<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.</p>
+
<h3>Sessions</h3>
<p>An Ardour session is a container for an entire project. A session may contain an arbitrary number of tracks and busses consisting of audio and MIDI 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.</p>
<p>Ardour sessions are held in directories; these directories contain one or more session files, 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>It is also possible for Ardour sessions to reference sound and MIDI files outside the session directory.</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="/working-with-sessions">Working With Sessions</a>.</p>
+
<h3>Tracks</h3>
-<p> A track is a concept common to most DAWs, and used also 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> A track is a concept common to most <acronym title="Digital Audio Workstation">DAWs</acronym>, 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.</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.</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.</p>
<p>More details can be found at <a href="/working-with-tracks">Working With Tracks</a>.</p>
+
+<h3 id="busses">Busses</h3>
+<p>Busses 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.</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.</p>
+
<h3>Regions</h3>
<p>A track may contain many segments of audio or MIDI. Ardour contains these segments in things called regions, 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>
<h3>Playlists</h3>
<p>The details of what exactly each track should play back is described by a playlist. 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="/working-with-playlists">Working With Playlists</a>.</p>
-<h3>Busses</h3>
-<p>Busses 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.</p>
-<p>One might typically use a buss 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.</p>
+
<h3>Plugins</h3>
<p>Ardour allows you to process audio and MIDI using any number of plugins. These are external pieces of code, commonly seen as VST plugins on Windows or AU plugins on Mac OS X. Generally speaking, a plugin is written using one (and maybe more) standards. Ardour's plugin support is for the following standards:</p>
<dl class="wide-table">
<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 Tracks</dt>
-<dd>an Audio Track is created with a user-specified number of inputs. The number of outputs is defined by the master bus channel count (see <a href="#channelconfiguration">"Channel Configuration"</a> below for more on this), This is the type of bus to use when planning to work with existing or newly recorded audio.</dd>
+<dd>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 "<a href="#channelconfiguration">Channel Configuration</a>" below). This is the type of bus to use when planning to work with existing or newly recorded audio.</dd>
<dt>MIDI Tracks</dt>
-<dd>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 playback MIDI, whether or not the MIDI will be processed by instrument plugins or sent to other applications or external MIDI hardware. If/when you add an instrument plugin, the output configuration of a MIDI track will be changed to have audio outputs to deliver the signal from the instrument to other parts of Ardour.</dd>
+<dd>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: by adding an instrument plugin to the track, by connecting the track to a software synthesizer, or connecting it to external MIDI hardware. If you add an instrument plugin, MIDI track outputs audio (instead of MIDI data) and delivers the signal other parts of Ardour.</dd>
<dt>Audio/MIDI Tracks</dt>
-<dd>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 example. It can be tricky to configure this type of track manually, so Ardour allows you to select this track type specifically for use when working with such plugins. It is <strong>not</strong> generally the right choice when working normal MIDI tracks, and a dialog will warn you of this.</dd>
+<dd>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 you to select this track type specifically for use when working with such plugins. It is <strong>not</strong> generally the right choice when working normal MIDI tracks, and a dialog will warn you of this.</dd>
</dl>
-<h2>Track Modes</h2>
+<h2 id="trackmodes">Track Modes</h2>
<p>Audio tracks in Ardour can have a "mode" which affects how they behave when recording. </p>
<dl class="narrower-table">
<dt>Normal</dt>
<dt>Tape</dt>
<dd>Tracks using this mode 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 dubbing workflows, but it not suggested for normal use.</dd>
</dl>
-<p>Below is a screenshot that shows the subtly different results of an overdub in normal and non-layered mode. Both tracks were created using identical audio data. The upper track is in normal mode, and the overdub (the middle shorter region) has created a new region which if you look carefully has been layered on top of the the existing (longer) region. The lower track is in non-layered mode, and rather than overlay the overdub region, it split the existing region and inserted the new one in between. </p>
