4 title: Introduction to Ardour
10 title: Welcome to Ardour
15 title: About Ardour's documentation
19 <h2>Conventions Used In This Manual</h2>
22 This section covers some of the typographical and language conventions used in this manual.
25 <h3>Keyboards and Modifiers</h3>
28 <dfn>Keyboard bindings</dfn> are shown like this: <kbd>s</kbd> or <kbd class="mod1">x</kbd>.
32 <kbd class="mod1">x</kbd> means "press the <kbd class="mod1"> </kbd> key, keep it pressed and then also press the <kbd>x</kbd> key.
36 You may also see key combinations such as <kbd class="mod12">e</kbd>, which mean that you should hold down the <kbd class="mod1"> </kbd> key <em>and</em> the <kbd class="mod2"> </kbd> key, and then, while keeping them both down, press the <kbd>e</kbd> key.
40 Note that different platforms have different conventions for which modifier key (Control or Command) to use as the primary or most common modifier. When viewing this manual from a machine identifying itself as running OS X, you will see <kbd>Cmd </kbd> where appropriate (for instance in the first example above). On other machines you will see <kbd>Ctrl </kbd> instead.
43 <h3>Mouse Buttons</h3>
46 We refer to <a href="/setting-up-your-system/the-mouse">mouse buttons</a> as <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd>, <kbd class="mouse">Middle</kbd> and <kbd class="mouse">Right</kbd>. Ardour can use additional buttons, but they have no default behaviour in the program.
49 <h4>Mouse click modifiers</h4>
52 Many editing functions are performed by clicking the mouse while holding a modifier key, for example <kbd class="mouse mod1">Left</kbd>.
58 Some GUI elements can optionally be controlled with the mouse wheel when the pointer is hovering over them. The notation for mouse wheel action is <kbd class="mouse">⇑</kbd> <kbd class="mouse">⇐</kbd> <kbd class="mouse">⇓</kbd> <kbd class="mouse">⇒</kbd>.
61 <h4>Context-click</h4>
64 The term <dfn>context-click</dfn> is used to indicate that you should (typically) <kbd class="mouse">Right</kbd>-click on a particular element of the graphical user interface. Although right-click is the common, default way to do this, there are other ways to accomplish the same thing—this term refers to any of them, and the result is always that a menu specific to the item you clicked on will be displayed.
67 <h4>"The Pointer"</h4>
70 When the manual refers to the "pointer", it means the on-screen representation of the mouse position or the location of a touch action if you are using a touch interface.
73 <h3>Other user input</h3>
76 Ardour supports hardware controllers, such as banks of <kbd class="fader">faders</kbd>, <kbd class="knob">knobs</kbd>, or <kbd class="button">buttons</kbd>.
82 Menu items are indicated like this:<br />
83 <kbd class="menu">Top > Next > Deeper</kbd>.<br />
84 Each ">"-separated item indicates one level of a nested (sub-)menu.
87 <h3>Preference/Dialog Options</h3>
90 Choices in various dialogs, notably the Preferences and Properties dialog, are
91 indicated like this:<br />
92 <kbd class="option">Edit > Preferences > Audio > Some
94 Each successive item indicates either a (sub-) menu or a tabbed dialog
95 navigation. The final item is the one to choose or select.
99 If you are requested to deselect an option, you will see something like
101 <kbd class="optoff">Edit > Preferences > Audio > Some other
108 Some dialogs or features may require you to type in some <kbd class="input">data such as this</kbd>. In rare cases, you will be required to perform certain operations at the command line of your operating system:
111 <kbd class="cmd lin">cat /proc/cpuinfo</kbd>
112 <kbd class="cmd mac">sleep 3600</kbd>
113 <kbd class="cmd win">ping www.google.com</kbd>
115 <h3>Program Output</h3>
118 Important messages from Ardour or other programs will be displayed <samp>like this</samp>.
124 Important notes about things that might not otherwise be obvious are shown in this format.
130 Hairy issues that might cause things to go wrong, lose data, impair sound quality, or eat your proverbial goldfish, are displayed in this way.
135 title: Welcome to Ardour!
140 <dfn>Ardour</dfn> is a professional digital workstation for working with audio and MIDI.
143 <h2>Ardour is meant for...</h2>
145 <h3>Audio Engineers</h3>
148 Ardour's core user group: people who want to record, edit, mix and master audio and MIDI projects. When you need complete control over your tools, when the limitations of other designs get in the way, when you plan to spend hours or days working on a session, Ardour is there to make things work the way you want them to.
154 Being the best tool to record talented performers on actual instruments has always been a top priority for Ardour. Rather than being focused on electronic and pop music idioms, Ardour steps out of the way to encourage the creative process to remain where it always has been: a musician playing a carefully designed and well built instrument.
