manual/include/metronome.html

92 lines
2.8 KiB
HTML

<p>
The metronome helps performing in correct tempo and time signature
when recording. Musicians hear the metronome clicking with an optional
emphasis on the first beat.
</p>
<p>
The button switching the metronome on and off is located to the left
from the transport panel:
</p>
<p>
<img width="25%" src="/images/metronome-toggle.png" alt="Metronome toggle"/>
</p>
<h2 id="launching-and-stopping">Launching and stopping the metronome</h2>
<p>
There are several ways to toggle the metronome:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
You can click the button to the left of the transport panel.
</li>
<li>
You can press the <kbd>`</kbd> shortcut.
</li>
<li>
For some control surfaces, you can press either the designated button
or any button that is mapped to the metronome via
a <a href="/using-control-surfaces/generic-midi/midi-binding-maps/">MIDI map</a>.
</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="setting-up">Setting up the metronome</h2>
<p>
You can right-click on the metronome icon in the toolbar to open
the Preferences dialog on the Metronome page. This gives you
the following options:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>Emphasis on the first beat</strong>: when enabled, the metronome
will make a louder click on the first beat to help musicians with the
time signature.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Use built-in default sounds</strong>: when this optiion is disabled,
you can load your preferred audio files for the metronome. Otherwise, Ardour
will use built-in audio files.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Gain level</strong>: you can set here how loud you want metronome
clicks to be. You can also adjust this setting by hovering the metronome
toggle button in the main window and scrolling the mouse wheel up or down.
As you change the value, the tooltip will update to show the new gain level.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Enable metronome only while recording</strong>: when enabled,
you will only hear metronome clicks while recording; there will be no
metronome clicks while playing back the takes.
</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="routing-metronome">Routing metronome clicks</h2>
<p>
The metronome has separate outputs in Ardour, so you can route that signal
in the Audio Connections dialog (<kbd class="menu">Window&nbsp;&gt; Audio Connections</kbd>)
however you like, e.g. to
a <a href="/ardours-interface/foldback-strip/">foldback bus</a> for each
performer in the studio or on stage.
</p>
<p>
The Click Out port with L and R channels is located on the Ardour Misc tab
on the left:
</p>
<p>
<img width="50%" src="/images/metronome-click-out-ports.png" alt="Click out ports"/>
</p>
<p>
By default, the metronome omits the master bus entirely and connects
directly to the first pair of hardware outputs in the output device you
selected. This way the clicks don't get processed in the master bus and don't
show up in the exported mix.
</p>