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About
- What is WhiteCap?
- WhiteCap is an audio visualization plug-in for media players, as well as a standalone application that can visualize auxiliary or "line-in" audio. WhiteCap features fast anti-aliased effects, millions of possible effect combinations, savable and scriptable effects, and unparalleled expandability. WhiteCap is designed to entertain you on its own, but there are many ways it can be customized and extended.
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- What are the system requirements?
- WhiteCap requires Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 or Mac OS X 10.4 (or later) and requires a G5 or P4 processor (or later). WhiteCap requires hardware graphics acceleration, so you should install and try the free trial version of WhiteCap in order to ensure that it runs satisfactorily on your system. Please note that WhiteCap does not currently support the 64 bit versions of Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center. Also note that the WhiteCap screen saver is not currently compatible with the 64-bit version of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). (See below for more information.)
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- Is WhiteCap compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)?
- WhiteCap can be used as a Standalone application and as a plug-in to your media player (eg. iTunes) on the new Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), and if you have an older Intel Mac with the 32-bit version of the OS X 10.6 kernel installed then you should have full access to the WhiteCap screen saver. However, if you have a more recent Intel Mac with the 64-bit version of the OS X 10.6 kernel installed, please note that Apple no longer supports the running of 32-bit screen saver modules in this environment. This unfortunately means that the WhiteCap screen saver, as well as almost every other third-party screen saver previously available for Mac OS X, is currently not compatible with this version of OS X. Since the development time needed to provide compatibility on this platform is daunting, and since this development time is multiplied by the numerous other software developers affected by this situation, we have filed an engineering feature request with the Apple development team so that they may hopefully address 32-bit screen saver support in a future update to OS X 10.6.
Related Forum Discussions
Detailed explanation of screen saver issue on OS X 10.6.
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- What are WhiteCap Gold and WhiteCap Platinum?
- WhiteCap Gold and WhiteCap Platinum are enhanced versions of WhiteCap that offer many special features and functions not available in the free trial version of WhiteCap. WhiteCap Gold and WhiteCap Platinum have dozens of exclusive visual configurations, half a million more visual combinations, and additional functionality and complexity. You can visit our upgrade page to learn more about WhiteCap Gold and WhiteCap Platinum. Users of WhiteCap Gold and WhiteCap Platinum also have access to technical support and free updates for a full year.
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- How can I upgrade to WhiteCap Gold or WhiteCap Platinum?
- It’s easy to upgrade to WhiteCap Gold or WhiteCap Platinum. Simply go to the WhiteCap Gold upgrade page and follow the instructions. We currently offer secure credit card payment backed by VeriSign and also accept PayPal. If you do not want to purchase online, you can contact us for alternate payment instructions.
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- What is used to make SoundSpectrum visualization products?
- Our products are written in C++ and compiled using Metrowerks CodeWarrior and Xcode/gcc. All of our products are under continuous development and have undergone many iterations since the first code written in 1998.
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- What are the origins of G-Force and WhiteCap?
- You can visit the personal website of G-Force creator and SoundSpectrum co-founder Andy O’Meara to learn more about the origins of G-Force and WhiteCap.
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- Can I use WhiteCap to provide visuals for a concert or performance?
- WhiteCap Free Trial, WhiteCap Gold, and WhiteCap Platinum are licensed only for non-commercial, personal use on a personal computer. Any public display, performance, or commercial use of WhiteCap is strictly prohibited unless written permission is granted by SoundSpectrum. We are happy to offer licenses for commercial use to users who want to use WhiteCap commercially, upon request. You can request a license for commercial use from the Contact Us page.
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- How do I contact SoundSpectrum if I have a question or feedback?
- Customer Support has extensive documentation that includes a troubleshooting section, so we ask that you look for an answer there before e-mailing us. For general feedback, sales and licensing inquiries, software installation questions, and technical support, please use the Contact Us page. You can also find useful (but unofficial) information in the user forums.
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- I am a developer. Can I use the WhiteCap engine in my application?
- The WhiteCap engine offers a powerful C-style API that allows third party developers to drop in the WhiteCap engine into their own applications with less than a page of code. If your company is interested in using WhiteCap to enhance your application’s user experience, then we can get you our SDK for engineering evaluation.
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- Why should I submit feedback, bug reports, or configs to SoundSpectrum?
- Our products can’t improve unless you send us your ideas, feedback, and bug reports! Most of the features added to G-Force in the last few years started out as user comments. When WhiteCap was first released, it came with about 20 configs. Today, thanks to users who sent in configs they made, a couple of hundred configs now come with WhiteCap. G-Force is the same way: if you submit new configs, you’ll make it that much better for everyone else.
