</p>
<p>
- Some people complain that Ardour is not "intuitive" to use—its lead developer has <a href="http://ardour.org/node/3322">some thoughts on that</a>.
+ Some people complain that Ardour is not "intuitive" to use—its lead developer has <a href="http://community.ardour.org/node/3322">some thoughts on that</a>.
</p>
---
<p><img class="right" src="/images/editor-summary.png"
alt="Ardour's editor window" /></p>
+<p>
+ To switch between those windows, use the buttons (in the upper right),
+ the shortcut <kbd class="mod2">M</kbd>, or the menu
+ <kbd class="menu">Window > Editor <em>(or Mixer)</em> > Show</kbd>.
+ Both windows can be visible at the same time (eg. for a multi-monitor
+ setup) using <kbd class="menu">Detach</kbd> in the same menu.
+</p>
+
<p>
The <dfn>Editor</dfn> window includes the editor track <dfn>canvas</dfn> where audio and MIDI data can be arranged along a timeline. This is the window used while <a href="/editing-and-arranging/">editing and arranging</a> a session. This window has a general <em>horizontal</em> sense to it: the timeline flows from left to right, and the playhead showing the current position in the session moves from left to right—the window represents <dfn>time</dfn> in a fairly literal way.
</p>
packages, as a result of a different building method. For this reason,
Ardour developers highly recommend you to install the official
ready-to-run version of the program that you can get from <a
- href="http://ardour.org/download">ardour.org</a>, as Ubuntu native
+ href="https://community.ardour.org/download">ardour.org</a>, as Ubuntu native
packages are not supported in official Ardour forums or other
support channels.
</p>
<p>
Follow these steps to install the latest version of Ardour.
<ol>
- <li>Download the latest release from <a href="http://ardour.org/download">
+ <li>Download the latest release from <a href="https://community.ardour.org/download">
ardour.org</a>.</li>
<li><kbd class="mouse">Right+Click</kbd> the downloaded file and choose
properties.</li>
</p>
<p>
The precise instructions for creating an aggregate device on OS X
- have varied from one released to another.
+ have varied from one released to another. Please read <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202000">https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202000</a>
</p>
-<dl class="wide-label">
- <dt>OS X 10.5</dt>
- <dd>Please read <a href="http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1215">http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1215</a></dd>
- <dt>OS X 10.6 or later</dt>
- <dd>Please read <a href="http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3956">http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3956</a></dd>
-</dl>
<h2>Linux</h2>
<p>
- Please see the instructions at <a href="http://jackaudio.org/faq"
- title="http://jackaudio.org/faq">http://jackaudio.org/faq</a>
+ Please see the instructions at <a href="http://jackaudio.org/faq" title="http://jackaudio.org/faq">http://jackaudio.org/faq</a>
</p>
<p class="fixme">Add content</p>
+---
+title: Cleaning up Sessions
+part: subchapter
+---
+
+<p>
+ Recording and editing any serious session might leave the session with some
+ unused or misplaced files here and there. Ardour can help deal with this clutter thanks
+ to the tools located in the <kbd class="menu">Session > Clean-up</kbd> menu.
+</p>
+
+<h2 id="bring_all_media_into_session_folder">Bring all media into session folder</h2>
+
+<p>
+ When <a href="/adding-pre-existing-material/">importing media files</a>, if
+ the <kbd class="option">Copy files to session</kbd> hasn't been checked, Ardour uses
+ the source file from its original destination, which can help avoiding file duplication.
+ Nevertheless, when the session needs to be archived or transfered to another computer, moving
+ the session folder won't move those <em>external</em> files as they are not in the folder, as seen
+ in <a href="/working-with-sessions/backup-and-sharing-of-sessions/">Backup and sharing of sessions</a>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ Using the <kbd class="menu">Bring all media into session folder</kbd> menu ensures
+ that all media files used in the session are located inside the session's folder, hence avoiding
+ any missing files when copied.
+</p>
+
+<h2 id="reset_peak_files">Reset Peak Files</h2>
+
+<p>
+ Ardour represents audio waveforms with peak files, that are graphical images generated from the
+ sound files. This generation can be time and CPU consuming, so it uses a cache of the generated
+ images to speed up the display process. To watch for files modification, Ardour relies on the file-modification
+ time. If an external file is embedded in the session and that file changes, but the system-clock is skewed
+ or it is stored on an external USB disk (VFAT), Ardour can't know the change happend, and will still use its
+ deprecated peak files.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ Using the <kbd class="menu">Reset Peak Files</kbd> menu allows to reset this cache, which frees up disk space,
+ and forces the re-creation of the peak files used in the session. It can prove useful if some waveforms
+ are not used anymore, or if a graphical or time glitch happens.
