164 lines
6.3 KiB
HTML
164 lines
6.3 KiB
HTML
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<h2>Configuration Directory</h2>
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<p>
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Ardour stores configuration files in two places. The system configuration
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directory and the user configuration directory. The system configuration
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directory is used for stock configuration files at install time.
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The user configuration directory is used by Ardour to store
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configuration changes made in the GUI as well as being a place the user
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can add control surface device files, scripts etc.
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</p>
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<p>
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Ardour tries to use standard places for these directories for the platform
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it is running on.
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</p>
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<h3>Linux</h3>
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<p>
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The user configuration directory will be somewhere inside the user's
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home directory. The home directory on a linux system is normally
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<code>/home/$USER/</code>, but should also be returned by <code>$HOME</code>
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or <code>~</code>.
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A normal place to find this is <code>$HOME/.config/ardour*/</code> where
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<code>*</code> is the major version. However this can be set by the system with the
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<code>$XDG_CONFIG_HOME</code> environment variable to something else. If you cannot
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find <code>$HOME/.config/</code> on your system try <code>echo ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}</code>
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to see if your distro is using something else. In any case Ardour
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appends the <code>ardour*</code>
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directory to the result where <code>*</code> is the major version number.
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For example, <code>ardour5</code> where the Ardour version is 5.6.
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</p>
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<p class="note">
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In Linux, all path names are lowercase and case-sensitive.
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</p>
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<h3>macOS</h3>
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<p>
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The user configuration directory on macOS is
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<code>$HOME/Library/Preferences/Ardour*/</code> where <code>*</code>
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is the major version number.
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For example, <code>Ardour5</code> where the Ardour version is 5.6.
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</p>
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<h3>Windows</h3>
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<p>
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Windows users are not expected to hand edit configuration files at all.
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It is expected configuration options are changed with some sort of GUI
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tool. For the most part all of Ardour's configuration is taken care of
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by the GUI in preferences. However, there are devices that may need a
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custom file and that would be in the users configuration directory.
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</p>
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<p>
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Ardour asks the system for this directory and then appends
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<code>Ardour*</code>
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to the path where <code>*</code> is the major version number.
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For example, <code>Ardour5</code> where the Ardour version is 5.6.
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The official path would look like:
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<code>%localappdata%\Ardour5\</code> Windows expands
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<code>%localappdata%</code> to
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a real path.
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</p>
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<p>
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An example of a configuration path in Window 10 would be:
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<code>C:\<User>\AppData\Local\Ardour5\</code>
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The user in the path would be the user's account name.
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</p>
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<p class="note">
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The above is only an example and may not even be true for all installations
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of Windows 10.
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</p>
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<h2>Plugins</h2>
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<p>
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Plugins will be installed in various places, some by standard and some
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by developer whim. Some are installed incorrectly by distro policy.
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</p>
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<h3>Linux</h3>
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<p>
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On Linux, there are 4 kinds of plugins Ardour can use: LADSPA, LV2 (LADSPA
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version 2), VST2, and VST3.
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</p>
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<h4>LADSPA</h4>
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<p>
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LADSPA plugins should be found in <code>/usr/lib/ladspa/</code>,
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<code>/usr/local/lib/ladspa/</code>
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or in a directory mentioned in your LADSPA_PATH environment variable.
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The most common mistake made by distro packagers, is to use a path
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like <code>/usr/lib/$ARCH/ladspa/</code> and find that Ardour will not find that by
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default. The user can either add a link from this actual directory to
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the standard directory or add this path to LADSPA_PATH.
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</p>
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<h4>LV2</h4>
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<p>
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LV2 plugins should be found in <code>/usr/lib/lv2/</code>,
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<code>/usr/local/lib/lv2/</code>
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or in a directory mentioned in your LV2_PATH environment variable.
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The most common mistake made by distro packagers, is to use a path
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like <code>/usr/lib/$ARCH/lv2/</code>, <code>/usr/lib64/lv2</code>
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or <code>/usr/local/lib64/lv2</code> and find that Ardour will not find
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that by default. The user can either add a link from this actual directory
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to the standard directory or add this path to LV2_PATH.
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</p>
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<h4>Linux VST or lxvst</h4>
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<p>
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They are typically installed in <code>/usr/lib/lxvst</code>,
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<code>/usr/local/lib/lxvst</code> or
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a directory mentioned in your LXVST_PATH environment variable. However,
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this is not a standard and the VST plugin developer may install the plugin
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just about anywhere. Therefore Ardour allows the user to set extra VST
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paths in the preferences GUI under Plugins>VST.
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</p>
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<h3>macOS</h3>
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<p>
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On the Mac, plugins are expected to be installed correctly Ardour uses
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the system tool to scan for AU style plugins and LV2s should be in the right
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place. LV2 should be in <code>$HOME/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2/</code>
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<code>/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2/</code>
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<code>/usr/local/lib/lv2/</code>
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<code>/usr/lib/lv2/</code>
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If an AU or LV2 plugin does not show up on a Mac it is probably
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a development fault with the plugin and the plugin will not work with anything.
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Ardour in Ardour 5.6 has support for native VST plugins. That is VST
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plugins built for OSX. I am not sure if these have a standard place to
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be, but as with other VSTs the search path can be edited at Plugins>VST.
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</p>
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<h3>Windows</h3>
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<p>
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The most common plugins on Windows are VSTs. However, LADSPA and LV2
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plugins are available for windows as well. In fact Ardour's built in
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plugins are LV2s. The biggest advantage of LV2 plugins is that they are
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the most likely to be cross platform and therefore allow the same Ardour
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project to be worked on in Windows, OSX and Linux.
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</p>
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<h4>VST</h4>
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<p>
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As with other platforms, VSTs on Windows do not have a standard place
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to reside. Ardour Preferences>Plugins>VST allows setting the VST path
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from the GUI.
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</p>
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<h4>LV2</h4>
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<p>
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The LV2 standard for Windows is <code>%APPDATA%/LV2/</code> or
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<code>%COMMONPROGRAMFILES%/LV2/</code> (On Windows 10: <code>C:\<User>\AppData\Roaming\LV2\</code> or <code>C:\Program Files\Common Files\LV2\</code>).
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</p>
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<h2>Project Directory</h2>
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<p>
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Ardour places a project directory where the user tells it to. This
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directory is chosen when creating a project. In most cases the user
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does not need to know about the files inside of the project directory.
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However there are a few sub-directories worth noting.
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</p>
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<h3>export</h3>
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<p>
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This is the sub-directory where exported files end up.
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</p>
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