<p>
- The initial <dfn>Session</dfn> dialog consists of several consecutive pages:
+ The initial <dfn>Session</dfn> dialog, displayed at each start of Ardour, consists
+ of several consecutive pages:
</p>
<h2>Open Session Page</h2>
-<p>
- On this page, you can open an <dfn>existing session</dfn>. You can also
- open any <a href="@@snapshots">snapshot</a> of a
- particular session by clicking on the arrow next to the session name to
- display all snapshots, and then selecting one. If your session is
- not displayed in the Recent Sessions list, the <kbd class="menu">Other
- Sessions</kbd> button will bring up a file selection dialog to navigate
- your hard drive.<br>
- Alternatively, you can opt to create a <kbd class="menu">New
- Session</kbd>.
-</p>
-<h2>New Session page</h2>
+<figure class="left">
+ <img class="mini" src="/images/session_setup.png" alt="The Session Setup Dialog">
+ <figcaption>
+ The Session Setup Dialog
+ </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
<p>
- Here you can type in the name of a session, select a folder to save in, and
- optionally use an existing <a href="@@session-templates">template</a>.
+ On this page, an <dfn>existing session</dfn> can be opened. Any <a href="@@snapshots">snapshot</a>
+ of a particular session can also be accessed by clicking on the arrow next to
+ the session name to display all snapshots, and then selecting one.
+
</p>
<p>
- Under <dfn>Advanced Options</dfn>, you can select whether you wish to create
- a Master Bus, or a Control Bus, and how many channels you wish either to have.
- You can also decide whether you want Ardour to automatically connect all inputs
- to the physical ports of your hardware. Ardour will do so
- sequentially and in round-robin fashion, connecting the first track's
- input to the first input of your hardware and so on. When Ardour has used
- all available hardware inputs, it will begin again with the first physical
- input.
- You can limit the number of channels on your physical hardware that Ardour
- uses.
+ If the session is not displayed in the Recent Sessions list, the <kbd
+ class="menu">Other Sessions</kbd> button will bring up a file selection dialog
+ to navigate the file system.
</p>
<p>
- By default Ardour will connect all tracks and busses to the Master Bus if
- there is one. However you can also tell it to automatically connect each
- output to the physical outputs of your interface or sound card, and limit
- the number of physical outputs used, as above.
+ Alternatively, a <kbd class="menu">New Session</kbd> can be created.
</p>
-<h2>Audio/MIDI Setup</h2>
+<h2 class="clear">New Session page</h2>
-<figure>
- <img src="/images/Audio-MIDI_Setup.png" alt="The Audio+MIDI Setup Dialog"/>
+<figure class="left">
+ <img class="mini" src="/images/session_new.png" alt="The New Session Dialog">
<figcaption>
- The Audio+MIDI Setup Dialog
+ The New Session Dialog
</figcaption>
</figure>
+<figure class="right">
+ <img class="mini" src="/images/template_setup.png" alt="One of the Template Setup Dialogs">
+ <figcaption>
+ One of the Template Setup Dialogs
+ </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>
+ This page allows to type in the name of a session, select a folder to save it in, and
+ optionally use an existing <a href="@@session-templates">template</a>.
+</p>
+<p>
+ The different templates, both the "factory" ones and the ones created by the user,
+ are easily available on the left-side panel. Depending on the chosen template,
+ a specific Template Settings window may be shown, allowing the user to fine-tune
+ the details of the template and/or choose between the different options of the
+ template.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ Templates can be huge time savers when working on similar projects, or on
+ usual projects, as they allow to preset and tweak a lot of the <a
+ href="@@session-properties">session properties</a>, (like the
+ availability of a <a href="@@monitor-section">monitoring section</a>,
+ connection to a Master Bus, etc.), and handle the creation of <a
+ href="@@adding-tracks-busses-and-vcas">tracks</a> of any kind.