+</p>
+
+<h2 id="clean_up_unused_sources">Clean-up Unused Sources...</h2>
+
+<p>
+ Recording usually lefts a lot of unused takes behind, be it in midi or audio form, that can clutter
+ the Region List, and eat up a lot of hard drive space. While its generally a good practice to keep as
+ many things as possible while recording, when transferring or archiving the session, some clean up can
+ help a lot in reducing the sessions clutter and size.
+<p>
+
+<p>
+ Selecting <kbd class="menu">Clean-up Unused Sources...</kbd> will force Ardour to detect those unused waveforms
+ by looking for unused regions, and (through a prompt) for unused playlists. The media files won't be destroyed, though.
+ At this stage, they are just copied in a particular place of the session path (namely, in the <code>dead sounds/</code>
+ sub-folder).
+</p>
+
+<h2 id="flush_wastebasket">Flush Wastebasket</h2>
+
+<p>
+ Although Ardour is a <em>non-destructive</em> audio-editor, it allows for a very careful destruction of unused media materials.
+ This function is closely linked to the previous one. When the unused sources have been cleaned up and quarantined, the
+ <kbd class="menu">Flush Wastebasket</kbd> menu will allow for their physical destruction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ As a safeguarding mechanism though, Flushing the wastebasket in impossible in the same working session as the Cleaning up of unused sources:
+ the user needs to close the session and reload it before flushing. It allows to test the playback of the session and ensure both that Ardour didn't commit
+ any mistake (unlikely, but better safe than sorry), and that the user is absolutely sure of what he does.
+</p>
+
+<p class="warning">
+ Notice that all media destroyed this way is not sent to the system's <em>trash can</em> but permanently deleted. If a file is mistakenly destroyed this way, the user will have to rely on data recovery techniques to try getting it back.
+</p>
+
---
title: Copying versus Linking
part: subchapter
</dl>
---
-title: Adding Tracks and Busses
+title: Adding Tracks, Busses and VCAs
part: subchapter
---
<img class="right" src="/images/add-track-or-bus.png" alt="the add-track dialog" />
-<p>A track or bus can be added to a session in various ways:</p>
+<p>
+ A track, bus or VCA can be added to a session in various ways:
+</p>
<ul>
- <li>Choose <kbd class="menu">Track > Add Track or Bus</kbd>.</li>
+ <li>Choose <kbd class="menu">Track > Add Track, Bus or VCA...</kbd>.</li>
<li><kbd class="mouse">Right</kbd>-click in an empty part of the track controls area.</li>
<li>Click the <kbd class="menu">Plus (+)</kbd> button underneath the list of tracks in the mixer.</li>
</ul>
<p>
- Any of these actions will open the Add Track or Bus dialog. Note that any
- new tracks from this dialog will appear after the last currently selected
- track, or at the end if no track is selected.
+ Any of these actions will open the Add Track/Bus/VCA dialog.
</p>
<dl>
<dt>Add</dt>
- <dd>Here you can select the number of tracks or busses you wish to create, and
+ <dd>Here you can select the number of tracks, busses or VCAs you wish to create, and
their <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-types/">types</a>.</dd>
+ <dt>Name</dt>
+ <dd>Defines the name of the new track(s). If multiple tracks are created, or if a track with the same name already exists, a space and number will be happened at the end (e.g.: Audio 1, Audio 2...)</dd>
<dt>Configuration</dt>
- <dd>This menu lets you choose from a number of <dfn><a href="/missing">route
- templates</a></dfn>, which determine the number of input ports and optionally
- contain plugins and other mixer strip configuration.
