Is it possible to connect the Ardour GUI to a headless Ardour engine through a socket?

Installation & Configuration Linux
#1

I am trying to build a turn-key mixer around Ardour, with a cheap laptop as a control surface and processing being done in a seperate box containing a USB interface and a single board computer. (Practically speaking, like the Behringer XR18)

I read in the manual that Ardour has support for OSC and experimental support for websockets, but I was wondering if the stock Ardour UI could be hooked up through a UNIX or network socket? That would give me all of the flexibility of running Ardour locally with minimal glue. I read here that Ardour’s engine and UI are fully separate, so I was inclined to believe that this is doable, but I know reality is always more complicated.

I’m not very familiar with Ardour’s internals. Would this be practical for me to implement? Or, is there a show-stopper that would make this a non-starter?

Thanks,
–Tyler

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#2

No, the “stock” Ardour GUI is written as an application, not as a front end for a server.

They are “separable” at the code level in the sense that the backend does not know about the GUI (or any UI), which is what allows the headless version to exist. But they are not separable in the sense of running the GUI separately.

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