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Installing/Updating/Uninstalling
- How do I install WhiteCap?
- After you download the free trial of WhiteCap Free Trial, WhiteCap Gold, or WhiteCap Platinum, please follow the installation instructions.
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- How do I install the WhiteCap Screen Saver?
- The WhiteCap Screen Saver is automatically included in your WhiteCap Platinum download (or your WhiteCap Gold download, if you also purchased the Screen Saver). On Windows, please follow the on-screen instructions listed in the last step of the installer (select Start | Control Panel | Display | Screen Saver | WhiteCap). On Mac OS, double-click on "WhiteCap.saver" and then select WhiteCap as the current Screen Saver in your System Preferences (note, please close and then restart your System Preferences if the WhiteCap Screen Saver does not become visible subsequent to install).
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- How do I enter my WhiteCap license code?
- When you run the WhiteCap Gold or WhiteCap Platinum installer, you will be asked to enter your WhiteCap License Code. We recommend that you use your computer’s "copy and paste" functions, but if you enter your license code by hand, please double check your entry and please do not use spaces within your entry.
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- How do I update WhiteCap?
- To update WhiteCap Gold or WhiteCap Platinum, visit the Downloads & Updates page and enter your license code to download the latest version. Install this new version of WhiteCap (when prompted, enter your license code)!
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- How do I uninstall WhiteCap?
- On Windows, go to Control Panel | Add or Remove Programs | WhiteCap. On Mac OS, use the Finder to search for and delete folders named "WhiteCap" (the default location of WhiteCap on Mac OS, is home/Library/Application Support/SoundSpectrum/).
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- Does WhiteCap Gold/Platinum ever expire?
- No, your ability to use the version of WhiteCap you have purchased and installed never expires, and you may use WhiteCap on your personal computer in perpetuity. Your license code also provides you with the ability to download all new updates to WhiteCap free of charge for one full year after the purchase date, directly from our website. It is this download access that expires one year after the purchase date and not your ability to install and run what you have already downloaded. If you wish to continue to have download access for new versions of WhiteCap after the first year, you may renew your license code for another year of download access. You will always be able to reinstall the version of WhiteCap you have already downloaded, using your license code.
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- Is WhiteCap Gold/Platinum a subscription?
- No, you will always be able to use the version of WhiteCap you have installed for as long as you operate your computer, provided that your operating system and media player software are compatible. Renewing your license code for continued download access to new releases is up to you. We update our software many times throughout the year with new features, additional visual content, technical enhancements, and bug fixes. Many of our users wish to have continued access to the latest versions of WhiteCap (see the enthusiastic comments about subsequent product updates throughout our testimonial pages), so they renew their license codes at the end of the initial year to get all new WhiteCap updates for another year.
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- Will WhiteCap Gold/Platinum stop working if I do not renew my license code?
- No, your version of WhiteCap will always work, provided you have not updated or changed your operating system or media player software to a different version that is not compatible. If you choose not to renew your download access when it expires a year after the purchase date, then you must make a backup copy of WhiteCap to use for reinstallation in the event of a system crash or to install it onto a new computer (it is standard procedure to back up files in case of a system crash). It is particularly important to back up your downloaded WhiteCap files prior to your free download access expiring one year after purchase. We do not provide older versions for download and we will not be able to provide a replacement if your system crashes and your download access has expired. If you renew your license code, however, then you do not need to back up WhiteCap because you will be able to download the latest version from our website.
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License Code Validation
- What is license code validation?
- When a SoundSpectrum software product is installed, you will be prompted to enter the license code that was issued with the product. After you enter it, the installer will transmit what you entered to SoundSpectrum in order to check that it's a valid license code. SoundSpectrum's validation system does not collect, transmit, or retain any identifying information, and its sole purpose is to prevent software piracy.
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- What is the difference between license code validation and checking for updates?
- License code validation strictly only occurs during the installation process and exists solely to reduce software piracy. Checking for updates is a separate and unrelated process where a SoundSpectrum product anonymously connects (only while it is running) to soundspectrum-updates.com to see if a new version of that product is available for download, informing you accordingly. Although the automatic checking for updates is completely anonymous, you can disable it in the product's settings at any time.
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- Is license code validation mandatory?