- <p class="fixme">Broken link</p>
- </dd>
- <dt>Track mode</dt>
- <dd>This option is only available for audio tracks. See <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-types/#trackmodes">Track Modes</a> for details.</dd>
+ <dd>This menu lets you choose from a number of route templates, which determine the number of input ports and optionally contain plugins and other mixer strip configuration. The most common choices here are <em>mono</em> and <em>stereo</em>.</dd>
+ <dt>Record mode</dt>
+ <dd>This option is only available for audio tracks and affects how it behaves when recording. See <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-types/#trackmodes">Track Modes</a> for details.</dd>
<dt>Instrument</dt>
- <dd>This option is only available for MIDI tracks and lets you select a
+ <dd>This option is only available for MIDI tracks and busses and lets you select a
default instrument from the list of available plugins.</dd>
<dt>Group</dt>
<dd>Tracks and busses can be assigned groups so that a selected range of
operations are applied to all members of a group at the same time (selecting
record enable, or editing, for example). This option lets you assign to an
existing group, or create a new group.</dd>
+ <dt>Insert</dt>
+ <dd>Defines where in the track list is the track created. The default is <em>Last</em>, i.e. after all the tracks and busses, and can also be <em>First</em>, <em>Before Selection</em> (to place it just above the selected track) or <em>After selection</em>.</dd>
+ <dt>Output Ports</dt>
+ <dd>Defines how the number of output responds to adding a plugin with a different number of outputs than the track itself. in <em>Strict I/O</em> mode, the track will only use a few of the plugins I/O and will keep its own number of output fixed, while in <em>lexible I/O</em> mode, it will automatically adapt to the I/O of its plugins. See <a href="/signal-routing/signal-flow/">Signal flow</a> to learn more about those options.</dd>
</dl>
<p>
---
<p>
- Ardour offers many options for controlling the appearance of tracks,
- including color, height, waveform style and more.
- These can all be found in the <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences >
- Editor</kbd> menu.
+ Ardour offers many options for controlling the appearance of tracks, including color, height, waveform style and more. These can all be found in the <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Editor</kbd> menu.
</p>
---
Select the tracks whose color you wish to change. Context-click
on the track header of one of them. From the context menu, select
<kbd class="menu">Color</kbd> and pick a hue to your taste in the
- <a href="/missing">color dialog</a>. Every selected track will be
- re-colored.
- <p class="fixme">Broken link</p>
+ color dialog. Every selected track will be re-colored.
</p>
<p>
</p>
<dl>
- <dt id="mute">m</dt>
+ <dt id="mute">M</dt>
<dd><dfn>Mute</dfn>—click to mute the bus. Right-click to display
a menu which dictates what particular parts of the bus should be muted.</dd>
- <dt id="solo">s</dt>
+ <dt id="solo">S</dt>
<dd><dfn>Solo</dfn>—solo the bus. The behaviour of the solo system
is described in detail in the section <a
href="/mixing/muting-and-soloing/">Muting and Soloing</a>.</dd>
- <dt id="automation">a</dt>
+ <dt id="automation">A</dt>
<dd><dfn>Automation</dfn>—opens the automation menu for the
bus. For details see <a href="/automation/">Automation</a>.</dd>
- <dt id="group">g</dt>
+ <dt id="group">G</dt>
<dd><dfn>Group</dfn>—lets you assign the bus to an existing or a
new group. For details see <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-and-bus-groups/">Track and bus groups</a>. </dd>
</dl>
<p class="fixme">There is no discussion of starting playback anywhere in here. Starting/stopping needs to be explained</p>
<p>
- Ardour offers many ways to <dfn>control playback</dfn> of the session, including the transport bar, key bindings and remote controls. Markers can also be used to define locations or ranges within the session and rapidly move around between them.
+ Ardour offers many ways to <dfn>control playback</dfn> of your session, including the transport bar, key bindings and remote controls. You can also use markers to define locations or ranges within the session and rapidly move around between them.
</p>
+<img src="/images/transport-bar.png" alt="Ardour's transport bar" />
+
<p class="note">
- If Ardour is synchronized with other devices, then some or all of these control methods may be unavailable—depending on the synchronization protocol, Ardour may respond only to commands sent from its master device(s).