+<p>The screenshot below shows a subtle difference between results of an overdub in normal mode (upper track) and non-layered mode (lower track). Both tracks were created using identical audio data. The upper track shows an overdub (the middle shorter region) in normal mode. In normal mode Ardour created a new region which if you look carefully has been layered on top of the the existing (longer) region. The lower track is in non-layered mode, and rather than overlay the overdub region, it split the existing region and inserted the new overdub region in between. </p>
<p><img src="/files/a3/a3_nonlayered_example.png" alt="normal and non-layered overdubbing comparision"></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 configurations.</p>
<h3>What does Mono or Stereo actually mean?</h3>
-<p>Given that tracks have a certain number of inputs and a certain number of outputs and that these numbers may not necessarily be the same, it is not immediately clear what terms like "Mono" or "Stereo" mean. Most people will know that they refer to "1 channel" and "2 channels" in some way, but this leaves room for interpretation. 1 input channel? 2 output channels? </p>
+<p>Given that tracks have a certain number of inputs and a certain number of outputs and that these numbers may not necessarily be the same, it is not immediately clear what terms like "Mono" or "Stereo" mean. Most people know that mono refer to "one channel" and stereo refers "two channels", but there is some ambiguity. One input channel? Two output channels? </p>
<p>If you are using Ardour's default mode of automatically connecting track (and bus) inputs and outputs, then the designation "Mono" or "Stereo" <em>refers to the <strong>input</strong> of the track</em>. A Mono track will have a single input and a Stereo track will have two inputs. </p>
-<p>The number of outputs for each will be determined by the number of inputs of the <strong>master bus</strong>, to which the track outputs will be connected. So in the most common case, using a 2 channel master bus, a Mono track has 1 input and 2 outputs that are connected to the master; a Stereo track has 2 inputs and 2 outputs that are connected to the master.</p>
+<p>The number of outputs for each will be determined by the number of inputs of the <strong>master <a href="/introducing-ardour/understanding-basic-concepts-and-terminology/#busses">bus</a></strong>, to which the track outputs will be connected. For example, if you have a two-channel master bus then a Mono track has only one input but two outputs connected to the master bus; a Stereo track has two inputs and two outputs connected to the master.</p>
<p>However, if you choose not to have Ardour make connections automatically, then tracks will be left disconnected by default. In this scenario, a Mono track has 1 input and 1 output, and a stereo track has 2 inputs and 2 outputs. 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 them manually.</p>
--- /dev/null
+---
+layout: default
+title: Adding Tracks and Busses
+---
+
+
+
+ <h2>Adding and removing tracks</h2>
+<p>A track or bus can be added to a session in various ways:</p>
+<ul>
+<li>Choose Add Track or Bus… from the Track menu.
+</li>
+<li>Right-click in an empty part of the track controls area.
+</li>
+<li>Click the plus (+) button underneath the list of tracks in the mixer.
+</li>
+</ul>
+<p>Any of these actions will open the Add Track or Bus dialog,</p>
+<p><img src="/ardour/manual/html/screenshots/add-track-or-bus.png" alt="the add-track dialog"></p>
+<p>From here, you can select firstly the number of tracks or busses to add, and the type; audio track, MIDI track or bus. There are also some options, which vary depending on the type of thing you are creating.</p>
+<p>These options are:</p>
+<dl class="wide-table">
+<dt>Configuration (for audio tracks and busses)</dt>
+<dd>this is the number of inputs the track is set up with. You can always change these counts later.</dd>
+<dt>Track mode (for audio tracks)</dt>
+<dd>this can be ‘normal’, ‘non-layered’ or ‘tape’. See <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-types/#trackmodes">Track Modes</a> on the Track Types page for details.</dd>
+<dt>Group</dt>
+<dd>tracks and busses can be assigned groups so that a selected range of operations are applied to all members of a group at the same time (selecting record enable, or editing, for example). This option lets you assign to an existing group, or create a new group.</dd>
+<dt>Instrument (for MIDI tracks)</dt>
+<dd>this is a short-cut to assign an instrument plugin to the new MIDI track. You can achieve the same effect by creating a MIDI track with no plugins and adding it yourself; this option just saves you a step.</dd>
+</dl>
+<p>New tracks appear in both the editor and mixer windows. The editor window shows the timeline, with any recorded data, and the mixer shows just the processing elements of the track (its plugins, fader and so on).</p>
+<p>Tracks and busses can be removed by selecting them, right-clicking and choosing ‘Remove’ from the menu. A warning dialog will pop up, as track removal cannot be undone; use this option with care! </p>
+
+++ /dev/null
----
-layout: default
-title: Adding Tracks
----
-
-
-
- <h2>Adding and removing tracks</h2>
-<p>A track or bus can be added to a session in various ways:</p>
-<ul>
-<li>Choose Add Track or Bus… from the Track menu.