- Since the purpose of SoundSpectrum's validation system is to prevent software piracy, license code validation is mandatory. When you install a SoundSpectrum product, you will be required to enter the license code that was issued with the product. You will be unable to install the product without this license code or if your computer cannot access the Internet during the installation process.
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- Where do I find my license code?
- After purchasing your product you were sent an email containing your new license code and download instructions. (If you purchased a physical CD then you would have activated your product on our website first, and then received an email containing your license code.) If you need to have your license code resent to you, feel free to use the self-service utilities on our Customer Support page.
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- How does product validation affect customers?
- The only requirement associated with SoundSpectrum's validation process is that your computer must be connected to the Internet when you install a SoundSpectrum product. If your computer is not connected to the Internet (or is blocked by security or firewall software), the installer will report an error and you will be unable to proceed with the installation until an Internet connection can be established. Once you install a SoundSpectrum product, it will never make any subsequent attempts to access the SoundSpectrum validation server under any circumstances. As always, SoundSpectrum Customer Support is available in the event that you have any questions or problems.
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- What happens if a SoundSpectrum product is discontinued?
- In the event that a SoundSpectrum product is discontinued, SoundSpectrum will enable automatic approval of all license code validation requests for that product or provide a means to remove validation outright. In either case, the customer will not experience any change in software capabilities.
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- Will I be able to use the software in perpetuity? What happens if SoundSpectrum shuts down?
- SoundSpectrum's product license agreements typically grant the user the right to use it in perpetuity, and SoundSpectrum intends to honor those agreements. In the unlikely event of a company shutdown, SoundSpectrum will enable automatic approval of all validation requests or provide other technical means allowing users to continue using our products.
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- What happens when SoundSpectrum releases new versions of a software product? Will I be able to install an older version?
- Yes. Even after an older version of the product stops shipping, you will always be able to install your copy of the older product. The sole purpose of SoundSpectrum's validation system is to prevent software piracy and the only reason a license code won't be accepted during the validation process is if the license code has been flagged as being illegitimate.
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- May I use a SoundSpectrum product on more than one computer at a time?
- SoundSpectrum acknowledges that you may own multiple computers and may want to use your purchased product on each one, so SoundSpectrum has gone to great lengths to ensure that this is fully supported and hassle-free.
Separately, please note that SoundSpectrum software products are for personal, non-commercial use only. Any commercial use or public display requires obtaining a separate commercial license from SoundSpectrum.
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- Shouldn't SoundSpectrum's efforts be expended to stop piracy instead of burdening loyal customers?
- For the reasons discussed in this FAQ, we believe that our license code validation process does not represent a burden to our users. Software piracy is a daunting problem that affects small software companies like SoundSpectrum, and significantly affects their ability to grow and even stay in business. Ultimately, customers benefit from anti-piracy measures because it means lower software prices can support the same level of product development.
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General
- How can I display WhiteCap on a TV/projector?
- In order to display WhiteCap (running on your computer) on an external display such as a television, plasma display, or projector, you’ll need a special cable. Some examples of cables are a SVGA cable, a S-Video cable, or a DVI cable (in order for a particular cable to be acceptable, it must be supported by both your computer and your external display). In order from highest to lowest video quality, you should choose DVI, SVGA, and then S-Video (S-Video is available much more widely on televisions than SVGA or DVI). SoundSpectrum does not provide these cables, but many computer stores such as CompUSA, Best Buy, Circuit City, and Radio Shack sell these computer accessories.
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- Can WhiteCap visualize "line-in" audio?
- Yes, WhiteCap Standalone (included with your WhiteCap Platinum purchase) is specifically designed to visualize any of your computer’s audio input sources. See the WhiteCap as an Application section for more.
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- Can I visualize a live audio feed from my microphone?
- Absolutely—it’s really cool! Start the WhiteCap Standalone application, and follow the instructions above to select your microphone as the audio input source. Clap your hands and see what happens!
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- For Standalone, how do I turn on the "stereo mix" audio source in Windows Vista?
- The "stereo mix" audio source is hidden by default in Windows Vista. Please follow the steps below in order to enable this audio channel within Windows Vista:
- Select "Sound" from the Control Panel.
- Select the "Recording" tab.
- Right click on the background of the tab and choose "show disabled devices".
- Select the "Stereo Mix" or similar recording device and click "Properties".
- Within the "General Properties" tab, select "Use this device (enable)".
After completing the above steps, you should be able to use your "stereo mix" audio source within WhiteCap Standalone and V-Bar applications (same as within Windows XP). Please note that you may also need to increase the "Sound Preamp Scale" and/or "Sound Response Scale" within WhiteCap prior to seeing noticeable reactivity.
