+ The Nucleus, from Solid State Logic, is a 16 fader Mackie Control + device that includes many buttons, separate meters, two LCD displays + and other features. The device is not cheap (around US$5000 at the + time of writing), and has some design features + (or lack thereof) which some Ardour developers find + questionable. Nevertheless, it is a very flexible device, and makes + a nice 16 fader surface without the need to somehow attach an + extender to your main surface. +
+ ++ Your Nucleus comes complete with a number of "profiles" for a few + well-known DAWs. At the time of writing it does not include one for + Ardour (or related products such as Harrison Mixbus). +
+
+ We have prepared a profile in which as many buttons as possible send
+ Mackie Control messages, which makes the device maximally useful
+ with Ardour (and Mixbus). You can
+ download the
+ profile
+ and load it to your Nucleus using the Edit Profiles
+ button in SSL's Nucleus Remote application. Be sure to select it for
+ the active DAW layer in order to make Ardour work as well as
+ possible. Note: unfortunately, the Nucleus Remote application
+ only runs on OS X or Windows, so Linux users will need access to
+ another system to load the profile. We will provide notes on the
+ profile settings at a future time.
+
+ Unlike most Mackie Control devices, the Nucleus uses an ethernet + connection to send and receive the MIDI messages that make up the + Mackie Control protocol. Specifically, it uses a technology called + "ipMIDI" which essentially "broadcasts" MIDI messages on a local + area network, so that any connected devices (computers, control + surfaces, tablets etc.) can participate. +
++ All other DAWs so far that support the Nucleus have chosen to do so + by using a 3rd party MIDI driver called "ipMIDI", which creates a + number of "virtual" MIDI ports on your computer. You, the user, + tells the DAW which ports to connect to, and ipMIDI takes care of + the rest. +
++ Ardour has builtin ipMIDI support, with no need of any 3rd party + packages, and no need to identify the "ports" to connect to in order + to communicate with the Nucleus. This makes setting it up a bit + easier than most other systems. +
++ Unless ... you already installed the ipMIDI driver in order to use + some other DAW with your Nucleus. If ipMIDI is configured to create + any "ports", it is not possible for Ardour's own ipMIDI support to + function. We decided to offer both methods of communicating with + your Nucleus. If you regularly use other DAWs, and appreciate having + ipMIDI permanently set up to communication with the Nucleus - that's + OK, you can tell Ardour to use the ipMIDI driver you already + have. But if you're not using other DAWs with the Nucleus (and thus + have not installed the ipMIDI driver), then you can ignore the + ipMIDI driver entirely, and let Ardour connect directly with no + configuration. +
+ ++ This is usable only on computers with no 3rd party ipMIDI + driver software installed and configured. If you have the OS X or + Windows ipMIDI driver from nerds.de, it MUST be + configured to offer ZERO ports before using this + method. +
+ +
+ Open Preferences > Control Surfaces. Ensure that the
+ Mackie protocol is enabled, then double-click on it to open the
+ Mackie Control setup dialog.
+
+ Ensure that the device selected is "SSL Nucleus". The dialog should + show a single numerical selector control below it, defining the + ipMIDI port number to use (it should almost always be left at the + default value of 21928). +
++ Communication is automatically established with the Nucleus and you + need do nothing more. +
++ If this does not work, then make sure your network cables are + properly connected, and that you are not running + other ipMIDI software on the computer. +
+ ++ This is usable only on computers with 3rd party ipMIDI + driver software installed and configured for (at least) 2 ports. +
+ +
+ Open Preferences > Control Surfaces. Ensure that the
+ Mackie protocol is enabled, then double-click on it to open the
+ Mackie Control setup dialog.
+
+ Ensure that the device selected is "SSL Nucleus (via platform MIDI)". The dialog should + show four combo/dropdown selectors, labelled (respectively): +
+Main Surface receives viaMain Surface sends via1st extender receives via1st extender sends via+ You should choose "ipMIDI port 1", "ipMIDI port 1", "ipMIDI port 2" + and "ipMIDI port 2" for each of the 4 combo/dropdown selectors. +
++ Communication should be automatically established with the Nucleus. +
++ If this does not work, then make sure your network cables are + properly connected, and that you are running the approprate ipMIDI + driver and have configured it for 2 (or more) ports. +
+ ++ You might be reading this part of the manual seeking some guidance + on whether the Nucleus would make a suitable control surface for + your workflows. We don't want to try to answer that question + definitively, since the real answer depends on the very specific + details of your workflow and situation, but we would like to point + out a number of design features of the Nucleus that might change + your opinion. +
+ +