3 <img src="/images/push2-main.jpg" alt="The Ableton Push 2 surface">
5 The Ableton Push 2 surface
10 Since version 5.4, Ardour has had extensive support for the Ableton
11 Push2. This is an expensive but beautifully engineered control
12 surface primarily targeting the workflow found in Ableton's Live
13 software and other similar tools such as Bitwig. As of version 5.4,
14 Ardour does not offer the same kind of workflow, so we have designed
15 our support for the Push 2 around mixing and editing and musical
16 performance, without the clip/scene oriented approach in Live. This
17 may change in future versions of Ardour.
20 <h2>Connecting the Push 2</h2>
22 Plug the USB cable from the Push 2 into a USB2 or USB3 port on your
23 computer. For brighter backlighting, also plug in the power supply
24 (this is not necessary for use).
27 The Push 2 will be automatically recognized by your operating
28 system, and will appear in any of the lists of possible MIDI ports
29 in both Ardour and other similar software.
33 Linux does not provide normal users access to arbitrary USB
34 devices by default (this is a security measure). To give yourself
35 access to the Push2, you need to create a file in
36 the <code>/etc/udev/rules.d</code> folder (directory). The name of
37 the should be something like "50-Ableton-Push2.rules" (the only
38 critical parts are that it ends in ".rules" and is unique). The
39 file should contain the following single line:
43 SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="2982", ATTR{idProduct}=="1967", MODE="0666", GROUP="audio"
47 Note that you will need to be member of the group named in the
48 "GROUP" property ("audio" in the example above).
53 To connect the Push 2 to Ardour, open the Preferences dialog, and
54 then click on "Control Surfaces". Click on the "Enable" button
55 in the line that says "Ableton Push 2" in order to activate Ardour's
59 Once you select the input and output port, Ardour will initialize
60 the Push 2 and it will be ready to use. You only need do this
61 once: once these ports are connected and your session has been
62 saved, the connections will be made automatically in this and other
66 <h2>Push 2 Configuration</h2>
68 The only configuration option at this time is whether the pads send
69 aftertouch or polyphonic pressure messages. You can alter this
70 setting via the Push 2 GUI, accessed by double-clicking on the "Push
71 2" entry in the control surfaces list.
75 <img src="/images/push2-gui.png" alt="The Push 2 configuration dialog">
77 The Push 2 configuration dialog
81 <h2>Basic Concepts</h2>
83 With the Push 2 support in Ardour 5.4, you can do the following
86 <tr><th>Perform using the 8 x 8 pad "grid"</th>
87 <td>The Push 2 has really lovely pressure-sensitive pads that can
88 also generate either aftertouch or note (polyphonic) pressure.</td></tr>
89 <tr><th>Global Mixing</th>
90 <td>See many tracks at once, and control numerous parameters for each.</td></tr>
91 <tr><th>Track/Bus Mixing</th>
92 <td>View a single track/bus, with even more parameters for the track.</td></tr>
93 <tr><th>Choose the mode/scale, root note and more for the pads</th>
94 <td>37 scales are available. Like Live, Ardour offers both
95 "in-key" and "chromatic" pad layouts.</td></tr>
98 … plus a variety of tasks related to transport control, selection,
99 import, click track control and more.
102 <h2>Musical Performance</h2>
104 Messages sent from the 8x8 pad grid and the "pitch bend bar" are
105 routed to a special MIDI port within Ardour called "Push 2 Pads"
106 (no extra latency is incurred from this routing). Although you can
107 manually connect this port to whatever you wish, the normal
108 behaviour of Ardour's Push 2 support is to connect the pads to the
109 most recently selected MIDI track.
