manual/include/playing-back-the-cues.html

<p>
	It is possible to play both individual clips and entire cues.
</p>

<h2>Playing and Stopping Individual Clips</h2>

<p>
	There are generally two ways to trigger a slot with a clip inside.
</p>

<ol>
	<li>Pressing a mouse button over the button to the left of the
	clip's name (Ardout defaults to Trigger launch style which has a classical
	triangle playback icon)</li>
	<li>Sending a note-on event from an external or a virtual MIDI
	controller</li>
</ol>

<p>
	How Ardour responds to releasing the mouse button or sending a note-off
	event depends on the trigger launch style.
	<a href="@@clip-launch-options">This chapter</a> covers that topic.
</p>

<p>
	Once the clip starts playing, the playback indication panel for that track
	lights up with some information:
</p>

<figure>
  <img style="width:50%;" src="/images/trigger-slot-playing.png" alt="Playback indication">
  <figcaption>
    Playback indication
  </figcaption>
</figure>

<p>
	Left to right:
</p>

<ul>
	<li>Clip progress, in the form of a sliding pie chart</li>
	<li>Which cue is playing (it's C on the screenshot)</li>
	<li>MIDI clip indication, an icon representing two beamed 1/16 notes</li>
	<li>Follow count, e.g. '1/2' on the screenshot means the clip is currently being played
	the first time out of two times total</li>
</ul>

<p>
	One way to stop a playing clip is to click the square-shaped icon
	in any of the empty slots in the track of interest.
</p>

<p>
	Ardour allows assigning arbitrary keys on MIDI controllers to trigger
	cue slots:
</p>

<ol>
	<li>
		<kbd class="mouse">Right</kbd>-click on the trigger slot of interest
	</li>
	<li>
		Choose <kbd class="menu">MIDI Learn</kbd> in the newly opened window
	</li>
	<li>
		Press a key on your MIDI controller
	</li>
</ol>

<p>
	An existing assignment can be removed using the
	<kbd class="menu">MIDI un-Learn</kbd> command in the same right-click menu.
</p>

<p class="note">
	This use of MIDI devices and its learning function is separate from, functions
	differently to, and is not to be confused with the use of MIDI devices as control surfaces.
</p>

<p>
	For a MIDI device to be used to trigger clips it must be defined as Default trigger input
	in the <kbd class="menu">Triggering</kbd> page of the <kbd class="menu">Preferences</kbd>
	dialog and/or be connected to the <code>ardour:Cue Control in</code> MIDI port.
</p>


<h2>Playing and Stopping Entire Cues</h2>

<p>
	Clicking a round-shaped button with a Latin letter inside launches the
	playback of the entire cue, that is, all clips in all trigger slots of a cue.
</p>

<figure>
  <img style="width:75%;" src="/images/entire-cue-playback.png" alt="Entire Cue Playback">
  <figcaption>
    Entire Cue Playback
  </figcaption>
</figure>

<p>
	The time when playback of each slot starts depends on the launch quantization
	setting. If there is no quantization selected, playback will start
	immediately regardless of the playhead's position. However, if the launch
	quantization is set to 1 bar, playback will only start once the playhead
	passes the start of the closest bar. This ensures that however long each clip
	is when measured in beats, all clips in one cue will play in sync.
</p>

<p>
	Clicking the square-shaped button under the last letter-coded cue
	(<strong>P</strong>) will stop playback of all cues and all clips in all
	trigger slots. Just like with playback, the time playback stops depends on
	quantization settings of each trigger slot.
</p>