How to make Mackie Control work with Ardour

MD1 · August 20, 2010, 7:01pm

I think this doesn´t worked out !

I did the following:

“< code >” + console text + “< /code >”

I see nothing …

paul · August 20, 2010, 7:32pm

@MD: <code> is a way to change the typeface, its not a way to insert arbitrary preformatted text. You want <pre> for that. I edited your post. There are no messages in the console log that refer to the Mackie protocol. I suspect they would have shown up in the error log of Ardour/Mixbus itself.

MD1 · August 20, 2010, 7:45pm

How I get the error log of Mixbus ?

I can´t see any file reffering to Mixbus in the program folder !

seablade · December 16, 2009, 10:29pm

It pretty much is a couple step process.

One> plug your Mackie in to your computer.
Two> Open a session in Mixbus.
Three> use a CoreMIDI Routing Program to connect the MIDI port with the Mackie on it to Ardour’s mcu port and vice versa. We tend to reccomend Pete Yandell’s MIDI Patchbay software for this.
Four> in Mixbus under Options>Control Surface enable Mackie.
Five> Watch Faders fly.

    Seablade

moqtev · December 17, 2009, 8:31pm

Thanks Seablade - I will try that

MD1 · January 13, 2011, 9:41pm

Hey Seablade !

Unfortunately my MCU stil doesn´t work !
I read the following in the Ardour online manual:

If you have a Mackie MCU make sure that you have the following under the tag in ~/.ardour2/ardour.rc:

Option name=“mackie-emulation” value=“mcu”

I did look after this line in “ardour_system.rc” in the respective mixbus folder (/contents/ressources)
and didn´t find it there (neither in the ardour folder !)

Here is the console text of “ardour_system.rc”:

?xml version=“1.0” encoding=“UTF-8”?
Ardour
MIDI-port tag=“ardour” device=“ardour” type=“coremidi” mode=“duplex”
MIDI-port tag=“control” device=“ardour” type=“coremidi” mode=“duplex”
MIDI-port tag=“mcu” device=“ardour” type=“coremidi” mode=“duplex”
Config
Option name=“minimum-disk-io-bytes” value=“262144”
Option name=“track-buffer-seconds” value=“5.000000”
Option name=“mute-affects-pre-fader” value=“yes”
Option name=“mute-affects-post-fader” value=“yes”
Option name=“mute-affects-control-outs” value=“yes”
Option name=“mute-affects-main-outs” value=“yes”
Option name=“solo-latch” value=“yes”
Option name=“mtc-port” value=“ardour”
Option name=“mmc-port” value=“ardour”
Option name=“midi-port” value=“ardour”
Option name=“jack-time-master” value=“no”
Option name=“trace-midi-input” value=“no”
Option name=“trace-midi-output” value=“no”
Option name=“plugins-stop-with-transport” value=“no”
Option name=“no-sw-monitoring” value=“no”
Option name=“stop-recording-on-xrun” value=“no”
Option name=“create-xrun-marker” value=“yes”
Option name=“stop-at-session-end” value=“no”
Option name=“auto-xfade” value=“yes”
Option name=“crossfades-active” value=“1”
Option name=“crossfades-visible” value=“1”
Option name=“xfade-model” value=“0”
Option name=“no-new-session-dialog” value=“yes”
Option name=“timecode-source-is-synced” value=“yes”
Option name=“auditioner-left-out” value=“coreaudio:Built-in Audio:in1”
Option name=“auditioner-right-out” value=“coreaudio:Built-in Audio:in2”
Option name=“quieten-at-speed” value=“1.000000”
Option name=“use-vst” value=“yes”
Option name=“use-tranzport” value=“yes”
Option name=“disk-choice-space-threshold” value=“57600000”
Option name=“destructive-xfade-msecs” value=“20”
Option name=“periodic-safety-backups” value=“1”
Option name=“periodic-safety-backup-interval” value=“120”
Option name=“show-track-meters” value=“1”
Option name=“default-narrow_ms” value=“0”
Option name=“smpte-format” value=“6”
Option name=“font-scale” value=“102400”
Option name=“auto-return” value=“0”
Option name=“solo-latched” value=“1”
Option name=“link-region-and-track-selection” value=“1”
Option name=“send-mtc” value=“0”
Option name=“tape-machine-mode” value=“1”
Option name=“monitoring-model” value=“1”
Config
extra
RulerVisibility smpte=“yes” bbt=“yes” frames="no minsec=“no” tempo=“yes” meter=“yes” marker=“yes” rangemarker=“no” transportmarker=“yes” cdmarker=“no”
Keyboard edit-button=“3” edit-modifier=“4” delete-button=“3” delete-modifier=“1” snap-modifier=“32”
AudioSetup
Periods val=“2”
priority val=“60”
ports val=“256”
realtime val=“1”
samplerate val=“44100Hz”
periodsize val=“256”
driver val=“CoreAudio”
interface val=“Aggregate Device”
inputdevice val=“Aggregate Device”
outputdevice val=“Aggregate Device”
AudioSetup
extra
Ardour