+ If you synchronize Ardour with other devices then some or all of these control methods may be unavailable—depending on the synchronization protocol, Ardour may respond only to commands sent from its master device(s).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ The <dfn>Transport Bar</dfn> at the top of the window is made of:
</p>
+<ul>
+ <li><a href="/controlling-playback/using-the-transport-bar/">the Transport Controls</a></li>
+ <li><a href="/ardours-interface/using-ardour-clock-displays/">the Clocks</a></li>
+ <li>3 status indicators:
+ <ul>
+ <li><dfn>Solo</dfn>: Blinks when 1 or more track(s) are being soloed, see <a href="/mixing/muting-and-soloing/">Muting and Soloing</a>. Clicking this button while active toggles the solo off on all tracks.</li>
+ <li><dfn>Audition</dfn>: Blinks when using the import dialog to audition material.</li>
+ <li><dfn>Feedback</dfn>: Blinks when Ardour detects a <dfn>feedback loop</dfn>, which happens when the output of an audio signal chain is plugged back to its input. This is probably not wanted and can be dangerous for the hardware and the listener.</li>
+ </ul></li>
+ <li>A global Meter, showing the level of the Master Output, see <a href="/ardours-interface/meters/">Metering in Ardour</a></li>
+ <li>the Mode Selector, allowing to switch between Editor and Mixer views, or edit the Preferences.</li>
+</ul>
+
---
title: Looping the Transport
part: subchapter
part: subchapter
---
-<p class="fixme">Add content</p>
+<p>
+ The <dfn>Transport Bar</dfn> groups all the actions regarding the control of playback and recording.
+</p>
+
+<img src="/images/transport.png" alt="The transport controls" />
+
+<p>
+ This bar is made of (from left to right):
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li><dfn>Midi Panic</dfn>: allows to immediately stop all midi output.</li>
+ <li><dfn>Enable/disable Audio Click</dfn>: Toggles (on/off) a click track (metronome) along the <a href="/tempo-meter/tempo-and-meter/">tempo</a>.</li>
+ <li><dfn>Go to Start of the Session</dfn>: Jumps back at the beginning of the session, as defined by the <a href="/working-with-markers/">start marker</a>.</li>
+ <li><dfn>Go to End of the Session</dfn>: Jumps forward to the end of the session, as defined by the <a href="/working-with-markers/">end marker</a>.</li>
+ <li><dfn>Play Loop Range</dfn>: Repeats the defined <a href="/controlling-playback/looping-the-transport/">loop</a> as defined by the <a href="/working-with-markers/loop-range/">Loop range</a>, until the "Stop playback" button is pressed. Clicking the "Play loop Range" button while already active switches to normal Play mode, which allows to exit the loop without stopping and restarting the playback.</li>
+ <li><dfn>Play Range/Selection</dfn>: If a range has been defined using the Range Mode button, plays the range, of if an audio or MIDI region is selected, plays this region. In both cases, the playback stops at the end of the range or selected region.</li>
+ <li><dfn>Play from playhead</dfn>: Starts the playback and optionally record (more bellow).</li>
+ <li><dfn>Stop</dfn>: Whatever the playing mode (loop, range, ...) stops all playback. Some effects (like chorus) might still be audible for a while.</li>
+ <li><dfn>Toggle Record</dfn>: Global switch button to activate/deactivate recording. While active, the button blinks red. The button doesn't start the recording itself: if one or more tracks are marked as record-enabled, pressing the "Play from Playhead" starts the recording on this/these track(s). See <a href="/recording/">Recording</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="fixme">Language in the above paragraphs is awkward</p>
+
+<p class="note">
+ All these actions are bound to keyboard shortcuts, which allows for speedier use and more focus while working.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ Under these buttons is the <dfn>Shuttle Speed Control</dfn> that allows to scrub through the audio quickly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ The Shuttle Speed Control supports 2 operating modes, that can be chosen with right click > Mode:
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li><dfn>Sprung mode</dfn> that allows for a temporary scrub: it only scubs while the mouse is left clicked on the control.</li>
+ <li><dfn>Wheel mode</dfn> that allows to set a playback speed until the "Stop" button is pressed, which stops the playback and resets its speed.
+</ul>
+
+<p>
+ The mode is displayed on the right of the control. The current playback speed is shown by a green slider, that is square and centered when the playback speed is normal (1X) and becomes a circle when its changed. The further from the center the slider is set, the faster the playback will scrub in both directions, as displayed on the left of the control.