-</li>
-<li>Right-click in an empty part of the track controls area.
-</li>
-<li>Click the + button underneath the list of tracks in the mixer.
-</li>
-</ul>
-<p>Any of these actions will open the Add Track or Bus dialogue,</p>
-<p><img src="/ardour/manual/html/screenshots/add-track-or-bus.png" alt="the add-track dialog"></p>
-<p>From here, you can select firstly the number of tracks or busses to add, and the type; audio track, MIDI track or bus. There are also some options, which vary depending on the type of thing you are creating.</p>
-<p>These options are:</p>
-<dl class="wide-table">
-<dt>Configuration (for audio tracks and busses)</dt>
-<dd>this is the number of input and outputs the track is set up with. You can always change these counts later.</dd>
-<dt>Track mode (for audio tracks)</dt>
-<dd>this can be ‘normal’, ‘non-layered’ or ‘tape’.</dd>
-<dt>Group</dt>
-<dd>tracks and busses can be put into groups so that a selected range of operations are applied to all members of a group at the same time (selecting record enable, or editing, for example). This option allows you to specify an existing group to add the new track(s) or bus(ses) to, or to create a new group to put the new things in.</dd>
-<dt>Instrument (for MIDI tracks)</dt>
-<dd>this is a short-cut to allow you to create a MIDI track with an instrument plugin already added to it. You can achieve the same effect by creating a MIDI track with no plugins and adding it yourself; this option just makes things slightly quicker. </dd>
-</dl>
-<p>Adding tracks will add them to both the editor and mixer windows; the editor window shows the timeline, with any recorded data, and the mixer shows just the processing elements of the track (its plugins, fader and so on).</p>
-<p>Tracks and busses can be removed by selecting them, right-clicking and choosing ‘Remove’ from the menu. A warning dialogue will pop up, as track removal cannot be undone; use this option with care! </p>
-
- <p>By default, selecting regions has no impact on track selection. You can select a track, then select a region in another track (or vice versa) and both selections will co-exist happily. Operations that are applied to tracks will use the track selection, and those that apply to regions will use the region selection. Similarly,. deselecting a region will not deselect the track it is in (if that track was selected).</p>
-<p>In some workflows, and particularly if you have experience of some other DAWs, this is not the most comfortable way to work. You may prefer to work in a style where selecting a region will also select the track that the region is in. Similarly, when the last selected region in a track is deselected, the track will also become unselected.</p>
+ <p>By default, selecting regions has no impact on track selection. You can select a track, then select a region in another track (or vice versa) and both selections will co-exist happily. Operations that are applied to tracks will use the track selection, and those that apply to regions will use the region selection. Similarly, deselecting a region will not deselect the track it is in (if that track was selected).</p>
+<p>In some workflows, and particularly if you have experience with other <acronym title="Digital Audio Workstation">DAW</acronym>s, this is not the most comfortable way to work. You may prefer to work in a style where selecting a region will also select the track that the region is in. Similarly, when the last selected region in a track is deselected, the track will also become unselected.</p>
<p>To control this behaviour, set <code>Edit > Preferences > Editor > Link selection of regions and tracks</code>. </p>
<p>Ardour offers many options for controlling the specific appearance of tracks, including color, height, waveform style and more.</p>
+
<h2>Global Options</h2>
<p>These can all be found via <code>Edit > Preferences > Editor</code></p>
<dl class="wide-table">
<dt>Show meters on tracks in the editor</dt>
-<dd>By default, ardour will put meters in the track header in the editor window. Disable this option to avoid this.</dd>
+<dd>By default, Ardour displays meters in the track header in the editor window. Disable this option to hide the meter.</dd>
