4 <a href="/using-control-surfaces/generic-midi/midi-learn/"><dfn>MIDI learning</dfn></a>
5 for more or less any control. This was a nice feature that quite a few other
6 DAWs are providing by now, but it didn't allow Ardour to work "out of the
7 box" with sensible defaults for existing commercial MIDI
8 controllers. In Ardour 3 and later versions, we have augmented the
9 MIDI learn feature with the ability to load a <dfn>MIDI binding map</dfn>
10 for a given controller, which can set up an arbitrary number of physical
11 controls with anything inside Ardour that can be controlled.
14 Currently (August 2016), we have presets for the following devices/modes:
20 <li>Behringer BCF2000</li>
21 <li>Behringer BCF2000 (Mackie Emulation mode; better to use
22 Ardour's actual Mackie Control Protocol support)</li>
23 <li>Behringer DDX3216</li>
24 <li>Korg nanoKONTROL (2 layouts)</li>
25 <li>Korg nanoKONTROL 2 (2 layouts)</li>
27 <li>M-Audio Axiom 25 (2 layouts)</li>
28 <li>M-Audio Axiom 61</li>
29 <li>M-Audio Oxygen 49</li>
30 <li>M-Audio Oxygen 61v3</li>
31 <li>M-Audio Oxygen 25</li>
32 <li>M-Audio Oxygen 8v2</li>
33 <li>Novation Impulse 49</li>
34 <li>Novation Impulse 61</li>
35 <li>Novation LaunchControl XL</li>
36 <li>Novation LaunchKey 25</li>
38 <li>Roland V Studio 20</li>
41 At this time, new binding maps need to be created with a text editor.
43 MIDI binding maps are accessible by double-clicking <kbd class="menu">Edit
44 > Preferences > Control Surfaces > Generic MIDI</kbd>. Ardour will
45 retain your selection after you choose one.
48 <h2>Creating new MIDI maps</h2>
49 <h3>The Basic Concept</h3>
51 Since the beginning of time (well, sometime early in the 2.X series),
52 Ardour has had the concept of identifying each track and bus with a
53 <dfn>remote control ID</dfn>. This ID uniquely identifies a track or bus
54 so that when messages arrive from elsewhere via MIDI or OSC , we can determine
55 which track or bus they are intended to control. See
57 href="/working-with-tracks/controlling-track-ordering/track-ordering-and-remote-control-ids/">
58 remote control IDs</a> for more information.
59 You just need to know that there is a "first track" and its remote control
62 <h3>Getting Started</h3>
64 MIDI bindings are stored in files with the suffix ".map" attached to their
65 name. The minimal content looks like this:
68 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
69 <ArdourMIDIBindings version="1.0.0" name="The name of this set of
71 </ArdourMIDIBindings>
74 So, to start, create a file with that as the initial contents.
77 On OS X, Ardour loads midi maps from its binary-bundle folder in
78 <code>Ardour-<version>/midi_maps/</code> and checks
79 various other locations as well (defined by the ARDOUR_MIDIMAPS_PATH
80 environment variable). On GNU/Linux the easiest is to save the file to
81 <code>~/.config/ardour3/midi_maps/</code>.
84 <h3>Finding out what your MIDI control surface sends</h3>
86 This is the most complex part of the job, but its still not very hard.
87 You need to connect the control surface to an application that will show
88 you the information that the device sends each time you modify a knob,
89 slider, button etc. There are a variety of such applications (notably
90 <code>gmidimon</code> and <code>kmidimon</code>, but you can actually use
91 Ardour for this if you want. Start Ardour in a terminal window, connect
92 MIDI ports up, and in the Preferences window, enable "Trace Input" on the
93 relevant MIDI port. A full trace of the MIDI data received will show up in
94 the terminal window. (Note: in Ardour3, you get a dedicated, custom dialog
95 for this kind of tracing.)
97 <h3>Types of Bindings</h3>
99 There are two basic kinds of bindings you can make between a MIDI message
100 and something inside Ardour. The first is a binding to a specific parameter
101 of a track or bus. The second is a binding to a function that will change
102 Ardour's state in some way.
104 <h4>Binding to Track/Bus controls</h4>
106 A track/bus binding has one of two basic structures
109 <Binding <em>msg specification</em> uri="<em>... control address ...</em>"/>
110 <Binding <em>msg specification</em> function="<em>... function name ...</em>"/>
113 <h4>Message specifications</h4>
115 You can create a binding for either 3 types of channel messages, or for a
116 system exclusive ("sysex") message. A channel message specification looks
120 <Binding channel="1" ctl="13" ....
