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9 <section id="mixer-strips">
10 <title>Mixer Strips</title>
12 Each track and bus is represented in the mixer window by a
13 <emphasis>mixer strip</emphasis> that contains various controls related
14 to signal flow. There are two places in Ardour in which you can see
15 mixer strips. The mixer window is the obvious one (and the one we deal
16 with here), but you can also view a single mixer strip in the editor
17 window by clicking the <guibutton>editor mixer</guibutton> button.
21 <imagedata fileref="images/mixerstrip.png"/>
25 this image needs replacing with labels and better resolution The mixer
26 strip for a bus is essentially identical to the one for an audio track,
27 but it is missing certain controls that make no sense - you cannot
28 record into a bus, so there is no record enable button, for example.
32 The mixer strips are designed to visually model signal flow. The input
33 button selects the input of the track that this mixer strip monitors.
34 The outputs of the track (the 'tape recorder') are 'hard-wired' to the
35 inputs of the mixer strip. Think of the input to the strip starting at
36 the polarity switch, flowing down through the prefader
37 inserts/plugins/sends section, through the gain fader, past the
38 postfader inserts/plugins/sends section, the panner, and out through the
39 output selector. In the case of a bus, there is no 'tape machine'
40 inserted between the input selector and the actual input of the strip,
41 but the signal flow is identical otherwise.
44 <section id="mixer-strip-narrow-strip-button">
45 <title>Narrow Mixer Strip Button</title>
47 the button on the top left of the mixer strip is labelled with two
48 arrows separated by a line. Left clicking this button will reduce the
49 horizontal size of the mixer strip. Clicking it again will restore the
50 previous size. The first click also has the effect of shortening the
51 names of controls. Plugin lists become very small in this mode,
52 however more faders are accessible without scrolling. Your needs may
53 vary, hence the existence of this button.
57 <section id="mixer-strip-hide-button">
58 <title>Hide Button</title>
60 The button opposite the <emphasis>Narrow Mixer Strip Button</emphasis>
61 hides the mixer strip from view. this button has no effect on signal
62 flow or muting. When a mixer strip is hidden, it's entry in the strips
63 list is darkened. To restore the mixer strip to the visible state,
64 click it's entry in the strip list with the left mouse button.
68 <section id="mixer-strip-track-name">
69 <title>Track Name</title>
71 The track name displays the current name of the track as displayed in
72 the editor window. right-clicking on the name brings up a drop-down
73 menu that allows you to rename, activate, deactivate and remove the
74 track. Selecting <guimenuitem>Rename</guimenuitem> opens a new window
75 displaying the name of the track. to change it, type your change and
76 press ok. to leave it unaltered, press cancel. Selecting
77 <guimenuitem>remove</guimenuitem> opens a new window asking for
78 confirmation of your track removal request. removing a track removes
79 that track from the project. If the playlist used by the removed track
80 is not used by any other track, it will also be removed.
84 <section id="mixer-strip-group-button">
85 <title>Group Button</title>
87 The group button displays the name of the currently selected mix
88 group. if no group is selected, it will read no group. when clicked, a
89 drop-down menu appears which lists the current mixer groups, along
90 with the option no group. if a group is selected, any fader movement
91 on one of the group member faders will be translated to the other
96 <section id="mixer-strip-input-selector">
97 <title>Input Selector</title>
99 The input selector allows you to assign hardware or software inputs to
100 the track that this mixer strip monitors. clicking on the input box
101 makes a drop-down menu appear which lists ready-made combinations of
102 jack ports, along with the options disconnect and edit. You can either
103 select a preset hardware input combination from the drop-down list, or
104 select <guimenuitem>edit</guimenuitem> to open the input selector
105 window which allows finer control, such as changing the number of
106 inputs to the track or using software devices as inputs. For more
107 information on this window, see <xref linkend="sn-other-windows"/>.
108 <guibutton>Disconnect</guibutton> removes all input assignments while
109 leaving the number of ports untouched.