157 <h3>Soundtrack Editors</h3>
160 Sample accurate sync and shared transport control with video playback tools allows Ardour to provide a fast and natural environment for creating and editing soundtracks for film and video projects.
166 Arrange audio and MIDI using the same tools and same workflow. Use external hardware synthesizers or software instruments as sound sources. From sound design to electro-acoustic composition to dense multitrack MIDI editing, Ardour can help.
169 <h2>Ardour features...</h2>
171 <h3>Audio and MIDI Multi-Track Recording and Editing</h3>
174 Any number of tracks and busses. Non-linear editing. Non-destructive (and destructive!) recording. Any bit depth, any sample rate. Dozens of file formats.
177 <h3>Plugins with Full Sample Accurate Automation</h3>
180 AudioUnit, LV2, LinuxVST and LADSPA formats. FX plugins. Software instruments. MIDI processors. Automate any parameters. Physically manipulate them via control surfaces. Distribute processing across as many (or as few) cores as you want.
183 <h3>Transport Sync and External Control Surfaces</h3>
186 Best-in-industry sync to MIDI timecode and LTC. Send and receive MIDI Machine Control. Sync with JACK transport and MIDI clock. Dedicated Mackie Control protocol support, pre-defined mappings for many MIDI controllers plus dynamic MIDI learn. Use OSC to drive almost any operation in Ardour.
189 <h3>Powerful Anywhere-to-Anywhere Signal Routing</h3>
192 Complex signal flows are simple and elegant. Inputs and outputs connect to your hardware and/or other applications. Use sends, inserts and returns freely. Connections can be one-to-many, many-to-one or many-to-many. Tap signal flows at any point. If you can't connect in the way you want with Ardour, it probably can't be done.
195 <h3>Video Timeline</h3>
198 Import a single video and optionally extract the soundtrack from it. Display a frame-by-frame (thumbnail) timeline of the video. Use a Video-monitor window, or full-screen display, of the imported video in sync with any of the available ardour timecode sources. Lock audio-regions to the video: Move audio-regions with the video at video-frame granularity. Export the video, cut start/end, add blank frames and/or mux it with the soundtrack of the current-session.
207 <dfn>Ardour</dfn> allows recording and editing both audio and MIDI data, addin of many different kinds of effects and mixing.
210 <p>Some things Ardour is used for include:</p>
213 <li>Digitally record acoustic/electric instruments or vocals</li>
214 <li>Compose and arrange audio and MIDI tracks</li>
215 <li>Edit live recordings</li>
216 <li>Mix and edit movie soundtracks and dialogue</li>
217 <li>Create sound designs for an arbitrary number of output channels</li>
221 title: Isn't This A Really Complicated Program?
226 There is no point in pretending that Ardour is a simple, easy to use program. The development group has worked hard to try to make simple things reasonably easy, common tasks quick, and hard and/or uncommon things possible. There is no doubt that there is more to do in this area, as well as polishing the user interface to improve its intuitiveness and work flow characteristics.
230 At the same time, multi-track, multi-channel, non-linear, non-destructive audio editing is a far from simple process. Doing it right requires not only a good ear, but a solid appreciation of basic audio concepts and a robust mental model/metaphor of what one is doing. Ardour is not a simple "audio recorder"—it can certainly be used to record stereo (or even mono) material in a single track, but the program has been designed around much richer capabilities than this.
234 Some people complain that Ardour is not "intuitive" to use—its lead developer has <a href="http://community.ardour.org/node/3322">some thoughts on that</a>.
238 title: Why Write a DAW for Linux?
243 It is fairly understandable that existing proprietary DAWs do not run on Linux, given the rather small (but growing) share of the desktop market that Linux has. However, when surveying the landscape of "popular operating systems", we find:
247 <li>older versions of Windows: plagued by abysmal stability and appalling security</li>
248 <li>newer versions of Windows seem stable but still suffer from security problems</li>
249 <li>OS X: an amazing piece of engineering that is excellent for audio work but only runs on proprietary hardware and still lacks the flexibility and adaptability of Linux.</li>
253 Security matters today, and will matter more in the future as more and more live or semi-live network based collaborations take place.
257 Let's contrast this with Linux, an operating system which:
261 <li>can stay up for months (or even years) without issues</li>
262 <li>is endlessly configurable down to the tiniest detail</li>
263 <li>is not owned by any single corporate entity, ensuring its life and direction are not intertwined with that of a company (for a contrary example, consider BeOS)</li>
264 <li>is fast and efficient</li>
265 <li>runs on almost any computing platform ever created, including old "slow" systems and new "tiny" systems (e.g. Raspberry Pi)</li>
266 <li>is one of the most secure operating systems "out of the box"</li>
270 More than anything, however, Ardour's primary author uses Linux and wanted a DAW that ran there.
274 Having written a DAW for Linux, it turned out to be relatively easy to port Ardour to OS X, mostly because of the excellent work done by the JACK OS X group that ported JACK to OS X.
