- Ardour will only ever deal with a single audio device. If you - want to use more than one, you have two choices: + Ardour will only ever deal with a single audio device. When it is + desired to use more than one audio device at the same time, there are two + choices:
+- Ardour is fundamentally designed to be a component in a - pro-audio/music creation environment. Standard operating practice - for such setups involves using only a single digital sample - clock (something counting off the time between audio samples). - This means that trying to use multiple independent soundcards is - problematic, because each soundcard has its own sample clock, running - independently from the others. Over time, these different clocks - drift - out of sync with each other, which causes glitches in the audio. You - cannot stop this drift, although in some cases the effects may be - insignificant enough that some people might not care about them. -
-- Thus in an ideal world you should not use multiple independent - soundcards but instead use a single device with a single clock and all - the inputs, outputs and other features that you need. + Ardour is fundamentally designed to be a component in a pro-audio/music + creation environment. Standard operating practice for such setups involves + using only a single digital sample clock (something counting off + the time between audio samples). This means that trying to use multiple + independent soundcards is problematic, because each soundcard has its own + sample clock, running independently from the others. Over time, these + different clocks drift out of sync with each other, which causes + glitches in the audio. This drift cannot be stopped, although in some cases + the effects may be insignificant enough that they might not be noticeable.
+- Of course, a lot of people don't live in an ideal world, and believe - that software should make up for this. + Thus, in an ideal world, a single device with a single clock and all the inputs, outputs and other features needed should be used. Of course, there are those who like to point out that this is not an ideal world, and believe that software should make up for this.
- In CoreAudio, aggregate devices provide a method to use - multiple soundcards as a single device. For example, you can - aggregate two 8-channel devices so that you can record 16 channels - into Ardour. + In CoreAudio, aggregate devices provide a method to use multiple + soundcards as a single device. For example, two eight-channel devices can be + aggregated so that 16 channels can be recorded in Ardour.
+
- If you are using a single typical 3rd party
- audio interface (such as those from Apogee, RME, Presonus, and many
- others), or you are using JackPilot or a similar
- application to start JACK, you do not need to worry about this.
- You will need to set up an aggregate device only if either
- of the following conditions are true:
-
- In the case of your builtin audio device, you will need to create - an aggregate device that combines "Builtin Input" and "Builtin - Output" into one device. + In the case of a builtin audio device, an aggregate device that combines + "Builtin Input" and "Builtin Output" into one device needs to be created.
+- The precise instructions for creating an aggregate device on OS X - have varied from one released to another. Please read https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202000 + The precise instructions for creating an aggregate device on OS X have varied + from one released to another. Please read https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202000.
Please see the instructions at http://jackaudio.org/faq + title="http://jackaudio.org/faq/">http://jackaudio.org/faq.