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TEMPLATES AND EXAMPLES

16 November, 2023 - 18:43 — G3N-es

_0 INTENT OF THE TOPIC
I created this topic so that we have a place to share templates and examples.

_1 PLUGINS
I propose these plugins so that we all have by default.
This makes it easy to share projects and ensure that all templates and examples work on any computer.
The list is designed to cover any workflow with easy handling and low CPU demand.
If someone needs a specific plugin that is not included in the list, it will be enough for them to specify it when sharing.

___
General MIDI Synth
> By Direct Download:
https://x42-plugins.com/x42/x42-gmsynth
___
carla- lv2 (.lv2)
> By Direct Download:
https://launchpad.net/~kxstudio-debian/+archive/ubuntu/apps/+files/carla...
___
calf-plugins (.lv2)
artyfx (.lv2)
luftikus-lv2 (.lv2)
tal-plugins-lv2 (.lv2)
gxplugins (.lv2)
> By Direct Download:
https://kx.studio/Repositories:Plugins
> By Repositories:
https://kx.studio/Repositories

Forums: 
qtractor
16 November, 2023 - 19:54 — G3N-es

PURPOSE
It is a general purpose template that solves some problems with the initial configuration of Qtractor.

_1 The MASTER must be the last bus in a project.
However, in Qtractor it is not possible to move the "Master by default".

_2 The audio from the midi buses always goes to the "Master by default", it is impossible to change this setting.

Semantic Solution:
The default MASTER is renamed as Synt.
So now we have a bus dedicated to listening to midi plugins,
or recording stereo audio from external synths or in general. Its coherent.

A new MASTER has been created as a final bus with a pre-installed mastering chain.
A Reverb BUS has also been created for space effects and another FX BUS for generic effects.
Mono Input by default on tracks (the most common workflow is to record audio in mono).

Also added some default tracks and plugin chains where it makes sense.
___

SAMPLING CONFIGURATION
The default setting is 48000 Hz.
If you want to change it to 44100 HZ or other, edit the template with a text editor:
Line 6: sample-rate>48000<

File attachments: 
Package icon universal.qtt_1.zip
17 December, 2023 - 21:02 — windowsrefund

I didn't have much success with this routing scheme so I went down a rabbit hole and ended up finding Car's work-around for the issue I hit when moving from jackdbus to Pipiewire. It works perfectly and I'm curious to know if you've had a look at this?

I'm attaching a zip containing a simple Qtractor project along with a Carla session file. The screenshot shows the routing (more easily seen by splitting the Qtractor node in Carla).

image

File attachments: 
Package icon mixdown.zip
Image icon mixdown.png
18 December, 2023 - 23:08 — G3N-es

Yes, I knew Car's videos, are incredible.

Curiously, I am not having any problems with the inserts. Everything works great. (Fingers crossed).
(Well, everything, not everything. Since a system update, I think the gtk libraries, Qtractor's "color picket" blocks my compiled versions of the program. Dot deb and App work fine. Fortunately its can change the colors by code.)
...

A workflow like the one you propose has advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages, you can create complex and surprising modular flows.
Disadvantage for me, you must manage the sessions of several programs, and although there are session managers, the truth is that I am not very comfortable with them.

The specific flow you have sent seems especially interesting to me for live music, where you can handle different loops (I'm thinking on the fly it's conducive to this, without having to configure inserts. It is easy and fast to organize visually.)

Live, the precision of the mix is the least important thing. It has no problem for live projects, with different sources, but it does have a problem for mixing/mastering. The bus inputs are not rendered, and although you can still dump the master output to a secondary recorder, I don't find it reliable. Keep in mind that the monitor adds signal to the signal (the channel's audio signal + the monitored audio signal.)

If I remember correctly, Car used inserts for the returns, not the bus input. So if it is possible to do a mix/master.

I think the modular concept of music software on Linux is the correct way. However, for the music I make, it is enough for me and it is easy for me to do everything without leaving Qtractor.

And the correct way allows you to do the complex, but if you want as is my case, stay simple in practice.

In the future, perhaps I will dare to experiment more with the modular concept, which as a concept, really fascinates me.

