Qtractor Manual & How-To’s

Qtractor Wiki

rncbc et al. 2024-02-28 18:00+0000

Home
Welcome to the Qtractor wiki!

This is an amalgamation of various existing documents, originally wiki-fied by junkyardsparkle

and Yassin Philip, with updates by several others. The current working pages are as below:

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 - 1 Compile Qtractor

How To - 2 Create Individual MIDI and Audio Buses-Ports

How To - 3 Set the number of channels an audio track records

How To - 4 Sample MIDI Composition Workflow

How To - 5 Sidechain Workflow

How To - 6 Alternative Sidechain Workflow with Aux Sends

How To - 7 Equal Latency for Tracks and Buses

How To - 8 Controlling a Plugin’s Parameter from a MIDI Clip

Unofficial resources:

Unofficial tutorials that are worthwhile

Older manuals, which contain some different information to the wiki, can be found here:

• 0.3 and 0.5 user manuals, wiki-fied by junkyardsparkle:

qtractor 0.3.0 manual pt1

qtractor 0.3.0 manual pt2

qtractor 0.3.0 manual pt3

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qtractor 0.5.x Part 0. Installing Qtractor

qtractor 0.5.x Part 1. Quick Start

• The latest Qtractor User Manual from Seth Kenlon (not)klaatu, as worked on by Phil CM

Manual Drafts of features for future versions can be found here:

• Manual Draft - Loop Mode Recording Recording multiple takes using loop mode
recording (now added to wiki)

junkyardsparkle also started the [Meta - Discussion] page, for general discussion of Qtractor
documentation creation.

The wiki uses Markdown syntax.

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Manual - Table of Contents
This wiki version of the manual is based on a document originally authored by Rui Nuno Capela,
James Laco Hines and Stephen Doonan.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction
• 1.1. Abstract
• 1.2. Introduction

2. Installing and Configuring Qtractor

• 2.1. Compiling Qtractor

• 2.2. Build dependencies

◦ 2.2.1. Mandatory packages

◦ 2.2.2. Optional packages

• 2.3. Downloading Qtractor

◦ 2.3.1. Official releases

◦ 2.3.2. Qtractor for the experienced and adventurous

• 2.4. Compiling and installing Qtractor

◦ 2.4.1 Standard compilation and installation

◦ 2.4.2. Compiling with Steinberg Linux VST Support (optional)
◦ 2.4.3. Compiling Qtractor with debugging support

• 2.5. Qtractor’s Configuration Settings File

• 2.6. QJackCtl

• 2.7. Audio and MIDI Input

3. Learning Qtractor–An Example Session

• 3.1. Preparation

• 3.2. Importing an Audio File

• 3.3. Connecting the MIDI data source to Qtractor

• 3.4. Creating a MIDI track

• 3.5. Recording and Playback

• 3.6. Next Steps

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4. Qtractor–An Overview
• 4.1. Routing–Connections, Ports, Tracks and Buses

◦ 4.1.1. Routing–General Concepts and Information

◦ 4.1.2. Routing in Qtractor
◦ 4.1.3. Routing–Technical Notes

• 4.2. Qtractor’s Main Window and Work Area

• 4.3. Understanding a Qtractor Session (recording or editing)

◦ 4.3.1. Session Audio Sample Rate

◦ 4.3.2. Session Properties
◦ 4.3.3. Session Options

• 4.4. Files

• 4.5. Clips

◦ 4.5.1. Clips Summary

◦ 4.5.2. Copying, Cutting, Splitting and Merging
◦ 4.5.3. Fades and Cross-Fades
◦ 4.5.4. Clip Properties

• 4.6. Qtractor Main Workspace–Tracks Area

◦ 4.6.1. Tracks Summary

◦ 4.6.2. Track States
◦ 4.6.3. Making Selections - Select Modes
◦ 4.6.4. Making Selections - Edit Markers
◦ 4.6.5. Loops
◦ 4.6.6. Paste Repeat
◦ 4.6.7. Punch In/Out
◦ 4.6.8. Automation

• 4.7. Mixer

◦ 4.7.1. Mixer Summary

◦ 4.7.2. Setting Levels
◦ 4.7.3. Panning

• 4.8. Signal Flow

◦ 4.8.1. Signal Flow Summary

◦ 4.8.2. Connections
◦ 4.8.3. Buses
◦ 4.8.4. Aux Sends
◦ 4.8.5. Inserts
◦ 4.8.6. Connection Persistence

• 4.9. Plugins

◦ 4.9.1. Plugins Summary

◦ 4.9.2. LADSPA
◦ 4.9.3. DSSI

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 ◦ 4.9.4. VST (Linux Native)
◦ 4.9.5. LV2

• 4.10. Working with MIDI

◦ 4.10.1. MIDI Summary

◦ 4.10.2. Importing MIDI Data
◦ 4.10.3. Creating MIDI Data with a MIDI Controller
◦ 4.10.4. Creating MIDI Data with the MIDI Editor
◦ 4.10.5. Additional MIDI Editor Features
◦ 4.10.6. MIDI Instruments
◦ 4.10.7. Soft Synths
◦ 4.10.8. Soft Synths as Plugins
◦ 4.10.9. Stand-alone Soft Synths

• 4.11. Working with Audio

◦ 4.11.1. Audio Summary

◦ 4.11.2. Importing Audio Files
◦ 4.11.3. Recording Audio
◦ 4.11.4. Recording from Line-In
◦ 4.11.5. Recording from USB
◦ 4.11.6. Recording Takes

• 4.12. Audio / MIDI Export

• 4.13. Snapshots, Templates and Archives

◦ 4.13.1. Snapshots
◦ 4.13.2. Templates
◦ 4.13.3. Archives

• 4.14. Other Qtractor Features

◦ 4.14.1. Metronome
◦ 4.14.2. Keyboard Shortcuts Editor

5. Qtractor Menus
• 5.1. Main Workspace

• 5.2. MIDI Editor

• 5.3. View / Options

6. Appendixes
• 6.1 References

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Manual - 1 Introduction
Manual - Table of Contents

1. Introduction
1.1. Abstract
Qtractor is a multi-track audio and MIDI recorder and editor. The program is written in C++ and
uses the Qt toolkit for the GUI (graphical user interface) elements. Qtractor is free and open
source software, licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 or later.

Qtractor runs exclusively under GNU/Linux and depends upon ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound
Architecture) and JACK (the Jack Audio Connection Kit) to provide its MIDI and audio IO
infrastructure. It currently has one developer, the originator of the project, Rui Nuno Capela.
Development was started in April of 2005, initially as a Qt 3 application. Since October 2015, it
is officially a Qt 5 application.

Main GUI window showing audio & MIDI tracks, Mixer & Connections windows

The project began as a sequencer intended mainly to be used with MIDI hardware devices but has
since developed comprehensive support for plugins and gained moderately powerful audio

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recording and editing facilities. It now aims to be a lightweight but reasonably powerful solution
for hobbyist and semi-pro musicians. It does not aim to be a “do-it-all monolith DAW” (such as
you may find in the commercial world), nor is it completely “modular” - rather, it should be
considered something of a “hybrid”, which contains the kind of features that are most likely to be
useful for its intended user-base. In the words of its developer, rather than a fully-fledged DAW,
Qtractor is a sequencer with DAW-like features.

If your intention is to mimic the functionality of a recording studio, conducting a great deal of
live audio recording and performing complex routing operations, something like Ardour may be
more suited to your needs.

1.2. Introduction
Whilst Qtractor is still in its beta phase of development, it can already be comfortably used by
hobbyists as a personal home recording studio or “bedroom studio”. It can record, import,
arrange and edit both digital audio and MIDI data. Its interface will be familiar to users of other
popular multi-track recording/editing applications.

In addition to recording digital audio and MIDI, Qtractor provides an environment for multi-track
clip-oriented composing techniques common in modern music-making and aims to be intuitive
and easy to use, yet powerful enough for the serious recording enthusiast.

Qtractor is a non-destructive audio editor. This means that your session’s audio files remain
unchanged on disk after you have edited them. Instead, all edits to audio files are stored within
the Qtractor session file.

As part of the GNU/Linux audio and MIDI ecosystem, Qtractor relies on other projects to
provide functionality in various areas. Due to this approach, the user must consider his/her needs
in areas such as synths, samplers, drum machines, effects processors and sounds (audio samples,
sample packs (sf2/sfz/gig etc.), synth patches and so on) and use these other projects in tandem
with Qtractor by referencing the information in this wiki. If you have no idea where to start and
find the information in the wiki lacking, try searching online or checking sites such as the Linux
Audio Wiki and LinuxMusicians. There are also various projects on Rui Nuno Capela’s site
which should enable you to get up and running reasonably quickly.

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Manual - 2 Installing and Configuring
Qtractor
Manual - Table of Contents

2. Installing and configuring Qtractor

2.1. Compiling Qtractor
If Qtractor is not available from your Linux distribution’s package manager/repository and nor
can you find a standalone package (such as a .deb package for Debian, Ubuntu or other Debian-
based system or an .rpm package for Red Hat, Fedora, SUSE, etc.), then you will have to build it
from source. Doing so requires you have both a C++ compiler (such as g++, the GNU C++
compiler) as well as several other dependencies, the most important of which are listed below.

Those with experience in compiling Linux/UNIX software using autoconf should find the build
process straightforward. Building Qtractor is fairly easy but both the compilation process and
setting up a build environment (a collection of programs necessary for compiling software) can
be a bit daunting to those new to Linux. You don’t need to be a programmer to compile software
but you will at least need to know the basics of using the Linux command line and how to use
your distribution’s package manager.

2.2. Build dependencies

In order to compile Qtractor you are required to have at least all the packages listed under section
2.2.1 installed. Everything listed under section 2.2.2 is optional but recommended to get the most
out of Qtractor.

Note that some Linux distributions (such as Arch) include the development files in their packages
whereas other distributions split packages up into binary and dev components. For example, the
ALSA library under Debian and Ubuntu is contained in the package libasound2 but its
development files are contained within libasound2-dev.

If you are compiling Qtractor under a Debian or Ubuntu-based distro you can install all the
required build dependencies with one command by running:

sudo apt-get build-dep qtractor

If it doesn’t work try:

sudo apt install qt6-base-dev qt6-base-dev-tools qt6-tools-dev

qt6-tools-dev-tools qt6-l10n-tools qt6-svg-dev libqt6svg6-dev
libjack-dev libjack-jackd2-dev libasound2-dev libsndfile-dev
libvorbis-dev libmad0-dev libz-dev libsamplerate-dev
librubberband-dev libfftw3-dev libaubio-dev ladspa-sdk dssi-dev
liblo-dev lv2-dev liblilv-dev libsratom-dev libsord-dev libserd-
dev libgtk2.0-dev libgtkmm-2.4-dev

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2.2.1. Mandatory packages

• Qt framework (core, gui, xml) - C++ class library and tools for cross-platform
development and internationalization https://qt.io/

• JACK - JACK Audio Connection Kit http:s//jackaudio.org/

• ALSA - Advanced Linux Sound Architecture https://www.alsa-project.org/

• libsndfile - C library for reading and writing files containing sampled sound http://
www.mega-nerd.com/libsndfile/

• LADSPA - Linux Audio Developer’s Simple Plugin API http://www.ladspa.org/

2.2.2. Optional packages

• libvorbis (enc, file) - Ogg Vorbis audio compression https://xiph.org/vorbis/

• libmad - High-quality MPEG audio decoder https://www.underbit.com/products/mad/

• libsamplerate - Secret Rabbit Code; C library for audio sample rate conversion http://
www.mega-nerd.com/SRC/

• librubberband - Rubber Band Audio Time Stretcher; audio time-stretching and pitch-
shifting library https://breakfastquay.com/rubberband/

• liblo - Lightweight OSC implementation (required for DSSI GUI and NSM support) http://
liblo.sourceforge.net/

• DSSI - API for soft synth plugins with custom user interfaces http://dssi.sourceforge.net/

• VST-SDK - Steinberg’s Virtual Studio Technology plugin format https://

www.steinberg.net/

• LV2 - Audio plugin standard; extensible successor to LADSPA https://lv2plug.in/

• liblilv - Lightweight LV2 implementation stack https://drobilla.net/software/lilv/

• libaubio - Library for real time audio labeling https://aubio.org/

2.3. Downloading Qtractor

2.3.1. Official releases

Qtractor is considered to be in its beta stage of development but is already fully functional. The
latest official releases are publicly available from the qtractor.sourceforge.net project web site:

https://qtractor.org/

2.3.2. Qtractor for the experienced and adventurous

The latest “bleeding-edge” source code can be obtained from the qtractor git repository with the
following command:

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git clone --recursive https://git.code.sf.net/p/qtractor/code
qtractor-code

Then go to the just created qtractor-code source tree directory:

cd qtractor-code

You should now be ready to build and install Qtractor.

NOTE: After the initial checking-out of the source code, if you want to update to the latest
version in future you can fetch/merge the latest changes by using the following command from
within the qtractor-code directory:

git pull

2.4. Compiling and installing Qtractor

2.4.1. Standard compilation and installation

The installation procedure follows the cmake build system (make sure you have version 3.15 or
higher). From within the Qtractor source directory, run:

cmake -B build .
cmake --build build

and optionally, as root:

cmake --install build

2.4.2. Compiling Qtractor with debugging support

If you find and report a bug in Qtractor, you may be asked to provide some debugging
information. This short guide will explain how to build Qtractor with debugging enabled, making
it easier to pinpoint the problematic code.

Rebuild it all from scratch, with:

cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -B build

cmake --build build

Enable core dumps in a shell session:

ulimit -c unlimited

From the same shell command line, run the program until it crashes. You’ll see something like
this in the output when it happens:

Segmentation fault (core dumped)

Locate the dumped core file. Depending on your environmental settings it might be named just
core, or something like core.1234 (1234 is the process-id number of the crashing program),
located in the last directory where the program was.

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Load the core dump file into gdb:

gdb ./build/src/qtractor /path/to/core

At the gdb prompt just enter:

gdb> bt

or:

gdb> thread apply all bt

2.5. Qtractor’s Configuration Settings File

Qtractor keeps its settings and configuration file in:

$HOME/.config/rncbc.org/Qtractor.conf

Normally, there is no need to manually edit this file. Most of Qtractor’s options can be adjusted
from the Options window under the View menu.

2.6. QJackCtl
In order to use Qtractor, JACK must be running in the background. JACK is a kind of patchbay
for Linux (technically a “sound server”), enabling you to route audio and MIDI data between
Qtractor and other JACK applications.

Some distributions may configure Qtractor such that JACK starts automatically when Qtractor is
launched; others may not. If you launch Qtractor from your application menu and receive JACK
errors in the message log at the bottom of the main workspace, quit Qtractor, start JACK
manually, then launch Qtractor again.

The easiest way to start JACK is with QJackCtl (“Q JACK Control”), a control panel and global,
synchronized timecode display. If this is not installed, install it from your distribution’s repository
or from the project’s site.

If necessary, launch QJackCtl and click the Start button. This should begin a global, synchronized
timecode clock that will allow Qtractor to use all available inputs and outputs just like a studio
mixing board.

QJackCtl in operation

2.7. Audio and MIDI Input

Qtractor can record both digital audio and MIDI data, but it does not magically know what audio
or MIDI data you wish to record; you must route audio and MIDI data to it manually. This can be

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done with QJackCtl, via the command line or using Qtractor’s Connections window, pictured
below.

Qtractor depends upon ALSA and JACK to utilize your audio hardware. It uses ALSA to
communicate with MIDI hardware and JACK to route audio to/from various hardware and
software “ports”.

Qtractor’s Connections window, showing both the Audio and MIDI tabs. “Readable” ports are
sources of data (where audio or MIDI data can come from, e.g. a microphone input or a MIDI
keyboard controller) while “Writeable” ports are places that data can be routed to, such as a
track, an audio output or a MIDI synthesizer

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Manual - 3 Learning Qtractor–An Example
Session
Manual - Table of Contents

3. Learning Qtractor–An Example Session

This chapter is written for those who may not be very familiar with digital audio recording or
MIDI “sequencing” applications, or who wish to gain a quick overview of how Qtractor works. It
can be used before exploring the program in greater depth and learning its features in detail. It
describes an example Qtractor session and serves as a basic walk-through of the program.

3.1. Preparation
You’ll use Qtractor to import a pre-recorded audio file and record a MIDI track. A MIDI-
triggered tone generator (in this case, a hardware tone generator outside the computer, although it
could just as easily be a “soft synth” inside the computer) will produce the sound for the MIDI
track as Qtractor plays it back.

To begin:

1. Start the QJackCtl application

2. Set the input and output audio hardware with QJackCtl if you need. This is the place and
not Qtractor. You will find the options to do this at: QJackCtl Setup > Configurations >

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 Advanced > Input Device and Output Device

3. Press the Start button to start JACK and launch Qtractor from your applications menu,
dock, or launcher

4. It’s good practise to start every session by saving. It might seem strange to save an as-yet
empty session, but it’s better to save an empty session than to start creating your
masterpiece and have data files and MIDI files scattered all throughout your hard drive.
Saving first is a good way to instantiate an environment in which you can keep all of your
files and sounds organized and consolidated

To save, click the File menu and select Save As. This opens the Session Properties window.

In the Name field, name your session. For the Directory field, click the directory icon to create a
new, empty directory for your session files and click OK. Save your session by clicking the OK
button; a Save Session dialogue will open so that you can navigate to the directory you’ve
created and name your session file, which will appear as a .qtr file. Click the Save button to
confirm.

Now that the session has been saved, open the Session Properties window again using the menu
item File / Properties. This time, click the Properties tab and set both the time signature and the
tempo so that you can use the metronome to help you keep MIDI parts synchronized as you
record them.

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3.2. Importing an Audio File
The first thing you may like to do is import a pre-recorded audio file of drums and other
percussion, to form the basis of the recording session. To bring audio into your project file, right-
click in the Files pane on the right hand side of the main workspace and select Add Files, then
choose the file or files you wish to import from the Open Audio Files window that appears. If
the Files pane isn’t visible, you can enable it by clicking on the yellow file icon, the one without
an arrow above it. To place an audio file in a track, drag and drop it from the Files pane into the
workspace. You can add it to an existing track, or drop it directly into an empty area and a new
track will be created automatically.

3.3. Connecting the MIDI data source to Qtractor

Your MIDI piano-like keyboard normally routes its MIDI data (created when you strike the keys,
for example) to its own internal tone generator, which then sounds like you’re playing a real
piano, or electric piano, harpsichord, bass guitar, etc. However, for this project in Qtractor you
want to route the external keyboard’s MIDI data to Qtractor. So, using a standard MIDI cable (or
perhaps a MIDI to USB converter, depending on your set-up), connect the keyboard’s output to
the input of your sound card. Inside the computer, you will route the MIDI data from the sound
card to a Qtractor MIDI input bus.

Next, open Qtractor’s Connections window by clicking on the red icon near the top of the main
workspace.

Connections icon

In the Connections window’s MIDI tab, connect the MIDI output of the sound card (in the left
pane, marked Readable Clients / Output Ports) to Qtractor’s listing in the right pane (marked
Writable Clients / Input Ports). If your sound card doesn’t appear in the list, click the Refresh
button in the bottom right to update the list of connections.

You can connect an output port (the source of the data, MIDI or audio) to an input port (the port
that will receive the data) in several ways. One method is to left-click a port in the left pane, left-
click a port in the right pane, then either left-click the Connect button or right-click elsewhere in
the window and select Connect from the pop-up menu. Another method is to click a port in the
left pane and, with the mouse button held down, drag the cursor to a port in the right pane until
the port is highlighted, then release the mouse button. Regardless of the method you use, a line
representing a “virtual cable” will appear between the two ports in the middle section of the
window.

After connecting your sound card to Qtractor, you’ll then need to connect Qtractor’s output to
your destination source, so that it can send the MIDI information back out again. Again in the
Connections window, connect Qtractor’s Master/Out listing in the left pane to your sound card
in the right pane.

Once you’ve made your connections, close the Connections window by clicking its icon once
more.

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3.4. Creating a MIDI track
Now that Qtractor can receive and send MIDI data, it’s time to create the first track in order to
record that data. Right-click in the blank pane on the left of Qtractor’s main window and, from
the pop-up menu, choose Add track…. You can also do this via the menu item Track / Add
Track….

Adding a track

Qtractor’s Track Properties window will then open.

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Track Properties window

In the Track Properties window, click the MIDI radio button: you want this track to be used for
MIDI, rather than audio, data. As soon as you click the MIDI button, the track is automatically
connected to Qtractor’s Master MIDI input and output buses. These can be changed by using the
drop-down lists and the ellipsis button in the Input / Output area of the Track Properties
window, but there is no reason to do so right now. You can replace the default name “Track 1”
with, for instance, “Piano comp.”

You can leave the MIDI Channel at the default “1” for now, as this channel designation is mainly
for output. That is to say, when the track is played back and its MIDI data is sent to somewhere
outside Qtractor (in this case, a hardware tone generator) that data will be sent on the MIDI
channel specified here (there are 16 possible channels). However, you’re going to record now, so
the eventual output MIDI channel doesn’t matter at the moment - it can easily be changed later
before you play your MIDI tracks back.

What does matter however is the Omni checkbox. If enabled, Qtractor will record MIDI
information received on any MIDI channel (omni means all). If disabled, it will record only
information it receives on the channel number specified in the Channel setting, to the right of the
Omni checkbox. Your MIDI keyboard might be set to transmit MIDI data on only one channel
(e.g., MIDI channel 1), so you need to make sure that each of the MIDI tracks you plan to record
on will receive data either from the correct channel, or from all channels. Click the OK button
and a new empty track appears in Qtractor’s main window.

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3.5. Recording and Playback
In order to record, you must arm the track by clicking on the “Record” button for that track. This
is the “R” button that is present on every track strip, besides the other “M” and “S” buttons
(respectively for “Mute” and “Solo” track state settings). You can also do this via the menu item
Track / State / Record. Either way, the “R” button will turn red (or become highlighted,
depending on your GUI settings) and the track is then set armed and ready for recording.

Next, turn on session recording mode by clicking on the Record button in the main transport
toolbar (big red circle). You can also do this via the menu item Transport / Record.

Now you’re ready to record your first MIDI track. Take a little breath and… press “Play” (blue
triangle next to the transport’s Record button), the space bar or choose the Transport / Play
menu item: you’re rolling. Hit the MIDI keyboard and see a brand new MIDI clip taking shape
while you’re performing. When done, press “Play” again to stop.

As previously mentioned, when playing back a MIDI track its data is sent on the channel number
specified in the Channel setting of the Track Properties window. In order for your hardware
tone generator to play back the MIDI data from Qtractor as actual sound, you’ll need to make
sure that this channel tallies with your hardware set-up.

3.6. Next Steps

This chapter has been merely an introduction to what is a fairly far-reaching subject. More
detailed information on the above topics, plus many other aspects of Qtractor, can be found in the
next chapter. Specifically, see here for more information on working with MIDI and here for
audio. A sample MIDI workflow tutorial using a soft synth can be found in this [How To][How
To - Sample MIDI Composition Workflow].

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Manual - 4 Qtractor–An Overview
Manual - Table of Contents

4. Qtractor–An Overview
4.1. Routing–Connections, Ports, Tracks and Buses

4.1.1. Routing–General Concepts and Information

Qtractor can record and play digital data, specifically audio and MIDI data. To record, Qtractor
must get the data from somewhere; to play the data, Qtractor must send it to somewhere that can
understand the data stream and produce sound. The process of directing such data to and from –
and through – software and hardware is called routing. In Qtractor, not much routing is done
automatically. Most of it is left to the user, because it is the user’s preferences, desires and goals
in any specific project that determine how the audio and MIDI data should be routed.

In order to route data, one must have an understanding of the various connections and pathways
that are available. A bus is like a pipeline through which one or more streams of data can travel. A
port is like a valve at one or both ends of a bus. A port is normally closed, not allowing any data
to flow through, but once a connection is made to it, it opens to allow data to pass through it from
one bus to another. However, simply because a connection is made and the port is open doesn’t
mean that data is flowing through it: the data flow is initiated by the software or hardware at one
or both of the ends of the bus.

A track can be thought of as a place where digital audio or MIDI data is deposited, rather than a
pathway through which such data moves. Data can be deposited in various ways, such as
recording, pasting or importing. Tracks are, however, still part of the signal or data flow, as they
can “pluck” a copy of their data and send it to one or more buses (and, through those buses, to
other destinations). In concrete terms:

• During recording, a track becomes the destination for audio or MIDI data entering
Qtractor’s input bus(es)
• During playback, a track becomes the source of audio or MIDI data, which is then sent
through a Qtractor output bus to a destination, such as a sound card and its attached
speakers

Below is a representation of the connections (ports), buses and routes in Qtractor through which
audio or MIDI data can flow.

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Audio & MIDI data flow, in, through and out of Qtractor

Routing in Qtractor is very flexible and therefore signal/data flow can become very complex.
Data streams can merge and flow through the same bus, or split and go through separate buses to
different destinations. They can likewise flow through different buses to the same destination,
whilst passing through other intermediate software or hardware in which the data is possibly
manipulated in some way. Because of this complexity it is beneficial to develop a solid
understanding of the issues related to routing, the many possible routes that data can take and the
many possible connections that can be made.

4.1.2. Routing in Qtractor

Routing can be accomplished in several ways, including:

• Using the Connections window to connect Qtractor’s input and output buses to outside
sources (for “reading” and, possibly, recording data) and destinations (for “writing” data
to, for example, a sound card)

• Using the Track Properties window to assign a track’s input and output buses

• Setting the state of a track, from among Record, Mute, Solo and Monitor (some of which
are mutually exclusive)

• Adding Plugins, Aux Sends or Inserts to tracks or buses. Aux Sends are used to route
audio to internal destinations, i.e. Qtractor buses; Inserts are used for external
destinations, i.e. applications outside of Qtractor

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4.1.3. Routing–Technical Notes

Qtractor is a fairly massive multi-threaded application. For instance, each audio clip has a
dedicated disk I/O executive thread, which synchronizes with the master engine, and to the
central JACK real-time audio processing cycle, through a lock-free ring-buffer. These audio file
ring-buffers are recycled (filled/emptied) at a one second threshold and have a maximum
streaming capacity of 4-5 seconds of audio sample data. Smaller clips are permanently cached in
a RAM buffer.

Audio thread scheduling is mastered and mandated through the JACK callback API model. MIDI
clip events are queued in anticipation through one MIDI output thread, which feeds an ALSA
sequencer queue, synchronized on one second periods to the JACK process cycle. A single thread
is responsible for listening (polling) for MIDI input, and multiplexes all incoming events through
record-armed MIDI tracks. Time stamping is done through the ALSA sequencer facility.

Looping is made possible through the audio file buffering layer, right at the disk I/O thread
context. The same consideration is adopted for MIDI output queuing. Audio frame relocation is
accounted from successive JACK client process cycles (i.e. buffer-period resolution).

In this particular design, JACK and ALSA sequencer ports are logically aggregated as buses with
respect to the audio and MIDI signal routing paths, functioning as fundamental device interfaces.
Input buses, through exposing their respective input ports, are the inlets responsible for capture
and recording. Output buses are the main signal outlets and are responsible for providing
playback and, more importantly, mix-down connections.

Buses are independently assigned to tracks. Each track is assigned to one input bus for recording,
and to one output bus for playback and mix-down. The assigned bus determines the number of
channels the track supports. Clips bound to disparate multi-channel audio files, for which the
number of channels does not match the track’s, are automatically resolved on mix-down. The
illustration in the above section shows one typical signal flow block diagram.

4.2. Qtractor’s Main Window and Work Area

Qtractor’s graphical user interface follows a standard design of most modern digital audio and
MIDI workstations. The interface is easy and intuitive enough to easily interact with in order to
discover the potential of the underlying inner core of the application where its functionality is
implemented.

The following illustration shows an overall view of the GUI with an example session loaded into
the workspace.

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Qtractor’s main window and work area

The main Qtractor window is initially laid out in this fashion:

• Top - Menus and toolbar icons, with navigation window in bottom-right

• Left - Tracks area, showing name, state, buses etc.
• Middle - Audio and MIDI clips area, with timeline above
• Right - Files pane
• Bottom - Messages window

To move around the work area use the horizontal/vertical scroll bars at the bottom/right of the
windows, or the mouse wheel to move up/down and Shift+mouse wheel to move left/right.
You can also click on the navigation window (above the timeline) to jump to specific areas of the
session.

The navigation window, situated between the main toolbar icons and timeline

To zoom in/out horizontally and vertically use the magnifying glass buttons in the bottom-right of
the main view. Shift-clicking these allows you to zoom in greater increments and Ctrl-

23
clicking will zoom to the maximum/minimum. You can also zoom in/out horizontally using
Ctrl+mouse wheel.

“Magnifying glass” zoom buttons, situated in the bottom-right of the main view

The clips area in the middle is where most of the action takes place. It contains visual displays
and representations of audio waveforms or MIDI data. This section is used for editing Clip
objects (portions or all of any particular audio or MIDI file, recorded or imported) and for
navigation within the project or “session.”

The very bottom-right of the screen shows the Session total time and Session sample rate. To the
left of these is a panel which provides information on the session’s current state. From left to
right, the indicators and their meanings are:

• MOD - session state has been modified since last save

• REC - session is set to record when transport next starts
• MUTE - at least one track is muted
• SOLO - at least one track is soloed
• LOOP - session is set to loop when transport next starts
• XRUN - an x-run has occurred

Session state, total time and sample rate information

Qtractor also has other useful windows, such as the Mixer window and the Connections (patch-
bay) window. These can be opened via the View / Windows menu, or by pressing F8 for
Connections or F9 for the Mixer. Three utility windows are additionally featured: the Messages
window, for general information and debugging purposes; the Files pane, where audio and MIDI
files are organised and selected; and the File System browser, which provides access to your file
system in a manner similar to a file manager (such as Dolphin, GNOME Files, Thunar and so
on).

Dialog windows for editing session, track and clip properties are also accessible in their proper
context, which will be discussed in their respective sections.

Finally, session and application configuration options are assisted through respective customizing
dialogs: Buses, Instruments and Options…, available from the View menu in the main menu bar.

4.3. Understanding a Qtractor Session (recording or editing)

A Qtractor session project contains all the information about your Clips and their placement,
Mixer set-up, plugins, tempo, time signature and Connections patch-bay. When creating or saving
a project, all this and any related settings are saved on your hard disk within this session project
file.

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To create a new session, simply start Qtractor and begin working. If you already have a session
loaded and want to start a new one, choose File / New or click the New session icon (blank piece
of paper) in the upper-left of the screen. To open a session, either use the File / Open… menu
command or drag your session file (.qtr or .qts, which are essentially the same) into the left or
middle pane.

4.3.1. Session Audio Sample Rate

It is important to note that Qtractor sessions are locked to a session project sample rate. This is
dependent on the sample rate of the JACK server running at the time the session is created.

Any attempt to convert non-matching sample-rate sessions will result in a recommendation

warning message.

However, individual audio clip files are automatically converted on playback in real-time to the
host sample-rate (via libsamplerate). This method, while it works very well, is not the
recommended method due to possible errors in the real-time sample rate conversion. Real-time
sample rate conversion is also going to use quite a bit more valuable CPU resources.

Rui Nuno Capela is working toward eliminating this shortcoming by taking control of JACK
from within Qtractor, and restarting it using the session’s project parameters. This will ultimately
reconnect any plugins, set the proper sample rate, etc. Until this feature is available, please follow
the recommendations listed above.

4.3.2. Session Properties

To access the session properties, choose the File / Properties menu item. Here, you can name
your Qtractor session, set the tempo, time signature (how many beats per bar) and decide how
many “ticks” (the smallest time unit in a session) will be within the time span of each beat. If you
choose to rename your session, Qtractor will update any midi and audio clip file names to match
this.

Session properties window showing both Session and Properties tabs

Tempo and time signature can be changed during the course of your composition using the
Tempo Map / Markers window. This is accessed via the View menu or by double-clicking the
region directly above the tracks which displays the bar numbers. Determine where you wish your
tempo/time signature change to occur in Location, input the details of the change in Node, then

25
click either Add to add a new node, or Update to make changes to a previously created one. If
desired, you can also add descriptive text in Marker, plus a colour, by clicking the palette icon
next to the text field. Markers may be assigned to tempo/time signature changes, or independent
of them. Once you’re happy with the content of your Marker, click Add to add it to the map. The
other option in this window is Tempo scale factor, which allows you to scale the entire Tempo
Map (speeding up/slowing down the whole composition) by an arbitrary factor.

Tempo Map / Markers window showing tempo/time signature changes and markers

There are two limitations to be aware of with regard to tempo and time signature changes. Firstly,
changes must occur at the start of a bar - there is no facility to add changes within one. If you, for
example, need to insert a change into the middle of a 4/4 bar, create two 2/4 bars and add the
change to the start of the second of these. Secondly, there is no facility to “ramp” between two
different tempos (gradually increase/decrease tempo over a defined period). Hopefully, such a
feature will be added in the future, though whether this will happen or not is currently unclear.

4.3.3. Session Options

Access the Options windows via the View / Options… menu item. This window allows you to
control the global parameters of Qtractor. These are global settings which are not saved within
your session file.

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Options window, showing General tab

The window is divided into five tabs: General, Audio, MIDI, Display and Plugins. Most of the
settings are self-explanatory, and there are tool tips to guide you, but some which require more
explanation are covered elsewhere in this chapter. The default options should largely be fine to
begin with, but if you’re having trouble seeing parts of the GUI you may wish to adjust the
options in the Display tab. Qtractor takes its look-and-feel from your system settings by default,
but on this tab you can disable Use desktop environment native dialogs (which should be off by
default) and choose your preferred Color theme and Style theme. You may also wish to run
qtconfig to perform configuration for all Qt applications (of which Qtractor is one).

If you need to make detailed colour-related changes, click the … button to the right of Color
theme to open the Color Themes window. Here, you can fine-tune a variety of settings, plus
import them from/export them to external files via the Import and Export buttons at the bottom
of the window.

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Color Themes window, with the Show Details option enabled

Finally, if you experience problems with Qtractor when using a desktop environment based on
GTK+ (GNOME, Xfce etc.), try a Qt-based theme for Style theme and make sure that Use
desktop environment native dialogs is disabled.

4.4. Files
Sound file selection is made available through a tabbed mini-organizer, known as the Files pane,
which lists all the files contained in the current session. Audio and MIDI file lists are kept
separate on their respective tabs. Audio file format support is provided by libsndfile, enabling the
use of wav, aiff, flac, au, etc. The optional libraries libvorbis and libmad provide support for ogg
and mp3 formats respectively. MIDI file support covers the usual SMF formats 0 and 1, through a
native, home-brew implementation.

Files can be imported using the menu command Track / Import Tracks / Audio… or MIDI…,
or by right-clicking in the relevant tab of the Files pane and choosing Add Files…. If the Files
pane is not visible, you can enable it via View / Windows / Files. The default position for the

28
Files pane is to the right of the clips area, but it can be detached and docked elsewhere (such as to
the left of the Tracks pane) if needed. You can preview files by double-clicking them, or by
selecting them and either clicking the play button on the lower right hand side of the pane or
choosing Play from the right-click menu.

The Files pane of Qtractor’s main workspace. Both Audio and MIDI tabs are shown

When importing a MIDI file, note that the file’s tempo map will be reproduced in Qtractor only if
it is the first MIDI content to be loaded into the current session. If the current session already has
one or more MIDI tracks (even if the tracks contain no actual clips), the tempo map from the
imported MIDI file will be discarded. This also means that if a New session template containing
tracks has been enabled via the View / Options… / General menu, the tempo map of any
imported MIDI file will be automatically discarded.

Individual and multiple files can be drag-and-dropped from the desktop environment and within
the file list. Dropping a file into a blank region of the tracks area will create a new track and add
the clip (which represents the file) to it. Dropping a file into an existing track will create a new
clip within it. When dropping an audio file into an existing track you can drag the file itself, but
with a MIDI clip you must drag your desired Track/Channel (displayed when clicking the file
name in the Files pane), rather than the file itself. Finally, dragging a session file (.qtr or .qts,
which are essentially the same) into the left or middle pane will load that session.

After working on a project for a while you’ll probably find that the Files pane contains files
which you no longer need. To remove anything not currently referenced in the tracks area, right-
click the Files pane and choose Cleanup. Note that this merely cleans up the list of files - it does
not delete the files themselves from your hard drive. If you wish also to remove non-needed files
from your session directory, save the session as a .qtz archive and use this in place of your
previous session. See here for details on archives.

29
For convenience, a File System browser with tree-view is also available. This can be enabled via
View / Windows / File System. Its default position is to the left of the Tracks pane, but like the
Files pane it can be detached and docked elsewhere. For instance, you may choose to have both
windows on one side of the screen, with one above the other.

File System browser, docked to the left of the Tracks pane

4.5. Clips

4.5.1. Clips Summary

Clip objects are the elemental items of a session arrangement, and can contain either audio or
MIDI data. A clip represents either a region of, or the entirety of, an actual audio or MIDI file.
MIDI clip objects are representations of a sequence of events of one single MIDI channel, as
extracted from an SMF format 0 file, or of one single track from an SMF format 1 file. Clips can
be copied, truncated, lengthened/shortened (by dragging their edges) and time-stretched as if they
were actual audio/MIDI data; editing a clip object in these ways is a non-destructive process.

Clips are placed on tracks either by importing audio or MIDI files as new tracks or by dragging
and dropping files into the main track window. Empty clips may also be created by right-clicking
on a track and choosing Edit / Clip / New….

4.5.2. Copying, Cutting, Splitting and Merging

To copy or cut a clip, select the clip, then right-click and choose Copy or Cut from the menu.
Next, choose Paste from the right-click menu, position the box outline where you want to paste
the clip and left-click. Note that when copying a MIDI clip within the same track, the two clips
become linked, meaning that any change to one of them will automatically affect the other. If you
select a clip which is currently linked to another, any such linked clips will be highlighted with a
dashed outline, enabling you to see which other clips will be affected by changes made to the

30
selected one. To unlink a clip, thus disabling automatic changes, select it and choose Clip /
Unlink from the right-click menu.

A linked clip highlighted with a dashed outline

To split a clip, select the clip, then position the playhead (red vertical line) where you want to
split it and choose Clip / Edit / Split from the right-click menu. If you use this operation often, it
is far more convenient to assign a keyboard shortcut for it. Since Qtractor never affects the
original file it is referencing, any split you make to a clip is reversible. You can undo a split via
the Edit / Undo menu, or by clicking and dragging the edge of the clip then extending it to its
original length. Note that when dragging audio files to hide/reveal portions of them, the
waveform may appear to “move” slightly. This is just a visual artefact - the position of the actual
audio in the track is not affected.

To merge clips and so consolidate a number of them into one file on your hard drive:

1. Select the clips within a track that you want to merge into one

2. Choose Clip / Merge, either via the main toolbar or the right-click menu

3. In the Merge/Export window, enter a new name for the merged file and save it to a logical
location on your hard drive (preferably within your session folder)

4. The merged clip immediately replaces the old clips in your project

4.5.3. Fades and Cross-Fades

Fading a clip in or out is a common enough operation that there is a quick shortcut to achieve the
effect. Notice that in the top corner of any audio or MIDI clip there is a semi-transparent square
node. Clicking and dragging this node further into the clip will create a fade-in (if done at the
beginning of the clip) or a fade-out (if done at the end).

The actual method of audio volume (gain) and MIDI velocity change can be one of linear,
quadratic or cubic types. You can set your desired type via the clip’s Properties window (see
next section).

An audio clip, with left and right upper corner fade handles drawn inward to create a fade-in and
fade-out

31
When two clips overlap you may wish to cross-fade them, simultaneously fading-out the first and
fading-in the second. You can do this manually, by dragging the fade handles to the desired
lengths (they can still be manipulated even if clips overlap). Alternatively, you can select either
clip and choose Clip / Cross Fade - Qtractor will then add a cross-fade, determined by the length
of the overlap. Once you have your cross-fade you can fine-tune its length and type if needed, as
per the information above. If you have trouble clicking on a particular clip because it’s obscured
by another, try selecting it from the Files pane.

Two audio clips cross-faded together

4.5.4. Clip Properties

A clip’s properties can be accessed by double-clicking the clip (for audio clips), or by opening the
clip and choosing File / Properties (for MIDI).

Audio clip properties include its Name (the label the clip is known by within the session); File
path; Start time (location), Offset and Length; Gain; Panning; Format (Frames, Time or BBT);
Fade-in/out length and type; Time Stretch percentage (can be set within a range of 10%-1000%)
and options; and Pitch Shift amount (can be set within a range of -/+40 semitones). Time-
stretching is applied in real-time at the buffering level, as a custom WSOLA algorithm based on
and derived from the SoundTouch library.

MIDI clip properties include its Name; File path; Track/Channel; Start time, Offset and Length;
Volume; Format (Frames, Time or BBT); and Fade-in/out length and type.

32
Audio clip properties window

33
4.6. Qtractor Main Workspace–Tracks Area

4.6.1. Tracks Summary

MIDI and audio tracks in the main workspace of Qtractor

Tracks are arranged as a sequence of one or more clips of the same file type, either audio or
MIDI. The tracks window is the main application workspace, serving as a virtual canvas of a
multi-track composition arranger. Most of the editing operations are performed here.

The tracks area has two panes: the left one displays the list of tracks with their respective
properties and the middle pane is the audio and MIDI clips area, where multi-track composition
and arranging is performed. Column widths in the left pane can be adjusted to allow for long
track names etc. by dragging their edges; double-clicking resets them to their defaults. Track
height can be adjusted by dragging up/down in the Nr column of the left pane, or by right-
clicking and using the Height menu.

34
Audio and MIDI tracks with meters enabled

Note that information regarding global UI settings, such as column widths and Mixer set-up, is
stored in ~/.config/rncbc.org/Qtractor.conf (and so restored upon re-loading
Qtractor), while track height is stored in the session file (and so restored upon re-loading a
session).

To create a new track either right-click in the left pane and choose Add Track, or right-click in
the right pane and choose Track / Add Track. In the Track window which appears, choose a
name in the Name: box, choose a Type (Audio or MIDI), adjust any other options desired, such
as the track’s colour and icon, and whether it is for drums (which will show MIDI Note On
events as diamonds instead of rectangles) or not, then click OK.