112 <xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
113 href="invert_polarity.xml" />
114 <section id="mixer-strip-solo-button">
115 <title>Solo Button</title>
117 The solo button puts the mixer strip in solo mode. the solo indicator
118 in the editor window will flash if any mixer strip is set to solo, and
119 only those tracks that are set in solo will be routed through the
124 <section id="mixer-strip-mute-button">
125 <title>Mute Button</title>
127 The mute button mutes the output of the mixer strip.
131 <section id="mixer-strip-track-speed-control">
132 <title>Track Speed Control</title>
134 The track speed allows a varispeed setting to be applied to the track.
135 a setting of <literal>1.0</literal> corresponds to the normal playback
136 speed of the session. a setting of <literal>0.5</literal> will play at
137 half normal playback speed. when altered, the track will be redrawn to
138 reflect the new position of the audio resulting from the speed change.
139 The Track Speed Control has three decimal places of precision. A left
140 or right click on the displayed number will raise or lower the track
141 speed by 0.1%. when the speed is not exactly 1, the display will be
142 coloured red. Hovering over the displayed number will allow you to use
143 the mouse wheel to set the desired speed. A middle click on the
144 displayed number will return the speed to exactly 1.
150 <section id="mixer-strip-record-enable-button">
151 <title>Record Enable Button</title>
153 The record enable button arms the track for recording. pressing this
154 will change the way you monitor and meter the selected input signal
155 depending on the state of the monitoring settings in the options
156 editor, as well as the auto input setting in the editor.
160 <section id="mixer-strip-automation-mode-buttons">
161 <title>Automation Mode Buttons</title>
163 The automation mode buttons allow you to select a fader or pan
164 automation mode from a drop-down list. see
165 <xref linkend="sn-automation"/> for more information about automation
170 <section id="mixer-strip-redirect-boxes">
171 <title>Redirect Boxes</title>
173 These dark areas above and below the fader allow you to place inserts,
174 sends and plugins into the signal path before and after the fader
175 respectively. you may also easily reorder them whilst playing.
176 collectively, the objects that belong in these boxes are called
177 redirects. If there are redirects present in the channel, they can be
178 reordered by dragging them vertically. because plugins and inserts can
179 have different numbers of inputs to outputs, sometimes you may reach a
180 situation where the inputs and outputs cannot be all connected
181 sensibly. in this case, your reordering change will be disallowed by
186 Right clicking within the dark area will bring up a drop-down menu
187 which allows you to manipulate the redirects in various ways.
191 <title>Redirect Boxes</title>
193 <term><guimenuitem>new plugin</guimenuitem></term>
196 selecting new plugin will open a dialog which lists the plugins
197 available on your system. selecting a plugin which is compatible
198 with the number of streams in the channel at that point will
199 result in the plugin being placed in the redirect box in an
200 inactive state. this is indicated by the brackets around the
201 plugin name. double-clicking the plugin name will bring up a
202 window that allows you to control the parameters of the plugin
203 statically (including bypass) or using automation. all plugins
204 that report their latency are time-compensated automatically in
211 <term><guimenuitem>new insert</guimenuitem></term>
214 places at least two new jack ports at that point in the mixer
215 strip (one input, one output). these ports will then be
216 available to any jack client (including Ardour itself), allowing
217 another program (or channels within another program) to be
218 inserted across the channel. hardware ports may also, of course,
219 be used, allowing the insertion of outboard equipment. the
220 insert will then appear in the redirect box in brackets
221 indicating that it is inactive. to activate or deactivate an
222 insert, right-click on it and select activate. double-clicking
223 on the insert will bring up a dialog which allows to to assign
224 its inputs and outputs to other jack ports.
230 <term><guimenuitem>new send</guimenuitem></term>
233 selecting new send will first bring up a dialog box that enables
234 you to select the number of outputs the send has, along with the
235 destination of each output. closing this dialog will reveal the
236 name of the send in brackets, indicating that it is inactive. to
237 activate the send, right click on it and select Activate.
238 double-clicking on the send brings up the previous dialog, which
239 will now include a fader which is provided for level control.
245 <term><guimenuitem>clear</guimenuitem></term>
248 selecting clear in the menu removes all redirects from the mixer
249 strip (pre and post fader). you can remove an individual
250 redirect by holding the shift key and right clicking it.
256 <term><guimenuitem>cut</guimenuitem>, <guimenuitem>copy</guimenuitem>, <guimenuitem>paste</guimenuitem></term>
259 these items allow you to cut, copy and paste plugins, including
260 their current settings, between Redirect Boxes.