19 December, 2023 - 02:28 — windowsrefund

FYI, Carl's older videos dealt with a workflow involving synths being managed by Carla. That's probably what you're thinking of. The video I linked is more current where he's brought the synths back into Qtractor itself which has many benefits including simplified routing, improvements in patch management (in the case of ZynaddSubFX at least), and more. Carla's role has been seriously reduced to simply providing pass-thrus for the purpose of working around the known issue where Qtractor doesn't work when you connect a bus' output to another bus' input (when running Pipewire. The "session management" is virtually nothing compared to the previous workflow where Carla was used as the instrument host. Glad to hear you're not experiencing issues though with the Aux-send approach. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! :)

19 November, 2023 - 00:48 — G3N-es

Vocoder examples

File attachments: 
Binary Data tal_vocoder.qtz
Binary Data calf-vocoder.qtz
19 November, 2023 - 17:01 — G3N-es

Sidechain Compresor Example

File attachments: 
Binary Data ejm_compresion-lateral.qtz
19 November, 2023 - 18:28 — rncbc
rncbc's picture

hi, you're doing a hell of a job here! I cannot thankyou any better!

let me make you a proposition (that of course you can refuse:))

- would you be kind and willing to write an How To on this subject and add to the wiki and thus to official documentation (ie. manual and how-tos') ?

nb. for just that you'll need a sf.net account and then I'll add you to the wiki editors board in no time; just make sure start with a title like "How To - Sidechain"... :)

and all for that would be really awesome!
cheers

20 November, 2023 - 10:44 — G3N-es

Uploading an example is not the same as developing didactic material. That's a lot of serious and dedicated work, but I accept the challenge. :)

By the way, I started looking at the "How to", and I discovered a super useful functionality that I think is very hidden.

Maybe this is the place. The window would have to be made a little larger when open, since there is room in current monitor resolutions, it would not be problematic.


And since this, it would be better to call it "Instrument's Declaration" instead of "instrument".
We all thought when we came to Qtractor that it was about including a virtual synth.

I leave de sugestions to your consideration.

File attachments: 
Image icon FormMidiBus.png
20 November, 2023 - 14:39 — rncbc
rncbc's picture

re. Plugin > Audio > Bus selection...

that would be great to show up on the Buses properties page, but well, this is indeed a property of a plugin chain and not really of the bus itself; duplex buses have two plugin chains, one for the input and another for its output; which one should it be regarding to?

i guess it's kinda stay on the respective plugins context menu, (hidden?) as it ever was...

now you probably see how didactic it would be and how such a nice addition to the manual? :)~

cheers

ps. please get your sf.net handle asap. just note that any, yes any, stuff that gets into the sf.net's wiki will end up in all the official docs.

20 November, 2023 - 17:17 — G3N-es

You are right, it is not a bus output but a plugin audio output. My mistake.
Anyway, I would include it right after inserts. It would be more visible and is also related to port connectivity.

- Add Plugin
- Insertions >
- Audio Output (since they will always be outputs) >
______________
- Activate
- Etc

In fact I plan to put it as examples on the wiki, the easiest sends to configure are those that take advantage of the connectivity of a track to its own destination bus.
__

I have already created the account on sf.net.
I have started with the tutorials, but I prefer to upload them once they are finished, and it will take a few days.

Meanwhile, that is my profile https://sourceforge.net/u/g3n-es/profile

29 November, 2023 - 19:54 — G3N-es

https://sourceforge.net/p/qtractor/wiki/How%20To%20-%20Sidechain%20Workf...

29 November, 2023 - 20:42 — rncbc
rncbc's picture

hi, congratulations!

now, you seem to have included an example session file HowSidechain.zip... trouble is, it just can't go into the manual pdf, epub like so... I'll have to figure out and manage how to make it into its final location (https://qtractor.org/doc/...?)

I'll let you know what's the decision will be; meanwhile you may correct, suggest and even propose something else--I'm all ears!

thanks again cheers

29 November, 2023 - 22:22 — G3N-es

It's just a link to wherever it's officially hosted.
If the images are at https://qtractor.org/doc/images/, the downloadables could be hosted at https://qtractor.org/doc/attachment/

Although the current url would also work, I assume you want them to be on the official website and not on sf.net (hence the trouble).

__Suggestion to documentation __

I see that we are at the following point:

- Qtractor is very mature, and it seems strange that its operating mechanics are going to change much.
- The audio in Linux is in full transit Jack > PipeWire

On the one hand, I think it would be time to create a new, better structured manual, based on the material already created.

