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authorTim E. Real <termtech@rogers.com>2013-02-22 06:51:28 +0000
committerTim E. Real <termtech@rogers.com>2013-02-22 06:51:28 +0000
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+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
+
+<!--Converted with LaTeX2HTML 2008 (1.71)
+original version by: Nikos Drakos, CBLU, University of Leeds
+* revised and updated by: Marcus Hennecke, Ross Moore, Herb Swan
+* with significant contributions from:
+ Jens Lippmann, Marek Rouchal, Martin Wilck and others -->
+<HTML>
+<HEAD>
+<TITLE>MusE Documentation</TITLE>
+<META NAME="description" CONTENT="MusE Documentation">
+<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="documentation">
+<META NAME="resource-type" CONTENT="document">
+<META NAME="distribution" CONTENT="global">
+
+<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=utf-8">
+<META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="LaTeX2HTML v2008">
+<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Style-Type" CONTENT="text/css">
+
+<LINK REL="STYLESHEET" HREF="documentation.css">
+
+</HEAD>
+
+<BODY >
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+
+<P><A NAME="fig:MusE"></A></P>
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+
+</DIV><IMG
+ WIDTH="1030" HEIGHT="722" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./muse2.png"
+ ALT="Image muse2">
+
+</DIV>
+<BR>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00100000000000000000">
+Contents</A>
+</H2>
+<!--Table of Contents-->
+
+<UL CLASS="TofC">
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html67"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00200000000000000000">What is this?</A>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html68"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00300000000000000000">User's manual</A>
+<UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html69"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00310000000000000000">Introduction</A>
+<UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html70"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00311000000000000000">A brief history of computer audio and MusE</A>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html71"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00312000000000000000">Definitions</A>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html72"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00313000000000000000">Getting up and running for impatient people</A>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html73"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00314000000000000000">Getting up and running</A>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html74"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00315000000000000000">Beginners tutorial</A>
+</UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html75"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00320000000000000000">Basic overview</A>
+<UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html76"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00321000000000000000">Main/Arranger</A>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html77"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00322000000000000000">Mixer</A>
+</UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html78"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00330000000000000000">Tracks and parts</A>
+<UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html79"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00331000000000000000">Tracks</A>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html80"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00332000000000000000">Parts</A>
+</UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html81"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00340000000000000000">Routes</A>
+<UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html82"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00341000000000000000">Anti circular routing</A>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html83"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00342000000000000000">Soloing chain routes</A>
+</UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html84"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00350000000000000000">Track soloing</A>
+<UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html85"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00351000000000000000">Phantom soloing</A>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html86"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00352000000000000000">Soloing chains</A>
+</UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html87"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00360000000000000000">Plugins</A>
+<UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html88"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00361000000000000000">The audio effects rack</A>
+</UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html89"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00370000000000000000">Automation</A>
+<UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html90"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00371000000000000000">Audio automation</A>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html91"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00372000000000000000">Midi automation</A>
+</UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html92"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00380000000000000000">Configuration</A>
+<UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html93"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00381000000000000000">MIDI ports</A>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html94"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00382000000000000000">Global settings</A>
+</UL>
+</UL>
+<BR>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html95"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00400000000000000000">Appendix</A>
+<UL>
+<LI><A NAME="tex2html96"
+ HREF="documentation.html#SECTION00410000000000000000">Understanding the effects rack</A>
+</UL></UL>
+<!--End of Table of Contents-->
+<H1><A NAME="SECTION00200000000000000000">
+What is this?</A>
+</H1>
+You are, if you have printed this document, holding in your hand the
+written documentation for the audio and midi sequencer MusE version 2.
+<BR><TT><A NAME="tex2html1"
+ HREF="http://www.muse-sequencer.org">http://www.muse-sequencer.org</A></TT> is MusE's home on the internet where
+everything MusE releated should be possible to find, software, this
+documentation, forums, mailing lists, bug reporting, FAQs. If you have
+this document but not the software head on over there to find what it's
+all about.
+
+<H1><A NAME="SECTION00300000000000000000">
+User's manual</A>
+</H1>
+
+<P>
+
+<H1><A NAME="SECTION00310000000000000000">
+Introduction</A>
+</H1>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00311000000000000000">
+A brief history of computer audio and MusE</A>
+</H2>
+To quickly summarize over a decades open source development: in 1999 Werner
+ Schweer released the first version of MusE, muse-0.0.1.tar.gz, in it's first
+few releases (actually not few, Werner relentlessly churned out new releases)
+MusE was only a midi sequencer. The target was to create a fully fledged
+midi sequencer for the Linux operating system. Over the years audio was
+added among with other things implemented and sometimes abandoned.
+Today MusE is a stable and feature rich music creation environment which
+strives to encompass most of the music recording process, creation, editing,
+mastering.
+
+<P>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00312000000000000000">
+Definitions</A>
+</H2>
+<SPAN CLASS="textbf">CTRL</SPAN> refers to the control key on the keyboard, e.g. <SPAN CLASS="textbf">CTRL+C</SPAN>
+means to press and hold the control key while pressing the c key. Make sure
+you know where you have it so you won't accidentally lose control
+(bad jokes are the best jokes, so say we all!).
+<BR><SPAN CLASS="textbf">SHIFT</SPAN> refers to the shift key on the keyboard, see above for usage
+<BR><SPAN CLASS="textbf">ALT</SPAN> refers to the alt key on the keyboard, see above for usage
+<BR><TT><SPAN CLASS="textbf">$&gt;</SPAN></TT> is used as a generic definition for a terminal prompt. When the
+manual lists a command that shall be typed, the prompt is not part of the
+command.
+<BR>
+Keys are always referred to in bold uppercase, e.g. <SPAN CLASS="textbf">A</SPAN>. For instance
+<SPAN CLASS="textbf">SHIFT+A</SPAN> for the key a pressed together with the shift key.
+<BR>
+Sometimes terminal examples are written tabbed in with a fixed font to
+visualize more closely what something looks like on the screen.
+E.g.
+<BR> <TT><SPAN CLASS="textbf">$&gt; muse2</SPAN></TT>
+<BR>
+<P>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00313000000000000000">
+Getting up and running for impatient people</A>
+</H2>
+Install MusE from the repository of your chosen distribution.
+To get decent performance start http://jackaudio.org/Jack with
+the following command in a terminal:
+<BR> <TT><SPAN CLASS="textbf">$&gt; jackd -d alsa -d hw:0 -p 256</SPAN></TT>
+<BR>
+Or, if you prefer, use the launcher utility
+http://qjackctl.sourceforge.net/QJackCtl to get some
+help starting Jack.
+After this, start MusE from the menu or fire up another terminal and
+type
+
+<P>
+<TT><SPAN CLASS="textbf">muse2</SPAN></TT>.
+<BR>
+If this didn't work out read on for the slightly more complete route for
+getting things started.
