+<figure class="right">
+ <img src="/images/connection-manager.png" alt="An example patchbay">
+ <figcaption>
+ An example patchbay
+ </figcaption>
+</figure>
<p>
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
+ (when 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
- 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
- bottom.
+ (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 bottom.
</p>
<p>
- Both sources and destinations are divided up into groups, with each
- group being given a tab:
+ Both sources and destinations are divided up into groups, with each group
+ being given a tab:
</p>
+
<table class="dl">
<tr><th>Hardware</th>
- <td>
- These are ports which are connected to a physical piece of hardware
- (a sound card or MIDI interface).</td></tr>
+ <td>These are ports which are connected to a physical piece of hardware
+ (a sound card or MIDI interface).</td></tr>
<tr><th>Ardour Busses</th>
- <td>All ports belonging to busses.</td></tr>
+ <td>All ports belonging to busses.</td></tr>
<tr><th>Ardour Tracks</th>
- <td>All ports belonging to tracks.</td></tr>
+ <td>All ports belonging to tracks.</td></tr>
<tr><th>Ardour Misc</th>
- <td>
- 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.
- </td></tr>
+ <td>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.</td></tr>
<tr><th>Other</th>
- <td>
- 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).</td></tr>
+ <td>
+ If you there are 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).</td></tr>
</table>
<p>
- 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
- connections at once.
+ The main part of the patchbay is a <dfn>matrix grid</dfn>. Within this grid,
+ green dots represent connections, and any of the squares can be clicked on to
+ make or break connections. Clicking and dragging draws 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
<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
+ places in Ardour. A global view of all JACK audio connections is available, in
+ <kbd class="menu">Window > Audio Connections</kbd>, or by pressing
<kbd class="mod2">P</kbd>. A corresponding MIDI Connection Manager can
be opened using <kbd class="mod23">P</kbd>.</p>
<p>
<h2>Other patchbay features</h2>
<p>
- Context-clicking on a port name in the connection manager opens a menu
- which provides a few handy options:
+ <kbd class="mouse">right</kbd>-clicking on a port name in the connection manager
+ opens a context menu which provides a few handy options:
</p>
<table class="dl">
<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Add audio port</kbd> and <kbd class="menu">Add MIDI port</kbd></th>
<td>
- 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.
+ These options add audio or MIDI ports to the clicked source, if this is
+ possible. In this way, for example, tracks and busses can be extended to have
+ more inputs or outputs.
</td></tr>
- <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Remove</th>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Remove <em>port_name</em></th>
<td>
Removes the given port, if possible. <kbd class="mouse mod3">Right</kbd>-clicking
a port will do the same.
</td></tr>
- <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Disconnect all from…</kbd></th>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Disconnect all from <em>port_name</em></kbd></th>
<td>Disconnects everything from the given port.</td></tr>
<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Rescan</kbd></th>
<td>
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
+ the system, and reflect them in any connection managers which are open.
+ If for some reason this fails, this can be used to re-scan the list of ports and
update the manager.
</td></tr>
<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Show individual ports</kbd></th>
<td>
- 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.
+ If a session has lots of multi-channel tracks or busses, it may be an
+ unnecessary detail that left has to be connected to left and right to right
+ every time a connection is made. This obviously gets worse with higher
+ channel counts (such as for 5.1 or Ambisonics). To make life easier with
+ such sessions, Show individual ports can be unticked. After that, the
+ channels of tracks and busses will be hidden, and any green dots added 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.
</td></tr>
<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Flip</kbd></th>
<td>
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
- no matching tabs on both axes, flipping will be impossible.
+ opposite. Flipping can also be done by pressing <kbd>f</kbd>. Note that if
+ there are no matching tabs on both axes, flipping will be impossible.
</td></tr>
</table>
-
the track faders.
</p>
+<p class="note">Ardour also provides <a href="@@control-masters-mixer-strips">VCAs</a>
+ that is a very flexible way to adjust the volume of a group of tracks/busses when
+ no additionnal processing is needed.
+</p>
+
<p>
- To create a subgroup from an existing Track/Bus group, context-click on
- the relevant <a href="@@the-track-and-bus-group-list">group tab</a>,
- and choose <kbd class="menu">Add new subgroup bus</kbd>. A new bus will be
- created and every member of the track group will have its outputs disconnected
- from other destinations and then connected to the new bus inputs. The bus
- outputs will feed the master bus unless you have selected manual connections
- for the session. The bus will be named after the track group name.
