3 title: Using the Ableton Push 2
4 menu_title: Ableton Push 2
8 <img alt="the Ableton Push 2 surface" src="/images/push2-main.jpg">
9 Since version 5.4, Ardour has had full support for the Ableton
10 Push2. This is an expensive but beautifully engineered control
11 surface primarily targetting the workflow found in Ableton's Live
12 software and other similar tools such as Bitwig. As of 5.4, Ardour
13 does not offer the same kind of workflow, so we have repurposed the
14 Push 2 to be used for mixing and editing and musical performance,
15 without the clip/scene oriented approach in Live. This may change in
16 future versions of Ardour.
19 <h2>Connecting the Push 2</h2>
21 Plug the USB cable from the Push 2 into a USB2 or USB3 port on your
22 computer. For brighter backlighting, also plug in the power supply
23 (this is not necessary for use).
26 The Push 2 will be automatically recognized by your operating
27 system, and will appear in any of the lists of possible MIDI ports
28 in both Ardour and other similar software.
31 To connect the Push 2 to Ardour, open the Preferences dialog, and
32 then click on "Control Surfaces". Click on the "Enable" button
33 in the line that says "Ableton Push 2" in order to activate Ardour's
38 <img alt="the Faderport configuration dialog"
39 src="/images/push2_dialog.png">
43 Once you select the input and output port, Ardour will initialize
44 the Push 2 and it will be ready to use. You only need do this
45 once: once these ports are connected and your session has been
46 saved, the connections will be made automatically in this and other
50 <h2>Basic Concepts</h2>
52 With the Push 2 support in Ardour 5.4, you can do the following
55 <dt>Perform using the 8 x 8 pad "grid"</dt>
56 <dd>The Push 2 has really lovely pressure-sensitive pads that can
57 also generate either aftertouch or note (polyphonic) pressure.</dd>
58 <dt>Global Mixing</dt>
59 <dd>See many tracks at once, and control numerous parameters for each.</dd>
60 <dt>Track/Bus Mixing</dt>
61 <dd>View a single track/bus, with even more parameters for the track.</dd>
62 <dt>Choose the mode/scale, root note and more for the pads</dt>
63 <dd>37 scales are available. Like Live, Ardour offers both
64 "in-key" and "chromatic" pad layouts.</dd>
67 ... plus a variety of tasks related to transport control, selection,
68 import, click track control and more.
71 <h2>Musical Performance</h2>
73 Messages sent from the 8x8 pad grid and the "pitch bend bar" are
74 routed to a special MIDI port within Ardour called "Push 2 Pads"
75 (no extra latency is incurred from this routing). Although you can
76 manually connect this port to whatever you wish, the normal
77 behaviour of Ardour's Push 2 support is to connect the pads to the
78 most recently selected MIDI track.
81 This means that to play a soft-synth/instrument plugin in a given
82 MIDI track with the Push 2, you just need to select that track.
85 If multiple MIDI tracks are selected at once, the first selected
86 track will be used. Note that messages originating from all other
87 controls on the Push 2 will <em>not</em> not be delivered to the
88 "Push 2 Pads" port. This makes no difference in practice, because
89 the other controls do not send messages that are useful for musical
95 This is the default mode that Ardour will start the Push 2 in. In
96 this mode, the 8 knobs at the top of the device, the 8 buttons below
97 them, the video display and the 8 buttons below that are combined to
98 provide a global view of the session mix.
101 <img alt="global mix mode on Push2 screen"
102 src="/images/push2-globalmix.png">
105 The upper buttons are labelled by text in the video display just
106 below them. Pressing one of the buttons changes the function of the
107 knobs, and the parameters that will shown for each track/bus in the
108 display. As of Ardour 5.4, the possible parameters are:
111 <dd>The display shows a knob and text displaying
112 the current gain setting for the track, and a meter that
113 corresponds precisely to the meter shown in the Ardour GUI for
114 that track. Changing the meter type (e.g. from Peak to K12) in the
115 GUI will also change it in the Push 2 display. The physical knob
116 will alter track/bus gain.
119 <dd>The display shows a knob indicating the pan direction/azimuth
120 for the corresponding track/bus. Turning the physical knob will
121 pan the track left and right. If the track/bus has no panner
122 (i.e. it has only a single output), no knob is shown and the
123 physical knob will do nothing. </dd>
125 <dd><p>For tracks with 2 outputs, the display will show a knob
126 indicating the pan width setting for the corresponding
127 track/bus. The physical knob can be turned to adjust the
131 Unlike many DAWs, Ardour's stereo panners have "width"
132 parameter that defaults to 100%. You cannot change the pan
133 direction/azimuth of a track with 100% width, but must first
134 reduce the width in order to pan it. Similarly, a track panned
135 anywhere other than dead center has limits on the maximum
136 width setting. If these concepts are not familiar to you,
137 please be aware than many DAWs use a "panner" that actually
138 implement "balance" and not "panning", hence the difference.
142 <dd>The display shows a knob indicating the gain level for the
143 first send in that track. If the track has no send, no knob will
144 be shown, and the physical knob for that track will do nothing.
146 <dt>B Sends, C Sends, D Sends</dt>
147 <dd>Like "A Sends", but for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th sends of a
148 track/bus respectively.