So is this line really missing and could that be the problem ?
If yes, how can I insert the line in the rc.file ?

Thanks !
MD

seablade · January 14, 2011, 12:36am

@MD

Real quick cause I am kinda in the middle of two rehearsals right now, there any chance you can meet me in IRC (Go to Help>Chat) Friday Jan 14 in the daytime EST and I can work with you there? Otherwise I will come back and post again here later or tomorrow depending on how tonight goes. Thanks.

Seablade

MD1 · January 14, 2011, 11:12am

Unfortunately there is no chance to meet there !

Perhaps later you´ve the time to response here !

Thanks !

MD

seablade · January 14, 2011, 1:27pm

@MD Ok lets see what I can do from here then…

The file you are looking for, as the documentation states, is ~/.ardour/ardour.rc

To see it in the finder, open a finder window and press Shift+Command+G (Go To Folder) and type in…
~/.ardour/ardour.rc

You can then open that file in textedit and see if that line exists there, if it does not, you can rename that file and Mixbus should automatically recreate it for you, hopefully with the correct information this time, so check again to see if the line is there(It should be if you have an up to date version of Mixbus - 1.4.1 as of this writing).

If it still isn’t there or you are unsure, go ahead and paste the contents of that file surrounded by PRE tags here to let me see it. Thanks.

      Seablade

MD1 · January 14, 2011, 10:53pm

Thanks Seablade for the quick reply !

It is “~/.ardour2/ardour.rc” by the way !

The line doesn´t exist even after Mixbus (1.4.1) has recreated it !

Here is the content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Ardour>
  <MIDI-port tag="ardour" device="ardour" mode="duplex" type="coremidi"/>
  <MIDI-port tag="control" device="ardour" mode="duplex" type="coremidi"/>
  <MIDI-port tag="mcu" device="ardour" mode="duplex" type="coremidi"/>
  <Config>
    <Option name="trace-midi-input" value="no"/>
    <Option name="trace-midi-output" value="no"/>
    <Option name="send-mtc" value="no"/>
    <Option name="use-tranzport" value="yes"/>
    <Option name="minimum-disk-io-bytes" value="262144"/>
    <Option name="track-buffer-seconds" value="5"/>
    <Option name="disk-choice-space-threshold" value="57600000"/>
    <Option name="xfade-model" value="0"/>
    <Option name="auto-xfade" value="yes"/>
    <Option name="destructive-xfade-msecs" value="20"/>
    <Option name="link-region-and-track-selection" value="yes"/>
    <Option name="mute-affects-pre-fader" value="yes"/>
    <Option name="mute-affects-post-fader" value="yes"/>
    <Option name="mute-affects-control-outs" value="yes"/>
    <Option name="mute-affects-main-outs" value="yes"/>
    <Option name="monitoring-model" value="1"/>
    <Option name="solo-latched" value="yes"/>
    <Option name="tape-machine-mode" value="yes"/>
    <Option name="auto-return" value="no"/>
    <Option name="plugins-stop-with-transport" value="no"/>
    <Option name="stop-recording-on-xrun" value="no"/>
    <Option name="create-xrun-marker" value="yes"/>
    <Option name="stop-at-session-end" value="no"/>
    <Option name="quieten-at-speed" value="no"/>
    <Option name="show-track-meters" value="yes"/>
    <Option name="jack-time-master" value="no"/>
    <Option name="smpte-format" value="6"/>
    <Option name="timecode-source-is-synced" value="yes"/>
    <Option name="no-new-session-dialog" value="yes"/>
    <Option name="use-vst" value="yes"/>
    <Option name="periodic-safety-backups" value="yes"/>
    <Option name="periodic-safety-backup-interval" value="120"/>
    <Option name="default-narrow_ms" value="no"/>
    <Option name="font-scale" value="102400"/>
  </Config>
  <extra>
    <RulerVisibility smpte="yes" bbt="yes" frames="no" minsec="no" tempo="yes" meter="yes" marker="yes" rangemarker="no" transportmarker="yes" cdmarker="no"/>
    <Keyboard edit-button="3" edit-modifier="4" delete-button="3" delete-modifier="1" snap-modifier="32"/>
    <TransportControllables roll="0" stop="1" goto_start="2" goto_end="3" auto_loop="4" play_selection="5" rec="6" shuttle="7"/>
  </extra>
  <ControlProtocols>
    <Protocol name="Generic MIDI" active="no"/>
    <Protocol name="Mackie" active="no"/>
  </ControlProtocols>
</Ardour>

