DiGiCo sessions

DiGiCo sessions are always patched in place on a baseline: a session the DiGiCo offline editor saved for the console and software build you will load it on. The tools never write a session from nothing. The console rebuilds its caches on load.

Safety rules

1. Write new files only. Never overwrite the baseline or the engineer's session.
2. Open every generated session in the DiGiCo offline editor for that console and build, check it, then Files > Save As a new file. Only the editor's save goes to a console.
3. First load on a real console happens at prep or rehearsal, never at the show.
4. Read the report next to the output (<out>.md). Every approximation and warning is listed.
5. A session saved by a newer build does not load on an older console. Build on the console's own build.

Set up once

• Baselines: references/baselines.md. Default sessions go in scripts/baselines/<key>_v<build>.ses (or the folder SM_BASELINES names).
• Python 3.9+, standard library only. Run everything from scripts/.

Tools

The request format is in the build.py docstring, the op format in edit.py. Overview: references/sessionmaker.md.

New session from an input list (the recipe)

1. intake the list. Check every category and stereo pair against the list; fix names to 8 characters.
2. Write the request: console key, build, channels, processing: templates (or none), and the option blocks you need (mixes, fx, sends, buses, patch). See examples/build_request.json.
3. build. Read the report and the warnings. validate and inspect the result.
4. Changes: commands to draft ops, read them, then edit. Validate again.
5. Open in the editor, check, Save As.

Levels and filters (read before writing values by hand)

• Thresholds are dBFS and stop at 0.
• The strip shows the -3 dB cutoff. Stored HPF = shown / 1.25, stored LPF = shown / 0.8. EQ is stored as shown.
• Times are stored in seconds. Details: references/filters-and-thresholds.md.

Format notes

references/FORMAT.md (container, section table, module records, slot keys, stereo, Mustard, Spice Rack, FX units, sends, buses, patch, surface banks), references/CHANNEL_MODEL.md (the input channel signal flow and what is mapped), references/engine-findings.md (editor-proven limits, load rules and the guards these scripts still lack), references/scope-and-recall.md (snapshot scope, Global Scope, safes, and what a recall changes and leaves). Key by (module, param, band), never by offset: the channel stride changes with the session structure.

references/snapshots.md: the snapshot pool, the snapshot record and its options, snapshot groups, setlists, and how to add, update and delete a snapshot by bytes. The same file has the settings of one snapshot, the editor's own Delete and Insert New, and what a Restructure does to section 210 (editor-verified on the Quantum 225 and the SD12).

references/session-structure.md: header, sections, objects, strip kinds, ports, and the 48kHz and 96kHz keys (header 0x77 and 0x87, the I/O device table and the Copy Audio prompt). references/io-patch.md: racks (add, swap, remove), the input patch with gain, 48V and pad, the output patch, and what a recall does to a patch change. references/bus-processing.md: the EQ, compressor, gate, delay, trim and insert switch of aux, group and matrix output strips, with the editor's clamps.