---
layout: default
title: Audio Setup
---                        

<p>
  This is a tabbed-dialog within the New Session dialog that will
  appear only if JACK is <strong>not</strong> already running as you
  start Ardour.  It provides a simple interface to configure JACK, which
  will then be started by Ardour. For more control and options regarding
  JACK, it is recommended that you start JACK before using Ardour, via a
  JACK control application such as qjackctl (sometimes called "Jack
  Control"), JackPilot, etc.
</p>

<h3>Device Tab</h3>

<p> On this tab you can tell Ardour about the device it should use.
  The driver setting will tell it what driver to attempt to
  access.  
</p>

<dl class="wide-table">

  <dt>Driver</dt>
  <dd>
    On Mac OS X this will typically be CoreAudio. On Linux usually
    this will be either FFADO or ALSA, depending on whether or not you are
    utilizing a firewire device. Advanced users on all platforms may also
    use NetJack which provides network audio I/O
  </dd>

  <dt>Interface</dt>
  <dd>The selector should show all availiable interfaces that driver
      provides that are duplex capable for Ardour to
      use. <strong>Important</strong> if you are using an Intel Mac
      running OS X and the builtin audio interface, you must
      first <a href="setting-up-your-system/us
      ing_more_than_one_audio_device/">merge its separate input and
      output devices into a single "aggregate device"</a> before
      Ardour will be able to use it.
  </dd>

  <dt>Sample Rate</dt>
  <dd>
    The selector will allow you to select from any sample rate
    supported by the device selected above it.
  </dd>

  <dt>Buffer Size</dt>
  <dd>
    You can adjust the size of the buffer used by your audio interface
    to allow for either lower latency, or lower CPU usage and higher
    latency.
  </dd>
</dl>

<h3>Options Tab</h3>
<p>
  This tab has a few options that should be rarely used by most
  users.  The Realtime Option allows Jack to run with Realtime
  privileges, which allows for smoother audio.  The Verbose Output
  checkbox is primarily used for troubleshooting, it will cause Jack to
  use verbose messaging and output it to the console.  The client
  timeout will help prevent clients from disconnecting from Jack if they
  don't respond to Jack fast enough.  The number of ports changes the
  total number of ports that Jack will provide to all clients.  And the
  server dropdown will allow you to change the path to the Jack
  executable to match where it is installed on your system.
</p>

<h3>Advanced Tab</h3>
<p> 
  The Advanced tab lets you to set some advanced settings that
  are rarely needed.  By default the input and output channels will
  automatically try to give you the amount of inputs and outputs as
  requested by the software, however some software doesn't always
  request as many as you need. This option provides more channels to software that can handle it.
</p>


{% children %}