<dt>Show waveforms in regons</dt>
-<dd>By default, ardour will draw waveforms within audio regions. Disable this option to avoid this.</dd>
+<dd>By default, Ardour draws waveforms within audio regions. Disable this option hide the waveforms.</dd>
<dt>Waveform scale</dt>
<dd>
<dl>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt>Traditional</dt>
-<dd>Waveforms are drawn as positive and negative heights above and below a "zero" line</dd>
+<dd>The "zero" line appears in the middle of the display and waveforms appear as positive and negative heights above <em>and</em> below a "zero" line</dd>
<dt>Rectified</dt>
-<dd>Waveforms are show as absolute heights above a "zero" line</dd>
+<dd>The "zero" line appears at the bottom of the display and waveforms appear as absolute heights <em>above</em> the "zero" line</dd>
</dl>
</dd>
</dl>
-<p>Per-Track or per-group options are covered below:</p>
+
+<h2>Local Options</h2>
+<p>The following pages discuss local changes to individual tracks or groups:</p>
- <p>Ardour allows arbitrary layering of regions - you can stack as you wish in a given position. By default, the editor windows draws them overlapping, which has the big benefit that is very economical in terms of using vertical space.</p>
-<p>In this drawing mode however, working with a track that has many overdubs can sometimes be a little confusing because its not always entirely clear how the overdubs are all layered with respect to each other. Although there are other methods of moving particular regions to the top of an overlapping set, and although Ardour also has playlists to let you manage takes a bit more efficiently than just continually overdubbing, there are times when being able to clearly see all regions in a track without any overlaps is reassuring and potentially useful. </p>
+ <p>Ardour allows arbitrary layering of regions - you can stack as many regions you wish over a given position. By default, the editor windows overlaps the regions. The overlapping layers saves vertical space.</p>
+<p>However, this display mode can be confusing for tracks with many overdubs, because its not always entirely clear how the overdubs are all layered with respect to each other. Although there are other methods of moving particular regions to the top of an overlapping set, and although Ardour also has playlists to let you manage takes a bit more efficiently than just continually overdubbing, there are times when being able to clearly see all regions in a track without any overlaps is reassuring and useful. </p>
<p>Here is an image of a track with a rather drastic overdub/overlap situation, viewed in normal "overlaid" mode:</p>
<p><img src="/files/a3/a3_overlaps_layered.png" alt="overlapping regions in overlaid mode"></p>
<p>To change this display, right click on the track header, and you'll see this menu:</p>
<p><img src="/files/a3/a3_layers_menu.png" alt="layer display menu"></p>
<p>You will see that there are two choices for "Layers": overlaid (currently selected) and stacked. Click on stacked and the track display changes to this:</p>
<p><img src="/files/a3/a3_layers_stacked.png" alt="overlapping regions in stacked mode"></p>
-<p>You can still move regions around as usual, and in fact you can even drag them so that they overlay each again, but when you release the mouse button, things will flip back to them being all stacked cleaning. This display mode works best when you use sensible track heights. The number of "lanes" for the track is determined by the maximum number of regions existing in any one spot throughout the track, so if you have really stacked up 10 overdubs in one spot, you'll end up with 10 lanes. Obviously, using a large track height works much better for this than a small one.</p>
+<p>You can still move regions around as usual, and in fact you can even drag them so that they overlay each again, but when you release the mouse button, things will flip back to them all being stacked cleaning. This display mode works best when you use sensible track heights. The number of "lanes" for the track is determined by the maximum number of regions existing in any one spot throughout the track, so if you have really stacked up 10 overdubs in one spot, you'll end up with 10 lanes. Obviously, using a large track height works much better for this than a small one.</p>