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- How do I change the full screen resolution settings?
- Your display device may show WhiteCap best in a resolution different than the default full screen resolution. 1024x768 is the default resolution because most monitors and projectors show it well and it yields good frame rates for typical setups. If you have a faster setup or use a display device that looks best in a particular resolution, you will want to change the full screen resolution mode. While running WhiteCap, press M (the key for "Switch full screen resolution") to step through the available full screen resolutions. Be warned that frame rate decreases as full screen resolution increases (because WhiteCap must process more pixels). Also, see "How can I increase frame rate?" in the Performance section. Note: some media players, such as Windows Media Player don’t allow plugins to request a particular full screen mode, so any full screen settings that you alter (by pressing M or a pref file edit) will have no effect.
Related Forum Discussions
Full screen?
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- How do I specify which display device WhiteCap uses for full screen?
- Whichever display device the WhiteCap window currently resides in is the device WhiteCap will attempt to use for full screen mode. Also note that the list of available full screen resolution modes will change when you move the WhiteCap window to a different display device (because it now intends to use that display device for full screen mode). For example, if you have a LCD projector and want WhiteCap to use it as the full screen device (ie, not the monitor), drag the WhiteCap window so it’s in the projector display rect, then press M to choose a desired full screen mode, and then start full screen mode.
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- Can the full screen WhiteCap window span multiple monitors?
- WhiteCap is built to support, by default, a single monitor and WhiteCap consequently does not have controls for multiple monitors. The reason for this is that there are thousands of different combinations of video cards, video drivers, and operating system controls (more than we can currently support). However, most multiple monitor configurations have driver/system controls for managing multiple screens, so please review your existing system controls (or your graphics card driver features).
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- Can WhiteCap run in full screen mode on my second monitor while I work on the first monitor?
- You can run WhiteCap Standalone (bundled with WhiteCap Platinum), drag it to your secondary display, and resize WhiteCap Standalone to fill your screen (click on the lower right screen corner to resize). Some graphics cards will also allow you to go into full screen mode (again, run and drag WhiteCap Standalone to your secondary display and then enter full screen mode).
Related Forum Discussions
A Utility to Zoom G-Force on a second monitor
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- How do I save WhiteCap screen shots to a specific folder?
- You can modify your screen shot location by following the directions below:
- Open the Global Preferences.txt file (for Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\USER_NAME\ Application Data\SoundSpectrum\WhiteCap\, for Windows Vista: C:\Users\USER_NAME\ AppData\Roaming\SoundSpectrum\WhiteCap\, and for Mac OS: home/Library/Preferences/ SoundSpectrum/WhiteCap/).
- Change the Screenshot.Dir preference to specify a different screen shot folder. For example, on Windows XP, you can change:
Screenshot.Dir = "C:\\Documents and Settings\\USER_NAME\\Desktop"
to, for example:
Screenshot.Dir = "C:\\Documents and Settings\\USER_NAME\\My Documents"
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- Can I make the WhiteCap Screen Saver respond to sound?
- Because most users don’t typically have an active sound source when the screen saver runs, we set the screen saver to visualize to one of our "Sound Generator" modes by default. This provides a sound source for WhiteCap to visualize when no active sound sources are present on your system. However, you can change which audio input source the screen saver uses for audio input by editing your screen saver’s prefs file:
- Start the WhiteCap Standalone and select the desired sound source (see "How do I select an audio input source in WhiteCap Standalone?" above). If available, a source named "stereo mix" (or something similarly named, depending on your drivers and hardware) can be effective for visualizing your system’s audio output.
- Open the WhiteCap preference files for both Standalone and Screen Saver (for Windows XP, this file is located in C:\Documents and Settings\USER_NAME\ Application Data\SoundSpectrum\WhiteCap\, for Windows Vista in C:\Users\USER_NAME\ AppData\Roaming\SoundSpectrum\WhiteCap\, and for Mac OS in home/Library/Preferences/SoundSpectrum/WhiteCap/).
- Find and copy the value of Audio.InputSource from your Standalone to your Screen Saver preferences file (this tells the WhiteCap Screen Saver to use to the same audio input source as you had set in the WhiteCap Standalone).
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- How do I make album art visible to WhiteCap within Windows Media Player?
- To make the album cover art accessible to 3rd party software from within Windows Media Player (WMP), you must use WMP’s advanced tag editor (by right-clicking on a track) to add/associate your album art. To tag a full album at once, you can go to the library main page and select "Album" to get a list of all your albums. Then choose an album and press CTRL A to highlight all the tracks. Then, when you right-click the advanced tag editor, it adds the same album image to all the selected tracks.
