title: Track and Bus Groups
---
-
-
- <p> Tracks and busses can be put into groups. You can set members of a group can to share various settings - useful for managing tracks that are closely related to each other. Examples might include tracks that contain multiple-microphone recordings of a single source (an acoustic guitar, perhaps, or a drum-kit).</p>
-<p>You can group tracks and busses in various ways. In the editor window, a track's controls might look like these:</p>
-<p><img src="/ardour/manual/html/screenshots/track-in-group.png" alt="track headers for a group" /></p>
-<p> The green tab to the left of the track header indicates that this track is in a group called ‘Fred’. You can drag these tabs to add or remove tracks from a group. </p>
+<p>
+ Tracks and busses can be put into <dfn>groups</dfn>. Members of a group
+ can share various settings — useful for managing tracks that are closely
+ related to each other. Examples might include tracks that contain
+ multiple-microphone recordings of a single source (an acoustic guitar,
+ perhaps, or a drum-kit).
+</p>
+<p>
+ You can group tracks and busses in various ways. In the editor window,
+ a track's controls might look like these:</p>
+<img src="/ardour/manual/html/screenshots/track-in-group.png" alt="track headers for a group" />
+<p>
+ The green tab to the left of the track header indicates that this track
+ is in a group called <samp>Fred</samp>. You can drag these tabs to add
+ adjacent tracks to a group.
+</p>
<h2>Create New Groups</h2>
-<p>There are several ways to create groups for tracks and bussess:</p>
+<p>
+ There are several ways to <dfn>create groups</dfn> for tracks and bussess:
+</p>
<ul>
-<li><p>Context-click (right-click) on the group tab and use one of the "Create..." options there. You can create a group with no members, or one that starts with the currently selected tracks, or record-enabled tracks, or soloed tracks.</p></li>
-<li><p>Alternatively, click the ‘g’ button on a track header to open the Group menu. The menu lists the available groups. Selecting one of these groups will add the track or bus to that group. The menu also lets you create a new group.</p></li>
-<li><p>Finally, the Groups tab of the <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/editor-lists">Editor Lists</a> or the Mixer Window has a plus (+) button at the bottom of the list. Click on the plus sign to create a new group.</p></li>
+ <li>Context-click on the group tab and use one of the <kbd
+ class="menu">Create...</kbd> options there. You can create a group with
+ no members, or one that starts with the currently selected tracks, or
+ record-enabled tracks, or soloed tracks.</li>
+ <li>Alternatively, click the ‘g’ button on a track header to open the
+ Group menu. The menu lists the available groups. Selecting one of these
+ groups will add the track or bus to that group. The menu also lets you
+ create a new group.</li>
+ <li>Finally, the Groups tab of the
+ <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/editor-lists">Editor Lists</a>
+ or the Mixer Window has a <kbd class="menu">plus (+)</kbd> button at the
+ bottom of the list. Click on the plus sign to create a new group.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Remove Groups</h2>
-<p>Context-click on a group tab and select <code>Remove Group</code> from the menu. Removing a group does <strong>not</strong> remove the members of a group.</p>
-<p>You can also remove groups by selecting them in the Groups tab of the <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/editor-lists">Editor Lists</a> or Mixer Window and then pressing the "-" button at the bottom of the list.</p>
+<p>
+ Context-click on a <dfn>group tab</dfn> and select <kbd class="menu">>Remove
+ Group</kbd> from the menu. Removing a group does <em>not</em> remove
+ the members of a group.
+</p>
+<p>
+ You can also remove groups by selecting them in the Groups tab of the
+ <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/editor-lists">Editor Lists</a>
+ or Mixer Window and then pressing the "-" button at the bottom of the list.
+</p>
<h2>Add/Remove Tracks and Busses From a Group</h2>
-<p>Click the ‘g’ button to display a menu with a list of the available groups. Select one of these groups to add the track or bus to that group. Select "No Group" to remove it. </p>
-<p>Alternatively, you can also drag a group tab to add or remove tracks from the group.</p>
+<p>
+ Click the <kbd class="menu">g</kbd> button to display a menu with a list
+ of the available groups. Select one of these groups to add the track or bus
+ to that group. Select <kbd class="menu">No Group</kbd> to remove it.
+</p>
+<p>
+ Alternatively, you can also drag a group tab to add or remove tracks from
+ the group.
+</p>
<h2>Activate/Deactivate Groups via the Group Tab</h2>
-<p>Clicking on a group tab toggles the group between being active and inactive. An inactive group has no effect when editing its members. An active group will share one or more properties across its members. Tabs for disabled groups are coloured grey.</p>
+<p>
+ Clicking on a group tab toggles the group between being active and inactive.