Track window for a MIDI track

You can also duplicate an already-existing track by right-clicking the track in the left pane and
choosing Duplicate Track.

As is usual, tracks are stacked on horizontal strips and clips are layered on a bi-dimensional grid,
in time sequence for each track strip. Time is modeled on the horizontal axis and pictured by a
bar-beat scale ruler at the top of the track view. Clips may be conveniently aligned to discrete
time positions, depending on the current Snap mode setting, which is set via either its icon on the
toolbar or the View / Snap menu. When set to “None”, snapping is carried out to MIDI
resolution, quantized to ticks per quarter note granularity.

35
Each track has its own user assignable colors for better visual identification. Audio clips are
displayed with approximate waveform graphic, with peak and RMS signal envelopes as read
from the respective audio file segment. MIDI clips are shown as a piano roll-like graphic, with
note events shown as small rectangles, depicting pitch, time and duration.

All session, track and clip editing operations are undo/redo-able. Discrete view zooming is also
available.

The red vertical line in the tracks area is the playhead. This shows the point at which playback/
recording will begin when you start the transport rolling and its time corresponds to the clock
towards the top-left of the screen. You can control the position of the playhead via the transport
controls (to the left of the clock), by dragging the top of the playhead, or by Ctrl/Shift-
clicking in the horizontal bar above the tracks which houses the bar numbers or in an area of the
Tracks pane which contains no clip (Ctrl/Shift-clicking on a clip will select the clip).
Alternatively, you can Ctrl/Shift-middle click on either the horizontal bar or anywhere in the
Tracks pane (with or without a clip).

Transport controls (left box) and clock (right box) showing current position of playhead

The blue vertical lines are Edit Markers. See below for information on these.

4.6.2. Track States

A track’s state is controlled via the R, M, S and A buttons in the left pane. Their meanings are as
follows:

• Record - arm the track for recording, ready for creating new audio or MIDI clips with
captured material
• Mute - silence the track so that it produces no sound
• Solo - set only this track to produce sound, silencing all the others (though those already
solo-ed will too produce sound)
• Automation - automatically control various parameters of a track or its plugins. See the
Automation section for details

When muting/solo-ing a track, holding down Shift or Ctrl while clicking the M or S buttons
produces the following effects:

• Shift-click - Enable/disable state on all tracks. If the button clicked is currently disabled,
all tracks will be enabled; if it is currently enabled, all tracks will be disabled
• Ctrl-click - Enable/disable state on this track only. For example, Ctrl-solo-ing a track
with other tracks already solo-ed will un-solo those other tracks, leaving just the target
track solo-ed

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Mute, Solo, Record & Automation buttons for individual tracks

It is possible to select more than one track at a time in order to mute/solo/monitor them all
simultaneously, by using the following commands:

• Add tracks - Shift+left-click/mouse drag; Shift+Home/End keys; Shift/Ctrl+up/

down arrow keys
• Toggle tracks - Ctrl+left-click/mouse drag; Ctrl+Home/End keys

In Qtractor parlance, though there is only ever one current track at any one time for editing
purposes, there may be one or more selected tracks, invoked by the above commands, on which
an operation can be performed. The current track is always displayed with a slightly darker
background, whilst the colour of selected tracks is determined by the current palette scheme or
theme (the default being that of the desktop environment). Once you have your desired tracks
selected, you can mute/solo/monitor them using the relevant icons, menus or keyboard shortcuts.
It is also possible to Shift/Ctrl-click the M or S buttons (as discussed above) with multiple
tracks selected in order to apply these operations to the entire “set” of selected tracks.

Tracks can also be muted and solo-ed on mix-down, which will then apply when exporting,
enabling you to export specific tracks only.

4.6.3. Making Selections - Select Modes

The mouse cursor has four select modes: Clip, Range, Rectangle and Automation. Choose your
desired mode via Edit / Select Mode from the main toolbar, or by right-clicking in the track area
and choosing Select Mode.

37
Select Mode context menu (right-click menu)

• Clip - allows you to select whole clips, click and drag them within and between tracks, and
extend/shorten their lengths. The precision with which you perform these operations is
determined by the current Snap mode setting
• Range - spans all tracks in your workspace and allows you arbitrarily to select any portion
of clips, irrespective of their beginning/end. You can, for example, select a range in the
very middle of a clip and all other clips above and below it, because you are selecting a
block of time, rather than a particular clip
• Rectangle - is similar to Range, but is track-specific. This allows you to draw an arbitrary
“box” area over one or more tracks, the extent of which becomes your selection

Once you’ve made your selection, you can then perform the usual cut, copy, paste etc. operations.

Making a selection using the Range* select mode*

For the final select mode, Automation, see its section.

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4.6.4. Making Selections - Edit Markers

In addition to using select modes, you can select a range in your workspace by using the Edit-
head and Edit-tail markers. These are the two blue vertical lines which are present in the tracks
area and which are independent of the playhead.

The Edit-head and Edit-tail markers

To set the in-point of your selection, left-click in the bar/tempo area of the workspace, where the
top of the blue lines are situated. To set the out-point, right-click in the same area. You can also
drag the lines. Middle-clicking will bring both lines together at that point.

Once you’ve set your markers, you can use them to make a selection. To do so, from the main
toolbar, choose Edit / Select and one of Track or Track Range. You can also right-click in the
track area to access the same menu.

4.6.5. Loops

Looping a section is a common operation, often used to enable a musician to practise a particular
passage, or a mix engineer to focus on a specific area. To play a section of your composition in a
loop:

1. Select a range, using one of the methods described above

2. From the Transport menu, select Loop Set. Alternatively, click the Loop button (pair of
blue, circular arrows) on the main toolbar

3. Move the transport into the loop range, or somewhere before it, then press the Play button
or the space bar. Once the transport reaches the end of the loop range, it will return to the
in-point and seamlessly continue playing until stopped

It is also possible to record using a loop, but such an operation would more commonly be
handled by Qtractor’s Takes feature. See its section for details.

4.6.6. Paste Repeat

In electronic music especially, there’s often a need to record one or two bars and then loop them
to create standardised bass lines or drum beats. For drum tracks, you may prefer to handle them
by using a specialist drum machine, such as Hydrogen, which would play the same data (either
pure MIDI data or audio samples) for as many bars as you program it to. However, the same
effect can be achieved in Qtractor by using a Paste Repeat. This allows you to copy an audio or
MIDI clip and then paste it back-to-back for as many repetitions as you wish.

39
There are two ways to perform a Paste Repeat - one quick and one slightly more detailed. The
quick method is to Ctrl-click and drag a clip’s left or right edge. This will replicate the clip as
many times as fits into the desired area. The more detailed method is as follows:

1. Check your snapping settings in the View / Snap menu (when pasting clips for a loop, the
user generally wants precision snapping to the clips’ edges)

2. Select the clip you want to copy using the Clip select mode (or use Range mode, Rectangle
mode, or the Edit Markers to select a portion of a clip) and use Edit / Copy to copy it

3. Click Edit and choose Paste Repeat

4. In the Paste Repeat window, enter the desired number of iterations in Count and, if
needed, the duration (in frames, time or BBT) between the start of each iteration in Period.
Click the OK button to confirm

5. Position the box outline where you want to paste the clips and left-click to anchor them in
their track

Note that any clips copied in this way will become linked to the original, as covered in the Clips
section.

4.6.7. Punch In/Out

If one or two bars of a track don’t quite measure up to your standards, you might want to re-
record just those bars without having to record the entire track over again. This process is called
punching in/out.

To perform a punch in/out:

• Use the Range or Rectangle selection mode, or the Edit Markers, to define the region of
your timeline that you wish to re-record

• Once your range is set, click the Punch in/out button in the main toolbar (pair of up/down
arrows), or use the Transport menu and select Punch Set

• Arm the recording destination track by clicking its “R” button in the track properties pane,
on the left hand side of the main workspace

• Press the Record button in the main toolbar, position the playhead somewhere before your
selected region, then press the Play button or the space bar. Qtractor will play back your
piece and you can play along, but nothing will actually be recorded unless it is within the
punch range

• To stop playback, click the Stop button in the main toolbar, or use the space bar

40
Punch in/out range (purple markers) inside a loop range (green markers)

4.6.8. Automation

Qtractor features automation of nearly any aspect of any plugin, as well as basic track functions
like volume and panning. It is only possible to automate tracks; buses cannot be automated.

• In the track you wish to automate, click the Automation button in the track list. From the
pop-up menu, select the attribute of the track that you wish to automate first (here, we’re
automating “wave Volume”). An overlay is placed on the track.

Automation pop-up menu

• Click the Edit menu to go into the Select Mode category, and choose the Automation
selection tool. Alternately, click the Automation Selection Tool icon from the top menu bar

41
 • Armed with your automation selection tool, click on the automation overlay on your track
to create a node. Node placement is constrained by the Snap/beat setting, so set this to
None if you wish to place a node at an arbitrary point
• Adjust the volume of this node to be the initial volume. You can either drag the node or
double-click it and enter a precise value
• Click again on the automation overlay to create a second node, and move it to another
volume level. For the space between the two nodes, the volume will change from the
starting node level to the ending node level
• You can drag multiple nodes left/right, maintaining their values (vertical positions), by first
selecting the nodes then dragging them whilst holding Ctrl or Shift. It is not currently
possible to drag multiple nodes up/down

Adding automation nodes

If you need a less gradual change, move the nodes closer together, or use more nodes to shape
different movements.

Adjusting automation nodes

The type of transition used between automation nodes can be customized via the track’s
Automation button, within the Mode category. Hold places the automation nodes into absolute
values until otherwise changed.

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“Hold” automation mode

• Linear - effects an even, linear progression from one node to the next. This is the default
automation mode.

“Linear” automation mode

• Spline - same as Linear, except with B-splines instead of a completely linear progression
between nodes.
• Logarithmic - same as Spline, except that the degree of the Bézier curves changes
proportionately to the difference between nodes.

“Spline” automation mode

• Color - when you automate volume, panning and effects all on one track it can get
confusing. Use Color to change the shade of the automation overlay so that you can
distinguish one set of controls from another. Lock prevents accidental changes to
automation; this is especially useful when working on a different automation function on
the same track.

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If you are a skilled live mixer and want to record your performance in real-time, you can override
existing automation decisions, or record new ones, in two different ways, each available in the
Automation menu:

• Play - with this enabled, you may make real-time changes to existing automation, and
upon release of the slider or knob that you are automating, the value returns to the pre-
existing value. This may be combined with the Record option.

• Record - with this enabled, you may make real-time decisions for automation and every
move will be recorded, in real-time, as a node in your track. They can be manually changed
later, if needed.

4.7. Mixer

4.7.1. Mixer Summary

The Mixer window serves for session control, monitoring, recording and assistance in mix-down
operations. It is divided into three panes: the left accommodates all input buses; the centre,
individual track strips (either MIDI, with a yellow “plug” icon, or audio, with a green
“waveform” icon); and the right, output buses. These are marked as Inputs, Tracks and Outputs
respectively. Right-clicking in this area allows you to toggle the Inputs/Outputs’ displays on and
off; you can also left-click and drag & drop them both within and outside of the Mixer.

The Mixer window can be accessed via the View / Windows / Mixer menu. It opens as a
separate window, making it a prime candidate for occupying a second screen if you have a
multiple-head set-up.

The Mixer window

Each vertical mixer strip offers a volume slider (MIDI tracks) or gain control (audio tracks and
buses), panning slider, Mute/Solo/Record state buttons (tracks only), monitor button, connections
button (buses only) and output event activity LED (MIDI tracks only).

44
Right-clicking in the panel directly underneath each strip’s name allows you to perform a variety
of operations. For instance, you can add plugins, or set up dedicated outputs via Audio /
Dedicated. A dedicated output is an audio output specifically for that track, which can be
connected via JACK (in Qtractor’s Connections window, or QJackCtl, it will appear in the
Audio tab, under Qtractor). You can also choose whether to Auto-connect the dedicated output
via the same right-click menu - doing so means that it will automatically be connected to
system:playback_1 and 2.

At the extremities of the Mixer window are the Master In and Master Out buses. These are
independent of any one track and control everything coming into or going out of the Mixer. Here,
you can adjust the master input/output levels and place any effects processors you want to apply
globally (such as a compressor to prevent peaks on outgoing audio).

Monitoring is presented in the form of peak level meters for audio and note event velocity for
MIDI, both with fall-off eye-candy. Audio volume is presented on a dBFS scale (IEC 268-10)
and pan is applied in approximated equal-power effect (trigonometric weighting). For MIDI
tracks, volume control is implemented through the respective channel’s Controller 7 and system-
exclusive master volume for output buses. MIDI pan control is only available for track strips and
is implemented through the channel’s Controller 10. MIDI input buses have volume and pan
controls disabled.

4.7.2. Setting Levels

When monitoring the levels of your tracks, make sure that the sound does not enter the red zone
on the volumeter. In audio production, any sound that goes above 0dB hits its peak and can cause
distortion. It’s not uncommon to flirt with 0dB to truly maximize the impact of important sounds,
but leaving sounds above 0dB in your final mix can ruin your project.

Using the volume level slider, adjust your track volumes to safe settings while listening to your
project. Then, listen to your project again to refine the levels in relation to one another. If the
sound source is too low (or too loud), you can add (or subtract) gain at the input point with the
Gain adjustment at the very bottom of the Mixer window. This adds or subtracts gain level at the
point of the sound’s entry, meaning that you are changing the amount of sound reaching any
effects processors. Generally, gain adjustment is avoided and other tools, like a Compressor or
Equalizer, are favoured.

The Mixer’s gain adjuster

Remember that Track levels don’t exist in a vacuum; the levels are cumulative. So, if you have
two tracks with near-maximum levels that produce very loud sounds at the same time, the Master
Out level will peak even if each track was “safe” independently.

There is no authoritative way of achieving a balanced mix. Some professional mix engineers
favour an additive mix, in which they start all levels at a reasonable and safe level and then
accentuate important parts by adding volume to tracks. Others favour a subtractive method,
starting everything at the highest safe (or unsafe) level and then bringing volumes down so that
everything falls into place. Predictably, still others prefer a combination of these methods.

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4.7.3. Panning

By default, tracks are set to play from the center point of the stereo space, meaning that the sound
will feel as if it’s situated directly in front of the listener, or spaced evenly between his/her ears.
To diversify the sound, perhaps in order to emulate a live set-up, to suggest that an instrument is
just next to the listener, or simply to broaden the scope and impact of the piece, you can pan
tracks between the left and right speakers using the panning slider.

The Mixer’s panning slider

When panning a track, “less” is often “more” and an even spread is usually best. In other words,
instead of arbitrarily assigning tracks in stereo space just to give a spread to your sound, try to
consider their overall balance. Avoid moving sounds to the extreme stereo positions (also known
as hard left/right), since, in real life, sounds are rarely only heard in one ear and not the other.
The sound of extreme stereo separation was common in early stereo mixes from the 1960s, in
which the drums might only be heard in the right ear and the guitar only in the left; the effect was
revolutionary at the time but is largely considered utterly unnatural now.

Generally, important tracks (vocals, lead etc.) and low frequency/groove tracks (bass, kick drum
etc.) are positioned in the middle, while other parts are panned to the sides in various degrees.
The extreme edges are often used for atmosphere, emphasis, or effect.

4.8. Signal Flow

4.8.1. Signal Flow Summary

For anything other than the simplest of projects, you will likely want to manipulate the flow of
MIDI and audio data, routing it into, out of and through Qtractor in a variety of ways. You may
want to drive an external sound module, accept input from a MIDI controller to record
performance data, group together similar tracks to share the same plugin, or perform some other
kind of processing before final export. In Qtractor, Connections, Buses, Aux Sends and Inserts
are all used to control “what goes where”. There are many different ways to approach the process
of routing and exactly what you’ll need will depend on your set-up. With this in mind, this
section will give a general overview of the options available so that you can decide what best fits
your requirements.

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4.8.2. Connections

The Connections window serves to establish the audio and MIDI port connections between the
internal core layer input and output buses (ports), and the external devices or client applications.
It can also be used to connect external client application ports - either JACK clients for audio or
ALSA sequencer clients for MIDI. All active connections on the existing input and output buses
are saved and restored upon session recall. To open the Connections window, select View /
Windows / Connections, or click on its icon.

Connections icon

A window similar to the below will then open. Its features and usage are almost identical to those
of QjackCtl.

47
Qtractor’s Connections window, showing both the Audio and MIDI tabs. “Readable” ports are
sources of data (where audio or MIDI data can come from) while “writable” ports are places
that data can be routed to (sent to)

Once you’ve decided how to approach the routing for a particular project, you can then make the
necessary connections between Qtractor and whatever other programs or external devices you’re
using. You can connect a Readable/Output port (left pane) to a Writable/Input port (right pane) in
several ways. One method is to click a port in the Output pane and, with the mouse button held
down, drag the cursor to a port in the Input pane until the port is highlighted, then release the
mouse button. Another method is to left-click a port in the Output pane, left-click a port in the
Input pane, then either left-click the Connect button or right-click elsewhere in the window and
select Connect from the pop-up menu. With this method you can also Ctrl-click or Shift-

48
click to select multiple ports. Regardless of the method you use, a line representing a “virtual
cable” will appear between the connected ports in the middle section of the window.

The System input ports playback_1/2 represent your default left/right stereo output (e.g. your
first-configured sound card). If you wish to use alternative destinations for playback, monitoring
etc., you can connect them up here.

4.8.3. Buses

As explained at the start of this chapter, a bus is like a pipeline through which streams of data can
travel. Qtractor has Input, Output and Duplex buses for both audio and MIDI. Input buses
receive data streams from particular sources (inside Qtractor, or from other software or
hardware), Output buses send streams to other destinations and Duplex buses both receive and
send streams.

How many and what kind of buses you need will depend on what you want to achieve, but the
basic steps to follow are:

1. Create a bus

• Assign it as an Input or Output for a track

• Connect it via the Connections window

To open the Buses window, click on the View / Buses menu.

The Buses window, showing one MIDI and three audio buses

The left pane contains a list of the session’s buses; clicking on one of these will display its
information in the right pane. The right pane has three tabs:

• Properties - Name, Mode (Input, Output or Duplex), Monitor (Duplex buses only),
Channels and Auto-connect (Audio buses only) and Instrument and SysEx (MIDI buses
only)

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 • Input Plugins - plugins processed on input (Input and Duplex buses only)
• Output Plugins - plugins processed on output (Output and Duplex buses only)

The method of creating a bus may not be immediately apparent. To create a new MIDI or audio
bus, select any bus of the desired type in the left pane (if you’re working on a clean session, the
only choices will be MIDI and Audio Master) in order to display its properties in the right pane.
Next, change the text in the Name field; this will enable the Create and Update buttons. To
create a new bus, click Create.

Before clicking Close, you may wish to change other options in the right pane. For audio buses, a
commonly used option is the Channels setting. Its default is 2, which, for an Input bus, will give
you a stereo recording. However, you may want to set this to 1 to create a mono input bus in
order to record, for example, an external source via a single microphone. With a bus’ Channels
set to 1 and the bus assigned as the Input to a track, any recording on that track will then be in
mono.

If you’ve made any changes, click Update, then Close. (If you don’t click Update a reminder
dialogue box will appear in any case.)

Once you’ve created your bus, you’ll need to assign it to the relevant track(s). To do so, select a
track and choose the Track / Track Properties… menu, or double-click the track in the left pane
of the main view. This will open the Track window. In the Input / Output area, assign your bus
via the drop-down box (whether it appears in Input, Output or both will depend on what type of
bus it is).

50
Track window for a MIDI track

The final step is to connect the bus up to its destination - a task which is achieved via the
Connections window. Again, exactly what you need to do will depend on your set-up, but if you
wanted, for example, to send a particular MIDI track to an external software or hardware synth,
you would connect its output bus’ Output connection in the left pane to your synth’s Input in the
right pane. One thing you should not do is route the output of one Qtractor bus to the input of
another, as this will give unpredictable results.

Buses are an extremely valuable tool and their use is almost essential for any reasonably sized
project and when using Qtractor with external inputs and outputs. They enable you to use the full
16 MIDI channels through each bus, giving you much more flexibility than if you were using the
Master MIDI bus only. You can, for example, have a dedicated MIDI bus routed to a multi-
instrument synthesizer, sound module or soft synth, giving you 16 separate channels to control
different instruments within the synth. Buses can also be used to route the audio output of
external synths into Qtractor audio tracks for recording. For more information on this topic, see
this [How To][How To - Sample MIDI Composition Workflow].

4.8.4. Aux Sends

Aux Sends are used to route audio or MIDI from a track or input bus to another destination
within Qtractor - specifically, to a bus. To create one, open the Mixer, right-click under the name
of your track or bus, then choose Inserts / Audio or MIDI / Add Aux Send. In the window
which appears, set the Aux Send to “Active” (top right button), choose your destination bus in the
Aux Send Bus combo box (bottom left) and choose the amount you want to send via the Send
Gain slider.

The Aux Send window for a MIDI track

What value to set Send Gain to will depend on the purpose of your destination bus. For example,
you may want to send several tracks to the same bus in order to share that bus’ plugin(s). This is a
reasonably common requirement, particularly for reverb, where you would have an “overall”
setting in the destination bus’ plugin, then adjust the amount you send to this via each track’s
Send Gain slider. In this way, you can control the amount of reverb applied, in order, for
example, to mimic an instrument’s placement on the stage.

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4.8.5. Inserts

Inserts are similar to Aux Sends, but are used to route audio or MIDI externally of Qtractor. They
can be added to tracks, or to input or output buses. You can even route your entire mix to an
external destination, such as JAMin, before routing it back into Qtractor for export.

To create an Insert, first, launch your external application. Then, open Qtractor’s Mixer, right-
click under the name of your track or bus and choose Inserts / Audio or MIDI / Add Insert. In
the window which appears, set the Insert to “Active” (top right button) and adjust Send Gain,
Dry Gain and Wet Gain as necessary.

The Insert window for an audio track

Next, use the Sends button to connect the Insert to your external application and the Returns
button to connect the application back to the Insert (these buttons open up the same Connections
window discussed above). The signal will now flow from your track/bus out to the external
application, then return to the same track/bus and continue on from the point below the Insert.

4.8.6. Connection Persistence

When working with purely internal sources and destinations (plugin soft synths, Aux Sends etc.)
Qtractor will automatically restore any connections you have made upon re-loading the session.
With external applications, however, things are slightly different: Qtractor will only restore such
connections if they are present when the session is saved. For example, if you save and close your
session with everything correctly connected, upon restarting both Qtractor and your external
application, the connections will be correctly restored. However, if you close the external
application, then make a change in Qtractor and save (i.e. with Qtractor and the application in a
“non-connected” state), upon restarting, the connection will be lost and you’ll need to make it
again.

This behaviour can be avoided by always ensuring that you have your external connections in
order before closing Qtractor (easier said than done when using many external applications). It
can also be mitigated somewhat by using QjackCtl’s Patchbay feature to make the connections
persistent; however, this too is rather unwieldy as it means adding each item manually to the

52
Patchbay. A third approach would be to use a session manager, such as QJackCtl’s Session feature
(which employs “JACK session”), or NSM.

4.9. Plugins

4.9.1. Plugins Summary

There are four types of plugins supported within Qtractor: LADSPA, DSSI, VST and LV2. They
can be added to both buses and tracks and are aggregated seamlessly as one single instance on a
multi-channel context. To add a plugin, open the Mixer, right-click in the panel below the name
of the desired track and select Add Plugin.

Mixer window showing plugin area at top. Plugins are added, removed, activated/deactivated,
moved in the processing chain and their settings edited using a right-click context menu

In the Plugins window which then appears, select the plugin type - (Any), LADSPA, DSSI,
VST, or LV2 (see the following sections for information on the different types) - in the top-right
box. Next, select your plugin from among those installed and, if desired, tick Activate in the
bottom-left corner to enable the plugin as soon as it’s added to the mixer strip. If you have a long
list of plugins to choose from, you can use the top-middle box to search for what you want.

53
Plugins window, showing LADSPA plugins currently installed

Qtractor will look in the most likely installation directories for plugins and display any found in
the above window. If, however, you have plugins installed in non-standard directories, you
should specify their paths in the Plugins tab of the View / Options… window. Once you’ve
made your selection, click the OK button to add the plugin.

Specifying the locations (paths) of plugins in the View / Options… window

Plugins are processed in order from top to bottom and can be individually selected, activated and
moved (by dragging/dropping) within the plugin chain order. They can also be copied or moved
to other mixer strips by dragging/dropping and choosing your desired option from the pop-up
menu which appears; a faster way to accomplish this is Ctrl+drag to copy and Shift+drag to
move. There are a couple of things to note about plugins, which may affect your workflow.

• All plugins are pre-fader - that is, they are processed before the Mixer’s Gain fader. If you
want them to behave as though they were post-fader you can insert any plugin which
controls gain at the start of the chain (i.e. before your pseudo post-fader plugins) and use
that, rather than the Mixer fader, to control the track’s gain

54
 • There is no plugin delay compensation, so if a plugin adds latency to the signal chain this
won’t be corrected for. If you do need to correct for this, the only option is to do so
manually by adjusting a clip’s timing via the Offset value in its Properties window

Individual plugin control parameters can be modified in real-time through provided dialog
windows and maintained as named presets for re-usability. To create a preset, once you have your
desired settings ready, enter a name in the box at the top left of the generic plugin GUI (it will say
“(default)” to begin with), then click the save icon next to it. You can select from among your
saved presets by clicking the arrow next to the preset name or, when in the Mixer, by right-
clicking the plugin and choosing Preset.

Generic plugin GUI, showing preset box and save and delete icons

Note that certain plugin-specific GUIs, such as Calf LV2, may not display the presets information
even though the functionality itself is there. In such cases, you can access the generic GUI by
right-clicking the plugin in the Mixer and choosing Properties…, then create presets from there.
When more than one GUI exists for a plugin, you can also opt to choose which you want by
enabling Select plugin’s editor (GUI) if more than one are available in the View / Options… /
Plugins menu.

4.9.2. LADSPA

LADSPA has been a Linux audio plugin standard for many years. There are literally hundreds of
LADSPA plugins available for Linux, providing a huge variety of processing effects, such as
equalization, filtering, reverb, chorus, amp and speaker simulation and so on. Well-known
LADSPA plugins include the swh package by Steve Harris and the tap package by Tom Szilagyi.
These may already be present in your distro’s repositories.

4.9.3. DSSI

DSSI plugin support is available for instrument and effects plugins. You must have the core DSSI
subsystem installed in order for this type of plugin to function. Well-known DSSI plugins include
the fluidsynth soft synth for working with soundfonts (.sf2/.sf3) and Sean Bolton’s
WhySynth. Again, these may already be present in your distro’s repositories.

4.9.4. VST (Linux Native)

Native Linux VST plugins are supported, but there are only a few native Linux VSTs available.
Please see section 2.4.2 for complete information on building Qtractor with native VST support.

Note: Native Linux VST support does NOT include running of Windows® VST plugins. Please
use the DSSI-VST wrapper when attempting to use this type of plugin, and make sure your
Windows® VST plugins are located within your DSSI path environment variable (the variable
name is VST_PATH).

55
4.9.5. LV2

LV2 is the extensible successor to LADSPA and offers many improvements over it. A wide
variety of plugins are available, such as the synthv1 synth, by Rui Nuno Capela (author of
Qtractor), and the Calf set of effects. If you have the choice of using an LV2 plugin over a
LADSPA or DSSI one, it’s generally better to use the LV2 one. Doing so will ensure that when
saving a Qtractor archive file (.qtz), all the relevant information is correctly included in the
archive.

4.10. Working with MIDI

4.10.1. MIDI Summary

MIDI is a versatile format for triggering sounds. It can be used to trigger hardware synths
external to your computer, software synth applications on your computer, samples, loops,
automation functions and more. Some music programs bundle your MIDI data into your project
file, which can make it difficult to share one MIDI loop between projects. However, Qtractor
saves all MIDI tracks as independent files, meaning that you can easily re-use them.

There are basically three ways to get MIDI data into your Qtractor session and they are each
covered in the sections below:

• Import MIDI data from an existing file

• Play in MIDI data via a USB MIDI keyboard controller

• Enter MIDI data into the MIDI Editor (sometimes called a “piano roll” or “matrix editor”)

Before beginning with MIDI, unless you’re using Qtractor to drive an external hardware synth
you should make sure that you have some software synthesizers installed on your system. If
you’ve just installed soft synths now you should relaunch Qtractor so that it will detect the newly
available plugins.

Note that with each successive MIDI track you add, you must increment the MIDI Channel used
(Qtractor will do this by default), otherwise key presses on your MIDI controller, or playback
from Qtractor, will use the same MIDI channel to trigger different sounds. In other words, if
Track 1 and Track 2 are both using MIDI Channel 1, then a note played on Track 2 will also
trigger the instrument assigned to Track 1. To change a track’s Channel, double-click on the track
in the left hand pane of the main view then, in the Track window which appears, select the
Channel number underneath MIDI / Instrument. If you run out of channels, you can use
multiple buses.

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Track window for a MIDI track, where the MIDI Channel can be selected

4.10.2. Importing MIDI Data

Since MIDI data consists of nothing more than digital signals to activate and deactivate sounds at
certain times, MIDI files are small and easily distributed online. A simple internet search for
MIDI files will result in thousands of files for nearly any song you can name. Taken alone, MIDI
files are useless; imported into Qtractor and assigned instruments, however, the files come to life
like a player piano. The MIDI file you import into Qtractor could be from the internet, one you
created yourself in another application, or even a data dump from a MIDI-capable hardware
synth. In this example, we will use one from the internet:

1. Download a MIDI file, such as JS Bach “Invention in C minor, BWV 773 (Canon)” and
save it to your hard drive - preferably in your Qtractor’s session directory, to keep your
project self-contained

2. In Qtractor, go to the Track menu and select Import Tracks / MIDI. Alternatively, you
may open the Files pane, click on the MIDI tab and use the right-click menu to import the
MIDI file without automatically adding it to a track (if you do this, you’ll need to drag the
file into the workspace manually). Please also see the note in the Files section regarding
importing MIDI files

3. The MIDI tracks will appear in your Qtractor session. Imported tracks will often have
embedded General MIDI instrument assignments, as is the case with this example. General

57
 MIDI was an effort to standardize a set of 128 instruments to provide similar playback
results across all systems

If you have a soft synth installed and assigned to the relevant track(s) you can press the Play
button in the top toolbar of Qtractor to hear the MIDI file. If you’re using a General MIDI-
compliant soft synth bank you should get a good approximation of how the original author of the
file wanted the tracks heard.

4.10.3. Creating MIDI Data with a MIDI Controller

A MIDI controller is a piece of hardware to help you play the software-based synthesizers in your
computer. Typically, it is a piano keyboard with a few octaves and no built-in sounds of its own.
It usually plugs into the USB port of your computer and, once configured, will pass on any key
press to Qtractor, allowing you to play a software synth in real-time as well as record the key
presses themselves.

MIDI and USB are two technologies that, fortunately, have been kept universal enough that you
almost don’t need to question whether any given USB MIDI controller will work with your
system. There are perfectly capable USB MIDI controllers being offered from vendors like Akai,
Roland/Edirol, Digidesign/M-Audio and many others. If you require realistic, weighted keys with
high resolution touch-sensitivity then look at the upper price-range of controllers and go to a
music store to audition them. However, if all you require are a few octaves of piano keys so that
you can get a tune into the computer quickly and easily, the basic controllers will be enough.

To use your USB controller to input MIDI data:

1. Plug the USB MIDI controller into your computer

2. Launch QJackCtl and start it

3. Launch Qtractor and click on the View menu, then select Connections from the Windows
category

4. In the Connections window, click on the MIDI tab. Find your USB controller device from
those listed on the Readable Clients/Output Ports column on the left hand side. Open its
category to see the available outputs

5. Connect the output of your MIDI device to Qtractor in the Writable Clients/Input Ports
column

6. Create a new track, then double-click the track in the left pane of the main view. In the
Track window which appears, make sure that the Channel value (underneath MIDI /
Instrument) corresponds to the channel your MIDI device is transmitting on. Alternatively
enable Omni alongside this to tell Qtractor to receive input on all channels

7. In the Mixer, enable the track’s Monitor button (so that it turns green)

In Step 4, if you do not see your USB controller listed in the left column, check to ensure that
your controller is powered on (some require external power; others are powered by the USB
port) and check the cable connection. If you still cannot see the device in the left column make
sure your computer sees the controller by checking dmesg | tail. If your computer registers
the device but you are not seeing it in Connections click Refresh* in the bottom right of the
window. If it still doesn’t appear try restarting both QJackCtl and Qtractor.*

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Presuming you have a soft synth installed and assigned to the track, pressing the keys on your
USB controller should now trigger the soft synth in Qtractor, generating sound. To record MIDI
data, arm your track by clicking its “R” button in the left pane of the main view, click the Record
button in the top menu, then click the Play button to start the transport recording - every key
press you make on your USB controller should now be recorded in real-time. Depending on the
feature set of your controller, velocity, pitch and other data may also be recorded

If you re-record over a clip, Qtractor will create a new, overlapping clip (which can, if desired, be
merged with the original clip using Clip / Merge). If you’d rather overdub the original clip,
adding extra notes directly to it instead of creating a separate clip, select the desired clip and
choose Clip / Record from the main menu, or File / Record from the MIDI Editor. Once
selected, the clip will change colour and any data recorded in its region of the timeline will be
added to it.

You may wish to control particular settings of a plugin by sending MIDI controller messages to it
from your USB controller. Although assigning MIDI controllers to LV2 plugins is not permitted
by the LV2 specification, Qtractor offers another way of handling this which works for all plugin
types. To assign a controller, first open the plugin’s generic GUI, by right-clicking on its name in
the Mixer and selecting Properties…. A window such as the below should appear, the content of
which will be defined by the plugin’s exposed settings.

A plugin’s generic GUI

Next, right-click on the name of the setting you want to control and, in the dialogue box which
appears, choose MIDI Controller. The below window should then appear.

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MIDI Controller window, where controller messages can be assigned to plugin settings

If you have not already done so, connect your hardware MIDI controller up, using the Inputs
button. Then, choose which controller message to use via the Type and Parameter options,
together with your desired MIDI channel in the Channel box. There are also several other
options below these:

• Logarithmic - the linear scale of the MIDI controller (rotary knobs, sliders, etc.) is
mapped to a logarithmic scale value on the target controlled subject. This is usually
applicable to audio volume, dB scales or even frequency spectrum ranges
• Feedback - causes any change in the state value of the controlled subject to be sent/fed-
back to the MIDI controller, to allow the latter to reflect and sync its state accordingly. This
is mostly applicable to MIDI controllers with visual (e.g. LEDs) and/or mechanical
(e.g. motorized faders) feedback
• Invert - the minimum-maximum range of the MIDI controller is inversely mapped to the
maximum-minimum scale values on the target controlled subject (and vice-versa)
• Hook - the MIDI controller and its controlled subject state/value are always in sync
(hooked to each other); otherwise a deferred sync mode is in effect, with both ends playing
catch-up to each other’s from either direction until they match their states/values
• Latch - this is used only for on/off toggle parameters and relates to Latch vs Momentary
modes of switches. These are the opposite of each other, so latch=OFF is the same as
momentary=ON and vice-versa. This option is mostly applicable to foot-switches or pedal
controllers. Latch (=ON) mode is the default setting for most such controllers, but a
controller that operates in Momentary mode will usually send an event when you depress
the switch (0 -> 1) and another when you release it (1 -> 0). (This is the meaning of
“momentary”: the switch state is only signalled to be momentarily on while the switch is
depressed, returning to its former state upon release.) Setting the Latch option to OFF for
this latter case will simulate a toggle switch, meaning that the target subject state will only
change to ON or OFF when the switch is either being depressed or released, respectively

Note that MIDI controller assignments are applicable only to the session you create them in. If
you want to use the same assignment in a different session you’ll need to create it again.

You can also create and manage generic MIDI controller mappings, plus import/export these
mappings as a .qtc file, via the View / Controllers menu.

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The Controllers window, where generic MIDI controller mappings can be managed

4.10.4. Creating MIDI Data with the MIDI Editor

If you have no USB MIDI controller, you can still create MIDI data using Qtractor’s MIDI Editor
(sometimes called a “matrix editor” or “piano roll” in other music programs). Data is edited on a
grid through the usual GUI operations, such as selection, drag-and-drop, move, cut, copy, paste
and deletion. The MIDI Editor can be invoked either for raw entry or to modify existing MIDI
data that you’ve imported or played into Qtractor.

The MIDI Editor is very intuitive. The main, upper pane is the Editor Grid, which represents the
notes being played. Vertically, the grid corresponds with notes on the chromatic keyboard
(pitched as per the keyboard on the left of the window); horizontally, it corresponds with beats
per bar. The lower pane is the Value Grid, which controls extra MIDI data, such as velocity,
program changes, pitch bends and so on. The data represented here changes according to the
Value menu setting in the upper menu bar.

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MIDI Editor window, showing notes in a familiar “piano roll” display (above) with their
velocities (below)

You move around the MIDI Editor in the same way as the main work area - using the horizontal/
vertical scroll bars at the bottom/right of the window, the mouse wheel/Shift+mouse wheel, or
the navigation window (at the bottom of the MIDI Editor window itself).

The MIDI Editor’s navigation window, situated at the bottom of the MIDI Editor window itself

To zoom in/out, again, as per the main work area use the magnifying glass buttons at the bottom-
right of both the Editor Grid and Value Grid (Shift-clicking or Ctrl-clicking if needed), or
Ctrl+mouse wheel.

“Magnifying glass” zoom buttons, situated towards the bottom-right of the MIDI Editor window

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All MIDI editing operations are available and processed in real-time. Several MIDI Editor
instances may be active and open at any one time, provided each one refers to its own clip. All
MIDI content may be saved as standard MIDI files (SMF) Format 0 (all tracks reduced to one
track, preserving channel assignment data) or Format 1 (multi-track). The format for the SMF
files may be set in View / Options… / MIDI.

To create new MIDI data:

1. Create a destination track, if you don’t have one already

• Right-click within the track and choose Clip / New. The MIDI Editor window will appear
• Click the Edit on (pencil) icon in the menu bar and draw notes in the upper pane of the
grid. You can also click the Edit Draw (pencil with wavy line) icon to draw multiple notes
“free-hand” by dragging the mouse
• In the bottom Value Grid pane you can adjust a variety of parameters. The default view
shows Note Velocity, but this can be changed via the Value type and Parameter type combo
boxes just below the pencil icons. Drag the bars up/down to increase/decrease their values,
or click in a blank area (with one of the Edit modes enabled) to add new data

Below is a summary of the MIDI Editor’s main tools:

• Arrow - select/move notes in the Editor Grid (or values in the Value Grid) and increase/
decrease their length. To select all the notes of a particular pitch, left-click the desired key
of the piano keyboard on the left hand side of the window and drag the cursor right, into
the editor area
• Edit on (pencil) - draw notes or values, with their spacing determined by the Snap/beat
setting (see below). You can also hold down Ctrl or Shift in this mode to put the Edit cursor
into select mode temporarily - this is useful for quickly switching between inputting and
selecting notes/information, as it avoids having manually to switch between the Edit and
Arrow (described above) cursor modes
• Edit Draw (pencil with wavy line) - dynamically draw multiple notes/values with a click-
and-drag of the mouse. This is, again, governed by the Snap/beat setting, but the faster you
move the cursor the fewer the lines that will be drawn
• Note Type - “Note On” indicates that the notes you draw in the grid represent the length of
the note. “Key Press” indicates that the notes represent a MIDI event without a defined
duration, such as triggering an external MIDI sequence to begin playing
• Value - determines the information shown in the Value Grid. This may be note velocity,
program changes, pitch bend or other extra MIDI data
• Parameter type - only available when certain Values are selected, such as Controller.
Provides further information for the Value setting
• Snap/beat (musical note) - determines the resolution when drawing and editing notes/
values. In a 4/4 session, for instance, a setting of Beat would cause a click in the Editor
Grid to produce a crotchet (quarter note), Beat/2 would produce a quaver (eighth note) and
so on. Regardless of the default note length, a note can be lengthened/shortened by clicking
and dragging one of its edges to increase/decrease its length. The resolution of such
changes is also determined by the Snap/beat setting
• Value ramp - allows you to draw a continuous, linear slope of MIDI events in the Value
Grid. This can be useful for operations such as creating crescendos/diminuendos or
adjusting pitch bend

To use the value ramp: 1. Choose your desired Snap/beat setting 2. Enable Edit on and Edit
Draw, then draw a series of events in the Value Grid (lower pane) 3. Hold down Shift or Ctrl (or
switch to Edit off) and highlight these events 4. Disable Edit Draw (leaving Edit on enabled),
then hold down the left mouse button and drag the dotted line over the events to set the angle of

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the slope. You can not only shave the tops off the bars but extend their heights too. You should
see something like the below as you drag

Adding a diminuendo using the value ramp

You can also use the tools detailed in Additional MIDI Editor Features with MIDI events such as
these. For example, if you wish to make your diminuendo longer/shorter you can do so easily
using the Rescale tool. With the MIDI events highlighted, right-click and choose Tools / Rescale,
then adjust the Time percentage value accordingly.

4.10.5. Additional MIDI Editor Features

In addition to input and editing tools, the MIDI Editor features functions such as Quantization,
Transposition, Timeshifting and more to make it easy to modify your composition. To access
these features, open the Tools menu via the MIDI Editor toolbar, or by right-clicking within the
window. If no notes are selected, the Tools will be unavailable; select a note or block of notes
with the Arrow tool to make them available. Many of these tools are also very useful for
adjusting MIDI event data in the Value Grid.

