JACK track mapping

Getting Stuff Done How do I .... ?
#1

I am new to Ardour and JACK.

I am using KUBUNTU 15.04 64 Bit. I have a Roland SC-88VL via Roland UA25.

I have JACK configured with a2j (took a while to find out what I required) and it is all working. One thing I dont understand is, why do you have to drag (or connect) each midi track across from JACK source (readable clients) to JACK outputs (writeable clients). This means making lots of individual connections every time you play a different MIDI file. Using MuseScore for instance you dont seem to need to do this. I just wonder if I have everything setup properly so although it works, I could make the ‘connections’ automatically. I thought it just used MIDI control out but it seems only to work if I make each individual connection in the JACK connections panel. So far really impressed with Ardour and I have tried some audio recording as well.

Thank you very much - Robert

#2

If I’m understanding you right, the problem is that you have to do all your MIDI routing manually each time you load your project?

If so, try doing your MIDI track routing from within Ardour. It’s still using JACK, but Ardour will remember settings between openings and closings.

#3

In addition to setting up the connections within Ardour (best option) there is also command-line program aj-snapshot which can remember and restore Jack connections and Non-session manager which can save and load sessions with several Jack-aware programs and connections.

#4

adotm and Edward, ok thank you both for your quick reply, I have found the Ardour MIDI connection manager and that is quicker and it all worked. I am new to all this so it seems odd to have to make all the individual track connections but perhaps that is so you can listen to any individual track? Though I assume you could play them all but mute them. If you have a few minutes could you explain why its like this (as a point of interest and learning). Ardour seems very comprehensive and powerful and actually very easy to use - though I have just scratched the surface I know. Thanks again for your time - Robert

#5

I’m not sure I completely understand your question – are you asking why Ardour allows anything to be connected to anything else?

#6

Hi adotm, no, I can see that it should, and does allow you to connect anything to anything. Because I am new to MIDI and Ardour, when I used MuseScore (for instance), it just plays all ‘tracks/instruments’ by default but initially I could get nothing out of Ardour because I did not realise one has to make the individual connections from every ‘track/instrument’. I suspect this might actually be more like a traditional multi-track recorder, you would have to ‘plug up’ what you wanted. It just means that when you want to listen to a file, you have to make all the connections. I have noticed that now I have a2j etc all working through Jack, UA25 and Roland SC88 the ‘file import’ function plays the file prior to actually importing it so performs the exact function you need to check a file before working on it. So that can end the thread question.

Thank you all for your help and Ardour

#7

You might want to check out the Musescore/Ardour tutorial at Libre Music (which has lots of other great material): http://libremusicproduction.com/news