+ An inactive group has no effect when editing its members. An active group
+ will share its configured properties across its members. Tabs for disabled
+ groups are coloured grey.</p>
<h2>Modify Group Properties</h2>
-<p>To edit the properties of a group, context-click (right-click) on its tab and choosing Edit Group…. This opens the track/bus group dialog, which is also used when creating new groups:</p>
-<p><img src="/ardour/manual/html/screenshots/route-group-dialogue.png" alt="the track/bus group dialog" /></p>
+<p>
+ To edit the properties of a group, context-click on its tab and choose
+ <kbd class="menu">Edit Group…</kbd>. This opens the track/bus group dialog,
+ which is also used when creating new groups:
+</p>
+
+<img src="/ardour/manual/html/screenshots/route-group-dialogue.png" alt="the track/bus group dialog" />
<h3>Group Color</h3>
-<p>Click on the color selector button to change a group's colour. This affects the colour of the group's tab in the editor and mixer windows. The color does <strong>not</strong> affect the color of the group members unless you also enable the shared <code>Color</code> property. </p>
-<p>Following these options are a list of the things that the members of the group can share. </p>
+<p>
+ Click on the color selector button to change a group's colour. This affects
+ the colour of the group's tab in the editor and mixer windows. The color does
+ <em>not</em> affect the color of the group members unless you also enable the
+ shared <kbd class="menu">Color</kbd> property.
+</p>
<h3>Shared Properties</h3>
-<p><code>Gain</code> means that the track faders will be synced to always have the same value; ‘Relative’ means that the gain changes are applied relative to each member's current value. If, for example, there are two tracks in a group with relative gain sharing, and their faders are set to -3dB and -1dB, a change of the first track to a gain of -6dB will result in the second track having a gain of -4dB (so that the difference in gains is the same).</p>
-<p><a href="/working-with-tracks/bus-controls/#mute"><code>Muting</code></a>, <a href="/working-with-tracks/bus-controls/#solo"><code>soloing</code></a>, <a href="/working-with-tracks/audio-track-controls/#record"><code>record enable</code></a>, <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/editor-lists/tracks--busses-list/#active"><code>active state</code></a>, <a href="/working-with-tracks/controlling-track-appearance/track-coloring/"><code>colour</code></a> and <a href="/recording/monitoring/"><code>monitoring</code></a> are all straightforward. They simply mean that all member tracks or busses will share the same settings in these respects.</p>
-<p><code>Selection</code> means that if a region is selected or deselected on one constituent track, corresponding regions on other member tracks will be similarly selected. Corresponding regions are those that are at the same position and have the same length. Since region editing operations are applied to all currently selected regions, this is the way to make edits apply across all tracks in the group. For more details see <a href="/working-with-regions/region-selection-equivalence/">Region Selection Equivalence</a></p>
+<p>
+ <kbd class="option">Gain</kbd> means that the track faders will be synced to
+ always have the same value; <kbd class="option">Relative</kbd> means that the
+ gain changes are applied relative to each member's current value. If, for
+ example, there are two tracks in a group with relative gain sharing, and their
+ faders are set to -3 dB and -1 dB, a change of the first track to a
+ gain of -6 dB will result in the second track having a gain of
+ -4 dB (the <em>difference</em> of the gains remains the same).
+</p>
+<p>
+ <a href="/working-with-tracks/bus-controls/#mute"><kbd class="option">Muting</kbd></a>,
+ <a href="/working-with-tracks/bus-controls/#solo"><kbd class="option">Soloing</kbd></a>,
+ <a href="/working-with-tracks/audio-track-controls/#record"><kbd class="option">record enable</kbd></a>,
+ <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/editor-lists/tracks--busses-list/#active"><kbd class="option">active state</kbd></a>, <a href="/working-with-tracks/controlling-track-appearance/track-coloring/"><code>colour</code></a> and <a href="/recording/monitoring/"><code>monitoring</code></a>
+ are all straightforward. They simply mean that all member tracks or busses will
+ share the same settings in these respects.
+</p>
+<p>
+ <kbd class="option">Selection</kbd> means that if a region is selected or
+ deselected on one member track, <a
+ href="/working-with-regions/corresponding-region-selection/">corresponding
+ regions</a> on other member tracks
+ will be similarly selected. Since region editing operations are applied to all
+ currently selected regions, this is the way to make edits apply across all tracks
+ in the group.
+</p>
<h3>Group Tab Context Menu</h3>
-<p>Context-clicking (right-clicking) on the group tab offers a further menu of group-related actions. </p>
+<p>Context-clicking on the group tab offers a further menu of group-related actions. </p>
<dl class="wide-table">
<dt>Create a New Group</dt>
<dd>create a new group</dd>
<dt>Disable All Groups</dt>
<dd>makes all groups inactive, including any hidden groups.</dd>
</dl>
-<p> </p>
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