manual/include/osc58-personal-monitoring-control.html

<p>
	Personal monitoring can allow a performer with a smart phone to set
	their personal monitor mix for a floor wedge or in-ear monitoring.
	In Ardour 5.6 OSC commands to allow this were added for use with aux
	buses. Ardour 6.0 added Foldback buses for this purpose and these
	commands work directly for those.
</p>
<h3>Setup</h3>
<p>
	Foldback buses can be added from the GUI
	(see: <a href="@@foldback-strip">Foldback section</a>)
	or using the <kbd class="osc">/cue/new_bus</kbd> OSC command.
</p>
	<ul>
		<li>
			Create a bus for each performer who will have personal
			monitoring. A good practice is to name the bus with the
			performers name.
		</li>
		<li>
			Connect the output of that bus to one of the audio
			interface's playback ports that is not otherwise used.
		</li>
		<li>
			Add a foldback send to each channel the performer needs to hear
			in their personal mix. Many performers only need three or
			four sources to be mixed. If the performer needs to hear a
			a set of inputs that are combined into a bus, adding the
			foldback send to that bus may make more sense than adding ten
			drum channels for example.
		</li>
		<li>
			If the performer wishes to hear effects in their monitor,
			an extra send from the effects bus or a plugin can be added in line in
			the foldback bus itself. Foldback sends are always just before the
			Fader.
		</li>
	</ul>
<p>
	This gives stage or studio monitoring for the performer.
</p>

<h3>The OSC commands and feedback for personal monitoring</h3>
<p>
	All of the personal monitoring commands and feedback start with a
	<em>/cue</em>. It is expected that a surface used as a personal
	monitor control will use only <em>/cue</em> commands. 
</p>
<p class="note"> There is one OSC command apart from the <code>/cue</code>
	commands: <a href="#select-fldbck"><code>/select/add_fldbck_send</code></a>
</p>
<p>
	Most phone OSC applets (TouchOSC, Control) require manual port to be set.
	There are certainly more controls than needed. Using send enables for
	example, may lead to wasted time discovering why a send has no sound.
	A good easy to use controller that fits on most phones while still
	being controllable even with big fingers might look like:
</p>
<table>
 <tr>
  <td>
	<figure>
	<img alt="TouchOSC Screenshot"
	src="/images/osc-cue-touchosc.jpg">
    <figcaption>Personal Monitor controller using TouchOSC</figcaption>
	</figure>
  </td>
  <td>
	<figure>
	<img alt="Control Screenshot"
	src="/images/osc-cue-control.jpg">
    <figcaption>Personal Monitor controller using Control</figcaption>
	</figure>
  </td>
 </tr>
</table>

<p>
	Ardour is not limited to talking to one personal monitor controller
	at a time, but is able to deal with many simultaneously, each controlling
	its own foldback bus.
</p>
<p class="note">
	The send controls and feedback all have the send id (1 to n) in line
	as part of the OSC path. So the path for the second send would be
	<em>/cue/send/fader/2</em> to set the level. It is considered that
	most surfaces used for this will only be able to handle one parameter.
</p>
<h4>Commands</h4>
<table class="dl">
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/connect</kbd></th>
  <td>Returns a list of foldback busses and connects to the first.</td></tr>
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/bus <em>index</em></kbd></th>
  <td>where <em>index</em> is an integer or float which is the
  foldback bus number this surface will use.</td></tr>
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/next_bus</kbd></th>
  <td>Sets the the foldback bus to one bus higher.</td></tr>
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/previous_bus</kbd></th>
  <td>Sets the foldback bus to one bus lower. This can also be used as a
  "connect" button to save space in a phone layout.</td></tr>
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/connect_output <em>output</em></kbd></th>
  <td>where <em>output</em> is a string that is the name of an output port
  or the number of the output port if the port is a system:playback port
  to connect the foldback bus to.</td></tr>
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/new_bus <em>name</em> <em>l-output</em>
  <em>r-output</em></kbd></th> <td>where <em>name</em> is the name for
  the new foldback bus as a string, <em>l-output</em> (optional) is the name
  of the output port to connect to. And <em>r-output</em> (if present) will
  make the new foldback bus stereo and connect the right output port to the
  named port. All parameters are string type.
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/new_send <em>strip</em></kbd></th>
  <td>where <em>strip</em> is a string with the name of the strip to add
  a foldback send to that sends to the current foldback bus.

  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/fader <em>position</em></kbd></th>
  <td>where <em>position</em> is a float for the position of the fader
  between 0.0 and 1.0.</td></tr>
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/mute <em>state</em></kbd></th>
  <td>where <em>state</em> is a float of 0.0 for mute off and 1.0 for
  the foldback bus mute on.</td></tr>
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/send/fader/<em>id</em> <em>position</em></kbd></th>
  <td>where <em>position</em> is a float for the position of the send
  fader between 0.0 and 1.0.</td></tr>
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/send/enable/<em>id</em> <em>state</em></kbd></th>
  <td>where <em>state</em> is a float of 0.0 for disable and 1.0 for enable.</td></tr>
</table>
<h4>Feedback</h4>
<table class="dl">
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/name <em>name</em></kbd></th>
  <td>where <em>name</em> is a string that is the name of the currently
  selected foldback bus.</td></tr>
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/name/<em>id</em> <em>name</em></kbd></th>
  <td>where <em>name</em> is a string that is the name of the foldback bus
  that <em>id</em> belongs to.</td></tr>
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/fader <em>position</em></kbd></th>
  <td>where <em>position</em> is a float from 0.0 to 1.0 that shows the
  fader position for the selected foldback bus.</td></tr>
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/mute <em>state</em></kbd></th>
  <td>where <em>state</em> is a float of 0.0 or 1.0 that shows the state
  of the mute for the selected foldback bus.</td></tr>
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/signal <em>activity</em></kbd></th>
  <td>where <em>activity</em> is a float of 0.0 or 1.0 that shows audio
  activity for the selected foldback bus.</td></tr>
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/send/name/<em>id</em> <em>name</em></kbd></th>
  <td>where <em>name</em> is a string that is the name of the channel
  that send <em>id</em> belongs to.</td></tr>
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/send/fader/<em>id</em> <em>position</em></kbd></th>
  <td>where <em>position</em> is a float from 0.0 to 1.0 that is the position
  for the fader for the send that <em>id</em> belongs to.</td></tr>
  <tr><th><kbd class="osc">/cue/send/enable/<em>id</em> <em>state</em></kbd></th>
  <td>where <em>state</em> is a float of 0.0 or 1.0 that is the state
  of the enable for the send that <em>id</em> belongs to.</td></tr>
</table>
<p>
	While a fader is being adjusted, the corresponding <em>/*/name</em>
	text will give the level in db.
</p>
<h2 id="select-fldbck">Setting up a Foldback bus from a selected strip</h2>
<p>
	A selected or expanded strip can create a foldback send and create
	a foldback bus at the same time using:
	<kbd class="osc">/select/add_fldbck_send <em>name</em></kbd>
	where <em>name</em> is a string with the name of the desired foldback
	bus. If the name matches an existing foldback bus the new send will
	be added to the selected or expanded strip that feeds that bus. If there
	is no strip of that name, one will be created.
</p>