-
+
<p>
- The <dfn>patchbay</dfn> is the main way to make connections to, from and
- within Ardour's mixer.
+ The <dfn>patchbay</dfn> is the main way to make connections to, from and
+ within Ardour's mixer.
</p>
<p class="note">
- Notable exceptions are internal aux sends and connections to the monitor bus (if
- you are using one): these cannot be controlled from a patchbay, and are
+ Notable exceptions are internal aux sends and connections to the monitor bus (if
+ you are using one): these cannot be controlled from a patchbay, and are
basically not under manual control at all.
</p>
<img class="right" src="/images/connection-manager.png" alt="an example patchbay" />
<p>
- The patchbay presents two groups of ports; one set of <dfn>sources</dfn>
- (which produce data), and one of <dfn>destinations</dfn> (which consume
- data). Depending
+ The patchbay presents two groups of ports; one set of <dfn>sources</dfn>
+ (which produce data), and one of <dfn>destinations</dfn> (which consume
+ data). Depending
on the relative number of each, the sources will be placed on the left
- or the top of the dialogue, and the destinations on the right or the
- bottom. Thus, in general, signal flow is from top or left to right or
+ or the top of the dialogue, and the destinations on the right or the
+ bottom. Thus, in general, signal flow is from top or left to right or
bottom.
</p>
<p>
- Both sources and destinations are divided up into groups, with each
+ Both sources and destinations are divided up into groups, with each
group being given a tab:
</p>
<dl class="narrower-table">
<dt>Hardware</dt>
<dd>
- These are ports which are connected to a physical piece of hardware
+ These are ports which are connected to a physical piece of hardware
(a sound card or MIDI interface).</dd>
<dt>Ardour Busses</dt>
<dd>All ports belonging to busses.</dd>
<dd>All ports belonging to tracks.</dd>
<dt>Ardour Misc</dt>
<dd>
- These are other ports that do not fit into the previous two
- categories; for example, the ports on which the metronome click
- is output, and MIDI ports for things like control surfaces and
+ These are other ports that do not fit into the previous two
+ categories; for example, the ports on which the metronome click
+ is output, and MIDI ports for things like control surfaces and
timecode.
</dd>
<dt>Other</dt>
<dd>
- If you have other JACK clients running, their ports will be found
- here. If there are no such ports, the tab will not exist (on one or
+ If you have other JACK clients running, their ports will be found
+ here. If there are no such ports, the tab will not exist (on one or
both axes of the grid).</dd>
</dl>
<p>
- The main part of the patchbay is a <dfn>matrix grid</dfn>. Within this
+ The main part of the patchbay is a <dfn>matrix grid</dfn>. Within this
grid, green dots represent connections, and you can click in any of the
- squares to make or break connections. You can also click and drag to
- draw a line of connections, which is sometimes useful for making many
+ squares to make or break connections. You can also click and drag to
+ draw a line of connections, which is sometimes useful for making many
connections at once.
</p>
<p>
- In the example patchbay shown above we can note various things. We are
- using the <kbd class="menu">Ardour Tracks</kbd> sources tab, so we see
- the output ports of the three tracks in our session: Fred, Jim and Foo.
- Our destinations are from the <kbd class="menu">Ardour Busses</kbd> tab,
- so we have the inputs of a session bus, Sheila, and the inputs of the
- master bus. Fred and Jim have stereo outputs, so have L and R connections.
- Foo is a MIDI track, so it only has one connection, and its squares in
- the grid are coloured light grey to indicate that no connection can be
+ In the example patchbay shown above we can note various things. We are
+ using the <kbd class="menu">Ardour Tracks</kbd> sources tab, so we see
+ the output ports of the three tracks in our session: Fred, Jim and Foo.
+ Our destinations are from the <kbd class="menu">Ardour Busses</kbd> tab,
+ so we have the inputs of a session bus, Sheila, and the inputs of the
+ master bus. Fred and Jim have stereo outputs, so have L and R connections.
+ Foo is a MIDI track, so it only has one connection, and its squares in
+ the grid are coloured light grey to indicate that no connection can be
made between Foo (a MIDI output) and our busses (which are all audio-input).
</p>
<p>
- The green dots in the example show that both Foo and Bar are connected
+ The green dots in the example show that both Foo and Bar are connected
to the master bus, left to left and right to right.
