3 The initial <dfn>Session</dfn> dialog consists of several consecutive pages:
6 <h2>Open Session Page</h2>
8 On this page, you can open an <dfn>existing session</dfn>. You can also
9 open any <a href="/working-with-sessions/snapshots/">snapshot</a> of a
10 particular session by clicking on the arrow next to the session name to
11 display all snapshots, and then selecting one. If your session is
12 not displayed in the Recent Sessions list, the <kbd class="menu">Other
13 Sessions</kbd> button will bring up a file selection dialog to navigate
15 Alternatively, you can opt to create a <kbd class="menu">New
19 <h2>New Session page</h2>
21 Here you can type in the name of a session, select a folder to save in, and
22 optionally use an existing <a href="/working-with-sessions/session-templates/">template</a>.
25 Under <dfn>Advanced Options</dfn>, you can select whether you wish to create
26 a Master Bus, or a Control Bus, and how many channels you wish either to have.
27 You can also decide whether you want Ardour to automatically connect all inputs
28 to the physical ports of your hardware. Ardour will do so
29 sequentially and in round-robin fashion, connecting the first track's
30 input to the first input of your hardware and so on. When Ardour has used
31 all available hardware inputs, it will begin again with the first physical
33 You can limit the number of channels on your physical hardware that Ardour
37 By default Ardour will connect all tracks and busses to the Master Bus if
38 there is one. However you can also tell it to automatically connect each
39 output to the physical outputs of your interface or sound card, and limit
40 the number of physical outputs used, as above.
43 <h3>Audio/MIDI Setup</h3>
45 <img class="right" src="/images/Audio-MIDI_Setup.png" alt="The Audio+MIDI
49 This page is not displayed if <abbr title="JACK Audio Connection
50 Kit">JACK</abbr> is already running when you start
51 Ardour. It provides a simple interface to configure JACK, which
52 will then be started by Ardour. For more control and options regarding
53 JACK, it is recommended that you start JACK before using Ardour, via a
54 JACK control application such as QJackCtl (sometimes called "Jack
55 Control"), JackPilot, etc.
59 <dd>Currently, the only option here is <kbd class="menu">JACK</kbd>. In the future, native
60 hardware access may be supported.</dd>
63 On Mac OS X this will typically be <kbd class="menu">CoreAudio</kbd>. On Linux usually
64 this will be either <kbd class="menu"><abbr title="Free Firewire Audio Driver fOr
65 linux">FFADO</abbr></kbd>
66 or <kbd class="menu"><abbr title="Advanced Linux Sound
67 Architecture">ALSA</abbr></kbd>, depending on whether or not you are
68 utilizing a firewire device. Advanced users on all platforms may also
69 use <kbd class="menu">NetJack</kbd> which provides network audio I/O.
72 <dd>The selector should show all availiable interfaces provided by the
73 driver above and which are capable of duplex operation.
75 If you are using an Intel Mac running OS X and the builtin audio
77 first <a href="/setting-up-your-system/using_more_than_one_audio_device/">merge
78 its separate input and output devices into a single "aggregate
79 device"</a> before Ardour will be able to use it.
84 The selector will allow you to select from any sample rate
85 supported by the device selected above it.
89 You can adjust the size of the buffer used by your audio interface
90 to allow for either lower latency, or lower CPU usage and higher
93 <dt>Input/Output Channels</dt>
95 Here you can specify the number of hardware channels to use. The
96 default is <kbd class="menu">all available channels</kbd>.</dd>
97 <dt>Hardware Input/Output Latency</dt>
98 <dd>Specify the hardware delay in samples for precise latency compensation.</dd>
101 This button guides you through a semi-automated process to obtain
102 precise hardware latency measurements for the above option.</dd>
105 Select the MIDI driver to use. On Mac OS X, this will be <kbd
106 class="menu">CoreMIDI</kbd>. On Linux, you can change between two legacy
107 ALSA drivers or the (preferred) new JACK+ALSA implementation.</dd>