<p>
- This section will help you get acquainted with the basic terminology and
- concepts associated with Ardour. More detailed information on each aspect
- of the program is provided in later chapters.
+ In order to fully grasp the terms used in Ardour (and this manual), it is
+ necessary to understand what things like sessions, tracks, busses, regions
+ and so on—as used in Ardour—are.
</p>
<h2>Sessions</h2>
+
<p>
- An <dfn>Ardour session</dfn> is a container for an entire project. A
- session may contain an arbitrary number of <dfn>tracks</dfn> and
- <dfn>busses</dfn> consisting of audio and <abbr title="Musical Instrument
- Digital Interface">MIDI</abbr> data, along with
- information on processing those tracks, a mix of levels, and everything
- else related to the project. A session might typically contain a song, or
- perhaps an entire album or a complete live recording.
+ An Ardour <dfn>session</dfn> is a container for an entire project. A session
+ may contain an arbitrary number of <dfn>tracks</dfn> and <dfn>busses</dfn>
+ consisting of audio and <abbr title="Musical Instrument Digital
+ Interface">MIDI</abbr> data, along with information on processing those
+ tracks, a mix of levels, and everything else related to the project. A
+ session might typically contain a song, an entire album, or a complete live
+ recording.
</p>
+
<p>
- Ardour sessions are held in directories; these directories contain one or
- more <dfn>session files</dfn>, some or all of the audio and MIDI data and
- a number of other state files that Ardour requires. The session file
- describes the structure of the session, and holds automation data and
- other details.
+ Ardour sessions are kept in directories; these directories contain one or
+ more <dfn>session files</dfn>, some or all of the audio and MIDI data, and a
+ number of other state files that Ardour requires. The session file describes
+ the structure of the session, and holds automation data and other details.
</p>
+
<p>
- Ardour's session file is kept in
- <abbr title="eXtensible Markup Language">XML</abbr> format, which is
- advantageous as it is somewhat human-readable, and human-editable in a
- crisis. Sound files are stored in one of a number of optional formats, and
- MIDI files as <abbr title="Standard MIDI File">SMF</abbr>.
+ Ardour's session file is written in <abbr title="eXtensible Markup
+ Language">XML</abbr> format, which is advantageous as it is <em>somewhat</em>
+ human-readable and human-editable in a crisis. Sound files are stored in one
+ of a number of optional formats, and MIDI files as <abbr title="Standard MIDI
+ File">SMF</abbr>.
</p>
+
<p>
It is also possible for Ardour sessions to reference sound and MIDI files
- outside the session directory, to conserve disk space and avoid
- unnecessary copying if the data is available elsewhere on the disk.
+ outside the session directory, to conserve disk space and avoid unnecessary
+ copying if the data is available elsewhere on the disk.
</p>
+
<p>
Ardour has a single current session at all times; if Ardour is started
without specifying one, it will offer to load or create one.
</p>
-<p>
- More details can be found at
- <a href="@@sessions">Working With Sessions</a>.
+
+<p class="note">
+ More details can be found in the <a href="@@sessions">Sessions</a> chapter.
</p>
<h2>Tracks</h2>
-<p>
- A <dfn>track</dfn> is a concept common to most
- <abbr title="Digital Audio Workstation">DAWs</abbr>, and also used in
- Ardour. Tracks can record audio or MIDI data to disk, and then replay
- it with processing. They also allow the audio or MIDI data to be edited
- in a variety of different ways.
-</p>
+
<p>
- In a typical pop production, one might use a track each for the kick
- drum, another for the snare, more perhaps for the drum overheads and
- others for bass, guitars and vocals.
+ A <dfn>track</dfn> is a concept common to most <abbr title="Digital Audio
+ Workstation">DAWs</abbr>, and also used in Ardour. Tracks can record audio or
+ MIDI data to disk, and then replay it with processing. They also allow the
+ audio or MIDI data to be edited in a variety of different ways.
</p>
+
<p>
- Ardour can record to any number of tracks at one time, and then play
- those tracks back. On playback, a track's recordings may be processed by
- any number of plugins, panned, and its level altered to achieve a
- suitable mix.
+ In a typical pop production, one track might be used for the kick drum, another for the snare, more perhaps for the drum overheads and others for bass, guitars and vocals.
</p>
+
<p>
- A track's type is really only related to the type of data that it stores
- on disk. It is possible, for example, to have a MIDI track with a
- synthesizer plugin which converts MIDI to audio. Even though the track
- remains MIDI (in the sense that its on-disk recordings are MIDI), its
- output may be audio-only.
+ Ardour can record to any number of tracks at one time, and then play those
+ tracks back. On playback, a track's recordings may be processed by any number
+ of plugins, panned, and/or its level altered to achieve a suitable mix.
</p>
+
<p>
- More details can be found at
- <a href="@@tracks">Working With Tracks</a>.
+ A track's type is really only related to the type of data that it stores on
+ disk. It is possible, for example, to have a MIDI track with a synthesizer
+ plugin which converts MIDI to audio. Even though the track remains MIDI (in
+ the sense that its on-disk recordings are MIDI), its output may be
+ audio-only.
+</p>
+
+<p class="note">
+ More details can be found in the <a href="@@tracks">Tracks</a> chapter.
</p>
<h2 id="busses">Busses</h2>
+
<p>
<dfn>Busses</dfn> are another common concept in both DAWs and hardware
- mixers. They are similar in many ways to tracks; they process audio or
- MIDI, and can run processing plugins. The only difference is that their
- input is obtained from other tracks or busses, rather than from disk.