</p>
<h2>Variants on the Patchbay</h2>
<p>
- Slightly different versions of the patchbay are available from different
- places in Ardour. For a global view of all JACK audio connections, use
- <kbd class="menu">Window > Audio Patchbay</kbd>, or press
- <kbd class="mod2">P</kbd>. A corresponding MIDI Connection Manager can
+ Slightly different versions of the patchbay are available from different
+ places in Ardour. For a global view of all JACK audio connections, use
+ <kbd class="menu">Window > Audio Patchbay</kbd>, or press
+ <kbd class="mod2">P</kbd>. A corresponding MIDI Connection Manager can
be opened using <kbd class="mod23">P</kbd>.</p>
<p>
- There is also a patchbay available when connecting individual tracks;
- clicking on the input or output buttons of a mixer strip will open a
- connection manager which has the corresponding track input or output as
- the only destination or source, with all other ports available for
+ There is also a patchbay available when connecting individual tracks;
+ clicking on the input or output buttons of a mixer strip will open a
+ connection manager which has the corresponding track input or output as
+ the only destination or source, with all other ports available for
connection to it.
</p>
<h2>Other patchbay features</h2>
<p>
- Context-clicking on a port name in the connection manager opens a menu
+ Context-clicking on a port name in the connection manager opens a menu
which provides a few handy options:
</p>
<dl class="wide-table">
<dt><kbd class="menu">Add audio port</kbd> and <kbd class="menu">Add MIDI port</kbd></dt>
<dd>
- These options add audio or MIDI ports to the thing that you opened
- the menu over, if this is possible. In this way, for example, tracks
+ These options add audio or MIDI ports to the thing that you opened
+ the menu over, if this is possible. In this way, for example, tracks
and busses can be extended to have more inputs or outputs.
</dd>
<dt><kbd class="menu">Remove</dt>
<dd>
- Removes the given port, if possible. <kbd class="mouse mod3">Right</kbd>-clicking
+ Removes the given port, if possible. <kbd class="mouse mod3">Right</kbd>-clicking
a port will do the same.
</dd>
<dt><kbd class="menu">Disconnect all from…</kbd></dt>
<dd>Disconnects everything from the given port.</dd>
<dt><kbd class="menu">Rescan</kbd></dt>
<dd>
- Ardour will try to keep abreast of any changes to the JACK ports on
- your system, and reflect them in any connection managers which are open.
- If for some reason this fails, use this to re-scan the list of ports and
+ Ardour will try to keep abreast of any changes to the JACK ports on
+ your system, and reflect them in any connection managers which are open.
+ If for some reason this fails, use this to re-scan the list of ports and
update the manager.
</dd>
<dt><kbd class="menu">Show individual ports</kbd></dt>
<dd>
- If you have a session which has lots of multi-channel tracks or busses,
- it may be an unnecessary detail that you have to connect left to left and
- right to right every time you make a connection. This obviously gets worse
- with higher channel counts (such as for 5.1 or Ambisonics). To make life
- easier with such sessions, you can untick Show individual ports. After that,
- the channels of tracks and busses will be hidden, and any green dots you add
- in the connection manager will automatically connect each channel of the source
- to the corresponding channel of the destination (left to left, right to right
- and so on). In this mode, a half-circle in the connection grid indicates that
+ If you have a session which has lots of multi-channel tracks or busses,
+ it may be an unnecessary detail that you have to connect left to left and
+ right to right every time you make a connection. This obviously gets worse
+ with higher channel counts (such as for 5.1 or Ambisonics). To make life
+ easier with such sessions, you can untick Show individual ports. After that,
+ the channels of tracks and busses will be hidden, and any green dots you add
+ in the connection manager will automatically connect each channel of the source
+ to the corresponding channel of the destination (left to left, right to right
+ and so on). In this mode, a half-circle in the connection grid indicates that
some (but not all) of the source's ports are connected to the destination.
</dd>
<dt><kbd class="menu">Flip</kbd></dt>
<dd>
- This will flip the visible ports on the vertical axis with those on the
- horizontal. If, for example, the top of the connection manager is showing
- <kbd class="menu">Ardour Busses</kbd> and the right is showing
+ This will flip the visible ports on the vertical axis with those on the
+ horizontal. If, for example, the top of the connection manager is showing
+ <kbd class="menu">Ardour Busses</kbd> and the right is showing
<kbd class="menu">Hardware</kbd>, flip will swap the view to the
- opposite. You can also flip by pressing <kbd>f</kbd>. Note that if there are
+ opposite. You can also flip by pressing <kbd>f</kbd>. Note that if there are
no matching tabs on both axes, flipping will be impossible.
</dd>
</dl>
projects / ardour-manual / blobdiff