+++ /dev/null
----
-layout: default
-title: Using the Ableton Push 2
-menu_title: Ableton Push 2
----
-
-<p>
- <img alt="the Ableton Push 2 surface" src="/images/push2-main.jpg">
-</p>
-<p>
- Since version 5.4, Ardour has had extensive support for the Ableton
- Push2. This is an expensive but beautifully engineered control
- surface primarily targetting the workflow found in Ableton's Live
- software and other similar tools such as Bitwig. As of version 5.4,
- Ardour does not offer the same kind of workflow, so we have designed
- our support for the Push 2 around mixing and editing and musical
- performance, without the clip/scene oriented approach in Live. This
- may change in future versions of Ardour.
-</p>
-
-<h2>Connecting the Push 2</h2>
-<p>
- Plug the USB cable from the Push 2 into a USB2 or USB3 port on your
- computer. For brighter backlighting, also plug in the power supply
- (this is not necessary for use).
-</p>
-<p>
- The Push 2 will be automatically recognized by your operating
- system, and will appear in any of the lists of possible MIDI ports
- in both Ardour and other similar software.
-</p>
-<p>
- To connect the Push 2 to Ardour, open the Preferences dialog, and
- then click on "Control Surfaces". Click on the "Enable" button
- in the line that says "Ableton Push 2" in order to activate Ardour's
- Push 2 support.
-</p>
-<p>
- Once you select the input and output port, Ardour will initialize
- the Push 2 and it will be ready to use. You only need do this
- once: once these ports are connected and your session has been
- saved, the connections will be made automatically in this and other
- future sessions.
-</p>
-
-<h2>Push 2 Configuration</h2>
-<p>
- The only configuration option at this time is whether the pads send
- aftertouch or polyphonic pressure messages. You can alter this
- setting via the Push 2 GUI, accessed by double-clicking on the "Push
- 2" entry in the control surfaces list.
-<p>
-<img alt="the Push 2 configuration dialog"
- src="/images/push2-gui.png">
-</p>
-
-<h2>Basic Concepts</h2>
-<p>
- With the Push 2 support in Ardour 5.4, you can do the following
- things:
- <dl>
- <dt>Perform using the 8 x 8 pad "grid"</dt>
- <dd>The Push 2 has really lovely pressure-sensitive pads that can
- also generate either aftertouch or note (polyphonic) pressure.</dd>
- <dt>Global Mixing</dt>
- <dd>See many tracks at once, and control numerous parameters for each.</dd>
- <dt>Track/Bus Mixing</dt>
- <dd>View a single track/bus, with even more parameters for the track.</dd>
- <dt>Choose the mode/scale, root note and more for the pads</dt>
- <dd>37 scales are available. Like Live, Ardour offers both
- "in-key" and "chromatic" pad layouts.</dd>
- </dl>
-
- ... plus a variety of tasks related to transport control, selection,
- import, click track control and more.
-</p>
-
-<h2>Musical Performance</h2>
-<p>
- Messages sent from the 8x8 pad grid and the "pitch bend bar" are
- routed to a special MIDI port within Ardour called "Push 2 Pads"
- (no extra latency is incurred from this routing). Although you can
- manually connect this port to whatever you wish, the normal
- behaviour of Ardour's Push 2 support is to connect the pads to the
- most recently selected MIDI track.
-</p>
-<p>
- This means that to play a soft-synth/instrument plugin in a given
- MIDI track with the Push 2, you just need to select that track.
-</p>
-<p>
- If multiple MIDI tracks are selected at once, the first selected
- track will be used. Note that messages originating from all other
- controls on the Push 2 will <em>not</em> not be delivered to the
- "Push 2 Pads" port. This makes no difference in practice, because
- the other controls do not send messages that are useful for musical
- performance.
-</p>
-
-<h2>Global Mix</h2>
-<p>
- This is the default mode that Ardour will start the Push 2 in. In
- this mode, the 8 knobs at the top of the device, the 8 buttons below
- them, the video display and the 8 buttons below that are combined to
- provide a global view of the session mix.
-</p>
-<p>
- <img alt="global mix mode on Push2 screen"
- src="/images/push2-globalmix.png">
-</p>
-<p>
- The upper buttons are labelled by text in the video display just
- below them. Pressing one of the buttons changes the function of the
- knobs, and the parameters that will shown for each track/bus in the
- display.
