This docking window graphs your modulations, in order to make them easier to visualize. To use this feature, you must first download and install Graphviz, an excellent free graphing software that's used by many notable projects. If you're running 64-bit Windows, it's recommended to use a 64-bit build of Graphviz. More recent versions of Graphviz only support Windows 10.
Polymeter looks for Graphviz in two system folders: Program Files, and Program Files (x86). If it's not found in either place, you'll be prompted for the location of Graphviz.
The graphing options are selected via context menu. The scope of the graph can be one of these:
| Scope | Description |
|---|---|
| All | Show all modulations regardless of track selection |
| Sources | Show modulators of selected tracks |
| Targets | Show targets of selected tracks |
| Bidirectional | Show modulators and targets of selected tracks |
Various graph layouts are supported, including dot (for hierarchical graphs) and neato (for non-hierarchical graphs). The edges are colored to indicate modulation type, and edge labels can optionally be displayed. The graph is generated as vectors (SVG format) so it's zoomable, and can be exported for printing. Hovering over a node's label shows a tooltip containing the track number. The graph is displayed using a web browser control (IWebBrowser2). Note that the recommended Internet Explorer version is 11 or later (Edge); earlier versions of IE may display the graph incorrectly or not at all.
Context menu
| Scope | Use this submenu to select the scope of the graph. Scopes are explained above. For scopes other than All, the modulation network is crawled by starting from the selected tracks and traversing their modulators, targets, or both. The traversal can be limited to a specific distance via the Depth option. |
| Depth | Use this submenu to limit the recursion depth of the graph to a specific number of levels. To allow unlimited recursion depth, select Maximum. This option lets you simplify the graph by only including modulations that are closely connected to the selected tracks. It has no effect if the Scope is All. |
| Layout | Use this submenu to select a Graphviz layout engine. The dot layout engine draws a hierarchical graph, which is often the most useful way to visualize a modulation network. The other layout engines draw various types of non-hierarchical graphs. For more information on layouts, see the Graphviz documentation. |
| Filter | Use this submenu to filter the graph by modulation type. To show all types, select All. To show only a single type, select its name. To show multiple types, select Multiple, check the desired list items in the resulting dialog, and press OK. By default, all types are shown. The filter is applied after the modulation network has been crawled. |
| Channel | Use this submenu to select which MIDI channels are shown. To show all channels, select All. To show only a single channel, select its number. To show multiple channels, select Multiple, check the desired list items in the Select Channels dialog, and press OK. By default, all channels are shown. The channel selection is applied after the modulation network has been crawled. Tracks with a track type of Modulator are only included if they directly or indirectly modulate a non-Modulator track that matches the channel selection. |
| Zoom | Use this submenu to zoom the graph in or out, or reset zoom to its default value. The shortcuts are Ctrl++ to zoom in, Ctrl+- to zoom out, and Ctrl+0 to reset the zoom. To zoom in/out to/from the cursor position, spin the mouse wheel while pressing the Ctrl key. |
| Highlight | This item enables or disables highlighting of the selected tracks in the graph. When this option is enabled, the selected tracks are indicated by drawing the corresponding graph nodes with a different background color. |
| Labels | This item enables or disables edge labels. When this option is enabled, a label appears next to every connecting line in the graph, identifying the corresponding modulation type. This is only recommended for simple graphs, because otherwise the graph is hard to read. |
| Legend | This item enables or disables showing a legend that maps the edge colors in use to their corresponding modulation types. |
| Muted | This item determines whether the graph includes muted tracks. If this item is checked (the default), muted tracks are included, and the graph is unaffected by muting or unmuting tracks. Uncheck this item to exclude muted tracks. Excluding muted tracks can simplify the graph, but the graph also changes more often, because it updates whenever track mutes change. To match the Modulations bar, check this item; to match what you're hearing, uncheck it. |
| Save As | This item saves the current graph to a file. The default output format is SVG, which is vector-based and scalable. Other supported formats include PNG, BMP, and PDF. The command displays a file dialog, which lets you specify the name and location of the output file. To change the output format, use the "Save as type" drop list near the bottom of the file dialog. The command also displays an Image Export dialog, which lets you specify the output image size. If "Same size as window" is selected, the output image will have the same size as the graph window. To specify a different size, select "Custom size" and enter the desired width and height in pixels. |
| Reload | This item redraws the graph. |
Graph edge colors
| Color | Modulation Type |
|---|---|
| Black | Mute |
| Red | Note |
| Green | Velocity |
| Blue | Duration |
| Dark Cyan | Range |
| Magenta | Position |
| Brown | Tempo |
| Purple | Scale |
| Dark Green | Chord |
| Olive | Index |
| Orange | Voicing |
| Turquoise | Offset |
Full screen mode
The Graph bar can be displayed in full screen mode, in which case the graph is shown without borders and fills the entire monitor. To make the bar fill a secondary monitor, drag the bar onto that monitor before making it full-screen. The shortcut key to enter or exit full screen mode is Ctrl+F11. You can also exit full screen mode by pressing the Escape key. To use either key, you may need to give the Graph bar the input focus first, by left-clicking within the graph.