+
+<P>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00314000000000000000">
+Getting up and running</A>
+</H2>
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00314100000000000000">
+Installation from binaries</A>
+</H3>
+There are several ways to install MusE depending on your situation. The
+most convenient way is to install a prepackaged version from your chosen
+distribution. The drawback of this is that it may not be the most recent
+version, though often there is a more recent package from a private packager.
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00314200000000000000">
+Installation from source</A>
+</H3>
+Building MusE from source is not hard, there are a number of prerequistes
+that must be met but the actual building should be painless (ha, famous
+last words).
+<BR>
+Please follow the README in the source package and/or read the instructions
+on the homepage: <TT><A NAME="tex2html2"
+ HREF="http://muse-sequencer.org/index.php/Installation">http://muse-sequencer.org/index.php/Installation</A></TT>
+<P>
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00314300000000000000">
+Hardware</A>
+</H3>
+MusE on the Linux platform supports midi through ALSA and Jack-midi and audio
+through Jack. For information on what hardware is supported there are some
+convenient places to check:
+
+<UL>
+<LI>Alsa soundcard matrix at
+<TT><A NAME="tex2html3"
+ HREF="http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main">http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main</A></TT>
+</LI>
+<LI><TT><A NAME="tex2html4"
+ HREF="http://FFADO.org">http://FFADO.org</A></TT> for firewire devices.
+</LI>
+</UL>
+Also, as is often a very good approach for Linux and open source, the
+various forums available on the internet often contain good information.
+Chances are someone has already tried your configuration and/or had your
+specific problem and the solution is already written down.
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00314400000000000000">
+Launching</A>
+</H3>
+After installation the binary muse2 is installed on the computer. If MusE
+was installed from a distribution repository the binary may have a
+different name depending on the distribution policies. Most distributions
+do however install a menu entry so MusE should be conveniently available
+from there.
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00314500000000000000">
+Audio preconditions</A>
+</H3>
+In the standard case MusE expects to find and connect to the Jack audio
+server <TT><A NAME="tex2html5"
+ HREF="http://jackaudio.org">http://jackaudio.org</A></TT>. Make sure jack is installed (if MusE was
+installed with a distribution-package Jack will very likely already be
+installed) For Jack to run with best performance your system should be
+sufficiently tuned to allow it to run with realtime capabilities. The
+realtime configuration is configuration of the operating system and roughly
+consists of two parts.
+
+<OL>
+<LI>By default on most distros only the superuser lets applications setup
+realtime capabilities. Please see the APPENDIX for setting up realtime
+</LI>
+<LI>Maximizing performance. A standard linux installation may not able
+to reach the performance required by a power user. This requires exchanging
+the linux kernel for a so called lowlatency kernel, this is also covered by
+the realtime APPENDIX.
+</LI>
+</OL>
+
+<P>
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00314600000000000000">
+Running MusE</A>
+</H3>
+Find MusE in the menu or open a terminal and enter muse2.
+
+<P>
+<TT><SPAN CLASS="textbf">$&gt; muse2</SPAN></TT>
+<BR>
+A splash screen should pop up followed
+by the main application window and you are off!
+<BR>
+If an error like the screenshot below pops up the Jack audio server is
+either not running or started as a different user than what you are trying
+to start MusE as.
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig:no_audio"></A><A NAME="101"></A>
+<TABLE>
+<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure 2.1:</STRONG>
+Jack server missing</CAPTION>
+<TR><TD>
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+
+</DIV><IMG
+ WIDTH="506" HEIGHT="178" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./no_audio.png"
+ ALT="Image no_audio"></TD></TR>
+</TABLE>
+</DIV>
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00314700000000000000">
+Midi only</A>
+</H3>
+MusE can be started in Midi-only mode where MusE does not have any external
+dependencies apart from ALSA midi. In this case start MusE from a terminal:
+<TT><SPAN CLASS="textbf">$&gt; muse2 -a</SPAN></TT>
+
+<P>
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00314800000000000000">
+ALSA midi with Jack</A>
+</H3>
+If Jack is running, by default MusE will not use ALSA devices, preferring
+Jack midi instead. To force ALSA devices to be used as well as Jack
+midi, start MusE with the -A option: <TT><SPAN CLASS="textbf">$&gt; muse2 -A</SPAN></TT>
+
+<P>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00315000000000000000">
+Beginners tutorial</A>
+</H2>
+To get a quick grip of what MusE can achieve please follow this beginners
+tutorial.
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00315100000000000000">
+Midi Setup</A>
+</H3>
+First off, fire up MusE as was described in the previous chapter, making
+sure that the jack audio server is started with sufficient configuration
+to allow for audio output without breakup. Also make sure your system can
+make sound.
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00315200000000000000">
+Soft synth test</A>
+</H3>
+With MusE up and running right click in the Track-pane (see
+Fig. <A HREF="#fig:Main_Window">2.8</A>) and select
+<SPAN CLASS="textbf">Add Synth &gt; MESS &gt; vam soft synth</SPAN>.
+A Soft Synth track called vam-0 should appear as well as a separate GUI
+for the synthesizer.
+
+<P>
+Now right click once more in the Track-pane and select <SPAN CLASS="textbf">Add Midi
+Track</SPAN>. Another track appears called Track 1, and its track list Port
+column should show it is bound to the synth that was just created vam-0.
+If it is not, click on the Track 1 Port column to open a drop-down list
+of available devices and choose vam-0.
+
+<P>
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+r0.05
+<IMG
+ WIDTH="23" HEIGHT="23" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./arrow_tool.png"
+ ALT="Image arrow_tool">
+
+</DIV>
+Now select the drawing tool icon
+from the toolbar, alternatively press the shortcut key <SPAN CLASS="textbf">D</SPAN>.
+Move the mouse over to the arranger canvas as referenced in
+Fig. <A HREF="#fig:Main_Window">2.8</A>
+and point at the midi track, the mouse should have changed to a small pencil.
+Draw a Part along the midi track using the mouse. For this exercise it is
+not important where or how large the drawn Part is. When you are done double
+click on the drawn part. This will open up the Piano Roll editor. To the
+left of the Piano Roll there are piano keys in a vertical line, try clicking
+on the keys in this virtual keyboard each click should be rewarded with a
+synth sound (maybe of questionable quality, a sound nevertheless)
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig:vam_synth"></A><A NAME="123"></A>
+<TABLE>
+<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure 2.2:</STRONG>
+vam synthesizer</CAPTION>
+<TR><TD>
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+
+</DIV><IMG
+ WIDTH="750" HEIGHT="560" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./vam_synth.png"
+ ALT="Image vam_synth"></TD></TR>
+</TABLE>
+</DIV>
+
+<P>
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00315300000000000000">
+Missing sound</A>
+</H3>
+If you got sound from the previous exercise you can carry on to the next,
+or keep reading for further enlightenment in case you come upon trouble
+later on. If there is no sound we need to do some fault hunting. First
+off, click on Arranger window once more and select the vam-0 track in the
+track-pane.