+<p>
+
+<p>
+ The 3 vertical buttons on the right of the transport bar control the behaviour of the playhead:
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li><dfn>Internal/MTC</dfn> defines if the current timecode is handled by Ardour, or by an external Midi device (see <a href="/synchronization/timecode-generators-and-slaves/">Timecode Generators and Slaves</a>).</li>
+ <li><dfn>Follow Edits</dfn> is a toggle switch that defines if the playhead is moved when using the Grab Mode or the Range Mode tools, i.e. if any action on the canvas moves the playhead along.</li>
+ <li><dfn>Auto Return</dfn> is a toggle switch too. When active, pressing the Stop button returns the playhead to its previous position, and when inactive, pressing Stop keeps the playhead at its current location. Activating Auto Return can be useful for hearing the same part of the audio before and after having tweaked it, without having to loop on it.</li>
+</ul>
---
<p><img class="right" src="/images/jack-monitoring.png" /></p>
<p>
- Some sound cards have the ability to mix signals from their inputs to their outputs with very low or even zero latency, a feature called <dfn>hardware monitoring</dfn>. Furthermore, on some cards this function can be controlled by <a href="/signal-routing/role-of-jack/">JACK</a>. This is a nice arrangement, if the sound card supports it, as it combines the convenience of having the monitoring controlled by Ardour with the low latency operation of doing it externally.
+ Some sound cards have the ability to mix signals from their inputs to their outputs with very low or even zero latency, a feature called <dfn>hardware monitoring</dfn>. Furthermore, on some cards this function can be controlled by JACK. This is a nice arrangement, if the sound card supports it, as it combines the convenience of having the monitoring controlled by Ardour with the low latency operation of doing it externally.
</p>
<p class="fixme">Broken link</p>
</p>
<p>
- You may decide to use a <a href="/missing">track template</a> if you have one.
- You may also know the instrument (a plugin that will generate audio in response
- to receiving MIDI) that you want to use in the track. The Instrument selector
- will show you a list of all plugins that you have which accept MIDI input and
- generate audio output.
+ You may decide to use a track template if you have one. You may also know the instrument (a plugin that will generate audio in response to receiving MIDI) that you want to use in the track. The Instrument selector will show you a list of all plugins that you have which accept MIDI input and generate audio output.
</p>
-<p class="fixme">Broken link, remove "you"s</p>
+<p class="fixme">Remove "you" language</p>
---
title: Create MIDI Regions
The copied data only covers the extent of the region when the copy is made. If the region was already trimmed and then a copy is made, an independent copy will have no access to data that is earlier or later than the bounds of the region it was copied from. Put differently, if an independent copy of a trimmed MIDI region is made, it cannot be "untrimmed" to a larger size.
</p>
+---
+title: Automating MIDI - Pitch bending and aftertouch
+menu_title: Automating MIDI
+part: subchapter
+---
+
+<p>
+ Adding pitch bending or aftertouch can add a lot of subtlety to an otherwise plain sounding midi region and help humanize it.
+</p>
+
+<img src="/images/MIDI_pitch_bending.png" alt="Automation: pitch bending" />
+
+<p>
+ Pitch bending and aftertouch both work the same way, through automation. Right click the MIDI track's header > Automation > Bender <em>(or Pressure)</em> > <em>choose the channel you want to bend</em>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ Using the Draw tool, as for all the automation, allows creation of a gradual change from one drawn point to another. A line in the center produces no change to the pitch, while a line above the center will bend the pitch to a higher note (up to 4 semitones) and a line going under the middle will bend the pitch to a lower note.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ The values can be anything between 0 (-4 semitones) to 16,383 (+4 semitones). No automation or a value of 8,192 means no pitch shifting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ Aftertouch works very similarly, though the values are between 0 and 127. It should be noted that aftertouch differs from velocity, as aftertouch allows to slightly change the timbre or create a vibrato, while the velocity sets the power with which the note is played (e.g. on a keyboard, the key is hit).
+</p>
+
+---
+title: Transforming MIDI - Mathematical operations
+menu_title: Transforming MIDI
+part: subchapter
+---
+
+<p>
+ Considering the numerical nature of MIDI events, it can be tempting to apply mathematical transformations to our MIDI regions by using mathematical operations. Ardour makes it very easy and powerful with the Transform tool.
+</p>
+
+<p class="center"><img src="/images/MIDI_transform.png" alt="MIDI transformation" /></p>
+
+<p>
+ To access the Transform tool, right click the MIDI region > <em>name_of_the_region</em> > MIDI > Transform...
