- The FaderPort™ 8 is a production control surface with 8 touch-sensitive, motorized faders,
- monochromatic digital scribble strips and more than 60 buttons with fixed labels.
+ The FaderPort™ 8 is a production control surface with 8 touch-sensitive,
+ motorized faders, monochromatic digital scribble strips and more than 60 buttons
+ with fixed labels.
Connecting the FaderPort 8
@@ -19,17 +21,19 @@
in both Ardour and other similar software.
-
- Ardour uses the FaderPort 8 in what PreSonus calls "Studio One" or
- "native" mode.
- (If you would like to change the mode at any point, power on the unit while
- holding down the first two Select buttons, see the FaderPort 8 manual
- for further details, also note that at least Firmware version 1.01 is
- required.)
+
+ Ardour uses the FaderPort 8 in what PreSonus calls "Studio One" or "native"
+ mode. To use the FaderPort8 with Ardour's FP8 Control Surface, make sure that
+ the device is in "Studio One" mode. (If you would like to change the mode at
+ any point, power on the unit while holding down the two leftmost Select
+ buttons, see the FaderPort 8 manual for further details. Also note that at
+ least firmware version 1.01 is required. NB. "factory default" resets the
+ firmware, see the PreSonus FaderPort8 Owner's manual chapter 9.4.)
- While the FaderPort provides a Mackie Control Universal (MCU) mode,
- MCU does not support various elements available on the FP8.
- e.g. colored buttons, and the custom mode scribble strips.
+ While the FaderPort provides a Mackie Control Universal (MCU) mode, which
+ works with Ardour's Mackie Control Surface, MCU does not support various
+ elements available on the FP8 (e.g. colored buttons, and the custom mode
+ scribble strips).
@@ -46,16 +50,20 @@
saved, the connections will be made automatically in this and other
future sessions.
+
Using the FaderPort 8
The FaderPort's controls can be divided into five groups:
-
+
+
Transport buttons
Session Navigation controls
Fader modes
@@ -70,15 +78,20 @@
- All buttons act on release (not press), exceptions are mentioned below.
+ Buttons generlaly act on release (not press), with exception
+ of transport-control (since 6.0pre) and individual exceptions mentioned below.
Transport Buttons
+
-
+
+
Stop: Stops the transport. Press twice to return to
session start.
Loop: Toggles loop playback. A loop-range needs to
@@ -95,20 +108,23 @@
Record: Toggles the global record enable
setting.
-
-
Session Navigation
+
Session Navigation
Session Navigation allows quick navigation and provides access to
session-wide controls. Each of the eight buttons alters the function
of the push-button encoder and the Prev, Next buttons.
With exception of Click the seven modes are exclusive (radio buttons).
+
-
+
+
Channel: The Prev / Next
buttons select the previous/next mixer-strip. If no strip is selected,
Next selects the first, Prev the last mixer-strip in
@@ -164,12 +180,13 @@
Marker
Move to prev/next marker
Scroll the timeline (move playhead)
Drop a new marker
Press and hold Click
(mode dependent)
Adjust metronome Level
Reset metronome level to 0dBFS
-
-
Shift Button
+
Shift Button
The two Shift buttons are identical, they're copied to provide
@@ -184,36 +201,62 @@
The Shift button engages directly on press. Activating an action
while the button is held will void the shift-lock mode.
-
-
Fader Modes
+
Fader Modes
The eight faders on the FP8 can be assigned to various automatable
controls present in the current session. The four fader-mode buttons
change the behavior of the mixer-strip and scribble strip displays.
(Note: with the 1.01 firmware these buttons always act on press.)
+
-
+
+
Track: In Track-mode, the motorized faders display
and control a mixer-strip's signal level. The Pan/Param encoder modifies the
azimuth of the panner (hold Shift to control the width, if the
track's panner supports it). Mute and Solo affect the
respective mixer-strip.
Edit Plugins: When Edit Plug-ins mode is active, the
- motorized faders will control the parameter settings. Press the Edit
- Plugins button to view all available plugin-inserts on a strip. If
- no plugins are available, Edit Plugins will not engage and the
- FP8 automatically switches back to Track-mode. Use the Select
- buttons under the scribble strip to pick a plugin to edit. The faders and
- Select buttons will respectively control the parameters and toggles
- of the selected plugin. Press the Edit Plugins button again to return
- to the insert select view. (Once a plugin has been selected, it stays in edit
- mode regardless of selection). If there are more than eight, the Pan/Param
- encoder allows to scroll through available control-parameters.
+ motorized faders will control the parameter settings of a given
+ plugin-insert.
+ Press the Edit Plugins button to view all available
+ plugin-inserts on a strip. If no plugins are available, Edit
+ Plugins will not engage and the FP8 automatically switches back to
+ Track-mode.
+ Select Plugin Mode:
+ Use the Select buttons under the scribble strip to pick a plugin
+ to edit.