• Quantize - allows you to automatically structure notes in stricter uniformity with your time
signature. This is especially helpful if you’ve played the notes in and were not perfectly on
the beat. You can quantize notes such that the notes occur on the beat (or divisions thereof);
such that the durations of notes are extended to be on the beat (or divisions thereof); such
that notes play with some degree of “swing”; and even such that the notes played match a
specific scale, from Minor to Major to the extremely obscure
• Transpose - allows you to transpose the pitch of, or shift the timing of, a note/notes, or
reverse a sequence of notes
• Normalize - adjusts note velocity by either a percentage or an absolute value. A percentage
value will adjust the velocity of the notes equally by the percent given in relation to the
original velocity, while an absolute value adjusts velocity of each note to that value
regardless of original velocity
• Randomize - provides random changes to the Note, Time, Duration, or velocity (Value).
You may adjust how extreme the changes will be with percent values
• Resize - allows you to control the duration of notes to any number of beats (or divisions
thereof), or the Velocity to any value
• Rescale - changes the selected notes by some percentage. You may alter the time that the
notes are triggered, the duration for which they sound and the velocity at which they are
played
• Timeshift - alters the timing of the selected notes on a curve, such that the acceleration from
the beginning note to the ending note is either increased or decreased

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The MIDI Editor’s Tools menu

In order for Qtractor to know how to accelerate the timing of the notes, you must define a range
of time for the acceleration to occur. Do this with the Edit-head and Edit-tail markers (the blue
markers in the timeline above the MIDI Editor grid). Mark the out point (tail) of your range by
right-clicking on the timeline, and then set the in point (head) of the time range by left-clicking
somewhere to the left of the original marker. Once the range is defined, select the notes you wish
to timeshift with the Arrow tool. Open the Tools menu and select Timeshift. Use the slider to
cause either an acceleration, or a deceleration, in your selected notes over the course of the
defined time range and then click OK to commit the change.

The View menu provides customization for how the MIDI Editor is laid out and how the notes
are presented to you. The default layout is clean and pleasingly minimalist, but take a look at
some of the other options to see what works best for you:

• Menubar - turns off the top menu bar; use Control+m to toggle it on or off

• Statusbar - turns off the status bar at the bottom of the window

• Toolbars - defines what information is visible in the window. Choose from File (file
opening and saving icons), Edit (cut, paste, undo), View (preview modes, snapping,
quantization), Transport (fast forward, rewind etc.), Scale (key signature and scale
information) and Thumb (thumb view at the bottom of the window)

• Windows - toggles on or off event information, a panel which provides detailed information
on each MIDI event in the MIDI Editor grid

• Tool Tips - toggles whether tool tips are visible

• Note Duration - defines whether the note’s duration is reflected in the length of the velocity
bars at the bottom of the grid

• Note Color - assigns differing colours to each note; if this is not active, all notes appear as
one colour

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 • Value Color - assigns the colours of the corresponding notes to the velocity bars; helpful
when you have many overlapping notes but want to adjust their velocities

• Drum Mode - displays MIDI Note On events as diamonds instead of rectangles

• Zoom - zoom in or out on the grid

• Snap - define what division of the beat your notes snap to, or turn snapping off entirely

• Scale - change the key signature or type of scale being used

• Refresh - causes the MIDI Editor to redraw in the event of latent images

• Preview Notes - toggle whether or not you hear the notes of the scale as you input or move
notes on the grid

• Follow Playhead - define whether the MIDI Editor grid scrolls with the playhead when you
are playing the track

4.10.6. MIDI Instruments

There are many MIDI hardware tone generators available from a variety of manufacturers such as
Yamaha, Roland and Korg. In Qtractor, information about the sound patches and sound banks of
these tone generators is obtained from “instrument definition” (.ins) files. Qtractor supports
instrument definition files used by the Cakewalk/Sonar MIDI sequencer software, offering a
convenient MIDI bank-select/program-change mapping for existing MIDI instrument patch
names and easier, intelligible selection of MIDI track channels. Files for many popular MIDI
tone generators and synthesizers can be downloaded from the Cakewalk site.

.ins files are imported via the View / Instruments… window. You can also import MIDI Name
XML files (.midnam) in the same way. Once you’ve imported a file, select your desired patch
via the Bank and Program options in the MIDI / Instrument area of the Track window. After
clicking OK, the information will appear in the main view. Instrument patches can also be
assigned via several other menus:

• Track / Instrument in the main toolbar

• File / Track / Instrument in the MIDI Editor
• Right-clicking a track in the left pane of the main view and selecting Instrument
• In the GUI of the plugin itself

When working with soundfonts (for example, via the FluidSynth DSSI, or Calf Fluidsynth LV2,
plugins), you can also use the View / Instruments… window to import their patch names.
Simply select the desired .sf2/.sf3 file and its patch names will be imported. For DSSI
plugins, changing the patch information in the Track window should update the relevant
information in the plugin’s GUI automatically and vice-versa. However, this may not be the case
for LV2 plugins (due to the LV2 spec, rather than any issue with Qtractor) - if there is a mismatch
between the patch set in the plugin and the information in the Track window, upon re-loading the
session the patch in the track may override that of the plugin. To avoid this behaviour, in the
Track window set MIDI / Instrument to (No instrument) and Bank and Program both to
(None), then perform all patch selections directly in the plugin.

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Instruments window, where MIDI instrument definition files, MIDI Name XML files and
soundfont patch names can be imported, exported and moved

4.10.7. Soft Synths

Strictly speaking, software synths, or “soft synths”, are not part of Qtractor. However, it is
common to use them within Qtractor. Acquiring free soft synths online is a simple matter of
locating them via the project’s homepage, your distribution’s repositories, or sites such as
sourceforge.net.

Soft synths for GNU/Linux come in a few varieties:

• Standalone synth applications that launch separately from Qtractor, but which plug into
JACK so that they can be used as sound sources within Qtractor. One such example is
Qsynth, written by the same programmer as QJackCtl and Qtractor

• DSSI Plugins, which are launched and controlled entirely from within Qtractor. For
example, Fluidsynth DSSI

• LV2 Plugins, which are launched and controlled entirely from within Qtractor. For
example, synthv1

• VST Plugins. The format from Steinberg does in fact support Linux technically, but there
are few Linux-native VST synths

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synthv1 - a soft synth available in both standalone and LV2 plugin forms

Once your synth of choice is installed, the method of launching it will depend on what form it is.
If it’s a standalone application, it can be launched like any other application on your system. If
it’s a plugin for Qtractor, launch Qtractor and create a new MIDI track, then choose your soft
synth for the MIDI Instrument, as described here.

4.10.8. Soft Synths as Plugins

Using soft synths as LV2 or DSSI plugins is probably the easiest model, as it does not require any
additional routing through JACK. The synth is integrated into Qtractor’s interface, the sound is
directed to the appropriate track, and the fact that you are using a separate application is almost
entirely abstracted away from you. For more information on using plugins, see the Plugins
section.

Most soft synths have some level of control over the sounds they produce. To edit a synth’s
properties:

1. Choose View / Windows and open the Mixer

2. In the panel towards the top, locate your synth and make sure it’s on (designated by a green
lamp on the left of its name). If the lamp is black (synth turned off), click it so that it turns
green

3. Double-click on the soft synth to open its settings window and change the desired
parameters. The actual information presented will differ depending on the synth

Whether you use LV2, DSSI or VST plugins, the process for using a soft synth (or plugin effect)
is the same. In addition, all parameters provided by the interface can be automated, enabling
attributes like LFO or resonance to change over time during playback. For more information on
this see the Automation section.

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4.10.9. Stand-alone Soft Synths

The other kind of software synth you might use is a stand-alone synthesizer, such as Qsynth. To
use such a synth, launch QJackCtl and Qtractor, then launch the synth the same as you would any
other application on your system.

Once you’ve launched your synth it will become a source for audio and a destination for MIDI
signals in Qtractor. However, you must first verify that your settings are correct:

1. Open the View / Windows / Connections menu

2. The Audio tab contains all possible sources of audio. If you’ve launched QSynth, for
example, it will be listed in the left column. Also listed will be Qtractor itself, since it too
produces sound. In the right column are the audio destinations available. At the very least,
you should see Qtractor’s Master In and your computer speakers (labelled as System >
playback). By default, the sound from Qtractor’s Master Out is patched to System >
playback so that you can hear everything that Qtractor’s Mixer manages

3. This is where the workings of your own studio set-up should be considered. The audio
from your synth can logically be patched into either Qtractor’s Master In, so that its sound
can be recorded into an audio track, or System > playback, if you have an external mixer or
recording device that will be recording it. To patch the sound from the synth to its
destination, click the left channel of the synth output (in the left column), then the left
destination channel (in the right column), then the Connect button. Repeat this for the right
channel if stereo is required

This takes care of routing the audio; now you must route the MIDI signals controlling the synth.
Here again, there is no “right” way to route the flow of data - you must be somewhat familiar
with the equipment and workflow you are implementing and decide for yourself how you want it
all to work together. However, a general method of working is described below:

1. Open the View / Windows / Connections menu

2. The MIDI tab contains all possible sources of MIDI signals. At the very least, your stand-
alone soft synth will be listed in the left column. If you have a USB MIDI controller, it too
will be listed. Qtractor itself and a MIDI Through channel will also be listed. In the right
column are the sound destinations available. At the very least, you should see Qtractor’s
Master and MIDI Through, together with any soft synths you are running

3. Connect the MIDI signal from Qtractor (in the left column) into your soft synth (in the
right column) so that the data in your MIDI tracks will trigger the synth’s sounds

4. If you are using an external USB MIDI keyboard controller, you will also likely want to
route its signal into Qtractor’s MIDI input so that you can input notes directly into your
Qtractor MIDI tracks

4.11. Working with Audio

4.11.1. Audio Summary

There are two typical scenarios for dealing with audio in Qtractor and, indeed, for most digital
audio workstations:

• Import existing audio files from your hard drive, a recording device, or a loop collection

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 • Record audio into Qtractor via your computer’s built-in microphone or an external
microphone

These methods of acquiring sound for your work can be, and very often are, combined to create a
richer audio production.

4.11.2. Importing Audio Files

The easiest way to get sound into Qtractor is to import an audio file from your hard drive.
Whether you are using sampled loops to construct a new musical piece, or importing a
performance transferred from a recording device, importing audio in this way does not involve
recording sound directly into Qtractor.

To bring audio into your project file, right-click in the Files pane and select Add Files or use
Ctrl+F. Choose which file or files you wish to import from the file chooser window that
appears. To place an audio file in a track, drag and drop it from the Files panel into the
workspace. You can add it to an existing track, or drop it directly into an empty workspace area
and a new track will be created automatically.

Note that when importing an mp3 file and adding it to the timeline, you may find that the
waveform shows extraneous silence at the end. This is a known problem with mp3 files and it is
especially prevalent with those encoded in VBR (variable bit rate) mode. To fix this, just delete
the file from the timeline, then re-drag it back onto the timeline and the waveform should display
correctly.

4.11.3. Recording Audio

Recording audio into Qtractor requires a microphone and at least one audio input channel. Many
laptops and webcams have built-in microphones, so, in theory, you could use this as an input
source, but for best quality, purchase an external microphone and use it as your audio capture
device.

For simultaneous multi-track recording, rarely will the sound card that was bundled with your
computer be sufficient. Almost all sound cards embedded on motherboards are set to mix the
input signals down to a stereo mix. If you wish to record three separate musicians at the same
time, each to a separate track in Qtractor, you will require a sound card with separate, dedicated
inputs.

The way that Linux displays available sound inputs and outputs can be daunting at first, until you
understand the logic behind it. A Linux system displays sound devices the same way it displays
hard drives and available network interfaces: the first device (regardless of actual inputs or
outputs available via that device) is labeled hw0, the next hw1, the next hw2, and so on. It is safe
to assume that hw0 would be the built-in sound card on the system; being embedded in the
motherboard would certainly qualify it as being the first available sound device.

So, hw0 represents, in almost every case, your built-in sound card. hw1 might represent, for
instance, a webcam that you keep plugged into your desktop, and hw2 could represent, perhaps, a
USB microphone or a USB interface that you’ve plugged in. You can usually determine which
device is which by looking at the vendor name associated with the hw labels; for example, if you
have two devices plugged into your system and one is labeled Blue and the other H4, then you
would know from these terms that one is your Blue USB microphone and the other your Zoom
Studio H4n.

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With regard to outputs, these can sometimes be confusing due to the many possible ways you
may wish to output your sound. Typically the stereo mix of your system sound is available as the
first two output devices. If you have more than just two speakers and you wish to split your
sound to each, then utilize the outputs labeled appropriately (Front, Center and so on). If the
sound input and output labels confuse you, take a few minutes to learn them by playing sound on
your computer and plugging speakers into each output on your computer. For the inputs, plug a
microphone into your different inputs and see where they are received and how they are labeled.
It won’t take long before you understand the logic behind the labels, and you’ll be able to use
Qtractor all the more fluidly.

4.11.4. Recording from Line-In

There are many kinds of microphones, each intended for certain kinds of sounds and situations,
but on a purely technical level, without the question of aesthetics and microphone design, there
are only about three scenarios you will encounter:

• Microphones with an 8th-inch (also called a mini) jack

• Microphones with a quarter-inch or XLR jack

• Microphones with USB connectors

The recording process is different, depending on your input type.

If your microphone has an 8th-inch jack, then you can plug it directly into the line-in of your
computer. No external sound interface is required. Your built-in sound card is JACK’s default
input, so no changes are necessary. If your microphone can easily and cleanly adapt to the
standard 8th-inch input with a cable or a simple plug adapter, then you can use this method of
recording, as well.

To record from the line-in of your computer into Qtractor:

• Go to the View menu and select Windows / Connections to verify that the Capture
devices on your System are routed to the Master/In of Qtractor and that the Master/Out
channels are routed to the Playback channels of your System

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Connections window, set up to capture audio

• Go to the Track menu and choose Add Track or use Ctrl+Shift+N. In the Track
dialogue box, give the track a name, set the Type to Audio, and set the Input/Output to
Master. Click the OK button to proceed

• Arm the new track for recording by clicking the “R” button in the track listing on the left of
the main Qtractor window. This sets the destination for the recorded sound

• Click the Record button in the top toolbar

• Click the Play button in the top toolbar

4.11.5. Recording from USB

A USB microphone plugs directly into the USB port of your computer. If you input sound
through USB, then (obviously) you are utilizing a different interface than your computer’s built-
in sound card. This must be set via QJackCtl for appropriate sound routing to occur:

• In QJackCtl, stop the sound server by clicking the Stop button

• If you have not already plugged in your USB audio interface or USB microphone, then do
so. Make sure it’s on

• Click the Setup button. In the Settings tab, locate the Input Device setting and click the
“>” button to see your choices

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QJackCtl settings window showing Input Devices

• Click the Start button to activate

Now your USB interface, whether it is a single USB microphone or a 4-channel Audio-to-USB
conversion box, is managing your input sources. Plug your XLR microphone into your USB
interface, set the interface’s input source as your XLR jack, and then create a new track in
Qtractor and begin recording:

• Go to the View menu and select Windows / Connections to verify that the Capture
devices on your System are routed to the Master/In of Qtractor and that the Master/Out
channels are routed to the Playback channels of your System.

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Connections window, set up to capture audio

• Go to the Track menu and choose Add Track or use Ctrl+Shift+N. In the Track
dialogue box, give the track a name, set the Type to Audio, and set the Input/Output to
Master. Click the OK button to proceed

• Arm the new track for recording by clicking the “R” button in the track listing on the left of
the main Qtractor window. This sets the destination for the recorded sound

• Click the Record button in the top toolbar

• Click the Play button in the top toolbar

4.11.6. Recording Takes

Aside from one-take recordings, you can create multiple, continuous takes by using the Loop
recording mode. To enable the Loop recording mode, go to View / Options… and, on the
General tab, set Loop Recording mode (takes) to either ‘First’ or ‘Last’. This will control
whether Qtractor chooses the first or the last take by default.

After you have enabled the Loop recording mode, select a loop range. To do so, position the Edit
markers by left-clicking on the timeline where you want your loop range to start and right-
clicking where you want it to end. Now select Transport / Loop (or press Ctrl+Shift+L).
This will create a loop range out of your edit range and enable the loop mode as well. Just arm
the track you want to record to, press Record, then press Play. Qtractor will start recording, but
when it reaches the end of your loop range it will wrap around and start recording a new take of
your loop range. You can record as many takes as you wish and decide later which one you like
the most.

After having recorded some takes, select your new clip and go to Clip / Takes / Select to choose
between the different takes. You can also press Shift+T to iterate through the recorded takes.

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It is also possible to combine Punch in/out recording with looped takes recording. Just create a
new Loop range as before, then create a Punch in/out range inside your loop range. Recording
now starts as soon as the playhead enters your Punch in/out range. Recording stops once the
playhead leaves the range, but it will start again, recording another take, as soon as your loop
starts over and reaches the punch in point again.

Punch in/out range (purple markers) inside a loop range (green markers)

Takes are implemented in such a way that they are appended to each other. In other words,
multiple recorded takes will result in a single clip that contains all takes appended to each other.
By having activated the takes mode, Qtractor will show you only a section of this clip with the
size of the selected loop range. If you go to Clip / Take / Select and choose ‘None’, Qtractor will
‘unfold’ your takes and show the recorded clip at its full length.

Once you know how takes are implemented, you can create them from any clip you like. For
example, select a clip and place the edit markers within a fraction of your clip. If you have a clip
that is four measures long, place the first edit marker at the beginning of the clip and the last at
the beginning of the second measure. Now go to Clip / Take / Range. In the dialog box which
appears, choose ‘Edit’. The box on the right of this will show the resulting number of takes - in
this case it will create four takes (one for each measure). Just click on the take you want to select.
As you can see, takes can be created with a variety of ranges - just use the one that fits your needs
best.

Finally, be aware that take state information is kept only for the original recording track location.
If you change or cut any of the folded clip-takes all take state information will be lost (though
such operations can be undone, as normal). If you move a clip to another area of the same track,
then select a different take, the clip will “snap” back to its original position. If you move a clip to
another track, take state information will be lost. Note that even if information has been lost in
whatever way, you can still drag the clip’s edges to access any hidden takes manually.

4.12. Audio / MIDI Export

All or part of the session may be exported to one audio or MIDI file. To export a file, select
Track / Export Tracks / Audio… or MIDI…, or right-click in the tracks area of the main view
to access the same menu. This will open either the Export Audio or Export MIDI window.

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Export Audio window, where the tracks in a session can be exported as a single audio file in the
format previously specified by the user in View / Options…

The Range options enable you to specify how much of your session to export. You may export
the whole Session; any Loop, Punch or Edit range you have previously denoted with its
markers; or an arbitrary Custom period (the format of which can be expressed in Frames, Time
or BBT).

The Outputs box allows you to choose which buses to export. Ctrl-click to select more than
one. Note that when exporting multiple buses, because the buses’ outputs are added together, the
exported file can become clipped. To address this, you may choose to:

• Lower the level of the output buses, so that their combined output level does not exceed
0dBFS (monitoring this combined output via an external meter if necessary)
• Export to a float sample file format, by selecting one via the Capture / Export section of
the View / Options… / Audio menu. This way, even if the exported file does become
clipped, no data will be lost. You can then simply reduce the level of the file later using an
editing tool, such as Audacity

Enabling the Add new track(s) option will automatically import a copy of your exported file into
a new track below the currently selected one. This can be useful to “freeze” all or part of your
session, mixing down several tracks to one new track in order to lighten CPU load or simply to
tidy your workspace up.

MIDI export pertains to MIDI material only and results in the merging and concatenation of the
selected MIDI tracks and clips into a single file of either SMF Format 0 (all tracks reduced to a
single track) or SMF Format 1 (multi-track).

Audio export is implemented through the special JACK freewheel mode and is thus faster than
real-time, resulting in a complete and exact mix-down of the selected audio material into a
designated audio file of the selected format (wav, aiff, flac, au, ogg etc.). It is also possible to
export the output of MIDI tracks directly as audio (with standard audio tracks also included in the

76
exported file, if desired) using the same Export Audio window, provided that the MIDI tracks’
audio is generated by plugin instruments. For MIDI tracks which are used to send data to external
instruments driven by JACK-MIDI or ALSA-MIDI (the output of these instruments then being
routed back into Qtractor), it is necessary to “bounce” their output to audio tracks within Qtractor
before export. The process of bouncing is covered in this [How To][How To - Sample MIDI
Composition Workflow].

The user-preferred format for exported audio and MIDI files can be set in the Options window
(View / Options…).

4.13. Snapshots, Templates and Archives

4.13.1. Snapshots

After the initial save of your project, you may find later that you want to save multiple
“snapshots” of a session to compare it at different stages. To do this, click File / Save as… and
Qtractor will add an incremental number to the end of your file name. Once saved, you can then
switch freely between these snapshots by opening the relevant file.

Be aware that snapshots saved in the standard session file formats (.qtr or .qts, which are
essentially the same) save only references to clips, rather than the clips themselves. Because of
this, “destructive” edits (such as changing the notes of a MIDI clip) will be reflected in all
snapshots. For example, if you have a MIDI clip in snapshot 1, then create snapshot 2 and make
changes to the notes in that same clip, when you re-load snapshot 1, the changes you made in
snapshot 2 will now be present in snapshot 1 as well. If you wish to avoid this and preserve all of
your clips in a separate snapshot, use the .qtz archive format, which will safely bundle its own
versions of all the clips (see also 4.13.3. Archives below).

4.13.2. Templates

Templates are an extremely useful time-saving feature, which enable you to restore many settings
automatically for use in a new project, thereby eliminating the need to re-configure tracks, buses,
connections etc. each time. To create a template, once you have your session set up the way you
want it, choose File / Save As and save the file in the .qtt format. This file can then be loaded in
the same way as a standard session. Template files reproduce all the original session’s settings,
without any MIDI or audio data, leaving you ready (or at least part of the way ready) to begin a
new project. Exactly what you include in your template will depend on your needs, but you’ll
begin to discover what these are as you use Qtractor. You can save any number of templates to
cover whatever kind of projects you need.

If you find that you’re using the same template often, you may choose to have it auto-loaded for
every new session. To enable this, choose View / Options… and, in the General tab, specify
your template in New session template.

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The Options window

4.13.3. Archives

Qtractor has a zipped archive format, .qtz, which collects together all the information needed to
reproduce the session elsewhere, such as settings, connections, plugins (LV2 only) and all MIDI
and audio files (minus any which have been disassociated with the session via the Cleanup
option in the Files pane). This format can be used to share your Qtractor project with other
people, or simply to tidy up a session which contains extraneous files.

Note that even if you save an archive with a different file name the original session’s Properties
will remain as they were, meaning that any clips subsequently recorded will still bear this old
name in their file name. For example, if your original session has “Song_A” as the Name in its
Properties and you save an archive of, then work on, the new session as “Song_B”, all new clips
will continue to be called Song_A-trackName-1.mid etc. If you want the new session name
to be reflected in the file names of both new and existing clips, open the File / Properties… /
Session menu and update the name in the Name: box. Qtractor will then update the session’s
midi and audio clip file names to match this name.

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4.14. Other Qtractor Features

4.14.1. Metronome

When recording audio or MIDI data in real-time, a metronome can be very useful for keeping
your performance in time. Qtractor has both audio and MIDI metronomes. The audio metronome
generates its sound within Qtractor; the MIDI variant requires an external sound source, such as a
standalone soft synth. You can even use both metronomes at the same time if desired.

To set up a metronome, open the View / Options… menu.

• Audio metronome - select the Audio tab. In Metronome, tick Enable audio metronome
and point Qtractor to the files you wish to use for Bar and Beat. You can also adjust the
Gain if necessary, plus create Dedicated audio metronome outputs (useful if you have a
particular monitoring set-up in mind)
• MIDI metronome - select the MIDI tab. In Metronome, tick Enable MIDI metronome,
select a Channel and specify the Note (bar) and Note (beat) you wish to use. You can also
adjust the Velocity and Duration of these notes. The MIDI metronome triggers sounds via
the MIDI Master Out bus by default, but if you’d prefer to use a separate bus you can
enable Dedicated MIDI metronome output - this will then appear as Metronome in the
MIDI tab of the Connections window. Once you’ve decided which bus to use, connect it up
to your destination via the Connections window

If you’re working with noticeable latency in your system, the Offset (latency) option, available
for both audio and MIDI metronomes, allows you to compensate for this.

Percussion sounds are often employed for a metronome, though what you use is entirely your
choice. For the audio metronome, if you have no suitable files to hand you can search the internet
or use the ones from this thread on rncbc.org. For the MIDI metronome, if you want percussion
sounds and you’re using a General MIDI-compliant bank, set Channel to 10, which is the
channel for percussion.

In order to hear either metronome while the transport is rolling you must turn it on. To do so,
click the blue triangle icon in the top menu bar, or select Transport / Metronome.

The Metronome icon

4.14.2. Keyboard Shortcuts Editor

Keyboard shortcuts are useful for the power user, in that they provide a quick mechanism for
performing often used commands quickly, without the use of your mouse. Shortcuts can also be
assigned for MIDI Controllers.

Keyboard shortcuts may be customized to your preference by using the shortcuts editor. This
editor may be found in the Help menu (Help / Shortcuts…). Note that there are two separate
shortcuts windows - a general one, accessed from the main window and a MIDI Editor-specific
one, accessed from the MIDI Editor window.

79
Keyboard Shortcuts Editor window, available from the Help / Shortcuts… menu item

It is very straightforward in its use. Simply find the item you want to create a shortcut for, left-
click in the shortcut cell, and choose the key you wish to be assigned to that function. You will
then see whatever key or key combination you chose appear in the context. The “X” icon on the
right of the window can be used to undo any changes or remove a default shortcut.

Take care when using shifted combinations, as if that combination produces a non-alphanumeric
character it may not function as a shortcut. For example, Shift+1 will likely end up as a
symbol such as “!” in the menu and, upon attempting to use this combination as a shortcut, it will
not work. Alt and Ctrl-modified shortcuts should, however, be fine.

Qtractor will display a warning message if you try to duplicate a shortcut in the same menu, but
not if you use the same shortcut in both the main and MIDI Editor menus. Instead, a warning
message will appear in the Messages window. This warning is driven by the Qt framework and is,
unfortunately, outside of Qtractor’s control.

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Manual - 5 Qtractor Menus
Manual - Table of Contents

5. Qtractor Menus
5.1. Main Workspace

File

• New – create a new session project

• Open… – open a previously created session project

• Open Recent – access a list of several of your last used session projects

• Save – save your current session project

• Save As… – save your current session project with naming conventions

• Properties… – open the session properties dialog

• Exit – exit the program

Edit

• Undo – undo the last action

• Redo – redo the last action

• Cut – delete and copy an item to the clipboard

• Copy – copy an item to the clipboard

• Paste – paste an item from the clipboard

• Paste Repeat… – paste an item from the clipboard multiple times, with a user-definable
period in between each

• Delete – delete the selected item

• Select Mode – select Clip, Range or Rectangle edit modes, or Automation

• Select – select All, None, Invert, Track, Track Range or Range

• Insert – insert a range or track range

• Remove – remove a range or track range

• Split – after selecting a Range or Rectangle, split according to this selection

• Track – add, remove and adjust the properties of tracks

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 • Clip – create a new clip, edit an existing clip, or import/export a clip

Track

• Add Track… – add either a new audio or MIDI track

• Remove Track – remove a track

• Duplicate Track – create a copy of the currently selected track, directly beneath it

• Track Properties… – open the track properties dialog

• Inputs – show current track inputs

• Outputs – show current track outputs

• Instrument – select the instrument name of a MIDI track, from those defined in the View /
Instruments menu

• State – set current track state: Record, Mute, Solo, Monitor

• Navigate – navigate through tracks: First, Previous, Next, Last, None

• Move – change position of current track: Top, Up, Down, Bottom

• Height – adjust the vertical height of a track

• Auto-Monitor – toggle current track auto-monitoring

• Auto-Deactivate – deactivate plugins not producing sound

• Import Tracks – import audio or MIDI file(s) as new track(s)

• Export Tracks – export audio or MIDI track(s)

• Automation – automate the parameters of a track or its plugins

Clip

• New… – add a new clip to the currently selected track, bounded by the Edit-head and Edit-
tail markers (blue vertical lines)

• Edit… – edit the currently selected clip

• Take – select from multiple takes recorded, or set a range to create a new one

• Unlink – if a MIDI clip is copied within the same track, any subsequent changes will be
reflected in both the original and copied clips. This unlinks the clips, deactivating this
behaviour

• Record – set a clip to be overdubbed on the next recording operation

• Split – split the clip at the position of the play-head (red vertical line)

• Merge… – merge two or more currently selected clips into one

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 • Normalize – normalize the level of an audio clip to 0dB

• Tempo Adjust… – adjust the clip’s tempo and time signature

• Cross Fade… – cross fade two overlapping clips

• Range Set – set the edit boundaries (blue vertical lines) to the start/end of the currently
selected clip

• Loop Set – set a loop between the start/end of the currently selected clip

• Import… – import audio or MIDI file(s) as new track(s)

• Export… – export audio or MIDI track(s)

• Tools – access a variety of tools to manipulate a MIDI clip

View

• Menubar – toggle display of the menu bar. Restore with Ctrl+M

• Statusbar – toggle display of the status bar

• Toolbars – toggle display of various toolbars

• Windows – choose which windows are displayed: File System, Files, Messages,
Connections, Mixer

• Tool Tips – toggle display of tool tips (despite the name, these are not tool tips for the GUI
icons at the top of the screen, but for the information seen when hovering over a clip)

• Zoom – zoom the main view: In/Out/Reset for Horizontal axis/Vertical axis/All

• Snap – change the Snap/beat setting

• Refresh – refresh the view contents

• Instruments… – open the instruments dialog, where you can import/export patch names
etc.

• Controllers… – manage MIDI controllers

• Buses… – open the buses editor dialog

• Tempo Maps / Markers… – manage tempo and time signature changes

• Options… – open the program options dialog (see below)

Transport

• Backward – move playhead backward to the beginning of a range or session

• Rewind – move playhead backward at greater than usual speed

• Fast Forward – move playhead forward at greater than usual speed

83
 • Forward – move playhead forward to the next edit marker or end of the session

• Loop – repeatedly play the range marked as a loop

• Loop Set – mark selected range as a loop

• Stop – stop the transport when rolling

• Play – move playhead forward at normal speed to play all un-muted tracks

• Record – prepare to record audio or MIDI on record-enabled tracks

• Punch – prepare to record the selected punch range

• Punch Set – mark the selected range for punch recording

• Metronome – turn the metronome’s audio or MIDI output on or off

• Follow Playhead – enable view scrolling so that the playhead is always visible

• Auto Backward – have the playhead return to the beginning of a range or session
automatically when it stops

• Continue Past End – have the playhead continue to move forward even after it reaches the
end of the session

• Mode – set the JACK Transport mode: None, Slave, Master, Full

• Panic – stop any MIDI or audio that may be playing, either via the Tracks pane or the Files
pane

Help

• Shortcuts… – list the keyboard key combination equivalents for various menu items,
commands and MIDI Controllers. The content of this menu differs from that of the MIDI
Editor’s shortcuts menu

• About… – view information about Qtractor

• About Qt… – view information about Qt, the graphics toolkit used for Qtractor’s user
interface

5.2. MIDI Editor

File

• Save – save the current clip

• Save As… – save the current clip with naming conventions

• Unlink – if a MIDI clip is copied within the same track, any subsequent changes will be
reflected in both the original and copied clips. This unlinks the clips, deactivating this
behavior

• Record – set a clip to be overdubbed on the next recording operation

84
 • Properties… – open the clip properties dialog

• Range Set – set the edit boundaries (blue vertical lines) to the start/end of the currently
selected clip

• Loop Set – set a loop between the start/end of the currently selected clip

• Track – set the inputs, outputs and properties of a track

• Close – close the current clip

Edit

• Undo – undo the last action

• Redo – redo the last action

• Cut – delete and copy an item to the clipboard

• Copy – copy an item to the clipboard

• Paste – paste an item from the clipboard

• Paste Repeat… – paste an item from the clipboard multiple times, with a user-definable
period in between each

• Delete – delete the selected item

• Select Mode – select On, Off or Draw edit modes

• Select – select All, None, Invert or Range

• Insert – insert a range

• Remove – remove a range

• Tools – access a variety of tools to manipulate the clip

View

• Menubar – toggle display of the menu bar. Restore with Ctrl+M

• Statusbar – toggle display of the status bar

• Toolbars – toggle various toolbars on and off

• Windows – toggle display of the Events window

• Tool Tips – toggle display of tool tips (despite the name, these are not tool tips for the GUI
icons at the top of the window, but for the information seen when hovering over a note/
MIDI controller data)

• Note Duration – visualise note durations in the bottom pane

• Note Color – set notes/values to be displayed in different colors according to pitch

85
 • Note Type – display either Note On or Key Press events

• Value Color – set notes/values to be displayed in different colors according to velocity

value

• Value Type – determine the information to be displayed in the bottom pane

• Drum Mode – displays MIDI Note On events as diamonds instead of rectangles

• Zoom – zoom the view: In/Out/Reset for Horizontal axis/Vertical axis/All

• Snap – change the Snap/beat setting

• Scale – lock the addition/editing of notes to a particular scale, from the common to the
esoteric

• Refresh – refresh the view contents

• Preview Notes – toggle whether notes are audible when inputting/editing in the matrix

• Follow Playhead – enable view scrolling so that the playhead is always visible

Tools

At least one note must be selected for this menu to be active.

• Quantize – quantize the timing or scale of notes

• Transpose – transpose the pitch of, or shift the timing of, a note/notes; reverse a sequence
of notes

• Normalize – normalize the velocity value of notes using a percentage amount or absolute
number

• Randomize – randomize note pitches, times, durations or velocity values by percentage

amounts

• Resize – resize note durations or velocity values

• Rescale – rescale note times, durations or velocity values

• Timeshift – alter the timing of notes on a curve, such that the acceleration from the
beginning note to the ending note is either increased or decreased

Transport

See Main Workspace above.

Help

• Shortcuts… – list the keyboard key combination equivalents of menu items and other
commands. The content of this menu differs from that of the main workspace’s shortcuts
menu

• About… – view information about Qtractor

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 • About Qt… – view information about Qt, the graphics toolkit used for Qtractor’s user
interface

5.3. View / Options

• General – configure global options, such as UI behaviour, session templates, back-ups and
transport mode

• Audio – set capture/export format, playback options and metronome

• MIDI – set capture/export format, playback options, control options and metronome

• Display – configure the look-and-feel of the UI, including colours and fonts, plus enable/
disable logging

• Plugins – set plugin paths, toggle plugin editor GUIs, toggle dedicated audio outputs for
tracks and enable/disable various experimental features

87
Manual - 6 Appendixes
Manual - Table of Contents

6. Appendixes
6.1. References
Qtractor - An Audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer

http://qtractor.sourceforge.net/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/qtractor/

Qt 4 - C++ class library and tools for cross-platform development and internationalization

http://qt-project.org/

JACK Audio Connection Kit

http://jackaudio.org/

ALSA - Advanced Linux Sound Architecture

http://www.alsa-project.org/

libsndfile - C library for reading and writing files containing sampled sound

http://www.mega-nerd.com/libsndfile/

libvorbis - Ogg Vorbis audio compression

http://xiph.org/vorbis/

libmad - High-quality MPEG audio decoder

http://www.underbit.com/products/mad/

libsamplerate - The secret rabbit code, C library for audio sample rate conversion

http://www.mega-nerd.com/SRC/

LADSPA - Linux Audio Developer’s Simple Plugin API

http://www.ladspa.org/

QjackCtl - JACK Audio Connection Kit - Qt GUI Interface

http://qjackctl.sourceforge.net/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/qjackctl/

Cakewalk - Powerful and easy to use products for music creation and recording

88
http://www.cakewalk.com/

ftp://ftp.cakewalk.com/pub/InstrumentDefinitions/

SoundTouch - Sound Processing Library

http://www.surina.net/soundtouch/

rncbc.org - The personal web presence of Rui Nuno Capela, creator and developer of Qtractor
and other applications or application GUIs such as QjackCtl (a GUI for jackd), Qsynth (a GUI for
fluidsynth), Qsampler, etc.

http://www.rncbc.org/

89
Manual Draft - Loop Mode Recording
¡Warning - Draft of feature under development!
The features described below are not available in currently released versions of qtractor yet. If
you want to use them, you need to build your own version of qtractor from the latest svn-
revision. The features may also undergo changes as well as the documentation below.

Loop Recording
Aside of one take recordings, you can create multiple takes continuously by using the loop
recording mode. To enable the loop recording mode, go to View > Options and on the ‘General’
tab set ‘Loop Recording mode(takes)’ to either ‘first’ or ‘last’. This will control whether qtractor
chooses the first or the last take by default.

After you have enabled the loop recording mode select a loop range. To do so, position the edit
markers by left-clicking onto the timeline where you want your loop range to start and right-
clicking at the end. Now select Transport > Loop (or press Ctrl+Shift+L). This will create a loop
range out of your edit range and enables the loop mode as well. Just arm the track you want to
record to, press record and play. Qtractor will start recording but when it reaches the end of your
loop range, it will wrap around and start recording a new take of your loop range. You can record
as many takes as you wish and decide later wich one you like the most.

After having recorded some takes, select your new clip and go to Clip > Takes > Select to choose
between the different takes. You could also press Shift+T to iterate over the recorded takes.

Advanced Loop Recording

It is also possible, to combine punch in/out recording with looped takes recording. Just create a
new Loop range as before. Now, create a punch in/out range inside your loop range. Recording
now starts as soon as you enter your punch in/out range. If you leave the range, recording stops,
but will start recording another take a soon as your loop starts over and reaches the punch in point
again.

punch in/out range inside a loop range

90
The images above shows a punch in/out range(purple markers) inside a loop range(green
markers).

Unfold your Takes

Takes are implemented in a way, that they are appended to each other. In other words, multiple
recorded takes will result in a single clip that contains all takes appended to each other. By having
activated the takes mode, qtractor will show you only a section of this clip with the size of the
selected loop range. If you go to Clip > Take > Select and choose ‘None’, qtractor will ‘unfold’
your takes and shows the recorded clip in its full length.

Create takes from preexisting material

Once you know how takes are implemented, you can create takes from every clip you like. For
example, select a clip and place the edit markers within a fraction of your clip. If you have a clip
that is four measures long, place the first edit marker at the beginning of the clip and the last at
the beginning of the second measure. Now go to Clip > Take > Range. In the upcomming dialog,
choose ‘Edit’. The box on the right of this dialog will show the resulting number of takes. In this
case it will create four takes(one for each measure). Just click on the take you want to select. As
you can see, takes could be created by a variety of ranges. Just use the one that fits your needs
best.

91
How To - Contents
How To’s
• How To - 1 Compile Qtractor

• How To - 2 Create Individual MIDI and Audio Buses-Ports

• How To - 3 Set the number of channels an audio track records

• How To - 4 Sample MIDI Composition Workflow

• How To - 5 Sidechain Workflow

• How To - 6 Alternative Sidechain Workflow with Aux Sends

• How To - 7 Equal Latency for Tracks and Buses

• How To - 8 Controlling a Plugin’s Parameter from a MIDI Clip

92
How To - 1 Compile Qtractor
How To - Contents

• Introduction
◦ What is compile?
◦ Advantages
◦ Dependencies
◦ Git
• Compile
◦ Install binary libraries
◦ Download source code from official Git
◦ Build the binary
◦ Install

Introduction

What is compile?

Compiling is the process of translating human-readable source code into binary code readable by
your hardware.

Go from having text files to an executable.

It is the way to install a program directly from its source code.

An installer file (.deb for example) works differently. Install previously compiled binary files.
Distribute and configure executables on your operating system.

Advantages

Optimized executable: By compiling we ensure that the machine code is generated for our
specific hardware, and not generic hardware. This should theoretically improve the efficiency of
the program, although in practice I have not noticed any differences.

Have the latest version: If an installer with the latest version is not found in the repositories of
our distribution, compiling allows us to install it.

Test new features: This way we can experience functionalities in development that are not yet in
the official version.

Personalize: By having the source code, we can customize Qtractor before compiling: Our own
icons, menus, functions, etc. The possibilities are endless.

Dependencies

There are two types of dependencies:

• Libraries in source code: They are resolved with GIT.

• Libraries in binary code: They are resolved with repositories of your distribution.

93
Git

The official Qtractor repository is located on sf.net, and it works with git.

Git is a version management system. It allows us to do things like:

• Download a project.
• Switch between branches of the same project.
• Resolve source code dependencies
• etc.

Compile

Install binary libraries

We will use as an example the Debian command “sudo apt install”. If your Linux is not based on
Debian, you will have to adapt it to the order of your distribution.

The name of the libraries may vary between distributions.

If you work with kxstudio repositories, temporarily disable them before executing the command.
The version of “lv2-dev” in this repository may create conflicts.

Update repositories

From the terminal:

sudo apt update

Install binary dependencies

sudo apt install qt6-base-dev qt6-base-dev-tools qt6-tools-dev

qt6-tools-dev-tools qt6-l10n-tools qt6-svg-dev libqt6svg6-dev
libjack-dev libjack-jackd2-dev libasound2-dev libsndfile-dev
libvorbis-dev libmad0-dev libz-dev libsamplerate-dev
librubberband-dev libfftw3-dev libaubio-dev ladspa-sdk dssi-dev
liblo-dev lv2-dev liblilv-dev libsratom-dev libsord-dev libserd-
dev libgtk2.0-dev libgtkmm-2.4-dev

Download source code from official Git

git clone --recursive https://git.code.sf.net/p/qtractor/code

qtractor-git

The “–recursive” subcommand allows you to resolve source code dependencies. In this case for
the CLAP and VST3 plugins. Git is thus responsible for attaching a copy from the repositories of
these external projects.

Enter in the generated folder:

cd qtractor-git

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Build the binary

Collect all the files and check if everything is in order

cmake -B build

Build

cmake --build build

If everything went well, you now have a functional executable. However it will not communicate
well with the operating system. For example, it will show the interface in English, even if your
Linux is configured in another language.

The executable can be found in the folder:

qtractor-git/build/src/qtractor

If you execute the previous line in the console you will see that qtractor opens and works
correctly.

Install

Maybe you want to install it to enjoy Qtractor in your language.

sudo cmake --install build

By default it will be installed in:

/usr/local

Install to custom destination

If you want to install Qtractor in another destination you must modify the cmake:

cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=YourDestinationPath -B build

cmake --install build

sudo cmake --install build

95
How To - 2 Create Individual MIDI and
Audio Buses-Ports
How To - Contents

You can create individual input, output, or duplex MIDI/audio buses (with corresponding ports)
that can be assigned, after they are created, to individual tracks in the Track Properties menu
for each track.

