3 title: What's in a Session?
7 The <dfn>Session</dfn> is the fundamental document type that is created and
8 modified by the Ardour workstation. A Session is a folder on your computer
9 filesystem that contains all the items that pertain to a particular project
10 or "recording/editing/mixing session".
13 The Session folder includes these files and folders:
16 <li><code><em>session_name</em>.ardour</code> the main session snapshot</li>
17 <li><code>*.ardour</code>, any additional snapshots </li>
18 <li><code><em>session_name</em>.ardour.bak</code>, the auto-backup snapshot</li>
19 <li><code><em>session_name</em>.history</code>, the undo history for the session </li>
20 <li><code>instant.xml</code>, which records the last-used zoom scale and other metadata</li>
21 <li><code>interchange/</code>, a folder which holds your raw audio and MIDI
22 files (whether imported or recorded)</li>
23 <li><code>export/</code>, a folder which contains any files created by the
24 <kbd class="menu">Session > Export</kbd> function</li>
25 <li><code>peaks/</code>, a folder which contains waveform renderings of
26 all audio files in the session</li>
27 <li><code>analysis/</code>, a folder which contains transient and pitch
28 information of each audio file that has been analysed</li>
29 <li><code>dead sounds/</code>, a folder which contains sound files which
30 Ardour has detected are no longer used in the session (during a <kbd
31 class="menu">Session > Clean-up > Clean-up Unused Sources</kbd>
32 operation, will be purged by <kbd class="menu">Flush Waste Basket</kbd>)</li>
35 A session combines some setup information (such as audio and MIDI routing,
36 musical tempo & meter, timecode synchronization, etc.) with one or more
37 Tracks and Buses, and all the Regions and Plug-Ins they contain.