+ Create a subgroup from an existing Track/Bus group is done by <kbd
+ class="mouse">right</kbd>-clicking on the relevant <a
+ href="@@the-track-and-bus-group-list">group tab</a>, and choosing <kbd
+ class="menu">Add new subgroup bus</kbd>. A new bus will be created and every
+ member of the track group will have its outputs disconnected from other
+ destinations and then connected to the new bus inputs. The bus outputs will
+ feed the master bus unless manual connections have been selected in the
+ session preferences. The bus will be named after the track group name.
</p>
<p>
- Alternatively, you can create a group manually, by first adding a new bus,
- then, for each track you want to feed the subgroup bus, disconnect its outputs
- from the master and connect it to the inputs of the subgroup bus instead.
- You can do this in the global audio patchbay or a track by track basis via the
+ Alternatively, a group can be created manually, by first adding a new bus,
+ then, for each track to be fed in the subgroup bus, disconnecting its outputs
+ from the master and connecting it to the inputs of the subgroup bus instead.
+ This can be done in the global audio patchbay or on a track by track basis via the
output button of each track's channel strip.
</p>
<p>
- To remove a subgroup (bus), context-click on the track group tab, and select
- <kbd class="menu">Remove subgroup bus</kbd>. You can also simply delete the
- bus itself. Note that this operation will <strong>not</strong> restore signal
- routing to the way it was before the addition of the subgroup bus—tracks
- that had been subgrouped will be left with their main outputs disconncted.
+ Remove a subgroup (bus) is done by <kbd class="mouse">right </kbd>-clicking on
+ the track group tab, and selecting <kbd class="menu">Remove subgroup
+ bus</kbd>. Simply deleting the bus itself will <strong>not</strong> restore
+ signal routing to the way it was before the addition of the subgroup
+ bus—tracks that had been subgrouped will be left with their main outputs
+ disconnected.
</p>
-
<h2>Overview</h2>
+<figure class="right">
+ <img src="/images/track_signal_routing.png" alt="track signal routing">
+ <figcaption>Typical signal routing in a channel strip.</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
<p>
- In each individual Track or Bus the signal flow is top to bottom. Consider
- the following diagram:
+ In each individual Track or Bus the signal flow is top to bottom, as shown in
+ the diagram on the right.
</p>
-<figure class=center>
-<img width="360px" src="/images/track_signal_routing.png" alt="track signal routing" />
-<figcaption class=center>Typical signal routing in a channel strip.</figcaption>
-</figure>
-
<p>
- Trim, Fader and Panner are provided by Ardour. The Processor Box can hold 3rd
- Party Plugins or host-provided redirects (insert, aux-send, etc.).
+ Trim, Fader and Panner are provided by Ardour. The Processor Box can hold third
+ party plugins or host-provided redirects (insert, aux-send, etc.).
</p>
<p>
An important aspect is that the signal flow is multi-channel and not fixed
- throughout the track. For example, a Track can have a mono input, a mono to
+ throughout the track. For example, a track can have a mono input, a mono to
stereo plugin (e.g. reverb) flowing into a surround panner with 6 outputs.
- The design of Ardour is that width of the signal flow is defined by the
+</p>
+<p>
+ The design of Ardour is that the width of the signal flow is defined by the
passage through plugins in the processor box, followed by panning. The number
- of inputs to the panner is defined by the number outputs of the last plugin
+ of inputs to the panner is defined by the number of outputs of the last plugin
in the chain. The number of panner outputs is equal to the track's outputs
ports, which can be added and removed dynamically. This schema is called
<em>Flexible I/O</em>. It is very powerful and a distinctive feature of
<p class="note">
The golden rule of processor signal flow: The number of outputs of one link
- of the process chain defines the number inputs of the next, until the panner.
+ of the process chain defines the number of inputs of the next, until the panner.
</p>
<p>
<h2>Strict I/O</h2>
<p>
- Strict I/O enforces a simple rule: Plugins have the same number of inputs as
+ Strict I/O enforces a simple rule: plugins have the same number of inputs as
they have outputs. By induction the track will have as many output ports as
there are input ports.
</p>
<p>
- Adding a Plugin will not modify the signal flow. The number of plugin outputs
+ Adding a plugin will not modify the signal flow. The number of plugin outputs
is forced to the number of inputs present at the point of insertion. If a
plugin pin is missing, it is ignored. If a plugin pin is not connected, it is
fed with silence. Non-connected plugin outputs are ignored.
The sidechain ports can then be connected, as other inputs, to a pin of the
plugin, or an output port as a "thru".
</p>
-
projects / ardour-manual / commitdiff
