3 <img src="/images/foldback-gui.png" alt="The Foldback strip">
10 The <dfn>Foldback section</dfn> is an optional feature that provides stage monitoring mixes.
11 Many times the main mix is used for this purpose is a setup with only the control room. However,
12 for a separate studio and multiple monitor mixes for in ear use, a separate set of foldback
13 buses provides that flexability.
16 The Foldback bus was added in Ardour Version 6.0.
19 These foldback buses may be mono for a stage monitor wedge or stereo to allow
20 inear or headphones to have different mixes for each ear, such as one's self in one
21 ear and the rest of the music in the other.
24 A foldback mixer strip can be created on the fly by creating a Foldback Bus in the same manner
25 as any other bus is created, from the
26 <kbd class="menu">Track > Add Track, Bus or VCA</kbd> Window. Once at least one
27 Foldback bus has been created, the Foldback strip will appear in the mixer window
30 The <kbd class="menu">View > Mixer: Show Foldback Strip</kbd> checkbox will determine if the
31 Foldback strip is visible. The Foldback strip appears Just to the left of the Master strip in the
32 Mixer window. It comprises:
35 <li>Previous and Next buttons</li>
36 <!--li>Detach/attach control. This separates the Foldback strip into its own floating window</li-->
38 <li>Foldback bus name button</li>
39 <li>Invert button</li>
40 <li>Show sends button</li>
41 <li>Send controls</li>
42 <li>Bus pan control</li>
43 <li>Processor box</li>
44 <li>Listen button</li>
45 <li>Foldback bus level control</li>
46 <li>Foldback bus output routing</li>
47 <li>Comments button</li>
50 <h2>Previous and Next</h2>
53 The Previous button shows the previous Foldback bus in the Foldback strip.
54 The Next button shows the next Foldback strip. The button will be disabled
55 if there are no nore Foldback buses in that direction.
60 The hide button hides the Foldback strip when not being adjusted.
61 The Foldback strip can be shown again from the main menu
62 <kbd class="menu">View > Mixer: Show Foldback Strip</kbd> item.
67 The name button shows the name of the current Foldback bus. It has two
68 menus the Foldback bus selection menu, activated with a mouse button 1
69 click and the context menu, activated with a mouse button 3 click. The
70 context menu has these items in it:
73 <li><kbd class="menu">Comments</kbd> is the same as the Comments button
74 at the bottom of the strip</li>
75 <li><kbd class="menu">Outputs</kbd> shows the output routing grid</li>
76 <li><kbd class="menu">Save as a template</kbd> opens the template save
77 dialog. The template saved has the same number of channels and the same
78 processors but does not have any sends selected.</li>
79 <li><kbd class="menu">Rename</kbd> shows a rename dialog that allows the Foldback
80 bus name to be renamed</li>
81 <li><kbd class="menu">Active</kbd> toggles The active status of the current
83 <li><kbd class="menu">Protect Against Denormals</kbd> turns on denormal
84 protection for the current Foldback bus</li>
85 <li><kbd class="menu">Remove</kbd> will remove the current Foldback bus</li>
88 <h2>Invert Buttons</h2>
90 The invert buttons (one for each channel) invert the audio signal. This
91 may be useful in some situations for controlling feedback. However,
92 proper microphone and monitor placement or the use of head phones
93 or in ear monitoring will be more effective.
98 Show sends allows the send levels and pan to be controlled from the
99 originating track by using the main fader for the track. The fader and
100 pan controls will change color to indicate this mode and the show sends
101 button will flash to indicate this mode. Changing the current Foldback
102 bus will disable this mode.
105 <h2>The Send Box</h2>
107 The send box shows controls for each send. There is a context menu available
108 by clicking mouse button 3 anywhere in the send box.
111 <li><kbd class="menu">Assign Selected Tracks</kbd> creates foldback sends on each
112 selected track that feed the current Foldback bus</li>
113 <li><kbd class="menu">Assign Selected Tracks and Buses</kbd> creates foldback sends on each
114 selected track and bus that feed the current Foldback bus</li>
115 <li><kbd class="menu">Copy track/bus gains to sends</kbd> Sets the gain on the send to be the
116 same as the gain of the track or bus the send comes from for the current
118 <li><kbd class="menu">Set sends gain to -inf</kbd> sets the gain on all sends
119 for the current Foldback bus to -inf (the lowest gain possible)</li>
120 <li><kbd class="menu">Set sends gain to 0dB</kbd> sets the gain on all sends
121 for the current Foldback bus to 0dB</li>
124 <h3>The Send Control Block</h3>
126 <img src="/images/foldback-send.png" alt="The Foldback send">
129 There is a send control block for every send to the current Foldback
130 bus. The Send control block features three controls:
133 <li>The button which shows the Foldback bus' name, has an active "LED"
134 indicator and has a context menu (mouse button 3) with items for that
136 <li>The knob, only present on a stereo Foldback bus, which controls
138 <li>The horizontal slider which control the level input from that channel</li>
141 The button LED can be clicked to enable or disable that send, the button
142 context menu is similar to the send box above but only for this send. It
143 also has a remove option to remove this send from the current foldback mix.
146 <h2>The Pan Control</h2>
148 This is just like every other track or bus strip and works the same way.
151 <h2>The Processor Box</h2>
153 This processor box is the same as on the other tracks and buses and allows
154 for adding things like reverb to the foldback mix without writing it to the track.
155 It would also be possible to add in sound from a reverb bus instead.
158 <h2>The Listen Button</h2>
160 This is only available in PFL or AFL mode as it uses the same code as
161 the solo on other tracks and buses. It allows the control room monitor
162 or headphones to hear what the performer will hear in their monitor.
165 <h2>The Foldback Level Knob</h2>
167 This controls the output level being sent to the stage monitor.
170 <h2>The Output Port Selector</h2>
172 This is similar to the output selectors on the tracks and buses. It
173 differs in only a few ways. First it is never automatically connected.
174 A Foldback bus is always meant to be directly connected to an output
175 device and never to master or the monitor bus. The choices shown
176 Therefore reflect this.
178 <h2>The Comment Button</h2>
180 Just like the track and bus comment button, this allows opening a
181 window to type in notes about the current foldback bus for future