Thanks !

MD

MD1 · January 14, 2011, 10:48pm

I surrounded it with PRE tags but I can only see the first line !
Is that correct and only you can see it Seablade or what´s the problem here ?

seablade · January 14, 2011, 10:52pm

@MD

Ok I am going to have to get back to you after the weekend, I am about to head out for the day and can’t concentrate on it. My initial guess is that you just need to manually add that line into your ardour.rc file, but I need to go back and reread the entire thread to get a better idea of what I told you some months back and make sure I am not getting you to duplicate things that don’t work.

  Seablade

seablade · January 14, 2011, 10:54pm

@MD Yes I see what you are seeing, only the first line. I suspect the problem is the XML in it, can you try pasting it to pastebin.com and giving me the link here(Make sure you set it to a lengthy expiration on pastebin when you do, or never expire, so I can make sure I can see it)

Seablade

seablade · January 14, 2011, 10:59pm

@MD Got Paul to fix the post for me, at least I can see it now, I still will need ot get back to you after the weekend though I suspect.

  Seablade

MD1 · January 14, 2011, 11:03pm

I was about to delete all < and >

So thanks to Paul and to you !

Paul what´s the correct tag I have to implement then ?

I have inserted the line now and will see if that works in studio tomorrow !

MD

MD1 · January 14, 2011, 11:18pm

First success !

The error message “The protocol ´Mackie´ couldn´t be initialized” doesn´t appear anymore !

But I have only tested on my MBP without the interfaces and Mackie hooked up !

So I hope this will work tomorrow ! fingers crossed

MD

seablade · January 17, 2011, 3:25pm

@MD

So did that work for you, or should I really start digging into this now?

 Seablade

MD1 · January 17, 2011, 7:01pm

Hey Seablade !

Unfortunately the message did appear after the 5th time I tried it at home !

But I didn´t had the time to verify, cause I am in the midst of a recording session on another platform !

Tomorrow i have the chance to try it out and I will come back to you !

Thanks for your time !

Very much appreciated !

MD

MD1 · January 18, 2011, 8:37pm

Hey Seablade !

I tried it once again in studio today, but got the same message !

Adding the line did not the job !

So you have any ideas ?

MD

P.S.: I realized that the Mackie Control didn´t appear in the Midi Preferences of Mac OS X !
My Alphatrack shows up, but the Mackie doesn´t !
I think this has something to do with the fact that the Mackie is hooked up by Midi cables and not by USB !
My MCU is the one without the USB port !

seablade · January 19, 2011, 2:15pm

@MD Yep, the Mackie Control won’t show up in Audio/Media Preferences if it isn’t a USB device. This won’t affect Ardour’s ability to work with it however, you would just route from Ardour to whatever MIDI port it is connected to. Ardour doesn’t care if it is a USB Mackie, or a regular MIDI plug as Ardour acts the exact same in both situations(And it was tested originally going into my RME via MIDI so we know it works:)

I will look at this deeper once I get to my full time work, getting ready to teach a class at the moment.

  Seablade