-</p>
-<p>
- As of Ardour 5.4, the possible parameters are:
- <dl>
- <dt>Volumes</dt>
- <dd>The display shows a knob and text displaying
- the current gain setting for the track, and a meter that
- corresponds precisely to the meter shown in the Ardour GUI for
- that track. Changing the meter type (e.g. from Peak to K12) in the
- GUI will also change it in the Push 2 display. The physical knob
- will alter track/bus gain.
- </dd>
- <dt>Pans</dt>
- <dd>The display shows a knob indicating the pan direction/azimuth
- for the corresponding track/bus. Turning the physical knob will
- pan the track left and right. If the track/bus has no panner
- (i.e. it has only a single output), no knob is shown and the
- physical knob will do nothing. </dd>
- <dt>Pan Widths</dt>
- <dd><p>For tracks with 2 outputs, the display will show a knob
- indicating the pan width setting for the corresponding
- track/bus. The physical knob can be turned to adjust the
- width.
- </p>
- <p>
- Unlike many DAWs, Ardour's stereo panners have "width"
- parameter that defaults to 100%. You cannot change the pan
- direction/azimuth of a track with 100% width, but must first
- reduce the width in order to pan it. Similarly, a track panned
- anywhere other than dead center has limits on the maximum
- width setting. If these concepts are not familiar to you,
- please be aware than many DAWs use a "panner" that actually
- implement "balance" and not "panning", hence the difference.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>A Sends</dt>
- <dd>The display shows a knob indicating the gain level for the
- first send in that track. If the track has no send, no knob will
- be shown, and the physical knob for that track will do nothing.
- </dd>
- <dt>B Sends, C Sends, D Sends</dt>
- <dd>Like "A Sends", but for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th sends of a
- track/bus respectively.
- </dd>
- </dl>
-</p>
-<p>
- To change which tracks are shown while in global mix mode, use the
- left and right arrow/cursor keys just below and to the right of the
- display. Tracks and busses that are hidden in Ardour's GUI will also
- be hidden from display on the Push 2.
-</p>
-<p>
- To select a track/bus directly from the Push 2, press the
- corresponding button below the display. The track name will be
- highlighted, and the selection will change in Ardour's GUI as well
- (and also any other control surfaces).
-</p>
-
-<h3>Soloing and Muting in Global Mix mode</h3>
-<p>
- The Solo and Mute buttons to the left of the video display can be
- used to solo and mute tracks while in Global Mix mode. The operation
- will be applied to the <em>first</em> currently selected
- track(s).
-</p>
-<p>
- There are two indications that one or more tracks are soloed:
- <ol>
- <li>The solo button will blink red</li>
- <li>Track names will be prefixed by "*" if they are soloed, and
- "-" if they are muted due to soloing.</li>
- </ol>
-</p>
-<p>
- To cancel solo, either:
- <ul>
- <li>Select the soloed track(s) and press the solo button
- again</li>
- <li>Press and hold the solo button for more than 1 second</li>
- </ul>
-</p>
-
-<h2>Track Mix</h2>
-<p>Track Mix mode allows you to focus on a single track in more detail
- than is possible in Global Mix mode. To enter (or leave) Track Mix
- mode, press the "Mix" button.
-</p>
-<p>
-
-</p>
-<p>
- In Track Mix mode, various aspects of the state of the first
- selected track/bus will be displayed on the Push 2. Above the
- display, the first 4 knobs control track volume (gain), pan
- directiom/azimuth, pan width, and where appropriate, track input
- trim.
-</p>
-<p>
- Below the display, 7 buttons provide immediate control of mute,
- solo, rec-enable, monitoring (input or disk or automatic), solo
- isolate and solo safe state. When a a track is muted due to other
- track(s) soloing, the mute button will flash (to differentiate from
- its state when it is explicitly muted).
-</p>
-<p>
- The video display also shows meters for the track, which as in
- Global Mix mode, precisely match the meter type shown in Ardour's
- GUI. There are also two time displays showing the current playhead
- position in both musical (beats|bars|ticks) format, and as
- hours:minutes:seconds.
-</p>
-<p>
- To change which track is visible in Track Mix mode, use the
- left/right arrow/cursor keys just below and to the right of the
- video display.