266 <term><guimenuitem>rename</guimenuitem></term>
269 selecting rename will bring up a dialog displaying the name of
270 the selected redirect. change the name by typing into the text
271 area and pressing ok.
277 <term><guimenuitem>select all/deselect all</guimenuitem></term>
280 these two options select or deselect all plugins in the channel.
281 this could be used, for instance, in preparation to copy all
282 plugins from a channel to another one, along with the current
289 <term><guimenuitem>activate/deactivate</guimenuitem></term>
292 selecting either of these will activate or deactivate the
293 currently selected redirect(s) respectively. deactivate is the
294 equivalent of <guimenuitem>bypass</guimenuitem>.
299 note that you can bypass a plugin from it's parameter window
300 as well as from here.
307 <term><guimenuitem>activate all/deactivate all</guimenuitem></term>
310 selecting either of these will activate or deactivate all
311 redirect(s) in the mixer strip respectively. deactivate is the
312 equivalent of <guimenuitem>bypass</guimenuitem> if you're a
319 <term><guimenuitem>edit</guimenuitem></term>
322 selecting edit brings up the controls relevent to the selected
323 redirect. this is the equivalent to holding control and
324 right-clicking on a redirect. note that the right click method
325 will not bring up the controls of the selected redirect, only
326 the one beneath the mouse pointer.
333 <section id="mixer-strip-pre-post-input-button">
334 <title>Pre/Post/Input Button</title>
336 This button cycles between three metering modes, which determine which
337 signal is fed to the meters. the modes are pre-fader (the signal at
338 the input to the fader), post-fader and input (the level at the track
339 input). left clicking cycles through the three modes one step at a
340 time, while middle-clicking alternates between the current setting and
341 the setting two steps ahead. this allows one-click direct a/b
342 comparison between all available monitoring points.
346 <section id="mixer-strip-gain-display">
347 <title>Gain Display</title>
349 this control displays the current gain of the fader to the nearest
350 0.1dB. left clicking on the value will lower the gain by an amount
351 dependent upon the fader position the graduations become smaller as
352 the fader nears 0dB gain. right clicking increases the gain by the
353 same amount. middle clicking resets the gain to 0dB.
357 <section id="mixer-strip-unit-selector">
358 <title>Unit Selector</title>
360 Right clicking on the meter bars allows you to select the range of
361 signal levels displayed by the meters. the selected range will be
362 displayed as a column of numbers next to the meter. /*XXX this feature
363 is currently not working*/ Gain Level Display
367 <section id="mixer-strip-peak-meter">
368 <title>Peak Meter</title>
370 This control displays the highest peak since the last peak meter
371 reset. Resetting the peak meter is achieved by left-clicking the
372 displayed number. The peak meter monitors the signal selected by the
373 <emphasis>Pre/Post/Input Button</emphasis> .. the same signal as the
374 meters. It should be noted here that 0dBfs corresponds a value equal
375 to the maximum input or output level of your audio hardware,
376 independent of it's bit depth.
380 <section id="mixer-strip-gain-fader">
381 <title>Gain Fader</title>
383 The fader changes the signal level within the mixer strip before the
384 post-fader plugins, which are before the output ports. 6dB of gain is
385 allowed. there are several shortcuts available for the fader. Using
386 the scroll wheel of your mouse while hovering above the fader will
387 coarsely change its position. Holding the control key whilst mouse
388 wheeling will give you finer control. Holding the shift key and
389 clicking the fader will reset it to unity gain. Holding control and
390 pressing the middle mouse button whilst over the fader will allow you
391 to bind a midi control to it, provided you have an available midi
392 device set in the options menu.
