+++ /dev/null
----
-layout: default
-title: Track Types
----
-
-<p>
- Ardour offers three <dfn>track types</dfn> depending on the type of
- data they contain, and differentiates between three <dfn>track modes</dfn>,
- depending on their recording behaviour.
-</p>
-
-<h2>Track types</h2>
-
-<p>
- An Ardour track can be of type <dfn>audio</dfn> or <dfn>MIDI</dfn>,
- depending on the <dfn>data</dfn> that the track will primarily record
- and play back. <em>However, either type of track can pass either
- type of data.</em> Hence, for example, one might have a MIDI track that
- contains an instrument plugin; such a track would record and play back
- MIDI data from disk but would produce audio, since the instrument plugin
- would turn MIDI data into audio data.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- Nevertheless, when adding tracks to a session, you typically have an idea
- of what you need to use the new tracks for, and Ardour offers you three
- choices:
-</p>
-
-<dl class="narrower-table">
- <dt>Audio</dt>
- <dd>An <dfn>Audio Track</dfn> is created with a user-specified number of
- inputs. The number of outputs is defined by the master bus channel count
- (for details see <a href="#channelconfiguration">Channel Configuration</a>
- below). This is the type of track to use when planning to work with
- existing or newly recorded audio.</dd>
- <dt>MIDI</dt>
- <dd>A <dfn>MIDI track</dfn> is created with a single MIDI input, and a
- single MIDI output. This is the type of track to use when planning to
- record and play back MIDI. There are several methods to enable playback
- of a MIDI track: add an instrument plugin to the track, connect the
- track to a software synthesizer, or connect it to external MIDI hardware.
- <p class="note">
- If you add an instrument plugin, the MIDI track outputs audio instead
- of MIDI data.
- </p></dd>
- <dt>Audio/MIDI</dt>
- <dd>There are a few notable plugins that can usefully accept both <dfn>Audio
- and MIDI</dfn> data (Reaktor is one, and various "auto-tune" like plugins
- are another). It can be tricky to configure this type of track manually,
- so Ardour allows you to select this type specifically for use with such
- plugins. It is <em>not</em> generally the right choice when working normal
- MIDI tracks, and a dialog will warn you of this.</dd>
-</dl>
-
-<h2 id="trackmodes">Track Modes</h2>
-
-<p>
- Audio tracks in Ardour have a <dfn>mode</dfn> which affects how they behave
- when recording:
-</p>
-
-<dl class="narrower-table">
- <dt>Normal</dt>
- <dd>Tracks in <dfn>normal mode</dfn> will record non-destructively—new
- data is written to new files, and when overdubbing, new regions will be
- layered on top of existing ones. This is the recommended mode for most
- workflows.
- </dd>
- <dt>Non-Layered</dt>
- <dd>Tracks using <dfn>non-layered mode</dfn> will record non-destructively—new data is written to new files, but when overdubbing,
- the existing
- regions are trimmed so that there are no overlaps. This does not affect
- the previously recorded audio data, and trimmed regions can be expanded
- again at will. Non-layered mode can be very useful for spoken word material,
- especially in combination with <a href="/editing-and-arranging/change-region-lengths/pushpull-trimming">push/pull trimming</a>.
-
- <p class="fixme">Broken link</p>
-
- </dd>
- <dt>Tape</dt>
- <dd><dfn>Tape-mode</dfn> tracks do <strong>destructive</strong> recording:
- all data is recorded to a single file and if you overdub a section of existing
- data, the existing data is destroyed irrevocably—there is no undo.
- Fixed crossfades are added at every punch in and out point. This mode can be
- useful for certain kinds of re-recording workflows, but it not suggested for normal
- use.</dd>
-</dl>
-
-<img class="right" src="/images/a3_nonlayered_example.png" alt="normal and non-layered overdubbing comparision"
-/>
-
-<p>
- The screenshot on the right shows the subtle difference between an overdub
- in <dfn>normal mode</dfn> (upper track) and one in <dfn>non-layered mode</dfn>
- (lower track). Both tracks were created using identical audio data.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- The upper track shows a new region which has been <dfn>layered on
- top</dfn> of the the existing (longer) region. You can see this if you look
- carefully at the region name strips. The lower track has split the existing
- region in two, trimmed each new region to create space for the new overdub,
- and inserted the overdub region in between.
-</p>
-
-<h2 id="channelconfiguration">Channel Configuration</h2>
-
-<p>
- Ardour tracks can have any number of inputs and any number of outputs, and
- the number of either can be changed at any time (subject to restrictions
- caused by any plugins in a track). However it is useful to not have to
- configure this sort of thing for the most common cases, and so the
- <a href="/working-with-tracks/adding-tracks">Add Tracks</a> dialog allows you
- to select "Mono", "Stereo" and few other typical multichannel presets.
- The name of the preset describes the number of <dfn>input channels</dfn>
- of the track or bus.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- If you have configured Ardour to automatically connect new tracks and
- busses for you, the number of outputs will be determined by the number of
- inputs of the <dfn>master <a
- href="/introducing-ardour/understanding-basic-concepts-and-terminology/#busses">bus</a></dfn>,
- to which the track outputs will be connected.
-</p>
-
-<p>
- For example, if you have a two-channel master bus, then a Mono track has one
- input and two outputs; a Stereo track has two inputs and two outputs.
-</p>
-
-<p class="note">
- Setting <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Audio
- > Connection of Tracks and Busses</kbd> to <kbd
- class="menu">manual</kbd> will leave tracks disconnected by default
- and there will be as many outputs as there are inputs. It is up to you to
- connect them as you wish. This is not a particularly useful way to work
- unless you are doing something fairly unusual with signal routing and
- processing. It is almost always preferable to allow Ardour to make
- connections automatically, even if some of them have to be changed manually
- at some point.
-</p>
-
projects / ardour-manual-diverged / blobdiff