The Track Panel is analogous to a physical mixer. It is the low-level nervecenter of ALK. Low-level, because it ignores everything that has to do withtime. In particular, a mixer has no knowledge of a sequence orloops — it simply combines a bunch of raw audio or MIDI signals witheach other and spits them back to its outputs.
Every track in ALK has its own virtual mixer, with its own view of thephysical inputs and outputs. It can be located inside each track’s Track Panel.
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User Interface¶
The track panel has the following items (in the order of signal flow, from input to output).
Input Terminal¶
This is a list of the current inputs to the track. Thesecan be physical inputs, such as an audio interface channels and MIDI keyboards,or Track inputs which feed from the output of other tracks in the session (ie:a Master track which takes its inputs from many individual tracks). We callthese connections cables in ALK.
MIDI Effects (Instrument and MIDI tracks only)¶
We’ve included two usefulMIDI effects right in the track panel. They are Quantize and Note Repeat.Quantize effectively shifts any out-of-time notes into time. A drop down menuallows the user to choose the resolution of quantization. For example: choosing1/16 results in recorded notes playing back aligned to the nearest 16th note.The rotary control is used to control the amount of quantization. This decidesby how much notes are shifted to the chosen quantize resolution. Setting aquantization amount lower than 100% is favourable to some as it results in amore human and less rigid correction of note timing.Note Repeat essentially translates held MIDI notes into a stream of repeatednotes. A drop down menu allows the user to choose the resolution of these notes.For example, choosing 1/8 results in held notes transforming into a stream of8th notes. The rotary control here determines the amount of swing in therepeated notes.
Instrument (Instrument Track only)¶
Here you can insert your VST or AU instrument of choice. Clicking on theInstrument will open it in a new window where you can view the user interfaceand edit parameters and fine tune your sound. We’ve also included two handyutility instruments: Test Note and Metronome.
Note
Test Note and Metronome do not have a plugin editor, so unlikeunlike other VSTs and AU plugins, clicking on the label has no effect.
FX¶
Here you can insert VST or AudioUnit effect plugins to process theaudio input (Audio track), Instrument audio (Instrument track) or MIDI data(MIDI track) of your track. Clicking on the insert effect opens its userinterface in a new window where you can edit parameters and fine tune the effect.Inserts can be powered off (bypassed) using the power button. Bypassed insertsdo not consume CPU: once bypassed, they no longer participatein the processing chain until they are re-enabled.
Note
If you’re project gets large enough that it starts to stutter, findingCPU-hungry plugins, and bypassing them, can be a good way to fix the problem.Bypassing can also be useful to determine which plugins are responsible forhigh CPU use, simply by comparing the CPU use before andafter bypassing.
Tip
Instrument and FX plugins can be copied, cut and pastedbetween tracks using commands C, X and V. FX plugins can bereordered by cutting and pasting a plugin to its desired position.
Output Terminal¶
This is a list of the current outputs of the track. Again,these can be physical outputs such as those on your audio/MIDI interface orTrack outputs which feed to the input of other tracks in the session.
Pan Rotary¶
This acts the same as pan controls on physical mixers, exceptthat in addition to controlling the pan, it also displays the current panamount. This is determined in real-time by comparing the levels on the leftand right channels.
Volume Slider¶
This acts the same as a typical volume slider and LED metercombination on a physical mixer.
Solo Button¶
Hitting solo powers off every other track, allowing you tohear only the current track. Note that multiple tracks can be soloed. Solostate is engaged if there is at least one track which is soloed. Once the lastsoloed track is unsoloed, auditioning behaviour reverts to normal.
Power Button¶
Hitting power powers off the current track, rendering it silent.
Audition Indicator/Button¶
Auditioning (monitoring) in ALK controls howthe user hears the output of the track. Auditioning has two modes, manual andhover which can be switched in the track menu under Disable/Enable HoverAuditioning. In manual mode, auditioning can be turned on and off via theAudition button. In hover mode, auditioning is turned on by hovering the mouseover a track. This is a useful way to quickly audition the sound of tracks insession without having to manually turn on and off their auditioning.
Track Menu¶
Here there are options for Enabling/Disabling Hover Audition,Lock/Unlock Performances, Duplicate Track and Delete Track.
Cables¶
A cable is roughly analogous to a physical cable. In other words, it servesto connect, say, an microphone input to the input of a track, or the outputof a track to the submix track. However, unlike physical cables, or theconnections in other sequencers, ALK’s cables have two differences:
Cables in ALK have a volume knob between their ends.This means you can control the individual amount of signal flowing from theinput to the output.
Cables in ALK have a level meter built in, which allows the userto obtain visual feedback for the signal passing through the cable.
The level meter currently only works for audio tracks. This limitation willbe removed in a future version of the program.
Cables come in two flavours: MIDI and Audio. You never have to choose thetype of cable used: you simply connect the track to wherever youwant, and the correct cable type is selected for you.
A cable is represented visually in ALK by an object in the appropriateinput or output terminal. In the image below, Synth submix andHeadphones Mix are both cables. The surrounding element labeled “Output” in theimage, is the Terminal they belong to, which we will discuss next.