112 This means that to play a soft-synth/instrument plugin in a given
113 MIDI track with the Push 2, you just need to select that track.
116 If multiple MIDI tracks are selected at once, the first selected
117 track will be used. Note that messages originating from all other
118 controls on the Push 2 will <em>not</em> not be delivered to the
119 "Push 2 Pads" port. This makes no difference in practice, because
120 the other controls do not send messages that are useful for musical
126 This is the default mode that Ardour will start the Push 2 in. In
127 this mode, the 8 knobs at the top of the device, the 8 buttons below
128 them, the video display and the 8 buttons below that are combined to
129 provide a global view of the session mix.
133 <img src="/images/push2-globalmix.png" alt="Global mix mode on Push2 screen">
135 Global mix mode on Push2 screen
140 The upper buttons are labelled by text in the video display just
141 below them. Pressing one of the buttons changes the function of the
142 knobs, and the parameters that will shown for each track/bus in the
146 As of Ardour 5.4, the possible parameters are:
149 <td>The display shows a knob and text displaying
150 the current gain setting for the track, and a meter that
151 corresponds precisely to the meter shown in the Ardour GUI for
152 that track. Changing the meter type (e.g. from Peak to K12) in the
153 GUI will also change it in the Push 2 display. The physical knob
154 will alter track/bus gain.
157 <td>The display shows a knob indicating the pan direction/azimuth
158 for the corresponding track/bus. Turning the physical knob will
159 pan the track left and right. If the track/bus has no panner
160 (i.e. it has only a single output), no knob is shown and the
161 physical knob will do nothing. </td></tr>
162 <tr><th>Pan Widths</th>
163 <td><p>For tracks with 2 outputs, the display will show a knob
164 indicating the pan width setting for the corresponding
165 track/bus. The physical knob can be turned to adjust the
169 Unlike many DAWs, Ardour's stereo panners have "width"
170 parameter that defaults to 100%. You cannot change the pan
171 direction/azimuth of a track with 100% width, but must first
172 reduce the width in order to pan it. Similarly, a track panned
173 anywhere other than dead center has limits on the maximum
174 width setting. If these concepts are not familiar to you,
175 please be aware than many DAWs use a "panner" that actually
176 implement "balance" and not "panning", hence the difference.
180 <td>The display shows a knob indicating the gain level for the
181 first send in that track. If the track has no send, no knob will
182 be shown, and the physical knob for that track will do nothing.
184 <tr><th>B Sends, C Sends, D Sends</th>
185 <td>Like "A Sends", but for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th sends of a
186 track/bus respectively.
191 To change which tracks are shown while in global mix mode, use the
192 left and right arrow/cursor keys just below and to the right of the
193 display. Tracks and busses that are hidden in Ardour's GUI will also
194 be hidden from display on the Push 2.
197 To select a track/bus directly from the Push 2, press the
198 corresponding button below the display. The track name will be
199 highlighted, and the selection will change in Ardour's GUI as well
200 (and also any other control surfaces).
203 <h3>Soloing and Muting in Global Mix mode</h3>
205 The Solo and Mute buttons to the left of the video display can be
206 used to solo and mute tracks while in Global Mix mode. The operation
207 will be applied to the <em>first</em> currently selected
211 There are two indications that one or more tracks are soloed:
213 <li>The solo button will blink red</li>
214 <li>Track names will be prefixed by "*" if they are soloed, and
215 "-" if they are muted due to soloing.</li>
219 To cancel solo, either:
221 <li>Select the soloed track(s) and press the solo button
223 <li>Press and hold the solo button for more than 1 second</li>
228 <p>Track Mix mode allows you to focus on a single track in more detail
229 than is possible in Global Mix mode. To enter (or leave) Track Mix
230 mode, press the "Mix" button.
236 In Track Mix mode, various aspects of the state of the first
237 selected track/bus will be displayed on the Push 2. Above the
238 display, the first 4 knobs control track volume (gain), pan
239 directiom/azimuth, pan width, and where appropriate, track input
243 Below the display, 7 buttons provide immediate control of mute,
244 solo, rec-enable, monitoring (input or disk or automatic), solo
245 isolate and solo safe state. When a a track is muted due to other
246 track(s) soloing, the mute button will flash (to differentiate from
247 its state when it is explicitly muted).