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig:Midi_editor"></A><A NAME="129"></A>
+<TABLE>
+<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure 2.3:</STRONG>
+Midi editor view</CAPTION>
+<TR><TD>
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+
+</DIV><IMG
+ WIDTH="914" HEIGHT="679" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./main_window_with_midi_editor_vam.png"
+ ALT="Image main_window_with_midi_editor_vam"></TD></TR>
+</TABLE>
+</DIV>
+Now bring back Piano Roll window and align the windows so you
+can see the piano keys as well as the Meter on the Mixer Strip (see the
+5 Function by function chapter for more information on these windows).
+The result should be something like the following:
+
+<P>
+When pressing one of the keys on virtual Keyboard the Meter on the Mixer
+Strip should light up in green to visualize that the Synth is making
+sound, if it is not try to trace back your steps and and see if you did
+anything differently than described.
+Now, if the Meter lights up but there is still no sound we need to
+check the routing between the tracks. Click on the Arranger window again
+and select the Out 1 track, this is the predefined output which MusE by
+default loads at startup, at the bottom of Mixer Strip there are two
+buttons looking like tele- jacks, these bring up the inputs and outputs
+of the track, click on the right one, the output and make sure that it is
+connected to some valid outputs on your system.
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+r0.25
+<IMG
+ WIDTH="231" HEIGHT="318" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./output_routing.png"
+ ALT="Image output_routing">
+
+</DIV>
+Click on the outputs to select them, if you did changes here go back and
+try clicking on the Piano Roll keyboard again, hopefully it helped. If there
+still are problems make sure your system actually can make sound through
+Jack, this is however getting outside the scope of this manual.
+<BR>
+<BR><SPAN CLASS="textit">This might be the time to bring up the concept of community support.
+Open source software could never be what it is without the support given by
+individuals on forums and mailinglists, if the information given in this
+document is not enough, try googling your problem and/or get in touch with
+one of the online forums for MusE or Linux audio in general. See some pointers
+in the Support chapter.</SPAN>
+
+<P>
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00315400000000000000">
+Recording Midi</A>
+</H3> TBD
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00315500000000000000">
+Recording Audio</A>
+</H3>
+At this point we'll make a a slight detour into full on audio recording. Getting
+audio out of MusE has already been covered in the previous chapters so we will
+concentrate on the additional steps needed to record onto an audio track.
+<BR>
+<BR>
+When MusE is first fired up, the
+output track has already been created (more about this in the chapter about
+templates), to proceed with audio recording we need to add two additional tracks, a
+wave track and an input track.
+<BR>
+When MusE is first started right click in an empty space on the track view
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig:Add_track"></A><A NAME="142"></A>
+<TABLE>
+<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure 2.4:</STRONG>
+Add track</CAPTION>
+<TR><TD>
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+
+</DIV><IMG
+ WIDTH="782" HEIGHT="498" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./main_window_add_track.png"
+ ALT="Image main_window_add_track"></TD></TR>
+</TABLE>
+</DIV>
+and select <SPAN CLASS="textbf">Add Audio Input</SPAN>. Right click again and also select
+<SPAN CLASS="textbf">Add Wave Track</SPAN>. Two additional tracks are now visible in the Arranger,
+"Input 1" and "Track 1", bring up the mixer with <SPAN CLASS="textbf">F10</SPAN> and you should see
+the following configuration.
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig:Mixer_with_one_input"></A><A NAME="150"></A>
+<TABLE>
+<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure 2.5:</STRONG>
+Mixer with one input</CAPTION>
+<TR><TD>
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+
+</DIV><IMG
+ WIDTH="216" HEIGHT="418" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./mixer_with_one_input.png"
+ ALT="Image mixer_with_one_input"></TD></TR>
+</TABLE>
+</DIV>
+
+<BR>
+Note the buttons on each mixer strip. hover over them to see their
+functionality. For more information on all the buttons see coming chapters
+about the mixer. For now lets just do what we must.
+<BR>
+1. click on the stereo symbol over the slider to change the input to a mono track.
+<BR>
+2. do the same for the wave track (optional)
+<BR>
+3. click on the Mute (gray speaker) icon on the input track to unmute it.
+<BR>
+4. click on the input routing button (see the tooltip, it looks like a tele plug)
+on the input track and select an appropriate connection from your system.
+<BR>
+5. click on the output routing button on the input track and select
+<SPAN CLASS="textbf">Track 1</SPAN>
+<BR>
+<BR>
+Already after the meter on the input track should be able to display that there
+is incoming sound from your sound source. If there actually is sound coming
+from your sound source, that is.
+<BR>
+We are now nearly ready to start recording. First we need to select a location
+to store the files. MusE does not use a centralized storage of soundfiles but
+uses the path of the song-file (extension .med) as guidance as to where the
+audio files should be placed. Now as it happens MusE will prohibit us from
+starting a recording until the songfile has been stored. So lets take advantage
+of this behaviour and just go ahead and try to record. Let's get started.
+<BR>
+In the mixer click on the red <SPAN CLASS="textbf">record</SPAN> dot on the Audio Track to arm it
+for recording (or enable if you will). Now when there is audio coming into the
+input it will also show up on the Audio Track. Also note that all the input and
+output routing buttons on the tracks now have the same gray color, this means
+that all of the tracks have a proper connection.
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig:Mixer_buttons"></A><A NAME="157"></A>
+<TABLE>
+<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure 2.6:</STRONG>
+Mixer buttons</CAPTION>
+<TR><TD>
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+
+</DIV><IMG
+ WIDTH="217" HEIGHT="166" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./mixer_with_one_input_buttons.png"
+ ALT="Image mixer_with_one_input_buttons"></TD></TR>
+</TABLE>
+</DIV>
+
+<BR>
+All fine and dandy. Now bring up the arranger window and find the round, red on
+white <SPAN CLASS="textbf">record</SPAN> button and click on it. This is your queue to MusE to
+prepare for recording. However since we have not saved our song we are presented
+with a dialog to do just that.
+<BR>
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig:Save_song"></A><A NAME="163"></A>
+<TABLE>
+<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure 2.7:</STRONG>
+Save song</CAPTION>
+<TR><TD>
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+
+</DIV><IMG
+ WIDTH="575" HEIGHT="405" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./project_my_first_song.png"
+ ALT="Image project_my_first_song"></TD></TR>
+</TABLE>
+</DIV>
+Note the check box for creating a project folder, when working with audio this
+is very much recommended or you may soon loose track of what audio files belong
+to which song.
+<BR>
+Finally we are ready to start recording! The process is completed by clicking
+on the <SPAN CLASS="textbf">Play</SPAN> button in the Arranger. If all went well MusE then starts
+to record a wave file from the Input Track placed in your song directory.
+<BR>
+When you wish to stop recording press <SPAN CLASS="textbf">Stop</SPAN> in the Arranger, now the
+resulting waveform should be visible in the Arranger. After rewinding the Play
+position and pressing <SPAN CLASS="textbf">Play</SPAN> again the resulting sound should be audible
+through the connected output.