+ mixers. They are similar in many ways to tracks; they process audio or MIDI,
+ and can run processing plugins. The only difference is that their input is
+ obtained from other tracks or busses, rather than from disk.
</p>
+
<p>
- One might typically use a bus to collect together the outputs of related
- tracks. Consider, for example, a 3-track recording of a drum-kit; given
- kick, snare and overhead tracks, it may be helpful to connect the output
- of each to a bus called "drums", so that the drum-kit's level can be set
- as a unit, and processing (such as equalisation or compression) can be
- applied to the mix of all tracks. Such buses are also called
- <dfn>groups</dfn>.
+ A bus might typically be used to collect together the outputs of related
+ tracks. Consider, for example, a three track recording of a drum kit; given
+ kick, snare and overhead tracks, it may be helpful to connect the output of
+ each to a bus called "drums", so that the drum kit's level can be set as a
+ unit, and processing (such as equalization or compression) can be applied to
+ the mix of all the tracks. Such busses are also called <dfn>groups</dfn>.
</p>
<h2>Regions</h2>
+
<p>
- A track may contain many segments of audio or MIDI. Ardour contains
- these segments in things called <dfn>regions</dfn>, which are
- self-contained snippets of audio or MIDI data. Any recording pass, for
- example, generates a region on each track that is enabled for recording.
- Regions can be subjected to many editing operations; they may be moved
- around, split, trimmed, copied, and so on.
+ A track may contain many segments of audio or MIDI. Ardour contains these
+ segments in things called <dfn>regions</dfn>, which are self-contained
+ snippets of audio or MIDI data. Any recording pass, for example, generates a
+ region on each track that is enabled for recording. Regions can be subjected
+ to many editing operations; they may be moved around, split, trimmed, copied,
+ and so on.
</p>
-<p>
- More details can be found at
- <a href="@@working-with-regions">Working With Regions</a>.
+
+<p class="note">
+ More details can be found at <a href="@@working-with-regions">Working With
+ Regions</a>.
</p>
<h2>Playlists</h2>
+
<p>
The details of what exactly each track should play back is described by a
<dfn>playlist</dfn>. A playlist is simply a list of regions; each track
always has an active playlist, and can have other playlists which can be
switched in and out as required.
</p>
-<p>
- More details can be found at
- <a href="@@playlists">Working With Playlists</a>.
+
+<p class="note">
+ More details can be found in the <a href="@@playlists">Playlists</a> chapter.
</p>
<h2>Plugins</h2>
+
<p>
- Ardour allows you to process audio and MIDI using any number of
- <dfn>plugins</dfn>. These are external pieces of code, commonly seen as
- VST plugins on Windows or AU plugins on Mac OS X. Ardour supports
- the following plugin standards:
-</p>
-<dl class="wide-table">
- <dt><abbr title="Linux Audio Developers' Simple Plugin API">LADSPA</abbr></dt>
- <dd>the first major plugin standard for Linux. Many LADSPA plugins are
- available, mostly free and open-source.</dd>
- <dt><abbr title="LADSPA Version 2">LV2</abbr></dt>
- <dd>the successor to LADSPA. Lots of plugins have been ported from
- LADSPA to LV2, and also many new plugins written.</dd>
- <dt><abbr title="Virtual Studio Technology">VST</abbr></dt>
- <dd>Ardour supports VST plugins that have been compiled for Linux.</dd>
- <dt><abbr title="Audio Units">AU</abbr></dt>
- <dd>Mac OS X versions of Ardour support AudioUnit plugins.</dd>
-</dl>
-<p>
- Ardour has some support for running Windows VST plugins on Linux, but
- this is rather complicated, extremely difficult for the Ardour
- developers to debug, and generally unreliable, as it requires to run a
- large amount of Windows code in an emulated environment.<br>
- If it is at all possible, you are strongly advised to use native
- LADSPA, LV2 or Linux VST plugins on Linux, or AU on Mac OS X.
-</p>
-<p>
- More details can be found at
- <a href="@@working-with-plugins">Working With Plugins</a>.
+ Ardour allows processing audio and MIDI using any number of
+ <dfn>plugins</dfn>. These are external pieces of code, commonly seen as VST
+ plugins on Windows or AU plugins on Mac OS X. Ardour supports the following
+ plugin standards:
+</p>
+
+<table class="dl">
+ <tr><th><abbr title="Linux Audio Developers' Simple Plugin API">LADSPA</abbr></th>
+ <td>the first major plugin standard for Linux. Many LADSPA plugins are
+ available, mostly free and open-source.</td></tr>
+ <tr><th><abbr title="LADSPA Version 2">LV2</abbr></th>
+ <td>the successor to LADSPA. Lots of plugins have been ported from LADSPA to
+ LV2, and also many new plugins written.</td></tr>
+ <tr><th><abbr title="Virtual Studio Technology">VST</abbr></th>
+ <td>Ardour supports VST plugins that have been compiled for Linux.</td></tr>
+ <tr><th><abbr title="Audio Units">AU</abbr></th>
+ <td>Mac OS X versions of Ardour support AudioUnit plugins.</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>
+ Ardour has some support for running Windows VST plugins on Linux, but this is
+ rather complicated, extremely difficult for the Ardour developers to debug,
+ and generally unreliable, as it requires running a large amount of Windows
+ code in an emulated environment. If it is at all possible, it is strongly
+ advisable to use native LADSPA, LV2 or Linux VST plugins on Linux, or AU on
+ Mac OS X.
+</p>
+
+<p class="note">
+ More details can be found at <a href="@@working-with-plugins">Working With
+ Plugins</a>.
</p>
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