docs(gig): the rehearsal did not happen, so Thursday 5-6pm is the only sound test

Recorded as a decision rather than an omission — he saw the venue, could not
soundcheck, and chose at midnight not to run the arc. The consequence is that
one hour between the talks ending and doors is the entire empirical test of a
two-hour set, so the plan protects that hour: every machine step moves before
5pm, and the hour itself is ears only.

Two orderings that matter and are easy to get backwards: plug the UMC BEFORE
gig-up, because Ardour restores its own saved ports and does not follow the
PipeWire default sink; and check the MIDI log is actually capturing during the
hour, because nine previous sessions were empty while their headers said
otherwise.

TODO_GIG.md

@@ -496,3 +496,48 @@ stale-build detector.
       carries `cc` records with `n / v0 / v1 / lo / hi` per control per second,
       in corpus numbering — so "minute 23:30 the bass is too saturated" is
       answerable from the file afterwards.
+
+## Wed 23, midnight — venue seen, no rehearsal. Thursday is the plan.
+
+PLN back from the venue: "it looks so good". **No soundcheck was possible and he
+chose not to run the 2h arc at midnight** — "so i'll trust myself 🪷". That is a
+deliberate call, recorded as one, not an omission.
+
+**Consequence, stated plainly: the 5pm-6pm window on Thursday (end of talks →
+doors) is the ONLY sound test this set will get.** One hour, two-hour set.
+So that hour is for LISTENING, not for work. Nothing below is allowed to eat it.
+
+### Thursday, before 5pm — machine work, off the critical hour
+
+- [ ] `tools/gig-up-window.sh` from the desktop icon. One press. It restores the
+      fader baseline in the Ardour-closed window, starts the driver for the
+      board that is actually plugged, warms the 132 banks, and ends by running
+      the gate. Hold the window if it says `exited 0 WITHOUT LAUNCHING`.
+- [ ] **Plug the UMC202HD FIRST**, before gig-up, so Ardour restores its ports
+      with the interface already present. Ardour does NOT follow the PipeWire
+      default sink.
+- [ ] `tools/check-audio-graph.sh` **with the UMC on the bus** — the one path
+      nobody has ever tested. Expect it to be tolerant if the UMC is absent;
+      that tolerance is exactly why its silence proves nothing today.
+- [ ] `tools/check-stale-units.py` — cheap, and it catches the class that cost
+      a pass on Wednesday.
+- [ ] Bring the **proper Dell charger**. PL1 sat at 15W on the travel one, and
+      every audio measurement is untrustworthy under a power cap.
+
+### 5pm-6pm — the hour itself
+
+- [ ] Ears only. Play the opening of each movement and the two transitions you
+      are least sure of. Set the **Master fader**, then **Ctrl+S** — `check-mix`
+      reads the SAVED session and `use-osc=0` means no tool can see the live desk.
+- [ ] Confirm the MIDI log is actually capturing before you rely on it after:
+      `grep -c '"k":"cc"' ~/.local/share/parvagues/gig-log/$(ls -t ~/.local/share/parvagues/gig-log | head -1)`
+      A number > 0. Nine previous sessions were empty and their headers all
+      claimed otherwise.
+
+### After the gig
+
+The log is the instrument now. `cc` records carry `n / v0 / v1 / lo / hi` per
+control per second in corpus numbering — so "minute 23:30 the bass is too
+saturated" resolves to which knob, how far, how many times. That is the input
+for code/effect/DAW changes, not just a mastering fix. Then
+`docs/2026-09-25-post-gig-cleanup.md`.