+ The Select button color indicates the bypass/enable state of
+ the plugin (red: bypassed, green: enabled). Use Shift +
+ Select to toggle the bypass state.
+ Selecting a plugin enters Parameter Edit Mode: The faders
+ and the Select buttons will respectively control the parameters
+ and toggle controls of the selected plugin (once a plugin has been selected,
+ it stays in edit mode regardless of track selection). If there are more than
+ eight parameters, the Pan/Param encoder allows to scroll through available
+ control-parameters (hold Shift to bank by 8).
+ If the plugin has any presets, pressing the Pan/Param encoder switches to
+ the plugin-preset display: Plugin preset names are
+ displayed on the scribble-displays, the Select button below each
+ loads the preset. The "Pan/Param" encoder can be used to scroll through
+ presets if there are more than seven (right-most, 8th, slot is reserved to
+ unload/clear a loaded preset, hold Shift to bank by 7). The
+ Select button color is used to indicate the currently loaded
+ preset (if any) and blinks if a parameter has been modified since loading
+ the preset. Loading a preset or pressing the Pan/Param encoder again
+ switches back to the Plugin Parameter Edit Mode.
+ In Parameter Edit Mode, the "Open" (Shift + Macro)
+ allows to toggle the Plugin GUI visibility.
+ Press the Edit Plugins button again to return to the Select
+ Plugin Mode.
+
Sends: In Sends mode, each of the faders is mapped
to the send-level of aux-sends of the selected track. If there are more than
eight sends on a given track, the Pan/Param encoder can scroll through them.
@@ -223,24 +266,31 @@
will display and control the panner's azimuth. The Pan/Param controls the
pan-width of the selected mixer-strip.
+
Shift + Track toggles timecode display on/off (middle
- row of the scribble-strip).
+ row of the scribble-strip). The timecode format can be configured in the
+ Control Surface Preference Dialog (Timecode, musical-time: bar/beat/tick).
-
-
Channel Strip
+
+
Channel Strip
+
-
+
+
Touch-Sensitive Fader: The fader can be used to control
volume levels, aux send levels, panning, or plugin parameters, depending on
the fader-mode (see above).
Pan/Param: The encoder controls panning in Track and Pan
mode. In Plugin and Send fader-modes, the encoder banks parameters. See
- Fader modes above for details.
+ Fader modes above for details. When "Link" is engaged, the encoder can
+ control any automatable parameter (see Miscellaneous below).
Mute: Toggle the mute-control of the corresponding
mixer-strip. Mute engages on press, and disengages on release. Press and
hold the button for at least 0.5sec for momentary.
@@ -248,57 +298,61 @@
of the corresponding mixer-strip. Solo engages on press, and disengages on
release. Press and hold the button for at least 500ms for momentary.
Select: In Track and Sends and Pan mode the Select
- button select/de-select a given mixer-strip. Since selection is not limited
- to a single mixer-strip, the button acts in tri-state. A mixer-strip light
- indicates selection:
-
+ button select/de-select a given mixer-strip.
+
+ Since selection is not limited to a single mixer-strip, the button acts in
+ tri-state. A mixer-strip light indicates selection:
+
Any Selected Track: The select button is lit with the
track's color.
Any Not Selected Track: The select button is off
(dimly showing the track's color).
Most Recently Selected Track: Only one track at a
- time. The select button is blinks width the track's color.
+ time. The select button blinks with the track's color.
Operations such as Edit Plugins or Sends use the
- most-recently-selected track. To modify the selection, the button's action
- depends on the current selection:
-
-
Select any unselected track: The track is
- added to the selection and becomes the most-recently selected.
-
Select the most-recently-selected
- (blinking): Removes the track from selection (most-recent
- falls back).
-
Select any other selected track: Make it
- most-recently-selected track.
+ most-recently-selected (focused) track. To modify the selection, the
+ button's action depends on the current selection:
+
+
Select: The track is exclusively selected
+ and also becomes the most-recently selected.
Shift + Select any selected
track: Deselect the track.
Shift + Select any unselected
- track: Exclusively select the given track (and make it
+ track: Adds the given track to the selection and make it
most-recently selected).
- While holding the ARM button the Select button light
- changes to red and the Select buttons controls the record-arm of
+ In Track-mode, pressing the Select button of the most recently
+ selected track (blinking Select button) will reset the fader-gain
+ to unity (0dB). (since Ardour 5.11-207, Mixbus 4.2-66)
+
+
+ While holding the ARM button the Select button lights
+ change to red and the Select buttons controls the record-arm of
the given track. Mixer-strips that cannot be record-armed have a dim white
light.
Shift + ARM record-arms all tracks in the session.
-
-
Mix Management
+
Mix Management
These buttons allows to select which mixer-strips are spilled on the FP8
channel-strips.