But first we would have to wait for PipeWire to be a little more established (months? years?).
(In PipeWire there is not even a QjackCtl-type tool to configure the latency, sample rate... and you have to play the configuration files by hand.)

For example, there are references to Jack in current manuals, and yet none of them include how to select the input and output devices in Jack.
This generates a lot of confusion for newcomers, who try to establish the devices from Qtractor (as is logical in other operating systems, or even from applications that work with Alsa such as LMMS or Audacity) and not from Jack.

However explaining it now can be a disaster, because that person may have a distribution with PipeWare that will ignore the Jack configuration or directly uninstall Jack.
Too many things would have to be explained.

So the option I see is to hold on for some time.
The "How to" can be a tool for this transition.

If I can, I'll make more of these.
​

30 November, 2023 - 16:26 — rncbc
rncbc's picture

ok. just made some "structural" adjustments to your wiki page, aiming to be a little less painful for pandoc to work it out when converting to epub and pdf.

most important though is the way you were embedding the attached pictures; it suffices and actually desirable to inscribe them as [[img src=filename.png]], being filename.png the exact file you attach to the wiki page; there's no need, rather avoid to markdown it as an external image URL.

hyu. cheers

30 November, 2023 - 17:44 — G3N-es

(I didn't know that way to insert images.)

¿As you see make a small addition to the manual?
I think with it, any newcomer will be able to configure input and output hardware if they use Jack, and if use Pipewire don't think they need to refer to it.

https://qtractor.org/doc/Manual%20-%203%20Learning%20Qtractor--An%20Exam...

__In point 3.1 add :
2 Set the input and output audio hardware with QJackCtl. This is the place and not Qtactor.
You will find the options to do this at:

Setup > Configurations > Advanced > Input Device and Output Device


__

If you see sense I'll add it.

File attachments: 
Image icon hardware-devices.png
1 December, 2023 - 01:44 — rncbc
rncbc's picture

hi,

you may have a look to the new Manual & How To's snapshots here: [html] [epub] [pdf]

cheers

1 December, 2023 - 04:55 — G3N-es

1_
The web version is clear.

However, the General Index that appears in the web version is missing from the first page of the epub and pdf versions:
"
Manual - Table of Contents
Manual - 1 Introduction
Manual - 2 Installing and Configuring Qtractor
Manual - 3 Learning Qtractor–An Example Session
Manual - 4 Qtractor–An Overview
Manual - 5 Qtractor Menus
Manual - 6 Appendixes

The How-To’s section, started by Sean Beeson, contains the following pages:
How To - Create Individual MIDI and Audio Buses-Ports
How To - Set the number of channels an audio track records
How To - Sample MIDI Composition Workflow
"

Another option, include the "How tos" menu within the "Table of Contents" Index, at the end. Although I see the first option as more accurate.

As it is, it seems that the "How Tos" are mentioned in the title, but then they are not there, because they do not appear in the Index.

2_
In my "How to" I found a typo (errata), a ". ."
Where it says "signal. . Not all", it should say "signal. Not all".

No matter how much I review, small errors always appear in my works. :S

3_
The manual is really very complete, however I still think that it would be useful to include the point of defining hardware in Qjackcontrol. It's just a line of text and an image, but it clarifies a lot.

It is a question that arises very often in newcomers to Linux who want to make music.

4_
It would also be good to create a new section with a collection of links to unofficial sources that are worthwhile, such as blog tutorials and video tutorials.

For example, for Jack's doubts:
https://linuxaudio.github.io/libremusicproduction/html/articles/demystif...

From Qtractor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q0PyzzDjUY&list=PLBvCHJWi9SXzxIvlkjBtRG...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYyeHomJCUQ

---

I'm just sharing my thoughts.

1 December, 2023 - 11:38 — rncbc
rncbc's picture

ok.

good news: the whole structure of the [epub] and [pdf] have been reviewed to resemble the [html] contents more closely; the bad news are that both are now bloated with the old manuals, so sorry :)

I believe this addresses your first 2 topics; feel free to edit the wiki yourself for the remaining, thanks.

cheers

1 December, 2023 - 14:08 — G3N-es

I only see good news.
I have made the changes I suggested.

1 December, 2023 - 14:58 — rncbc
rncbc's picture

and they're now live: [html] [epub] [pdf]

thanks again.

ps. please tell when all is ready for release to https://qtractor.org/doc , cheers!