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ First, select the property you want to modify in the 'Set' field, then change the target value using the 2 following fields. If you want to add more operands, click the "+" sign to create new lines. You can remove a superfluous line using the "-" sign on the right of the newly created line.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ In the picture above, we've used the Transform tool to add a bit of humanization, by slightly changing the velocity of each note of the region, by a random number between -19 and +19 from it's original velocity. So we've used 3 operations:
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li>Set velocity to this note's velocity</li>
+ <li>+ a random number from 1 to 20</li>
+ <li>- a random number from 1 to 20</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>Each note will trigger a calculation of its own, so its velocity will be increased by a random number between 1 and 20, then decreased by a random number between 1 and 20.</p>
+
+<p>
+ The properties that can be computed are:
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li>note number (eg C2 is note number 24, C#2 is 25 and so on)</li>
+ <li>velocity (the global intensity of the note, between 0 and 127)</li>
+ <li>start time (in beats)</li>
+ <li>length (in beats)</li>
+ <li>channel</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>
+ and the calculation may be based on the following properties:
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li>this note's</li>
+ <li>the previous note's</li>
+ <li>this note's index (number of the note, i.e. the first one is 0, the second is 1, etc.)</li>
+ <li>exactly (for a constant value, between 1 and 127)</li>
+ <li>a random number from <em>lower</em> to <em>higher</em> (<em>lower</em> and <em>higher</em> beeing constant values between 1 and 127)</li>
+ <li>equal steps from <em>lower</em> to <em>higher</em> (<em>lower</em> and <em>higher</em> beeing constant values between 1 and 127)</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>
+ The mathematical operators can be:
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li>+ (addition)</li>
+ <li>- (substration)</li>
+ <li>* (multiplication)</li>
+ <li>/ (euclidian division)</li>
+ <li>mod (rest of the euclidian division)</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>
+ All this operations can be very handy, as long as you find a mathematical way to achieve your goal. Beware though of odd "border cases": division by zero (which does nothing), using the note's index and forgetting it starts at 0 and not 1, etc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ You can nevertheless create very interesting results, like humanizing (randomizing the velocity, start time and duration of all the notes), creating arpeggios, automating tedious tasks, transposing, etc.
+</p>
+
---
title: MIDI Editors
</p>
<p>
- The constraint modifier is the "Constrain drags using:" setting under the "When Beginning a Drag" heading. One viable setting is control-shift.
+ The constraint modifier is the "Constrain drags using:" setting under the "When Beginning a Drag" heading. One viable setting is <kbd class="mod1"></kbd><kbd class="mod3"></kbd>.
</p>
<h3>Tempo</h3>
</p>
<li>To change a meter, double click it. A dialog will appear.</li>
-<li>To copy a meter, hold down control and drag it.</li>
+<li>To copy a meter, hold down <kbd class="mod1"></kbd> and drag it.</li>
---
title: Techniques for Working with Tempo and Meter
We notice that the click now matches the first 4 bars, but after that it wanders off. You will see this reflected in the tempo lines.. they won't quite match the drum hits. We now locate the earliest position where the click doesn't match, and place a new tempo just before this. Two bars later, place another new tempo.
</p>
-Now while dragging any beat <strong>after</strong> the second new tempo, watch the drum audio and tempo lines until they align.
+<p>
+ Now while dragging any beat <strong>after</strong> the second new tempo, watch the drum audio and tempo lines until they align.
+</p>
<p class="note">
Notice what is happeneing here: the tempo previous to your mouse pointer is being changed so that the beat you grabbed aligns with the pointer. Notice that the tempo lines previous to the changed one also move. This is because the previous tempo is ramping <strong>to</strong> the tempo you are changing. Look further to the left. The tempo lines in the first four bars do not move.
</p>
---
-title: VCAs
+title: Busses and VCAs
part: subchapter
---
-<p class="fixme">Add content</p>
+<p>
+ In order to use the process of mixing, Ardour offers two tools traditionally found on hardware mixing consoles: <dfn>Busses</dfn> and <dfn><abbr title="Voltage-Controlled Amplifier">VCA</abbr></dfn>s.
