues
• Reference atlas

Stage setup

1. Serve the project – run any static server from the repo root (npx http-server . is sufficient) and open polychoral-instrument-mvp.html in a Chromium-based browser for best WebAudio timing.
2. Prime Playwright harness (optional) – npm install once, then npm run check to ensure the QA hooks remain healthy before and after your session.
3. Warm the audio graph – click Enable Audio in either the toolbar or System section of the Controls panel. Browsers insist on a user gesture before sound.
4. Set your monitoring level – adjust Master Volume immediately; presets and snapshots respect the level currently set.

Performance quickstart

• Canvas focus – keep the canvas in view (toggle Focus Mode if panels crowd the stage). The hypercube visualization reacts to the same modulation that drives the synth.
• Baseline scene – start from Neutral Lattice or Prismatic Bloom in Quick Scene to align with the sound you want. Custom tweaks always begin from the current selection.
• Check system status – expand the Live State Vectors panel for meters showing axis energy, edge resonance, and face harmonic bloom. Use these readouts to balance the mix while improvising.
• Keep audio alive – if silence returns after inactivity, tap Enable Audio again; the button mirrors the AudioContext state.

Control surface map

State Space

• Quick Scene selector: instant morph targets (Neutral, Drift, Bloom, Pulse).
• Snapshots: name and store mixes for instant recall mid-set.
• Dimension / Morph / Grid / Fidelity sliders: reshape the rendered hyper lattice and corresponding harmonic density.

Timbre Architecture

• Line Thickness, Shell Width, Tetra Density: sculpt the visual-acoustic shell; thicker values emphasize lower resonances.
• Color Shift & Glitch Intensity: paint spectral hue and sprinkle jittered overtones.

Rotation Velocities

• Six sliders (XY…ZW) drive base angular speed in radians/sec. Pair them with gestures for evolving drones versus rhythmic pulses.

System Suite

• Master Volume controls output gain post-fader.
• Enable Audio toggles the synth graph.
• Symmetry Snap recenters rotation for crystalline chords.
• Reset State returns sliders to defaults while leaving audio on.
• Freeze Rotation halts motion for sustained pads.
• MIDI Bridge connects controllers, enabling external modulation.
• Tempo Sync buttons follow external MIDI clock or rephase the internal clock.

Gestural choreography

• Pointer drags: default drags modulate XY/YZ/XZ; hold Shift for XW/YW, Alt for XZ/ZW, Ctrl / ⌘ for fine isoclinic blends.
• Touchscreens: second finger emulates Shift, third finger unlocks Alt; no hardware keyboard required.
• Motion input (beta): enable via Gesture panel for accelerometer blending; calibrate neutral tilt before performing.
• Focus Mode & Hide Panels: reclaim screen real estate mid-performance without losing panel state.

Scene design and snapshots

1. Choose or sculpt a starting scene via Quick Scene.
2. Dial lattice parameters (Dimension/Morph/Grid/Fidelity) to set harmonic density.
3. Shape timbre with Shell/Line/Tetra and Color/Glitch controls.
4. Balance rotation speeds so Status panel meters pulse in complementary patterns (e.g., pair XY with XZ for shimmering fifths).
5. Store the state: enter a descriptive name and click Save Snapshot; it appears in the snapshot list for one-click recall.
6. Annotate experiments – log notable parameter sets in audio-upgrade-turn2-core-dsp.md or related plan docs so future performers can reproduce them.

Tempo and groove engine

• Clock Division & Rhythm Pattern choose internal sequencer grids (Quarter, Eighth, Triplet, Sixteenth; Drive Pulse, Syncopated Lift, Euclidean Five, Ambient Bloom, Custom Sculpt).
• Groove Swing introduces humanized delay; values above 0.3 create loping polyrhythms.
• Pattern Sculptor appears when Custom Sculpt is selected—paint per-step intensities, use Euclidise for evenly spaced hits, Humanise for slight randomness, or Clear to reset.
• MIDI Clock Follow syncs modulation to external gear; monitor Tempo Sync and Clock Phase in the Status panel to verify lock.

Recording and sharing takes

1. Screen capture – use system-level screen/audio recorder (e.g., QuickTime, OBS) to capture both visuals and sound; ensure desktop audio is routed from the browser.
2. Snapshot setlists – before recording, queue snapshots in performance order for rapid transitions.
3. Document presets – after recording, export slider values by copying the QA report (Status → QA Diagnostics → Copy Report) to archive performance settings.
4. Share context – attach relevant plan doc links or commit hashes when distributing audio/video so collaborators can align with the build you used.

Troubleshooting cues

• No sound after enabling: confirm Master Volume > 0 and the Status panel shows AudioContext "Running". Reload the page if the context gets stuck in "Suspended".
• Gestures feel unresponsive: check if Freeze Rotation is active, or if axis sliders are pegged at zero. Recenter with Reset State.
• Panel clutter: toggle Hide Panels then reopen only what you need; Focus Mode hides panels but keeps toggles docked.
• MIDI not detected: ensure browser permissions allow MIDI, press Connect MIDI again, and verify device appears in the dropdown.

Reference atlas

• Instrument surface: `polychoral-instrument-mvp.html` – main performance canvas, panels, and synth wiring.
• Render & audio theory: `hypercube_core_webgl_system.md`, `audio-synthesis-master-plan.md`, `audio-upgrade-turn2-core-dsp.md`.
• Roadmaps: `mvp-roadmap.md`, `development-expansion-plan.md`, `interface-responsiveness-plan.md`.
• QA harness: `check-instrument.js` for Playwright-driven regression playback.