278 Although OS X has a number of disadvantages compared to Linux, its ease of use and its presence in many studios already makes it a worthwhile platform.
282 title: Why is it called Ardour?
287 The name <dfn>"Ardour"</dfn> came from considerations of how to pronounce the acronym <abbr title="Hard Disk Recorder">HDR</abbr>. The most obvious attempt sounds like a vowelless "harder" and it then was then a short step to an unrelated but slightly homophonic word:
291 <dfn>ardour</dfn> n 1: a feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of
292 a person or cause); "they were imbued with a revolutionary ardor"; "he
293 felt a kind of religious zeal" [syn: ardor, elan, zeal]<br />
294 2: intense feeling of love [syn: ardor]<br />
295 3: feelings of great warmth and intensity; "he spoke with great ardor"
296 [syn: ardor, fervor, fervour, fervency, fire, fervidness]
300 Given the work required to develop Ardour, and the personality of its primary author, the name seemed appropriate even without the vague relationship to HDR.
304 Years later, another interpretation of "Ardour" appeared, this time based on listening to non-native English speakers attempt to pronounce the word. Rather than "Ardour", it became "Our DAW", which seemed poetically fitting for a Digital Audio Workstation whose source code and design belongs to a group of collaborators.
308 title: Why write another DAW?
313 There are already a number of excellent digital audio workstations. To mention just a few: ProTools, Nuendo, Samplitude, Digital Performer, Logic, Cubase (SX), Sonar, along with several less well known systems such as SADIE, SAWStudio and others.
316 Each of these programs has its strengths and weaknesses, although over the last few years most of them have converged on a very similar set of core features. However, each of them suffers from two problems when seen from the perspective of Ardour's development group:
320 <li>they do not run natively on Linux</li>
321 <li>they are not available in source code form, making modifications, improvements, bugfixes by technically inclined users or their friends or consultants impossible.</li>
325 title: Additional Resources
330 In addition to this documentation, you may check a variety of other <dfn>resources</dfn>:
334 <li>the <a href="https://ardour.org/whatsnew.html">Ardour release
336 <li>the <a href="https://community.ardour.org/forums">Ardour
338 <li>information about <a href="https://community.ardour.org/community">Ardour
339 Support</a> via mailing lists and IRC (chat)</li>
343 The <dfn>IRC channels</dfn> in particular are where most of the day-to-day development and debugging is done, and there are plenty of experienced users to help you if you run into problems.
347 Please be prepared to hang around for a few hours, the chat is usually busiest from 19:00 UTC to 04:00 UTC. If you can, keep your chat window open, so that you don't miss a belated answer. Also, don't ask for permission to ask a question, just ask your question with the understanding that the answer (from the "right" people or not) could come seconds, minutes, hours, or never.
352 title: Creating Music with Ardour
356 <p class="fixme"> misplaced</p>
358 Ardour can be used in many different ways, from extremely simple to
359 extremely complex. Many projects will be handled using the following
360 kind of <dfn>workflow</dfn>.
363 <h2>Stage 1: Creating Your Project</h2>
366 The first step is to create a new <dfn>session</dfn>, or open an
367 existing one. A session consists of a folder containing a session file
368 that defines all the information about the session. All media files used
369 by the session can be stored within the session folder.
373 More details on sessions can be found in
374 <a href="/working-with-sessions">Working With Sessions</a>.
377 <h2>Stage 2: Creating and Importing Audio and MIDI data</h2>
380 Once you have a session, you will want to add some audio and/or MIDI
381 material to it, which can be done in one of 3 ways:
385 <li><dfn>Record</dfn> incoming audio or MIDI data, either via audio or MIDI hardware
386 connected to your computer, or from other applications.</li>
387 <li><dfn>Create</dfn> new MIDI data using the mouse and/or various dialogs</li>
388 <li><dfn>Import</dfn> existing media files into the session</li>
391 <dfn>MIDI recordings</dfn> consist of performance data ("play note X at
392 time T") rather than actual sound. As a result, they are more flexible
393 than actual audio, since the precise sound that they will generate when
394 played depends on where you send the MIDI to.<br />
395 Two different synthesizers may produce very different sound in response
396 to the same incoming MIDI data.
399 <dfn>Audio recordings</dfn> can be made from external instruments with
400 electrical outputs (keyboards, guitars etc.) or via microphones from
401 acoustic instruments.
