181 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
181 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
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! title Non Mixer User Manual
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! author Jonathan Moore Liles #(email,male@tuxfamily.org)
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! date January 21, 2010
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-- Table Of Contents
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: User Manual
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:: The Mixer
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/ Mixer
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< non-mixer-complex.png
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The Non-Mixer is a stand-alone audio mixer, utilizing JACK as an
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audio subsystem. At the time of writing, the architecture of
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Non-Mixer is unique. By making the mixer stand-alone, concepts such
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as busses, sends, and inserts are eliminated, as the same goals can
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be achieved by simply adding more strips to the mixer.
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Start by creating a new project.
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/ New Project
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< new-project.png
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After the project has been created. Hit `a` or choose `Mixer/Add
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Strip` from the menu to add a new strip to the mixer.
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::: Mixer Strip
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/ Mixer Strip
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< single-strip.png
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Each mixer strip has a name and color, each of which may be defined
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by the user. Names, but not colors, must be unique. In addition,
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each strip has controls to move it left or right (the arrows) in the
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display and to remove it entirely (the 'X').
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Strips start out in /narrow/ mode, with the /fader/ view
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enabled. Click the desired button to toggle the mode or view.
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The fader view comprises a large gain control and digital peak meter
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indicator. These are automatically connected to the default gain and
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meter modules of the strips signal chain.
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To see how an audio signal traveling through this strip will be
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processed, switch to its /signal/ view.
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:::: Signal Processing
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::::: Signal Chain
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The signal chain view of a mixer strip provides a way to view and
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manipulate the signal processing of a mixer strip.
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:::::: Modules
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/ Modules
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< modules.png
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All signal processing in Non Mixer occurs in /Modules/. Modules are
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signal processing abstractions providing ports for audio and control
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I/O and, in addition, some simple user interface. Sink and source
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modules carry audio out of and into JACK.
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Modules are displayed as named blocks. Some modules may have
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additional GUI components.
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Each module has zero or more audio I/O ports and zero or more
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control ports. Audio routing between modules is handled
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automatically. Modules with mono audio configurations (one channel
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in, one channel out) can be automatically adjusted to support any
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number of discrete channels. Modules with more (related) channels,
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however, introduce restrictions on the order in which modules can be
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chained.
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An indicator in the upper left-hand corner of each module block
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indicates whether the module has any parameters bound to controls.
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Non Mixer has several built-in modules. They are:
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= JACK
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= Performs JACK I\/O
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= Gain
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= Applies gain in dB
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= Meter
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= Digital Peak meter
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= Mono Pan
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= Performs intensity panning of a mono signal into a stereo signal.
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= Plugin
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= Hosts a LADSPA plugin
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Left-clicking on a module brings up the Module Parameter Editor.
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Shift+Left-clicking on a module brings up a menu which allows you to
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pick a new module to insert before this one in the chain.
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Control+Right-clicking on a module causes it to be removed from the
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chain (modules added by default cannot be removed).
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::::::: Module Parameter Editor
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/ Module Parameter Editor
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< gverb-parameters-knobs.png
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The Module Parameter Editor is used to alter the values of a
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module's parameters, and, further more, to bind its parameters to
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controls. A menu button in the upper left-hand corner allows you to
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select between knob, vertical slider and horizontal slider controls.
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/ Horizontal Sliders
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< gverb-parameters-hsliders.png
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/ Vertical Sliders
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< gverb-parameters-vsliders.png
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Underneath each control is a bind button. Clicking adds a new
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control to the chain's /Controls/ view and binds it to the parameter
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in question. For simplicity, only one control at a time may be bound
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to a given parameter.
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::::::: Controls
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/ Control View
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< controls.png
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The control view of a chain groups together all of the controls
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bound to parameters of modules in that chain. The default mode of
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controls is /Manual/. Right click on a control to bring up a menu
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which will allow you to select one of the available control I/O
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methods to use. When /Control Voltage/ (CV) is selected, a CV input
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port will be created on the containing mixer strip's JACK
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client. The control will now accept values from that input. A
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control bound and configured in this way can then be connected to
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the output of Non-DAW a control sequence using your favorite
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connection manager.
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{ NOTE:
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{ All knob and slider controls respond to mousewheel
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{ events. Hold down the `Ctrl` key while scrolling the mousewheel to
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{ achieve finer resolution.
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:::::::: Control Voltages
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The control voltage concept should be familiar to anyone who has
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experience with pre-MIDI hardware synthesizers designs. MIDI
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definitely has its advantages, but MIDI control data is multiplexed
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and connecting one MIDI control to a parameter usually involves
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configuring settings on both ends of the connection in order to
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separate the control data streams.
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Control Voltages provide a simple 1:1 source to sink relationship
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and offer much higher resolution, both in time and value, than can
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be natively expressed through MIDI. The chief advantage of CV in the
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context of Non-DAW is the ease with which an control sequence can be
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connected to a mixer module parameter. If you have a MIDI controller
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that you'd like to use to control parameters of Non-Mixer, consider
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/jm2cv/, a JACK MIDI to Control Voltage daemon which was written by
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Peter Nelson specifically for use with Non-Mixer. jm2cv can be
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acquired by:
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> git clone git://fuzzle.org/jm2cv.git
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:::: JACK I/O
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Each mixer strip is presented as a separate JACK "client". This
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helps to avoid the necessity of internally duplicating JACK's
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routing logic and, with JACK2, permits the possibility of parallel
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execution of mixer strip signal chains.
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The JACK client name of each strip will correspond to the name of the strip.
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{ NOTE:
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{ The JACK API makes implementing this far more difficult and kludgey than it should have to be.
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{ Please petition your local JACK developer to accept jack_client_set_name() into the API.
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/ Patchage
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< non-mixer-and-non-daw-in-patchage.png
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