3 title: Layering Display
6 <img class="right" style="clear:both" src="/images/track-layer-dialog.png"
7 alt="Track layering menu" />
9 Ardour allows arbitrary <dfn>layering</dfn> of regions — you can
10 have as many regions you wish at a given position. By default, the regions are
11 <dfn>overlaid</dfn> in the editor window, to save vertical space.
14 However, this display mode can be confusing for tracks with many overdubs,
15 because its not obvious in which order the overdubs are layered. Although
16 there are other methods of moving particular regions to the top of an
17 overlapping set, and although Ardour also has playlists to let you manage
18 <a href="/working-with-playlists/playlist_usecases/">takes</a> a bit more
19 efficiently than just continually layering,
20 there are times when being able to clearly see all regions in a track without
21 any overlaps is reassuring and useful.
24 Here is an image of a track with a rather drastic overdub situation,
25 viewed in normal <dfn>overlaid mode</dfn>:
27 <img src="/images/a3_overlaps_layered.png" alt="overlapping regions in overlaid mode" />
29 To change this display, right click on the track header, and you'll see
30 the menu displayed above. There are two choices for layers. <kbd
31 class="menu">overlaid</kbd> is currently selected. Click on <kbd
32 class="menu">stacked</kbd> and the track display changes to this:
34 <img src="/images/a3_layers_stacked.png" alt="overlapping regions in stacked mode" />
36 You can still move regions around as usual, and in fact you can
37 even drag them so that they overlay each again, but when you
38 release the mouse button, things will flip back to them all being
39 stacked cleanly. The number of <dfn>lanes</dfn> for the track is determined by
40 the maximum number of regions existing in any one spot throughout
41 the track, so if you have really stacked up 10 overdubs in one spot,
42 you'll end up with 10 lanes. Obviously, using a large track height
43 works much better for this than a small one.