153 To change which tracks are shown while in global mix mode, use the
154 left and right arrow/cursor keys just below and to the right of the
155 display. Tracks and busses that are hidden in Ardour's GUI will also
156 be hidden from display on the Push 2.
159 To select a track/bus directly from the Push 2, press the
160 corresponding button below the display. The track name will be
161 highlighted, and the selection will change in Ardour's GUI as well
162 (and also any other control surfaces).
165 <h3>Soloing and Muting in Global Mix mode</h3>
167 The Solo and Mute buttons to the left of the video display can be
168 used to solo and mute tracks while in Global Mix mode. The operation
169 will be applied to the <em>first</em> currently selected
173 There are two indications that one or more tracks are soloed:
175 <li>The solo button will blink red</li>
176 <li>Track names will be prefixed by "*" if they are soloed, and
177 "-" if they are muted due to soloing.</li>
181 To cancel solo, either:
183 <li>Select the soloed track(s) and press the solo button
185 <li>Press and hold the solo button for more than 1 second</li>
190 <p>Track Mix mode allows you to focus on a single track in more detail
191 than is possible in Global Mix mode. To enter (or leave) Track Mix
192 mode, press the "Mix" button.
198 In Track Mix mode, various aspects of the state of the first
199 selected track/bus will be displayed on the Push 2. Above the
200 display, the first 4 knobs control track volume (gain), pan
201 directiom/azimuth, pan width, and where appropriate, track input
205 Below the display, 7 buttons provide immediate control of mute,
206 solo, rec-enable, monitoring (input or disk or automatic), solo
207 isolate and solo safe state. When a a track is muted due to other
208 track(s) soloing, the mute button will flash (to differentiate from
209 its state when it is explicitly muted).
212 The video display also shows meters for the track, which as in
213 Global Mix mode, precisely match the meter type shown in Ardour's
214 GUI. There are also two time displays showing the current playhead
215 position in both musical (beats|bars|ticks) format, and as
216 hours:minutes:seconds.
219 To change which track is visible in Track Mix mode, use the
220 left/right arrow/cursor keys just below and to the right of the
224 <h2>Scale Selection</h2>
226 Press the Scale button to enter Scale mode. The display will look
230 <img alt="track mix mode on Push2 screen"
231 src="/images/push2-scale.png">
234 In the center, 37 scales are presented. Scroll through them by
235 either using the cursor/arrow keys to the lower right of the
236 display, or the knobs above the display. The scale will change
237 dynamically as you scroll. You can also scroll in whole pages using
238 the upper right and upper left buttons above the display (they will
239 display "<" and ">" if scrolling is possible).
242 To change the root note of the scale, press the corresponding button
243 above or below the video display.The button will be lit to indicate
244 your selection (and the text will be highlighted).
247 By default, Ardour configures the Push 2 pads to use "in-key" mode,
248 where all pads correspond to notes "in" the chosen scale. Notes
249 corresponding to the root note, or the equivalent note in higher
250 octaves, are highlighted with the color of the current target MIDI
255 "chromatic" mode, the pads correspond to a continuous sequence of
256 notes starting with your selected root note. Pads corresponding to
257 notes in the scale are illuminated; those corresponding to the root
258 note are lit with the color the current target MIDI track. Other
259 pads are left dark, but you can still play them.
262 To switch between them, press button on the lower left of the video
263 display; the text above it will display the current mode (though it
264 is usually visually self-evident from the pad lighting pattern).
267 To leave Scale mode, press the "Scale" button again. You may also
268 use the upper left button above the display, though if you have
269 scrolled left, it may require more than one press.
272 <h2>Specific Button/Knob Functions</h2>
275 In addition to the layouts described above, many (but not all) of
276 the buttons and knobs around the edges of the Push 2 will carry out
277 various functions related to their (illuminated) label. As of Ardour
280 <dt>Metronome (button and adjacent knob)</dt>
282 Enables/disables the click (metronome). The knob directly above
283 it will control the volume (gain) of the click.
287 Undo or redo the previous editing operation.
291 Deletes the currently selected region, or range, or
292 note. Equivalent to using Ctrl/Cmd-x on the keyboard.
296 If a MIDI region is selected in Ardour, this will open the
301 Duplicates the current region or range selection.
305 Enables and disables Ardour's global record enable state.
309 Starts and stops the transport.
313 Opens Ardour's Add Track/Bus dialog.
317 Open's Ardour's import dialog to select and audition existing
318 audio and MIDI files.
322 Pressing this button jumps directly to Track Mix mode, with the
323 master out bus displayed.
325 <dt>Cursor arrows</dt>
327 These are used by some modes to navigate within the display (e.g
328 Scale mode). In other modes, the up/down cursor arrows will
329 scroll the GUI display up and down, while the left/right cursor
330 arrows will generally scroll within the Push 2 display itself.
334 Enables/disables loop playback. This will follow Ardour's "loop
335 is mode" preference, just like the loop button in the Ardour
338 <dt>Octave buttons</dt>
340 These shift the root note of the current pad scale up or down by
343 <dt>Page buttons</dt>
345 These scroll Ardour's editor display left and right along the
348 <dt>Master (top right) knob</dt>
350 This knob controls the gain/volume of Ardour's main output. If
351 the session has a monitor saec