To do so, from the Main menu go to View > Buses, which opens up the Buses menu.

Illustration 1.1: Buses Menu showing audio & MIDI buses, Properties tab, Plugins tabs, Create
and Update buttons

Select one of the buses of the type of bus that you want to create (MIDI or Audio) and it’s
properties will be shown. Once you change the name, the Update and Create buttons will be
available. You can update the currently selected bus or create a new one with the name you
provided. You can further change other options that are visible in the menu.

You can now assign them as you like in the Track Properties menu for each track.

Using individual MIDI buses for each MIDI track enables you to assign the full range of the 16
MIDI channels through one bus allowing you to avoid having to select a different channel for
each softsynth or external MIDI device as you would have to do, if you are just using the Master
MIDI bus. This also allows you to use one MIDI bus, connected to one external MIDI port, for
different tracks for each instrument on a multi-instrument synthesizer or sound module. The same
would be true for a multi-voice/instrument softsynth.

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For further details, see manual section 4.1.1 Routing General Concepts and Information.

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How To - 3 Set the number of channels an
audio track records
How To - Contents

The number of channels that an audio track will record is determined by the channel count of its
input bus. If you use the Master In bus (with its default setting of 2 channels) as the input bus for
a track, the track will record two channels of audio data. If you’re recording from a single
channel source, such as a typical microphone or electric guitar pre-amp, you should [create an
input bus][How To - Create Individual MIDI and Audio Buses-Ports] with a single channel,
making sure it’s connected to the external source you want to record, and then select it as the
input bus in the track properties. This will result in a single-channel track which can be panned
normally for mixdown to a stereo bus (such as Master Out), and avoids wasting disk space on
empty or duplicate audio tracks.

For further details, see manual section 4.1. Routing–Connections, Ports, Tracks and Buses.

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How To - 4 Sample MIDI Composition
Workflow
How To - Contents

Introduction
This How To introduces one possible approach to composing with MIDI tracks. It gives a brief
outline of each stage of the process - namely track set-up, composition, recording, external
routing and audio export. It’s aimed mainly at beginners who aren’t overly familiar with
sequencers/DAWs, but some of the Qtractor-specific information may also be of interest to more
experienced users. Note that a number of the tasks mentioned here are already detailed in the
wiki, so this How To contains several links to it in order to avoid repeating information.

Different people have different needs in terms of workflow, so this How To is by no means a
definitive guide. However, it should hopefully provide some kind of direction for people who are
uncertain where to start. Finally, it assumes that you already have Qtractor up and running with
JACK etc, so if this is not the case, please check the set-up information in the wiki before
continuing.

** NOTE ** This guide was originally written for Qtractor V:0.5.x, when it was necessary to
bounce any MIDI data to audio tracks in order to export it. However, it is now (since V:0.6.7)
possible to export “internal” MIDI tracks (i.e. those which use plugin instruments, such as the
xsynth example detailed below) directly as audio, thus avoiding the bounce step. Nevertheless,
for “external” MIDI tracks (those which send data to external instruments driven by JACK-MIDI
or ALSA-MIDI, the output of these instruments then being routed back into Qtractor), the below
workflow still holds true. It follows that a MIDI session which has both internal and external
tracks will necessitate a “hybrid” workflow, wherein you first bounce the external tracks to
Qtractor audio tracks, then export these together with the internal tracks.

For internal tracks, the workflow described by this How To will have the following differences:

• Section 1: No need to create dedicated audio outputs or audio tracks

• Sections 2, 3, 5: Ignore
• Section 6: Create the Aux Sends in the MIDI tracks (note that they will still be audio Aux
Sends, even though in MIDI tracks)

1. Creating Tracks
To keep things simple, we’ll create just two MIDI tracks - Lead and Bass. Create a MIDI track,
as detailed here, naming it “Lead”. Then, open up the Mixer, by clicking on its icon.

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The Mixer icon

Right-click in the area directly under the “Lead” text, navigate to Audio and choose Dedicated.
This will create an output specifically for this track, which we’ll later connect up. Note that you
can choose to Auto-connect the output – doing so means that it will automatically be connected
to system:playback_1 and 2. Whether you should do this or not will depend on your set-up, but
for the purposes of this How To, we can leave it enabled.

Creating a dedicated output

Then, create another MIDI track, naming it “Bass” and repeat the above.

Next, we’ll create two Audio tracks, to which we’ll later record, or “bounce”, the output of the
MIDI tracks. Using the same Track window as you used for the MIDI tracks, this time, select
Audio, instead of MIDI, under Type and create a track named “LeadBounce” (there’s no
“dedicated output” step here). Once done, create another Audio track, called “BassBounce”.
Qtractor should then look like this.

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MIDI and corresponding Audio tracks

2. Creating Buses
In order to send the output of the MIDI tracks to their Audio tracks, we use Buses. Buses channel
the output from a particular source to a particular destination. For more detailed information on
them and on the concepts of routing, please see the wiki.

The method of creating a Bus is covered in [this How To][How To - Create Individual MIDI and
Audio Buses-Ports]. Using these instructions, create an Audio bus, with the Mode set to Input,
calling it “LeadBus”. Then, create another in the same way, calling it “BassBus”. As with the
MIDI tracks’ dedicated outputs, you can choose to Auto-connect or not (for the purposes of this
How To, it doesn’t really matter). Your Bus window should then look like this.

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Creating Buses

Note that you can also create mono Buses to record into a mono audio track. To do this, you
would set Channels to 1, as covered in [this How To][How To - Set the number of channels an
audio track records].

3. Connecting everything up
Although we now have MIDI tracks to compose in, Audio tracks to record in and Buses to route
the audio, we won’t be able to use them until we connect everything up correctly. Double-click
on your LeadBounce track in the main view and, in the Track window which appears, set its
Input to LeadBus.

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Creating Audio track Inputs

Next, do likewise for BassBounce, connecting its Input to BassBus. Qtractor should then look
like this.

Audio tracks with their Inputs routed from Buses

The Audio tracks are now ready to receive input from their respective Buses, but we still need
physically to connect the flow of audio. We do this via the Connections window. Click on its
icon to open it.

The Connections icon

If you’ve used QjackCtl (also by the author of Qtractor) you’ll be familiar with the layout. On
The Audio tab, connect the Lead and Bass outputs on the left (which are our MIDI tracks’
dedicated outputs) to their corresponding inputs on the right (which are our Buses). You can
either drag the connections across, or highlight the source and destination and click Connect. The
Connections window should then look something like this.

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Connections window with Dedicated Outputs connected to Buses

Now, the output of the MIDI tracks will be routed to their respective Buses, which will, in turn,
be routed to their respective Audio tracks to be recorded.

4. Compose!
Exactly how you go about composing will depend on your needs, but for the sake of this How To,
we’ll do things simply and use the soft synth, xsynth (though any other will do). Back in the
Mixer window, right-click under the “Lead” text, as you did previously, but this time, choose
Add Plugin. This will bring up the Plugins window. Here, you can select from among anything
you have installed, of the various plugin types supported (LADSPA, DSSI, VST (Linux native)
and LV2). For more details on these, see the wiki. xsynth is a DSSI plugin, so resides in the DSSI
tab.

The Plugins window

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Choose the synth patch you want via xsynth’s GUI and make sure that the plugin is enabled in
Qtractor (green light next to its name in the Mixer). Then, double-click your MIDI track in the
left pane of the main view and, in the Track window which appears, select “xsynth DSSI plugin”
in the MIDI / Instrument area. The Bank and Program fields should then reflect whatever you
chose in the synth’s GUI and, once you click OK, this information should also appear in the main
view. For DSSI plugins, you should be able to select patches via either the Track window or the
plugin’s GUI, with the other automatically updating, but this may not be the case with LV2
plugins. Please see the note in the wiki about this.

Track window with patch loaded

Once you’ve set up your synth for the “Lead” track as above, repeat the process for the “Bass”
track.

*Note that when working with soundfonts (for example, via the FluidSynth DSSI, or Calf
Fluidsynth LV2, plugins), you can use the View -> Instruments… menu to import their patch
names. To do so, click the Import button and select the desired .sf2/.sf3 file; the patch
names will then be imported by Qtractor.

You can also use an external synth, rather than a plugin instrument. If you choose to go down this
route, you would use the Connections window to route the MIDI track’s output bus (the default
is Master) to your synth and, if necessary, set a specific channel in the Track window described
above. Then, again in Connections, you would route the synth’s audio output to your Qtractor
audio track’s input bus (in the context of this How To, either LeadBus or BassBus). For more
details on using external synths, see the wiki.

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Once your synths are set up for both tracks, you can use whatever means you like to compose.
You may choose to use an external MIDI controller to play in your performance in real-time, or
input notes manually via the MIDI Editor.

5. Recording
Once you’re happy with your MIDI composition, it’s time to record it as audio. Arm the Audio
tracks for recording (“R” button on the track, via either the main view or the Mixer), move the
playhead (red vertical line) to somewhere before your MIDI composition starts, enable the red
“Record” icon, then click the “Play” icon to start the transport rolling (and the “Stop” icon to
stop). You can also use the Punch in/out facility to specify where recording starts and ends,
setting these points with the Edit-head and Edit-tail markers (blue vertical lines).

Qtractor set up to record, with Record and Punch in/out icons highlighted

If you’ve done everything correctly, once you start the transport, the signal from the MIDI tracks
should be routed via the Buses and be recorded in the corresponding Audio tracks. During the
bouncing process there’s always a chance that x-runs can occur, adversely affecting your audio
file, so it’s best to check for this. The precise positions of x-runs are unfortunately not marked
visually in the track area, but when one occurs a red warning indicator will appear in the session
state information at the bottom-right of the screen. X-runs are also logged, together with their
time of occurrence, in the Messages pane at the bottom of the screen, so use this as a reference.
Once you have your audio safely recorded, you can adjust gain levels, panning etc via the Mixer.

Session state information showing x-run indicator

When playing back your audio tracks, note that you may, depending on your set-up, have to mute
the MIDI tracks (using the “M” button), to avoid the audio output doubling up.

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6. Effects plugins and Aux Sends
In most cases, you’ll want to add some effects to your tracks. This can be done very easily via the
Add Plugin menu of the Mixer, as covered in 4. Compose! above. You can also add several
plugins to the same mixer strip if desired; they are processed in order from top to bottom. If you
need to change the order of an already-inserted plugin, you can simply drag and drop it.

You may also want to send several tracks to the same instance of a plugin in order to share it.
This is a reasonably common requirement, particularly for reverb, and is catered for in Qtractor
with Aux Sends. Although we have only two tracks here, to illustrate the theory, we’ll use Aux
Sends to send the two tracks to another Bus, so that they can share a reverb plugin. First, create a
Duplex Audio Bus via the Bus window we used earlier, calling it “ReverbBus”. In the Output
Plugins tab, right-click in the blank area, choose Add Plugin, then select the reverb plugin you
want to use, making sure it’s active (green light). You can also do this via the Mixer. If you’re not
sure which plugin to use, the Calf LV2 set is a decent place to start.

Creating a reverb Bus

You’ll probably also need to connect ReverbBus’ outputs to system:playback_1 and 2, via the
Connections window we used earlier, so that you can hear the reverb effect.

Next, in the Mixer, right-click under the Audio track name “LeadBounce” and choose Inserts ->
Audio -> Add Aux Send. In the window which appears, set the Aux Send to “Active” (top right
button), choose ReverbBus in the Aux Send Bus combo box and choose the amount you want to
send via the Send Gain slider. Then, do the same for “BassBounce”.

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The Aux Send window

What value to set Send Gain to depends on exactly what you want to do and how you have your
reverb plugin set up, but the basic theory is to have an “overall” setting in the reverb plugin itself,
then adjust the amount you send to this plugin via each track’s Send Gain slider. In this way, you
can control the amount of reverb applied, in order, for example, to mimic an instrument’s
placement on the stage. Use a combination of Mixer levels, plugin settings and Aux Send gain
amounts to achieve the effect you want.

There are a couple of things to be aware of with regard to the way Qtractor routes audio when
using Aux Sends:

• Pre/post-fader placement: All plugins in Qtractor are pre-fader - there is no facility to

place them post-fader. This can cause issues in cases such as the above when you want to
send an audio track to a reverb bus, as you would generally (though, again, it depends on
what you want to do) place the send post-fader: the reason for this is that with the send in
the post-fader position, the dry/wet (non-reverb/reverb) ratio is maintained even if the fader
is adjusted. This limitation can be mitigated to an extent by inserting any kind of plugin
which controls gain before the Aux Send and using that, rather than the Mixer’s gain fader,
to control the track’s gain
• Panning: If you manipulate the Mixer’s pan setting with an Aux Send enabled, you’ll only
be panning the original signal; the “sent” signal will enter its destination Bus panned to the
centre. This means that you’ll hear the original signal wherever you’ve panned it, but the
Bus’ copy in the centre (unless you’ve panned it again there). If you want to pan both the
signals in tandem, add a plugin which controls panning before the Aux Send and use this,
rather than the Mixer’s pan setting, to pan the track

7. External routing using Inserts

In Qtractor, Aux Sends are used for routing audio internally, as described above. Inserts are
similar, but are used to route audio externally. Once you have your mix set up, you may want to
route it to an external source, such as JAMin. The details of how to use JAMin are outside the
scope of this How To, but we will cover one way of connecting it up to Qtractor. The manual
features some information on how to use the program if you’re unfamiliar with it.

With JAMin running, in Qtractor’s Mixer, right-click below the name of the Master Out Bus
(right hand side) and choose Inserts -> Audio -> Add Insert. In the window which appears, set
the Insert to “Active” (top right button). Leave Send Gain at 1.000, Dry Gain at 0.000 and Wet
Gain at 1.000, unless you have some other set-up in mind.

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The Insert window

Next, use the Sends button to connect the Insert to JAMin and the Returns button to connect
JAMin back to the Insert. These buttons open up the same Connections window we used earlier,
so this process should be straightforward. Once you’ve connected everything up, repeat the above
process for ReverbBus, but connect only the Sends (leave Returns unconnected). ReverbBus
will now have two entries in its Mixer strip – the reverb plugin above and the Insert below. This
means that the reverb plugin will be processed first, followed by the Insert, which is the order we
want.

The audio from both your Buses should now be routed into JAMin - where you can use its many
features to fine tune your mix - then back into Qtractor’s Master Out. In this way, the Master
Out strip of the Mixer, at the point below the JAMin Insert, will have a “complete” stereo signal,
containing the output of both buses. Beyond (that is, below) this point, you can perform any
processing/analysis relevant to the mix as a whole, such as goniometer and mono checks.

Note that upon connecting JAMin up, you may find that it is also sending its output directly to
system:playback_1* and 2, which will cause some unpleasant doubling up of audio. To fix
this, disable the outputs in JAMin, via* Ports -> Out -> out_L & out_R.

There’s an important point to be aware of when working with Inserts and other external
connections: Qtractor will only restore such connections if they are present when the session is
saved. For example, if you proceed as above, save, then close and restart both Qtractor and
JAMin, the connection will be correctly restored. However, if you close JAMin first, make a
change in Qtractor and save (i.e. with Qtractor/JAMin in a “non-connected” state), upon
restarting Qtractor/JAMin, the connection will be lost and you’ll need to make it again.

This behaviour can be avoided by always ensuring that you have your external connections in
order before closing Qtractor (easier said than done when using many external applications). It
can also be mitigated somewhat by using QjackCtl’s Patchbay feature to make the connections
persistent; however, this too is rather unwieldy as it means adding each item manually to the
Patchbay. A third approach would be to use a session manager, such as QJackCtl’s Session feature
(which employs “JACK session”), or NSM.

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8. Exporting
We’ve now covered how to set up MIDI tracks, bounce their audio to Audio tracks, add plugins
and route the mix to JAMin. The only thing that remains is to export the result into a single audio
file. This can be done by right-clicking within the left pane of the main view and choosing
Export Tracks -> Audio…. For details on the options available, please see the wiki. In the
context of this How To, we’d highlight both Master and ReverbBus in order to export them
together.

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How To - 5 Sidechain Workflow
How To - Contents

• Author: Miguel Lacha.

• Difficulty level: Advanced.

• It is assumed that you already know:

◦ Configure Jack.
◦ Configure Qtractor (plugin paths, etc).
◦ Create a project with midi and audio tracks.
◦ General notions of mixing and mastering.
◦ Configure midi and audio tracks.
◦ Load plugins on tracks and buses.
◦ Install Plugins.

• You will learn to:

◦ Create advanced audio routing.

◦ Take advantage of that knowledge to create sidechain flows.

0. Purpose of the tutorial

Have sufficient knowledge to be able to apply different workflows with sendings to sidechains in
Qtractor. The workflows proposed here are only a partial reference of infinite possibilities.
Related content: How To - 6 Alternative Sidechain Workflow with Aux Sends

Qtractor does not have pre-built workflows. In exchange, it offers you total freedom to create
your own workflows.

Example project

We will work with an example project subdivided into 4 Qtractor sessions (.qtr), where we will
implement the different techniques.

I recommend before starting the tutorial, open the last session “4.HowSidechain.qtr”, to get an
idea of the final result sought.

0.1. Ingredients
• Qtractor 0.9.36 or higher
• Plugins lv2
◦ GM Synth
◦ Carla- lv2
◦ Calf-plugins
◦ luftikus-lv2
◦ Example project: HowSidechain.zip

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0.2. What is a “sidechain”?
Sidechain is a signal sending technique that allows modifying or controlling an audio signal
“direct A”, with another audio signal “external B”.

Types of sendings in Qtractor

• Sending to own bus by default

• Sending to track (inserts)
• Sending to auxiliary bus

Plugins with sidechain They are characterized by having more inputs than outputs: Every
sidechain plugin must have extra input/s for the sidechain “external B” signal in addition to
“direct A” input/s.

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“Direct inputs” are the first ones that correspond in number to the outputs. The remaining ones
are “entries for sidechain (or external)”. The workflow is conditioned by the demands of each
specific plugin (mono, stereo, purpose of the plugin, etc.).

Two very widespread uses:

• Dynamic sound control (compressors, expanders…)

• Vocoder synthesizers.

However, there are no limits, all types of plugins can be developed with a sidechain, where an
“external B” signal “automates” a certain parameter or parameters of a plugin in order to control
or modify the “direct A” signal. Not all plugins support sidechains, they must have been
designed and programmed expressly for this purpose.

0.3. Channel behavior in Qtractor

1. Undefined channels. A bus is not mono, stereo… A bus simply has channels. It is you who,
through the interconnections, define the configuration (mono, stereo, soundround… with or
without sidechain). The number of channels on a Bus can be modified at any time, although it is
advisable to design the project connections and workflow in advance.

3. The buses determine the number of channels in the tracks. Sidechain plugins have extra
inputs. So we need extra channels that allow the signal to be directed towards them. Qtractor
buses allow you to create these new channels.

4. Although buses (and therefore tracks) with different numbers of channels can coexist, it
is not recommended. If you plan to work with sidechain, buses with the same number of
channels are the best option. Otherwise, “Auxiliary Sends” will not work and “Inserts” may
create conflicts.

5. An audio track will attempt to inject audio to all available channels before entering the
plugin chain. This allows you to combine mono and stereo audio files into a single track in an
intuitive and simple way. In general it is desirable behavior. It is not in the specific case of side
chains. However, it is easily solved with plugins that mute or interrupt channels.

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Thanks to the “switch plugin”, we now have the 2nd channel free to be able to carry out
sidechain workflows. What at first seemed like a configuration of stereo track, it turned out to be
a mono + sidechain channel configuration. I want to emphasize this idea, although the tracks start
from a stereo configuration for panning control, a Qtractor Bus gives you undefined channels, so
that you define them. And this feature is what we are going to take advantage of to apply
sidechain.

6. The “midi instruments” generate an audio signal within the plugin rack. They do not
behave like an audio track. They only occupy the bus channels that correspond to their outputs.
That is why with them it is not necessary to use switches. channels.

7. Standard sidechain channel configurations:

• Mono: 2 channels (the first for direct, the second sidechain).

• Stereo: 4 channels (first 2 for direct, remaining 2 for sidechain).

1. Send to own bus: Assemble a simple vocoder

Compatible with “Jack (genuine)” and “PipeWire”

It’s the simplest way. There is no need to create new sendings. We take advantage of the signal
send from a track to its default bus.

It could be summarized as, whenever we need a sidechain, creating a specific bus for all the
tracks involved.

1.1 Connection scheme

1.2 From scheme to practice

Create a folder where you can follow the tutorial and unzip how_sidechain.zip inside.

You will find different sessions arranged numerically. Open the session “1.HowSidechain.qtr”.

You will see several tracks already recorded ready to begin our connections.

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We find two tracks for the vocoder (“vocoderSynt” and “VocoderVocal”), and two other tracks
with midi instruments.

CONFIGURE BUSES

The first thing we will do is create an exclusive bus for the “vocoder” tracks, where we will host
the “Calf Vocoder” plugin.

In the mixer:

1. Double click on the bus Master title to access the buses configuration. (2) Rename it
“Vocoder”, (3) in “Channels” assign “4”, (4) uncheck the “Autoconnect” box and finally
(5 ) confirm the configuration with “Update”.

Now we will need a new Master channel.

1. Rename it as Master, (2) “Mode” change it to “Output”, activate the box (3)
“Autoconnect” and click on (4) “Create”.

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It’s Qtractor’s own and unique 2-step (Configure > Save) way of managing “buses”. Therefore
feels strange at first. However, once you see the logic, it is more productive than the traditional
system (New > Configure > Save).

Adds the “Calf Vocoder” plugin to the “Vocoder” bus.

“Calf Vocoder” has a stereo sound concept, and arranges the channels as follows:

• The first two (direct signal): are for the Carrier, in charge of providing the tone.
• The remaining two (sidechain signal): are for the Modulator, responsible for providing the
formant (which allows it to be perceived as a vocal timbre instrument).

Adds an “Aux Send” to the “Master” bus.

SET TRACKS

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Track vocoderSynt:

1. Right click on the plugins box of the midi track “vocoderSynt”.

2. Assign as audio output bus: audio > Vocoder.

1. To set the timbre of “General Midi Synth”, go to the track properties (in the mixer,
double clip over the track title). Select “General Midi Synth”. Establish a bank and
program of your preference.

“General Midi Synth” can be deconfigured by playing “Piano default” instead of the
program assigned by you. If this happens, reassign the bank and program. It is not
very common, but it can happen.

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Track VocoderVocal:

1. Double click on the title of the audio track “VocoderVocal”. Assigns the “Vocoder” audio
bus as output.

1. Add the plugin “Carla-Patchbay (16chan)” connecting only channels 3 and 4 intended
for the modulator. We are going to use it as a switch plugin. It may seem that using Carla
for this purpose is killing mosquitoes with cannon fire, however I have not found another
that does the job better.

We already have all our connections!!!

Try and experiment with different settings on the Calf Vocodorer and with different timbres on
the carrier.

You can find my configuration proposal in the session: 2.HowSidechain.qtr

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2. Send to track (inserts): Side compression
“PipeWire” Compatible: Tested in version 0.3.84.

“Jack (genuine)” Personally I haven’t had any problems. However, some users
comment on the following incidents: * Inserts may not send audio. * Inserts may
stop working when you reopen the session.

2.1 Connection scheme

2.2 From scheme to practice

This time we will add the plugins from the sequencer instead of the mixer. The reason is simply
educational, to see the many options that the Qtractor UI offers.

We will add a Sidechain Compressor to the track “brightness” (intended for accompaniment).
The intention is to lose presence (volume) when the Vocoder (lead voice) plays. This way we
will achieve a cleaner mixture.

1. We added the plugin “Calf Sidechain Compressor” in the track “brightness”.

2. We added an “Insert” audio on the midi track “vocoderSynth”.

3. We added an “Insert” audio on the midi track “brightness” before “Calf Sidechain
Compressor”.

We thus have an “Insert 1” for sending and an “Insert 2” for signal reception.

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 IMPORTANT!!! In Qtractor, inserts with a sending function must always have a
lower number than those for receiving.

1. We right click on “Insert 2” and select: Inserts > Audio > Returns.

2. We connect outputs 1 and 2 of “Insert 1”, to inputs 3 and 4 of “Insert 2”.

1. Open “Calf Sidechain Compressor” and activate the sidechain. To ensure that it is
working correctly you can activate the sidechain listener, and deactivate it after approval.

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We already have all our connections!!!

Try and experiment with different configurations in “Calf Sidechain Compressor”.

You can find my configuration proposal in the session: 3.HowSidechain.qtr

3. Reverb exercise with side compression

How to add a reverb with side compression?

Reverbs are essential for spatial and aesthetic reasons, but they have a bad habit of muddying the
mix.

That is why it is usually advisable to have them controlled with a compressor.

If the compressor responds to the solo audio we will achieve a more balanced mix.

You will find a new audio bus (“Reverb”) with a lateral compression. A mastering chain has
also been added to the “Master” audio bus.

In this exercise there is no explanation, with what has already been discussed you should know
what is happening.

Session proposal to experiment and enjoy: 4.HowSidechain.qtr

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How To - 6 Alternative Sidechain Workflow
with Aux Sends
How To - Contents

Alternative Sidechain Workflow with Aux Sends

Internal connections ensure low latency and tight timing as described in How To - 7 Equal
Latency for Tracks and Buses. This is also desirable for sidechaining. The sidechain signal should
be synchronized.

With aux sends, you cannot wire the channels individually. Most stereo sidechain compressors
expect the signal to be compressed/ducked on channels 1+2 and the sidechain signal on channels
3+4. The channels of the sidechain must therefore be rearranged: Input channels 1+2 must be
assigned to output channels 3+4, while output channels 1+2 should be quiet. Carla Patchbay 16
Chan plugin or x42 Matrix Mixer can do this. After using the aux send, we have to reverse the
assignment, as the 2-channel master bus only uses channels 1+2.

Warning: At the time of this writing Qtractor may make a continuous sound after stopping/
pausing playback when using Carla Patchbay 16 Chan plugin to rearrange channels. The volume
seems to be proportional to the amount of compression/ducking at the playhead position. So keep
the volume low while experimenting with this feature.

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Patchbay view in Carla Patchbay 16 Chan plugin with input 1+2 routed to output 3+4:

123
Patchbay view in Carla Patchbay 16 Chan plugin with input 3+4 routed to output 1+2:

x42 4x4 Matrix Mixer with input 1+2 routed to output 3+4:

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x42 4x4 Matrix Mixer with input 3+4 routed to output 1+2:

125
How To - 7 Equal Latency for Tracks and
Buses
How To - Contents

Equal Latency for Tracks and Buses

How long does it take for the audio material to get from the track to the output? Well, that
depends. As a rule of thumb, there is no delay if you connect a track internally to a bus or use an
aux send to a bus. Internal means that this connection is not visible outside of Qtractor, e.g. in
Qjackctl.

On the other hand, there are connections that are visible from the outside, e.g. from the output of
one bus to the input of another bus or with insert sends/receives. These connections have a
latency that depends on the buffer size and the sampling rate used. If you operate jackd with a
sampling rate of 48000 Hz and a buffer size (-p) of 1024, the latency is 1024/48000 seconds =
21.3 ms. This is particularly audible with percussive sounds. In this How To we’ll call it Latency
Unit (lu), not to be confused with Loudness Units as in EBU R 128.

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127
To get the timing tight and have everything in sync it’s advisable to have the same latency for all
tracks and buses. This simple example shows why you should not connect tracks directly to the
master bus if plugins such as reverb are used in a separate bus that is fed by the tracks via aux
sends.

If you have special needs then you can chain buses to be able to insert signals with differing
latencies. But this is beyond the scope of this little How To.

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How To - 8 Controlling a Plugin’s Parameter
from a MIDI Clip
How To - Contents

Controlling a Plugin’s Parameter from a MIDI Clip

There are many ways to map a plugin’s parameter to a MIDI CC. A simple one is using a MIDI
Insert Send.

It’s a good practice to have a dedicated MIDI control input in Qtractor. It reduces the danger of
MIDI loops that can crash Qtractor. It can be activated in View -> Options -> MIDI -> Dedicated
MIDI control input/ouput:

In this example we have a MIDI track with - a MIDI insert send - an instrument plugin (liquidsfz)
- a filter plugin (Calf Filter)

We want to control the filter plugin’s frequency parameter with the modulation wheel. Right click
on Calf Fliter in the plugin box and select Properties…

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Click the clear LED of the Frequency parameter.

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Click MIDI Controller…

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Select MIDI Controller 1 - Modulation Wheel (Coarse), Logarithmic and Hook, then push the
Inputs button, click the MIDI insert send (0:insert_1 in this example) and connect it with
Qtractor’s Control input.

Now you can control Calf Filter’s frequency with your modulation wheel.

See this video.

You can place a MIDI filter plugin between the MIDI Insert Send and the instrument plugin if
you don’t want the instrument plugin receive the modulation wheel data. But that’s beyond the
scope of this little How To.

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Unofficial tutorials that are worthwhile
Tutorials
• JACK Beginners Guide | by Conor Mc Cormack

• Qtractor QuickStart | by yPhill

• Sidechaining in Qtractor using Ducka | by suedwestlicht aka bluebell

• Videotutorial Qtractor | by i-scores music

• Videotutorials Qtractor | by yPhil

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qtractor 0.3.0 manual pt1
Qtractor
Linux Audio & MIDI Multitrack Workstation

User Manual

Version 0.3.0

December, 2008

by

Rui Nuno Capela

James Laco Hines

Stephen Doonan

Table of Contents

1 Introduction

1.1 Abstract

1.2 Introduction

2 Installing and Configuring Qtractor

2.1 About Compiling Qtractor from its Source Code

2.2 Preparation–Required and Optional Prerequisites

2.2.1 Mandatory Software

2.2.2 Optional Support Libraries (at build time)

2.3 Downloading Qtractor

2.3.1 Qtractor for Everyone

2.3.2 Qtractor for the Experienced and Adventurous

2.4 Compiling and Installing Qtractor

2.4.1 Standard Compiling and Installation

2.4.2 Compiling for Native Linux VST Support (optional)

2.4.3 Compiling Qtractor with Debugging Code Included

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2.5 Qtractor’s Configuration Settings File

2.6 Audio and MIDI Input

3 Learning Qtractor–An Example Session

3.1 Preparation

3.2 Importing an Audio File

3.3 Connecting the MIDI data source to Qtractor

3.4 Creating a MIDI track

4 Qtractor–An Overview

4.1 Routing–Connections, Ports, Tracks and Buses

4.1.1 Routing–General Concepts and Information

4.1.2 Routing in Qtractor

4.1.3 Routing–Technical Notes

4.2 Qtractor’s Main Window and Work Area

4.3 Understanding a Qtractor Session (recording or editing)

4.3.1 Session Audio Sample Rate

4.3.2 Session Properties including Time Signature and Tempo

4.3.3 Session Options

4.4 Files

4.5 Clips

4.5.1 Clip Summary

4.5.2 Audio Clip Properties

4.5.3 Clips and Tracks

4.6 Qtractor Main Workspace–Tracks Area

4.7 Mixer

4.8 Connections Window

4.9 Audio Effects Plug-ins

4.9.1 Summary

4.9.2 LADSPA

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4.9.3 DSSI

4.9.4 VST (Linux Native)

4.10 MIDI Instruments

4.11 MIDI Editor

4.12 Audio / MIDI Export

4.13 Keyboard Shortcuts Editor

5 Qtractor Main Menu

5.1 File Menu

5.2 Edit Menu

5.3 Track Menu

5.4 View Menu

5.5 Transport Menu

5.6 Help Menu

6 Appendixes

6.1 References

6.2 Colophon

6.3 Contact Us

Index

1. Introduction
1.1. Abstract
Qtractor is a multi-track Audio and MIDI recorder and editor. The program is written in C++, and
for the GUI (graphical user interface) elements, the Qt4 Toolkit and Qt Designer are used.
Qtractor is free open-source software, licensed under the GPL, and the project welcomes all
collaboration and review from the Linux audio developer and user community in particular, and
the public in general.

Currently the Qtractor project has one developer, the originator of the project, Rui Nuno Capela.
Development was started April of 2005, initially as a Qt3 application. Since October 2006, it is
officially a Qt4 [2] application.

The initial target OS platform is Linux, in which ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
[4]) and JACK (the Jack Audio Connection Kit [3]) form the supporting infrastructure for

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recognizing sources of digital audio and MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) data,
communicating with those sources and routing the data to and from various locations and
programs (applications, including Qtractor) both inside and outside the computer and involving
both software and hardware interfaces.

The goal is to develop Qtractor into a more and more full-featured and robust digital audio/MIDI
workstation, especially appropriate for personal home recording studio use.

1.2. Introduction

Illustration 1.1: Main GUI window showing audio & MIDI tracks, Mixer & Connections
windows

Although Qtractor will become more and more full-featured as it is developed, it can already be
comfortably used by hobbyists as a personal home recording studio or “bedroom studio.” It can
record, import, arrange and edit both digital audio and MIDI data. The functionality of Qtractor is
contained within a graphical desktop environment that will be familiar to users of other popular
multi-track recording/editing applications on any computer operating system, and follows the
same design principles with many of the same or similar elements. In addition to recording digital
audio and MIDI, Qtractor provides an environment for multi-track clip-oriented composing
techniques common in modern music-making and aims to be intuitive and easy to use, yet
powerful enough for the serious recording enthusiast.

Note: Qtractor is not what is known as a “tracker” type of audio/MIDI application, although it
has the potential to function in that way if needed.

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When used merely as an audio and/or MIDI recorder (a MIDI recorder was historically called a
“sequencer”) or arranger, Qtractor is non-destructive, which means that the underlying files that
contain the audio or MIDI data are not altered when those files are apparently cut into pieces,
duplicated, pulled or pasted into a different order in time, or manipulated in any number of ways
within the main Window (GUI interface) of Qtractor. However, when used as an audio or MIDI
recorder, for example, or when editing previously recorded MIDI data in the dedicated MIDI
editor, Qtractor’s actions can be destructive in the sense that newly recorded data (or altered
MIDI data) replaces previously recorded data on the same track.

2. Installing and Configuring Qtractor

2.1. About Compiling Qtractor from its Source Code
If Qtractor is not available as a package for your particular type of Linux (a .deb package for
Debian, Ubuntu or other Debian-based system or an .rpm package for Red Hat, Fedora, SUSE,
etc.), then it must be compiled into an executable application from its source code (from the C++
programming code in which Qtractor is written) before it can be installed. In that case, one’s
computer must have an appropriate compiler program installed (such as G++, the GNU C++
compiler) in order to compile the C++ source code of Qtractor.

For those who have experience compiling programs, the following preparation and instructions
based on autoconf will be familiar. The process is fairly easy and straightforward, but both the
process and the “build environment” (a collection of programs necessary for compiling) can be
confusing for those who are not experienced, so those persons may wish to learn a little about the
process first. There are many books and online resources such as Linux forums, email lists, wikis
that can be consulted and used to learn how to compile and install programs’ source code.

2.2. Preparation–Required and Optional Prerequisites

In order to compile the source code of Qtractor to create an executable program, as well as to run
Qtractor, some software must be installed (the mandatory software listed below) and some may
be installed if the user wishes to enhance the abilities of Qtractor (the optional support libraries).

2.2.1. Mandatory Software

• Qt 4 (core, gui, xml) - C++ class library and tools for cross-platform development and
internationalization http://www.trolltech.org/products/qt/

• JACK Audio Connection Kit http://jackaudio.org/

• ALSA - Advanced Linux Sound Architecture http://www.alsa-project.org/

• libsndfile - C library for reading and writing files containing sampled sound http://
www.mega-nerd.com/libsndfile/

• LADSPA- Linux Audio Developer’s Simple Plugin API http://www.ladspa.org/

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2.2.2. Optional Support Libraries (at build time)

If the functionality that these additional software libraries provides is desired for Qtractor, they
must be installed before Qtractor itself is compiled from its source code.

• libvorbis (enc, file) - Ogg Vorbis audio compression http://xiph.org/vorbis/

• libmad - High-quality MPEG audio decoder http://www.underbit.com/products/mad/

• libsamplerate - The secret rabbit code, C library for audio sample rate conversion http://
breakfastquay.com/rubberband/

• librubberband - Rubber Band Audio Time Stretcher, an audio time-stretching and pitch-
shifting library http://breakfastquay.com/rubberband/

• liblo - Lightweight OSC implementation (needed for DSSI GUI support) http://
liblo.sourceforge.net/

• DSSI - An API for soft synth plugins with custom user interfaces http://
dssi.sourceforge.net/

• VST-SDK - Steinberg’s Virtual Studio Technology http://www.steinberg.net/

2.3. Downloading Qtractor

2.3.1. Qtractor for Everyone

Qtractor is still in its alpha stages of development, but is already fully functional. The latest
versions are publicly available from the qtractor.sourceforge.net project web site [1]:

http://qtractor.sourceforge.net/

2.3.2. Qtractor for the Experienced and Adventurous

The “bleeding-edge” source code may be found in the CVS repository, through anonymous
(pserver) access with the following instructions:

At the command line (in a text terminal or terminal window) login to the CVS repository:

cvs -d:pserver:[email protected]:/cvsroot/
qtractor login

When prompted for a password, hit enter and proceed for check-out (all in the same line):

cvs -z3 -d:pserver:[email protected]:/

cvsroot/qtractor co qtractor

Prepare the configure script on the just created qtractor source tree directory:

cd qtractor

make -f Makefile.cvs

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Hopefully, the source tree will be now ready for build and installation.

2.4. Compiling and Installing Qtractor

2.4.1. Standard Compiling and Installation

After downloading Qtractor and decompressing and extracting the archive if necessary (with the
applications gzip and tar, for example), change directory in a command-line terminal to the
resultant qtractor directory. Once inside the qtractor directory, type and enter the following
command:

./configure && make

NOTE: To see all configuration options before entering the command sequence above, type

./configure -help

After typing the configure and make commands and waiting until the program has finished being
compiled, become an administrator of your system (using either the sudo or su command to
become, temporarily, the user “root”) and finish the installation by entering the following
command:

make install

which will copy the qtractor binary executable (the Qtractor application or program) and
associated desktop and icon files to common standard system locations.

2.4.2. Compiling for Native Linux VST Support (optional)

VST is a “Virtual Studio Technology” developed by Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH for
their own proprietary audio and MIDI applications. VST support is not very easy to accomplish
and is suggested only for experienced users. Because of licensing issues for this proprietary
software, one must download the VST SDK (software developer’s kit) from the Steinberg Media
Technologies GmbH website, specifically searching in the third-party developers section. It
doesn’t matter whether you choose version 2.3 or 2.4 of VST, but choose one and only one. Do
not use VST 3.0. It will not work.

In order to download the VST SDK zip-archive you will have to accept the license and supply
some personal data, then download and unpack (de-compress and/or de-archive) the pertinent
program header files, which are found in one of the directories listed below.

VST SDK 2.3:

Directory:

vstsdk2.3/source/common/

Files:

aeffectx.h

AEffect.h

VST SDK 2.4:

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Directory:

vstsdk2.4/pluginterfaces/vst2.x/

Files:

aeffectx.h

aeffect.h

Just copy the two files to somewhere else in your computer’s directory structure. It is
recommended that you copy those files into a standard “include” directory (eg. /usr/local/include
or /usr/include), in which case all will be handled “automagically” by the ./configure build step.
Otherwise you’ll need do supply the path yourself, as in:

./configure -with-vst=/path/to/vstsdk2.x/include

Once Qtractor is properly compiled, you will probably want to download some native VST
plugins. But Qtractor must be told where it can find these VST plugins. To accomplish this,
currently you’ll need to set (create and assign a value to) a variable known as an “environment
variable.” The variable must be named VST_PATH and the value assigned to this environment
variable must be the path (location on the computer) where the VST plugins have been placed.
You can do this by entering the command (in a command-line terminal or terminal window):

export VST_PATH=/path/to/vst_plugins

Some ready made Linux VST plug-ins can be found on the following web sites:

• http://www.linux-vst.com/

• http://www.linux-vst.com/

• http://cern.linux.vst.googlepages.com/home

2.4.3. Compiling Qtractor with Debugging Code Included

Although Qtractor is a mostly stable program, there could be problems that eventually show up.
This short guide will explain to you how to build Qtractor with debugging code built in, making
it easier to locate where the code exhibits problems.

Rebuild it all from scratch, with:

./configure --enable-debug && make

Enable core dumps in a shell session:

ulimit -c unlimited

From the same shell command line, run the program until it crashes. You’ll see something like
this in the output when it happens:

Segmentation fault (core dumped)

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Locate the dumped core file. Depending on your environmental settings it might be just named
core or something like core.1234 (1234 is the process-id number of the crashing program) located
on the last directory the program was current.

Load the core dump file into gdb:

gdb ./qtractor /path/to/core

At the gdb prompt just enter:

gdb> bt

or:

gdb> thread apply all bt

2.5. Qtractor’s Configuration Settings File

Qtractor keeps a separate set of its run-time settings and configuration state (a “memory” of
certain settings) for each person who uses Qtractor, in a file located in the user’s home directory
as in the following example (on your computer the word “user” in the example would be replaced
with your own user name):

/home/user/.config/rncbc.org/Qtractor.conf

Normally, there is no need to edit this file because it is recreated and rewritten every time
Qtractor is run.

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2.6. Audio and MIDI Input

Illustration 2.1: Qtractor’s Connections window, showing both the Audio and MIDI tabs;
“readable” ports are sources of data (where audio or MIDI data can come from) while
“writable” ports are places that data can be routed to (sent to).

Qtractor can record both digital audio and MIDI data, but it does not know what audio or MIDI
data you wish to record nor does Qtractor automatically make any connections to sources for that
data. Instead, you must route audio and MIDI data to Qtractor manually, like building a pipeline
from the source of the audio or MIDI to Qtractor. Qtractor includes a utility for doing this: the
Connections window, pictured below. But Qtractor and its Connections utility depend upon the
supporting software infrastructure mentioned previously, composed of ALSA and Jack, in order
to both recognize sources of data and to receive data from those sources. ALSA is responsible for

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knowing about and communicating with audio and MIDI hardware and some software, and Jack
is used for routing audio and MIDI data to and from various hardware and software “ports”
within the computer or attached to it. Both ALSA and Jack, working together, make it possible to
route audio and MIDI data to Qtractor. You simply must remember to connect at least one source
of that data to Qtractor first, before you can record some of that data in Qtractor.

