[Ardour-Users] Ardour 2.8.4 released

[Paul Davis]

Ardour 2.8.4 has been released, and can be downloaded from the usual
place: http://ardour.org/download

It has been a month of mostly bug fixing activity, but some nice fixes
they certainly are and we've included a couple of new features just to
keep you all interested and paying attention. If you use BWF files for
anything, this update is critical, because we have fixed a very
serious error in the way we generate the header for such files. As of
this writing, this is planned to be the last release of Ardour 2.X
before 3.0alpha is announced (unless there are any critical breakages
in this release).

New Features

    * plugin manager now has a "hide" option so that you can control
which plugins show up in the plugin menus (J. Abelardo Gutierrez)
    * new "by category" plugin menu, to complement the "by creator"
one that already existed (J. Abelardo Gutierrez)
    * if auto-play is enabled, defining or changing a range selection
will immediately start playing it
    * new action, ToggleRollMaybe, which leaves loop play or range
play mode but without stopping the transport (Ctrl/Cmd-Shift-space by
default)
    * PortInsert GUIs now have a builtin hardware latency "ping"
tester, modelled on Fons Adriennsen's jdelay. This can accurately
measure the roundtrip signal latency of your insert and sets the
latency that JACK sees. You can now use external h/w processing and
get sample-accurate latency compensation within Ardour.
    * new Region Layering Editor. This is accessed via the region
context menu, and provides an easy way to modify the layering of
regions at a given location (it will only show in the menu if there is
more than one region under the mouse pointer). It can be used as an
excellent tool for comping loop recording or overdubs in general.
Thanks to JAG for this excellent addition.

Critical Fixes

    * fix BWF header contents
    * fix crash caused by auto-saving after unloading a session
    * fix crash caused by using an audio interface without inputs or outputs
    * fix crash caused by data overrun when generating peak files
    * fix crash bug caused by having no outputs on a track or bus and
more than 1 input

Improvements

    * make exported file name text entry "activatable" in export region dialog
    * correctly continue to keep sending MTC when looping
    * make display of files to process during import correct
    * window titles are now consistent (and do not include "ardour")
    * show region sync point in the popup region editor
    * fix copy-drag operations when in lock edit mode
    * tidy up region gain line drawing so that it doesn't extend past the region
    * improve audio file format names shown in the interface
    * remove edit point clock
    * more vertically-oriented layout of toggle controls in LADSPA editors
    * add key stroke (left/right arrow) and wheel (left/right,
shift-down/up) scrolling in mixer window
    * fix missing display of plugins in the plugin manager (corrupt
plugin type information)
    * do not ignore auto-connect setting when it is disabled for a new session
    * do not stop at session end if synced to JACK but not the time master.
    * save audio settings even when using FFADO
    * don't reset panner or plugin parameter values when switching
automation to Write or Off (avoids losing a manually set value)
    * fix "separate" edit so that regions created do not overlap by 1 sample
    * provide host callbacks for AU plugins to get tempo, musical time
and transport information
    * make region "lower-to-bottom" and "raise-to-top" have persistent
rather than temporary effects
    * sort items in the region context menu to match order in the track
    * cleanup of Mackie/Logic Control support to prevent it from
stopping Session unloading from proceeding correctly
    * save and restore seamless loop setting when changing transport
slave mode, since no JACK doesn't allow seamless loop
    * when renaming tracks/busses/sends/inserts, scan everything to
avoid JACK port duplicate names
    * display an explanation if JACK shuts down due to backend issues
(e.g. another application changes the sample rate)
    * updated swedish and italian translations

OS X specific

    * add /Volumes to file browser, to make external drives more visible
    * prevent the editor right hand side notebook from vanishing and
being un-resizable
    * left click on the error/status bar clears whatever text is displayed there
    * send AU Event notifications when modifying parameters or presets
- makes ALL AudioUnit GUIs update during automation or preset changes,
rather than just the ones from Waves, PSP, etc.

Contributors

Carl Hetherington, J. Abelardo Gutierrez, Valerio Orlandini, Emanuele
Costantini, Petter Sundlöf, Ben Loftis, and your increasingly
overweight chief grunt Paul Davis.