FW Editor: To start with, can you tell us a few words about Kanga Sound?
Paul Rosen: KangaSound is the name given to the home page of the Kangas Sound Editor, and is intended to be an easy-to-remember word hinting at the Kangaroo theme of the software. The Kangaroo theme is intended to give a lighter side to the software and accompanying website, in contrast to the heavier side which includes mathematical concepts such as graphs, and concepts from the physics of sound such as harmonics, inharmonics and frequency ratios. KangaSound is also the name given to the XML files with which users of the software can collaborate, and build on the work of other users. KangaSound is not actually a company at the moment, but possibly could be in the future. There is no intention to ever charge users directly for downloading the software, which is open-source. Some services relating to the software, such as private training or consultancy, could be charged for however.

FW Editor: Kangas Sound Editor - Kanga Sound is your first software but it is already extremely popular and appreciated for what it offers. How do you plan to improve Kangas Sound Editor - Kanga Sound in the future
Paul Rosen: The enhancements planned for the next release (3.1), which will hopefully be released quite soon, are: 1. Extend the precision of data displayed and input from tables in the Kangas Sound Editor, for example, harmonic factors. This will significantly increase the number of sounds it is possible to synthesise using the software. 2. Add a new display-only column 'Frequency Multiple' to Anti-harmonic Bases. This will help with the construction of percussion instruments and inharmonic parts of melodic instruments within the software. 3. Improve the display of tables used with Graphs, Harmonics, Anti-harmonics, Anti-harmonic bases and variations. This will include alternating colours for rows, and darker colours for display-only cells, and lighter colours for editable cells of the table. Beyond that, other enhancements currently being considered include: 1. Adding a phase parameter to sinusoidal/cosinusoidal graph segments to improve flexibility. 2. Increasing the maximum number of graph segments from 10 to 100. 3. Including an internal Java audio player with the program, as an alternative to the external audio player currently launched by the software. 4. Adding slider controls/knobs to property window, as an alternative to the current input, which is numeric. 5. Enhancing the Compute functions to reduce the number of manual steps required in certain cases. 6. Show note names/octave numbers alongside the MIDI pitch numbers which are inputtable in a Sequence box, and allow selection of MIDI pitch number from a dialog prompting for note name and octave number. I am open, of course, to suggestions from users of software enhancements they would like to see. The main enhancement envisaged on the website itself is of the KangaSound XML listing page (http://www.kangasound.com/xml/xml-listing.php). Should this grow sufficiently in size due to users uploading their own efforts, the plan would be to try and obtaining funding/sponsorship for a full-scale website instead of just a listing page, where these files could be uploaded, downloaded, searched for, rated, and commented-on by users who sign up. The fundamental feature that these KangaSound XML files give, compared to generated audio files such as .WAV, is customisation in multiple possible ways once the XML file has been imported from the original input parameters, without any reduction in sound quality. A large archive of such (XML) files would help enormously Kangas Sound Editor users starting a new Composition, ie provide building blocks which can be downloaded for free, imported into the Kangas Sound Editor, customised in any way they wish, and used.

FW Editor: Which sound editing tools are available in Kangas Sound Editor - Kanga Sound?
Paul Rosen: The sound editing tools consist mainly of user-draggable cells or boxes, which correspond to various aspects of synthesised sound. There is one box type, which corresponds to an existing recorded sound stored in a .WAV file, was originally included to allow vocals to be included in a composition that was otherwise entirely computer synthesised (you can listen to a clip of the song, which has been released, at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/sarahhughes1). A full list of cell/box types can be found here: http://www.kangasound.com/features/celltypes.html These boxes reference by name the following user-defineable structures: Graphs (used widely throughout the software, e.g. for filling in Harmonic factors or changing the balance of stereo over time.) Harmonics (for sets of frequencies which are an exact multiple of a fundamental or base frequency), Anti-harmonics (for sets of frequencies which need not be an exact multiple of a fundamental or base frequency), In addition, Harmonics and Anti-harmonics structures can be setup to reference another user-defineable structure called a Variation, which allows control of individual harmonics/inharmonics over time (e.g for synthezing 'transients', or creating mutating effects). There are also parameters included with Tracks (which contain the user-draggable boxes), which include parameters and buttons for dealing with stereo, and for clipping a waveform, which can produce a distortion effect. Selected tracks can be combined together into a special Track - Track Zero - which is effectively the Track for the Composition as a whole. Other sound editing tools allow Waveform, Amplitude and Pitch Graphs to be viewed, including channel-specific (ie after stereo factors have been applied). A time unit control can be used to examine a the various views across several orders of magnitude, ranging from 10-second ruler graduations down to 1/10000 second graduations. This can be useful for acquiring an understanding of the generated sound in fine detail, and for troubleshooting, e.g. if an unexpected clipping effect occurs.

FW Editor: What kind of sound files are supported by Kangas Sound Editor - Kanga Sound? It is possible to create a song from scratch using Kangas Sound Editor - Kanga Sound?
Paul Rosen: The only audio file format currently supported is .WAV. As mentioned in earlier answers, KangaSound .XML files are used by users of the software (from Version 3) to collaborate with and build on the work of other users. Virtually all Kangas Sound Editor data can be exported/imported to/from XML, e.g.: Sequence boxes, Tracks, Compositions, Graphs, Harmonics and configuration data. With the exception of the singer's vocals which are from a real, not synthesised singer, it is possible to create a song from scratch (as mentioned above, such a song has been released onto CD-Baby - it is also on iTunes - see http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/get-out-of-my-life/id344863066).

FW Editor: Are there any special system requirements in order to use Kangas Sound Editor - Kanga Sound?
Paul Rosen: The special requirements for running the Software are: 1. That Java SE 6 is installed. This in turn limits the versions of the Mac OS X that can run the software to those capable of running Java SE 6, such as Intel-based machines. 2. For the Kangas Sound Editor (but not the Kangas Sound Editor QI), MySQL server needs to be installed (not necessarily on the same machine as where the Kangas Sound Editor is running).

FW Editor: Installing Kangas Sound Editor - Kanga Sound can be a bit tricky. Is there any guide a user can follow?
Paul Rosen: A guide for installing the Kangas Sound Editor can be found here: http://www.kangasound.com/downloads/install-instructions.html A guide for installing the Kangas Sound Editor QI can be found here: http://www.kangasound.com/downloads/qi/install-instructions.html