3. Learning Qtractor–An Example Session

This chapter is written for those who may not be very familiar with digital audio recording or
MIDI “sequencing” applications, or who wish to gain a quick overview of how Qtractor works
and can be used before exploring the program in greater depth and learning its features in detail.
It describes an example Qtractor session and serves as a walk-through of the program. The reader
can follow the writer as he creates a Qtractor session and uses Qtractor to record, import and edit
MIDI and audio data.

3.1. Preparation
You’ll use Qtractor to record or import several tracks of MIDI and audio data. A MIDI-triggered
tone generator (in this case, a rack-mounted tone generator outside the computer, although it
could just as easily be a “soft synth” inside the computer) will produce the sound for the MIDI
parts as Qtractor plays them back. The audio tracks will be either recorded from some external
source, or pre-recorded audio files will be imported into, played back and edited in Qtractor. A
final “mix down” audio track in Qtractor will contain the combined audio result of playing back
and simultaneously recording the other audio and MIDI tracks.

3.2. Importing an Audio File

The first thing you would like to do is to import a pre-recorded audio file of drums and other
percussion, to form the basis of the rest of the recording session.

3.3. Connecting the MIDI data source to Qtractor

Your MIDI piano-like keyboard normally routes its MIDI data (created when you
strike the keys, for example) to its own internal tone generator, which then sounds like you’re
playing a real piano, or electric piano, harpsichord, bass guitar, etc. However, for this project in
Qtractor you want to route the external keyboard’s MIDI data to Qtractor. So, using a standard
MIDI cable you connect the keyboard’s MIDI output to the MIDI input of your sound card, and
inside the computer you will route the MIDI data from the sound card to a Qtractor MIDI input
bus.

After connecting the MIDI cables, launch Qtractor, which also launches the JACK daemon
(jackd, part of the Jack Audio Connection Kit mentioned previously) if jackd was not already
running. Then open Qtractor’s Connections window, pictured in Illustration 2.1, page 9. In the
Connections window MIDI tab, connect the MIDI output of the sound card (in the left pane,
marked “Readable Clients / Output Ports”) to Qtractor’s listing in the right pane of the window
(marked “Writable Clients / Input Ports”). One can connect an output port (the source of the data,
MIDI or audio) to an input port (the port that will receive the data), in several ways: one is to
highlight a port in the list in the left pane, highlight a port in the right pane, then right- click
(third-button-click if a person is left handed and uses a mouse in a reverse configuration) and
from the pop-up menu select “Connect;” another way is to click a port on the left side and with

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the mouse button held down, “drag” the mouse to a port in the list at the right until the port is
highlighted, then release the mouse button. Using either method, a line representing a “virtual
cable” will appear between the two ports in the middle section of the window.

Then close Qtractor’s Connections window by clicking its button near the top of Qtractor’s main
window and workspace.

3.4. Creating a MIDI track

Now that Qtractor can receive MIDI data, it’s time to create the first track in order to record that
data. Right-click in the blank pane at the left in Qtractor’s main window and from the popup
menu choose “Add track…,” (or you could choose the menu item Track -> Add Track…).

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Illustration 3.1: Track Properties window

Qtractor’s Track Properties window opens.

In the Track Properties window, click the MIDI radio button: you want this track to be used for
MIDI rather than audio data. As soon as you click the MIDI button, Qtractor automatically
connects the track to Qtractor’s master MIDI input and output busses. These can be changed by
using the drop-down lists and the ellipsis button in the Input/Output area of the Track Properties
window, but there is no reason right now to do so. You can replace the default name “Track 1”
with, for instance, “Piano comp.”

Leave the MIDI Channel at the default “1,” although this really makes no difference at the
moment because this channel designation is mainly for output. That is to say, when the track is
played back and its MIDI data is sent to somewhere outside Qtractor (like to a tone generator or
synthesizer) that data will be sent on the MIDI channel specified here (there are 16 possible
channels). But you’re going to record now, so the eventual output MIDI channel doesn’t matter
and can easily be changed later, after you have recorded all the MIDI tracks you wish to record,
and before you play them back.

What does matter however is the Omni checkbox. This setting determines whether Qtractor will
record MIDI information received on any MIDI channel (omni means all), or whether (if
_un_checked) will record only the MIDI data it receives on the same MIDI channel number as
the output channel number displayed just to the right of the Omni checkbox. Your MIDI
keyboard might be set to transmit MIDI data on only one channel (e.g., MIDI channel 1), so you
have to make sure that each of the MIDI tracks you plan to record will receive data from any

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MIDI channel (which will of course include the MIDI channel your MIDI keyboard is
transmitting on) by selecting the Omni checkbox, despite the fact that all MIDI tracks will later
be set to send their MIDI data each on a different channel (channels 1, 2, 3, etc.). Click the “OK”
button and a new empty track appears in Qtractor’s main window.

Now is a good time to save this new session, so choose the menu item File -> Save…. This opens
the Session Properties window, Illustration 4.4, page 17. In the Session tab of the Session
Properties window, give the project (session) a name (Qtractor will append the filename
extension .qtr (or .qts) to this name to indicate a Qtractor session file), and you may choose to
create a directory for Qtractor to store the MIDI and audio files that will become a part of this
project or session. Give the directory you create a name similar to the session name.

Now that the session has been saved, open the Session Properties window again using the menu
item File -> Properties. This time click the Properties tab of the window and set both the time
signature (roughly, how many beats per measure) and the tempo so that you can use the
metronome to help you keep the MIDI parts synchronized as you record them.

You need to arm or set the track ready for recording, by clicking on the “record” button for that
track. That button is the “R” button that is present on every track strip, besides the other “M” and
“S”, respectively for “Mute” and “Solo” track state settings. You can also set the record ready
state for the current selected track by checking the menu item Track -> State -> Record. Either
way the “R” button will turn red and the track is then set armed and ready for recording.

Now it’s time to turn on session recording mode. This is accomplished by clicking on the Record
button in the main transport tool-bar (big red circle). You can do the same action through the
menu item Transport -> Record.

Now you’re ready to record your first MIDI track. Take a little breath and… press “Play”, the
space-bar or Transport -> Play menu item: you’re rolling. Hit the MIDI keyboard and see a
brand new MIDI clip taking shape while you’re performing.

When done, press “Play” again to stop. Save your session and enjoy.

(continues on qtractor 0.3.0 manual pt2)

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qtractor 0.3.0 manual pt2
(continued from qtractor 0.3.0 manual pt1)

4. Qtractor–An Overview
4.1. Routing–Connections, Ports, Tracks and Buses

4.1.1. Routing–General Concepts and Information

Qtractor can record and play digital data, specifically digital audio and MIDI data. To record,
Qtractor must get the audio or MIDI data from somewhere, and to play that audio or MIDI data
Qtractor must send it to somewhere that is capable of understanding an audio or MIDI data
stream and producing (for example) some sound. The process of directing such digital data to and
from– and through–certain software and hardware is called routing, which is simply choosing the
route that the data will take. Not much routing is done automatically; most routing is left to the
user, because it is the user’s preferences, desires and goals in any specific project that in large
part determine how the audio and MIDI data should be routed.

In order to route data, one must have a knowledge and understanding of the various connections
and pathways that are available and through which data can flow or be deposited. A bus is like a
pipeline through which data can travel. Often, more than one stream of data can flow through a
single bus, side by side so to speak. A port is like a valve at one or both ends of a bus. The valve
is normally closed, not allowing any data to flow through unless a connection, such as another
bus, is made to the other side of the valve. In that case the valve (port) opens to allow data to pass
through it from one bus or pipeline into another. However, simply because a connection is made
and the port is open doesn’t mean that data is flowing through the available port and buses. The
data flow in either direction is initiated by the software or hardware at one or both of the ends of
the buses. Often, the data in buses can travel in only one direction. Sometimes it can travel in
both directions (duplex mode).

Qtractor has input buses (both audio and MIDI) to which “data streams” from other software or
hardware can be connected, and output buses which can be connected to the ports and buses of
other software or hardware both inside and outside the computer, using routing procedures
explained in this manual.

A track can be thought of as a place where digital audio or MIDI data is deposited rather than a
pathway through which such data moves. The data is placed into a track by a recording or paste
or import procedure, for example. Despite this, tracks are a part of the signal or data flow, the
pathway that audio or MIDI data can take through Qtractor and out of Qtractor, via a bus, to other
software or to a hardware port on the sound card installed into one’s computer, for example. The
reason that a track is considered part of the signal or data flow is that a track can be examined (by
Qtractor) in a sequential fashion to “pluck” a copy of the data from the track and send that data to
one or more buses and through those buses to other destinations. During recording, a track
becomes the destination for audio or MIDI data coming into Qtractor’s input bus(es). During
playback, a track becomes the source of audio or MIDI data that is then sent through a Qtractor
output bus to a destination such as to the sound card and its attached speakers.

Routing is very flexible and therefore signal/data flow can become very complex. Data streams
can merge and flow through the same bus for a while, or split and go through separate buses to

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different destinations, or even through different buses to the same destination, meanwhile passing
through separate and different intermediate software or hardware environments in which the data
is possibly manipulated or altered in some way. Because of this complexity it is beneficial to
develop a solid understanding of the issues related to routing and the many possible routes or
pathways that data can take, and the many possible connections that can be made, all at the user’s
discretion.

Below is a representation of the connections (ports) buses and routes available in Qtractor
through which audio or MIDI data can flow.

Illustration 4.1: Audio & MIDI data flow, in, through and out of Qtractor

4.1.2. Routing in Qtractor

Routing in Qtractor is accomplished in several ways including:

• using the Connections window (Illustration 2.1) to connect Qtractor’s input and output
buses to outside sources (for “reading” data in order to record it, for example) and
destinations (for “writing” data to an outside destination in order to play back and listen to
it, for example);

• in the Track Properties window (reference to illustration goes here…) where input and
output buses are assigned to each track;

• changing the “state” of each track (their are four states, explained in detail later: record,
mute, solo and monitor, some of which are mutually exclusive and others which are not);

• using the buttons “R” (record), “M” (mute) and “S” (solo) which are visible within each
track’s entry in Qtractor’s main window;

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 • adding plugins to tracks or buses in the Mixer window or View -> Buses window.

4.1.3. Routing–Technical Notes

Qtractor is a fairly massive multi-threaded application. For instance, each audio clip has a
dedicated disk I/O executive thread, which synchronizes with the master engine and, for all
purposes, to central JACK real-time audio processing cycle, through a lock-free ring-buffer.
These audio file ring- buffers are recycled (filled/emptied) at one second threshold, and has a
maximum streaming capacity of 4-5 seconds of audio sample data. Smaller clips are permanently
cached in a RAM buffer.

Audio thread scheduling is mastered and mandated through the JACK callback API model. MIDI
clip events are queued in anticipation through one MIDI output thread, which feeds a ALSA
sequencer queue, synchronized on one second periods to the JACK process cycle. A single thread
is responsible for listening (polling) for MIDI input, and multiplexes all incoming events through
record- armed MIDI tracks. Time stamping is done through the ALSA sequencer facility.

Looping is made possible through the audio file buffering layer, right at the disk I/O thread
context. The same consideration is adopted for MIDI output queuing. JACK transport support is
not an option, as playback positioning is constantly kept in soft-chase fashion. Audio frame
relocation is accounted from successive JACK client process cycles (i.e. buffer-period
resolution).

On this particular design, JACK and ALSA sequencer ports are logically aggregated as buses
with respect to the audio and MIDI signal routing paths, functioning as fundamental device
interfaces. Input buses, through exposing their respective input ports, are responsible inlets on
capture and recording. Output buses are the main signal outlets and are responsible as playback
and, more importantly, as mix-down devices.

Buses are independently assigned to tracks. Each track is assigned to one input bus for recording,
and to one output bus for playback and mix-down. The assigned output bus determines the
number of channels the track supports. Clips bounded to disparate multichannel audio files, for
which their number of channels do not match with proper bus/track’s one, are automatically
resolved on mix-down. Illustration 4.1, page 14 shows one typical signal flow block diagram.

4.2. Qtractor’s Main Window and Work Area

Qtractor’s graphical user interface follows a standard design of most modern digital audio and
MIDI workstations. The interface is easy and intuitive enough to easily interact with in order to
discover the potential of the underlying inner core of the application where its functionality is
implemented.

The following illustration shows an overall view of the GUI with an example session loaded into
the workspace.

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Illustration 4.2: Qtractor’s main window and work area

The main Qtactor window is initially laid out in this fashion:

• Menu and Tool-bars at the top

• Track list and information at the left

• Track (audio and MIDI) data view representation and file list on the right, with time scale
above.

The track data view section in the middle is where most of the action takes place. It contains
visual displays and representations of audio waveforms or MIDI data. This section is used for
editing Clip objects (portions or all of any particular audio or MIDI file, recorded or imported)
and for navigation within the project or “session.”

Qtractor also has other useful windows, such as the Mixer window, and the Connections window.
Both these windows can be opened using the F8 key for Connections window (the patch-bay),
and the F9 key for the Mixer window. These items are also selectable from the View menu.

Two utility windows are additionally featured: the Messages window, specially suited for
debugging, and the Files window, where audio and MIDI files are organized and selected on
demand.

Dialog windows for editing session, track and clip properties are also accessible in their proper
context, which will be discussed in their respective sections.

Finally, session and application configuration options are assisted through respective customizing
dialogs: Buses, Instruments and Options, available from the View menu in the main menu bar.

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4.3. Understanding a Qtractor Session (recording or editing)
A Qtractor session project contains all the information about all your Clip Objects, placement of
Clip Objects, Mixer setup, plug-ins, tempo, time signature and Connections patch-bay. When
creating or saving a project, all this, and any related settings are saved on your hard disk within
this session project file.

4.3.1. Session Audio Sample Rate

It is important to note that Qtractor sessions are locked to a session project sample rate. This is
dependent on the sample rate of the JACK [3] server running at the time the session is created.

Any attempt to convert non-matching sample-rate sessions will result in a recommendation

warning message.

However, individual audio clip files are automatically converted on playback in real-time to the
host sample-rate (via libsamplerate [8]). This method, while it works very well, is not the
recommended method due to possible errors in the real-time sample rate conversion. Real-time
sample rate conversion is also going to use quite a bit more valuable CPU resources.

Rui Nuno Capela is working toward eliminating this shortcoming by taking control of JACK
from within Qtractor, and restarting it using the session’s project parameters. This will ultimately
reconnect any plug-ins, set the proper sample rate, etc. Until this feature is available, please
follow the recommendations listed above.

4.3.2. Session Properties including Time Signature and Tempo

To access the session properties, choose the File / Properties menu item. Here, you can name
your Qtractor session, set the tempo, time signature (how many beats per bar) and decide how
many “ticks” (the smallest time unit in a session) will be within the time span of each beat.

Although you may select any time signature and tempo for your session, by present design
Sessions can only contain a single constant tempo. Tempo must be regarded as a global setting of
a session. Qtractor does not presently support tempo mapping, but may eventually do so.

Illustration 4.3: Session properties window showing both Session and Properties tabs

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A new feature, which applies to existing audio clips, will reflect all tempo changes with a
corresponding time-stretching effect. Time-stretching is thus applied in real-time at the buffering
level, as a custom WSOLA algorithm based and derived from the SoundTouch [12] library.

4.3.3. Session Options

Illustration 4.4: Session Options window, showing both Audio and MIDI tabs (sections)

Access the Options windows via the View / Options menu item. This window, and its tabs allows
you to control the global parameters of Qtractor, and these are the default settings which are not
saved within your session file.

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4.4. Files

Illustration 4.5: The Files pane of Qtractor’s main workspace; both Audio and MIDI tabs are
shown

Sound file selection is made available through a tabbed mini-organizer. Audio and MIDI file lists
are kept separate on their respective tabs.

Files can be imported using the menu command Track / Import Tracks / Audio… or MIDI…,
or by using the context menu (“right-click” menu) in either the Audio or MIDI tabs of the Files
pane and choosing Add Files…. Individual and multiple files can be drag-and-dropped from the
desktop environment and within the provided tree list. This lists all the files which are referred in
the working arrangement session. File items can be drag-and-dropped directly into the track
window, thus creating new clips in the working arrangement. This is mainly used as a your audio/
MIDI file data pool.

The Files pool can also allow you to preview the files shown in the windows either by double-
clicking the file name, or by click the play button on the lower right hand side of the Files Pool
window.

Audio file format support is provided by libsndfile [5], and supports wav, aiff, flac, au, etc.
Optional libraries provide support for both ogg and mp3 formats. libvorbis [6] (ogg) and libmad
[7] (mp3). MIDI file support covers the usual SMF formats 0 and 1, through a native, home-
brew implementation.

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4.5. Clips

4.5.1. Clip Summary

Illustration 4.6: An audio clip, with left and right upper corner handles drawn inward to create a
fade-in and fade-out

Clip objects are the elemental items of a session arrangement, and can contain either Audio or
MIDI data. A Clip Object is merely a region of an actual sample or MIDI file. A clip object is also
non destructive, and can be copied, truncated and time stretched as if it were actual audio/MIDI
data.

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4.5.2. Audio Clip Properties

Illustration 4.7: Audio clip properties window, which appears with a double- click or right-click -
> Clip -> Edit… on an audio clip’s visual representation in Qtractor’s main workspace

Clip properties include its label (Name), File path, start time (location), offset and length (in
frames), fade-in and fade-out length (in frames) and time stretch percentage, respectively, from
the start and end of the clip. Although fade-in and fade-outs are always displayed as straight lines,
the actual audio volume (gain) and MIDI velocity effect can be opted to be of either linear, square
or cubic characteristic, in as for an approximation to the logarithmic model of human ear
perception.

Clips are placed on tracks, either by importing audio and MIDI files as new tracks, or by
dragging and dropping files into the track-view arranger window. Empty clips may also be
created by right clicking on a track, and choosing Edit / Clip / New…. After being placed on
their respective tracks, you may perform clip-region operations such as drag, copy, cut, paste,
delete, truncate, fade in/out etc. Altering clip fade-in and fade-out is accomplished by dragging
the handles (square boxes) on the top ends of any clip. A Clip may be split by positioning the
playback head where you want to split it, right click the Clip, and choose Edit / Clip / Split. If
you use this often, it is far more convenient to assign a keyboard shortcut to accomplish this task.

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Illustration 4.8: Select Mode context menu (right-click menu)

Most clip editing operations are accomplished through the usual mouse interaction, by first
selecting one or multiple clips and/or regions, and applying the edit action upon the resulting
selection.

There are three selection modes available: clip, range and rectangular modes (Edit / Select
Mode).

• In Clip mode, clip objects are selected as a whole with no sub-clip regions possible.

• In Range mode, clip object regions are selected on all tracks between a given time interval
or range.

• In Rectangular mode, only the regions that fall under a rectangular area are selected, this
means for adjacent tracks and clips only

4.5.3. Clips and Tracks

Illustration 4.9: Mute, Solo & Record buttons for individual tracks

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Tracks may be armed for recording, making way for creating new audio and MIDI clip files with
captured material. Tracks can also be muted and soloed on mix- down, which also applies when
exporting. Most editing operations should be possible while playback is rolling (but not
completely safe though; there are many procedural helpers, but not completely assisted with lock-
free primitives, yet)

MIDI clip objects are representations of a sequence of events of one single MIDI channel, as
extracted from a SMF format 0 file or of one single track, as from a SMF format 1, either in
whole or in part.

4.6. Qtractor Main Workspace–Tracks Area

Illustration 4.10: Audio and MIDI tracks in the main workspace of Qtractor

Tracks are arranged as a sequence of one or more overlapping clips of the same file type, either
audio or MIDI. The tracks window is the main application workspace, serving as a virtual canvas
of a multi-track composition arranger. Most of the editing operations are made on this tracks area
of the main workspace window.

The tracks area has two panes, the left one displays the list of tracks with their respective
properties and the center-right pane is the main tracks view canvas window where multi-track
composition and arranging activity is pictured and performed. As usual, tracks are stacked on
horizontal strips and clips are layered on a bi-dimensional grid, in time sequence for each track
strip. Time is modeled on the horizontal axis and pictured by a bar-beat scale ruler at the top of
the track-view.

Clips may be conveniently aligned to discrete time positions, depending on the current snap
mode setting. When not set to “None”, the snapping is always carried out to MIDI resolution,
quantized to ticks per quarter note granularity.

Each track has its own user assignable colors for better visual identification. Audio clips are
displayed with approximate waveform graphic, with peak and RMS signal envelopes as read
from the respective audio file segment. MIDI clips are shown as a piano-roll like graphic, with
note events shown as small rectangles, depicting pitch, time and duration.

All session, track and clip editing operations are undo/redo-able. Discrete view zooming and
track vertical resizing operations are also available.

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4.7. Mixer

Illustration 4.11: Mixer window

The mixer window serves for session control, monitoring, recording and assistance in mix-down
operations. The mixer is divided in three panes: the left accommodates all input buses, the center
with individual track strips and the right for the output buses. Each mixer strip offers a volume
and pan control and monitors each one of the respective buses and tracks. Audio strips also offers
the possibility to chain plug-in effects (LADSPA [9]).

Monitoring is presented in the form of peak level meters for audio and note event velocity for
MIDI, both with fall-off eye-candy. MIDI mixer strips also feature an output event activity LED.

Audio volume is presented on a dBfs scale (IEC 268-10) and pan is applied in approximated
equal-power effect (trigonometric weighting). For MIDI tracks, volume control is implemented
through respective channel controller-7 and system-exclusive master volume for output buses.
MIDI pan control is only available for track strips and is implemented through channel
controller-10. MIDI input buses have volume and pan controls disabled.

4.8. Connections Window

The Connections window (Illustration 2.1, page 9)serves to establish the audio and MIDI port
connections between the internal core layer input and output buses (ports), and the external
devices or client applications. Incidentally the Connections window can also be used to make
connections between external client application ports, either JACK clients for audio, or ALSA
sequencer clients for MIDI. In fact, it almost completely replicates the very same functionality of
QjackCtl [10]. All connections on the existing input and output buses are properly saved and
restored upon session recall.

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4.9. Audio Effects Plug-ins

4.9.1. Summary

There are three types of plug-ins supported within Qtractor. LADSPA, DSSI and VST. Plug-in
support is available for all audio input and output buses and for all audio tracks. All plug-in types
are aggregated seamlessly as one single instance on a multi-channel context and can be
individually selected, activated and moved within the plug-in chain order.

Illustration 4.12: Mixer window showing audio plug-in area at top; plug-ins are added, removed,
activated/deactivated, moved in the processing chain and their settings edited using a right-click
context menu.

Also, you may drag-and-drop all plug-in instances over the mixer strip channels. You can move,
drag and drop inside the same strip or over to, and from any other. You may also copy plug-ins
from one channel strip to another as well. A mini menu will ask if you want to copy or move the
plug-in. Individual plug-in control parameters can be modified in real-time through provided
dialog windows and maintained as named presets for re-usability.

4.9.2. LADSPA

LADSPA [9] has been the Linux audio plug-in standard for many years. There are literally
hundreds of LADSPA plug-ins available for Linux. LADSPA plug-ins give the user many
standard options such as Equalization, Filtering, Reverb, Chorus, Amp and speaker simulation,
etc. Qtractor must be told the location (path in the file-system hierarchy) of the LADSPA plug-ins
that have been installed by the user. This path can be specified in the View / Options… window,
under the Plugins tab (see Illustration 4.13 below).

160
4.9.3. DSSI

DSSI plug-in support is available for DSSI effects plug-ins. DSSI Instrument plug-ins are not yet
supported. You must have the core DSSI subsystem installed in order for this type of plug-in to
function. When DSSI is present, the DSSI-VST wrapper may also be used. This wrapper uses
WINE (http://www.winehq.org) to allow a user to run native Windows® VST applications. The
DSSI paths may be set within the View / Options… window under the Plugins tab, or with an
environment variable.

Illustration 4.13: The locations (paths) of LADSPA and DSSI audio plugins can be specified in
the View -> Options window, under the Plugins tab.

4.9.4. VST (Linux Native)

Native Linux VST plug-in support is also available. Presently, there are only a few native Linux
VSTs available, but more should be on the way soon, thanks to some aggressive ongoing
projects.

Please see section 2.4.2 for complete information on building Qtractor with native VST support.

Note: Native Linux VST support does NOT include running of Windows® VST plug-ins. Please
use the DSSI-VST wrapper when attempting to use this type of plug-in, and make sure your
Windows® VST plug-ins are located within your DSSI path environment variable (the variable
name is VST_PATH).

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4.10. MIDI Instruments

Illustration 4.14: Instruments window, where MIDI instrument definition files, for various
popular MIDI tone generators, can be imported, exported and moved.

There are many MIDI hardware tone generators available from a variety of manufacturers such as
Yamaha, Roland and Korg.. In Qtractor, information about the sound patches and sound banks of
these tone generators is obtained from “instrument definition” files. Qtractor supports the
instrument definition files used by the Cakewalk / Sonar [11] MIDI sequencer software,
offering a convenient MIDI bank-select/program-change mapping for existing MIDI instrument
patch names, and easier, intelligible selection of MIDI track channels. These Cakewalk / Sonar
instrument definition files (.ins files) can be imported using the View / Instruments… window.

Cakewalk / Sonar instrument definition files for many popular MIDI tone generators and
synthesizers can be downloaded from http://www.cakewalknet.com/ in the “Downloads” section
of the website.

4.11. MIDI Editor

Each MIDI clip content may be readily edited under a dedicated and fairly complete “piano-roll”
type editor,, with individual pitch, velocity and controller, editable trough the usual GUI
operations such as: multi-extended selection, drag-and-drop, move, cut, copy, paste, deletion of
every event in the MIDI sequence is rightly accessible on the fly.

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Illustration 4.15: MIDI Editor window, showing notes in a familiar “piano roll” type of
graphical display, above, and a graph of their velocities below. The notes and their velocities can
be selected and edited in many ways, using the mouse, menu commands and context menus.

Special tools for batch processing are also implemented and applicable to the any event selection:
quantize, transpose, normalize, randomize and resize. All MIDI editing operations are available
and processed in real-time, effective while playback. Several MIDI Editor instances may be
active and open in any time, provided each one refers to its own clip.

All MIDI content may be saved as standard MIDI files (SMF) Format 0 (all tracks reduced to one
track, preserving channel assignment data) or format 1 (multi-track). The format for the SMF
files (format 0 or 1) may be set in View / Options… under the MIDI tab.

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4.12. Audio / MIDI Export

Illustration 4.16: Audio export window, where the audio tracks in a session can be named and
exported as a single audio track in the particular format previously specified by the user in the
View -> Options window.

All or part of the session may be exported to one audio or MIDI file. Audio export is
implemented through the special JACK freewheel mode, thus faster than real-time, resulting in
the complete and exact mix-down of selected audio material into a designated audio file of the
opted format (wav, flac, au, aiff or ogg). MIDI export is just the same but for MIDI material only,
resulting in the merging and concatenation of selected MIDI tracks and clips into a single MIDI
file (SMF Format 0 or 1). The user-preferred format for exported audio files (OGG, FLAC, WAV,
etc.) and MIDI files (SMF 0, all tracks reduced to single track or SMF 1, multi-track) can be set
in the Options window (View / Options…).

4.13. Keyboard Shortcuts Editor

Keyboard shortcuts are useful for the power user, in such that it provides for a quick mechanism
for performing often used commands quickly, without the use of your mouse.

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Illustration 4.17: Keyboard Shortcuts Editor window, available from the Help / Shortcuts…
menu item

Keyboard shortcuts may be customized to your preference by using the shortcuts editor. This
editor may be found in the Help menu (Help / Shortcuts…).

It is very straight forward in its use. Simply find the item you want to create a shortcut for, left
click in the shortcut cell, and type on the key you wish to be assigned to that function. You will
then see whatever key or key combination you chose appear in the context.

(continues on qtractor 0.3.0 manual pt3)

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qtractor 0.3.0 manual pt3
(continued from qtractor 0.3.0 manual pt2)

5. Qtractor Main Menu

5.1. File Menu
• New – creates a new session project.

• Open… – opens a previously created session project.

• Open Recent – contains a list of several of your last used session projects.

• Save – saves your current session project

• Save As… – saves your current session project with naming conventions

• Properties… – opens the session properties dialog

• Exit – exits the program.

5.2. Edit Menu

• Undo – undo the last action.

• Redo – redo the last action.

• Cut – deletes and copies the item to the clipboard.

• Copy – copies the item to the clipboard

• Paste – pastes the item from the clipboard.

• Delete – deletes the selected item.

• Select Mode – selects the edit mode, one of Clip, Range or Rectangle.

• Select – None, Range, Track or All

• Clip – New…, Edit…, Split, Normalize and Export…

5.3. Track Menu

• Add Track… – add either a new audio or MIDI track.

• Remove Track – removes a track.

• Track Properties… – calls the track properties dialog.

• Inputs – shows current track inputs.

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 • Outputs – shows current track outputs.

• State – current track state: Record, Mute, Solo, Monitor.

• Navigate – current track navigation: First, Previous, Next, Last.

• Move – move current track navigation: Top, Up, Down, Bottom.

• Auto-monitor – current track auto-monitoring.

• Import Tracks – import either audio or MIDI track.

• Export Tracks – export either audio or MIDI track.

5.4. View Menu

• Menu Bar – toggle whether the menu bar is shown.

• Status Bar – toggle whether the Status Bar is shown.

• Tool Bars – toggles various tool bars on and off.

• Files – toggles whether the Files directory is on or off.

• Messages – toggles whether the Messages dialog is on or off.

• Connections – displays the Connections dialog.

• Mixer – displays the Mixer window.

• Zoom – zoom the main view: In, Out, Reset.

• Snap – change the snap-per-beat setting.

• Refresh – refresh the view contents.

• Instruments… – displays the instruments dialog.

• Buses… – opens the buses editor dialog.

• Options… – opens the program options dialog.

5.5. Transport Menu

• Backward – playhead jumps backward to beginning of range markers or session

• Rewind – playhead moves backward at greater than usual speed

• Fast Forward – playhead moves forward at greater than usual speed

• Forward – playhead jumps forward to marker or end of session

• Loop – play the range marked as a loop, over and over again

• Loop Set – mark selected range as a loop

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 • Play – playhead moves forward at normal speed

• Record – prepare to record audio or MIDI on record-enabled tracks

• Punch – record the range marked to punch in/out

• Punch Set – mark selected range to record punch in/out

• Metronome – turn the metronome’s audio or MIDI output on or off

• Follow Playhead – the tracks will scroll so that the playhead is always visible

• Auto Backward – playhead returns to beginning of range markers or session automatically

when playhead is stopped

• Continue Past End – playhead will continue to move forward even after end of recorded
tracks is reached

5.6. Help Menu

• Shortcuts… – lists the keyboard key combination equivalents of menu items and other
commands

• About… – information about Qtractor

• About Qt… – information about Qt, the graphics toolkit used for Qtractor’s user interface.

6. Appendixes
6.1. References
Certain words, terms or items in the manual have a bracketed number after them, indicating a
reference to items in this appendix, where sources are given for more information about those
items.

[1] Qtractor - An Audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer

http://qtractor.sourceforge.net/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/qtractor/

[2] Qt 4 - C++ class library and tools for cross-platform development and internationalization.

http://www.trolltech.org/products/qt/

[3] JACK Audio Connection Kit

http://jackaudio.org/

[4] ALSA - Advanced Linux Sound Architecture

http://www.alsa-project.org/

[5] libsndfile - C library for reading and writing files containing sampled sound

168
http://www.mega-nerd.com/libsndfile/

[6] libvorbis - Ogg Vorbis audio compression

http://xiph.org/vorbis/

[7] libmad - High-quality MPEG audio decoder

http://www.underbit.com/products/mad/

[8] libsamplerate - The secret rabbit code, C library for audio sample rate conversion

http://www.mega-nerd.com/SRC/

[9] LADSPA - Linux Audio Developer’s Simple Plugin API

http://www.ladspa.org/

[10] QjackCtl - JACK Audio Connection Kit - Qt GUI Interface

http://qjackctl.sourceforge.net/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/qjackctl/

[11] Cakewalk - Powerful and easy to use products for music creation and recording

http://www.cakewalk.com/

ftp://ftp.cakewalk.com/pub/InstrumentDefinitions/

[12] SoundTouch - Sound Processing Library

http://www.surina.net/soundtouch/

[13] rncbc.org - The personal web presence of Rui Nuno Capela, creator and developer of
Qtractor and other applications or application GUIs such as Qjackctl a GUI for jackd, Qsynth a
GUI for fluidsynth, Qsampler, etc.

http://www.rncbc.org/

6.2 Colophon
This manual was produced using the free, open-source office suite OpenOffice.org office, and
typeset using the free Liberation family of typefaces from Red Hat Linux which consist of the
typefaces (fonts) Liberation Serif, Liberation Sans and Liberation Mono, all of which have the
same metrics (proportions) as the proprietary Times New Roman, Arial and Courier New,
respectively.

OpenOffice.org

http://www.openoffice.org/

Red Hats Liberation Typefaces

https://www.redhat.com/promo/fonts/

169
6.3 Contact Us
For questions, comments and suggestions regarding Qtractor, please contact:

• Rui Nuno Capela, [email protected]

For questions, comments and suggestions regarding the Qtractor manual, please contact:

• James Laco Hines, [email protected]

• Stephen Doonan, [email protected]

Index
Aiff 18, 27

ALSA 4, 5, 9, 14, 15, 22, 30

Amp 24

Au 18, 27

Audio

• Clip properties & settings 19

• Clips 19

• Connections 22

• Exporting 27

• File types supported 18

• Files, viewing 18

• Importing audio files 18

• Input, getting audio data into Qtractor 9

• Plugins 23

• Plugins, DSSI 24

• Plugins, LADSPA 24

• Plugins, VST 6, 24

• Recording 20

• Sample rate 16

Audio export 27

Autoconf 5

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Bus

• Buses in Mixer window 22

• Definition & general information 13

Cakewalk 25, 30

Cakewalk .ins (instrument definition) files 25

Chorus 24

Clip objects 19

Clip Objects 16

Clips

• Audio & MIDI 19

• Audio & MIDI, importing 19

• Audio properties & settings 19

• Definition & information 19

• Editing 20

• Recording 20

Compiling Qtractor

• Standard compilation 6

• With debugging code activated 7

• With VST support 6

Configuration 8

Connections 9, 16, 22

Connections

• Audio & MIDI 9

Contact us 31

Controller-10 22

Controller-7 22

Copy 26

Core dumps 7

Cubic 19

171
Cut 26

CVS 6

Data flow in, through & out of Qtractor 14

DBfs 22

Debian 5

Debugging 7

Downloading Qtractor

• Standard released source code 6

• “Bleeding edge” active-development source code 6

Drag-and-drop 26

DSSI 6, 23, 24

DSSI-VST 24

Edit menu, main workspace 28

Editing 20

Equalization 24

Exporting Audio or MIDI 27

Fade-in 19

Fade-out 19

Fedora 5

File menu, main workspace 28

Files 18

Files

• Importing audio & MIDI files 18

• MIDI instrument definition file 25

• Viewing session audio and MIDI files 18

Filtering 24

Flac 18, 27

Fluidsynth 30

Freewheel 27

172
G++ 5

Gain 19

GNU C++ 5

GPL 4

Graphical user interface, Qtractor’s 15

GUI 4, 15

Help menu, main workspace 29

Importing audio & MIDI files 18

Input

• Audio and MIDI 9

• Installing Qtractor

• Compiling from source code 5

• Mandatory & optional prerequisites 5

• With optional functionality 5

Instruments

• Instrument definition file 25

• MIDI: software & hardware tone generators 25

JACK 4, 5, 10, 14, 15, 16, 22, 27, 30

Jackd 10, 30

Keyboard shortcuts for menu & other commands 27

LADSPA 5, 22, 23, 24, 30

Liberation typefaces, free typefaces from Red Hat 31

Liblo 6

Libmad 5, 18, 30

Librubberband 6

Libsamplerate 5, 16, 30

Libsndfile 18, 30

Libvorbis 5, 18, 30

Linear 19

173
Logarithmic 19

Main window & workspace 15

Menus

• Main menu items / commands 28

MIDI

• Cakewalk & Sonar MIDI instrument definition files 25

• Clips 19

• Connections 22

• Editing 26

• Editing, MIDI clips in main workspace 20

• Editor window 26

• Exporting 27

• Files, viewing 18

• Importing MIDI files 18

• Input, getting MIDI data into Qtractor 9

• Instrument definition file 25

• Recording 20

• Saving a track as an SMF file (Standard MIDI file) 26

MIDI Editor

• Description 26

• Editing MIDI pitch and velocity data 26

• Saving a MIDI track as an SMF file (Standard MIDI file) 26

• “Batch” editing functions for many notes or entire clips 26

MIDI export 27

Mix-down 22, 27

Mixer 16

Mixer

Buses 22

Mixer window 22

174
Plugins 22

Tracks 22

Monitoring 22

Move 26

Mp3 18

Normalize 26

Ogg 18, 27

Omni 11

OpenOffice & OpenOffice.org 31

Options 17

Pan 22

Paste 26

Piano-roll 21, 26

Plugins

• About LADSPA, DSSI & other audio plugins 23

Qjackctl 30

QjackCtl 22, 30

Qsampler 30

Qsynth 30

Qt 4 5, 30

Quantize 26

Randomize 26

Red Hat 5, 31

Redo 21

References to software & websites 30

Resize 26

Resizing 21

Reverb 24

RMS 21

175
Rncbc.org 30

Routing

• Definition & general information 13

• Methods of setting & changing 14

• Signal/data flow into, through & out of Qtractor 14

• Technical notes 14

Sample rate 16

Session, a Qtractor recording / Editing project

• Audio sample rate 16

• Files recorded or imported into a session 18

• Options: audio, MIDI, display, plugins, etc. 17

• Properties, basic session-widel settings 16

• Understanding a session 16

Settings (Qtractor settings file) 8

Shortcuts for menu & other commands 27

Signal flow in, through & out of Qtractor 14

SMF 18, 20, 26, 27

Snapping 21

Sonar 25

Sonar .ins (instrument definition) files 25

SoundTouch 30

Square 19

SUSE 5

Tempo 16

Time signature 16

Time stretch 19

Track

• About, audio or MIDI clips 21

• Colors 21

176
 • Definition & general information 13

• Tracks area of main workspace 21

• Tracks in Mixer window 22

Track menu, main workspace 28

Tracker type of application 5

Tracks 21

Transport menu, main workspace 29

Transpose 26

Ubuntu 5

Undo 21

Velocity 19

View menu, main workspace 28

Volume 19, 22

VST 6, 23, 24

VST_PATH 24

VST-SDK 6

Wav 18, 27

Waveform 21

Windows

• Connections: routing, input & output 9, 22

• Main workspace 15

• Main workspace, tracks area 21

• MIDI Editor 26

• Mixer 22

WINE 24

Zooming 21

177
qtractor 0.5.x Part 0. Installing Qtractor
Part 0. Installing Qtractor
The different ways to install Qtractor and ensure your audio production environment is ready to
make serious sounds.

Chapter 1, Introduction to Qtractor

Chapter 2, Installation

Chapter 3, Post-Installation Optimizations

Chapter 1. Introduction to Qtractor

Qtractor is a full-featured Digital Audio Workstation (DAW); a multi-track audio and MIDI
recorder, editor, and mixer. Qtractor is free open-source software, licensed under the GPL, being
developed by reknowned programmer Rui Nuno Capela.

The functionality of Qtractor is contained within a graphical desktop environment that will be
familiar to users of other popular multi-track recording/editing applications on any computer
operating system, and follows the same design principles with many of the same or similar
elements.

In addition to recording digital audio and MIDI, Qtractor provides an environment for multi-
track clip-oriented composing techniques common in modern music-making and aims to be
intuitive and easy to use, yet powerful enough for the serious recording enthusiast.

Note

Qtractor is not what is known as a “tracker” type of audio/MIDI application, although it has the
potential to function in that way if needed. When used merely as an audio and/or MIDI recorder
(a MIDI recorder was historically called a “sequencer”) or arranger, Qtractor is non-destructive,
which means that the underlying files that contain the audio or MIDI data are not altered when
those files are apparently cut into pieces, duplicated, pulled or pasted into a different order in
time, or manipulated in any number of ways within the main Window (GUI interface) of
Qtractor. However, when used as an audio or MIDI recorder, for example, or when editing
previously recorded MIDI data in the dedicated MIDI editor, Qtractor’s actions can be destructive
in the sense that newly recorded data (or altered MIDI data) replaces previously recorded data on
the same track.

1.1. System Requirements

Qtractor’s target platform is Linux, using the ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) and
JACK (the Jack Audio Connection Kit) as the supporting infrastructure for recognizing sources
of digital audio and MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) data, communicating with those
sources and routing the data to and from various locations and programs (applications, including
Qtractor) both inside and outside the computer and involving both software and hardware
interfaces.

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Suggestions of technical requirements for Qtractor are:

• PC running a distribution of the GNU+Linux operating system with a Kernel of 2.6.38.4 or

higher for best realtime performance (older kernels require realtime patches from your
distribution or from kernel.org)

• CPU capable of running reasonably modern software (the better your CPU, the better
performance you will see in realtime audio effects and synthesis)

• A reasonable amount of RAM (an open Qtractor project requires RAM; the more you
have, the more complex your projects can be and the faster they will respond)

• A sound card; the basic sound card that shipped with your computer is perfectly acceptable,
although if you require simultaneous recording of multiple tracks, a card or audio interface
with distinct inputs will be required

• Ample harddrive space for samples and audio files used in your projects.

• Attitude. Not required, but if you plan on being a rock star, then you should try to develop
an rebellious attitude, and resolutely reject mainstream software

1.2. Get Involved

The Qtractor project welcomes all collaboration and review from the Linux audio developer and
user community in particular, and the public in general.

