Using Thru Routing

Rosegarden 16.02 introduces more flexible MIDI thru routing. This can be found in the Recording filters section of the Track Parameters box.

The Thru Routing options are as follows:

Auto (default)

• Useful with a single controller and one or more synths.
• Stop/Play: Routing becomes active when the track is selected.
• Record: Routing becomes active if track is armed and recording.

On

• Useful with multiple controllers controlling multiple synths.
• Routing is always active.
• “When Armed” mode might be more convenient. Try it first.

Off

• Useful with one or more controllers controlling their own internal synths (Local On).
• Routing is always inactive.

When Armed

• Useful with multiple controllers controlling multiple synths.
• Routing becomes active if track is armed.
• A combination of “On” and “Off” modes.

At startup, Rosegarden is configured to support a single MIDI controller and multiple synths. The “Auto” Thru Routing mode is designed for this.

For Auto mode to work properly, be sure to turn Local Off on your MIDI controller. Otherwise you will hear doubled notes. If your MIDI controller has no internal synth, then there will be no Local setting to worry about.

When Rosegarden is stopped (or in playback), the track that is selected is the one that performs thru routing. This lets you hear how each track is configured by selecting it and then playing the MIDI controller.

When Rosegarden is recording, only the armed tracks will perform thru routing. This lets you hear what you are recording.

Multiple takes. Both alternate takes (mute the old) and layered takes (leave the old unmuted) work intuitively in “Auto” Thru Routing mode. Just create a new track and mute the old as appropriate.

The Thru Routing “Off” mode is intended to be used with MIDI controllers with Local On (Direct Monitoring).

1. Set the MIDI controller(s) for Local On and select the appropriate voice on the controller.
2. Set the Recording filters Device to the proper device for each track.
3. Set the track(s) to Thru Routing “Off” mode.
4. Delete any tracks you aren't using at the moment. Otherwise the Thru Routing settings may conflict.
5. Make sure all tracks have Thru Routing Off. Mixing Thru Routing modes can have surprising consequences. Avoid it if you can. See “Mixing Thru Routing Modes” below.

Note: When recording, you will hear the voice selected on the controller. When playing back, the voice selected in Rosegarden will play. This is normal for Local On mode.

Multiple takes. Both alternate takes and layered takes work fine so long as you configure the thru routing the same on the new tracks. Set the Recording filters Device appropriately, and the Thru Routing Off.

The Thru Routing “When Armed” mode is intended to be used with multiple MIDI controllers controlling multiple external synths. A keyboard set to split mode falls under this category.

1. Set the MIDI controllers for Local Off. Otherwise you will hear duplicate notes.
2. Set the Recording filters Device to the proper device for each track.
3. Set the tracks to Thru Routing “When Armed” mode.
4. Delete any tracks you aren't using at the moment. Otherwise the Thru Routing settings may conflict.
5. Make sure all tracks have Thru Routing “When Armed”. Mixing Thru Routing modes can have surprising consequences. Avoid it if you can. See “Mixing Thru Routing Modes” below.

With Thru Routing “When Armed”, Thru Routing will be turned on when the track is armed, and off when the track is disarmed. If you can't hear a synth, check to make sure its track is armed.

To do an alternate take, mute/disarm the old tracks, create the new track(s), configure the device/channel as needed, select “When Armed” mode, arm the tracks, and hit record. For a layered take, leave the old tracks unmuted.

If you'd rather not have to arm a track to hear it, use Thru Routing “On” and “Off” modes directly. It's a bit more labor-intensive.

1. Set the MIDI controllers for Local Off. Otherwise you will hear duplicate notes.
2. Set the Recording filters Device to the proper device for each track.
3. Set the recording tracks to Thru Routing “On” mode.
4. Delete any tracks you aren't using at the moment. Otherwise the Thru Routing settings may conflict.
5. Set any tracks that won't be recording to Thru Routing “Off” mode.

To do an alternate take, mute/disarm the old tracks, set the old tracks for Thru Routing “Off” mode. Create the new track(s), configure the device/channel as needed, select Thru Routing “On” mode, arm the tracks, and hit record. The only difference for a layered take is to leave the old tracks unmuted.

The various Thru Routing modes can conflict with each other. Here are some guidelines to help avoid conflicts.

• Set the Recording filters “Device” field to something other than All.
• Delete unused tracks.
• Set finished tracks to Thru Routing “Off” or “When Armed” so that they do not participate in thru routing.
• Avoid mixing “Auto” with “On” or “When Armed” on the same Device.
• Events can't be routed to two places.

Events can't be routed to two places. If a track routes an event, the tracks below cannot. E.g. if you set Track 1's Recording filters to All/All/On, then no other track can do thru routing of any kind. Track 1 takes all the incoming events and sends them to its instrument.

Thru Routing “Off” is pretty safe to mix with other modes. If you have one controller that you want set to Local On, just set its track to Thru Routing “Off”. Make sure all the other tracks' Recording filters Device fields are set to something other than “All” to avoid hearing the controller on those tracks.

Using “Auto” Thru Routing with other modes should work fine as long as you select specific Recording filters Devices. Avoid using “All”. As an example, if I want to use the LPK25 controller to jump from track to track in auto mode while there are other controllers being recorded:

  Track    Recording filters   Playback parameters
  # Name   Device/Chan/Thru    Device Instrument
  ------------------------------------------------
  1 Piano  LPK25/1/Auto        Fluidsynth #1
  2 Vibes  P-105/1/When Armed  P-105 #1
  3 Drums  DD-65/1/When Armed  DD-65 #1
  4 Bass   LPK25/1/Auto        Fluidsynth #2

Since we've specified a Recording filters Device for each track, there will be no routing conflicts.