+
+<P>
+
+<H1><A NAME="SECTION00320000000000000000">
+Basic overview</A>
+</H1>
+In this section we will make a step by step walk-through of all the
+different editors, their purpose and what functions they support.
+
+<P>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00321000000000000000">
+Main/Arranger</A>
+</H2>
+
+<P>
+<A NAME="Main_Arranger"></A>
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig:Main_Window"></A><A NAME="174"></A>
+<TABLE>
+<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure 2.8:</STRONG>
+MusE main window</CAPTION>
+<TR><TD>
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+
+</DIV><IMG
+ WIDTH="846" HEIGHT="571" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./main_window_annotated.png"
+ ALT="Image main_window_annotated"></TD></TR>
+</TABLE>
+</DIV>
+Above is the main window of MusE, the Arranger, this is what greets you
+when launching MusE. The Arranger consists of two main parts, the Track-pane
+and the Arranger canvas. The Track-pane lists all currently visible tracks
+and the Arranger canvas contains all Parts of the composition. The
+screenshot above shows an empty project. Below is MusE with a song in
+progress, turns out it wasn't a very good song, but for our purposes it
+is fine. In the below screenshot there are a lot of tracks visible in the
+Track-pane, each have an icon which indicate it's type, wave-track, input,
+output etcetera, more about that later. In the Arranger canvas a number of
+parts are visible, the ones in yellow are in this composition wave files,
+the multicolored line are different Parts of a drum track.
+
+<P>
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig:Main_Window_with_arrangement"></A><A NAME="179"></A>
+<TABLE>
+<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure 2.9:</STRONG>
+MusE main window with arrangement</CAPTION>
+<TR><TD>
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+
+</DIV><IMG
+ WIDTH="1051" HEIGHT="635" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./main_window_with_arrangement.png"
+ ALT="Image main_window_with_arrangement"></TD></TR>
+</TABLE>
+</DIV>
+
+<P>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00322000000000000000"></A> <A NAME="mixer"></A>
+<BR>
+Mixer
+</H2>
+Choosing <SPAN CLASS="textbf">View &gt; Mixer A</SPAN> or <SPAN CLASS="textbf">B</SPAN> from the menu in the main
+window will bring up the mixer as viewed below. The mixer will open with
+all options enabled, showing channel strips for all tracks in the current
+setup, depending on how far you have gotten this view may become very large,
+at which point it may be a good idea to limit what is viewed in the Mixer.
+From the view menu all the different kinds of tracks can be toggled on/off
+from the mixer. Some may find it a good idea to use the two mixers A and B
+setup with different setup and store this in your song template(s), more
+about this in the Song Template section. It can be argued that everything
+in MusE is a track analogous to the Unix idiom that everything is a file.
+The types of tracks visible in the mixer (and track-pane) are:
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+r0.5
+<IMG
+ WIDTH="672" HEIGHT="424" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./mixer.png"
+ ALT="Image mixer">
+
+</DIV>
+
+<UL>
+<LI>Audio output
+</LI>
+<LI>Audio input
+</LI>
+<LI>Group track
+</LI>
+<LI>Aux track
+</LI>
+<LI>Wave track
+</LI>
+<LI>Synth track
+</LI>
+<LI>Midi track
+</LI>
+</UL>
+
+<P>
+There is also a Midi Track variation called Drum Track, they are
+however not distinguishable from Midi Tracks in the Mixer. Also the
+strips for midi tracks are different in the Mixer than in the
+Track-pane view.
+
+<P>
+
+<H1><A NAME="SECTION00330000000000000000">
+Tracks and parts</A>
+</H1>
+MusE arranges your music in <SPAN CLASS="textit">tracks</SPAN> and <SPAN CLASS="textit">parts</SPAN>. The following
+section shall provide you an overview of how things are done with MusE.
+If you are or were a Cubase or Cakewalk user, you will feel familiar with
+this.
+
+<P>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00331000000000000000">
+Tracks</A>
+</H2>
+There are two general classes of tracks: MIDI tracks and audio
+tracks. MIDI tracks (and drum tracks which are internally MIDI tracks)
+can hold note data. The Wave track is a type of audio track which holds
+wave data. There are also several other kinds of audio tracks.
+
+<P>
+
+<H4><A NAME="SECTION00331010000000000000">
+MIDI tracks</A>
+</H4>
+MIDI and drum tracks hold MIDI event data. They don't differ much,
+except that drum tracks offer a special editor which is more suitable
+for drum editing.
+
+<P>
+
+<H4><A NAME="SECTION00331020000000000000">
+Wave tracks</A>
+</H4>
+They hold audio data which can be just played back or be piped through
+effect plugin chains. They offer automation for these plugins.
+
+<P>
+
+<H4><A NAME="SECTION00331030000000000000">
+Audio input tracks</A>
+</H4>
+These provide the path for your audio data from outside into your
+project. Set up the physical audio inputs you want to connect your
+audio input track with, and then route the input tracks to various
+other tracks such as wave tracks.
+
+<P>
+
+<H4><A NAME="SECTION00331040000000000000">
+Audio output tracks</A>
+</H4>
+These provide the path for your project's audio data to outside. Set
+up the physical audio outputs you want to connect your audio out track
+with, and then route various other tracks, such as wave tracks, to
+the output tracks.
+
+<P>
+
+<H4><A NAME="SECTION00331050000000000000">
+Audio group tracks</A>
+</H4>
+Group tracks are like busses, where you can route other tracks to
+them, then route the groups to other tracks. Since group tracks have
+all the features of other audio tracks, like volume and pan, they
+provide a convenient common routing point where you have control of
+the sound before it is passed to other tracks.
+
+<P>
+
+<H4><A NAME="SECTION00331060000000000000"></A> <A NAME="aux_tracks"></A>
+<BR>
+Audio aux tracks
+</H4>
+These provide a more convenient way to mix several audio tracks
+together. With each audio aux track added, other audio tracks will
+gain a common send knob for adjusting the level sent to the aux
+track. This can be more convenient than using several group tracks.
+
+<P>
+
+<H4><A NAME="SECTION00331070000000000000">
+Synthesizer tracks</A>
+</H4>
+This type of track is a software synthesizer which MIDI and drum tracks
+can be assigned to.
+
+<P>
+
+<H4><A NAME="SECTION00331080000000000000">
+Creation</A>
+</H4>
+You can create a track by either right-clicking in the arranger's track list and then adding the desired track, or via the edit menu.
+
+<P>
+
+<H4><A NAME="SECTION00331090000000000000">
+Attributes</A>
+</H4>
+Tracks have several attributes:
+<DL>
+<DT><STRONG>Mute:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>If you click on the <SPAN CLASS="textit">Mute</SPAN> field (denoted with
+a "M" column header), the track gets muted and stops producing sound.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Solo:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD><A NAME="track_attr_solo"></A> The solo button ("S" column
+header) singles out a track for listening. It mutes
+some other tracks but may phantom solo others.