See qtractor.sourceforge.net for contact information.

The docbook sources for this user manual are available via git from gitorious.org/slackermedia

Chapter 2. Installation
Installing Qtractor can be done in two ways: from your distribution’s software repository, or by
building from source code. For most users, installing from your distribution’s repositories is the
right choice, as it offers the easiest install and ensures timely and reliable updates.

2.1. Easy Install

To install software from your distribution’s repository, open the software installer for your
distribution (often called Add/Remove Software or sometimes a Software Store).

Search for Qtractor, and mark it for installation and proceed; there is no need to intall additional
packages since the installer will automatically install any software required for Qtractor to run.

2.2. Expert Install

If you absolutely require the latest features in a just-released or not-yet released version of
Qtractor, or you simply prefer to build your programs manually, you may build Qtractor from
source code.

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In order to build from source, you must have a build environment, and the essential dependencies
that Qtractor requires. Depending on your distribution, the names of the installable build tools
will vary, but the software components themselves are:

• g++ - the GNU C++ Compiler

• gcc - the GNU C Compiler; not strictly required in this case, but good to have in a build
environment, and in some distributions this may bring in other useful dependencies

• Autoconf -

• Automake - the GNU Makefile generator

• Qt4 (core,gui,xml) - C++ class library and tools for cross-platform development and
internationalization, available from your distribution’s software repository (be sure to
install all “development” components) or directly from trolltech.org/products/qt

• libsndfile - C library for reading and writing files containing sampled sound, available
from your distribution (be sure to install all “development” components) or directly from
mega-nerd.com/libsndfile

• LADSPA - Linux Audio Developer’s Simple Plugin API; available from you distribution’s
repository (be sure to install all “development” components) or from ladspa.org

Additional support libraries may be installed to enhance the abilities of Qtractor:

• libvorbis - the Ogg Vorbis encoder and decoder by Xiph

• libmad - high-quality MPEG audio decoder, available from your repository or from
underbit.com/products/mad

• libsameplerate - the secret rabbit code, a C library for audio sample rate conversion,
available from your distribution’s repository or from mega-nerd.com/libsndfile

• librubberband - the Rubber Band Audio Time Stretcher, an audio time-stretching and
pitch-shifting library, available from your repository or breakfastquay.com/rubberband

• liblo - Lightweight OSC implementation (needed for DSSI GUI support), available from
your repository or liblo.sourceforge.net

• DSSI - an API for soft synth plugins with custom user interfaces dssi.sourceforge.net

• VST-SDK - Steinberg’s Virtual Studio Technology; this SDK permits the use of Linux-
native plugins with Qtractor. To install VST-SDK:

1. Establish a developer account at steinberg.net/en/company/

3rd_party_developer.html , confirm the registration, and log in

2. Download VST 2.4

3. Unzip the source directory and copy the files to the appropriate directory; usually /
usr/local/include

su -c 'cp vstsdk2.4/pluginterfaces/vst2.x/
aeffect* /usr/local/include/'

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2.2.1. Download the Qtractor Code

Stable releases of Qtractor can be downloaded directly from qtractor.sourceforge.net/qtractor-

index.html#Downloads

Note

If you intend to develop Qtractor then you will want to run “bleeding edge” code. This is not
recommended for a production system and should be used only for development purposes. Check
out the source code from its CVS repository via anonymous (pserver) access:

1. At the command line, checkout the code via SVN:

svn co https://qtractor.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/
qtractor/trunk qtractor-svn

2. Prepare the configure script on the newly created qtractor source tree directory:

cd qtractor-svn
make -f Makefile.svn

3. Build and install.

2.2.2. Compiling and Installing Qtractor

After downloading Qtractor, decompress and extract the archive:

tar -xf qtractor-0.x.x.tar.gz

Change directory into the resulting qtractor directory. Once inside the qtractor directory,
the usual building commands apply:

./configure && make

To see all configuration options before entering the command sequence above, type ./
configure --help

After typing the configure and make commands and waiting until the program has finished
being compiled, become an administrator of your system (using either the sudo or su command
to become, temporarily, the root user) and finish the installation by entering:

make install

The executable binary code (in otherwords, the Qtractor application itself) and associated
desktop and icon files are copied to common, standard system locations.

Chapter 3. Post-Installation Optimizations

There are some considerations after you have installed Qtractor which may help you optimize
your system for its best possible audio performance.

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Previous to the Linux Kernel 2.6.38.4, a realtime kernel was a must-have component in audio
production. Since 2.6.38, new options have developed to provide a seamless audio production
experience, depending largely on what your needs are from your system.

If you are not sure whether you’ll need realtime, it is safe to assume that you will need either:

• A 2.6.38.4 or greater kernel regardless of your expected workload

• A realtime kernel if a 2.6.38.4 or better kernel is not conveniently available from your
distribution

• An optimized realtime kernel if you anticipate live recording and multitracking

3.1. Real-Time Kernel

To discover what kernel your computer is currently running, look in KInfoCenter (in KDE4) or
System Information (in Gnome3).

Or simply open a terminal:

uname -r

If your computer is running a kernel previous to 2.6.38.4, then you should either update your
kernel, or install a realtime version of your kernel.

To upgrade the Linux kernel, use your distribution’s repository, searching for the terms
realtime or rt.

If your distribution does not have repositories, or realtime kernels, then you can of course
download the source code and compile the kernel yourself. The same guiding principles apply; as
long as you are building 2.6.38.4 or above, then a simple make oldconfig will render a
modestly pre-emptive kernel suitable for near-realtime use. For extreme low-latency, apply
realtime patches, available from kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/projects/rt

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3.2. QJackCtl

In order for Qtractor to run, JACK must be running in the background. JACK is a kind of
patchbay for Linux (technically a “sound server”), enabling you to route sound in and out of
Qtractor and other sound applications.

Some distributions may configure Qtractor such that JACK starts automatically when Qtractor
is launched; others may not. If you launch Qtractor from your application menu and receive
JACK errors in the message log at the bottom of the Qtractor window, then quit Qtractor and
start JACK manually.

The easiest way to start JACK is with QJackCtl (“Q JACK Control”), a control panel and
global, synchronized timecode display. If this is not installed, install it from your distribution’s
repository or from qjackctl.sourceforge.net

If necessary, launch QJackCtl and click the Start button.

This should instate realtime privileges and begin a global, synchronized timecode clock that will
allow Qtractor to use all available inputs and outputs just like a mixing board would in the
studio.

To view the status of JACK, click the Status button and review the resulting report. JACK
should be reported as running, in realtime mode.

3.2.1. Troubleshooting

If you are experiencing unexpected results with QJackCtl, then here are some things to check:

• JACK does not indicate realtime mode in the Status window, on a system using the PAM
security model.

1. Click the Setup button to open preferences. Activate Realtime in the left column,
and then quit QJackCtl while you configure your system further.

183
 2. Make sure you have a realtime-capable (ie, 2.6.38.4 or greater, or an RT-optimized
kernel of any variety) kernel installed and that applications have permission to utilize
the realtime mode. On distributions using PAM, look in /etc/security/
limits.conf and ensure that there is a user group being granted realtime (or
rtprio in PAM terminology) privileges. If rtprio is being granted to a group,
then you should make sure that you are in that group. For instance, if the group
audio is being granted realtime privileges then execute cat /etc/group |
grep audio and look to see that your userinput is listed as a member of the audio
group. If not, execute usermod -a -G audio youruserinput as root to
add your user to the audio group. Warning If limits.conf does not exist, then
your system does not use PAM. If no group is given realtime priority, create a group
and add yourself to the group. This must be done with root privileges: groupadd
realtime usermod -a -G realtime yourUserName Then add realtime priority
permissions to the group (and accordingly any user in that group): @realtime hard
rtprio 20 @realtime soft rtprio 10

• JACK does not indicate realtime mode in the Status window, on a system not using the
PAM security model.

1. Click the Setup button to open preferences. Activate Realtime in the left column,
and then restart QJackCtl while you configure your system further.

2. To enable realtime priority for your user applications, install set_rlimits from your
repository or directly from physics.adelaide.edu.au/~jwoithe

3. As root, open /etc/set_rlimits.conf.new in your favourite text editor. Add

two lines: @audio /usr/local/bin/jackd nice=-1 rtprio=80 memlock=100000 @audio /
usr/local/bin/qtractor nice=-1 rtprio=80 memlock=100000 Save the file as /etc/
set_rlimits.conf

4. Create a custom launcher so that when you start your realtime applications, they are
started in the syntax set_rlimits qtractor. In KDE, do this by right-clicking
on the K Menu and edit the launch commands for QJackCtl and Qtractor. In
Gnome, edit as root the .desktop file for the applications (ie, /usr/share/
applications/qtractor.desktop) such that the Exec= line executes
set_rlimits qtractor

• JACK does not start when Qtractor is launched.

1. Your distribution may not have configured JACK to automatically start upon
Qtractor’s launch.

2. The easiest workaround for this is to launch QJackCtl manually first, and then
launch Qtractor.

184
qtractor 0.5.x Part 1. Quick Start
Part 1. Quick Start
Diving into Qtractor; a quick start guide for the basic workflow.

Chapter 4, Getting Sound Into Qtractor

Chapter 5, Effects and Filters

Chapter 6, Automation in Qtractor

Chapter 7, Bouncing the Project

Chapter 4. Getting Sound Into Qtractor

Getting started with basic music production in Qtractor is simple as long as all of the
requirements are installed. Review the Installation chapters to ensure you’ve installed all the
necessary components before beginning. As long as you’ve done that, you’ll find Qtractor a
robust digital production environment with plenty of knobs and dials to tweak.

1. Start the QJackCtl application (recommended), or start jackd from a shell. Once
launched, press the Start button to start JACK.

2. Launch Qtractor from your applications menu, dock, or launcher.

3. It’s good practise to start every session by saving. It might seem strange to save an as yet
empty session, but it’s better to save an empty session that to start creating your
masterpiece and have data files and MIDI files scattered all throughout your hard drive.
Saving first is a good way to instantiate an environment in which you can keep all of your
files and sounds organized and consolodated. To save, click the File menu and select Save
As. In the Name field, name your session. For the Directory field, click the Directory icon
to create a new, empty directory for your session files and click OK. Save your session by
clicking the OK button; a Save Session dialogue will open so that you can now navigate to
the directory you’ve created and name your session file, which will appear as a .qtr file.
Click the Save button to confirm.

4. Now you’re ready to start producing! Obviously there are different means to creating
music in Qtractor, but nearly each one would create with creating a new track. To create
an empty track in your Qtractor workspace, click on the Track menu and select Add
Track. In the Track dialogue, name your track in the Name field. For Type, choose
between Audio or MIDI, depending on what kind of data you wish to use in the track. If
you have a specific set of inputs and outputs that you wish to use for the track, you can set
that here, or you can leave it on the default and manipulate it later as needed. Likewise, if
you know the MIDI bank or patch selections, you can set it here, or leave it as default
values and configure it later. Click OK to create the track.

185
 5. Now that you have an empty track, you should put some sound into it. You can do this in
four ways:

◦ Record audio directly into the track - to record directly into Qtractor, you must
define your input device in your central patchbay (ie, QJackCtl). To do this, choose
View menu > Windows > Connections. In the left column, choose the source of
sound (a device that, from Qtractor’s perspective, is outputting sound, hence the
“output” label). Your microphone exists as part of your computer system, so choose
the System category, and click a capture device there.

Now choose the sound source’s destination in the right column. You are routing the sound from
the microphone into Qtractor, so choose the Qtractor category and select the corresponding
input port, such as Master/in_1. Click the Connect button if they are not already connected.
Repeat this process for the right channel, and then close the window. In the track label on the left
of the Qtractor window, click the R button to arm the track for recording. Click the Record
button in the top menu bar to activate Recording mode. Click the Play button in the top menu bar
to begin.

* ***Insert an existing audio file into the track*** - if you're

using pre-recorded material from a live performance, a sound
booth session, or a sample or loop collection, then there is no
need to set up a recording source such as a microphone or line-
in. You'll simply add files to your **Qtractor** session and drag
them into your workspace.

To add sounds files to your session, go to the Clip menu and select Import. Choose the file you
wish to import, and it will be added into your empty track. Notice that it is also added in the Files
panel on the right of the Qtractor window; so to add files without adding them to a track, you
can right-click in the Files panel and choose Add Files.

* ***Play MIDI into the track*** - similar to recording audio

directly into **Qtractor**, you can connect a MIDI controller to
your computer and record MIDI data into a track. The MIDI data

186
will be used to trigger a sound source; the simplest and most
direct method is to use the MIDI to trigger a software
synthesizer, but of course the MIDI signal could also be routed
back out of the computer into a hardware synth as well.

Assuming you are using a USB-based MIDI controller such as the Oxygen or Axiom series, or
AKAI LPK series, and so on, then you must first define the source of your MIDI signal. Click the
View menu > Windows > Connections to see your central patchbay (ie, QJackCtl). In the left
column, choose the source of your MIDI signal (a device that, from Qtractor’s perspective, is
outputting the signal, hence the “output” label). Your USB controller should be listed as a source,
so open its listing and click the MIDI channel listed there. Now choose the MIDI signal’s
destination in the right column. You are routing the sound from your hardware controller to
Qtractor, so choose the Qtractor category and select the corresponding input port, such as
0:Master Click the Connect button if they are not already connected. Close the window. If you
start playing now, you’ll be sending MIDI data without hearing any feedback whatsoever,
because you have not yet configured the MIDI signal to trigger sound. So that you can hear what
you’re playing, you must insert a plugin synthesizer into the track. With your destination track
selected, click on the Track menu and select Track Properties. In the Track dialogue, click the
Plugins tab. In the Plugins tab, click the Add button on the right to see a list of available sotware
plugins. In the Plugins dialogue, select the type of plugin you wish to use with the top right
button. Software synths on Linux are usually of the DSSI variety; from the list of DSSI synths,
select the one you want to play and click the Activate checkbox in the lower left corner. Click the
OK button in the bottom right corner of the window to proceed. Note If you don’t have any
plugins installed, you can install them from your distribution or directly from their project
websites. One of the best soft synths for immediate gratification is whySynth, which bundles
some nice, ready-to-use patches. You will need to restart Qtractor in order for your new soft
synths to be available. Back in the Track dialogue, select the Track tab again. In the MIDI/
Instrument panel, choose an instrument from the top dropdown menu; using WhySynth as an
example, you would select WhySynth_20100922 DSSI plugin. Choose a Bank and Program. If
you’re not familiar with WhySynth, you can select any of its three Banks and any of the
Programs contained in them. You should be able to instantly audition the sounds on your USB
controller. When you’ve selected the sound you’d like to use, click the OK button. In the track
label on the left of the Qtractor window, click the R button to arm the track for recording. Click
the Record button in the top menu bar to activate Recording mode. Click the Play button in the
top menu bar to begin.

* ***Insert existing MIDI data into the track*** - if you want to

use pre-made MIDI files then simply add the files to your
**Qtractor** session.

To add MIDI files to your session, go to the Track menu and select Import Tracks > MIDI
Choose the file you wish to import, and it will be added into a new track. Notice that it is also
added in the Files panel on the right of the Qtractor window; so to add files without immediately
adding them to your workspace, right-click in the MIDI tab of the Files panel and choose Add
Files. Note The MIDI file you import may or may not have generic MIDI instrument
assignments. Either way, you can always adjust the MIDI instrument assigned to that track via
the Track Properties dialogue, as you would for a track into which you’re recording MIDI.

Chapter 5. Effects and Filters

You know how to create tracks and insert sound either in the form of audio files or MIDI data. In
addition to putting sound into tracks, Qtractor can pipe tracks through filters and effects.

187
The most popular format for sound filters and effect units in Linux is LADSPA, providing the
free equivalent to VST, RTAS, or AU. The two ubiquitous Linux plugin packs are the Steve
Harris LADSPA Plugins and the CALF Plugins, which should be availble from your repository
or from their respective websites.

If you have not installed them yet, install them now and then re-launch Qtractor so that it will
detect them as available filters.

Effects occur upon the sound itself, so they can be applied to Audio tracks as well as MIDI
tracks. To place an effect on a track:

1. Select the track you want to pipe through an effect and select it by clicking the track label
on the left of the Qtractor workspace.

2. Click on the Track menu and select Track Properties.

3. In the Track dialogue, click on the Plugins tab.

4. Click the Add button on the right of the window.

5. In the Plugins dialogue, choose the type of plugin you want to use with the filter button in
the top right corner; more than likely, you will be using a LADSPA plugin.

6. A very common effect, of course, is reverb. Filter the choices from all the LADSPA plugins
by typing “verb” into the search bar along the top. You may see one or two results, such as
GVerb and Plate Reverb, so choose one of these. Place a tick in the checkbox in the lower
left corner of the screen, labeled Activate and click OK.

7. Should you need to modify the reverb filter, right click on the plugin in the Track window
and choose Properties. This will open the control panel for the effect, where you can
change the attributes of the effect.

Chapter 6. Automation in Qtractor

Nearly every aspect of any track can be automated in Qtractor, from the basics like volume and
panning, to the very minute like the LFO frequency of a soft synth, or the levels of an effect.

To work on the automation of your tracks:

1. Click the automation button in the track control of your track.

188
 1. Choose from the popup menu the attribute you wish to automate.

2. Notice that an overlay appears over your track, representing the normal level of that
attribute. To enter automation mode, click the Edit menu > Select Mode > Automation. In
this mode, click the automation overlay to adjust levels.

3. To differentiate different attributes that you’re automating, it can be helpful to modify the
colour of the automation overlay. To do this, click the automation button in the track list
and choose Mode > Colour and pick a new shade for that automation overlay. To add
automation for another attribute, click the automation button again, and navigate to Select
to choose the next attribute. The new automation overlay appears in the default colour, and
you can now modify its levels.

4. Leave automation mode by toggling off Edit menu > Select Mode > Automation

Chapter 7. Bouncing the Project

Once you’ve finished your song, you obviously want to export the piece so that people can listen
to it without having to have your Qtractor source files. This process is sometimes called
“bouncing” a track, or exporting a “mixdown” or simply “exporting” the song.

Since it’s possible to have multiple sources contributing to your final product (external hardware
synths feeding sound into Qtrator while soft synths play over pre-recorded audio files to the beat
of a Hydrogen drum machine on another virtual desktop, for example) it would make no since to
treat the exporting process in the same way as a wave form editor (such as Audacity) would.

189
Qtractor’s bounce process is literally to play all the sound sources in sync whilst recording what
is playing back into Qtractor itself.

Note

Different people deal with bouncing and exporting in different ways, depending on their
preference, their creative needs, and the capabilities of their computers. For instance, you could
bounce each MIDI track individually to an audio track and then export all audio tracks into one
self-contained track. Or you can simply set Qtractor to record and then play everything back into
one audio track, which you then export.

There is no right or wrong way to do it. Either do it all in one go at the end or do it step by step.
Usually the raw power of your computer will be the deciding factor.

To perform the final export of your completed work:

1. Create a new Audio track: Track > Add Track

2. Label the track, ie, “Bounce”

3. Open the Connections window: View > Windows > Connections

4. In the Connections window, connect the Master/Out of Qtractor to the Master/In of

Qtractor, such that the output of all sound managed by Qtractor is being directed to the
input of Qtractor for recording. Warning Be sure to disable any capture device such as
microphones or unused line-ins. You’ll be recording all the live sound going into Qtractor,
so you don’t want accidental line noise, hums, or room tone.

5. Set the in and out points for your recording by clicking once on the top timeline at the
point you want the recording to stop; a blue transport line will be anchored where you
click. Scroll back to the beginning of your project and click again in the top timeline to
mark the in point with an opening blue transport bar.

6. Click the Punch In/Out button in the top menu bar to limit playback between your
markers. Note If you do not set in and out points, you will need to stop the recording
manually.

7. Arm your Bounce track for recording. Click the Record button in the top menu bar. Make
sure that your transport (playhead) is at the beginning of your track! When ready, press the
Play button in the top menu bar. Warning Bouncing a track is a realtime process. Do not
use your computer while you’re bouncing a track!

When you’ve bounced your song to its own track, save the project! Solo the bounce track and
listen to the recording for quality assurance, and then you are ready to export that track as a self-
contained, distributable file.

To export a single track to disk:

1. Select the track or tracks you wish to export. If you bounced everything into one track, then
it will just be that track, which you can solo using the Solo button on the track controls. If
you are exporting a project consisting of only in-project audio, then leave them all
activated and continue.

2. Choose Track > Export Tracks > Audio

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3. In the Export Audio dialogue, choose a location and filename for your file. Choose the
range of what will be exported; you can export the entire session, or manually set a Punch
In/Out range, or specify the range in timecode, frames, or bars/beats/ticks. If you have
multiple output sources, choose the appropriate source (probably your Master Output).

4. Click the OK button to begin the export.

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Qtractor User Manual
Qtractor User Manual
Copyright © 2012 Seth Kenlon

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the
GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free
Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled Appendix A, GNU Free
Documentation License.

A Guide for audio producers both new and experienced.

Introduction to Qtractor
Qtractor is a full-featured Digital Audio Workstation (DAW); a multi-track audio and MIDI
recorder, editor, and mixer. Qtractor is free open-source software, licensed under the GPL,
being developed by renowned programmer Rui Nuno Capela.

The functionality of Qtractor is contained within a graphical desktop environment that will be
familiar to users of other popular multi-track recording / editing applications on any computer
operating system, and follows the same design principles with many of the same or similar
elements. In addition to recording digital audio and MIDI, Qtractor provides an environment for
multi-track cliporiented composing techniques common in modern music-making and aims to be
intuitive and easy to use, yet powerful enough for the serious recording enthusiast.

Note

Qtractor is not what is known as a “tracker” type of audio/MIDI application, although it has the
potential to function in that way if needed.

When used merely as an audio and / or MIDI recorder (a MIDI recorder was historically called a
“sequencer”) or arranger, Qtractor is non-destructive, which means that the underlying files that
contain the audio or MIDI data are not altered when those files are apparently cut into pieces,
duplicated, pulled or pasted into a different order in time, or manipulated in any number of ways
within the main Window (GUI interface) of Qtractor.

However, when used as an audio or MIDI recorder, for example, or when editing previously
recorded MIDI data in the dedicated MIDI editor, Qtractor’s actions can be destructive in the
sense that newly recorded data (or altered MIDI data) replaces previously recorded data on the
same track.

System Requirements
Qtractor’s target platform is Linux, using the ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) and
JACK (the Jack Audio Connection Kit) as the supporting infrastructure for recognizing sources
of digital audio and MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) data, communicating with those
sources and routing the data to and from various locations and programs (applications, including

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Qtractor) both inside and outside the computer and involving both software and hardware
interfaces. Suggestions of technical requirements for Qtractor are:

• PC running a distribution of the GNU+Linux operating system with a Kernel of 2.6.38.4 or

higher for best Real-Time performance (older kernels require realtime patches from your
distribution or from kernel.org) - CPU capable of running reasonably modern software (the
better your CPU, the better performance you will see in real time audio effects and
synthesis)

• A reasonable amount of RAM (an open Qtractor project requires RAM ; the more you
have, the more complex your projects can be and the faster they will respond)

• A sound card; the basic sound card that shipped with your computer is perfectly acceptable,
although if you require simultaneous recording of multiple tracks, a card or audio interface
with distinct inputs will be required

• Ample harddrive space for samples and audio files used in your projects.

• Attitude. Not required, but if you plan on being a rock star, then you should try to develop
an rebellious attitude, and resolutely reject mainstream software

Dedication
GNU/Linux users often cite the “community” as one of the greatest appeals of using their OS.
There must be a lot of truth to that, because this book would not exist without the collaboration,
hours of troubleshooting, and tech support from everyone in the freenode channels
#opensourcemusicians and #oggcastplanet and obviously without Qtractor this manual would not
exist, so the greatest thanks goes to Rui Nuno Capela, for the application that has enabled and
inspired me and many other musicians all over the world to get those pesky tunes that pop into
our heads down into actual sound waves that other people can hear, too.

Get Involved
The Qtractor project welcomes all collaboration and review from the Linux audio developer and
user community in particular, and the public in general.

See qtractor.sourceforge.net for contact information.

The docbook sources for this user manual are available via git from gitorious.org/slackermedia.

Installation
Installing Qtractor can be done in two ways : from your distribution’s software repository, or by
building from source code. For most users, installing from your distribution’s repositories is the
right choice, as it offers the easiest install and ensures timely and reliable updates.

Easy Install

To install software from your distribution’s repository, open the software installer for your
distribution (often called Add/Remove Software or sometimes a Software Store). Search for
Qtractor, and mark it for installation and proceed; there is no need to intall additional packages
since the installer will automatically install any software required for Qtractor to run.

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Expert Install

If you absolutely require the latest features in a just-released or not-yet released version of
Qtractor, or you simply prefer to build your programs manually, you may build Qtractor from
source code. In order to build from source, you must have a build environment, and the essential
dependencies that Qtractor requires. Depending on your distribution, the names of the installable
build tools will vary, but the software components themselves are:

• g++ - the GNU C++ Compiler

• gcc - the GNU C Compiler; not strictly required in this case, but good to have in a build
environment, and in some distributions this may bring in other useful dependencies

• Autoconf - Automake - the GNU Makefile generator

• Qt4 (core,gui,xml) - C++ class library and tools for cross-platform development and
internationalization, available from your distribution’s software repository (be sure to
install all “development” components) or directly from digia.com

• libsndfile - C library for reading and writing files containing sampled sound, available from
your distribution (be sure to install all “development” components) or directly from mega-
nerd.com/libsndfile

• LADSPA - Linux Audio Developer’s Simple Plugin API; available from you distribution’s
repository (be sure to install all “development” components) or from ladspa.org Additional
support libraries may be installed to enhance the abilities of Qtractor:

◦ libvorbis - the Ogg Vorbis encoder and decoder by Xiph

◦ libmad - high-quality MPEG audio decoder, available from your repository or from
underbit.com/products/mad

◦ libsameplerate - the secret rabbit code, a C library for audio sample rate conversion,
available from your distribution’s repository or from mega-nerd.com/libsndfile

◦ librubberband - the Rubber Band Audio Time Stretcher, an audio time-stretching and
pitch-shifting library, available from your repository or breakfastquay.com/
rubberband

◦ liblo - Lightweight OSC implementation (needed for DSSI GUI support), available
from your repository or liblo.sourceforge.net

◦ DSSI - an API for soft synth plugins with custom user interfaces dssi.sourceforge.net

◦ VST-SDK - Steinberg’s Virtual Studio Technology; this SDK permits the use of
Linux-native plugins with Qtractor. To install VST-SDK:

▪ Establish a developer account at Steinberg ; confirm the registration, and log

in

▪ Download VST 2.4

▪ Unzip the source directory and copy the files to the appropriate directory;
usually /usr/local/include

su -c ’cp vstsdk2.4/pluginterfaces/vst2.x/aeffect*/usr/local/include/’

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Download the Qtractor Code

Stable releases of Qtractor can be downloaded directly from qtractor.sourceforge.net.

Compiling and Installing Qtractor

If you intend to develop Qtractor then you will want to run “bleeding edge” code. This is not
recommended for a production system and should be used only for development purposes ; check
out the source code from its CVS repository via anonymous pserver access:

At the command line, checkout the code via SVN :

svn co https://qtractor.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/qtractor/
trunk qtractor-svn

Prepare the configure script in the newly created qtractor-svn source tree directory :

cd qtractor-svn
make -f Makefile.svn

Build and install.

After downloading Qtractor, decompress and extract the archive :

tar -xf qtractor-0.x.x.tar.gz

Change directory into the resulting qtractor directory. Once inside the qtractor directory, the usual
building commands apply :

./configure && make

To see all configuration options before entering the command sequence above, type

./configure --help

After typing the configure and make commands and waiting until the program has finished being
compiled, become an administrator of your system (using either the sudo or su command to
become, temporarily, the root user) and finish the installation by entering:

make install

The executable binary code (in other words, the Qtractor application itself) and associated
desktop and icon files are copied to common, standard system locations.

There are some considerations after you have installed Qtractor which may help you optimize
your system for its best possible audio performance.

Previous to the Linux Kernel 2.6.38.4, a Real-Time kernel was a must-have component in audio
production. Since 2.6.38, new options have developed to provide a seamless audio production
experience, depending largely on what your needs are from your system.

If you are not sure whether you’ll need Real-Time, it is safe to assume that you will need either:

• A 2.6.38.4 or greater kernel regardless of your expected workload

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 • A realtime (or “low-latency”) kernel if a 2.6.38.4 or better kernel is not conveniently
available from your distribution

• An optimized realtime kernel if you anticipate live recording and multitracking

Real-Time Kernel

To discover what kernel your computer is currently running, look in KInfoCenter (in KDE4) or
System Information (in Gnome3).

Or simply open a terminal :

uname -r

If your computer is running a kernel previous to 2.6.38.4, then you should either update your
kernel, or install a realtime version of your kernel.

To upgrade the Linux kernel, use your distribution’s repository, searching for the terms realtime
or rt. If your distribution does not have repositories, or realtime kernels, then you can of course
download the source code and compile the kernel yourself. The same guiding principles apply; as
long as you are building 2.6.38.4 or above, then a simple make oldconfig will render a modestly
pre-emptive kernel suitable for near-realtime use. For extreme low-latency, apply realtime
patches, available from kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/projects/rt.

QJackCtl
In order for Qtractor to run, JACK must be running in the background. JACK is a kind of
patchbay for Linux (technically a “sound server”), enabling you to route sound in and out of
Qtractor and other sound applications.

Some distributions may configure Qtractor such that JACK starts automatically when Qtractor is
launched; others may not. If you launch Qtractor from your application menu and receive JACK
errors in the message log at the bottom of the Qtractor window, then quit Qtractor and start JACK
manually.

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The easiest way to start JACK is with QJackCtl (“Q JACK Control”), a control panel and global,
synchronized timecode display. If this is not installed, install it from your distribution’s repository
or from qjackctl.sourceforge.net If necessary, launch QJackCtl and click the Start button.

This should instate realtime privileges and begin a global, synchronized timecode clock that will
allow Qtractor to use all available inputs and outputs just like a mixing board would in the studio.
To view the status of JACK, click the Status button and review the resulting report. JACK should
be reported as running, in realtime mode.

Troubleshooting
If you are experiencing unexpected results with QJackCtl, then here are some things to check:

JACK does not indicate realtime mode in the Status window, on a system using the PAM
security model.

• Click the Setup button to open preferences. Activate Realtime in the left column, and then
quit QJackCtl while you configure your system further.

• Make sure you have a realtime-capable (ie, 2.6.38.4 or greater, or an RT-optimized kernel
of any variety) kernel installed and that applications have permission to utilize the realtime
mode. On distributions using PAM, look in /etc/security/limits.conf and
ensure that there is a user group being granted realtime (or rtprio in PAM
terminology) privileges. If rtprio is being granted to a group, then you should make sure
that you are in that group. For instance, if the group audio is being granted realtime
privileges then execute

cat /etc/group | grep audio

• And look to see that your userinput is listed as a member of the audio group. If not,
execute

usermod -a -G audio youruserinput

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 • as root to add your user to the audio group.

If limits.conf does not exist… Then your system does not use PAM.

If no group is given real time priority, create a group and add yourself to the group. This must be
done with root privileges:

groupadd realtime
usermod -a -G realtime yourUserName

Then add realtime priority permissions to the group (and accordingly any user in that group):

@realtime
@realtime

hard
soft

rtprio
rtprio

20
10

JACK does not indicate realtime mode in the Status window, on a system not using the
PAM security model.

• Click the Setup button to open preferences. Activate Realtime in the left column, and then
restart QJackCtl while you configure your system further.

• To enable realtime priority for your user applications, install set_rlimits from your
repository or directly from physics.adelaide.edu.au/~jwoithe

• As root, open /etc/set_rlimits.conf.new in your favourite text editor. Add two

lines:

@audio /usr/local/bin/jackd nice=-1 rtprio=80 memlock=100000 @audio /usr/local/bin/

qtractor nice=-1 rtprio=80 memlock=100000

• Save the file as /etc/set_rlimits.conf

• Create a custom launcher so that when you start your realtime applications, they are started
in the syntax set_rlimits qtractor. In KDE, do this by right-clicking on the K
Menu and edit the launch commands for QJackCtl and Qtractor. In Gnome, edit as root the
.desktop file for the applications (ie, /usr/share/ applications/
qtractor.desktop) such that the Exec= line executes set_rlimits qtractor.

JACK does not start when Qtractor is launched.

1. Your distribution may not have configured JACK to automatically start upon Qtractor’s
launch.

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 2. The easiest workaround for this is to launch QJackCtl manually first, and then launch
Qtractor.

Quick Start
Diving into Qtractor ; a quick start guide for the basic workflow.

Getting Sound Into Qtractor

Getting started with basic music production in Qtractor is simple as long as all of the
requirements are installed. Review the Installation chapters to ensure you’ve installed all the
necessary components before beginning.

As long as you’ve done that, you’ll find Qtractor a robust digital production environment with
plenty of knobs and dials to tweak.

1. Start the QJackCtl application (recommended), or start jackd from a shell. Once
launched, press the Start button to start JACK.

2. Launch Qtractor from your applications menu, dock, or launcher.

3. It’s good practise to start every session by saving. It might seem strange to save an as yet
empty session, but it’s better to save an empty session that to start creating your
masterpiece and have data files and MIDI files scattered all throughout your hard drive.
Saving first is a good way to instantiate an environment in which you can keep all of your
files and sounds organized and consolodated.

To save, click the File menu and select Save As.

In the Name field, name your session. For the Directory field, click the directory icon to create a
new, empty directory for your session files and click OK.

Save your session by clicking the OK button; a Save Session dialogue will open so that you can
now navigate to the directory you’ve created and name your session file, which will appear as a
.qtr file. Click the Save button to confirm.

1. Now you’re ready to start producing! Obviously there are different means to creating
music in Qtractor, but nearly each one would create with creating a new track. To create an
empty track in your Qtractor workspace, click on the Track menu and select Add Track.

In the Track dialogue, name your track in the Name field. For Type, choose between Audio or
MIDI, depending on what kind of data you wish to use in the track. If you have a specific set of
inputs and outputs that you wish to use for the track, you can set that here, or you can leave it on
the default and manipulate it later as needed.

Likewise, if you know the MIDI bank or patch selections, you can set it here, or leave it as
default values and configure it later. Click OK to create the track.

Now that you have an empty track, you should put some sound into it. You can do this in three
ways:

• Record audio directly into the track - to record directly into Qtractor, you must define your
input device in your central patchbay (ie, QJackCtl). To do this, choose View menu >
Windows > Connections.

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In the left column, choose the source of sound (a device that, from Qtractor’s perspective, is
outputting sound, hence the “output” label). Your microphone exists as part of your computer
system, so choose the System category, and click a capture device there.

Now choose the sound source’s destination in the right column. You are routing the sound from
the microphone into Qtractor, so choose the Qtractor category and select the corresponding input
port, such as *Master/in\_1*.

• Click the Connect button if they are not already connected. Repeat this process for the
right channel, and then close the window.

• In the track label on the left of the Qtractor window, click the R button to arm the track for
recording.

• Click the Record button in the top menu bar to activate recording mode.

• Click the Play button in the top menu bar to begin.

• Insert an existing audio file into the track - if you’re using pre-recorded material from a
live performance, a sound booth session, or a sample or loop collection, then there is no
need to set up a recording source such as a microphone or line-in. You’ll simply add files to
your Qtractor session and drag them into your workspace.

To add sounds files to your session, go to the Clip menu and select Import.

Choose the file you wish to import, and it will be added into your empty track. Notice that it is
also added in the Files panel on the right of the Qtractor window; so to add files without adding
them to a track, you can right-click in the Files panel and choose Add Files.

• Play MIDI into the track - similar to recording audio directly into Qtractor, you can
connect a MIDI controller to your computer and record MIDI data into a track. The MIDI
data will be used to trigger a sound source ; the simplest and most direct method is to use
the MIDI to trigger a software synthesizer, but of course the MIDI signal could also be
routed back out of the computer into a hardware synth as well.

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Assuming you are using a USB-based MIDI controller such as the Oxygen or Axiom series, or
AKAI LPK series, and so on, then you must first define the source of your MIDI signal. Click the
View menu > Windows > Connections to see your central patchbay (ie, QJackCtl).

In the left column, choose the source of your MIDI signal (a device that, from Qtractor’s
perspective, is outputting the signal, hence the “output” label). Your USB controller should be
listed as a source, so open its listing and click the MIDI channel listed there.

Now choose the MIDI signal’s destination in the right column. You are routing the sound from
your hardware controller to Qtractor, so choose the Qtractor category and select the
corresponding input port, such as 0:Master.

Click the Connect button if they are not already connected. Close the window.

If you start playing now, you’ll be sending MIDI data without hearing any feedback whatsoever,
because you have not yet configured the MIDI signal to trigger sound. So that you can hear what
you’re playing, you must insert a plugin synthesizer into the track.

With your destination track selected, click on the Track menu and select Track Properties.

In the Track dialogue, click the Plugins tab. In the Plugins tab, click the Add button on the right
to see a list of available sotware plugins. In the Plugins dialogue, select the type of plugin you
wish to use with the top right button.

Software synths on Linux are usually of the DSSI variety; from the list of DSSI synths, select the
one you want to play and click the Activate checkbox in the lower left corner.

Click the OK button in the bottom right corner of the window to proceed.

If you don’t have any plugins installed, you can install them from your distribution or directly
from their project websites.

One of the best soft synths for immediate gratification is whySynth, which bundles some nice,
ready-to-use patches. You will need to restart Qtractor in order for your new soft synths to be
available.

Back in the Track dialogue, select the Track tab again. In the MIDI/Instrument panel, choose an
instrument from the top dropdown menu; using WhySynth as an example, you would select
**WhySynth\_20100922 DSSI plugin**.

Choose a Bank and Program. If you’re not familiar with WhySynth, you can select any of its
three Banks and any of the Programs contained in them. You should be able to instantly audition
the sounds on your USB controller.

When you’ve selected the sound you’d like to use, click the OK button.

• In the track label on the left of the Qtractor window, click the R button to arm the track for
recording.

• Click the Record button in the top menu bar to activate Recording mode.

• Click the Play button in the top menu bar to begin.

• Insert existing MIDI data into the track - if you want to use pre-made MIDI files then
simply add the files to your Qtractor session.

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To add MIDI files to files to your session, go to the Track menu and select Import Tracks >
MIDI.

Choose the file you wish to import, and it will be added into a new track. Notice that it is also
added in the Files panel on the right of the Qtractor window; so to add files without immediately
adding them to your workspace, right-click in the MIDI tab of the Files panel and choose Add
Files.

The MIDI file you import may or may not have generic MIDI instrument assignments. Either
way, you can always adjust the MIDI instrument assigned to that track via the Track Properties
dialogue, as you would for a track into which you’re recording MIDI.

Effects and Filters

You know how to create tracks and insert sound either in the form of audio files or MIDI data. In
addition to putting sound into tracks, Qtractor can pipe tracks through filters and effects. The
most popular format for sound filters and effect units in Linux is LADSPA, providing the free
equivalent to VST, RTAS, or AU. The two ubiquitous Linux plugin packs are the Steve Harris
LADSPA Plugins and the CALF Plugins, which should be availble from your repository or from
their respective websites.

If you have not installed them yet, install them now and then re-launch Qtractor so that it will
detect them as available filters. Effects occur upon the sound itself, so they can be applied to
Audio tracks as well as MIDI tracks. To place an effect on a track:

1. Select the track you want to pipe through an effect and select it by clicking the track label
on the left of the Qtractor workspace.

2. Click on the Track menu and select Track Properties.

3. In the Track dialogue, click on the Plugins tab.

4. Click the Add button on the right of the window.

5. In the Plugins dialogue, choose the type of plugin you want to use with the filter button in
the top right corner; more than likely, you will be using a LADSPA plugin.

6. A very common effect, of course, is reverb. Filter the choices from all the LADSPA plugins
by typing “verb” into the search bar along the top. You may see one or two results, such as
GVerb and Plate Reverb, so choose one of these. Place a tick in the checkbox in the lower
left corner of the screen, labeled Activate and click OK.

7. Should you need to modify the reverb filter, right click on the plugin in the Track window
and choose Properties. This will open the control panel for the effect, where you can
change the attributes of the effect.

Automation in Qtractor
Nearly every aspect of any track can be automated in Qtractor, from the basics like volume and
panning, to the very minute like the LFO frequency of a soft synth, or the levels of an effect.

To work on the automation of your tracks:

1. Click the automation button in the track control of your track.

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 1. Choose from the popup menu the attribute you wish to automate.

2. Notice that an overlay appears over your track, representing the normal level of that
attribute. To enter automation mode, click the Edit menu > Select Mode > Automation. In
this mode, click the automation overlay to adjust levels.

3. To differentiate different attributes that you’re automating, it can be helpful to modify the
colour of the automation overlay. To do this, click the automation button in the track list
and choose Mode > Colour and pick a new shade for that automation overlay. To add
automation for another attribute, click the automation button again, and navigate to Select
to choose the next attribute. The new automation overlay appears in the default colour, and
you can now modify its levels.

4. Leave automation mode by toggling off Edit menu > Select Mode > Automation.

Bouncing the Project

Once you’ve finished your song, you obviously want to export the piece so that people can listen
to it without having to have your Qtractor source files. This process is sometimes called
“bouncing” a track, or exporting a “mixdown” or simply “exporting” the song.

Since it’s possible to have multiple sources contributing to your final product (external hardware
synths feeding sound into Qtrator while soft synths play over pre-recorded audio files to the beat
of a Hydrogen drum machine on another virtual desktop, for example) it would make no since to
treat the exporting process in the same way as a wave form editor (such as Audacity) would.

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Qtractor’s bounce process is literally to play all the sound sources in sync whilst recording what
is playing back into Qtractor itself.

Different people deal with bouncing and exporting in different ways, depending on their
preference, their creative needs, and the capabilities of their computers. For instance, you could
bounce each MIDI track individually to an audio track and then export all audio tracks into one
self-contained track.

Or you can simply set Qtractor to record and then play everything back into one audio track,
which you then export.

There is no right or wrong way to do it. Either do it all in one go at the end or do it step by step.