+</p>
+
+<h2>Busses</h2>
+
+<p>
+ An Ardour bus can be considered a virtual track, as in a track that doesn't have a playlist (so, no regions).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ Its use is to "group" some audio signals to be treated the same way. One simple use case is to group all the audio tracks containing the different drums of a drumkit. Routing all the drums tracks outputs to a bus allows, once the different levels amongst the drums have been set, to adjust the global level of the drumkit in the mix.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ Bus usage goes way beyond this simple example though: busses, as tracks, can receive plugins for common audio treatment, and be routed themselves as needed. This makes for a very useful tool that is very commonly used both for musical purposes and computing ones: instead of using e.g. 10 discrete delay plugins on 10 different tracks, busses are often used as receivers of <a href="/signal-routing/aux-sends/">sends</a>, and only 1 delay plugin is used on this bus, reducing the processing power needed.
+</p>
+
+<p class="note">Note that the Master strip, which by default receives the output from all tracks, <em>is</em> a bus itself.</p>
+
+<h3>Audio Busses vs MIDI Busses</h3>
+
+<p>
+ Ardour supports 2 types of busses: Audio and MIDI. A MIDI bus differs from an audio bus just by its input (which is 1 midi input instead of <em>n</em> audio), the fact that you can put an instrument on it at creation time, whereas you can't easily add an instrument to an audio bus.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ MIDI bus are provide a particularly efficient workflow for virtual drumkits where the arrangement uses different MIDI tracks. Moreover, busses with both Audio and MIDI inputs are well suited for vocoders and similar plugins.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ Depending on the user's workflow and the way busses are used, 2 possibilities exists:
+</p>
+
+<h3>Connecting a track to a bus via outputs</h3>
+
+<img class="right" src="/images/connecting_bus_output.png" alt="Connecting a bus through a track's outputs">
+
+<p>
+ Connecting the output(s) of a track to the input(s) of the bus sends <em>all</em> the audio/MIDI to the bus. In the mixer strip, select (at the bottom) the OUTPUT button (often, by default, "Master"), and in the list, choose the input of a bus. Note that only the bus able to receive this output will show up, e.g. a mono bus wont be able to be connected to the output of a stereo track).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ Obviously, doing so will (by default) disconnect the output from the Master's input, which means all the audio/MIDI will be routed to the bus. For more complex routing, the OUTPUT button allows to show the <kbd class="menu">Routing Grid</kbd> that allows to plug the output of the track to multiple outputs at once, be it busses, tracks, Master... The button will then reflect these multiple connections by showing a <em>*number*</em>, number being the number of connections made in the routing grid.
+</p>
+
+<h3>Connecting a track to a bus via Sends</h3>
+
+<img class="left" src="/images/connecting_bus_send.png" alt="Connecting a bus through a send">
+
+<p>
+ This allows not to interrupt the natural flow of the signal, i.e. the track will still output to what its connected to (e.g. Master). The signal is "tapped" at the point of insertion of the send, to be sent to the bus. Right click where in the signal flow you want the send to happen, and select <kdb class="menu">New Aux Send... > name_of_the_bus</kbd>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ By <kbd class="mouse">left-clicking</kbd> the send meter, it is possible to adjust the amount of signal sent to the bus. This is often the way tracks are connected to an effect bus, like a Delay bus.
+</p>
+
+<p class="note">
+ Busses can be plugged to other busses, through outputs or sends. Both example workflows discussed previously, i.e. busses for grouping tracks and busses for effects, can both coexist, as e.g. a "grouping" drum bus can have a send to a reverb bus, and be connected to a compressor bus.
