139 lines
5.0 KiB
HTML
139 lines
5.0 KiB
HTML
|
|
<p>
|
|
Each track and bus has two buttons which have important implications
|
|
for signal flow: <dfn>mute</dfn> and <dfn>solo</dfn>. The behaviour
|
|
of these buttons is configurable in Ardour, to suit different studio
|
|
set-ups.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h2>Without a monitor bus</h2>
|
|
<p>
|
|
When using Ardour without a monitor bus, there is only one way
|
|
in which mute and solo will work:</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Mute on a track or bus will mute that track on the master bus,
|
|
so that it will not be heard.
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Solo on a track or bus will solo that track or bus and mute all
|
|
others. Soloing a bus will also solo any tracks or
|
|
busses which feed that bus.
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h2>With a monitor bus</h2>
|
|
<p>
|
|
For setups with a monitor bus, more options are available, mostly
|
|
governed by the setting of the
|
|
<kbd class="option">Solo controls are Listen controls</kbd> option
|
|
in <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Mixer.</kbd>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
With <kbd class="optoff">Solo controls are Listen controls</kbd>
|
|
unticked, behaviour is almost exactly the same as the situation
|
|
without a monitor bus. Mute and solo behave the same, and the monitor
|
|
bus is fed from the master bus, so it sees the same thing.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
With <kbd class="option">Solo controls are Listen controls</kbd>
|
|
ticked, the master and monitor busses behave differently. In this
|
|
mode, solo controls are more properly called <dfn>listen</dfn>
|
|
controls, and Ardour's solo buttons will change their legend from
|
|
<kbd class="menu">S</kbd> to either <kbd class="menu">A</kbd> or <kbd class="menu">P</kbd> to
|
|
reflect this.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Now, without any mute or listen, the monitor bus remains fed by
|
|
the master bus. Also:
|
|
</p>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Mute will mute the track or bus, so that it will not be heard
|
|
anywhere (neither on the master nor monitor busses), much as before.
|
|
</li>
|
|
<li>
|
|
Listen will disconnect the monitor bus from the master bus, so
|
|
that the monitor bus now only receives things that are "listened to".
|
|
Listen will not perform any muting, and hence the master bus will
|
|
not be affected by a listened track or bus.
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<p>
|
|
When solo controls are listen controls, the listening point can be set
|
|
to either After-Fade Listen (AFL) or Pre-Fade Listen (PFL). The precise
|
|
point to get the signal from can further be configured using the
|
|
<kbd class="menu">PFL signals come from</kbd> and
|
|
<kbd class="menu">AFL signals come from</kbd> options.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The solo-mute arrangement with a monitor bus is shown below:
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<figure class="center">
|
|
<img src="/images/solo-mute.png" alt="mute/solo signal flow">
|
|
<figcaption>Mute/solo signal flow</figcaption>
|
|
</figure>
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
Here we have a number of tracks or busses (in orange). Each one has an
|
|
output which feeds the master bus. In addition, each has PFL and AFL
|
|
outputs; we have a choice of which to use. PFL/AFL from each track or
|
|
bus are mixed. Then, whenever anything is set to AFL/PFL, the monitor out
|
|
becomes just those AFL/PFL feeds; the rest of the time, the monitor out is
|
|
fed from the master bus.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
In this scheme Solo has no effect other than to mute other non-soloed tracks;
|
|
with solo (rather than listen), the monitor out is fed from the master bus.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h2>Other solo options</h2>
|
|
<p>
|
|
<kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Mixer</kbd> has some
|
|
more solo options:
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3>Solo-in-place mute cut</h3>
|
|
<p>
|
|
When using solo-in-place (SiP), in other words when soloed tracks are being
|
|
listened to on the master bus, this fader specifies the gain that will be
|
|
applied to other tracks in order to mute them. Setting this level to
|
|
&minus∞ dB will mean that other tracks will not be heard at all; setting to
|
|
some higher value less than 0dB means that other non-soloed tracks will be heard, just
|
|
reduced in volume compared to the soloed tracks. Using a value
|
|
larger than &minus∞ dB is sometimes called "Solo-In-Front" by other DAWs, because
|
|
the listener has the sense that soloed material is "in front" of other
|
|
material. In Ardour, this is not a distinct mode, but instead the mute cut
|
|
control offers any level of "in-front-ness" that is desired.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3>Exclusive solo</h3>
|
|
<p>
|
|
If this is enabled, only one track or bus will ever be soloed at once; soloing
|
|
track B while track A is currently soloed will un-solo track A before soloing
|
|
track B.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3>Show solo muting</h3>
|
|
<p>
|
|
If this is enabled, the mute button of tracks and busses will be drawn
|
|
outlined to indicate that the track or bus is muted because something else
|
|
is soloed. This is enabled by default, and it is recommended to leave it
|
|
that way unless extremely comfortable with Ardour's mute/solo
|
|
behaviour.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3>Soloing overrides muting</h3>
|
|
<p>
|
|
If this is enabled, a track or bus that is both soloed and muted will behave
|
|
as if it is soloed.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3>Mute affects…</h3>
|
|
<p>
|
|
These options dictate whether muting the track will affect various routes out
|
|
of the track; through the sends, through the control outputs (to the monitor
|
|
bus) and to the main outputs.
|
|
</p>
|