Usually the raw power of your computer will be the deciding factor.

To perform the final export of your completed work:

• Create a new Audio track: Track > Add Track

• Label the track, ie, “Bounce”

• Open the Connections window: View > Windows > Connections

• In the Connections window, connect the Master/Out of Qtractor to the Master/In of

Qtractor, such that the output of all sound managed by Qtractor is being directed to the
input of Qtractor for recording.

Be sure to disable any capture device such as microphones or unused line-ins. You’ll be recording
all the live sound going into Qtractor, so you don’t want accidental line noise, hums, or room
tone.

• Set the in and out points for your recording by clicking once on the top timeline at the
point you want the recording to stop; a blue transport line will be anchored where you
click. Scroll back to the beginning of your project and click again in the top timeline to
mark the in point with an opening blue transport bar.

Click the Punch In/Out button in the top menu bar to limit playback between your markers.

If you do not set in and out points, you will need to stop the recording manually.

• Arm your Bounce track for recording. Click the Record button in the top menu bar.

• Make sure that your transport (playhead) is at the beginning of your track! When ready,
press the Play button in the top menu bar.

Bouncing a track is a realtime process ; do not use your computer while you’re bouncing a track!

When you’ve bounced your song to its own track, save the project! /Solo. the bounce track and
listen to the recording for quality assurance, and then you are ready to export that track as a self-
contained, distributable file.

To export a single track to disk:

1. Select the track or tracks you wish to export. If you bounced everything into one track, then
it will just be that track, which you can solo using the Solo button on the track controls. If

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 you are exporting a project consisting of only in-project audio, then leave them all
activated and continue.

2. Choose Track > Export Tracks > Audio

3. In the Export Audio dialogue, choose a location and filename for your file. Choose the
range of what will be exported; you can export the entire session, or manually set a Punch
In/Out range, or specify the range in timecode, frames, or bars/beats/ticks. If you have
multiple output sources, choose the appropriate source (probably your Master Output).

4. Click the OK button to begin the export.

Advanced Qtractor
How to navigate and use the many features of Qtractor for audio production.

The Qtractor Interface

Qtractor’s interface will be familiar to anyone familiar with Digital Audio Workstation software.

1. Files - a list of audio and midi files you’ve imported into your Qtractor project

2. Workspace - a view of the audio or MIDI data contained in each track in your project

3. Tracks - a list of tracks and some track-specific controls and information

4. Track controls - titles, bus information, recording and playback toggles, and automation
controls for each track in the workspace

5. Transport controls - rewind, forward, play, pause, record

6. Timeline - your music workspace’s timeline in bars, measures, and timecode

7. Transport - the playhead

8. Timecode and BPM - counter for SMPTE timecode, and the tempo or beats-per-minute
setting

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 9. Overview - the entire project in one thumbnail view

10. Zoom - zoom in and zoom out (horizontally and vertically) buttons

Starting a new session

The first step in so many pro applications is one that is most overlooked by new users: create and
save a new session. Saving a session before actually doing any work in it seems counter-intuitive,
but it’s important to save first so that any and all files created or required for your work can be
contained in a pre-determined location.

To create a new session in Qtractor:

1. Launch Qtractor for a fresh new session, otherwise go to the File menu and select New or
use Ctrl+N to start a fresh session.

2. Go to the File menu again and select Save As (or Save if you’ve already been working in
the opened session), or just hit Ctrl+S

3. In the Session dialogue box, name the session and provide a description as needed. Click
the directory button on the right to enter a file chooser dialogue.

4. In the Session Directory dialogue, create a new folder in the directory of your choice; for
example, you might make a myGreatSong folder for your session in your ~/music
directory.

5. Click the OK button once you’ve created a directory for your session files.

6. Click the OK button in the Session dialogue box to proceed

7. A Save Session window will appear, which is a prompt for you to save the session file itself
into the destination you’ve just created for it. Navigate to your new folder (in this example,
myGreatSong in the ~/music directory)

8. Name your session file; by default it will already be named the same as the name of your
session itself, but if you are versioning the file or have different notation you’d like to use,
you can give it a customized name as well. The extension for Qtractor session files is
.qtr

9. Click the Save button, and now your Qtractor session is saved in a self-contained,
dedicated folder. This helps your project maintain its integrity and increases its portability.

Managing Audio Tracks

There are four typical scenarios for dealing with sound in Qtractor and, indeed, for most digital
audio workstations:

• Import existing audio files from your harddrive, a recording device, or a loop collection

• Record audio into Qtractor via your computer’s built-in microphone or an external
microphone

• Import MIDI data

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 • Create MIDI data

All three of these methods of acquiring sound for your work can be, and very often are, combined
to produce a richer audio production.

Importing Audio Files

The easiest way to get sound into Qtractor is to import an audio file from your harddrive.
Whether you are using sampled loops to construct a new musical piece, or importing a
performance transferred from a recording device, importing audio in this way does not involve
recording sound directly into Qtractor.

To bring audio into your project file, right-click in the Files pane and select Add Files or use
Ctrl+F. Choose what file or files you wish to import from the file chooser window that appears.
To place an audio file in a track, drag and drop it from the Files panel into the workspace. You
can add it to an existing track, or drop it directly into empty workspace and a new track will be
created automatically.

Recording Audio

Recording audio into Qtractor requires a microphone and at least one audio input channel. Many
laptops and webcams have built-in microphones, so in theory you could use this as an input
source, but for best quality, purchase an external microphone and use it as your audio capture
device.

For simultaneous multitrack recording, rarely will the soundcard that was bundled with your
computer be sufficient. Almost all soundcards embedded on motherboards are set to mixdown the
input signals to a stereo mix. If you wish to record three separate musicians at the same time,
each to a separate track in Qtractor, you will require a soundcard with separate dedicated inputs.

The way that Linux displays available sound inputs and outputs can be dauting at first, until you
understand the logic behind it. A Linux system displays sounds devices the same way it displays
hard drives and available network interfaces: the first device (regardless of actual inputs or
outputs available via that device) is labeled hw0, the next hw1, the next hw2, and so on.

It is safe to assume that hw0 would be the built-in sound card on the system; being embedded in
the motherboard would certainly qualify it as the first available sound device.

So, hw0 represents, in almost every case, your built-in sound card. Hw1 might represent, for
instance, a webcam that you keep plugged into your desktop, and Hw2 could represent, perhaps, a
USB microphone or a USB interface that you’ve plugged in.

You can usually determine which device is which by looking at the vendor name associated with
the Hw labels; if I have two devices plugged into my system and one is labeled Blue and the
other H4, then I would know from these terms that one is my Blue USB microphone and the
other my Zoom Studio H4n.

With regards to outputs, these can sometimes be confusing due to the many possible ways you
may wish to output your sound. Typically the stereo mix of you system sound is available as the
first two output devices.

If you have more than just two speakers and you wish to split your sound to each, then utilize the
outputs labeled appropriately (Front, Center, and so on). If the sound input and output labels

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confuse you, take a few minutes to learn them by playing sound on your computer and plugging
speakers into each output on your computer.

For the inputs, plug a microphone into your different inputs and see where they are received and
how they are labeled. It won’t take long before you understand the logic behind the labels, and
you’ll be able to use Qtractor all the more fluidly.

Analogue vs USB Inputs

There are many kinds of microphones, each intended for certain kinds of sounds and situations,
but on a purely technical level, without the question of aesthetics and microphone design, there
are only about three scenarios you will encounter:

• Microphones with an 8th- inch (also called a mini) jack

• Microphones with a quarter-inch or XLR jack

• Microphones with USB connectors

The recording process is different, depending on your input type.

Recording from Line-In

If your microphone has an 8th-inch jack, then you can plug it directly into the line-in of your
computer. No external sound interface is required. Your built-in sound card is JACK’s default
input, so no changes are necessary.

If your microphone can easily and cleanly adapted to the standard 8th-inch input with a cable or a
simple plug adapter, then you can use this method of recording, as well.

To record from the line-in of your computer into Qtractor:

• Go to the View menu and select Windows > Connections to verify that the Capture devices
on your System are routed to the Master/In of Qtractor, and the Master/Out channels are
routed to the Playback channels of your System.

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Recording from USB Audio

• Go to the Track menu and choose Add Track or use Ctrl+Shift+N. In the Track dialogue
box, give the track a name, set the Type to Audio, and set the Input/Output to Master. Click
the OK button to proceed.

• Arm the new track for recording by clicking the R button in the track listing on the left of
the Qtractor window. This sets the destination for the recorded sound.

• Click the Record button in the top toolbar

• Click the Play button in the top toolbar

If your microphone has a quarter-inch or XLR jack and you choose not to use a plug adapter, then
you will need an external sound interface. External interfaces are available from M-Audio,
Fostex, Zoom Studio, and others; they serve as an intermediate converter from your input device
and the USB port of your computer.

Similarly, a USB microphone plugs directly into the USB port of your computer.

If you input sound through USB, then (obviously) you are utilizing a different interface than your
computer’s built-in sound card. This must be set via QJackCtl for appropriate sound routing to
occur:

• In QJackCtl, stop the sound server by clicking the Stop button

• If you have not already plugged in your USB audio interface or USB microphone, then do
so. Make sure it’s on.

• Click the Setup button. In the Settings tab, locate the Input Device setting and click the >
button to see your choices.

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 • Click the Start button to activate.

Now your USB interface, whether it is a single USB microphone or a 4-channel Audio-to-USB
conversion box, is managing your input sources. Plug your XLR microphone into your USB
interface, set the interface’s input source as your XLR jack, and then create a new track in
Qtractor and begin the recording:

• Go to the View menu and select Windows > Connections to verify that the Capture devices
on your System are routed to the Master/In of Qtractor, and the Master/Out channels are
routed to the Playback channels of your System.

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 • Go to the Track menu and choose Add Track or use Ctrl+Shift+N. In the Track dialogue
box, give the track a name, set the Type to Audio, and set the Input/Output to Master. Click
the OK button to proceed.

• Arm the new track for recording by clicking the R button in the track listing on the left of
the Qtractor window. This sets the destination for the recorded sound.

• Click the Record button in the top toolbar

• Click the Play button in the top toolbar

Managing MIDI Tracks

MIDI is a versatile format for triggering sounds; it can be used to trigger hardware synths
external of your computer, software synths that are applications on your computer, samples,
loops, automation functions, and more. There are basically three ways to get MIDI data into your
Qtractor session:

• Import MIDI data from an existing file

• Enter MIDI data into a matrix editor (sometimes called a “piano roll” or “grid view”)

• Play in MIDI data via a USB MIDI keyboard controller

Before beginning with MIDI, you should make sure that you have some software synthesizers
installed on your system. A popular format for soft synths on Linux is DSSI, which is akin to
VST or AU on other platforms. LV2 is also quite popular, although in practice the bulk of LV2
plugins you’ll find are audio effects units (reverbs, tape delays, EQ, and so on).

One of the easiest soft synths is WhySynth; it features enough presets to provide instant
gratification, and enough control over the raw sound to become a permanent fixture in your
studio. You can install WhySynth from your distribution’s repository or directly from If you’ve
just installed soft synths now, then you should relaunch Qtractor so that it will detect the newly
available plugins.

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Importing MIDI Data

Since MIDI data consists of nothing more than digital signals to activate and deactivate sounds at
certain times, MIDI files are small and easily distributed online. A simple internet search for
MIDI files will result in thousands of MIDI files for nearly any song you can name. Taken alone,
the MIDI file is useless. Imported into Qtractor and assigned instruments, the files come to life
like a player piano. The MIDI file you import into Qtractor could be from the internet, or it could
be a MIDI files you yourself created on any given MIDI input application, or even from data
dump from a MIDI-capable hardware synth. In this example, we will use one from the internet:

1. Download a MIDI file, such as JS Bach ” Invention in c minor, BWV 773 (Canon)” and
save it to your hard drive. Preferably, in your Qtractor’s session directory, to keep your
project self-contained.

2. In Qtractor, go to the Track menu and select Import Tracks > MIDI. Alternately, you may
click on the MIDI tab of the Files panel on the right of the Qtractor window and right-click
or use Ctrl+F to import the MIDI file to your files panel and not automatically add its
tracks to your session. If you do this, then you’ll need to manually drag the MIDI file into
the workspace in order for the data to appear as tracks.

3. The MIDI tracks will appear in your Qtractor session, in this example’s case it is even
preprogrammed for General MIDI instrumentation. Imported tracks will often have
embedded General MIDI instrument assignments. General MIDI was an effort to
standardize a set of 128 instruments to provide similar results in playback across all
systems.

If you have a soft synth bank compliant with General MIDI, then you can press the Play button in
the top toolbar of Qtractor and you will get a good approximation of how the original author of
the file wanted the tracks heard.

You can also use the list of Generic MIDI instruments found in the appendices of this book to
guide you in the instrumentation of an imported file, making the sound of the tracks truly your
own.

To assign instruments to a track:

1. right-click on the track title and select Track Properties from the contextual menu.

2. In the Track dialogue box, click on the Plugins tab.

3. In the Plugins tab, click the Add button on the right to see a list of available sotware
plugins.

4. In the Plugins dialogue, select the type of plugin you wish to use with the top right button.
Software synths on Linux are usually of the DSSI variety; from the list of DSSI synths,
select the one you want to play and click the Activate checkbox in the lower left corner.

5. Click the OK button in the bottom right corner of the window to proceed.

6. Back in the Track dialogue, select the Track tab again. In the MIDI/Instrument panel,
choose an instrument from the top dropdown menu; using WhySynth as an example, you
would select WhySynth\_20100922 DSSI plugin.

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 7. Choose a Bank and Program. If you’re not familiar with WhySynth, you can select any of
its three Banks and any of the Programs contained in them. You should be able to instantly
audition the sounds on a USB controller.

8. When you’ve selected the sound you’d like to use, click the OK button. Repeat these steps
for each track to wish you want to assign an instrument, incrementing the MIDI channel
you use for each new instrument you assign. Press the play button in the top menu bar to
hear the MIDI file play.

Note that you must increment the MIDI channel used, or keypresses on your MIDI controller will
be using the same MIDI channel to trigger different sounds. In otherwords, if Track 1 and Track 2
are both using MIDI Channel 1, then a note played on Track 2 will also trigger the instrument
assigned to Track 1.

Creating MIDI data with a MIDI controller

A MIDI controller is a piece of hardware to help you play the software-based synthesizers in your
computer. Typically, a MIDI controller is a piano keyboard with a few octaves and no built-in
sounds of its own. It usually plugs into the USB port of your computer and, once configured, will
pass on any key press to Qtractor, allowing you to play a software synth in realtime as well as
record the keypresses themselves.

MIDI and USB are two technologies that, fortunately, have been kept universal enough that you
almost don’t need to question whether any given USB MIDI controller will work with your
system. There are perfectly capable USB MIDI controllers being offered from vendors like Akai,
Roland/Edirol, gidesign/M-Audio, and many others. If you require realistic, weighted keys with
high resolution touch-sensitivity then look at the upper price-range of controllers and go to a
music store to audition them.

If all your require are a few octaves of piano keys so that you can get a tune into the computer
quickly and easily, then the basic controllers will be enough.

To use your USB controller to input MIDI data:

1. Plug in the USB MIDI controller to your computer

2. Launch QJackCtl and start it

3. Launch Qtractor and click on the View menu, and select Connections from the Windows
category

4. In the Connections window, click on the MIDI tab. Listed on the Readable Clients / Output
Ports column, find your USB controller device. Open its category to see the available
outputs.

If you do not see your USB controller listed in the left column, check to ensure that your
controller is powered on (some require external power, others are powered by the USB port), and
check the cable connection. If you still cannot see the device in the left column, make sure your
computer sees the controller by checking dmesg | tail. If your computer registers the device but
you are not seeing it in Connections, try restarting both QJackCtl and Qtractor.

1. Connect the output of your MIDI device to Qtractor in the Writable Clients/Input Ports
column Qtractor is now configured to receive MIDI events from your USB controller. To
play your composition (or parts of your composition) into Qtractor. you will need an empty

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 track. To begin with, create an empty track by selecting Add Track from the Track menu, or
by clicking the New Track button in the top toolbar.

To assign instruments to a track

• Right-click on the track title and select Track Properties from the contextual menu.

• In the Track dialogue box, click on the Plugins tab.

• In the Plugins tab, click the Add button on the right to see a list of available sotware
plugins.

• In the Plugins dialogue, select the type of plugin you wish to use with the top right button.

Software synths on Linux are usually of the DSSI variety; from the list of DSSI synths, select the
one you want to play and click the Activate checkbox in the lower left corner.

• Click the OK button in the bottom right corner of the window to proceed.

• Back in the Track dialogue, select the Track tab again. In the MIDI/Instrument panel,
choose an instrument from the top dropdown menu; using WhySynth as an example, you
would select WhySynth\_20100922 DSSI plugin.

• Choose a Bank and Program. If you’re not familiar with WhySynth, you can select any of
its three Banks and any of the Programs contained in them. You should be able to instantly
audition the sounds on a USB controller.

• When you’ve selected the sound you’d like to use, click the OK button. Now that you’ve
create an empty track and assigned it a soft synth, you can record MIDI data:

• Create an empty clip in your destination track by choosing New from the Clip menu, or by
clicking the New Clip button in the top toolbar

• In the Session window, type in a name for your MIDI clip, choose the Directory into which
you want to save the clip, and provide a description for yourself as needed. Click the OK
button when finished.

Unlike pre-recorded loops or sounds, which already exist on your harddrive, a new MIDI clip
doesn’t yet have a home. Some music programs bundle your MIDI data into your project file,
which can make it difficult to share one MIDI loop between projects. But Qtractor saves all MIDI
tracks as independent files, meaning you can easily re-use them.

• Arm your track for recording by clicking the R button in the track control

• Click the Record button in the top menu bar to prepare the track for recording. Click the
Play button to start the transport recording

• Every key press you make on your USB controller will be recorded in realtime. Depending
on the feature set of your controller, velocity, pitch, and other data may also be recorded

Creating MIDI data with the matrix editor

If you have no USB MIDI controller, you can still create MIDI data using Qtractor’s MIDI Editor
(sometimes called a “matrix editor” or “piano roll” in other music programs). This enables you to

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mark on a grid when a note should be triggered, how long it should be sustained, and at what
velocity it should be played.

Broadly speaking, the steps are:

1. Create a destination Track

2. Create a MIDI Clip

3. Enter the data in the MIDI editor

To create a new track select Add Track from the Track menu, or click the New Track button in the
top toolbar.

To assign instruments to a track

• Right-click on the track title and select Track Properties from the contextual menu.

• In the Track dialogue box, click on the Plugins tab.

• In the Plugins tab, click the Add button on the right to see a list of available sotware
plugins.

• In the Plugins dialogue, select the type of plugin you wish to use with the top right button.
Software synths on Linux are usually of the DSSI variety; from the list of DSSI synths,
select the one you want to play and click the Activate checkbox in the lower left corner.

• Click the OK button in the bottom right corner of the window to proceed.

• Back in the Track dialogue, select the Track tab again. In the MIDI/Instrument panel,
choose an instrument from the top dropdown menu; using WhySynth as an example, you
would select WhySynth\_20100922 DSSI plugin.

• Choose a Bank and Program. If you’re not familiar with WhySynth, you can select any of
its three Banks and any of the Programs contained in them. You should be able to instantly
audition the sounds on a USB controller.

• When you’ve selected the sound you’d like to use, click the OK button. Now that you’ve
create an empty track and assigned it a soft synth, you can input MIDI data:

• Create an empty clip in your destination track by choosing New from the Clip menu, or by
clicking the New Clip button in the top toolbar

• In the Session window, type in a name for your MIDI clip, choose the Directory into which
you want to save the clip, and provide a description for yourself as needed. Click the OK
button when finished.

Unlike pre-recorded loops or sounds, which already exist on your harddrive, a new MIDI clip
doesn’t yet have a home. Some music programs bundle your MIDI data into your project file,
which can make it difficult to share one MIDI loop between projects. But Qtractor saves all MIDI
tracks as independent files, meaning you can easily re-use them.

• Click on the clip to select it, and choose Edit from the Clip menu to open the clip in the
MIDI editor. The MIDI Editor is very intuitive, with simple but effective tools in the
toolbar, such as an arrow to select and move notes, a pen tool to draw note into the grid,

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 and a disk icon to save your work. Vertically, the grid corresponds with notes on the
chromatic keyboard. Horizontally, the grid corresponds with beats per measure.

Properties of the MIDI Editor workspace, Save, and Track Properties

• Arrow - to move notes, increase and decrease note length, and selecting Pen (Edit On) - to
draw note into the grid Edit Draw - dynamically draw multiple notes with a click-and-drag
of the mouse

• Snap/Beat menu - determines the resolution of drawing and editing notes. In a 4/4 project,
for instance, a setting of Beat/2 would cause a pen tool click to produce an eighth note,
while Beat would produce a quarter note, and so on. Regardless of the default note length,
a note block can be extended by clicking and dragging the border of the note to increase (or
decrease) its length. The resolution of changes to the length of a note is also determined by
the Snap/Beat menu.

• Notes Type setting indicates that the notes you draw in the grid represent the length of the
note. The Key Press setting indicates that the notes you draw in the grid represents a MIDI
event without a defined duration, such as triggering an external MIDI sequence to begin
playing.

• The Value menu lets you control note velocity, program changes, pitch bending, and other
extra MIDI data.

• The main editor grid represents the notes being played. Use the pen tool to draw notes into
the grid according to the keyboard on the left of the window. Whether you are drawing in
notes or only key presses can be controlled by the Notes Type menu.

• The value grid controls extra MIDI data, such as velocity, program changes, pitch bends,
and so on. The data represented here will change according to the Value menu setting. The
MIDI Editor can be invoked either for raw entry or to modify existing MIDI data that
you’ve either

imported or played into Qtractor.

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Additional MIDI Editor Features

In addition to input and editing tools, the MIDI Editor features functions to make it easy to
modify your composition, such as Quantization, Transposition, Timeshifting, and more.

Customizing the MIDI Editor View

To access these features, use the Tools menu in the MIDI Editor window. If no notes are selected,
then the Tools will be unavailable; select a note or block of notes with the arrow tool to make
them available.

• Quantize - allows you to automatically structure notes in stricter uniformity with your time
signature. This is especially helpful if you’ve played the notes in and were not perfectly on
the beat. You can quantize notes such that the notes occur on the beat (or one 16ths of the
beat, or 8ths, or so on), such that the duration of notes are extended to be on the beat (or
divisions thereof), such that notes play with some degree of “swing”, and even such that
the notes played match a specific scale from Minor to Major to the extremely obscure.

• Transpose - moves the block of selected notes up or down some number of steps.

• Normalize - adjusts note velocity by either a percentage or an absolute value. A percentage

value will adjust the velocity of the notes equally by the percent given in relation to the
original velocity, while an absolute value adjusts velociy of each note to that value
regardless of original velocity.

• Randomize - provides random changes to the Note, Time, Duration, or velocity (Value).
Adjust how extreme the changes will be with percent values.

• Resize - allows you to control the duration of notes to any number of beats (or divisions
thereof), or the Velocity to any value.

• Rescale - changes the selected notes by some percentage; you may alter the time that the
notes are triggered, the duration for which they sound, and the velocity at which they are
played.

• Timeshift - alters the timing of the selected notes on a curve, such that the acceleration from
the beginning note to the ending note is either increased or decreased.

In order for Qtractor to know how to accelerate the timing of the notes, you must define a range
of time for the acceleration to occur. Do this with the head and tail markers (the blue markers in
the timeline above the MIDI Editor gride). Mark the out point (tail) of your range by clicking on
the timeline, and then set the in point (head) of the time range by clicking somewhere to the left
of the original marker. Once the range is defined, select the notes you wish to timeshift with the
arrow tool. Open the Tools menu and select Timeshift. Use the slider to either cause an
acceleration in your selected notes over the course of the defined time range, or a deceleration,
and then click OK to commit the change.

The View menu provides cutomization for how the MIDI Editor is laid and how the notes are
presented to you. The default layout is clean and pleasingly minimalist, but take a look at some of
the other options to see what works best for you:

• Menubar - turns off the top menu bar; use Control+m to toggle it on or off.

• Statusbar - turns off the status bar at the bottom of the window.

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 • Toolbars - defines what icon toolbar is visible at the top of the window; choose from File
(file opening and saving icons), Edit (cut, paste, undo), View (preview modes, snapping
quantization), Transport (fast forward, rewind), and Scale (key signature and scale
information).

• Windows - toggles on or off event information, a panel which will provide detailed
information on each MIDI event in the MIDI Editor grid

• Tool Tips - toggles whether tool tips are visible

• Note Duration - defines whether the note’s duration is reflected in the length of the velocity
bars at the bottom of the grid

• Note Color - assigns differing colours to each note; if this is not active, all notes appear as
one colour.

• Value Color - assigns the colours of the corresponding notes to the velocity bars; helpful
when you have many overlapping notes but want to adjust their velocities.

• Zoom - zoom in or out on the grid.

• Snap - define what division of the beat your notes snap to, or turn snapping off entirely.

• Scale - change the key signature or type of scale being used.

• Refresh - for the MIDI Editor to redraw in the event of latent images.

• Preview Notes - turn on or off whether you hear the notes of the scale as you input or move
notes along the grid.

• Follow Playhead - define whether the MIDI Editor grid scrolls with the playhead when you
are playing the track.

Qtractor Options and Preferences

Qtractor’s preferences can be accessed via the View menu, via the Options selection. The options
are divided into tabs:

• General - contains options for overall preferences, such as file formats of project files,
behaviour of windows and confirmation requests, and the transport

• Audio - determines how Qtractor stores newly recorded audio (ie, microphone or line
inputs, as well as re-routed sound within its own mixer), and whether an audible
metronome is used

• MIDI - controls how MIDI data is stored, captured, and what defaults it uses for
quantization, playback, and metronome

• Display - controls whether your timeline uses timecode, frames, or beats, some default
colours and fonts, and where log files are stored

• Plugins - the paths to folders containing your plugins. An empty list is OK, since Qtractor
defaults to the typical locations such as usr/lib and so on, but if you have customized your
system heavily then you may need to specify the locations of your synths, effects, and
plugins here.

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Soft Synths
Strictly speaking, soft synths are not a part of Qtractor. However, it is common to use soft synths
within Qtractor. Acquiring free software synthesizers online is a simple matter of locating them
online at sourceforge.net, ccrma.stanford.edu, your distribution’s repository, or the project’s
homepages directly.

Software synths for GNU Linux come in a few varieties:

• Independent synth applications that launch separately from Qtractor but that plug into
JACK so that the synths can be used as sound sources within Qtractor. One such example
is Qsynth, written by the same programmer as QJackCtl and Qtractor.

• DSSI Plugins which are launched and controlled entirely from within Qtractor

• LV2 Plugins which are launched and controlled entirely from within Qtractor

• VST Plugins; the format from Steinberg does in fact support Linux technically but the
number of Linux-native VST synths are few

Installing Soft Synths

Installing any soft synth, whether it is a plugin or stand-alone application, is done through your
distribution’s package manager (yum, apt, slackbuilds, pacman, emerge, ports, and so on) or from
the installers on the project’s website. Once the synth is installed, you may launch it and try it
out; if it’s a stand-alone application, then it can be launched like any other application on your
system.

If it’s a plugin for Qtractor, then launch Qtractor and create a new MIDI track, choosing your new
soft synth as the MIDI Instrument as described in Chapter Managing MIDI Tracks To verify that
Qtractor knows where all of your soft synth plugins are located, open the View menu and select
Options and choose the Plugins tab in the Options window.

In the Plugins tab, define any non-standard paths to DSSI, LADSPA, LV2, or VST plugins on
your system by selecting the type of plugin from the dropdown menu on the left and then adding
the path with the Add button on the right. When finished, click the OK button to save your
changes.

Using Soft Synths as Plugins

Using soft synths as DSSI or LV2 plugins is probably the easiest model, as it does not require any
additional routing of sounds through JACK. The synth is integrated into Qtractor’s interface, the
sound is directed to the appropriate track, and the fact that you are using a separate application is
almost entirely abstracted away from you.

From the Chapter Managing MIDI Tracks, you already know how to create a MIDI track and
assign a synthesizer plugin to that track. Most soft synths, however, have some level of control
over the sounds they produce, which you can access by editing the properties of the synthesizer:

1. Open the View menu > Windows and select Mixer.

2. The Mixer window shows all available tracks; on the far left are the Master Inputs and on
the far right are the Master Outputs; in the middle are the tracks in your project’s

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 workspace. In the top plugin list of your track, right click on the soft synth currently
associated with the track and choose Properties from the contextual menu.

3. In the window that appears, notice the three buttons in the top right corner:

4. Params toggles the view of available attributes you can modify (such as oscillators,
resonance, envelopes, and so on)

5. Edit toggles whether the plugin is editable

6. An active plugin is “on” and will play sounds when receiving MIDI signals. If a plugin is
not active, it will not produce (or affect, if it’s an effect unit plugin) sound if you do not see
editable parameters in the synthesizer window, click the Params button.

7. Change the parameters you wish to change using the controls the soft synth provides. If
you create a patch that you want to save, type a name into the Preset Name field in the
upper left corner and click the Save button and your settings will be added as a Preset in the
Preset dropdown menu.

Whether you use DSSI, LV2, or VST plugins, the process for using a soft synth or effect is the
same. All parameters provided by the soft synth’s interface can also be automated such that
attributes like LFO or resonance can be programmed to change over time during playback. For
more information on automation, see the Chapter Automation.

Using Stand-Alone Synths

The other kind of software synth you might use in your Qtractor workflow are stand-alone
synthesizers such as Qsynth and amSynth. Installing these stand-alone synths from your
distribution’s repository or from the projects’ websites. Launch QJackCtl first, and then launch
the software synths the same as you would any other application on your system.

Keep in mind that if your distribution requires you to set your own realtime permissions, you will
want to add the stand-alone software synths to your RT list.

Once you’ve launched your software synth, it will become a source for sound and a destination
for MIDI signals in the Qtractor. Verify that your settings are correct:

1. Select the View menu in Windows > Connections

2. In the Audio tab appear all possible sources of sound. If you have launched QSynth or
amSynth, for example, they would be listed in the left column. Also listed will be Qtractor
itself, since it also produces sound, and your computer’s sound input (labeled as System >
capture) In the right column are the sound destinations available. At the very least, you
should see Qtractor’s Master In and your computer speakers (labeled as System >
playback) By default, the sound from Qtractor Master Out is patched to System playback
so that you can hear, from your speakers, everything that Qtractor’s mixer manages.

3. This is where the logic of audio engineering as well as the workings of your own studio
setup should be considered. The sound produced from your stand-alone synth can logically
be patched into either:

4. Qtractor Master In so that the sound produced by the synthesizer can be recorded back into
an empty audio track in Qtractor

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If you’re not sure what kind of setup you have, then choose this method.

• System playback if you have an external mixer or recording device that will be recording
the audio being produced by the MIDI-driven synths.

• To patch the sound from the synth to its destination, click the left channel of the synth
output, and then the left destination channel, and click the Connect button. Repeat this for
the right channel if stereo is required.

This takes care of routing the sound; now you must route the MIDI signals controlling the
synthesizer. As with the routing of sound, there is no “right” way to route the MIDI signal; you
must be somewhat familiar with the equipment and workflow you are implementing and decide
for yourself how you want it to all work together.

• In the MIDI tab appear all possible sources of MIDI signals. At the very least, your stand-
alone soft synth will be listed in the left column. If you have a USB MIDI controller, it will
also be listed. Qtractor itself and a MIDI Through channel are also listed. In the right
column are the sound destinations available. At the very least, you should see Qtractor’s
Master and the MIDI Through channels, and the soft synth you are running.

As with audio routing, there are many ways to design your production process:

• The MIDI signal from Qtractor should be patched into the soft synth(s) that you are
running so that the data in your MIDI tracks will trigger the sounds of those synths. If you
are using an external USB MIDI controller, you might want to route the signals generated
from it into the Qtractor destination so that you can play MIDI into Qtractor MIDI tracks
(which in turn gets passed onto the soft synth, which plays sound back into Qtractor and/or
into your computer speakers).

If you are not sure about what you want, this is probably the method to use.

A Bit about MIDI

• Alternately, you could route the MIDI signals from your controller straight into the soft
synth. This would trigger the synth directly, playing sounds which could be routed into
Qtractor for live recording.

This method does not record any MIDI data.

To patch the MIDI signal from the source to its destination

• Click the MIDI source in the left column

• Then the destination in the right column

• Click the Connect button

• Repeat this for all MIDI signals that need routing

If you’re not sure what signals need routing, then you probably need to route Qtractor to your
synth. If you are using a USB MIDI controller then you also need to route your controller to
Qtractor.

All signals have been patched now, so playing MIDI into Qtractor should cause your external
synthesizer to sound.

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If you have had limited experience with MIDI, it’s important to have a basic understanding of
how MIDI talks to the devices it controls.

MIDI was originally developed for hardware, with the only software involved being MIDI
sequencers, which were as frequently embedded systems as they were traditional software
applications like the modern DAW’s we are used to today.

MIDI signals are divided into channels; each channel is a discreet signal that can be directed to a
specific device or a number of devices. If you generate a MIDI signal on MIDI Channel 1 and
send that signal to a group of synthesizers, then any synthesizer programmed to play a note on
either MIDI Channel 1 or MIDI Channel Omni will play. Any synthesizer programmed to
respond to MIDI Channel 2 through 128 will not play.

Most musicians had more than one synthesizer, so the problem became how to get MIDI data
from one controlling device (the sequencer; either a dedicated piece of hardware or a software
running on a Personal Computer) to more than one synth. The answer was to daisy chain the
synthesizers together, so that each synth could receive MIDI data pertinent to it as well as MIDI
data for the next synthesizer in the chain.

Therefore, any MIDI-capable synth could have:

• MIDI IN used to receive playable MIDI data

• MIDI THRU to receive MIDI data to pass along to the next synth in line

• MIDI OUT to send MIDI signals from MIDI THRU (or its own internal sequencer) to
other devices Modern digital audio workstations don’t necessarily have this problem, since
many musicians are making music with no hardware synthesizer whatever.

MIDI is generated by the sequencer (Qtractor in this case) and is passed to each software
synthesizer over virtual MIDI ports.

A virtual MIDI THRU port is nevertheless available, so in the event that you do require MIDI
data in a passthrough configuration, you can use the MIDI THRU port in QJackCtl, via the
Connections window in Qtractor The concept of MIDI channels are also equally relevant even
without hardware.

If you set up QSynth to generate a bassline for your piece on MIDI channel 1, and WhySynth to
play the melody, then you must not set WhySynth to use Channel 1, or else all notes being
triggered on QSynth will also be triggered on WhySynth because they are being triggered by
the same MIDI Channel.

With 128 channels to use, you are free to use 128 soft synths, but unless you are seeking unison,
each should have a distinct MIDI Channel.

You can set the MIDI Channel in the Track Properties of each of your Qtractor tracks.

Using Multiple Sequencers

If a synthesizer has a built-in sequencer, then the only MIDI signals that need to be sent to that
device are START and STOP. This is common in external drum machines, which inherently
manage their own sequencing so that you can create drumbeats and loops on them using a fairly
familiar interface (familiar as long as you’ve used drum machines, anyway).

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On the software side, Hydrogen is a good example. Hydrogen is a self-contained drum machine
for Linux which allows the user to create custom patch sets and which does all of its own
sequencing.

Therefore, if you were to use Hydrogen as a stand-alone drum machine, you wouldn’t sequence
your drum tracks in Qtractor’s MIDI editor, but in Hydrogen’s sequencer. Since Hydrogen is
JACK-aware, sending a START signal to Hydrogen to start the sequence playing and a STOP
signal when the song is finished, is all that Qtractor will do; the clock and syncronization of the
drum beats with the rest of the sequence is handled by JACK just as it would have been on
hardware synthesizers via a MIDI clock.

Working in Qtractor
Editing audio in Qtractor is done directly in the workspace, with a small set of powerful tools.
There are three types of audio within the Qtractor workspace:

• Audio files - the representation of the actual audio file on your harddrive, which is being
referenced by Qtractor because you imported it into your project. It may or may not be
actually used in the project yet, but it you have linked to it and so it will appear in the Files
panel.

• Track - the representation of a mixable channel in Qtractor’s workspace. It may or may not
have audio in it, but it is a bus which can hold audio, effects (or, technically, MIDI data,
but that hardly applies in a chapter on audio editing).

• Clip - a piece or the whole of an audio file, as it appears in your Qtractor project. Audio
clips are always contained in an audio track. You can edit and effect the latter two; the
first (the audio file itself) is merely referenced in Qtractor and cannot be directly
manipulated by any of Qtractor’s tools. In fact, it should be noted that Qtractor, like most
other digital audio workstations, is not a waveform editor; for cosmetic corrections such as
removing pops or blown-out plosives, or removing lip smacks or dampening roomtone,
you should use a waveform editor such as Audacity.

(Not) Editing Waveforms

Cleaning your source sound is frequently one of the first tasks you’ll do, so ideally your sound
will be sanitized before ever reaching Qtractor. However, in the event that you have imported
audio and started working and then you decide that something needs some detail work, you can
export just the clip that requires cleaning from Qtractor, clean it, and then re-import it. To export
a clip of a sound file for cleaning outside of Qtractor:

1. Right-click on the clip in its track and select Clip > Export from the contextual menu.

2. Edit the exported clip in a waveform editor such as Audacity and save export your changes.

3. Import the modified clip back into Qtractor and move it into place over the previous clip.

Audio Clip Tools

Outside of cleaning the sound of an audio clip, there are plenty of modifications you can do to the
audio clips you record or import into Qtractor, such as splitting, punching-in, looping, and
more.

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Moving Clips and Controlling Snapping

You mouse cursor has four selection modes. Its default mode is Clip select, which allows you to
click and drag clips within and between tracks. The precision with which you can move clips
back and forward in time is determined by snapping. To deactivate or change snapping, click the
View menu and select Snapping to choose the resolution you want to use when moving clips; you
can move clips by beats, quarter notes, sixteenth notes, and so on, or none to deactivate snapping.

Truncating (Splitting) and Extending Clips

Also in clip mode, you can split audio clips nondestructively. To split a clip:

1. Position the playhead in the timecode bar at the top of the Qtractor workspace to the
position at which you’d like to split your audio clip

2. Click the clip you want to split so that it is selected

3. Click the Clip menu and choose Split

The clip has now been split at the position of the playhead.

Since Qtractor never affects the original audio file it is referencing, any split you make to an
audio clip is reversible. The easiest way to undo a clip (aside from using Edit > Undo) is to
extend the clip. To extend a clip, click on the edge of the clip with your selection arrow and click
and pull the edge to reveal more of the audio file within the track.

Extending or truncating clips by dragging the clip’s edge is also affected by the Snap setting, so
if you are having difficulty modifying the end or beginning of a clip, check to make snapping is
deactivated.

A second way to split clips is to use the Range or Rectangle selection tools.

Range and Rectangle Selection

The default selection tool is the Clip selection, which allows you to click on clips and select them
as a whole so that you can move them within the workspace. The other two modes are Range and
Rectangle.

The Range selection tool spans all tracks in your workspace and allows you to arbitrarily select
any portion of clips regardless of where the clips begin or end. In otherwords, you can select a
range in the very middle of a clip, and all other clips above and below it because you are
selecting a block of time, rather than basing your selection on the nature of the clips in your
workspace.

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To use the Range select mode:

1. Click the Edit menu > Select Mode > Range

2. Click within an audio clip and drag your selection

Using Range Markers

The Rectangle selection mode is similar to Range but is track-specific. Using the Rectangle
selection tool permits you to draw the range of selection over one or more tracks, and a selection
will be made wherever a clip is present.

To use the Rectangle select mode:

1. Click the Edit menu > Select Mode > Rectangle

2. Click within an audio clip and drag your selection. You may select portions, or the whole,
of clips on as many tracks as you wish. Or you may confine your selection to one. With
both tools, your selected areas can be cut, copied, pasted, deleted, or even lifted out from
their clips and moved elsewhere (the splits will be made automatically for you).

To lift a selection from a clip or a set of clips, click and drag the selection.

To copy and paste, click on the Edit menu and select Copy or Cut or the usual keyboard shortcuts
of Ctrl+C or Ctrl+X. When you are ready to paste, click the Edit menu again and select Paste
(or use Ctrl+V) and click in the time line where you want to paste the clips.

If you have multiple clips copied., then they will be pasted relative to how they were copied (so if
you paste a clip originally from tracks 1 and 2 into track 3, then the pasted clips will fall into
tracks 3 and 4).

An alternate way to select a range in your workspace is with the marker transports, which appear
in the timeline above the workspace alongside the play transport.

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To bring the markers to your cursor

1. Click in the timeline above the Qtractor workspace. Both the In- and Out- markers will
appear at your cursor’s position.

2. The position of the markers is the out-point for what will become your selection. Move
your cursor left and click again to set the in-point.

3. The space between the two blue markers is now the active range. Click the Edit menu and
use the options in the Select submenu to select areas based on the currently active track, the
range spanning all tracks, and so on.

You can also use this range to define a loopable area, or to delete or copy and paste its contents.

Paste Repeat, or “Looping”

In electronic music especially, there’s a common need to record one or two measures and then
loop those measures to create standardized basslines or drumbeats. The “right” way to achieve
that would be to use a drum machine or a sequencer, which would literally play the same data
(either pure MIDI data or audio samples) for as many measures as the composer programs.

However, the effect can be emulated in Qtractor with a Paste Repeat, which allows you to copy
an audio or MIDI clip and then paste it back-to-back for as many repetitions as you want.

To perform a Paste Repeat:

1. Check your snapping settings in the View menu (usually when looping clips, the user wants
precision snapping to the first clip’s edge).

2. Click to select the clip you want to copy (or use a range selection to extract a portion of the
clip) and use Edit > Copy to Copy the clip.

3. Click Edit and choose Paste Repeat.

4. In the Paste Repeat window, enter the number of iterations you want to paste, or the
duration (in timecode, frames, or beats) you need to fill with repetitions. Click the OK
button to confirm.

5. Click in the timeline to complete the paste and anchor the newly pasted clips in their track.

Punch In/Out

If one or two measures of a track doesn’t quite measure up to your standards, you might want to
re-record just those measures without having to record the entire track over. This process is called
“punching in”.

