manual/include/clip-follow-actions.html

<h2>Follow Actions</h2>

<p>
  When the contents of one trigger slot has been played a user-defined
  number of times, Ardour can do one of the two things: stop playing
  or switch to a different trigger slot. This is defined by follow actions.
  A commonly used follow action is playing a clip in the next trigger slot
  down the grid.
</p>

<p>
  Here are the currently available follow actions. Please note that to help
  distinguishing between them, Ardour will display an icon next to the name
  of a clip in a slot:
</p>

<table>
  <tr>
    <th><kbd class="menu">None</kbd></th>
    <td width="100px">No icon</td>
    <td>Play the contents of the slot once and stop</td></tr>
  <tr>
    <th><kbd class="menu">Stop</kbd></th>
    <td width="100px"><img src="/images/follow-action-icons-stop.png" /></td>
    <td>Stop after playing back the amount of times set with Follow Count
    or via Follow Length (see below)</td></tr>
  <tr>
    <th><kbd class="menu">Again</kbd></th>
    <td width="100px"><img src="/images/follow-action-icons-again.png" /></td>
    <td>Repeat the contents of the trigger slot over and over again</td></tr>
  <tr>
    <th><kbd class="menu">Reverse</kbd></th>
    <td width="100px"><img src="/images/follow-action-icons-reverse.png" /></td>
    <td>Play back and go to the previous trigger slot</td></tr>
  <tr>
    <th><kbd class="menu">Forward</kbd></th>
    <td width="100px"><img src="/images/follow-action-icons-forward.png" /></td>
    <td>Play back and go to the next trigger slot</td></tr>
  <tr>
    <th><kbd class="menu">Jump</kbd></th>
    <td width="100px">
      <img src="/images/follow-action-icons-jump-cue-e.png" />&nbsp;
      <img src="/images/follow-action-icons-jump-multi.png" />
    </td>
    <td>Play back and jump to a particular scene. Selecting multi-jump
    and multiple trigger slots will result in randomly playing one of
    the selected slots.</td>
  </tr>
</table>

<p>
  Note that you can set the follow action right in the grid. For that,
  click the icon that corresponds to the currently selected follow action
  for a slot and choose a different one in the newly opened menu.
</p>

<h2>Follow Actions Probability</h2>

<p>
  Ardour can help you explore ideas by bringing an element of randomness.
  You can set two possible follow actions to randomly alternate between,
  then set the percentage of probability of the left or the right follow
  action to be triggered.
</p>

<ul>
  <li>0% means the left follow action is always chosen</li>
  <li>100% means the right follow action is always chosen</li>
  <li>Anything between 0% and 50% will skew the probability towards the
  left follow action</li>
  <li>Anything between 50% and 100% will do the same for the right follow
  action</li>
</ul>

<h2>Playback Duration</h2>

<p>
  There are two options here that affect the playback duration one way
  or another.
</p>

<p>
  <dfn>Follow Count</dfn> defines how many times a clip will be played
  back before triggering the follow action.
</p>

<p>
  <dfn>Follow Length</dfn> overrides clip length and defines the new one
  in beats. By default it's as long as the clip is long. Making this value
  lower will cut the clip short, making it longer will add some silence
  at the end of the clip.
</p>