123 This defines a binding for a MIDI Continuous Controller message involving
124 controller 13, arriving on channel 1. There are 16 MIDI channels, numbered
125 1 to 16. Where the example above says <code>ctl</code>, you can alternatively
126 use <code>note</code> (to create binding for a Note On message) or
127 <code>pgm</code> (to create a binding for a Program Change message).
130 As of Ardour 4.2, <code>enc-r</code>, <code>enc-l</code>, <code>enc-2</code> and
131 <code>enc-b</code> may be used for surfaces that have encoders that send
132 offsets rather than values. These accept Continuous Controller messages
133 but treat them as offsets. These are good for banked controls as they are
134 always at the right spot to start adjusting. (
135 <a href="/using-control-surfaces/generic-midi/working-with-encoders/">
136 Learn more about working with encoders
140 You can also bind sysex messages:
143 <Binding sysex="f0 0 0 e 9 0 5b f7" ....
144 <Binding sysex="f0 7f 0 6 7 f7" ....
147 The string after the <code>sysex=</code> part is the sequence of MIDI bytes,
148 as hexadecimal values, that make up the sysex message.
151 Finally, you can bind a totally arbitrary MIDI message:</p>
153 <Binding msg="f0 0 0 e 9 0 5b f7" ....
154 <Binding msg="80 60 40" ....
157 The string after the <code>msg=</code> part is the sequence of MIDI bytes, as
158 hexadecimal values, that make up the message you want to bind. Using this is
159 slightly less efficient than the other variants shown above, but is useful for
160 some oddly designed control devices.
164 As of Ardour 4.6 it is possible to use multi-event MIDI strings such as
165 two event CC messages, RPN or NRPN.
169 The <code>sysex=</code> and <code>msg=</code> bindings will only work with
170 <code>function=</code> or <code>action=</code> control addresses. They
171 will <em>not</em> work with the <code>uri=</code> control addresses.
172 Controls used with <code>uri=</code> require a <em>Value</em> which is
173 only available in a known place with channel mode MIDI events.
176 <h4>Control address</h4>
178 A <dfn>control address</dfn> defines what the binding will actually control.
179 There are quite a few different things that can be specified here:
181 <dl class="wide-table">
183 <dd>the gain control ("fader") for the track/bus</dd>
185 <dd>the trim control for the track/bus (new in 4.1)</dd>
187 <dd>a toggleable control for solo (and listen) of the track/bus</dd>
189 <dd>a toggleable control to mute/unmute the track/bus</dd>
190 <dt>/route/recenable</dt>
191 <dd>a toggleable control to record-enable the track</dd>
192 <dt>/route/panwidth</dt>
193 <dd>interpreted by the track/bus panner, should control image "width"</dd>
194 <dt>/route/pandirection</dt>
195 <dd>interpreted by the track/bus panner, should control image "direction"</dd>
196 <dt>/route/plugin/parameter</dt>
197 <dd>the Mth parameter of the Nth plugin of a track/bus
199 <dt>/route/send/gain</dt>
200 <dd>the gain control ("fader") of the Nth send of a track/bus</dd>
202 <p>Each of the specifications needs an address, which takes various forms too. For track-level controls (solo/gain/mute/recenable), the address is one the following:</p>
203 <dl class="wide-table">
204 <dt>a number, eg. "1"
206 <dd>identifies a track or bus by its remote control ID
208 <dt>B, followed by a number
210 <dd>identifies a track or bus by its remote control ID within the current bank (see below for more on banks)
212 <dt>S, followed by a number
214 <dd>identifies a selected track in order they have been selected, S1 should be the same track as the Editor Mixer
216 <dt>one or more words
218 <dd>identifies a track or bus by its name
222 For send/insert/plugin controls, the address consists of a track/bus
223 address (as just described) followed by a number identifying the plugin/send
224 (starting from 1). For plugin parameters, there is an additional third
225 component: a number identifying the plugin parameter number (starting from
229 One additional feature: for solo and mute bindings, you can also add
230 <code>momentary="yes"</code> after the control address. This is useful
231 primarily for NoteOn bindings — when Ardour gets the NoteOn it
232 will solo or mute the targetted track or bus, but then when a NoteOff
233 arrives, it will un-solo or un-mute it.