+
-
+
+
Audio: View Audio Tracks only.
VI: Show tracks with virtual instrument
plugins.
@@ -311,7 +365,7 @@
In combination with the Shift modifier ten total
filters are available:
-
+
Shift + AudioInputs:
shows all record-armed tracks (Audio and MIDI).
Shift + VIMIDI: View
@@ -323,9 +377,9 @@
Shift + AllUser:
Display all currently selected mixer-strips only.
-
-
Automation Controls
+
+
Automation Controls
The Automation Controls provide access to the currently selected mixer-strips.
The automation enable lights indicates the mode of the most recently selected
@@ -334,11 +388,15 @@
Track and Pan fader modes where they affect the fader
and pan automation modes respectively.
+
-
+
+
Latch: Currently not available in Ardour.
Trim: Currently not available in Ardour.
Off: Select "Manual" automation mode.
@@ -348,12 +406,12 @@
mode.
Touch Select "Touch" automation mode.
-
+
The Automation Controls also double as session state controls
when combined with Shift.
-
+
Shift + LatchSave:
Save the session. The button lights up red if the session is modified.
Shift + TrimRedo: Redo
@@ -367,33 +425,91 @@
With Shift, the bottom row allows to bind three custom user
actions.
-
-
Miscellaneous
+
Miscellaneous
+
-
+
+
Solo Clear: Reset all solo controls in the
- session.
+ session. If the FP8 was used to clear solo-state, pressing the button again
+ will restore the previous state (unless solo state was modified manually
+ since).
Mute Clear: Unmute all mixer-strips in the
- session.
-
Bypass: A/B bypass toggle any plugins on all
- selected mixer-strips.
+ session. If the FP8 was used to clear mute-state, pressing the button again
+ will restore the previous mute state (unless mute-state was changed manually
+ since).
+
Bypass: The behavior depends on the edit-mode:
+
+
Track + Pan Mode: A/B bypass toggle any plugins on
+ all selected mixer-strips.
+
Edit Plugin Parameter: Toggle bypass of of the plugin
+ that is currently being edited. Bypass state is indicated by color: red
+ for bypassed, green for enabled (not bypassed).
+
+
Shift + BypassBypass
- All: currently the same as "Bypass".
+ All: A/B bypass toggle any plugins on all selected mixer-strips.
+
+
+
Macro: Toggle Editor and Mixer Windows/Tabs.
+
Shift + MacroOpen: The
+ behavior depends on the edit-mode:
+
+
Edit Plugin Parameter: Toggle Plugin GUI visibility
+ (if it has a GUI) of the plugin that is currently being edited.
+
all other modes: Show the Import Audio Dialog.
+
+
Link: Activate Control-Link Mode (only available in
+ Track and Pan modes).
+ The Pan/Param encoder controls the element over which the mouse-cursor
+ hovers in the GUI. One can access any parameter which can be automated.
+ Pressing the Pan/Param encoder resets the control-parameter to the default
+ value.
+ The buttons color is used to indicate the link-state:
+
+
orange: Link is enabled, but the mouse-cursor is not
+ over an element which can be controlled.
+
yellow: Link is enabled, and the cursor is hovering
+ over a controllable element.
+
green: Link is locked to a given element (see
+ below).
+
turquoise: Link lock is possible (when pressing
+ Shift while link-mode is enabled).
+
red: Link-lock is not possible (only when pressing
+ Shift while link-mode is enabled without a valid element to
+ control.
+
+
+
Shift + LinkLock:
+ When in Link-mode (see above), this allows to lock the current control to
+ the Pan/Param encoder. Link will no longer follow the GUI mouse-cursor.
+ If Link-mode is not enabled, Lock, locks the GUI (alike Session > Lock)
+ to prevent accidental changes.
- The labels of the following buttons have no direct corresponding action in
- Ardour and are currently mapped to convenient functions:
+Link and Link-Lock mode will automatically disengage when entering
+Sends or Edit Plugins mode.
-
-
Macro: Show the Editor Window.
-
Shift + MacroOpen:
- Show the Import Audio Dialog.
-
Link: Switch to the Mixer Window.
-
Shift + LinkLock:
- Lock the GUI (alike Session > Lock) to prevent accidental changes.
+
+
Harrison Mixbus
+
+The above also applies to Ardour-derivatives Harrison-Mixbus and Mixbus 32C with a few subtle differences:
+
+
+
+ Mix Management Bus shows Mixbusses only, while FX spills Aux-busses.
+
+
+ The Mixbus built-in EQ and Compressor are present on every track and bus and always available. They are displayed as special plugins on right-side in Select Plugin Mode.
+ When editing those processors, the parameters follows track selection (for other plugins this is not possible since they may not be present).
+
+
+ Fader mode Sends shows mixbus-assigns first (before any optional aux-sends). The master-bus-assign is available on the "S"olo button of the right-most strip.
+