<h2>Track Color</h2>
-<p>New tracks in Ardour are assigned a random color from a somewhat pastel-like color spectrum, so they should never end up being particularly bright or particularly dark. </p>
+<p>New tracks in Ardour are assigned a random color from a pastel color spectrum, so they should never end up being particularly bright or particularly dark. </p>
<h3>Changing the color of specific tracks</h3>
-<p>Select the tracks whose color you wish to change. Context-click on the track header of one of them. From the context menu, select "Color". A <a href="/missing">color dialog</a> will appear. Choose the new color for the track, and click "OK" in the dialog. Every selected track will be recolored, both in the editor and mixer window.</p>
+<p>Select the tracks whose color you wish to change. Context-click
(right-click) on the track header of one of them. From the context menu, select "Color". A <a href="/missing">color dialog</a> will appear. Choose the new color for the track, and click "OK" in the dialog. Every selected track will be recolored, both in the editor and mixer window.</p>
<p>Note that if you are only changing one track, context-clicking on that track's header will be enough to select it, saving the extra mouse click.</p>
<h3>Changing the color of all tracks in a group</h3>
<p>Tracks that belong to a <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-and-bus-groups">track/bus group</a> can share the color of the group by enabling the <code>Color</code> option for the group. </p>
- <h2>Changing Track Height from the Header Context menu</h2>
-<p>Context clicking on the track header will select a track and display a conttext menu that includes the <code>Height</code> choice. Choose this, and a submenu will appear containg a number of preset heights. Choose one of them, and all selected tracks will be redrawn using that height.</p>
-<h2>Changing Track Height by dragging the track header</h2>
-<p>Select the tracks you wish to resize. Move the pointer to the bottom edge of the track header. The cursor will change to a 2-way vertical arrow shape. <kbd>Left-click-drag</kbd> to dynamically resize all selected tracks.</p>
-<h2>Making Track Heights fit the Editor Window</h2>
-<p>Select the tracks you wish to display in the Editor window. Choose <code>Track > Height > Fit Selected Tracks</code> (or use its shortcut, default is <kbd>f</kbd>). The tracks are resized and the editor track view is scrolled so that the selected tracks completely fill the vertical space available.</p>
-<p>You can use <code>Visual Undo</code> (default bindng: <kbd>Shift-z</kbd> to undo this operation.</p>
+ <h2>Via the Context Menu</h2>
+<p>Context click (right click) on the track header to select a track and display a context menu that includes the <code>Height</code> choice. Choose this, and a submenu appears containing a number of preset heights. Choose one of them, and all selected tracks will be redrawn using that height.</p>
+
+<h2>Via Mouse Drag</h2>
+<p>Select the tracks you wish to resize. Move the pointer to the bottom edge of the track header. The cursor will change to a two-way vertical arrow shape. <kbd>Left-click-drag</kbd> to dynamically resize all the selected tracks.</p>
+
+<h2>Fit to the Editor Window</h2>
+<p>Select the tracks you wish to display in the Editor window. Choose <code>Track > Height > Fit Selected Tracks</code> (or use the keyboard shortcut, <kbd>f</kbd>). Ardour ajusts the track heights and track view so that the selected tracks completely fill the vertical space available.</p>
+<p>You can use <code>Visual Undo</code> (default shortcut: <kbd>Shift-Z</kbd> to undo this operation.</p>
<p>Ardour does not impose any particular ordering of tracks and busses in either the editor or mixer windows. The default arrangement is as follows:</p>
-<h2>Editor default arrangement</h2>
+
+<h2>Editor Default Arrangement</h2>
<ul>
<li>Master bus on top</li>
<li>Tracks in the order they are added below, including busses</li>
<li>Even if you use a Monitor section, it is never visible in the editor window.
