Selecting a template from the command line

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

Hello,

I am using Ardour 5.12.0.

According to the --help screen I should be able to set a template for a new
session:

$ ardour5 --help
[…]
Options:
[…]
-N, --new session-name Create a new session from the command line
[…]
-T, --template Use given template for new session
[…]

I have a template in:

$ ls .config/ardour5/templates/twe-template/twe-template.template
.config/ardour5/templates/twe-template/twe-template.template

and I’ve tried to launch a new session with that template:

$ ardour5 --new test --template twe-template

[…]
ERROR: Could not open session template /home/user/.config/ardour5/templates/twe-template.template/twe-template.template.template for reading
[…]

As the above path does not match the one that is on disk, clearly I am missing
something.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for what to use on the commandline
to create a new recording session with a predefined template?

Thanks for any help!

Starting Ardour with a template
#2

Looks like you can’t due to a bug in Ardour 5.12 :worried:

But you don’t loose much anyway. Creating sessions with Ardour’s GUI is always interactive.

#3

Thanks for the reply, Robin!

Is the bug reported, or should I do that?

-m

#4

Thanks, but no need.

I’ve just fixed the --template issue, and for good measure added a separate standalone tool to create new sessions from the commandline (and exit).

The GUI version still asks for confirmation of the session-path with the --new <name> option though. Fixed by @paul

2 Likes
#5

Hey Robin (and others),

I see some git activity between you (Robin) and Paul.

Is there a commit (or two or three) that I could apply to 5.12.0 to test out the --template?

Thanks for the help!

-m

#6

you could try

git fetch
git cherry-pick d33423a aebdf5f 5f8c9a4 b47df18 47fcc85 4679439 b058356
#7

Hey Robin (and others!),

Thanks for the git refs to try. They seem to work.

One note about creating a session from a template:

I have the window mixer shown in my template (and saved to disk that way), but when I create a new session based on that template (with the CLI), the mixer is hidden. Is that by design?

Thanks for the help!

-m

#8

Yes, GUI state and Session state are separate.

Then again, a new session should pick up the most recently used UI settings and window positions.
They’re saved as part of a session instant.xml and globally in ~/.config/ardour5/instant.xml for new sessions. There should be a section in that file. For a detached window it’ll look like:

<Mixer ... >
  <Window name="Mixer" visible="1" x-off="0" y-off="0" x-size="1918" y-size="1054" tabbed="0"/>
</Mixer>