Couple of MIDI Questions

Installation & Configuration Linux
#1

Hi folks,

I have a couple of MIDI+Ardour related questions that has been bugging me for a while, so I figured I should ask:

  1. Session templates don’t seem to retain MIDI connections. Is this expected?

My use case is simply this: I have a couple of USB connected controllers - one on the other side of my studio that also doubles as an interface to send signal to those instruments. The controllers are always connected, yet the connections aren’t setup when using a template that I thought would recall them. If this is not currently possible, will it ever be? If not - I’d be curious about the high-level blockers.

  1. I’ve been using Ardour for quite a while now (eagerly awaiting the v9 release), and some release back I noticed that I no longer had the ability to set a default MIDI instrument for playing back MIDI clips as I once did. I’m pretty sure it was a setting somewhere in the preferences, but in some previous release it vanished.

Am I misremembering an imaginary setting, or was it actually there once upon a time but then pulled?
If pulled, is there a chance it would be reintroduced? It hasn’t been any sort of problem for me, but it was a nice thing to set. Optionally, could the playback/audtion synth be made visible prior to selecting a MIDI clip in the library? Currently I have to select a clip for the player to show and only then do I get the option to set the instrument or patch.

Thanks in advance
-dez

#2

Depends. If Preferences > MIDI > MIDI input follows track selection is enabled then yes.

Otherwise connections should be set when using a template with the same audio/midi system as was used when creating the template.

Your memory is in part correct. There once was a preference for the default instrument when adding new tracks. Now the new track dialog remembers the most recently used settings instead.

EDIT: actually your memory is better than mine… in Ardour 5 there was indeed a preference for the auditioner. That was removed in Ardour 6, when the setting was instead added to the import dialog to allow changing it on-the-fly, rather than using a fixed preference.

#3

Ah - of course this would be a “me” problem. The behavior makes sense too. Thanks!

And I forgot that the default instrument option also affected new tracks. I was referring more about how that option also set the default instrument for the clip auditioner, which is where I found it useful.

Anyhow, thanks for the help and response. My templates now work as I want them to :slight_smile:

Cheers!