250 The video display also shows meters for the track, which as in
251 Global Mix mode, precisely match the meter type shown in Ardour's
252 GUI. There are also two time displays showing the current playhead
253 position in both musical (beats|bars|ticks) format, and as
254 hours:minutes:seconds.
257 To change which track is visible in Track Mix mode, use the
258 left/right arrow/cursor keys just below and to the right of the
262 <h2>Scale Selection</h2>
264 Press the Scale button to enter Scale mode. The display will look
269 <img src="/images/push2-scale.png" alt="Track mix mode on Push2 screen">
271 Track mix mode on Push2 screen
276 In the center, 37 scales are presented. Scroll through them by
277 either using the cursor/arrow keys to the lower right of the
278 display, or the knobs above the display. The scale will change
279 dynamically as you scroll. You can also scroll in whole pages using
280 the upper right and upper left buttons above the display (they will
281 display "<" and ">" if scrolling is possible).
284 To change the root note of the scale, press the corresponding button
285 above or below the video display.The button will be lit to indicate
286 your selection (and the text will be highlighted).
289 By default, Ardour configures the Push 2 pads to use "in-key" mode,
290 where all pads correspond to notes "in" the chosen scale. Notes
291 corresponding to the root note, or the equivalent note in higher
292 octaves, are highlighted with the color of the current target MIDI
297 "chromatic" mode, the pads correspond to a continuous sequence of
298 notes starting with your selected root note. Pads corresponding to
299 notes in the scale are illuminated; those corresponding to the root
300 note are lit with the color the current target MIDI track. Other
301 pads are left dark, but you can still play them.
304 To switch between them, press button on the lower left of the video
305 display; the text above it will display the current mode (though it
306 is usually visually self-evident from the pad lighting pattern).
309 To leave Scale mode, press the "Scale" button again. You may also
310 use the upper left button above the display, though if you have
311 scrolled left, it may require more than one press.
314 <h2>Specific Button/Knob Functions</h2>
317 In addition to the layouts described above, many (but not all) of
318 the buttons and knobs around the edges of the Push 2 will carry out
319 various functions related to their (illuminated) label. As of Ardour
322 <tr><th>Metronome (button and adjacent knob)</th>
324 Enables/disables the click (metronome). The knob directly above
325 it will control the volume (gain) of the click.
327 <tr><th>Undo/Redo</th>
329 Undo or redo the previous editing operation.
333 Deletes the currently selected region, or range, or
334 note. Equivalent to using Ctrl/Cmd-x on the keyboard.
336 <tr><th>Quantize</th>
338 If a MIDI region is selected in Ardour, this will open the
341 <tr><th>Duplicate</th>
343 Duplicates the current region or range selection.
345 <tr><th>Rec-Enable</th>
347 Enables and disables Ardour's global record enable state.
351 Starts and stops the transport. Press Shift-Play to return to
354 <tr><th>Add Track</th>
356 Opens Ardour's Add Track/Bus dialog.
360 Open's Ardour's import dialog to select and audition existing
361 audio and MIDI files.
365 Pressing this button jumps directly to Track Mix mode, with the
366 master out bus displayed.
368 <tr><th>Cursor arrows</th>
370 These are used by some modes to navigate within the display (e.g
371 Scale mode). In other modes, the up/down cursor arrows will
372 scroll the GUI display up and down, while the left/right cursor
373 arrows will generally scroll within the Push 2 display itself.
377 Enables/disables loop playback. This will follow Ardour's "loop
378 is mode" preference, just like the loop button in the Ardour
381 <tr><th>Octave buttons</th>
383 These shift the root note of the current pad scale up or down by
386 <tr><th>Page buttons</th>
388 These scroll Ardour's editor display left and right along the
391 <tr><th>Master (top right) knob</th>
393 This knob controls the gain/volume of Ardour's main output. If
394 the session has a monitor section.