M2 — Signal Flow & Sessions
Status: Articles drafted; pathway being imported. · Weeks: 2–3 · Domain 1: Instrument & Signal Flow · Sprint: opening (“first sound out”)
Purpose
Domain 1: the laptop + DAW + interface + controller as a single instrument. Students learn universal signal flow and session/file management, and get their first sound in and out before Sprint 1 (MIDI) begins.
Monday lecture (Wk 2): The laptop as instrument — signal flow & session basics.
Calendar alignment
| Week | Monday | Wednesday | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Onboarding | Sep 16 — Signal flow + first studio | 01–03 before studio |
| 3 | Sep 21 — MIDI I ([[m3-midi-and-sequencing-i | M3]] unlocks) | Sep 23 — Collab Sprint 1 kickoff |
Articles
| # | Title | Type | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Signal Flow — The Big Picture | Concept | Source → interface → DAW → monitor; the loop every later module assumes |
| 02 | Inside the DAW | Concept | An interactive map of the DAW window: tracks, mixer, transport, inserts, sends, buses |
| 03 | Audio Interfaces & Monitoring | Concept | The audio path in and out; levels, latency, headphones vs. speakers |
| 04 | Controllers & MIDI Input | Concept | The MIDI path in; routing a controller to an instrument track (the what of MIDI waits for M3) |
| 05 | Sessions & File Management | Process | Session structure, naming, versions, backups — Good Digital Hygiene applied to a DAW |
| 06 | Your First Sound Out | Process | The warm-up spec: interface → DAW → monitor → record-arm, and a first post |
Assessments
- Quick checks and fill-ins per article
- Signal Flow Review — 10-question quiz, 80% to pass
Teaching approach
DAW-agnostic core plus three demos. Each procedural article ends with an Ableton Live · Logic Pro · Reaper table — same concept, different menu paths.
MIDI vs. audio — the handoff to M3. Students meet two parallel input paths here. M2 names and routes both (which track to arm, why MIDI needs an instrument); M3 develops what MIDI is; M5 records and combines audio with MIDI in one mix; M6–M7 make it hybrid (MIDI drives generators, samplers trigger audio). No module re-teaches another’s layer.