+For more info see the section on soloing: <A HREF="#track_soloing">2.5</A> and
+phantom soloing: <A HREF="#phantom_soloing">2.5.1</A>
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Record:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>The R column "arms" your track for recording.
+When you rec-arm your song and have no tracks rec-armed, you won't be
+able to record anything. See also the config option "move rec-arm with selection".
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Track name:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Double-click to edit the track name.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Port:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>For MIDI tracks, this lets you select the MIDI
+port to which the events should be routed. This can be your physical
+synthesizer or a software synthesizer. For soft synths, this is the
+port the synth is associated to. For other track types, this is disabled.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Channel:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>For MIDI tracks, this is the MIDI channel the
+output is sent to. For any kind of audio tracks, this is the number of
+channels (mono, stereo).
+ </DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Automation:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD><A NAME="track_attr_automation"></A> For audio tracks,
+this lets you set up the automation display in the arranger.
+(See automation <A HREF="#audio_automation">2.7.1</A>). Clicking this will provide you
+with a popup menu with lots of submenus. Clicking on a submenu will
+select or unselect it showing or hiding the automation parameter as a
+graph overlaid on top of the track.
+<BR>
+The submenus let you select the color you want to associate with the
+automation parameter. There you can also assign midi controllers to
+the parameters, a dialog is shown where you can manually choose the
+midi controller, with a <SPAN CLASS="textit">learn</SPAN> button to 'listen for' and
+automatically recognize any midi controller operated by you.
+
+<P>
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Clef:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>For MIDI tracks, you can specify a clef here. This
+only affects the score editor.
+
+<P>
+</DD>
+</DL>
+
+<P>
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00331100000000000000">
+The trackinfo side bar</A>
+</H3>
+In the arranger and the part editors, you'll have a trackinfo sidebar
+on the left side. You can set up track-type specific things there.
+
+<P>
+
+<H4><A NAME="SECTION00331110000000000000"></A> <A NAME="midi_trackinfo_sidebar"></A>
+<BR>
+MIDI trackinfo sidebar
+</H4>
+The MIDI trackinfo sidebar lets you change program, volume, pan and
+more. This sidebar can also be viewed at the left of the pianoroll
+editor.
+
+<H5><A NAME="SECTION00331111000000000000">
+Old style drum tracks:</A>
+</H5>
+These are MIDI tracks as well, but with a few differences. They allow
+you to map certain drum sounds with different input notes, and you
+can change the output settings of a certain "drum instrument" without
+having to alter each single event.
+
+<P>
+However, they have certain limitations: They only can handle 128 sounds
+(even if you have more synthes), they aren't really compatible with
+MIDI tracks (you can interchange parts between them, but if you touched
+the drum list, you'll get unexpected results), you can't set a program
+for the used channel and more.
+
+<P>
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00331200000000000000">
+New style drum tracks</A>
+</H3>
+Because of these limitations, we introduced the new-style drum tracks.
+They're not fully compatible with the old drum tracks, so the old are
+still retained. Under "Global Settings", "GUI settings", you can set
+up whether you prefer the old or new.
+
+<P>
+They are handled exactly like plain MIDI tracks (staying compatible with
+them), and offer all of the functionality, though in a different way.
+They allow you to re-order the drum map efficiently, you can open parts
+from multiple drum tracks in <SPAN CLASS="textit">one</SPAN> drum editor (MusE will separate
+the sounds from different tracks according to your settings, see the
+"Window Config" menu), and you can set programs as with normal MIDI tracks.
+
+<P>
+
+<H5><A NAME="SECTION00331201000000000000">
+MIDI trackinfo controls:</A>
+</H5>
+<DL>
+<DT><STRONG>Output port:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>This drop-down list selects the midi port
+to send midi output from this track.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Output channel:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>This box selects the midi channel to be
+used on the output port.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Input and output routing:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Selects midi ports and
+channels to receive midi from, and soloing paths. (See Routes
+<A HREF="#routes">2.4</A>).
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Midi through:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>This button selects whether midi input is
+passed through to the selected output port.
+<BR>
+Depending on your midi devices and settings, there are cases when
+this should be off such as using the same port and channel for
+input and output (otherwise a double-note <SPAN CLASS="textit">echo</SPAN> will be heard),
+and cases when it must be on such as when using a synthesizer track
+as output device.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Input detect indicator:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Blinks when midi activity is
+detected on the selected midi channels on the selected midi input
+ports.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Transpose:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>This transposes midi input notes up or down
+in pitch. This is very useful if your midi keyboard hasn't enough
+keys or the selected output device plays an octave too low or high,
+and you would like to shift the octave of the incoming notes to
+compensate.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Delay:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Adjusts the delay of the notes.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Length:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Adjusts the length of the notes.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Velocity:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Adjusts the velocity of incoming notes.
+Use it to compensate for a too-loud or too-soft keyboard.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Compression:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Adjusts the compression of incoming note
+velocities. Use it to make soft incoming notes louder, and loud
+notes not so loud.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Instrument:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Selects the midi instrument patch to be used
+by the selected output port. This is equivalent of dialing the patch
+in the bank and program boxes, except it displays a more friendly
+patch <SPAN CLASS="textit">name</SPAN> as defined by the selected output port's midi
+instrument. See instruments, or port configuration
+<A HREF="#midi_port_config">2.8.1</A>
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>H-Bank:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Selects the high bank number of the current patch.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>L-Bank:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Selects the low bank number of the current patch.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Prog:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Selects the program number of the current patch.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Volume:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Adjusts the midi volume controller.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Pan:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Adjusts the midi pan controller.
+</DD>
+</DL>
+The buttons beside the Prog, Volume, and Pan boxes store the value,
+at the current transport position, for midi automation. (See
+automation <A HREF="#midi_automation">2.7.1</A>).
+
+<P>
+Note that the 'Prog' button stores H-Bank and L-Bank along with
+'Prog' value, so there are no H-Bank and L-Bank buttons.
+
+<P>
+The 'All' button simply stores all three Program (and banks), Volume,
+and Pan values at once.
+
+<P>
+<SPAN CLASS="textit">Tip:</SPAN> If the Song Type is GM, GS, or XG, you may need to store
+desired values at transport position zero, otherwise your adjustments
+may be overriden by the instrument when the transport is moved back
+to position zero. If this behaviour is undesired, you can set the
+Song Type to 'NO' meaning no song type.
+
+<P>
+
+<H4><A NAME="SECTION00331210000000000000">
+Audio trackinfo sidebar</A>
+</H4>
+Unlike the midi trackinfo sidebar, the audio trackinfo side bar
+is nothing more than an embedded audio mixer strip, the exact same
+strip as found in the mixers. (See mixer <A HREF="#mixer">2.2.2</A>).
+
+<H5><A NAME="SECTION00331211000000000000">
+Effects rack:</A>
+</H5>
+On the top of the audio trackinfo sidebar, there is an effects rack
+which allows you to apply various plugins on the audio. For more
+information on this, refer to <A HREF="#effects_rack">2.6.1</A>.
