+++ /dev/null
----
-layout: default
-title: Creating Music with Ardour
----
-<p>
- Ardour can be used in many different ways, from extremely simple to
- extremely complex. Many projects will be handled using the following
- kind of <dfn>workflow</dfn>.
-</p>
-
-<h2>Stage 1: Creating Your Project</h2>
-<p>
- The first step is to create a new <dfn>session</dfn>, or open an
- existing one. A session consists of a folder containing a session file
- that defines all the information about the session. All media files used
- by the session can be stored within the session folder.
-</p>
-<p>
- More details on sessions can be found in
-<a href="/working-with-sessions">Working With Sessions</a>.
-</p>
-
-<h2>Stage 2: Creating and Importing Audio and MIDI data</h2>
-<p>
- Once you have a session, you will want to add some audio and/or MIDI
- material to it, which can be done in one of 3 ways:
-</p>
-<ul>
- <li><dfn>Record</dfn> incoming audio or MIDI data, either via audio or MIDI hardware
- connected to your computer, or from other applications.</li>
- <li><dfn>Create</dfn> new MIDI data using the mouse and/or various dialogs</li>
- <li><dfn>Import</dfn> existing media files into the session</li>
-</ul>
-<p>
- <dfn>MIDI recordings</dfn> consist of performance data ("play note X at
- time T") rather than actual sound. As a result, they are more flexible
- than actual audio, since the precise sound that they will generate when
- played depends on where you send the MIDI to.<br />
- Two different synthesizers may produce very different sound in response
- to the same incoming MIDI data.
-</p>
-<p>
- <dfn>Audio recordings</dfn> can be made from external instruments with
- electrical outputs (keyboards, guitars etc.) or via microphones from
- acoustic instruments.
-</p>
-<p>
- Ardour uses the <dfn>JACK Audio Connection Kit</dfn> for all audio and
- MIDI I/O, which means that recording audio/MIDI from other applications
- is fundamentally identical to recording audio/MIDI from your audio/MIDI
- hardware.
-</p>
-
-<h2>Stage 3: Editing and Arranging</h2>
-<p>
- Once you have some material within the session, you can start to arrange
- it in time. This is done in one of the two main windows of Ardour, the
- <dfn>Editor</dfn> window.
-</p>
-<p>
- Your audio/MIDI data appears in chunks called <dfn>regions</dfn>, which
- are arranged into horizontal lanes called <dfn>tracks</dfn>. Tracks are
- stacked vertically in the Editor window. You can copy, shorten, move,
- and delete regions without changing the actual data stored in the session
- at all — Ardour is a <dfn>non-destructive</dfn> editor. (Almost)
- nothing that you do while editing will ever modify the files stored on
- disk (except the session file itself).
-</p>
-<p>
- You can also carry out many <dfn>transformations</dfn> to the contents
- of regions, again without altering anything on disk. You can alter,
- move, and delete MIDI notes, and remove silence from audio regions, for
- example.
-</p>
-
-<h2>Stage 4: Mixing and Adding Effects</h2>
-<p>
- Once you have the arrangement of your session mostly complete, you will
- typically move on to the <dfn>mixing</dfn> phase. Mixing is a broad term
- to cover the way the audio signals that your session generates during
- playback and processed and added together into a final result that you
- actually hear. It can involve altering the relative levels of various
- parts of the session, adding effects that improve or transform certain
- elements, and others that bring the sound of the whole session to a new
- level.
-</p>
-<p>
- Ardour will allow you to <dfn>automate</dfn> changes to any mixing
- parameters (such as volume, panning, and effects controls) - it will
- record the changes you make over time, using a mouse or keyboard or some
- external control device, and can play back those changes later. This is
- very useful because often the settings you need will vary in one part of
- a session compared to another — rather than using a single setting
- for the volume, you may need increases followed by decreases (for example,
- to track the changing volume of a singer). Using automation can make all
- of this relatively simple.
-</p>
-
-<h2>Stage 5: Export</h2>
-<p>
- Once you are really satisfied with the arrangement and mix of your
- session, you will typically want to produce a single audio file that
- contains a ready-to-listen to version of the work. Ardour will allow you to
- <dfn>export</dfn> audio files in a variety of formats (simultaneously in
- some cases). This exported file would typically be used in creating a CD,
- or be the basis for digital distribution of the work.
-</p>
-<p>
- Of course sometimes you will want to do export material that isn't finished
- yet, for example to give a copy to someone else to try to mix on their own
- system. Ardour will allow you to export as much of a session as you want, at
- any time, in any supported format.
-</p>
-
projects / ardour-manual-diverged / blobdiff