</li>
</ul>
-<h2>Mixer default arrangement</h2>
+
+<h2>Mixer Default Arrangement</h2>
<ul>
<li>Tracks in the order they are added, from left to right
</li>
<li>If a Monitor section is used, that is at the right edge of the mixer window (it can be torn off, too)
</li>
</ul>
+
<h2>Synchronizing Editor and Mixer Window Ordering</h2>
-<p><em>By default</em> the ordering within the editor and mixer windows is synchronized: if you reorder in one window, the ordering in the other window will change. You can disable this via <code>Edit > Preferences > Editor > Synchronize Editor and Mixer Track Order</code>. When disabled, the ordering both both windows is totally indepedent of the other.</p>
+<p><em>By default</em> the ordering within the editor and mixer windows is synchronized: if you reorder in one window, the ordering in the other window will change. You can disable this via <code>Edit > Preferences > Editor > Synchronize Editor and Mixer Track Order</code>. When disabled, the ordering one window is totally indepedent of the other.</p>
+
<h2>Reordering Specific Tracks... </h2>
<h3>... in the Editor Window, via the Keyboard</h3>
<p>Select the tracks you want to move. Then use <code>Track > Move Selected Tracks Up</code> (<kbd class="mod1">↑</kbd>) or <code>Track > Move Selected Tracks Down</code> (<kbd class="mod1">↓</kbd>) to move the selected track(s) up or down in the editor window.</p>
+
<h3>... in the Editor Window, via Drag-n-Drop</h3>
-<p>Make the Editor Lists visible. Select the <code>Tracks & Busses</code> tab. In the browser there, you can freely drag-and-drop tracks and busses into any order you prefer.</p>
-<h3>... in the Editor Window, via Drag-n-Drop</h3>
-<p>Within the "Strips" browser in the upper left area of the Mixer window, you can freely drag-and-drop tracks and busses into any order you prefer.</p>
-<h2>"Collecting" Group Members together</h2>
+<p>Make the <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/editor-lists/">Editor Lists</a> visible. Select the <code>Tracks & Busses</code> tab. In the Tracks & Busses side panel, you can freely drag-and-drop tracks and busses into any order you prefer.</p>
+
+<h3>... in the Mixer Window, via Drag-n-Drop</h3>
+<p>Within the "Strips" pane (Mixer window, top left), you can freely drag-and-drop tracks and busses into any order you prefer.</p>
+
+<h2>"Collecting" Group Members</h2>
<p>Tracks and Busses that are members of a group can be reordered so that they display contiguously within the Editor and Mixer windows. Context-click on the group tab and choose "Collect". </p>
- <p>Every track and bus in Ardour is assigned a remote control ID. When various protocols such as Mackie Control or OSC are used to control Ardour, these remote control IDs are used to identify which track(s) or buss(es) are the intended target of the commands. </p>
+ <p>Every track and bus in Ardour is assigned a remote control ID. When various protocols such as <a href="/using-control-surfaces/">Mackie Control or OSC</a> are used to control Ardour, these remote control IDs are used to identify which track(s) or buss(es) are the intended target of the commands. </p>
<p>By default, remote ID's will be assigned to tracks and busses in the order that they are created, starting from 1. The master bus and monitor section have their own unique IDs (318 and 319).</p>
<p>Ardour provides 3 methods to control remote control IDs, which can be chosen via <code>Edit > Preferences > User Interaction</code>:</p>
<dl class="wide-table">
- <p>A typical control area for a bus is shown below:</p>
+ <p>A typical control area or "bus header" is shown below:</p>
<p><img src="/ardour/manual/html/screenshots/typical-bus-controls.png" alt="bus controls"></p>
-<p> At the top-left of the controls is the name of the bus. This can be edited directly to whatever is suitable, although the name must be unique within the session. Underneath the name is a copy of the bus' main level fader. The control buttons to the right-hand side are:</p>
+<p> At the top-left of the controls is the name of the bus. You can double click to edit the name, but the name must be unique within the session. Underneath the name is a copy of the bus' main level fader. The control buttons to the right-hand side are:</p>
<dl>
-<dt>m</dt>
-<dd>mute. left-click to mute the bus. Right-click to display a menu which dictates what particular parts of the bus should be muted.</dd>
-<dt>s</dt>
-<dd>solo — solo the bus. The behaviour of the solo system is described in detail in the section called “Mute and solo”.</dd>
-<dt>a</dt>
-<dd>automation — click to open a menu related to automation for the bus. Automation is covered in Chapter 9, Automation.</dd>
-<dt>g</dt>
-<dd>group — click to open a menu related to the bus group, as discussed in the section called “Track and bus groups” above. </dd>
+<dt id="mute">m</dt>
+<dd>Mute — click to mute the bus. Right-click to display a menu which dictates what particular parts of the bus should be muted.</dd>
