- Ardour offers three track types depending on the type of + Ardour offers three track types depending on the type of data they contain, and differentiates between three track modes, depending on their recording behaviour.
@@ -8,116 +8,63 @@An Ardour track can be of type audio or MIDI, - depending on the data that the track will primarily record - and play back. However, either type of track can pass either + depending on the data that the track will primarily record + and play back. However, either type of track can pass either type of data. 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 + 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.
- 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: -
-- If you add an instrument plugin, the MIDI track outputs audio instead - of MIDI data. -
- Audio tracks in Ardour have a mode which affects how they behave - when recording: -
-
-
- The screenshot on the right shows the subtle difference between an overdub
- in normal mode (upper track) and one in non-layered mode
- (lower track). Both tracks were created using identical audio data.
- The upper track shows a new region which has been layered on
- top 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.
-
- 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
- Add Tracks dialog allows you to
- select "Mono", "Stereo" and few other typical multichannel presets
- The name of the preset describes the number of input channels
- of the track or bus.
-
- 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 master bus,
- to which the track outputs will be connected.
- 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.
-
- If you you set Edit > Preferences > Audio - > Connection of Tracks and Busses to manual, then tracks will be left 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 leave Ardour to make connections automatically, even if you later - change some of them manually. + Nevertheless, when adding tracks to a session, its content is typically + known, and Ardour offers three choices:
+| Audio | +An Audio Track is created with a user-specified number of + inputs. The number of outputs is defined by the master bus channel count + (for details see Channel Configuration). + This is the type of track to use when planning to work with + existing or newly recorded audio. |
|---|---|
| MIDI | +A MIDI track 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.
+ + If an instrument plugin is added, the MIDI track outputs audio alongside + MIDI data. + |
| Audio/MIDI | +There are a few notable plugins that can usefully accept both Audio + and MIDI 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 to select this type specifically for use with such + plugins. It is not generally the right choice when working normal + MIDI tracks, and a dialog will warn of this. |
| Audio or MIDI Bus | +A bus is a pseudo-track where multiple audio tracks can be mixed together
+ for some common processing before being routed to the Master Bus (which itself
+ is a bus). A bus doesn't contain any regions or audio/MIDI data, it is fed a
+ signal by sends from one or multiple other tracks, or
+ by connecting tracks outputs to
+ the bus' input. Busses are often used to apply one effect on multiple tracks,
+ with the benefits of having the same parameters and less computer processing
+ required as only one instance of the plugin is used. + Ardour can differentiate Audio busses from MIDI busses, allowing e.g. one + instrument plugin to be used for several MIDI tracks. + A bus output can also be routed to another bus. + |
| VCA | +A VCA is a way to group
+ together tracks or busses to enable grouped-control over gain, solo and mute.
+ Like the Bus, it does not contain regions, but unlike it, it does not contain
+ effects either. VCAs are commonly used to group together related tracks (e.g. "drums"
+ or "vocals") to allow controlling the gain of all those tracks at once in the
+ mix while retaining their relative gain. + VCAs are fed audio by assigning them + to one or more tracks or busses. + |