[ardour-users] Re: can you crossfade between two tracks in the ardour mixer?

[andy]

On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 11:51:30 -0400, Jesse Chappell wrote:

> andy wrote on Fri, 27-Aug-2004:
> 
>  > I'm setting up a demo of how to do net radio broadcasts in linux for
>  > someone - thinking of using ardour to mix between different input sources
>  > (live audio, recorded stuff etc) and to record the sessions, and the
>  > version of ices that has jack support to feed the stream to icecast2.
> 
> Have you seen this?
> 
> http://www.salemradiolabs.com/rivendell/
> 
>  > But I can't find any way to crossfade between input sources in the ardour
>  > mixer. E.g. if you want to fade between live audio input and a programme
>  > that's been recorded on the disk.
>  > 
>  > I've tried making a 4 channel bus with the two input tracks feeding into
>  > it, and using the pan control on that to do it, but it's not working.
>  > 
>  > Any suggestions?
> 
> Your best bet is to talk someone into writing a 4-in 2-out ladspa plugin
> that will do the crossfade.  Then you can just use the plugin's
> parameter for control or automation.   You would insert it into
> a 4-input, 2-output bus, which you would connect as above. 
> 
> It would be a very easy plugin to write, steve harris could crank it out in a 
> matter of minutes.... it might take me a few more.
> 


This also got me thinking about how the user interface for plugins in
ardour is a bit clunky - all in separate windows using a lot of screen
space, and they seem to be tied to the main window so when you click on
them the mixer disappears. I was thinking it would be better if there was
a way to create custom control strips in the mixer window, that could have
any number of custom sliders and buttons generating control signals which
you could route to the control inputs of any of the plugins you had
defined, in a similar way to routing audio signals between busses and
tracks.

This would mean that
a) all the controls would be grouped together in the mixer window, rather
than scattered about around the various plugins.
b) you could have a single control operating several plugins. E.g. with
something like this it would be easy to make a crossfader by combining
some of the blop plugins - you could have a fader control giving a +1 ->
0 control signal, and then use this to control the volume on the two
tracks, with the control signal subtracted from one on one of them so it
was inverted.

this might be taking ardour into unknown territory though, or duplicating
things that are done better by another app.

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