+
+<P>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00332000000000000000">
+Parts</A>
+</H2>
+Within MIDI, drum and wave tracks, you can create <SPAN CLASS="textit">parts</SPAN>. Parts
+are chunks of coherent notes or wave data which can be moved around,
+copied, cloned and deleted independent from other parts.
+
+<P>
+Parts are created by selecting the pencil tool and then drawing onto
+the right part area in the arranger. You can move them with the arrow
+tool, delete them using the <SPAN CLASS="textbf">DEL</SPAN> key, and a right-click opens
+a popup menu. This menu allows you even more stuff, such as setting
+the part's color, saving the part to disk etc.. You can use
+<SPAN CLASS="textbf">CTRL+C</SPAN> and <SPAN CLASS="textbf">CTRL+V</SPAN> for copying and pasting parts.
+<SPAN CLASS="textbf">CTRL+B</SPAN> pastes the part as a clone. Pressing <SPAN CLASS="textbf">SHIFT</SPAN>
+additionally provides you a dialog which allows you to paste the part
+multiple times and set more stuff.
+
+<P>
+You can also copy parts with the mouse by moving the part with the mouse
+while holding down the <SPAN CLASS="textbf">CTRL</SPAN> key.
+
+<P>
+
+<H1><A NAME="SECTION00340000000000000000"></A> <A NAME="routes"></A>
+<BR>
+Routes
+</H1>
+Routes are how tracks are connected together and to the outside world.
+(They are also how Jack midi ports connect to the outside world. See
+midi port configuration <A HREF="#midi_port_config">2.8.1</A>).
+Each track strip has two buttons whose icons look like plugs. One button
+is for input routing and the other is for output routing. Clicking on
+these buttons will pop up a menu of available input or output routes that
+you can connect to. Most audio tracks list other tracks to connect to,
+but audio input and output tracks are special: Audio input track input
+routing menus list available Jack audio input ports. Conversely audio
+output track output routing menus list available Jack audio output ports.
+
+<P>
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+r0.25
+<IMG
+ WIDTH="231" HEIGHT="318" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./output_routing.png"
+ ALT="Image output_routing">
+
+</DIV>
+
+<P>
+Meanwhile MIDI and drum tracks allow you to route available MIDI ports
+and channels to the track using a handy popup matrix.
+
+<P>
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+r0.25
+<IMG
+ WIDTH="522" HEIGHT="158" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./midi_routing_matrix.png"
+ ALT="Image midi_routing_matrix">
+
+</DIV>
+
+<P>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00341000000000000000"></A> <A NAME="anti_circular_routing"></A>
+<BR>
+Anti circular routing
+</H2>
+Any routing menu item which would cause a circular routing condition
+is grayed out. Find out why the condition would exist by examining
+routing paths involved and correct the situation if required.
+
+<P>
+Also, you cannot use a track's aux sends if the track has an input
+route path from ANY Aux Track. (See aux tracks <A HREF="#aux_tracks">2.3.1</A>).
+Aux send knobs and labels are disabled in that case.
+
+<P>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00342000000000000000"></A> <A NAME="soloing_chain_routes"></A>
+<BR>
+Soloing chain routes
+</H2>
+Soloing chains (see solo chains <A HREF="#soloing_chains">2.5.2</A>) are really just
+routes like any other. The available solo chaining paths are displayed
+in the routing popup menus.
+
+<P>
+
+<H1><A NAME="SECTION00350000000000000000"></A> <A NAME="track_soloing"></A>
+<BR>
+Track soloing
+</H1>
+Soloing allows you to single out a track for listening while muting others,
+without you having to mute the other tracks. (See soloing track attribute
+<A HREF="#track_attr_solo">2.3.1</A>).
+
+<P>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00351000000000000000"></A> <A NAME="phantom_soloing"></A>
+<BR>
+Phantom soloing
+</H2>
+In order to solo a track and mute others so that it is heard, MusE
+employs 'phantom' soloing: When a track is soloed, MusE automatically
+solos all tracks routed to and from this track. (See routes
+<A HREF="#routes">2.4</A>). A phantom soloed track is indicated by a black square
+in the track pane solo column. (See track attributes
+<A HREF="#track_attr_solo">2.3.1</A>).
+
+<P>
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig:Soloing"></A><A NAME="295"></A>
+<TABLE>
+<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure 2.10:</STRONG>
+Soloing, with phantom soloing</CAPTION>
+<TR><TD>
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+
+</DIV><IMG
+ WIDTH="529" HEIGHT="476" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./soloing_window.png"
+ ALT="Image soloing_window"></TD></TR>
+</TABLE>
+</DIV>
+
+<P>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00352000000000000000"></A> <A NAME="soloing_chains"></A>
+<BR>
+Soloing chains
+</H2>
+When an audio output track sends audio to some external entity, such
+as an external running application, and audio from the external entity
+is fed back into a MusE audio input track, solo chains allow you to
+solo the input or output, and MusE will complete the path automatically
+soloing the other, and all paths that came before or after it.
+
+<P>
+Solo chains also work with MIDI tracks chained to audio inputs:
+When a MIDI track drives some MIDI device whose audio is fed into MusE,
+solo chains allow the entire chain to be soloed.
+
+<P>
+Solo chains are accessed via routing menus. (See solo chain routes
+<A HREF="#soloing_chain_routes">2.4.2</A>).
+
+<P>
+
+<H1><A NAME="SECTION00360000000000000000"></A> <A NAME="plugins"></A>
+<BR>
+Plugins
+</H1>
+Plugins are small add-ons which can process a track's data.
+
+<P>
+MIDI plugins operate on midi and drum tracks, and are found in
+the <SPAN CLASS="textbf">Midi</SPAN> menu.
+
+<P>
+Audio plugins can be applied to any track handling audio (that is,
+inputs, outputs, wave tracks, synth tracks). The effects rack
+section describes this. (See effects rack <A HREF="#effects_rack">2.6.1</A>).
+
+<P>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00361000000000000000"></A> <A NAME="effects_rack"></A>
+<BR>
+The audio effects rack
+</H2>
+All audio track types (Input, Output, Group, Wave, Synth, and Aux) have
+an effects rack into which audio plugins can be inserted in a chain.
+Currently each rack can accomodate up to four plugins.
+
+<P>
+MusE currently supports LADSPA plugins and DSSI synth and effects
+plugins.
+
+<P>
+Plugins can be added by double-clicking on an entry in the effect rack
+in the track info pane (which is shown at the left side of the arranger
+when the according track is selected). Right-clicking the rack items
+offers a self-explanatory popup menu.
+
+<P>
+All plugin controls can be automated. (See audio automation
+<A HREF="#audio_automation">2.7.1</A>).
+
+<P>
+One must carefully consider how many audio inputs and outputs a plugin
+has, and how may channels the particular audio track has (1 mono or
+2 stereo), and how MusE uses the plugins in the rack.