1 December, 2023 - 15:48 — G3N-es

I linked wrong the tutorial i-scores music. I have already corrected it.

I think everything is ok

1 December, 2023 - 17:08 — rncbc
rncbc's picture

hi, maybe not your call, but you might also add these to the "unofficial tuts" ? I think the 2nd one is even relevant to your "how to", or is it not?

also, if you can (rather ought) to give credit to yourself somewhere (specially in the home page ;))

thanks

1 December, 2023 - 17:58 — G3N-es

I added the tutorials.
As for the credits, my name already appears in the How to. On the home page it is difficult to find the place, except with the format:

[How to: Title ] | By Author

But I don't know the name of the other authors.

1 December, 2023 - 17:05 — G3N-es

I detected another error and corrected it. :S

1 December, 2023 - 18:42 — rncbc
rncbc's picture

hi,

forgot to tell you this very IMPORTANT rule while editing the wiki...

please, please avoid at all costs to insert any horizontal line rulers in the markdown source (ie. 4 or more dashes in a row eg. '----', or '- - -', or '* * *', avoid them like the plague!)

this kinda breaks the pandoc parsing and transformation to epub and/or pdf, somehow making it a SNAFU result :(

that's why I removed it earlier before, behind your knowledge yes but you seem to get them back again; so sorry, please remove them (or I will:))

thanks a lot, anyway

24 November, 2023 - 17:47 — G3N-es

Hello Rui

I haven't finished the project. As I feared, it is not a short job. :)

I share with you what I take from the tutorial. Furthermore, I already have the qtr examples made, they are not yet linked because they need to be reviewed. The text has not yet been translated either, although I think it will be easy to understand if you send it to Google Translator.

If you can take a look.
If you detect any errors, or are not satisfied with any concept, let me know.

https://sourceforge.net/p/pr43/wiki/%C2%BFC%C3%B3mo%3F%20Realizar%20Cade...

What remains to be done:
Explanation text + images for examples.
Definitive review of the qtr.
Translation.

Greetings

1 December, 2023 - 19:03 — Mela

Due to G3N-es question on Buss Automation / Group of tracks ;
Here the workflow using midi controller messages to automate midi- & audiobuss volume, pan, insert plugin parameters ect.

"Automation on both AUDIO- and MIDI busses and inserted plugins !"

On my system I have no problem with automation on busses, or even plugins inserted on busses can be automated.
What I do is create a midi "automation" track which sends controller data ( several ctrl numbers ) via the tracks midi out to Qtractors CONTROL in, normally used for remote hardware controllers.

First we have to activate the dedicated MIDI control input/output via Qtractors > options > midi tab.
Secondly, open Qtractors connections window > midi tab and connect the midi output of the in step 1 created midi track with the CONTROL input.

Summing up :

  1. create a midi track, and record or add with the pencil the desired controller data ( in the lane under the piano roll ).
  2. go to the audio or midi buss, right click on the slider > MIDI-Controller and add your controller number matching the ctrl number in step 1.
  3. for plugins in the buss, right-click on the plugin > properties > right-click on the slider and add your controller number, which is send by the midi track.

Be sure midi channels of the sender ( miditrack ) and receiver ( buss sliders / plugins ) are the same.
This way you also can send midi-track controller data to a stand alone Carla application, but that's something for advanced users ;-)

If you want to use the tracks automation button, then you have to use a midi plugin capable of sending cc data.
-> Still, would be nice if there was an option to display MIDI-CLIPS controller data into the tracks automation lanes or be able to select midi controllers directly via the track 'automation button > select' menu entry !

Just try it out, Qtractor = fantastic !

Luc.

File attachments: 
Binary Data Buss-Automation.qtz
5 December, 2023 - 10:28 — rncbc
rncbc's picture

hi,

just to let you know, that the new rendition of the Manual & How To's is now live at:

  • https://qtractor.org/doc

    • and uploaded to https://sourceforge.net/projects/qtractor/files:

  • qtractor-manual-and-howtos.epub
  • qtractor-manual-and-howtos.pdf

    • thanks && cheers

    5 December, 2023 - 13:34 — G3N-es

    Sorry, everything is correct. I think it was a cache error in my browser :S

    5 December, 2023 - 13:29 — G3N-es

    Thank you.
    Just note that the download files are still the old ones.

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