manual/xml/automation.xml

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   5 ]>
   6
   7 <section id="sn-automation">
   8         <title>Automation</title>
   9         <para>
  10                 This chapter will explain how to use Ardour's automation facilities to make
  11                 editing and mixing your sessions more productive.
  12         </para>
  13
  14         <section id="what-is-automation">
  15                 <title> What is automation? </title>
  16                 <para>
  17                         Automation refers to Ardour's ability to remember changes you made to
  18                         various parameters in the session, and at what point along the timeline
  19                         playback had reached when you made them. Later, Ardour can make these
  20                         changes happen automatically at the same point on the timeline, thus
  21                         leaving your hands free to do something else. A typical practice when using
  22                         automation is to work on one or two tracks while leaving others alone,
  23                         recording the edits/changes. Once satisfied with the track(s), you can move
  24                         on to adjust other tracks. As the overall mix changes, you can return to
  25                         earlier tracks and adjust their existing automation.
  26                 </para>
  27         </section>
  28
  29         <section id="what-can-be-automated">
  30                 <title> What can be automated? </title>
  31                 <para>
  32                         You can automate all changes to track/bus gain control, panning (currently
  33                         only for stereo output) and all plugin parameters. Future versions of
  34                         Ardour will allow automation of mute/solo controls, non-stereo panning, and
  35                         send gain levels.
  36                 </para>
  37         </section>
  38
  39         <section id="automation-modes">
  40                 <title> Automation Modes </title>
  41                 <para>
  42                         Each parameter that can be automated has a button available to control its
  43                         state of automation. Each button can be used to put the parameter into one
  44                         of 4 possible automation states:
  45                 </para>
  46
  47                 <variablelist>
  48                         <title></title>
  49                         <varlistentry>
  50                                 <term>Off</term>
  51                                 <listitem>
  52                                         <para>
  53                                                 No changes to the parameter are recorded, and any existing automation
  54                                                 for the parameter is ignored. This is the default.
  55                                         </para>
  56                                 </listitem>
  57                         </varlistentry>
  58
  59                         <varlistentry>
  60                                 <term>Play</term>
  61                                 <listitem>
  62                                         <para>
  63                                                 Existing automation data controls the value of the parameter, and
  64                                                 graphical/hardware editing of the value is disabled.
  65                                         </para>
  66                                 </listitem>
  67                         </varlistentry>
  68
  69                         <varlistentry>
  70                                 <term>Write</term>
  71                                 <listitem>
  72                                         <para>
  73                                                 All changes to the parameter are recorded as new automation data,
  74                                                 overwriting any existing data for that point in time.
  75                                         </para>
  76                                 </listitem>
  77                         </varlistentry>
  78
  79                         <varlistentry>
  80                                 <term>Touch</term>
  81                                 <listitem>
  82                                         <para>
  83                                                 Existing automation data controls the value of the parameter, but new
  84                                                 changes to the parameter are recorded, overwriting any existing data for
  85                                                 that point in time.
  86                                         </para>
  87                                 </listitem>
  88                         </varlistentry>
  89                 </variablelist>
  90         </section>
  91
  92         <section id="basic-automation-recording">
  93                 <title> Basic Automation Recording </title>
  94                 <section id="automation-recording-gain-and-pan">
  95                         <title> Gain and Pan </title>
  96                         <para>
  97                                 Each track/bus has two automation control buttons for gain and pan in its
  98                                 mixer strip. For each track/bus that you wish to automate, click on the
  99                                 relevant automation button. From the popup menu that appears (showing all
 100                                 automation states) choose <guibutton>Record</guibutton> . As long as the
 101                                 automation state remains in "Record", then any changes you make to gain or
 102                                 pan for that track/bus will be recorded.
