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livetrax/manual/xml/midi_configuration.xml
Paul Davis 45d3ec1437 merged with 1697 revision of trunk (which is post-rc1 but pre-rc2
git-svn-id: svn://localhost/ardour2/branches/2.1-staging@1698 d708f5d6-7413-0410-9779-e7cbd77b26cf
2007-04-11 13:07:51 +00:00

300 lines
9.5 KiB
XML

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE section PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
]>
<section id="sn-midi-configuration">
<title>Midi Configuration</title>
<para>
Although at this time Ardour does not support
<glossterm linkend="gt-midi">MIDI</glossterm> sequencing, it does
support a fairly rich set of interactions via MIDI with other devices.
In particular:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Ardour can function as MIDI Time Code (MTC) master or slave
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ardour can control or be controlled by other devices using MIDI
Machine Control (MMC)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ardour can bind all gain faders, panners, mute/solo/rec-enable
buttons and all plugin parameters to be controlled by MIDI
Continuous Controller (CC) or Note On/Off messages.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Ardour can send MIDI "feedback" whenever gain, pan or plugin state
changes, so that external motorized control surfaces can reflect
parameter changes caused by automation etc.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<section id="specifying-midi-ports">
<title>Specifying MIDI ports</title>
<para>
Ardour does not attempt to discover what MIDI ports exist on your
system. This is a complex issue, and on systems like Linux and OS X
that permit virtual ports to be created at any time, it is not trivial
to get right (although future versions of Ardour may try).
</para>
<para>
Instead, the MIDI ports that are available for Ardour to use are
defined in your <filename>ardour.rc</filename> file. These port
definitions are not session specific, on the assumption that your
system's MIDI hardware probably doesn't change much from session to
session. The default version of this file contains a single port that
can be used for inter-application MIDI routing as well as MIDI I/O to
whatever physical MIDI ports might be available on your computer. In
many cases, you will not need to change them.
</para>
<para>
When you first use Ardour, the
<!--
xlink linkend="files_and_environment"
-->
<filename>ardour.rc</filename> file that you will have contains a
single port definition. It defines a port that is almost guaranteed to
be usable on your system ((Linux/ALSA users may need to ensure that
the <filename>snd-seq</filename> kernel module gets loaded - many
distributions do not do this by default)). This port is a "virtual
port" it isn't actually a hardware MIDI port, but instead is a
software port that can be connected to other software ports or to
whatever hardware MIDI ports you have (see
<xref linkend="midi-making-connections"/>).
</para>
</section>
<!--
<xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
href="Some_Subsection.xml" />
-->
<section id="defining-additional-midi-ports">
<title>Defining additional MIDI ports</title>
<para>
To define additional ports, find the line in
<filename>ardour.rc</filename> that looks roughly like this:
</para>
<screen>
&lt;MIDI-port tag="hw:0" device="/dev/snd/midiC1D0" type="alsa/raw" mode="duplex"/&gt;
</screen>
<para>
On OSX/CoreMIDI it would look more like:
</para>
<screen width="50">
&lt;MIDI-port tag="coremidi" device="ardour" type="coremidi" mode="duplex"/&gt;
</screen>
<para>
You can then add another line right after it that looks similar but
contains a different port definition.
</para>
<para>
You will see there are 4 pieces of information required to define a
MIDI port for use within Ardour. Your port definition
</para>
<section id="midi-tag">
<title>Tag</title>
<para>
This is just a name of your own choosing. It is how the port will be
referred to within Ardour. You could use a name that describes what
is plugged into the port (e.g. "1600x", "Novation"), or a name that
describes the computer device/system that provides the port (e.g.
"HDSP", "Sequencer"), or a whimsical name of your own choice (e.g.
"bowtie", "merlin").
</para>
</section>
<section id="midi-type">
<title>Type</title>
<para>
This is an operating system specific identifier that defines what
kind of port this is. It can be set to one of three values:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>alsa/raw</literal> - the port corresponds to a physical
MIDI port that is accessed directly without involving the ALSA
MIDI routing subsystem.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>alsa/sequencer</literal> - the port is a virtual port
that can send and receive MIDI data via the ALSA MIDI routing
subsystem.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>coremidi</literal> - the port is a virtual port that
can send and receive MIDI data via the CoreMidi
inter-application MIDI routing subsystem.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</section>
<section id="midi-device">
<title>Device</title>
<para>
This is an operating specific and MIDI subsystem-specific name that
actually identifies the device to be used for MIDI I/O.
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
for a raw ALSA hardware port, it is the name of the device file
corresponding to the hardware MIDI port. A typical value might
be <filename>/dev/snd/midiC0D0/</filename>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
for an ALSA sequencer port, it is an arbitrary name for the port
that will appear as part of the ALSA MIDI routing system
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
for a CoreMIDI port, it is an arbitrary name for the port that
will appear as in any CoreMIDI port selection dialogs.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</section>
<section id="midi-mode">
<title>Mode</title>
<para>
This specifies whether the port is available for input, output or
both:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>read</literal> - the port is available for input only
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>write</literal> - the port is available for output only
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>duplex</literal> - the port is available for input and
output
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
You should probably always use <literal>duplex</literal> here. It is
rare to need to open a port for unidirectional communication only.
</para>
</section>
</section>
<section id="midi-removing-ports">
<title>Removing Midi Ports</title>
<para>
To remove a MIDI port, simply delete the line in your
<filename>ardour.rc</filename> file that defines it.
</para>
</section>
<section id="midi-making-connections">
<title>Making Connections</title>
<para>
If you use actual physical hardware MIDI ports, then establishing
connections to other MIDI equipment is simply a matter of connecting
cables correctly. However, if you use "virtual ports" such as those
offered by the ALSA router/sequencer or CoreMIDI, making connections
is slightly more involved.
</para>
<para>
Ardour does not come with any way of establishing MIDI connections
from/to other software MIDI ports. This is a difficult task to get
right, and Ardour may offer something in the future. For now, you need
to use an external tool that is dedicated to this purpose, much the
same way you would use a patchbay (audio/MIDI) with physical
equipment.
</para>
<section id="midi-connections-alsa">
<title>Linux/ALSA</title>
<para>
<application>qjackctl</application> (the same program that is
recommended for controlling JACK) also includes an excellent MIDI
connection manager. You could also use command line tools such as
<application>aconnect</application>.
</para>
</section>
<section id="midi-connection-osx">
<title>OSX/CoreMIDI</title>
<para>
On OSX/CoreMIDI you need to connect the MIDI ports with a patchbay
tool such as the excellent MIDI Patchbay from
<ulink url="http://pete.yandell.com/software/">Pete Yandell</ulink>
</para>
</section>
</section>
<section id="midi-using-midi-ports">
<title>Using MIDI ports</title>
<para>
Each port that is defined in <filename>ardour.rc</filename> can be
used for any of the following functions:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
MTC input and output
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
MMC input and output
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
MIDI CC/Note input and output
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</section>
</section>