+
Since version 4.5, Ardour has had full support for the Presonus Faderport. This is a compact control surface featuring a single motorized fader, a single knob (encoder) and 24 buttons with fixed - labels. + labels. It is a relatively low-cost device that functions very well + to control a single (selected) track or bus, along with a variety of + other "global" settings and conditions.
+ Ardour uses the Faderport in what Presonus calls "native" mode. You + do not need to do anything to enable this - Ardour will set the + device to be in the correct mode. In native mode, the Faderport + sends and receives ordinary MIDI messages to/from the host, and the + host understands the intended meaning of these messages. We note + this detail to avoid speculation about whether Ardour supports the + device via the HUI protocol - it does not.
The Faderport 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.
- ++ To connect the Faderport to Ardour, open the Preferences dialog, and + then click on "Control Surfaces". Click on the "Enable" button + in the line that says "Faderport" in order to activate Ardour's + Faderport support. Then double click on the line that says + "Faderport". A new dialog will open, containing (among other things) + two dropdown selectors that will allow you to identify the MIDI + ports where your Faderport is connected. +
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+ Once you select the input and output port, Ardour will initialize + the Faderport 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. +
+ You do not need to use the power supply that comes with the + Faderport but without it, the fader will not be motorized. This + makes the overall experience of using the Faderport much less + satisfactory, since the fader will not move when Ardour tells it + to, leading to very out-of-sync conditions between the physical + fader position and the "fader position" inside the program. +
+The Faderport's controls can be divided into three groups: @@ -39,6 +75,12 @@ menu_title: Presonus Faderport per-track/bus controls.
++ Because the Faderport has only a single set of per-track controls, + by default those controls operate on the first selected track or + bus. If there is no selected track or bus, the controls will do + nothing. +
@@ -74,11 +116,227 @@ menu_title: Presonus Faderport
+ The Mix, Proj, Trns buttons have no "obvious" functionality
+ that they correspond to in Ardour. We have therefore allowed users
+ to choose from a carefully curated set of possible actions that seem
+ related to the button labels in some clear way. This can be done via
+ the Faderport configuration dialog accessed via Preferences
+ > Control Surfaces. Each button has 3 possible actions
+ associated with it:
+
+ The User button also has no obvious mapping to specific Ardour + functionality, so we allow users to choose from any + possible GUI action. The menu for selecting the action is somewhat + confusing and it can be hard to find what you're looking + for. However, all possible actions are there, so keep looking!
+ Possible actions include: +
+ Possible actions include: +
+ Possible actions include: +
+
+ The knob controls 1 or 2 pan settings for the current + controlled track/bus. When used alone, turning the knob controls + the "azimuth" or "direction" (between left and right) for the + panner in the track/bus (if any). This is all you need when + controlling tracks/busses with 1 input and 2 outputs. +
++ If controlling a 2 input/2 output track/bus, Ardour's panner + has two controls: azimuth (direction) and width. The width + must be reduced to less than 100% before the azimuth can be + changed. Pressing the "Shift" button while turning the knob + will alter the width setting. +
++ The knob can also be turned while the "User" button is held, + in order to modify the input gain for the currently controlled + track. +
++ You can manually change the track/bus controlled by the Faderport by + changing the selected track in Ardour's editor window. If you select + more than 1 track, the Faderport will control the first selected + track and only that track/bus. +
++
+ Pressing the Output button causes the Faderport to control + the fader, pan, mute and solo settings of the Master bus. If + your session does not contain a Master bus, it does nothing. + This is a toggle button - pressing it again returns Faderport + to controlling whichever track/bus was selected before the + first press of the Output button. +
++ If your session uses Ardour's monitor section, you can use + Shift-Output to assign it to the Faderport in the same way + that Output assigns the Master bus. This is also a toggle + setting, so the second Shift-Output will return the Faderport + to controlling whichever track/bus was selected before. +
++ If you press Shift-Output after a single press to Output + (i.e. control the Monitor Section while currently controlling + the Master bus) or vice versa (i.e. control the Master bus + while currently controlling the Monitor Section), the press + will be ignored. This avoids getting into a tricky situation + where it is no longer apparent what is being controlled and + what will happen if you try to change it. +
+