3 Ardour offers three <dfn>track types</dfn> depending on the type of
4 data they contain, and differentiates between three <dfn>track modes</dfn>,
5 depending on their recording behaviour.
10 An Ardour track can be of type <dfn>audio</dfn> or <dfn>MIDI</dfn>,
11 depending on the <dfn>data</dfn> that the track will primarily record
12 and play back. <em>However, either type of track can pass either
13 type of data.</em> Hence, for example, one might have a MIDI track that
14 contains an instrument plugin; such a track would record and play back
15 MIDI data from disk but would produce audio, since the instrument plugin
16 would turn MIDI data into audio data.
19 Nevertheless, when adding tracks to a session, its content is typically
20 known, and Ardour offers three choices:
24 <td>An <dfn>Audio Track</dfn> is created with a user-specified number of
25 inputs. The number of outputs is defined by the master bus channel count
26 (for details see <a href="#channelconfiguration">Channel Configuration</a>
27 below). This is the type of track to use when planning to work with
28 existing or newly recorded audio.</td></tr>
30 <td>A <dfn>MIDI track</dfn> is created with a single MIDI input, and a
31 single MIDI output. This is the type of track to use when planning to
32 record and play back MIDI. There are several methods to enable playback
33 of a MIDI track: add an instrument plugin to the track, connect the
34 track to a software synthesizer, or connect it to external MIDI hardware.
36 If an instrument plugin is added, the MIDI track outputs audio alongside
39 <tr><th>Audio/MIDI</th>
40 <td>There are a few notable plugins that can usefully accept both <dfn>Audio
41 and MIDI</dfn> data (Reaktor is one, and various "auto-tune" like plugins
42 are another). It can be tricky to configure this type of track manually,
43 so Ardour allows to select this type specifically for use with such
44 plugins. It is <em>not</em> generally the right choice when working normal
45 MIDI tracks, and a dialog will warn of this.</td></tr>
48 <h2 id="trackmodes">Track Modes</h2>
50 Audio tracks in Ardour have a <dfn>mode</dfn> which affects how they behave
55 <td>Tracks in <dfn>normal mode</dfn> will record non-destructively—new
56 data is written to new files, and when overdubbing, new regions will be
57 layered on top of existing ones. This is the recommended mode for most
60 <tr><th>Non-Layered</th>
61 <td>Tracks using <dfn>non-layered mode</dfn> will record
62 non-destructively—new data is written to new files, but when
63 overdubbing, the existing regions are trimmed so that there are no overlaps.
64 This does not affect the previously recorded audio data, and trimmed regions
65 can be expanded again at will. Non-layered mode can be very useful for spoken
66 word material, especially in combination with
67 <a href="@@pushpull-trimming">push/pull trimming</a>.
70 <td><dfn>Tape-mode</dfn> tracks do <strong>destructive</strong> recording:
71 all data is recorded to a single file and if a section of
72 existing data is overdub, the existing data is destroyed irrevocably—there is no
73 undo. Fixed crossfades are added at every punch in and out point. This mode
74 can be useful for certain kinds of re-recording workflows, but is not
79 <figure class="right">
80 <img src="/images/a3_nonlayered_example.png" alt="Normal and non-layered overdubbing comparision">
82 Normal and non-layered overdubbing comparision
87 The screenshot on the right shows the subtle difference between an overdub
88 in <dfn>normal mode</dfn> (upper track) and one in <dfn>non-layered mode</dfn>
89 (lower track). Both tracks were created using identical audio data.
92 The upper track shows a new region which has been <dfn>layered on
93 top</dfn> of the the existing (longer) region. It can be seen by the region
97 The lower track has split the existing region in two, trimmed each new
98 region to create space for the new overdub, and inserted the overdub region
102 <h2 id="channelconfiguration">Channel Configuration</h2>
104 Ardour tracks can have any number of inputs and any number of outputs, and the
105 number of either can be changed at any time (subject to restrictions caused by
106 any plugins in a track). However it is useful to not have to configure this sort
107 of thing for the most common cases, and so the
108 <a href="@@adding-tracks-busses-and-vcas">Add Tracks</a> dialog allows to
109 select "Mono", "Stereo" and few other typical multichannel presets
112 The name of the preset describes the number of <dfn>input channels</dfn>
116 If Ardour is configured to automatically connect new tracks and
117 busses, the number of outputs will be determined by the number of
118 inputs of the <dfn>master <a
119 href="@@understanding-basic-concepts-and-terminology#busses">bus</a></dfn>,
120 to which the track outputs will be connected.
123 For example, with a two-channel master bus, a Mono track has one
124 input and two outputs; a Stereo track has two inputs and two outputs.
127 If <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Signal Flow
128 > Track and Bus Connections</kbd> is set to <kbd
129 class="menu">manual</kbd>, then tracks will be left disconnected by default
130 and there will be as many outputs as there are inputs. It is up to the user to connect
131 them as desired. This is not a particularly useful way to work unless something
132 fairly unusual is done with signal routing and processing. It is almost always
133 preferable to leave Ardour make connections automatically, even if some changes
134 are manually done later.