User Guide: Advanced Controls
Once you’ve read through the BubbleBeats fundamentals and basic controls, these advanced controls will help you master the BubbleBeats app by tying together all that you’ve learned before. This section will teach you how to change a Bubble’s size, create a Foam, add Bubbles to your Favorites, search for a Bubble, and use other BubbleBeats menu options. After you read this section you will be playfully arranging colorful bubbles into complex probabilistic playlists that infinitely delight in reasonable yet unpredictable ways!
Learn how to:
Change a Bubble’s Size
A Bubble’s size allows you to overlap more or fewer Bubbles, which in turn affects the way your Foams play music. Follow these instructions to change your Bubble’s size.
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Step 1
Press and hold your finger on the Bubble whose size you wish to change. Gently, wiggle your finger to the left and right. The phone will vibrate, and a message will appear to let you know that you may now resize the Bubble. |
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Step 2 While keeping your finger in contact with the Bubble, move your finger away from the Bubble’s center to make it larger, OR move your finger towards the Bubble’s center to make it smaller. In this example, we are going to make the Bubble larger by moving our finger away from it’s center. |
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Step 3 The Bubble will continue to grow (or shrink), as long as you keep your finger in contact with the Bubble and continue to move your finger away (or towards) the Bubble’s center. |
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Step 4 Once you have made the Bubble reach your new, desired size, simply remove your finger from the phone’s screen. Your Bubble has now been resized. |
Create a Foam
Foams are complex arrangements of Bubbles of varying colors and sizes that form unique probabilistic playlists that allow you to experience your music in new and interesting ways. Using the skills and techniques outlined previously, you can arrange Bubbles to create Foams, which create a designed randomness to the way BubbleBeats plays your music. Designed randomness? We explain below.
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How BubbleBeats’ Foams Work, Part 1
This is how designed randomness works: Once a Bubble has finished playing, BubbleBeats will randomly choose the next song to play only from those Bubbles that directly touch or overlap the currently playing one. In the illustration to the left, Bubble A is currently playing. Once it has finished playing, BubbleBeats will randomly play one of the Bubbles (B-E) that are either touching or overlapping Bubble A. In this example, Bubble E will start playing once Bubble A has finished. |
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How BubbleBeats’ Foams Work, Part 2
Bubble A (labeled Bubble E above) is now playing. When a new Bubble starts playing, a new set of random options are presented. In the illustration to the left, Bubble F is now in the random queue, whereas it was not in the illustration above, because it was not touching or overlapping with the currently playing bubble. BubbleBeats randomly selects the next song to play, but users control the way that Bubbles link up in foams, which influences the options to be randomized. This is the essence of BubbleBeats’ designed randomness. |
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Foam Example A
This is an example of a simple Foam. When a Bubble is done playing, BubbleBeats has only two options about which Bubble to play next, because each Bubble is only touching two other Bubbles. The low number of overlapping Bubbles in this Foam creates a simple playlist that does not create much randomness. The more Bubbles that overlap and touch each other, the more randomness is introduced into that Foam. Let’s take a look at our next example. |
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Foam Example B
This is an example of a complex Foam. Unlike Foam Example A (above), this Foam has Bubbles that touch and overlap each other multiple times. The high number of touching and overlapping Bubbles means that BubblesBeats has more options about which Bubble to play next, and therefore this Foam has a high randomness factor. The higher the randomness, the more you will experience your music in new and unique ways. |
Because the BubbleBeats canvas is nearly limitless in all directions, you can create nearly as many Foams as you want, so an infinite number of unique playlists can be created. An endless number of different music queues allows you to design Foams to continually experience your music fresh, so it will never go stale.
Add to Favorites
Everybody has a favorite song. Follow these instructions to add a Bubble to your list of Favorites.
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Step 1
Select the Bubble you want to add to your Favorites. Press and hold your finger on this Bubble for approximately 3 seconds and then release. A menu will appear. |
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Step 2 From this menu, tap the “Add to Favorites” option. Your Bubble has now been added to your favorites. From now on, when you display the title of the music this Bubble is playing, the title will have a heart next to it, indicating that it is in your Favorites. |
Find a Bubble
Foams can get very large and complex. Follow these instructions to make it easy to find your Favorites or other music within your Foams.
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Step 1
Press the “Menu” key on your phone. A new menu will appear. |
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Step 2 From this menu, tap the “Find” option; it’s the the icon of the eye. A new menu will appear. |
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Step 3 From the “Find” menu, you will be presented with several options by which you can find a Bubble. Here is what selecting each option will do: FAVORITES: SONG TITLE: ANY SONG: ANYTHING: PLAYING BUBBLE: |
The More Menu
What lies behind the “More” option menu? Let’s find out…
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Step 1
Press the “Menu” key on your phone. A new menu will appear. |
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Step 2 From this menu, tap the “More” option; it’s the the icon of the triangle in a circle. A new menu will appear. |
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Step 3 From this menu, you will presented with several options that will give you more information about BubbleBeats. Here is what selecting each option will do: ABOUT: VIDEO TOUR: HELP: EXPORT: IMPORT: UPGRADE: |