-</p>
-
-<h2>Scale Selection</h2>
-<p>
- Press the Scale button to enter Scale mode. The display will look
- like this:
-</p>
-<p>
- <img alt="track mix mode on Push2 screen"
- src="/images/push2-scale.png">
-</p>
-<p>
- In the center, 37 scales are presented. Scroll through them by
- either using the cursor/arrow keys to the lower right of the
- display, or the knobs above the display. The scale will change
- dynamically as you scroll. You can also scroll in whole pages using
- the upper right and upper left buttons above the display (they will
- display "<" and ">" if scrolling is possible).
-</p>
-<p>
- To change the root note of the scale, press the corresponding button
- above or below the video display.The button will be lit to indicate
- your selection (and the text will be highlighted).
-</p>
-<p>
- By default, Ardour configures the Push 2 pads to use "in-key" mode,
- where all pads correspond to notes "in" the chosen scale. Notes
- corresponding to the root note, or the equivalent note in higher
- octaves, are highlighted with the color of the current target MIDI
- track.
-</p>
-<p>
- In
- "chromatic" mode, the pads correspond to a continuous sequence of
- notes starting with your selected root note. Pads corresponding to
- notes in the scale are illuminated; those corresponding to the root
- note are lit with the color the current target MIDI track. Other
- pads are left dark, but you can still play them.
-</p>
-<p>
- To switch between them, press button on the lower left of the video
- display; the text above it will display the current mode (though it
- is usually visually self-evident from the pad lighting pattern).
-</p>
-<p>
- To leave Scale mode, press the "Scale" button again. You may also
- use the upper left button above the display, though if you have
- scrolled left, it may require more than one press.
-</p>
-
-<h2>Specific Button/Knob Functions</h2>
-
-<p>
- In addition to the layouts described above, many (but not all) of
- the buttons and knobs around the edges of the Push 2 will carry out
- various functions related to their (illuminated) label. As of Ardour
- 5.4, this includes:
- <dl>
- <dt>Metronome (button and adjacent knob)</dt>
- <dd>
- Enables/disables the click (metronome). The knob directly above
- it will control the volume (gain) of the click.
- </dd>
- <dt>Undo/Redo</dt>
- <dd>
- Undo or redo the previous editing operation.
- </dd>
- <dt>Delete</dt>
- <dd>
- Deletes the currently selected region, or range, or
- note. Equivalent to using Ctrl/Cmd-x on the keyboard.
- </dd>
- <dt>Quantize</dt>
- <dd>
- If a MIDI region is selected in Ardour, this will open the
- quantize dialog.
- </dd>
- <dt>Duplicate</dt>
- <dd>
- Duplicates the current region or range selection.
- </dd>
- <dt>Rec-Enable</dt>
- <dd>
- Enables and disables Ardour's global record enable state.
- </dd>
- <dt>Play</dt>
- <dd>
- Starts and stops the transport. Press Shift-Play to return to
- the session start.
- </dd>
- <dt>Add Track</dt>
- <dd>
- Opens Ardour's Add Track/Bus dialog.
- </dd>
- <dt>Browse</dt>
- <dd>
- Open's Ardour's import dialog to select and audition existing
- audio and MIDI files.
- </dd>
- <dt>Master</dt>
- <dd>
- Pressing this button jumps directly to Track Mix mode, with the
- master out bus displayed.
- </dd>
- <dt>Cursor arrows</dt>
- <dd>
- These are used by some modes to navigate within the display (e.g
- Scale mode). In other modes, the up/down cursor arrows will
- scroll the GUI display up and down, while the left/right cursor
- arrows will generally scroll within the Push 2 display itself.
- </dd>
- <dt>Repeat</dt>
- <dd>
- Enables/disables loop playback. This will follow Ardour's "loop
- is mode" preference, just like the loop button in the Ardour
- GUI.
- </dd>
- <dt>Octave buttons</dt>
- <dd>
- These shift the root note of the current pad scale up or down by
- 1 octave.
- </dd>
- <dt>Page buttons</dt>
- <dd>
- These scroll Ardour's editor display left and right along the
- timeline.
- </dd>
- <dt>Master (top right) knob</dt>
- <dd>
- This knob controls the gain/volume of Ardour's main output. If
- the session has a monitor saec
- </dd>
- </dl>
-</p>
-
projects / ardour-manual-diverged / blobdiff