236 <h4>Bindings to Ardour "functions"</h4>
238 Rather than binding to a specific track/bus control, it may be useful to
239 have a MIDI controller able to alter some part of Ardour's state. A
240 binding definition that does this looks like this:
243 <Binding channel="1" note="13" function="transport-roll"/>
246 In this case, a NoteOn message for note number 13 (on channel 1) will
247 start the transport rolling. The following function names are available:
249 <dl class="narrower-table">
251 <code>transport-stop</code>
253 <dd>stop the transport
256 <code>transport-roll</code>
258 <dd>start the transport "rolling"
261 <code>transport-zero</code>
263 <dd>move the playhead to the zero position
266 <code>transport-start</code>
268 <dd>move the playhead to the start marker
271 <code>transport-end</code>
273 <dd>move the playhead to the end marker
276 <code>loop-toggle</code>
278 <dd>turn on loop playback
281 <code>rec-enable</code>
283 <dd>enable the global record button
286 <code>rec-disable</code>
288 <dd>disable the global record button
291 <code>next-bank</code>
293 <dd>Move track/bus mapping to the next bank (see Banks below)
296 <code>prev-bank</code>
298 <dd>Move track/bus mapping to the previous bank (see Banks below)
302 <h4>Binding to Ardour "actions"</h4>
304 You can also bind a sysex or arbitrary message to any of the items
305 that occur in Ardour's main menu (and its submenus). The <a
306 href="/appendix/menu-actions-list/">
307 list of actions</a> shows all available values of <em>action-name</em>.
309 To create a binding between an arbitrary MIDI message (we'll use a
310 note-off on channel 1 of MIDI note 60 (hex) with release velocity
311 40 (hex)), the binding file would contain:
314 <Binding msg="80 60 40" action="Editor/temporal-zoom-in"/>
317 The general rule, when taken an item from the keybindings file and
318 using it in a MIDI binding is to simply strip the
319 <code><Action></code> prefix of the second field in the
320 keybinding definition.
323 <h3>Banks and Banking</h3>
325 Because many modern control surfaces offer per-track/bus controls
326 for far fewer tracks & busses than many users want to control,
327 Ardour offers the relatively common place concept of <dfn>banks</dfn>. Banks
328 allow you to control any number of tracks and/or busses easily,
329 regardless of how many faders/knobs etc. your control surface has.<br />
330 To use banking, the control addresses must be specified using the
331 <dfn>bank relative</dfn> format mentioned above ("B1" to identify
332 the first track of a bank of tracks, rather than "1" to identify
336 One very important extra piece of information is required to use
337 banking: an extra line near the start of the list of bindings
338 that specifies how many tracks/busses to use per bank. If the
339 device has 8 faders, then 8 would be a sensible value to use for
340 this. The line looks like this:</p>
342 <DeviceInfo bank-size="8"/>
345 In addition, you probably want to ensure that you bind something
346 on the control surface to the <code>next-bank</code> and
347 <code>prev-bank</code> functions, otherwise you and other users
348 will have to use the mouse and the GUI to change banks, which
349 rather defeats the purpose of the bindings.
351 <h3>The Selected Strip</h3>
353 Often times one wants to just deal with the strip currently
354 selected by the GUI (or the control surface). In the same way as with
355 banks above the selected strip can be designated with <em>S1</em>.
357 <h2>A Complete (though muddled) Example</h2>
359 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
360 <ArdourMIDIBindings version="1.0.0" name="pc1600x transport controls">
361 <DeviceInfo bank-size="16"/>
362 <Binding channel="1" ctl="1" uri="/route/gain B1"/>
363 <Binding channel="1" ctl="2" uri="/route/gain B2"/>
364 <Binding channel="1" ctl="3" uri="/route/send/gain B1 1"/>
365 <Binding channel="1" ctl="4" uri="/route/plugin/parameter B1 1 1"/>
366 <Binding channel="1" ctl="6" uri="/bus/gain master"/>
368 <Binding channel="1" note="1" uri="/route/solo B1"/>
369 <Binding channel="1" note="2" uri="/route/solo B2" momentary="yes"/>
371 <Binding channel="1" note="15" uri="/route/mute B1" momentary="yes"/>
372 <Binding channel="1" note="16" uri="/route/mute B2" momentary="yes"/>
374 <Binding sysex="f0 0 0 e 9 0 5b f7" function="transport-start"/>
375 <Binding sysex="f0 7f 0 6 7 f7" function="rec-disable"/>
376 <Binding sysex="f0 7f 0 6 6 f7" function="rec-enable"/>
377 <Binding sysex="f0 0 0 e 9 0 53 0 0 f7" function="loop-toggle"/>
379 <Binding channel="1" note="13" function="transport-roll"/>
380 <Binding channel="1" note="14" function="transport-stop"/>
381 <Binding channel="1" note="12" function="transport-start"/>
382 <Binding channel="1" note="11" function="transport-zero"/>
383 <Binding channel="1" note="10" function="transport-end"/>
384 </ArdourMIDIBindings>
387 Please note that channel, controller and note numbers are specified as
388 decimal numbers in the ranges 1-16, 0-127 and 0-127 respectively
389 (the channel range may change at some point).