+<dt id="solo">s</dt>
+<dd>Solo — solo the bus. The behaviour of the solo system is described in detail in the section called “Mute and solo”.</dd>
+<dt id="automation">a</dt>
+<dd>Automation — click to open a menu related to automation for the bus. For details see <a href="/automation/">Automation</a>.</dd>
+<dt id="group">g</dt>
+<dd>Group — click to open a menu related to the bus group. For details see <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-and-bus-groups/">Track and bus groups</a>. </dd>
</dl>
<p> </p>
- <p>A typical control area for an audio track is shown below:</p>
+ <p>A typical control area or "track header" for an audio track is shown below:</p>
<p><img src="/ardour/manual/html/screenshots/typical-audio-track-controls.png" alt="audio track controls"></p>
-<p> An audio track has the same <a href="/working-with-tracks/bus-controls">controls as a bus</a>, with the addition of two extras. The red button with the pink circle is the track's record enable. When this is clicked it will gain a bright red outline, and the track will then be recorded onto when the main session record enable is turned on with the transport rolling.</p>
-<p>The ‘p’ button below the record enable will open a playlist menu when clicked. The menu offers various operations related to the track's playlist. This, as you will recall, is simply a list of the regions that the track should play. Playlists may be swapped on a given track, and may be used by more than one track at the same time. They are often useful to keep different takes, for example, or to allow one set of regions to be played off two tracks with different processing. </p>
+<p> An audio track has the same <a href="/working-with-tracks/bus-controls">controls as a bus</a>, with the addition of two extras.
+
+<dl>
+<dt id="record">[pink circle]</dt>
+<dd>Record - The red button with the pink circle enables recording to the track. When this is clicked it will gain a bright red outline, and the track will then be recorded onto when the main session record enable is turned on with the transport rolling.</dd>
+<dt id="playlist">p</dt>
+<dd>Playlist - Opens a playlist menu when clicked. The menu offers various operations related to the track's playlist. This, as you will recall, is simply a list of the regions that the track should play. Playlists may be swapped on a given track, and may be used by more than one track at the same time. They are often useful to keep different takes, for example, or to allow one set of regions to be played off two tracks with different processing. For more details see <a href="/working-with-playlists/">Working With Playlists</a>.</dd>
+</dl>
<p>A typical control area for a MIDI track is shown below:</p>
<p><img src="/ardour/manual/html/diagrams/typical-midi-track-controls.png" alt="midi track controls"></p>
-<p>The MIDI track example is shown at a greater height than the other examples, as with MIDI tracks there are some control elements which only appear when there is sufficient vertical space to fit them in.</p>
+<p>To see the full set of MIDI track controls, as shown above, you need to increase the <a href="/working-with-tracks/controlling-track-appearance/track-height/">track height</a> beyond the default. MIDI tracks show only a few of the control elements when when there is insufficient vertical space.</p>
<p>A MIDI track has the same basic <a href="/working-with-tracks/audio-track-controls">controls as an audio track</a>, with the addition of two extra elements. The set of buttons below the main track controls controls the MIDI channels that should be visible in the editor. A MIDI track's data may span any number of the 16 available MIDI channels, and sometimes it is useful to view only a subset of those channels; different instruments may, for example, be put on different MIDI channels. Clicking on a channel number toggles its visibility.</p>
-<p>To the right of the MIDI track controls is a representation of a piano keyboard called the ‘scroomer’. This performs a couple of functions. Firstly, the scroll-bar controls the range of pitches that are visible on the track. Dragging the scroll-bar body up and down scrolls up and down through the visible pitches, and dragging the scroll-bar ‘handles’ zooms in and out, so that more or fewer pitches are visible. The piano keyboard gives a reference for the pitches that the track is displaying. In addition, clicking on the notes will generate the corresponding MIDI note in the track. </p>
-
+<p>To the right of the MIDI track controls is a representation of a piano keyboard called the ‘scroomer’. This performs a couple of functions. Firstly, the scrollbar controls the range of pitches that are visible on the track. Drag the body of the scrollbar up and down to display higher or lower pitches. Drag the scrollbar ‘handles’ to zooms in and out and increase and decrease the range of visible pitches. The piano keyboard gives a reference for the pitches visible on the track. In addition, clicking on the piano plays the corresponding MIDI note for reference. </p>
