Minim User Manual

Getting Started

Welcome to Minim, the music management app for musicians. This section will get you started with Minim and give you a quick tour of the interface. If you haven't done already you'll need to download the latest version from here

Installation

Installing Minim is easy. After you have downloaded the disk image simply mount it by double clicking on it (if it isn't already mounted). Then drag Minim to the Applications folder. You may want to put Minim in your dock for easy access.

Registration

If you haven't registered Minim you will be greeted with the registration dialogue. This pops up on launch until you register Minim. You are also limited to 20 songs and 3 Albums in your database until you register. If you haven't purchased a licence yet you can go to our store by clicking on the Buy Licence button. Once you have bought a licence, enter the details from your email into the text fields and click Register. If you do not wish to register Minim yet you can click Later to use Minim with the limitations

The Minim Interface

Minim's UI consists of two modes: Song View and Album View. When you launch Minim you will be in Song Mode. You can switch between modes using the mode switcher (1). The table below (2) lists all your songs or albums, depending on the mode. You can filter these by using the search field (3) in the toolbar. Below the table is a row of tabs (4) that let you switch between various sections within that mode. At the bottom of the window is the status bar (5). This shows you have many songs and albums are stored in Minim, as well as how many collaborators are online. You can hover over the collaborators text to see a tooltip showing the names of online collaborators

What's new in 1.2

Minim 1.2 has improved many areas of the workflow, especially file management and searching:

Better File Management

File management in Minim has been completely re-written. Instead of two tabs all your files are in a single tab and split up into groups. Minim now updates file info after changes, informs you if a file doesn't exist for an entry in the database and lets you drag and drop files to and from the file table.

Search Bar

Searching in Minim 1.2 is easier and more comprehensive than ever before. When you start searching the search bar slides down, letting you filter your results further.

SimpleChord integration

Minim now integrates with SimpleChord, the chord progression software from WonderWarp. If you have SimpleChord installed Minim lets you open a progressions panel listing all the progressions stored in SimpleChord, so that you can create a new one or add a current one to your current song

GarageBand Import

You can now import GarageBand files into Minim. Minim will take the file and create a new song, filling out as much metadata as it can from the GarageBand file (NOTE: this feature works best with GarageBand '08 or higher)

Tags

Songs can now be tagged via the Misc tab of the song info panel

Leopard Ready

The Minim UI has been refined to look great on both Tiger and Leopard, with less gloss and more gradient!

Song Metadata

Minim allows you to store lots of metadata with your songs. Basic metadata such as the song title and a description are accessible in the main window in the Song Info tab. However, there is much more metadata available in the Song Info pallet. This can be accessed through the Window menu. The tempo tap button allows you to calculate the tempo of a song simply by tapping it several times.

Lyrics

Minim allows you to store your song lyrics with each song. The Lyrics tab in song mode allows offers you a text field to enter your lyrics. Sometimes this isn't enough space, or you may want to see the lyrics to several songs on screen at once. For this you can click on the lyrics window toolbar button (like the image on the left) to have the lyrics appear in a separate window

Collaborators

Chances are you are going to work with someone else on a song at some point. Minim helps you keep track of all your song collaborators. In order to add a collaborator to a song you have to click on the add button in the Collaborator tab. You can choose from 3 options: add a blank collaborator, add a collaborator you previously added or add a collaborator from your OS X Address Book.

You can managed the collaborators currently in Minim in preferences. From here you can add and delete collaborators from Minim as well as editing their details and viewing the songs they are collaborating on

File Management

Minim keeps track of files, allowing you to get on with working on your songs. Files are found in the files tab of each song. They are grouped together into the groups on the left of the view. Selecting a group will show all files within that group

To add a file, drag one from the Finder onto the files table. Minim will copy the file into the song and put it in the right group. To delete a file, right click (or control click) on the file and choose Delete File.

Each song can have a primary audio file. This is the file that represents the song, usually the finished version. To choose the primary audio file for a song open the Song Info panel. There is a drop down list that will list all available audio files for this song, choose one to make it the primary audio file

Albums

When you have a few songs in Minim you can start grouping them into albums. To create an album you first need to switch to Album mode (using the mode switcher in the toolbar). Album mode functions in a similar way to Song mode, the difference being that you can't edit songs here. To add an album click on the Add Album toolbar icon. To name it type the name into the Album Title field. To give your album some art work drag an image onto the artwork field (which contains a ? in a box when you first create your album).

To add a song to an album you need to be in Song mode. Select the song you want and switch to the Song Info tab. To add an album to a song click on the + button below the Albums table. Next click on the new item in the table to see a pop up list of your albums. You can add a song to as many albums as you want.

To quickly get to a song's info you can double click on it in an album's track listing to be quickly taken to it in song mode.

iCompositions Integration

Minim integrates with iCompositions.com to make uploading your songs easier. By clicking on the iCompositions Upload icon in the toolbar you will be taken to the iCompositions file upload page. Minim will autofill much of the form for you from the metadata stored about your song. You must be logged in and registered with iCompositions before you can autofill the iCompositions form.

Please note that you will have to select your file before you can upload

Minim fills in the following fields:
- Title
- Description
- Lyrics
- Genre
- Podcast
- Notification
- Downloading
- Adult Content
- Licencing

Progressions

Minim integrates with SimpleChord from WonderWarp Software to let you easily bring your chord progressions into Minim.

The left button adds a new progression. This opens up SimpleChord with a new progression for you to edit. The right button adds the currently selected progression to the current song.

Preferences

Minim has 3 sections to preferences. To see a description about the Collaborators preferences look at the collaborators help.

General Preferences

The name fields is the name you want to appear on your songs throughout Minim. By default this is taken from your Address Book card. The first checkbox allows you to turn off the warning that pops up when you delete a song. You can also turn off the autofilling of track numbers, allowing you to set your own track numbers.

iCompositions

The various preferences in here relate to settings on the iCompositions upload form. Their settings will be mirrored in the upload form, so if a checkbox is on here then it will be on in the iCompositions upload form by default.

FAQs