+</p>
+
+<h2>VCAs</h2>
+
+<img class="left" src="/images/vcas.png" alt="VCAs strips">
+
+<p>
+ Although track/bus <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-and-bus-groups/">groups</a> offer a certain kind of grouped-control over gain, solo, mute and more, traditional mixing consoles have long had group master channels ("VCAs") which allows to combine both a single fader to control the group level while also allowing you to easily adjust the relative levels inside the group. For large projects, this can make mixing much easier to control.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ It allows to use either or both of the conventions for combining multiple masters:
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li>Nest VCAs (VCA 2 controls VCA 1 etc.)</li>
+ <li>Chain VCAs (VCA 1 and VCA2 both control track or bus N)</li>
+</ul>
+
+<h3>Using a VCA strip</h3>
+
+<p>
+ A VCA strip is made of (from top to bottom in the screenshot):
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li><dfn>1</dfn>: number of the VCA</li>
+ <li><dfn>X</dfn>: allows to hide the VCA strip. Left clicking this button toggles the exclusive visibility of the tracks connected to this VCA</li>
+ <li><dfn>M</dfn>: mutes the VCA</li>
+ <li><dfn>S</dfn>: solos the VCA</li>
+ <li><dfn>A level meter</dfn>: allows to adjust the level of the VCA</li>
+ <li><dfn>~vca~</dfn>: a VCA button to optionally connect to another VCA</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>
+ Right-clicking the name button shows a context menus comprised of:
+</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li><kbd class="menu">Rename</kbd>: Renames the VCA</li>
+ <li><kbd class="menu">Color...</kbd>: Changes the color of the VCA button in the tracks connected to this one</li>
+ <li><kbd class="menu">Drop All Slaves</kbd>: Deletes all connections to this VCA, i.e. no tracks are controlled by this VCA anymore</li>
+ <li><kbd class="menu">Remove</kbd>: Deletes this VCA</li>
+</ul>
+
+<h3>Connecting to a VCA strip</h3>
+
+<img class="left" src="/images/connecting_to_vca.png" alt="Connecting to VCA">
+
+<p>
+ Connecting a track/bus/VCA to a VCA is as simple as clicking the VCA button on any mixer strip and choosing the VCA to connect to.
+</p>
+
+<p class="note">
+ The VCA button only shows up in mixer strips when at least 1 VCA exists, i.e., you have to first create a VCA before connecting it.
+</p>
---
title: Aux Sends
<ul>
<li>AMB <a href="http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/">http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/</a></li>
- <li>Blepvco <a href="http://www.smbolton.com/linux.html">http://www.smbolton.com/linux.html</a></li>
- <li>Blop <a href="http://blop.sf.net">http://blop.sf.net</a></li>
+ <li>Blepvco <a href="http://smbolton.com/linux.html">http://smbolton.com/linux.html</a></li>
+ <li>Blop <a href="http://blop.sourceforge.net">http://blop.sourceforge.net</a></li>
<li>CAPS <a href="http://quitte.de/dsp/caps.html">http://quitte.de/dsp/caps.html</a></li>
<li>CMT <a href="http://www.ladspa.org/cmt/">http://www.ladspa.org/cmt/</a></li>
<li>FIL <a href="http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/">http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/</a></li>
<li>REV <a href="http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/">http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/</a></li>
<li>SWH <a href="http://plugin.org.uk/">http://plugin.org.uk/</a></li>
<li>TAP <a href="http://tap-plugins.sourceforge.net/">http://tap-plugins.sourceforge.net/</a></li>
- <li>VCF <a href="http://www.suse.de/~mana/ladspa.html">http://www.suse.de/~mana/ladspa.html</a></li>
+ <li>VCF <a href="http://users.suse.com/~mana/ladspa.html">http://users.suse.com/~mana/ladspa.html</a></li>
<li>VCO <a href="http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/">http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/</a></li>
- <li>VLevel <a href="http://vlevel.sourceforge.net/">http://vlevel.sourceforge.net/</a></li>
+ <li>VLevel <a href="http://vlevel.sourceforge.net/about/">http://vlevel.sourceforge.net/about/</a></li>
<li>Vocoder <a href="http://www.sirlab.de/linux/download_vocoder.html">http://www.sirlab.de/linux/download_vocoder.html</a></li>
<li>WASP <a href="http://linux01.gwdg.de/~nlissne/wasp/index.html">http://linux01.gwdg.de/~nlissne/wasp/index.html</a> (mar wanted!)</li>
<li>Nova <a href="http://klingt.org/~tim/nova-filters/">http://klingt.org/~tim/nova-filters/</a></li>
<h3 id="LinuxVST">Linux VST (LXVST)</h3>
<ul>
- <li>Loomer <a href="http://loomer.co.uk/">http://loomer.co.uk/</a></li>
+ <li>Loomer <a href="http://www.loomer.co.uk/">http://www.loomer.co.uk/</a></li>
<li>Distrho <a href="http://distrho.sourceforge.net/ports.php">http://distrho.sourceforge.net/ports.php</a></li>
<li>Argotlunar <a href="http://argotlunar.info/">http://argotlunar.info/</a></li>
- <li>MDA plugins (a collection ported from Windows VST) <a href="http://www.linux-vst.com/download/mda_linux.tar.gz">http://www.linux-vst.com/download/mda_linux.tar.gz</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>How do I install plugins?</h2>
projects / ardour-manual-diverged / commitdiff
