165 lines
6.4 KiB
HTML
165 lines
6.4 KiB
HTML
|
|
<h2>Configuration Directory</h2>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Ardour stores configuration files in two places. The system configuration
|
|
directory and the user configuration directory. The system configuration
|
|
directory is used for stock configuration files at install time.
|
|
The user configuration directory is used by Ardour to store
|
|
configuration changes made in the GUI as well as being a place the user
|
|
can add control surface device files, scripts etc.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Ardour tries to use standard places for these directories for the platform
|
|
it is running on.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<h3>Linux</h3>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The user configuration directory will be somewhere inside the user's
|
|
home directory. The home directory on a linux system is normally
|
|
<code>/home/$USER/</code>, but should also be returned by <code>$HOME</code>
|
|
or <code>~</code>.
|
|
A normal place to find this is <code>$HOME/.config/ardour*/</code> where
|
|
<code>*</code> is the major version. However this can be set by the system with the
|
|
<code>$XDG_CONFIG_HOME</code> environment variable to something else. If you cannot
|
|
find <code>$HOME/.config/</code> on your system try <code>echo ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}</code>
|
|
to see if your distro is using something else. In any case Ardour
|
|
appends the <code>ardour*</code>
|
|
directory to the result where <code>*</code> is the major version number.
|
|
For example, <code>ardour5</code> where the Ardour version is 5.6.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="note">
|
|
In Linux, all path names are lowercase and case-sensitive.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3>macOS</h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
The user configuration directory on macOS is
|
|
<code>$HOME/Library/Preferences/Ardour*/</code> where <code>*</code>
|
|
is the major version number.
|
|
For example, <code>Ardour5</code> where the Ardour version is 5.6.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<h3>Windows</h3>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Windows users are not expected to hand edit configuration files at all.
|
|
It is expected configuration options are changed with some sort of GUI
|
|
tool. For the most part all of Ardour's configuration is taken care of
|
|
by the GUI in preferences. However, there are devices that may need a
|
|
custom file and that would be in the users configuration directory.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Ardour asks the system for this directory and then appends
|
|
<code>Ardour*</code>
|
|
to the path where <code>*</code> is the major version number.
|
|
For example, <code>Ardour5</code> where the Ardour version is 5.6.
|
|
The official path would look like:
|
|
<code>%localappdata%\Ardour5\</code> Windows expands
|
|
<code>%localappdata%</code> to
|
|
a real path.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
An example of a configuration path in Window (from xp) would be:
|
|
<code>C:\Documents and Settings\<User>\Application Data\Local Settings\Ardour5\</code>
|
|
The user in the path would be the user's account name.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="note">
|
|
The above is only an example and may not even be true for all installations
|
|
of Windows XP.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h2>Plugins</h2>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Plugins will be installed in various places, some by standard and some
|
|
by developer whim. Some are installed incorrectly by distro policy.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3>Linux</h3>
|
|
<p>
|
|
In linux there are 3 kinds of plugins Ardour can use. LADSPA, LV2 (LADSPA version 2)
|
|
or lxvst (VSTs compiled as native linux binaries). While it is possible
|
|
with some strange magic to run <a href="@@using-windows-vst-plugins-on-linux">Windows VSTs</a>
|
|
on linux, their whereabouts would follow the Windows info below.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4>LADSPA</h4>
|
|
<p>
|
|
LADSPA plugins should be found in <code>/usr/lib/ladspa/</code>,
|
|
<code>/usr/local/lib/ladspa/</code>
|
|
or in a directory mentioned in your LADSPA_PATH environment variable.
|
|
The most common mistake made by distro packagers, is to use a path
|
|
like <code>/usr/lib/$ARCH/ladspa/</code> and find that Ardour will not find that by
|
|
default. The user can either add a link from this actual directory to
|
|
the standard directory or add this path to LADSPA_PATH.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4>LV2</h4>
|
|
<p>
|
|
LADSPA plugins should be found in <code>/usr/lib/lv2/</code>,
|
|
<code>/usr/local/lib/lv2/</code>
|
|
or in a directory mentioned in your LV2_PATH environment variable.
|
|
The most common mistake made by distro packagers, is to use a path
|
|
like <code>/usr/lib/$ARCH/lv2/</code> and find that Ardour will not find that by
|
|
default. The user can either add a link from this actual directory to
|
|
the standard directory or add this path to LV2_PATH.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4>Linux VST or lxvst</h4>
|
|
<p>
|
|
They are typically installed in <code>/usr/lib/lxvst</code>,
|
|
<code>/usr/local/lib/lxvst</code> or
|
|
a directory mentioned in your LXVST_PATH environment variable. However,
|
|
this is not a standard and the VST plugin developer may install the plugin
|
|
just about anywhere. Therefore Ardour allows the user to set extra VST
|
|
paths in the preferences GUI under Plugins>VST.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3>macOS</h3>
|
|
<p>
|
|
On the Mac, plugins are expected to be installed correctly Ardour uses
|
|
the system tool to scan for AU style plugins and LV2s should be in the right
|
|
place. LV2 should be in <code>$HOME/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2/</code>
|
|
<code>/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/LV2/</code>
|
|
<code>/usr/local/lib/lv2/</code>
|
|
<code>/usr/lib/lv2/</code>
|
|
If an AU or LV2 plugin does not show up on a Mac it is probably
|
|
a development fault with the plugin and the plugin will not work with anything.
|
|
Ardour in Ardour 5.6 has support for native VST plugins. That is VST
|
|
plugins built for OSX. I am not sure if these have a standard place to
|
|
be, but as with other VSTs the search path can be edited at Plugins>VST.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3>Windows</h3>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The most common plugins on Windows are VSTs. However, LADSPA and LV2
|
|
plugins are available for windows as well. In fact Ardours built in
|
|
plugins are LV2s. The biggest advanatage of LV2 plugins is that they are
|
|
the most likely to be cross platform and therefore allow the same Ardour
|
|
project to be worked on in Windows, OSX and Linux.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4>VST</h4>
|
|
<p>
|
|
As with other platforms, VSTs on Windows do not have a standard place
|
|
to reside. Ardour Preferences>Plugins>VST allows setting the VST path
|
|
from the GUI.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<h4>LV2</h4>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The LV2 standard for Windows is <code>%APPDATA%/LV2/</code> or
|
|
<code>%COMMONPROGRAMFILES%/LV2/</code>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h2>Project Directory</h2>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Ardour places a project directory where the user tells it to. This
|
|
directory is chosen when creating a project. In most cases the user
|
|
does not need to know about the files inside of the project directory.
|
|
However there are a few subdirectories worth noting.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<h3>export</h3>
|
|
<p>
|
|
This is the subdirectory where exported files end up.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|