+
+<P>
+Learn more about this in the appendix Understanding the Effects Rack:
+<A HREF="#apx_effects_rack">3</A>
+
+<P>
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00361100000000000000"></A>
+<A NAME="plugin_guis"></A>
+<BR>
+Audio plugin Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs)
+</H3> Once a plugin is added, you need a way to
+manipulate its controls, which affect its behaviour and operate
+on the sound.
+
+<P>
+MusE can show a generic GUI which contains all of the
+plugin's controls arranged in a rather plain generic fashion.
+
+<P>
+Some plugins may also have a native GUI which looks much better (it
+was specifically designed for the plugin).
+
+<P>
+Both GUI types are opened from the effects rack right-click popup menu.
+
+<P>
+
+<H1><A NAME="SECTION00370000000000000000"></A> <A NAME="automation"></A>
+<BR>
+Automation
+</H1>
+Automation is the ability to record (or construct) and playback
+exact sequences of control movements.
+
+<P>
+MIDI and audio automation are each currently uniquely different,
+but share some similarities.
+
+<P>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00371000000000000000"></A> <A NAME="audio_automation"></A>
+<BR>
+Audio automation
+</H2>
+Almost all graphical audio controls in MusE can be automated.
+
+<P>
+This includes an audio track's volume and pan, and the controls
+of any plugins in the effects rack, and if the track is a
+synthesizer track, all of the synth's controls.
+
+<P>
+Each control has a manual adjustment value. This value is shown
+when there is no automation data at all, or automation has been
+disabled.
+
+<P>
+For plugin and synth controls, it is usually more desirable to
+manipulate automation with the generic plugin GUIs, because
+MusE has full control over their behaviour. (See plugin GUIs
+<A HREF="#plugin_guis">2.6.1</A>).
+
+<P>
+There are a few ways to enter audio automation data:
+
+<UL>
+<LI>By adjusting audio controls while the transport is rolling.
+MusE will record the exact movements.
+</LI>
+<LI>By adjusting audio controls while the transport is stopped,
+at different transport positions. TOUCH mode allows this.
+</LI>
+<LI>By right-clicking any audio control and choosing an operation
+from the automation popup menu. This includes storing, erasing,
+and clearing automation events, and seeking the next or previous
+event.
+</LI>
+<LI>By drawing the data on the audio track's automation graphs.
+(See track automation <A HREF="#track_attr_automation">2.3.1</A>).
+</LI>
+</UL>
+<H4><A NAME="SECTION00371010000000000000">
+Audio automation modes</A>
+</H4>
+Each audio track strip has an automation mode button
+at the bottom. There are four automation modes:
+<DL>
+<DT><STRONG>OFF:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Disables all automation, uses manual value always.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>READ:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Automation data is applied to controls. If any
+automation data exists, the manual value is overridden and has
+no effect.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>TOUCH:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Allows you to alter a control at any time, while
+transport is stopped or rolling, If rolling, when the control is
+released it returns to reading from automation data.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>WRITE:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Allows to adjust an initial value before rolling
+the transport. While rolling, when the control is released it does
+not return to reading from automation data.
+</DD>
+</DL>
+Here is a screenshot of automation WRITE mode, and some automation
+data, with the track pane automation popup menu showing (see track
+automation <A HREF="#track_attr_automation">2.3.1</A>):
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig:audio_automation"></A><A NAME="329"></A>
+<TABLE>
+<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure 2.11:</STRONG>
+Audio automation graphs</CAPTION>
+<TR><TD>
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+
+</DIV><IMG
+ WIDTH="782" HEIGHT="524" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./main_window_with_automation.png"
+ ALT="Image main_window_with_automation"></TD></TR>
+</TABLE>
+</DIV>
+
+<P>
+<A NAME="midi_automation"></A>
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00372000000000000000">
+Midi automation</A>
+</H2>
+MIDI automation is a slightly different concept: Unlike audio
+automation, currently there is no automation 'mode' and it doesn't
+record graphical control movements. Data is viewed from within
+the pianoroll and drum editors, by clicking on the 'Ctrl' button
+on those canvases.
+
+<P>
+Similar to audio controls, each midi control has a manual adjustment
+value. This value is overridden when there is midi automation data.
+
+<P>
+There are a few ways to enter MIDI automation data:
+
+<UL>
+<LI>By adjusting external MIDI controls (such as a midi keyboard
+pitch or modulation wheel) while the transport is rolling and both
+the transport and midi track are in record mode. MusE will record
+the exact movements. As mentioned earlier, note that graphical control
+movements are not recorded.
+</LI>
+<LI>By right-clicking any midi control and choosing an operation
+from the automation popup menu. This includes storing and erasing
+automation events.
+</LI>
+<LI>By adjusting volume, pan, bank or program boxes in the midi
+trackinfo panel and clicking the corresponding volume, pan, or
+program buttons. (See midi trackinfo <A HREF="#midi_trackinfo_sidebar">2.3.1</A>).
+</LI>
+<LI>By drawing the data on a midi part's automation graphs.
+</LI>
+</UL>
+Here is a screen shot of a midi track, containing a midi part
+which has been opened with the pianoroll editor and automation
+data showing.
+
+<P>
+The 'Ctrl' popup menu (bottom left) shows available midi controllers
+and the green dot indicates there is some data.
+
+<P>
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig:midi_automation"></A><A NAME="339"></A>
+<TABLE>
+<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure 2.12:</STRONG>
+MIDI automation graphs</CAPTION>
+<TR><TD>
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+
+</DIV><IMG
+ WIDTH="628" HEIGHT="620" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./main_window_with_midi_automation.png"
+ ALT="Image main_window_with_midi_automation"></TD></TR>
+</TABLE>
+</DIV>
+
+<P>
+
+<H1><A NAME="SECTION00380000000000000000">
+Configuration</A>
+</H1>
+
+<P>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00381000000000000000">
+MIDI ports</A>
+</H2>
+MIDI ports provide an abstraction layer for your MIDI hardware and
+synthesizers (which can be both software and hardware synthesizers),
+and other MIDI applications. Port are numbered. In order to produce
+sound, each MIDI track is assigned to exactly one MIDI port, to which
+the MIDI events are then sent.
+
+<P>
+The advantage of this abstraction layer is that if your system changes,
+for example you change MIDI hardware, then you need only modify the
+ports instead of all the tracks using those ports. This is similar
+to the audio input and output track abstraction to the outside world.
+
+<P>
+<A NAME="midi_port_config"></A>
+<H4><A NAME="SECTION00381010000000000000">
+MIDI port configuration</A>
+</H4>
+In the midi/softsynth configuration menu, you must map the port numbers
+to the actual devices (by selecting ALSA or jack midi ports, or synth
+plugins).
+
+<P>
+Try left-clicking on the "Ports" column of some MIDI track.
+If you use a soft synth, right-clicking the Ports column of the synth
+or any track using the synth lets you launch the synth's GUI.