Terminals¶
A terminal represents the input or outputof the current Track. In ALK, a terminal can have more than oneCable attached to it. This means that every track in ALK can:
act as a “mixer”, using multiple cables as inputs, and usingthe cable’s volume knobs as the “mixer’s”individual volume sliders;
act as a signal “splitter”, directing the signal flowingthrough this track to other tracks or physical outputs;
act as an FX track: this can be achieved by connecting the appropriate inputcables to an audio track with your desired effect plugin inserted in thetrack FX;
You can add a cable to a terminal clicking on the Add (+) button atthe top right corner of the the Terminal.
Note
Currently, for VST and AU plugins, only asingle mono/stereo terminal is allowed. In other words,while plugins like BFD are supported, you currently cannot usetheir extra outputs; only the main stereo output can be used by theprogram. This limitation will be removed in the future, which will alsoallow sidechaining. We apologize for the inconvenience!
Preferences can be accessed via the “cmd+,” key command, or in theALK->Preferences… menu item.
Audio Preferences¶
The audio preferences pane encapsulates settings related to the audio interfaceand audio callback buffer size. For both inputs and outputs, you can choosefrom the following settings:
Device: this combo box allows you to choose which audio interfaceis used for input purposes.
Terminals: this list view allows you view, and modify the names for the setof terminals detected for the current device. Name changes for terminalsare reflected elsewhere in the user interface. For example, if you changethe name of “Input 1” on, say, your RME Fireface sound card to“Roby’s Guitar DI”, it will be much clearer andsimpler to select inputs correctly for your guitar tracks.
Restore Button: pressing this button returns the audio system back to thedefault state: each terminal is restored to its original name.
Audio Buffer Size: an audio host such as ALK works by processingaudio in chunks; so-called audio frames. The size of the bufferimpacts ALK in two ways:
latency: as the buffer size increases, the latency of the entire audiosystem increases commensurately. If the buffer size is too high, therecould be a noticeable delay between the original and monitored signal.
load on the system: as the buffer size decreases, the load on theCPU is increased. This is because the buffer – which is now smaller andthus represents less time – needs to now be filled more often, and this inturns increases the CPU load. If the load on the audio thread is too high(for example, if you are running many or CPU-hungry audio plugins), youwill hear stuttering and glitches. If stuttering or dropouts become a problemand you’re not able to increase the buffer size (e.g. because the latencybecomes unplayable), then you must reduce the CPU load in the audio thread byremoving instances of certain plugins, or even tracks.
Sample Rate: Here the sample rate can be changed to any rate supported by aconnected audio interface.
Graphics: This check box switches on and off graphical glow FX and limits theframe rate to 30 FPS. Uncheck this option if continual CPU problems are encountered.
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Tip
It’s a good idea to experiment with the Audio Buffer Size in your program. Your goal during experimenting shouldbe to dial down the buffer size as much as possible without inducing stuttering orglitching in a project somewhat larger and heavier than the typicalproject you use. This way, you still have the proverbial extra headroom ifyour track needs that extra gear change!
MIDI Preferences¶
The MIDI device list displays the currently detected MIDI hardware devices(such as USB keyboards or drum pads). For each detected device, a row appearsin the list view. Click on the device name to change its name (for example,changing “nanoPAD2 PAD” to “Ray’s Drums Pads”).
In addition, you can disable or enable theMIDI device by clicking on the check box on the device row. If a MIDI device isdisabled, you will not receive any input from the device.
Plugins¶
User Manual Pdf
The plugins pane allows you to scan for VST/AU plugins, based on a list ofsearch directories. The scanning process looks at each search path in turn,so if the same plugin appears in two search paths, the plugin in the first searchpath will be used in ALK.
Plugin Directories - this list view displays the directories that will besearched for plugins when you click Rescan. The controls belowthe this list view are, from left to right:
Add Directory (‘+’) - this adds a new place to search for plugins;
Remove Directory (‘-‘) - this deletes the currently selected directory from the list;
Increase Priority (up arrow) - this moves the directory up on the list;
Decrease Priority (up arrow) - this moves the directory down the list;
Restore Defaults - pressing this button causes the search paths to be resetto the default AU and VST search paths on macOS.
Plugins - this area consists of:
a table view which displays the currentlydetected VST and AU plugins, along with some of their properties, such asPlugin Vendor, plugin type (Instrument or FX), etc.
Rescan - this button causes ALK to scan for plugins, which isdescribed in more detail below.
Scanning For Plugins¶
When you click Rescan, ALKbegins traversing the plugin directories displayed above. When it findsa file that looks like it could be a plugin, it tries to load the plugin. If successful,the plugin is added to the list of detected plugins (note that this is only reflectedin the listview when the entire scan operationhas completed.
Scanning is a process that can take a while, so while ALK scans for plugins in thebackground, you can continue using the program. Scanning progress is displayed in apanel showing the plugin currently being scanned, and the overall progress.