From: Paul Davis
- Since version 5.0, Ardour has had full support for the Ableton
- Push2. This is an expensive but well engineered control surface
- primarily targetting the workflow found in Ableton's Live software
- and other similar tools such as Bitwig. As of 5.0, Ardour does not
- offer the same kind of workflow, so we have repurposed the Push 2 to
- be used for mixing and editing, rather than the clip/scene oriented
- approach in Live.
+ Since version 5.4, Ardour has had full support for the Ableton
+ Push2. This is an expensive but beautifully engineered control
+ surface primarily targetting the workflow found in Ableton's Live
+ software and other similar tools such as Bitwig. As of 5.4, Ardour
+ does not offer the same kind of workflow, so we have repurposed the
+ Push 2 to be used for mixing and editing and musical performance,,
+ without the clip/scene oriented approach in Live. This may change in
+ future versions of Ardour.
Connecting the Push 2
@@ -48,37 +49,135 @@ menu_title: Ableton Push 2
future sessions.
- Below we document the functionality accessible from each control on - the Push 2. The controls can be divided into several sections. + With the Push 2 support in Ardour 5.4, you can do the following + things:
- Conceptually, Ardour dividers the controls into a set of 8 strips, - each consisting of an encoder (at the top), 2 buttons on either side - of the display, and 8 pads. All the other controls have independent - functions. + Messages sent from the 8x8 pad grid and the "pitch bend bar" are + routed to a special MIDI port within Ardour called "Ableton Pads" + (no extra latency is incurred from this routing). Although you can + manually connect this port to whatever you wish, the normal + behaviour of Ardour's Push 2 support is to connect the pads to the + most recently selected MIDI track. +
- Buttons who function is somewhat related to the label built into the - device will have the label illuminated. + This means that to play a soft-synth/instrument plugin in a given + MIDI track with the Push 2, you just need to select that track.
- Buttons that Ardour uses for entirely different purposes than the - builtin label are left unilluminated, but still provide some - functionality. + If multiple MIDI tracks are selected at once, the first selected + track will be used. Note that messages originating from all other + controls on the Push 2 will not not be delivered to the + "Ableton Pads" port. This makes no difference in practice, because + the other controls do not send messages that are useful for musical + performance.
+ +- The upper right encoder is used as a gain control (volume) for the - Master out or Monitor out busses. + This is the default mode that Ardour will start the Push 2 in. In + this mode, the 8 knobs at the top of the device, the 8 buttons below + them, the video display and the 8 buttons below that are combined to + provide a global view of the session mix. + + +
++ The upper buttons are labelled by text in the video display just + below them. Pressing one of the buttons changes the function of the + knobs, and the parameters that will shown for each track/bus in the + display. As of Ardour 5.4, the possible parameters are: +
For tracks with 2 outputs, the display will show a knob + indicating the pan width setting for the corresponding + track/bus. The physical knob can be turned to adjust the + width. +
++ Unlike many DAWs, Ardour's stereo panners have "width" + parameter that defaults to 100%. You cannot change the pan + direction/azimuth of a track with 100% width, but must first + reduce the width in order to pan it. Similarly, a track panned + anywhere other than dead center has limits on the maximum + width setting. If these concepts are not familiar to you, + please be aware than many DAWs use a "panner" that actually + implement "balance" and not "panning", hence the difference. +
++ In addition to the layouts described above, many (but not all) of + the buttons and knobs around the edges of the Push 2 will carry out + various functions related to their (illuminated) label. As of Ardour + 5.4, this includes: +