137 lines
6.1 KiB
HTML
137 lines
6.1 KiB
HTML
<figure class="right">
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<img src="/images/connection-manager.png" alt="An example patchbay">
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<figcaption>
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An example patchbay
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p>
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The <dfn>patchbay</dfn> is the main way to make connections to, from and
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within Ardour's mixer.
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</p>
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<p class="note">
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Notable exceptions are internal aux sends and connections to the monitor bus
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(when using one): these cannot be controlled from a patchbay, and are
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basically not under manual control at all.
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</p>
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<p>
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The patchbay presents two groups of ports; one set of <dfn>sources</dfn>
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(which produce data), and one of <dfn>destinations</dfn> (which consume data).
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Depending on the relative number of each, the sources will be placed on the
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left or the top of the dialogue, and the destinations on the right or the
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bottom. Thus, in general, signal flow is from top or left to right or bottom.
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</p>
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<p>
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Both sources and destinations are divided up into groups, with each group
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being given a tab:
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</p>
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<table class="dl">
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<tr><th>Hardware</th>
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<td>These are ports which are connected to a physical piece of hardware
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(a sound card or MIDI interface).</td></tr>
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<tr><th>Ardour Busses</th>
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<td>All ports belonging to busses.</td></tr>
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<tr><th>Ardour Tracks</th>
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<td>All ports belonging to tracks.</td></tr>
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<tr><th>Ardour Misc</th>
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<td>These are other ports that do not fit into the previous two
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categories; for example, the ports on which the metronome click
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is output, and MIDI ports for things like control surfaces and
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timecode.</td></tr>
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<tr><th>Other</th>
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<td>
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If the Jack backend is being used and if there are other JACK clients
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running, their ports will be found
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here. If there are no such ports, the tab will not exist (on one or
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both axes of the grid).</td></tr>
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</table>
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<p>
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The main part of the patchbay is a <dfn>matrix grid</dfn>. Within this grid,
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green dots represent connections, and any of the squares can be clicked on to
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make or break connections. Clicking and dragging draws a line of connections,
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which is sometimes useful for making many connections at once.
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</p>
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<p>
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In the example patchbay shown above we can note various things. We are
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using the <kbd class="menu">Ardour Tracks</kbd> sources tab, so we see
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the output ports of the three tracks in our session: Fred, Jim and Foo.
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Our destinations are from the <kbd class="menu">Ardour Busses</kbd> tab,
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so we have the inputs of a session bus, Sheila, and the inputs of the
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master bus. Fred and Jim have stereo outputs, so have L and R connections.
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Foo is a MIDI track, so it only has one connection, and its squares in
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the grid are coloured light grey to indicate that no connection can be
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made between Foo (a MIDI output) and our busses (which are all audio-input).
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</p>
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<p>
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The green dots in the example show that both Fred and Jim are connected
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to the master bus, left to left and right to right.
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</p>
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<h2>Variants on the Patchbay</h2>
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<p>
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Slightly different versions of the patchbay are available from different
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places in Ardour. A global view of all audio connections is available, in
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<kbd class="menu">Window > Audio Connections</kbd>, or by pressing
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<kbd class="mod2">P</kbd>. A corresponding MIDI Connection Manager can
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be opened using <kbd class="mod23">P</kbd>.</p>
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<p>
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There is also a patchbay available when connecting individual tracks;
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clicking on the input or output buttons of a mixer strip will open a
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connection manager which has the corresponding track input or output as
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the only destination or source, with all other ports available for
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connection to it.
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</p>
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<h2>Other patchbay features</h2>
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<p>
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<kbd class="mouse">right</kbd>-clicking on a port name in the connection manager
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opens a context menu which provides a few handy options:
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</p>
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<table class="dl">
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Add audio port</kbd><br> and <br><kbd class="menu">Add MIDI port</kbd></th>
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<td>
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These options add audio or MIDI ports to the clicked source, if this is
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possible. In this way, for example, tracks and busses can be extended to have
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more inputs or outputs.
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</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Remove <em>port_name</em></th>
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<td>
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Removes the given port, if possible. <kbd class="mouse mod3">Right</kbd>-clicking
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a port will do the same.
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</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Disconnect all from <em>port_name</em></kbd></th>
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<td>Disconnects everything from the given port.</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Rescan</kbd></th>
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<td>
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If Ardour is using the JACK backend, Ardour will try to keep abreast
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of any changes to the JACK ports on
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the system, and reflect them in any connection managers which are open.
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If for some reason this fails, this can be used to re-scan the list of ports and
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update the manager.
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</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Show individual ports</kbd></th>
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<td>
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If a session has lots of multi-channel tracks or busses, it may be an
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unnecessary detail that left has to be connected to left and right to right
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every time a connection is made. This obviously gets worse with higher
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channel counts (such as for 5.1 or Ambisonics). To make life easier with
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such sessions, Show individual ports can be unticked. After that, the
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channels of tracks and busses will be hidden, and any green dots added in
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the connection manager will automatically connect each channel of the source
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to the corresponding channel of the destination (left to left, right to
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right and so on). In this mode, a half-circle in the connection grid
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indicates that some (but not all) of the source's ports are connected to the
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destination.
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</td></tr>
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<tr><th><kbd class="menu">Flip</kbd></th>
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<td>
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This will flip the visible ports on the vertical axis with those on the
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horizontal. If, for example, the top of the connection manager is showing
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<kbd class="menu">Ardour Busses</kbd> and the right is showing
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<kbd class="menu">Hardware</kbd>, flip will swap the view to the
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opposite. Flipping can also be done by pressing <kbd>f</kbd>. Note that if
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there are no matching tabs on both axes, flipping will be impossible.
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</td></tr>
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</table>
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