---
layout: default
-title: New Session Dialog
+title: New/Open Session Dialog
---
+<p>
+ The initial <dfn>Session</dfn> dialog consists of several consecutive pages:
+</p>
-
-
-<h3>New Session Page</h3>
-<p>In this tab you can type in the name of a session, select a folder to save in, and optionally use an existing <a href="/working-with-sessions/session-templates/">template</a>.</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="/working-with-sessions/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>
-<h4>Advanced Options</h4>
-<p>Under the Advanced Options, you can select specific behaviors that occur by default. This includes settings whether you wish to create a Master Bus, or a Control Bus, and how many channels you wish either to have.</p>
-<p> You can also select whether you want Ardour to automatically connect all inputs to the physical ports of your hardware. If you select this Ardour will do so sequentially, to give an example, the first input of a track or bus will be connected to the first input of your hardware. The second input of a track or bus will be automatically connected to the second input of your hardware, and so on. When Ardour reaches the limits of your hardware, it will circle around and begin connecting with the first physical input of your hardware again. You can limit the number of channels on your physical hardware Ardour uses if you desire, and if that is the case, Ardour will only connect that many physical inputs to your tracks. Useful if you only want to connect the first input to do some voice over recording for instance.</p>
-<p> Just like you can tell Ardour not to automatically connect track inputs, you can also modify how it automatically connects the outputs of the track or bus. 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 like inputs can also limit the amount of physical outputs used, so for instance if you only have stereo monitors attached to the first two outputs of your sound card, you would not want Ardour to automatically connect to the next 6 that may be there with nothing attached to them.</p>
+<h2>New Session page</h2>
+<p>
+ Here you can type in the name of a session, select a folder to save in, and
+ optionally use an existing <a href="/working-with-sessions/session-templates/">template</a>.
+</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.
+</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.
+</p>
-<h3>Open Session Page</h3>
-<p>The Open Session Tab lets you to open an existing session. You can also open any <a href="/working-with-sessions/snapshots/">snapshot</a> of a particular session by clicking on the arrow next to the session name to display all snapshots, and then selecting a snapshot. If a session is not displayed by default in the dialog you can click on the button next to "Browse" in order to bring up a file selection dialog to navigate your hard drive to find the file.</p>
+<h3>Audio/MIDI Setup</h3>
-<h3>Audio Setup Page</h3>
-<p>More details on this dialog/tab can be found below. Note that this tab is not visible if JACK is already running when the New Session dialog is displayed.</p>
-
+<img class="right" src="/images/Audio-MIDI_Setup.png" alt="The Audio+MIDI
+Setup Dialog"/>
+
+<p>
+ This page is not displayed if <abbr title="JACK Audio Connection
+ Kit">JACK</abbr> is already running when 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>
+<dl>
+ <dt>Audio System</dt>
+ <dd>Currently, the only option here is <kbd class="menu">JACK</kbd>. In the future, native
+ hardware access may be supported.</dd>
+ <dt>Driver</dt>
+ <dd>
+ 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.
+ </dd>
+ <dt>Device</dt>
+ <dd>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="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.
+ <p>
+ </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>
+ <dt>Input/Output Channels</dt>
+ <dd>
+ Here you can specify the number of hardware channels to use. The
+ default is <kbd class="menu">all available channels</kbd>.</dd>
+ <dt>Hardware Input/Output Latency</dt>
+ <dd>Specify the hardware delay in samples for precise latency compensation.</dd>
+ <dt>Calibrate</dt>
+ <dd>
+ This button guides you through a semi-automated process to obtain
+ precise hardware latency measurements for the above option.</dd>
+ <dt>MIDI System</dt>
+ <dd>
+ 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.</dd>
+</dl>
{% children %}
projects / ardour-manual / blobdiff