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- How do I adjust the V-Bar audio input settings?
- You can select the V-Bar audio source and sensitivity by right-clicking on the V-Bar and then selecting from the appropriate selections (On Mac OS, use the V-Bar settings window). The audio input sources listed are several "Sound Generator" modes (which simulate a sound source) followed by sources supplied by your hardware. On Windows, there typically is a "stereo mix" audio source that allows the V-Bar to react to the sound produced by other applications on your computer. Please note that you may need to increase the audio source’s output volume level in order to see a visual response in the V-Bar (you can also increase the V-Bar’s "Audio Sensitivity" settings to boost the V-Bar’s audio reactivity).
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Performance
- How can I increase WhiteCap’s frame rate?
- Also see "Is WhiteCap hardware accelerated?" below for more. Besides getting a faster computer, there are other ways to increase your frame rate:
- Disable background tasks (ex, virus scanners, file sharing apps, system monitoring)
- Reduce the full screen resolution — Press M to switch WhiteCap’s full screen resolution mode. Or, use the WhiteCap graphical controls to select different full screen resolutions. Note, however, that Windows Media Player uses your current system display device resolution only (and cannot be changed).
- Disable audio extensions and add-ons — Most media players (and some third parties) offer audio post-processing which can alter the sound of your music. Unfortunately, this can have a negative performance impact on your system, causing WhiteCap to run slowly or stutter. Try disabling sound equalizers, audio filters, DSPs, etc.
- Limit the frame size — When WhiteCap is told to draw in a given rectangle, you can confine WhiteCap to an even smaller rectangle. This is useful because it sets a limit on how many pixels WhiteCap must render, allowing you to avoid low frame rates when host frame dimensions are large. See the "letterboxing" entry below for how to impose (or remove) horizontal or vertical frame size limits.
- Disable CPU power-saving features — For example, on Mac OS X, setting "Processor Performance" to "Reduced" in the Energy Saver system preference panel slows down the CPU (in an attempt to reduce power consumption).
- Try using WhiteCap Standalone — WhiteCap Standalone (bundled with WhiteCap Platinum) doesn’t have the overhead associated with running through a media player so it runs significantly smoother than running WhiteCap in a media player.
- Experiment with advanced CPU settings — Some users have reported that performance or smoothness of frame rate improves when hyperthreading (HT) is disabled (on Intel-based machines) or when process affinity is set to a specific CPU (on multiprocessor machines).
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- Is WhiteCap hardware accelerated?
- WhiteCap uses OpenGL hardware acceleration. On Mac OS X, the 3D Graphics Architecture team headed by Geoff Stahl at Apple has provided GL_UNPACK_CLIENT_STORAGE_APPLE, allowing Mac OS X developers to very easily use CPU-side frame buffers on the GPU with astonishing speeds. Unfortunately, no such similar widely-available extension exists on Windows/wgl (and must be done on a per-vendor basis, which has not been implemented in WhiteCap due to complexity and PITA factors).
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- Why doesn’t my audio player respond to my frame rate settings?
- Some audio players such as Musicmatch do not allow visual plugins to regulate their frame rate. As a result, any attempt to set a target frame rate has no effect.
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- Why will my computer not enter "standby" mode?
- SoundSpectrum graphics engines use graphics hardware acceleration and some computers will not enter "standby" mode while this graphics hardware is in use.
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Customizing
- How do I customize WhiteCap?
- See the customizing section.
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- What is a WhiteCap "config"?
- See the config programming section.
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- Can I make my own WhiteCap config files?
- If you want to learn the language WhiteCap uses in its config files, you should already have some familiarity with programming or script writing. Many users submit their configs so that they can be redistributed. See the config programming section for more.
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- How do I display my own images in WhiteCap?
- Place the image files (e.g., JPG, BMP, PNG) that your want displayed into the "WhiteCap\Home\Background Images\Custom" folder. Next, restart WhiteCap and select the Background named "Custom Images" to get a slideshow of the images within the aforementioned folder.
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- How do I pre-plan/script a WhiteCap performance for a particular audio track?
- Using WhiteCap’s scripting services provides some exciting ways to synchronize events in WhiteCap with events in audio tracks. See the following question and read the scripting section.
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- What if I’m having a problem with WhiteCap that’s not listed here?
- Please check the troubleshooting section.
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