396 <section id="mixer-strip-meters">
397 <title>Meters</title>
399 The number of meters displayed next to the fader is dependent on the
400 number of inputs or outputs the channel has, whichever is greater. The
401 meters provide a colour-graduated scale from -50 dBfs to +6dBfs. They
402 display the instantaneous value of the signal at the monitoring point
403 selected by the Pre/Post/Input button. 0dBfs corresponds a value equal
404 to the maximum input or output level of your audio hardware,
405 independent of it's bit depth. Exceeding 0dBfs does not correspond to
406 running out of headroom within the mixer, or in any signal path
407 subsequent to that point within the Jack server. It merely means that
408 if that signal is connected directly to a hardware port whose
409 resolution is less than the 32-bit floating point resolution that
410 Ardour uses (i.e. a soundcard), then that port will exceed it's
411 maximum output level, resulting in distortion. hitting 0dB within the
412 mixer (or any point in the Jack server) means that you have
413 approximately 100dB of headroom remaining. as it is unlikely that you
414 will reach this point, it is not represented in any special way by the
415 meter. Naturally, if the input is selected as the monitoring point for
416 the meter, exceeding 0dBfs means that the input of your a/d converter
421 <section id="mixer-strip-panner">
422 <title>Panner</title>
424 The panner in Ardour is actually two panners. Because any mixer strip
425 in Ardour can route any number of streams of audio anywhere, the idea
426 of panning can be a complex one. To allow for the current
427 stereo-centric mainstream world as well as the multi-speaker
428 experimental one, one of two styles of panner will appear here
429 depending on the number of outputs the channel strip has. In the
430 simple case of mono channel input / stereo output, a single panner
431 will be present. The current pan position is represented by a dot (the
432 dot is the audio stream) which lies between the letters 'L' and 'R',
433 which represent the left and right outputs respectively. To change the
434 panning position of the stream, move the mouse while holding down the
435 left mouse button. the dot will follow your mouse pointer. To
436 introduce sudden changes to the pan setting, place the mouse pointer
437 over the desired position and click the middle mouse button. The pan
438 control will immediately snap to the mouse pointer position. The
439 panner may be bypassed by right-clicking the control and selecting
440 <guimenuitem>bypass</guimenuitem> from the drop-down menu. The panner
441 will immediately be bypassed. The increased level you notice when the
442 panner is bypassed is due to the way panning works. It is not a bug.
443 <emphasis>XXX what gain law is used in the panner?</emphasis>
447 In the case of a stereo input / stereo output combination, two panning
448 controls will appear, one corresponding to each audio stream. You can
449 <emphasis>link</emphasis> the controls together in two different ways
450 in this situation, using the direction arrows next to the
451 <guibutton>link</guibutton> button. Panners can be linked to travel
452 either in opposite directions or to maintain a consistent stereo width
453 across the travel of the control. These two modes are represented by
454 the orientation of the two arrows next to the
455 <guibutton>link</guibutton> button, which point in either the same or
456 opposite directions. The <guibutton>link</guibutton> button must be
457 engaged before you can change the <emphasis>link</emphasis> mode. To
458 link all the panners in a mixer strip, left-click the
459 <guibutton>link</guibutton> button, then select the desired link mode
460 by pressing the button marked with arrows.
464 Let's get a little more complicated by adding another output to the
465 mixer strip. From this point onwards, the panning positions are
466 represented with numbered dots on a square field. Orange dots
467 represent the outputs, and the numbered dots represent the streams.
468 the position of the outputs change according to the number of outputs
469 in the strip. This happens in order to allow the most useful
470 arrangement of the available space. At some point, adding an output
471 will cause the outputs to line up from the top left of the panning
472 square towards the centre. this is to allow for the 'multi-speaker big
473 sweep' to occur - where the sound is panned from speaker to speaker
474 around the room in sequence.
478 Don't forget that you can bypass the panner by right clicking and
479 selecting <guimenuitem>bypass</guimenuitem> from the drop-down menu.
480 this may simplify your multi-speaker setup, as often in this type of
481 project panning between all speakers or outputs is not required on all
486 <section id="mixer-strip-output-selector">
487 <title>Output Selector</title>
489 The output selector allows you to assign the outputs of each mixer
490 strip. left-clicking the output selector causes a ready-made list of
491 output ports to appear in a drop-down menu, along with edit and
492 disconnect options. Selecting <guimenuitem>Edit</guimenuitem> will
493 allow you to change the number of outputs the channel has, as well as
494 select software and hardware ports to route signals to. For more
495 information on the window that appears when you select this option,
496 see the <xref linkend="sn-other-windows"/>.
497 <guimenuitem>Disconnect</guimenuitem> will leave the number of output
498 ports unchanged, but remove all assignments to output ports.
502 <section id="mixer-strip-scratch-pad">
503 <title>Scratch Pad</title>
505 This is the text area below the <guibutton>output</guibutton> button.
506 it allows you to enter any notes that you feel may be relevant to that
507 track. The notes are stored when you save the session.