 103                         </para>
 104                 </section>
 105
 106                 <section id="automation-recording-plugin-parameters">
 107                         <title> Plugin Parameters </title>
 108                         <para>
 109                                 Many plugins have many parameters that you might wish to play while
 110                                 recording gain automation, so Ardour offers independent control of
 111                                 recording changes to these parameters. You can access the controls in
 112                                 either of two ways:
 113                         </para>
 114
 115                         <itemizedlist>
 116                                 <listitem>
 117                                         <para>
 118                                                 open the plugin's editor window, and click on the appropriate automation
 119                                                 control button. From the menu that pops up, choose
 120                                                 <guibutton>Record</guibutton>
 121                                         </para>
 122                                 </listitem>
 123                                 <listitem>
 124                                         <para>
 125                                                 make the automation track for this parameter visible (see
 126                                                 plugin_automation_tracks on how to do this), and click on the automation
 127                                                 control button in the track controls. From the menu that pops up, choose
 128                                                 <guibutton>Record</guibutton> .
 129                                         </para>
 130                                 </listitem>
 131                         </itemizedlist>
 132
 133                         <para>
 134                                 To record edits to the parameter, click on the appropriate
 135                                 <guibutton>arec</guibutton> button. As long as the button stays pressed,
 136                                 all edits to that parameter will be recorded.
 137                         </para>
 138                 </section>
 139         </section>
 140
 141         <section id="basic-automation-playback">
 142                 <title> Basic Automation Playback </title>
 143                 <section id="automation-playback-gain-and-pan">
 144                         <title> Gain and Pan </title>
 145                         <para>
 146                                 Each track/bus has two automation control buttons for gain and pan in its
 147                                 mixer strip. For each track/bus where you want existing automation data to
 148                                 control gain and/or panning, click on the relevant automation button. From
 149                                 the popup menu that appears (showing all automation states) choose
 150                                 <guimenuitem>Play</guimenuitem>. As long as the automation state remains in
 151                                 <guimenuitem>Play</guimenuitem>, you can no longer control the gain and/or panning from the
 152                                 graphical user interface or an external hardware control surface.
 153                         </para>
 154                 </section>
 155
 156                 <section id="automation-playback-plugin-parameters">
 157                         <title> Plugin Parameters </title>
 158                         <para>
 159                                 For each plugin parameter you want controlled by automation data, you need
 160                                 to activate automation playback which can be done in one of two ways:
 161                         </para>
 162
 163                         <itemizedlist>
 164                                 <listitem>
 165                                         <para>
 166                                                 open the plugin's editor window, and click on the appropriate automation
 167                                                 control button, and choose <guimenuitem>Play</guimenuitem> from the menu
 168                                                 that pops up.
 169                                         </para>
 170                                 </listitem>
 171                                 <listitem>
 172                                         <para>
 173                                                 make the automation track for this parameter visible (see
 174                                                 plugin_automation_tracks on how to do this), and click on the automation
 175                                                 control button in the track controls. Choose <guimenuitem>Play</guimenuitem>
 176                                                 from the menu that pops up.
 177                                         </para>
 178                                 </listitem>
 179                         </itemizedlist>
 180
 181                         <para>
 182                                 You also need to enable automation playback for the plugin itself. This
 183                                 needs to be done in the plugin's editor window by clicking on the
 184                                 automation button in the upper right corner. Without this step, the
 185                                 individual parameter buttons will not enable automation playback.
 186                         </para>
 187
 188                         <para>
 189                                 The plugin automation button also allows you to globally disable
 190                                 automation control of all parameters by unsetting it (clicking it so that
 191                                 it is no longer "pressed"). This leaves the individual automation control
 192                                 buttons in whatever state they were already in, but it stops the use of
 193                                 automation data for all parameters. This can be useful if you have a
 194                                 hardware control surface, and have automation-playback-enabled several
 195                                 parameters. You can override the automation playback settings and manually
 196                                 control parameter values from the control surface without having to click
 197                                 on each parameter's automation control button individually.
 198                         </para>
 199                 </section>
 200         </section>
 201
 202         <section id="editing-automation-data">
 203                 <title> Editing Automation Data </title>
 204                 <para>
 205                         The editor window can display all automation data for a track. Each type of
 206                         automation data is shown in its own "track" to make it easy to see the
 207                         data, and to edit it.
 208                 </para>
 209         </section>
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 214 </section>