+
+<P>
+
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="fig:midi_config_window"></A><A NAME="348"></A>
+<TABLE>
+<CAPTION ALIGN="BOTTOM"><STRONG>Figure 2.13:</STRONG>
+Midi configuration window</CAPTION>
+<TR><TD>
+<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
+
+</DIV><IMG
+ WIDTH="865" HEIGHT="597" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="./midi_config_window.png"
+ ALT="Image midi_config_window"></TD></TR>
+</TABLE>
+</DIV>
+
+<P>
+
+<H4><A NAME="SECTION00381020000000000000">
+Columns in the MIDI configuration ports list:</A>
+</H4>
+<DL>
+<DT><STRONG>GUI:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>For synthesizer devices, indicates if a gui is available
+and if it is showing. Click to show.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>I:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>If present, the port can accept MIDI input. Click to
+enable or disable it.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>O:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>If present, the port can send MIDI output. Click to enable
+or disable it.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Instrument:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Selects the instrument to be used when MIDI is
+played through the port.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Device name:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Selects or creates a MIDI device assigned to the
+port. These can be Jack MIDI devices or ALSA MIDI devices (if ALSA is
+enabled), or soft synthesizers. Jack MIDI devices are created by selecting
+Create Jack Device from the Device name drop-down menu. Jack MIDI devices
+can be renamed as you wish by clicking the device name. Soft synthesizers
+are created by clicking in the soft synthesizer list and then Add
+Instance. Or you can simply create a new synthesizer track from the
+arranger track list, or even the mixer menus.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>In and Out routes:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>These are for Jack MIDI devices, they are
+the routes to and from available Jack MIDI ports. Jack may provide
+different alias names for these ports, you can select which alias
+is shown.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Default in channels:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Auto-connect these port channels to
+new midi or drum tracks.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>Default out channel:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Auto-connect new midi or drum tracks
+to this channel on the port.
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>State:</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Indicates the state of the port including any errors
+opening it.
+</DD>
+</DL>
+
+<P>
+
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION00382000000000000000">
+Global settings</A>
+</H2>
+
+<H3><A NAME="SECTION00382100000000000000">
+Audio settings</A>
+</H3>
+
+<H4><A NAME="SECTION00382110000000000000">
+Minimum control period</A>
+</H4>
+Plugins can usually process an arbitrarily small (or large) amount
+of samples. If some plugin control value changes continously, to provide
+ideal listening experience, MusE would need to call the plugin 44100
+times a second, asking for one single value at a time. With the minimum
+control period setting, the user can force MusE to ask the plugin for
+at least N values. Setting this value to 64 would in this situation
+make MusE call the plugin <!-- MATH
+ $689=\frac{44100}{64})$
+ -->
+<SPAN CLASS="MATH"><IMG
+ WIDTH="91" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="MIDDLE" BORDER="0"
+ SRC="img1.png"
+ ALT="$689=\frac{44100}{64})$"></SPAN> times a second,
+asking for 64 values at a time. While doing this will reduce accuracy
+of control changes, it may also reduce CPU usage, because calling
+the plugin more often, requesting smaller chunks, is more expensive
+than calling it seldomly, requesting larger chunks.
+
+<H5><A NAME="SECTION00382111000000000000">
+Recommendation</A>
+</H5>
+If you have no performance problems, or if you want to do the final
+downmix of your project, set this to a low value. If you're experiencing
+performance problems, increasing this value might help.
+
+<P>
+
+<H1><A NAME="SECTION00400000000000000000"></A>
+<A NAME="apx_effects_rack"></A>
+<BR>
+Appendix
+</H1>
+<H1><A NAME="SECTION00410000000000000000">
+Understanding the effects rack</A>
+</H1>
+One must carefully consider how many audio inputs and outputs a plugin
+has, and how may channels the particular audio track has (1 mono or
+2 stereo), and how MusE uses the plugins in the rack.
+
+<P>
+MusE will try to internally create as many independent copies
+(instances) of a plugin as necessary, to satisfy the number of channels
+in the audio track.
+Basically it divides the number of track channels by the number of
+plugin audio inputs or outputs to determine how many copies to make.
+First it examines the number of plugin audio outputs, and if there are
+none, it will examine the number of audio inputs, and if there are
+none, it will simply use just one plugin copy.
+
+<P>
+For mono tracks with plugins having more than one audio input or
+output, MusE uses the first input or output and ignores the rest.
+
+<P>
+For stereo tracks:
+
+<P>
+<TABLE CELLPADDING=3 BORDER="1">
+<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER">plugin inputs</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">outputs</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">copies</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">track in route channels</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">track out route channels</TD>
+</TR>
+<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER">0</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">0</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">1</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">0</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">0</TD>
+</TR>
+<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER">0</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">1</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">2</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">0</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">2</TD>
+</TR>
+<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER">0</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">&gt;=2</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">1</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">0</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">2</TD>
+</TR>
+<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER">1</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">0</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">2</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">2</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">0</TD>
+</TR>
+<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER">1</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">1</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">2</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">2</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">2</TD>
+</TR>
+<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER">1</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">&gt;=2</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">1</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">1 (L only)</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">2</TD>
+</TR>
+<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER">&gt;=2</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">0</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">1</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">2</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">0</TD>
+</TR>
+<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER">&gt;=2</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">1</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">2</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">2</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">2</TD>
+</TR>
+<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER">&gt;=2</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">&gt;=2</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">1</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">2</TD>
+<TD ALIGN="CENTER">2</TD>
+</TR>
+</TABLE>
+
+<P>
+Notice that on a stereo track with a plugin having one audio input and
+two audio outputs, only the first track input route channel is used
+(left only).
+
+<P>
+These same rules apply to inter-plugin audio when more than one plugin
+is in the rack chain. Extra audio outputs of one plugin may be ignored
+by the next plugin if not used.
+
+<P>
+Currently specialized plugins with many inputs and/or outputs are not
+really useful in MusE.
+
+<P>
+Nor are so-called 'realtime' control plugins which use audio inputs
+and outputs for control signals.
+
+<P>
+Loud noise alert! Beware of using such plugins in an audio effects
+rack.
+
+<P>
+Example: Consider a stereo Audio Input track with these effect rack
+ LADSPA plugins:
+
+<P>
+
+<UL>
+<LI>comb_splitter Comb Splitter by Steve Harris
+</LI>
+<LI>tap_stereo_echo Tap Stereo Echo by Tom Szilagyi
+</LI>
+</UL>
+
+<P>
+The Comb Splitter has one audio input and two audio outputs.
+The Stereo Echo has two audio inputs and two audio outputs.
+
+<P>
+The stereo Audio Input track will therefore ignore its second
+input route connection. It will process the left input only,
+separating it into stereo with the Comb Splitter, passing the
+split stereo signal into the Stereo Echo, finally producing
+stereo output available at the Audio Input track's output routes.
+
+<P>
+One improvement would be not creating unused redundant plugin copies
+between plugins in stereo tracks.
+For example, for a plugin having one audio input and one audio output,
+feeding a plugin having one audio input and two audio outputs,
+the extra copy of the first plugin is redundant and not required,
+but currently it is created anyway.
+<BR><HR>
+
+</BODY>
+</HTML>