+<p>To edit the contents of a MIDI track see <a href="/editing-and-arranging/editing-midi/">Editing MIDI</a></p>
- <p>Within the editor window, context-clicking on either a region or empty space within a track will popup the <em>track context menu</em>, which provides easy access to many track-level operations.</p>
-<p>If you click on a region, the first item in the menu
will the name of the region. If there are more than one regions stacked where you clicked, this will be followed by an item called <code>Choose Top</code>. If selected, you will see a dialog that allows you to reorder the stacking of layers at that point. See <a href="/missing">Adjusting Region Layering</a> for more details.</p>
+ <p>Within the editor window, context-click (right-click) on either a region or empty space within a track to display the <em>track context menu</em>. The context menu provides easy access to many track-level operations.</p>
+<p>If you click on a region, the first item in the menu
is the name of the region. If you click on a <a href="/working-with-tracks/controlling-track-appearance/layering-display/">layered region</a>, the next item in the menu is <code>Choose Top</code>. If selected, you will see a dialog that allows you to reorder the stacking of layers at that point. See <a href="/missing">Adjusting Region Layering</a> for more details.</p>
<p>The rest of the track context menu is structured as follows:</p>
<dl class="narrower-table">
<dt>Play</dt>
- <p> Tracks and busses can be put into groups. The members of a group can be set to share various settings, which can be useful for managing tracks which 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 put tracks and busses into groups in various ways. In the editor window, a track's controls might look like these:</p>
+ <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’. These tabs can be dragged in the editor window to add to or remove tracks from groups. </p>
-<h2>Creating New Groups</h2>
-<p>There are several ways to create track/bus groups:</p>
-<p>Context-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 as it members.</p>
-<p>Alternatively, clicking the ‘g’ button on a track header opens a menu which gives a list of the available groups; selecting one of these groups will add the track or bus to that group. This menu also allows a new group to be created.</p>
-<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 "+" button at the bottom of the list that can be clicked upon to create a new group.</p>
-<h2>Removing Groups</h2>
+<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>
+
+<h2>Create New Groups</h2>
+<p>There are several ways to create groups 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>
+</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>
-<h2>Adding/Removing Tracks and Busses to a Group</h2>
-<p>Clicking the ‘g’ button opens a menu which gives a list of the available groups; selecting one of these groups will add the track or bus to that group. Selecting "No Group" will remove it. </p>
-<p>You can also drag a group tab to add or remove tracks from the group.</p>
-<h2>Activating/Deactivating Groups via the group tab</h2>
-<p>Clicking on a group tab will toggle the group between being active and inactive. An inactive group will have no effect when editing its members. An active group will share 1 or more properties across its members. Tabs for disabled groups are coloured grey.</p>
-<h2>Modifying Group Properties</h2>
-<p>The properties of a group can be edited by right-clicking on its tab and choosing Edit Group…. This will open the track/bus group dialogue, which is also used when creating new groups:</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>
+
+<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>
+
+<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>
+
<h3>Group Color</h3>
-<p>Clicking on the color selector button allows the group's colour can be changed. 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>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>
+
<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><code>Muting</code>, <code>soloing</code>, <code>record enable</code>, <code>route active state</code>, <code>colour</code> and <code>monitoring</code> are all straightforward; they simply mean that all member tracks or busses will share the same settings in these respects. See <a href="/working-with-tracks">Working With Tracks</a> for more on these properties.</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. </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>, <code>active state</code>, <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>
+
<h3>Group Tab Context Menu</h3>
-<p>Context-clicking on the group tab offers a further menu of group-related actions. </p>
+<p>Context-clicking (right-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>
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