To perform a punch-in (and punch-out)

• Use the Range select tool or the range markers to define a region of your timeline as the
active area as described in Section Range and Rectangle Selection and Section Using
Range Markers.

• Once your range is set, click the Punch In/Out button in the main toolbar, or use the
Transport menu and select Punch Set.

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 • Arm the recording destination track by clicking the R button in the track list.

• Click the Record button in the main toolbar, and then the Play button. Qtractor will play
back your piece, and you can play along but nothing you play will actually be recorded
except within the punch range. Recording will automatically stop once the transport
leaves the punch range.

• To stop playback, click the Stop button in the main toolbar, or use the space bar. Punching
in and out is a common task used in both MIDI and Audio recording.

Looping Playback

To play a section of your composition in a loop (often done so the musician can practise for a
punch-in or improvise), select a range as described in Section Range and Rectangle Selection and
Section Using Range Markers.

Once your desired loop range is selected:

1. Click on the Transport menu and select Set Loop.

2. Move the transport into the loop range, or start playing immediately; when the transport
reaches the end of the loop range, it will return to the in-point of the loop and seamlessly
continue playing until stopped.

Simple Fades

Fading in or out of an audio clip is common enough that there is a quick shortcut to achieve the
effect on any clip. Notice in the top corner of any clip in the workspace there is a semi-
transparent square node. Clicking and dragging this node further into the clip will create a fade in
(if done at the beginning of a clip) or a fade out (if done at the end of a clip). The fade is given a
slight curve to give it a more natural feel.

Merging Clips
Most of the time, these simple fades achieve the effect you need but should you desire finer
control over your fades, see Chapter Automation.

Merging Clips

After a long day of editing, your workspace might start to look fragmented, with pieces of audio
clips appearing in their tracks with long stretches of empty space. This is not necessarily a bad
thing, but it does sometimes allow for accidental moves of precisely timed sound cues and it also
may reflect a number of disparate files on your harddrive even though you consider the track one
instance of music.

By merging clips, you can change a number of clips into one consolidated file on your harddrive:

1. Select the clips within a track that you want to merge into one.

2. Click the Clip menu and select Merge.

3. In the Merge/Export window, enter a new name for the merged file and save it to a logical
location on your harddrive.

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 4. The merged audio clip immediately replaces the old files in your project.

Track Edits

As audio clips contain the sound (and MIDI) files you are using in your Qtractor project, so do
Tracks contain the clips themselves. Tracks allow you to mix the audio clips in relation to one
another, apply effects to whole groups of clips without ever affecting the waveform files
themselves (ie, nondestructively), and even automate everything from volume to panning to the
functions of effect units and synths.

A special window is dedicated to managing tracks: the Mixer window ; set up like a traditional
mixing desk with a user-friendly interface to allow for Aux Sends, Returns, Sub-mixing, and
more. You can also manage many aspects of your tracks through the track list on the left of the
Qtractor interface, but since the Mixing desk interface is so ubiquitous and useful, it’s common to
have it open on a separate monitor or virtual desktop for quick reference.

To open the Mixer window, click on the View menu, select Windows, and choose Mixer.

Most track functions can be done through both the main Qtractor interface, as well as through the
Mixer window.

Track Order, Height, and Properties

It’s a good idea to keep related musical parts grouped together. If your drums appear on track 1
and your bass on track 14, it’s difficult to edit the two tracks in unison as one might reasonably
attempt to do.

To keep a logical order to your track listing, you can rearrange where each track appears in the
Qtractor workspace.

To move a track up or down the track list, either click and drag the number on the far left of the
track label, or use the Track menu and select Move to move the currently highlighted track either
up, down, or straight to the top or bottom of the list.

In addition to changing track order, you can change the height of tracks with the Height selection
in the Track menu. Other track properties, such as track name, the color of the clips, the type
(audio or midi) of track data, and more, can be modified through the Track menu, especially the
Track Properties selection.

Mixing
Mixing in Qtractor, like most digital audio workstation software, is modeled after mixing on real-
world equipment. With Qtractor, as with hardware mixing equipment, you are able to define
inputs, outputs, auxiliary sends and returns, effects, and automation.

Generally, mixing in Qtractor utilizes three different toolsets:

• Mixer - used to control the stereo separation and levels of the track, route sound, and
configure effects and other outboard “gear”

• Effect Units and Filters - plugins used to sweeten, degrade, fix, or control sound

• Automation - makes Qtractor your live mixer so that levels, effects, and pans are adjusted
during playback Just as with a hardware-based studio, you’ll use a combination of

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 techniques to achieve the mood, sound, and quality you want. The central hub, however, is
the Mixer window.

Mixer

The Mixer window can be accessed by click the View menu and selecting Mixer from the
Windows category. The Mixer opens in its own window, making it a prime candidate for
occupying a second screen if you have a multiple-head setup.

On the extremities of the Mixer window are the Master In and Master Out controls. These are
independent of any one track and control everything coming into or going out of the mixing
board. You can adjust the master levels of the input and output, and place any effect processors
you want to apply globally (such as a compressor to control peaks on an outboard microphone, or
to prevent peaks on outgoing audio).

The middle portion of the Mixer window represents the tracks in your project, both audio and
MIDI (distinguished by the Audio or Midi icon next to the name of the track).

These control the individual track, allowing you to set the level of the track with the volume
slider and gain control, the stereo position with the pan/pot control, and mute, solo, or arm the
track for recording.

Setting Levels

When monitoring the levels of your tracks, make sure that your sound does not enter the red zone
on the volumeter. In audio production, any sound that goes above 0 dB hits its peak and will
cause distortion. It’s not uncommon to flirt with 0 dB to truly maxmize the impact of important
sounds, but leaving sounds above 0dB in your final mix is a surefire way to ruin your project.
Using the volume level slider, adjust your track volumes into safe settings while listening to your
project. Then listen to your project again to refine the levels in relation to one another. If the
sound source is too low (or too loud), you can add (or subtract) gain at the input point with the
Gain adjustment at the very bottom of the mixer window.

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This adds or subtracts gain level at the point of the sound’s entry, meaning that you are changing
the amount of sound reaching any effects processors. Generally, gain adjustment is avoided and
other tools, like a Compressor or Equalizer, are favoured.

Tracks levels don’t exist in a vacuum; the levels are cumulative…

So if you have two tracks with near-maximum levels that produce very loud sounds at the same
time, the Master Out level will peak even if each track was “safe” independently.

There is no authoratative way of achieving a balanced mix ; some professional sound mixers
prefer an additive mix, in which they start all levels at a reasonable and safe level and then
accentuate important parts by adding volume to tracks.

Others prefer a subtractive method by starting everything at the highest safe (or unsafe) level and
then bringing volumes down so that everything falls into place. Predictably, still others prefer a
combination of these methods.

Stereo Separation

By default, tracks are set to play sounds from the center point of the stereo space, meaning that to
the listener the sound will feel as if it’s situated directly in front of them, or evenly between their
left and right ear.

To diversify the sound, sometimes in order to emulate a live setup or to suggest that a sound is
just next to the listener, or to broaden the scope and impact of the piece, you can pan sound
between the left and right speakers.

When panning a track, “less” is often “more” and an even spread is usually best. In other words,
do not arbitrarily assign tracks in stereo space just to give a spread to your sound; consider where
the sound would realistically come from if the listener were watching a live performance.

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Avoid moving sounds to the extreme stereo positions, since in real life sounds are rarely only
heard in one ear and not the other (the sound of extreme stereo separation was common in early
stereo mixes from the 1960s, in which the drums might only be heard in the right ear and a guitar
only in the left; the effect was revolutionary at the time but largely considered utterly unnatural
now).

A gentle spread of sound is most natural, with sounds at the extreme edges of the stereo space
being used for atmosphere, emphasis, or effect.

Plugins
In the Mixer window, effects processor can be added to any track (the Master In, Out, or
individual tracks in the project):

• Right-click the plugin window in the track into which you wish to add the effect or synth.

• Select Add Plugin from the contextual menu.

• From the Plugins window, choose the LADSPA, LV2, DSSI, or VST plugin you want to
plug into the track. Click OK to continue. A plugin may also be a MIDI soft synth that you
wish to associate with a track of MIDI data.

The order of processors is important ; applying a reverb effect first and then a distortion filter will
render a track with distorted reverb. Applying the distortion filter first and then the reverb will
render a track with reverberating distortion.

To move an effect up or down the order of processing (ie, to place a reverb effect before a
distortion filter), right-click the effect you want to move and select Move Up or Move Down from
the contextual menu.

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Once a plugin has been inserted into a track, control its settings in the pop up window that
appears for the plugin. After your initial adjustments are made, you can access a plugin’s controls
at any time by right-clicking on the name of the effect unit in the track and selecting Properties
from the contextual menu.

A green light to the left of the plugin name indicates that the plugin is active. You can temporarily
deactivate (bypass) the effect by right-clicking the effect in the track and toggling off the
Activate menu item. If you wish to by-pass all effect units in a track, choose Deactivate All If you
want to remove an effect or plugin from a track entirely, right-click on the effect in the track and
choose Remove or Remove All to remove all plugins from that track.

Send and Returns

What we call a “plug-in” in a DAW would be most akin, in a hardware-based studio, to a built-in
reverb effect or gain adjustment on some of the more general-purpose mixing desks on the
market. Mostly, however, there are no “plug-ins” in a traditional studio setup; everything is
outboard and the mixer plugs into the effect unit, the effect unit processes the sound, and then the
affected sound is send back into the board to be integrated into the mix.

This model is still useful in the software world, since not all sound applications are available as
plugins, or you prefer to run them as separate applications. To be able to utilize Sends and
Returns, you should have some external, JACK-aware, sound application installed. In other
words, the application should run outside of Qtractor but be programmed to utilize JACK when
available. A few examples of such applications would be

• Jamin - a sound mastering application

• CALF - an audio plugin set that is available as a stand-alone application as well as a plugin

• amSynth - a soft synth

• QSynth - a fluidsynth frontend

• Schismtracker - a MIDI tracker

• Hydrogen - a stand-alone drum machine

For this example, launch the CALF JACK Host plugin client. Click the Add plugin button and
select Reverb and turn the Wet Amount nearly all the way up so that it will be easy to hear that the
sound is being effected in this test. Bring in or generate sound into a track in Qtractor. To create a
Send and Return on that track:

1. Locate the track you wish to affect in the Mixer window in Qtractor.

2. Right-click the plugin inset and choose Inserts.

3. In the Insert window, click the Sends button in the lower left corner.

4. In the Connections window that appears, choose the Insert Out connection in the left
column and then then reverb in of calf in the right column. Click the Connect button to
route the sound. Repeat this for both left and right channels.

5. At this point, you are successfully sending the sound from your track to the CALF effect
processor, but if you were to play the track in Qtractor you wouldn’t hear anything. Of

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 course, the reason is because there is no Return yet. Back in the Insert window, click the
Returns button.

6. In the Connections window, choose the reverb out connection in the left column and then
the insert in of Qtractor in the right column. Click the Connect button to route the sound.
Repeat this for both left and right channels.

7. Now your track is routed out to the CALF effect unit, processed, and sent back into
Qtractor. Click the Play button in Qtractor to hear the results.

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Effect Processors and Filters

There are many theories, personal styles, and preferences when it comes to mixing a project. One
producer might opt for no effects at all while another might use compressors, limiters, levellers,
EQ, and more, and those same producers will abandon their style depending on what band they
are dealing with.

The best way to know what effects to use is to experiment ; discover what different filters do,
find out which ones you like or dislike, and do whatever your ear tells you to do. There are some
staples in any audio engineer’s toolkit, and between the Steve Harris LADSPA collection, CALF,
and Jamin, you’ll find everything you need to achieve the sound you want:

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Compressors
As a sys admin has ssh and emacs, an audio producer has Dynamic Range Compressors. A
compressor’s job is to reduce loud sounds or to increase quiet sounds by reducing (or
“compressing”) the signal’s overall dynamic range. It has a number of uses in music production.

A compressor on a track that is inconsistent in dynamics will produce a more consistent track that
might be easier to mix into the rest of the piece, and also provide a better listening experience for
the audience; it’s difficult to follow the lyrics of a song, for example, when the voice track
continually drops behind the other instruments.

Compressors are very common on drums, as well, since when drums are mixed the loudest hits
and crashes tend to rise to the surface while all the subtleties, like little touches of ornamentation
and the decays of drum and cymbal hits, are lost. A compressor will even out the range between
those softer sounds and the harder sounds, so you still get the hard-hitting beats but get to keep
the personality.

There are at least three good compressors for GNU Linux:

CALF

The Calf plugin suite contains a compressor which you can use either as a plugin from within
Qtractor or as a stand-alone app as an Aux Send/Return. Its features are typical of an all-purpose,
general-use compressor, and running its full GUI with calfjackhost might help you understand the
theory behind compression if you are new to it.

If you are new to compressors, try this experiment:

• Open the CALF compressor by launching calfjackhost. Click on the Add plugin
menu and choose Compressor.

• To launch the user interface, click the Compressor button in the lower left. Change the
settings to:

◦ Ratio to 1

◦ Makeup gain to 0dB

◦ Threshold to -43.2

◦ Knee to 0dB

Notice that this causes the green line to align perfectly with the gray line that runs diagonally
through the compressor screen. This achieves, essentially, a pass-through effect. You have set a
limit for every possible level of sound equal to itself, and since no possible level of sound will
ever be greater than itself, nothing will be constrained.

• Now change the ratio to approximately 2 (a 2:1 ratio). Notice the green line now deviates
from the gray normal line; you may think of the green line as a sort of ceiling. Measuring
soundwaves by the numbers along the X-axis, you can see that 24dB in the input (ie, the
gray line), it will be constrained down to 0dB (along the green line). Accordingly, a
soundwave that reaches -12dB will be constrained to -24db.

• For one last demonstration, turn the Ratio knob all the way to right so it reads +inf and the
Threshold knob all the way to the right so it reads 0dB. This places a hard ceiling at the

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 current threshold setting. This means that any sound louder than the threshold will be
constrained to that level, no matter what. Set too severly this can cause a clipped sound, but
the concept of leveling is ubiquitous in production, as a safeguard to ensure that the levels
do not go over 0dB.

• When exactly compression kicks in is controlled by the Threshold value. Try adjusting the
threshold knob and notice that the bend (or “knee”) in the green line changes. Turn the
Ratio knob back to 2 and set the Threshold to -12dB. Setting the threshold to -12dB means
that everything below -12dB will remain unchanged, while anything above -12dB will be
constrained to some degree (depending on the ratio setting, of course).

• Make the Knee more gradual and natural by adjusting the knee to 18dB; this gives a softer
curve to the compression. Sometimes this is intentionally not increased, and a sharper knee
is desired (it’s a trick sometimes used in compressing drums, to create hits that “pop”).

• The Makeup Gain knob, currently set to 0, allows you to boost the output sound to account
for the inherent loss in volume when using a compressor that constrains levels.

• The Attack and Release knobs control how quickly the compression effect takes to take full
effect, and how quickly the effect is released. In otherwords, at a 0ms attack, a soundwave
will be constrained the very moment it pushes toward the threshold setting. The result of
this is often a very harsh and noticeable effect, usually undesirable (except, again, for some
stylistic choice sometimes made on drum kits or special effects). Setting the attack to
500ms (.5 second), for instance, renders a softer, more gradual effect that better allows a
soundwave to retain its natural shape and curve but still suppressing it under the
threshold’s level.

Once you’ve designed good compression settings, save it as a preset by clicking on the Preset
menu and choosing Store preset selection. You will need the preset saved (perhaps in your
Qtractor project folder for better organization) since Qtractor obviously will not save or preserve
your settings. The Calf compressor is a capable and user-friendly compressor unit, available
either as a stand-alone unit or a plugin from within Qtractor, so use it often!

Steve Harris LADSPA Dyson Compressor

The Dyson Compressor is included in the Steve Harris set of LADSPA plugins. It is very basic,
with few adjustable settings, but if quick and basic compression is all you need then it may just
be what you need.

Use the Dyson compressor as you would any other LADSPA plugin in Qtractor. Its interface
offers four sliders for customization: the peak limit (ie, threshold), release time (in seconds), the
fast compression ratio, and the compression ratio (both ratios are counted from 0 to 1, so some
math is required, with 1:1 ratio being equal to 0).

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Jamin

The Jamin mastering application contains one of the most powerful compressors available.
Whereas the Calf compressor excels in its simplicity, Jamin provides three separate compressors,
essentially, for the Low, Mid, and Hi frequencies of your input.

This obviously allows for a far greater degree of fine-tuning. As for what Jamin defines as a low,
mid, or hi frequency: even these are adjustable with the middle horizontal Crossover sliders. Your
familiar Attack, Release, Threshold, Ratio, Knee, and Makeup Gain controls are found at the
bottom of the window in the form of vertical sliders.

As with the stand-alone version of Calf, Jamin is used as an Aux Send / Return; unlike Calf, it
has no plugin option.

Limiters
Because Jamin also features a full-featured 30-band EQ, it might be best treated as the
compressor/ EQ filter for the Qtractor’s Master Out; something that Jamin obviously intends
since it is advertised as a mastering application. As with the stand-alone version of Calf
compressor, you can and should save your presets in Jamin by clicking on the File menu and
selecting Save As.

Directly related to dynamic compressors are limiters, which are basically compressors set to an
infinite compression ratio. There are limiters available in the Steve Harris LADSPA set. The
Hard Limiter, for example, enforces the threshold by literally clipping off the offending portion
of the sound wave. Its upper dB limit is 0dB and the harshness of the clipping can be set with the
Wet Level (the more wet, the more clipping) and Residue level, which essentially control the
attack and release times of the effect.

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Limiters, compared to compressors, are by nature fairly harsh. However, slightly clipping the
upper tips of offending soundwaves can create the illusion of loudness without actually crossing
over into true distortion levels. It may also be used as a protective filter on the Master Out, just to
ensure that levels absolutely do not rise above 0dB.

Normalization
The idea of normalization basically refers to dynamic range compression, since its job is to take
irregular sound and make it more “normal”. However, the term is imprecise and so it can mean
many things.

In Qtractor, tracks that are too soft can have gain applied; manually applying gain can be
dangerous, since you do not know how much gain you can safely apply without sending peaks
over the 0dB mark. To have Qtractor calculate a safe clip-wide gain level:

1. Select the clip that is too soft

2. Click the Clip menu and select Normalize

The clip has a safe gain level nondestructively applied.

What this does not do is compress the dynamic range of that clip. If you want to normalize a clip
with dynamic range compression, then use either a compressor such as Calf or Dyson, or process
the clip externally of Qtractor. A good external normalization application is normalize (named
normalize-audio in Debian), a command line application for GNU Linux that is available in
most repositories and pre-installed on Slackware. The syntax is simple:

normalize -a -6db -l -3db nameOfFile.wav

In the above command, -a is amplitude and -l is limiter; so the command sets the average
amplitude of the sound clip to -6dB and ensures that peaks do not exceed -3dB. Obviously these
settings would need adjusting depending on what the sound file contained, but it’s a marvelously
efficient command for quick normalization.

In addition to normalizing a clip to itself, normalize can normalize a group of files in relation to
one another, set thresholds, and much more.

EQ
Sound waves, being oscillations of pressure, are measured by the cyclic standard of hertz. The
human ear generally can hear from 20Hz to 16,000Hz (or 16kHz), with the human voice usually
appearing around the 100Hz to 400Hz range.

238
A good equalizer can increase or decrease the energy of these frequency bands; this is used by
audio engineers to boost bass, or possibly cut bass when it is overpowering, or boost the
midtones where the human voice dwells, and so on.

There are a few good equalizers that can be used with Qtractor:

Jamin

The Jamin mastering application, which you can use as an Aux Send/Return, has two views of
EQ: the graphical curve-based HDEQ, and a slider-based 30 band EQ. They are literally two
different views of the same thing, so it’s typical to use both views depending on what kind of
adjustment you need to make and which one makes that adjustment easiest.

The practical theory behind EQ is simple enough; identify the frequency you wish to emphasize
or supress, and then raise or lower its intensity in the equalizer. If you are unfamiliar with
equalizers, you may have a difficult time at first being able to identify where in the spectrum of
frequencies the sound lies. Put simply, the lower (bass) bands are on the left and the higher
(treble) are on the right, with the mids (human voice and similarly pitched instruments) are in the
middle.

For more precision, there is an old engineering trick that you can use in Jamin to identify where
something you are hearing actually appears in the spectrum:

• Send a track to Jamin as an Aux Send/Return

• Open the HDEQ view of Jamin and use the yellow curve nodes to create the sharpest curve
possible at its maximum value

239
 • Using the middle node, drag the peak across the spectrum, listening to the sounds it
emphasizes. Because of the drastic curve, the change will be obvious.

• Once you find the sound you are searching for, lessen the volume of the curve and make it
more gradual. Less is more in EQ; rarely is there a time when huge increases or decreases
of the existing frequencies are required. If you find yourself wanting to maximize the
intensity of a frequency band then quite possibly you need to re-record to achieve the
actual sound you were intending to capture.

The other view of the EQ in Jamin is the 30 band EQ tab, which displays the same information as
the HDEQ interface, but uses sliders instead of graphical curves and nodes. The same principles
apply; the sliders provide a quicker way to boost or cut frequencies when you know exactly what
needs to be done and don’t want to have to draw curves and move nodes around to achieve it.

Calf

The Calf plugin set provides a set of filters, which perform EQ through customizable presets. It is
less precise than a 30 band equalizer but realistically is often all you’ll need. Calf offers four
types of presets:

• Lowpass - low pass filters allow low frequencies to pass and cuts off high frequencies

• Highpass - high pass filters allow high frequencies to pass and cuts off low frequencies

• Band Pass - band pass combines low pass and high pass filters configured such that a
targeted frequency range is allowed to pass while frequencies above or below that range
are rejected

• Band Reject - band reject combines low pass and high pass filters with their intersection
being a range of frequencies that will be rejected You have control over the characteristics
of these presets via the Frequency, Resonance, and Inertia knobs.

Open the CALF filter plugin by launching calfjackhost. Click on the Add plugin menu and
choose Filter.

To launch the interface, click the Filter button in the lower left corner. When the interface for
filters launches, it may only display a list of the presets, so be sure to expand the window until
you can see the knobs and filter graph.

240
 • For the clearest example of how the Calf filters work, select the 18dB Bandpass, Set the
Frequency knob to approximately 300 Hz. Notice how the filter shape moves horizontally
along the graph as you adjust the filter. The green line indicates that sounds at 300 Hz will
passthrough the filter, while the frequencies lower and higher than 300 Hz will be filtered
down gradually until they are excluded entirely.

• To control what frequencies are attenuated by the filter, use the Resonance knob. Setting it
to 30dB, for instance, makes for a narrow filter, while setting it to 0dB makes it fairly
broad.

• Try a lowpass filter on bass parts, and a highpass on other instruments, and make
adjustments by ear.

Once you’ve designed good EQ settings for your track, save it as a preset by clicking on the
Preset menu and choosing Store preset selection. You will need the preset saved (perhaps in your
Qtractor project folder for better organization) since Qtractor obviously will not save or preserve
your settings.

The Calf filters are more specialized than the Jamin EQ but just as effective in what it does. Since
Calf can be used as either a stand-alone application or as Qtractor plug-ins, they are flexible in
how you choose to implement them.

241
Steve Harris LADSPA Multiband EQ

Simpler than Jamin or Calf is the Steve Harris LADSPA plugin Multiband EQ. It features 15
sliders for broad rangers of frequencies.

There is less customization available but well-rounded curves can still be achieved by staggering
the sliders, a common practise on hardware equalizers.

Steve Harris LADSPA DJ EQ

A basic 3-band equalizer, the Steve Harris JD EQ LADSPA plugin allows you to easily control
the three general areas of sound frequency: bass, mids, and treble.

Noise Removal
Noise removal is something of a myth borne of automatic filters bundled with recording
applications. It is not possible, in spite of what the advertisements say, to isolate noise on a track
and eliminate it without also removing that same frequency from what you deem to be signal.
The manual elimination of noise is easiest with Jamin HDEQ; first scan your sound for the
frequency containing most of the noise as described in Section Jamin, and then invert the
resonance curve to eliminate the noise you’ve found.

Automated noise removal filters do the same process; analyze a sample of user-defined “noise”
and then EQ the offending frequencies out.

242
Reverb
Reverb is an old ever-popular recording effect that simulates the phenomenon of a sound wave
bouncing off of surfaces, causing the soundwave to bounce back in a new direction; our ears hear
the original sound wave as the source and the reverberated sound wave as an echo.

Common examples are large cathedrals, famous for very saturated and immediate echoes, and
canyons, with the stereotypical distant and delayed echo (“Hello….hello……..hello…”). You
might also notice less drastic examples in, for instance, small empty closets, or you might try
speaking into a coffee tin; the reverberation is immediate and subtle, but it’s still clear that there
are soundwaves bouncing back at you.

Reverb effect units simulate this phenomenon and allow the user to control different aspects of
how the reverberation is generated.

Calf

As with the other Calf plugins, the Calf reverb can be used as a stand-alone application via
calfjackhost or as a plugin from within Qtractor. It features a good number of the most important
reverb controls:

• Decay Time - controls the length that the echo (tail) is heard before

• High Freq Damp - the tail of the reverb is dampened to simulate that sound loses energy
and fades out over time and distance. The /High Frequency Dampening knob determines
the frequency at which the dampening begins

• Dry Amount - determines how much of the original sound is heard along with the reverb

• Wet Amount - determines how much of the reverb is heard

• Diffusion - structures the “spread” of the reverb; a highly diffused reverb effect spreads
reverb widely across the stereo space, where as a less diffuse reverb effect is more centrally
located

• Pre Delay - determines the distance between the source signal and the start of the reverb

• Bass Cut - determines the frquency at which bass frequencies are truncated

• Treble Cut - determines the frequency at which bass frequencies are truncated

• Room Size - sets the emulated space, determining the shape and character of the
reverberated sound

If you are using Calf as a stand-alone effect unit, remember that once you’ve designed good
reverb settings for your track, you must save it as a preset…

You can save presets by clicking on the Preset menu and choosing Store preset selection. You
will need the preset saved (perhaps in your Qtractor project folder for better organization) since
Qtractor obviously will not save or preserve your settings.

243
Steve Harris LADSPA GVerb

There are reverb units available in the Steve Harris LADSPA set. The GVerb plugin is
particularly powerful.

• Roomsize - controls the size of the space being used to simulate reverb

• Reverb time - controls decay of the reverb; the longer the reverb time, the longer the
“echo” is heard

• Damping - the greater the damping, the shorter and weaker the reverb effect will be

• Input bandwidth - the strength of the signal that reaches the reverb effect unit for
processing

• Dry signal level - the volume of the unprocessed source sound

• Early reflection level - strength of the initial reverberated wave; a weaker early reflection
level has the effect of hearing just the tail of a reverb, while a greater level brings more
immediate sound

• Tail level - the level of the reverberated sound; increasing this will great a stronger signal,
which will therefore continue even past the Reverb time setting, which can then also be
controlled by the Damping setting

Echos, Delays, Distortion, and More

The range of effect units available for processing sound is nearly endless. With echos, tape
delays, distortion filters, amps, decimators, chorus effects, ring modulators, and much more,
Linux has no shortage of special effects. Explore Calf and Steve Harris LADSPA plugins to
discover a wide variety of new possible sounds.

Automation
If you had to mix all of the tracks in a project, at the same time, in realtime, you’d not only need
a lot of practice but probably two more arms and another mouse or two. Qtractor features
automation of nearly any aspect of any plugin, as well as basic track functions like volume and
panning. It is only possible to automate tracks; buses cannot be automated.

• In the track you wish to automate, click the Automation button in the track list. From the
pop-up menu, select the attribute of that track that you wish to automate first.

• From the pop-up menu, select the attribute of that track that you wish to automate first. An
overlay is placed on the track.

244
 • Click the Edit menu to go into the Select Mode category, and choose the Automation
selection tool. Alternately, click the Automation Selection Tool icon from the top menu bar.

• Armed with your automation selection tool, click on the automation overlay on your track
to create a node. Adjust the volume of this node to be the initial volume of your track. You
can either drag the node, or double click it and enter a precise value.

• Click again on the automation overlay to create a second node, and move it to another
volume level. For the space between the two nodes, the volume will climb from the starting
node level to the ending node level.

If you need a less gradual change, move the nodes closer together, or use more nodes to shape
different movements for the mixer.

245
The automation is customizable via the Automation button in the track list, in the Mode category,
Hold places the automation nodes into absolute values until otherwise changed.

• Linear - represents the automation as even linear progression from one node to the next.
This is the default automation mode.

• Spline - same as linear, except with b-splines instead of completely linear progress between
nodes.

Automation node values are stored as plain MIDI controller values, which means a default 7-bit
resolution; on save/load, the values are quantized to this resolution. Because of this, you may find
that the values you originally entered change very slightly upon reloading a session. Despite this,
Qtractor should still handle the automation correctly. If you want a higher resolution, you can
enable High resolution plugin automation from View > Options… > Plugins > Experimental,
which will give a 14-bit resolution.

Recording Automation

• Logarithmic - same as spline except that the degree of the bezier curves change
proportionately to the difference between nodes.

246
 • Color - when you automate volume, panning, and an effect all on one track, it can get
confusing. Use Color to change the shade of the automation overlay so that you can
distinguish one set of controls from another. Lock prevents accidental changes to
automation, especially useful when working on a different automation function on the
same track.

Override Automation
If you are a skilled live mixer and want to record your performance in realtime, you can override
existing automation decisions, or record new ones, in two different styles, each available in the
Automation menu:

• Play - with this enabled, you may make realtime changes to existing automation, and upon
release of the slider or knob that you are automating, the value returns to the pre-existing
value. This may be combined with the Record option.

• Record - with this enabled, you may make realtime decisions for automation and every
move will be recorded, in realtime, as a node in your track. They can be manually changed
later, if needed.

If you have the Play option enabled, when you release the slider or knob that you are automating,
the values will return to their existing level…

Without Play enabled, any change you make will persist until you change it again.

Delivery
At the end of the song-writing process, there is the final export. This of course combines all of
the sounds being generated from all of the different sources you may be using, filtered through all
of the effects and processors you have in place, and places them all into a self-contained file that
your audience can play in their media player of choice.

Since everything in Qtractor is routed through its mixer, to combine the sounds into one audio
file is as simple as creating a new track and using it to record the Master Out:

• Go to the View menu and select Options to open Qtractor’s preferences.

• In the Options window, click on the Audio tab. Select the kind of audio you’d like to use
for your recording. It is generally prefered to export to a lossless format and use that file as
the “gold master” from which compressed (ogg vorbis, mp4, mp3, and so on) versions can
be produced. A high quality, lossless, free codec is FLAC.

247
 • Click the OK button to accept your changes.

• Create a new track in your Qtractor project by clicking the Track menu and selecting Add
Track.

• In the Mixer window, right click the plugin window and click the Inserts category,
choosing Add Insert. In the Insert window, click the Return button. This opens a
Connections window.

• Click the first (left) Master In jack in the left column to the first insert of your new track in
the right column, and click the Connect button. Repeat this for the second (right) jacks.
Close the window when finished.

• You have now routed all of your mixer’s outbound sound to the input of your new track.
Arm your new track for recording by clicking the R button either in the track list or the
mixer window.

• Position the transport (playhead) at the beginning of the project (or the beginning of the
portion of your song you intend to export).

You may wish to set an in and out point so that the recording stops automatically, or you may
prefer to stop the recording manually.

• Press the Record button in the top menu bar.

Before recording, double check your connections!

If you have left a microphone plugged in and actively sending input to your Master in, for
example, you might find later that you’ve recorded a layer of room tone behind all of your tracks!

• Press the Play button to begin playback and recording.

• When recording is finished, select the track by clicking on the new audio clip in the
Qtractor project. Click the Clip menu and select Export to send the clip out as an
independent file. Your project is now complete. Create a new project file, and start over
with your next song, and enjoy your time with Qtractor.

Appendix A. GNU Free Documentation

License
Version 1.3, 3 November 2008 Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008 Free Software
Foundation, Inc.

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but
changing it is not allowed.

0. PREAMBLE

The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful
document “free” in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and
redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially.
Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get credit for their work,
while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others.

248
This License is a kind of “copyleft”, which means that derivative works of the document must
themselves be free in the same sense. It complements the GNU General Public License, which is
a copyleft license designed for free software.

We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free software, because free
software needs free documentation: a free program should come with manuals providing the
same freedoms that the software does. But this License is not limited to software manuals; it can
be used for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or whether it is published as a printed
book. We recommend this License principally for works whose purpose is instruction or
reference.

1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS

This License applies to any manual or other work, in any medium, that contains a notice placed
by the copyright holder saying it can be distributed under the terms of this License. Such a notice
grants a world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in duration, to use that work under the
conditions stated herein. The “Document”, below, refers to any such manual or work. Any
member of the public is a licensee, and is addressed as “you”. You accept the license if you copy,
modify or distribute the work in a way requiring permission under copyright law.

A “Modified Version” of the Document means any work containing the Document or a portion of
it, either copied verbatim, or with modifications and/or translated into another language. A
“Secondary Section” is a named appendix or a front-matter section of the Document that deals
exclusively with the relationship of the publishers or authors of the Document to the Document’s
overall subject (or to related matters) and contains nothing that could fall directly within that
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The “Invariant Sections” are certain Secondary Sections whose titles are designated, as being
those of Invariant Sections, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this
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If a section does not fit the above definition of Secondary then it is not allowed to be designated
as Invariant. The Document may contain zero Invariant Sections.

If the Document does not identify any Invariant Sections then there are none.

The “Cover Texts” are certain short passages of text that are listed, as Front-Cover Texts or
BackCover Texts, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. A
Front-Cover Text may be at most 5 words, and a Back-Cover Text may be at most 25 words.

A “Transparent” copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy, represented in a format

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A copy made in an otherwise Transparent file format whose markup, or absence of markup, has
been arranged to thwart or discourage subsequent modification by readers is not Transparent.

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“Transparent” is called “Opaque”. Examples of suitable formats for Transparent copies include

249
plain ASCII without markup, Texinfo input format, LaTeX input format, SGML or XML using a
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Examples of transparent image formats include PNG, XCF and JPG. Opaque formats include
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The “Title Page” means, for a printed book, the title page itself, plus such following pages as are
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“publisher” means any person or entity that distributes copies of the Document to the public.

A section “Entitled XYZ” means a named subunit of the Document whose title either is precisely
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(Here XYZ stands for a specific section name mentioned below, such as “Acknowledgements”,
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you modify the Document means that it remains a section “Entitled XYZ” according to this
definition.

The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice which states that this
License applies to the Document. These Warranty Disclaimers are considered to be included by
reference in this License, but only as regards disclaiming warranties: any other implication that
these Warranty Disclaimers may have is void and has no effect on the meaning of this License.

2. VERBATIM COPYING

You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or
noncommercially, provided that this License, the copyright notices, and the license notice saying
this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you add no other
conditions whatsoever to those of this License.

You may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the
copies you make or distribute. However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies. If
you distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow the conditions in section 3.
You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly display
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3. COPYING IN QUANTITY

If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have printed covers) of the
Document, numbering more than 100, and the Document’s license notice requires Cover Texts,
you must enclose the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all these Cover Texts: Front-
Cover Texts on the front cover, and Back-Cover Texts on the back cover.

Both covers must also clearly and legibly identify you as the publisher of these copies. The front
cover must present the full title with all words of the title equally prominent and visible. You may
add other material on the covers in addition.

Copying with changes limited to the covers, as long as they preserve the title of the Document
and satisfy these conditions, can be treated as verbatim copying in other respects.

250
If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit legibly, you should put the first
ones listed (as many as fit reasonably) on the actual cover, and continue the rest onto adjacent
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Appendix B. Various and Sundry

Some software is not required for Qtractor to run, but are useful to have and can be run along
with Qtractor. Optional installs include:

• QJackCtl - a user-friendly control panel for JACK, which can help you fine tune latency
settings, and wire your virtual instruments to your virtual mixer. The JACK subsystem will
be installed automatically by your distribution; check to ensure that QJackCtl is installed.
Being written by the same programmer, many control panels available in QJackCtl are also
available from within QJackCtl, but unless you very familiar with jackd, you will probably
find JACK easier to use with QJackCtl

• Qsynth - a user-friendly controller for the Fluidsynth soft synth and a good example (for its
familiarity) of how soft synths can be used external of the Qtractor interface and yet still
send sound to Qtractor

• Fluidsynth-DSSI - the Fluidsynth soft synth in plugin-form so that soundfonts can be used
from within the Qtractor interface

255
 • WhySynth - a DSSI plugin that ships with a number of high-quality pre-sets, providing
quick satisfaction as well as plenty of oscillators and dials to allow you to create your own
patches

• Steve Harris LADSPA Plugins - the famous must-have set of audio plugins. The LADSPA
versions have been around for years, the newer LV2 versions are also available and LV2
support is starting to become standard, so feel free to try the newer ones instead.

• CALF audio plugin pack - provides a compressor, chorus, reverb, flanger, delay, and lots
more, as either DSSI, LADSPA, or LV2 plugins. They are easy to use and feature attractive
interfaces.

Appendix C. General MIDI

Instrumentation
This is the standardized list of General MIDI channels and the corresponding instrumentation. If
you are composing using MIDI and want your piece to call a standard set of instruments so that it
will sound the same across all systems, this is the list to use.

Distributing MIDI files of renditions of popular songs was fairly common in the early days of the
Internet, when it was considered technologically advanced to have a MIDI song autoatically play
in the background when someone visited one’s homepage. With General MIDI, it could be
ensured that the song sounded more or less the same no matter whose system it was.

Of course, this is rather rarely done now. It is far more common to use MIDI to trigger sounds
and instruments in any format that works best for you, then to record the music and re-distribute
the ogg or mp3 version.

Even so, this is a good reference list since General MIDI was widely used at one point.

1. Acoustic Grand Piano

2. Bright Acoustic Piano

3. Electric Grand Piano

4. Honky-tonk Piano

5. Electric Piano 1

6. Electric Piano 2

7. Harpsichord

8. Clavinet

9. Celesta

10. Glockenspiel

11. Music Box

12. Vibraphone

256
13. Marimba

14. Xylophone

15. Tubular Bells

16. Dulcimer

17. Drawbar Organ

18. Percussive Organ

19. Rock Organ

20. Church Organ

21. Reed Organ

22. Accordion

23. Harmonica

24. Tango Accordion

25. Acoustic Guitar (nylon)

26. Acoustic Guitar (steel)

27. Electric Guitar (jazz)

28. Electric Guitar (clean)

29. Electric Guitar (muted)

30. Overdriven Guitar

31. Distortion Guitar

32. Guitar harmonics

33. Acoustic Bass

34. Electric Bass (finger)

35. Electric Bass (pick)

36. Fretless Bass

37. Slap Bass 1

38. Slap Bass 2

39. Synth Bass 1

40. Synth Bass 2

41. Violin

257
42. Viola

43. Cello

44. Contrabass

45. Tremolo Strings

46. Pizzicato Strings

47. Orchestral Harp

48. Timpani

49. String Ensemble 1

50. String Ensemble 2

51. Synth Strings 1

52. Synth Strings 2

53. Choir Aahs

54. Voice Oohs

55. Synth Voice

56. Orchestra Hit

57. Trumpet

58. Trombone

59. Tuba

60. Muted Trumpet

61. French Horn

62. Brass Section

63. Synth Brass 1

64. Synth Brass 2

65. Soprano Sax

66. Alto Sax

67. Tenor Sax

68. Baritone Sax

69. Oboe

70. English Horn

258
71. Bassoon

72. Clarinet

73. Piccolo

74. Flute

75. Recorder

76. Pan Flute

77. Blown Bottle

78. Shakuhachi

79. Whistle

80. Ocarina

81. Lead 1 (square)

82. Lead 2 (sawtooth)

83. Lead 3 (calliope)

84. Lead 4 (chiff)

85. Lead 5 (charang)

86. Lead 6 (vox)

87. Lead 7 (fifths)

88. Lead 8 (lead bass)

89. Pad 1 (new age)

90. Pad 2 (warm)

91. Pad 3 (polysynth)

92. Pad 4 (choir)

93. Pad 5 (bowed)

94. Pad 6 (metal)

95. Pad 7 (halo)

96. Pad 8 (sweep)

97. FX 1 (rain)

98. FX 2 (soundtrack)

99. FX 3 (crystal)

259
100.FX 4 (atmosphere)

101.FX 5 (brightness)

102.FX 6 (goblins)

103.FX 7 (echoes)

104.FX 8 (sci fi)

105.Sitar

106.Banjo

107.Shamisen

108.Koto

109.Kalimba

110.Bag pipe

111.Fiddle

112.Shanai

113.Tinkle Bell

114.Agogo

115.Steel Drums

116.Woodblock

117.Taiko Drum

118.Melodic Tom

119.Synth Drum

120.Reverse Cymbal

121.Guitar Fret Noise

122.Breath Noise

123.Seashore

124.Bird Tweet

125.Telephone Ring

126.Helicopter

127.Applause

128.Gunshot

260
Index

• Amsynth

• Automation

• Bouncing

• Calf

• Clips

• Compressors

• Editing

• Editor

• Equalizers

• Effects

• Exporting

• Fades

• Hydrogen

• Importing audio

• Importing data

• Installation from source

• Jamin

261
L

• Limiter

• Loops

• Merging

• Modes

• Moving

• MIDI

• Mixdown

• Mixer

• Noise removal

• Normalization

• Overview

• Preferences

• Punch-in

• Playback

• Plugins

• Quick start

• Qsynth

• Reverb

• Range markers

• Range, rectangle

262
 • Realtime kernel

• Recording

• Recording a live mix

• Synths

• set\_rlimits

• Splitting

• Stereo

• Selection tool

• Sends / returns

• Sequencers

• System requirements

• Track order

• Troubleshooting

• Tools

• USB controller

• VST sdk

• Waveforms

• Zoom

263
Resources
• Qtractor book at slackermedia: http://slackermedia.info/html/qtractor-book.html

264