User guide
Configuration

This panel lets you adjust hardware parameters as well as operational modes through six different tabs: Audio, MIDI, Behaviors, Plug-ins, Key Bindings, and Misc.

Audio

• System — the audio framework to use. It may vary depending on the operating system.
• Buffer size — (in frames): a low value means low latency but higher CPU usage, while a high value means higher latency and lower CPU usage. The latter is useful if you have a slower machine or do not need to play channels live.
• Sample rate — (in Hz): the sample rate at which your sound card operates. If you load samples recorded at different sample rates, they will be converted to this rate (see resampling below).
• Output device — the device used for playback.
• Limit output — if enabled, the output signal is clipped when it exceeds ± 1.0 (floating-point values).
• Input device — the device used for recording. Disabled by default; it can be enabled by clicking the checkbox button on the right.
• Resampling — the algorithm used for resampling, that is, when you load a sample whose rate differs from the system rate and when you change the pitch of a sample channel. You can choose from five algorithms: 1) Linear — very fast, low quality; 2) Zero Order Hold — fast, low quality; 3) Sinc basic quality — not very fast, medium quality; 4) Sinc medium quality — slow, good quality; 5) Sinc best quality — very slow, highest quality.

MIDI

• System — the MIDI framework to use. It may vary depending on the operating system;

• Output port — the MIDI output connection;

• Input port — the MIDI input connection;

• Output midimap — the midimap file currently in use. See MIDI output management for more information about the MIDI lighting feature;

• Sync — how to synchronize with another device via MIDI. Giada currently supports synchronization via MIDI clock. Possible choices:

  1. (disabled) — do not synchronize;

  2. MIDI Clock (master) — send MIDI clock data. Giada acts as the master device;

  3. MIDI Clock (slave) — receive MIDI clock data. Giada acts as the slave device.

Behaviors

Define how Giada handles loops, timing, and channels.

• Dynamic channels stop immediately when the sequencer is halted — what should happen when you stop the performance by pressing the spacebar or the stop button? If this option is enabled, any sample in loop mode and any sample with recorded actions stops abruptly; otherwise it continues until the end.

• Treat one shot channels with actions as loops — by default, clicking the button on a channel that is reading actions stops it immediately. When this option is enabled, any playing channel whose actions are suspended first enters ending mode, as a loop-mode channel would, and then stops at the next first beat.

• New sample channels have input monitor on by default — if enabled, new sample channels have the Input monitor flag checked by default;

• New sample channels have overdub protection on by default — if enabled, new sample channels have the Overdub protection flag checked by default. Useful when recording audio live.

Plug-ins

This tab contains the plug-in scanner. It is used to search your system for available audio plug-ins. Enter the path to your plug-in folder in the input field and press the Scan button. More than one path can be added, either manually or by clicking the "+" button, which opens a directory browser. Paths are separated by the ; character.

Once the scan is complete, the Scan button reports the number of available plug-ins found. You should perform a complete scan every time you add or install a new plug-in so it becomes available for use.

Key Bindings

This tab lets you change the default keyboard bindings for global actions such as starting or stopping the sequencer, recording audio, recording actions, and so on. Choose the key you want to remap, click the Bind button, and press a key on your keyboard. The Clear button removes the binding.

Misc

Miscellaneous options.

• Debug messages — how Giada reports information about its internal state:

  1. (disabled) — do not print anything anywhere;

  2. To standard output — print messages to the command line, but only if you run Giada from the terminal. This mode may not work on Windows;

  3. To file — save messages to a giada.log file, located in the same place as the configuration file, as described in the Introduction chapter.

• Tooltips — toggles the small pop-up messages that appear when you hover the mouse over UI components.

• Language file — the current language file used for localization. Giada stores localized text in special JSON files called langmaps, which reside in your configuration directory, more precisely:

  1. Linux — /home/(your_user)/.config/giada/langmaps/;

  2. Mac — /Users/(your_user)/Library/Application Support/Giada/langmaps/;

  3. Windows — C:\Users\(your_user)\AppData\Giada\langmaps\.

  Langmap files can be downloaded from the official repository of Giada langmap files on GitHub. New translations are welcome. Please take a look at the README.md file if you want to contribute.