+</p>
+<p>
+ The <kbd class="menu">Empty Template</kbd> preset allows to create a session
+ "from scratch". Everything a session template does can be done manually
+ —albeit more tediously— and the resulting sessions will not differ
+ whatsoever.
+</p>
<p>
- This window exposes the different audio options to be used by Ardour for the
- current work session, for hardware and software and is made of:
+ As of Ardour 5.12, which introduced the new template dialog, the factory templates are:
</p>
<table class="dl">
- <tr><th>Audio System</th>
- <td>Depending on the operating system, Ardour can possibly use different audio
- systems, e.g. on Linux, both <abbr title="Advanced Linux Sound Architecture">
- ALSA</abbr> and <abbr title="JACK Audio Connection Kit">JACK</abbr> are
- available.
- </td></tr>
- <tr><th>Driver</th>
- <td>
- On Mac OS X this will typically be <kbd class="menu">CoreAudio</kbd>. On Linux usually
- this will be either <kbd class="menu"><abbr title="Free Firewire Audio Driver fOr
- linux">FFADO</abbr></kbd>
- or <kbd class="menu"><abbr title="Advanced Linux Sound
- Architecture">ALSA</abbr></kbd>, depending on whether or not you are
- utilizing a firewire device. Advanced users on all platforms may also
- use <kbd class="menu">NetJack</kbd> which provides network audio I/O.
- </td></tr>
- <tr><th>Device</th>
- <td>The selector should show all availiable interfaces provided by the
- driver above and which are capable of duplex operation.
- <p class="warning">
- If you are using an Intel Mac running OS X and the builtin audio
- interface, you must
- first <a href="@@using-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.
- </p>
- </td></tr>
- <tr><th>Sample Rate</th>
- <td>
- The selector will allow you to select from any sample rate
- supported by the device selected above it.
- </td></tr>
- <tr><th>Buffer Size</th>
- <td>
- 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.
- </td></tr>
- <tr><th>Input/Output Channels</th>
- <td>
- Here you can specify the number of hardware channels to use. The
- default is <kbd class="menu">all available channels</kbd>.</td></tr>
- <tr><th>Hardware Input/Output Latency</th>
- <td>Specify the hardware delay in samples for precise latency compensation.</td></tr>
- <tr><th>Calibrate</th>
- <td>
- This button guides you through a semi-automated process to obtain
- precise hardware latency measurements for the above option.</td></tr>
- <tr><th>MIDI System</th>
- <td>
- Select the MIDI driver to use. On Mac OS X, this will be <kbd
- class="menu">CoreMIDI</kbd>. On Linux, you can change between two legacy
- ALSA drivers or the (preferred) new JACK+ALSA implementation.</td></tr>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Empty Template</kbd></th>
+ <td>Creates an empty session with no tracks and no monitoring. A stereo Master Bus is created, and any track created defaults to output on this bus.</td></tr>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Advanced Session</kbd></th>
+ <td>Like the Empty Template, but adds the ability to easily manage the Master bus (channels, hardware connection, and track autoconnection), and the creation of a monitoring section.</td></tr>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Recording Session</kbd></th>
+ <td>Like the Empty Template, but allows the fast creation of a number of tracks, optionally ready to record.</td></tr>
+ <tr><th><kbd class="menu">Live Band</kbd></th>
+ <td>Fast tracks the creation of usual tracks for a band setup (vocals, guitars, piano, ...), and optionally adds usual effects on these tracks.</td></tr>
</table>
+
+<p>
+ Selecting a template will display its description in the right-side panel, while
+ hovering over a template name will show a tooltip indicating if it is a factory
+ template, or, if it is a user-created one, which version of Ardour was used to
+ create it.
+</p>
+<p>
+ Whether or not a template is used, and before the "Template Setup" dialog, the
+ <a href="@@audio-midi-setup">Audio/MIDI Setup</a> will be shown.
+</p>
+
+
+