404 Ardour uses the <dfn>JACK Audio Connection Kit</dfn> for all audio and
405 MIDI I/O, which means that recording audio/MIDI from other applications
406 is fundamentally identical to recording audio/MIDI from your audio/MIDI
410 <h2>Stage 3: Editing and Arranging</h2>
412 Once you have some material within the session, you can start to arrange
413 it in time. This is done in one of the two main windows of Ardour, the
414 <dfn>Editor</dfn> window.
417 Your audio/MIDI data appears in chunks called <dfn>regions</dfn>, which
418 are arranged into horizontal lanes called <dfn>tracks</dfn>. Tracks are
419 stacked vertically in the Editor window. You can copy, shorten, move,
420 and delete regions without changing the actual data stored in the session
421 at all—Ardour is a <dfn>non-destructive</dfn> editor. (Almost)
422 nothing that you do while editing will ever modify the files stored on
423 disk (except the session file itself).
426 You can also carry out many <dfn>transformations</dfn> to the contents
427 of regions, again without altering anything on disk. You can alter,
428 move, and delete MIDI notes, and remove silence from audio regions, for
432 <h2>Stage 4: Mixing and Adding Effects</h2>
434 Once you have the arrangement of your session mostly complete, you will
435 typically move on to the <dfn>mixing</dfn> phase. Mixing is a broad term
436 to cover the way the audio signals that your session generates during
437 playback and processed and added together into a final result that you
438 actually hear. It can involve altering the relative levels of various
439 parts of the session, adding effects that improve or transform certain
440 elements, and others that bring the sound of the whole session to a new
444 Ardour will allow you to <dfn>automate</dfn> changes to any mixing
445 parameters (such as volume, panning, and effects controls)—it will
446 record the changes you make over time, using a mouse or keyboard or some
447 external control device, and can play back those changes later. This is
448 very useful because often the settings you need will vary in one part of
449 a session compared to another—rather than using a single setting
450 for the volume, you may need increases followed by decreases (for example,
451 to track the changing volume of a singer). Using automation can make all
452 of this relatively simple.
455 <h2>Stage 5: Export</h2>
457 Once you are really satisfied with the arrangement and mix of your
458 session, you will typically want to produce a single audio file that
459 contains a ready-to-listen to version of the work. Ardour will allow you to
460 <dfn>export</dfn> audio files in a variety of formats (simultaneously in
461 some cases). This exported file would typically be used in creating a CD,
462 or be the basis for digital distribution of the work.
465 Of course sometimes you will want to do export material that isn't finished
466 yet, for example to give a copy to someone else to try to mix on their own
467 system. Ardour will allow you to export as much of a session as you want, at
468 any time, in any supported format.
473 title: Ardour Concepts
479 title: Understanding Basic Concepts and Terminology
484 This section will help you get acquainted with the basic terminology and
485 concepts associated with Ardour. More detailed information on each aspect
486 of the program is provided in later chapters.
491 An <dfn>Ardour session</dfn> is a container for an entire project. A
492 session may contain an arbitrary number of <dfn>tracks</dfn> and
493 <dfn>busses</dfn> consisting of audio and <abbr title="Musical Instrument
494 Digital Interface">MIDI</abbr> data, along with
495 information on processing those tracks, a mix of levels, and everything
496 else related to the project. A session might typically contain a song, or
497 perhaps an entire album or a complete live recording.
500 Ardour sessions are held in directories; these directories contain one or
501 more <dfn>session files</dfn>, some or all of the audio and MIDI data and
502 a number of other state files that Ardour requires. The session file
503 describes the structure of the session, and holds automation data and
507 Ardour's session file is kept in
508 <abbr title="eXtensible Markup Language">XML</abbr> format, which is
509 advantageous as it is somewhat human-readable, and human-editable in a
510 crisis. Sound files are stored in one of a number of optional formats, and
511 MIDI files as <abbr title="Standard MIDI File">SMF</abbr>.
514 It is also possible for Ardour sessions to reference sound and MIDI files
515 outside the session directory, to conserve disk space and avoid
516 unnecessary copying if the data is available elsewhere on the disk.
519 Ardour has a single current session at all times; if Ardour is started
520 without specifying one, it will offer to load or create one.
523 More details can be found at
524 <a href="/working-with-sessions">Working With Sessions</a>.
529 A <dfn>track</dfn> is a concept common to most
530 <abbr title="Digital Audio Workstation">DAWs</abbr>, and also used in
531 Ardour. Tracks can record audio or MIDI data to disk, and then replay
532 it with processing. They also allow the audio or MIDI data to be edited
533 in a variety of different ways.
536 In a typical pop production, one might use a track each for the kick
537 drum, another for the snare, more perhaps for the drum overheads and
538 others for bass, guitars and vocals.
541 Ardour can record to any number of tracks at one time, and then play
542 those tracks back. On playback, a track's recordings may be processed by
543 any number of plugins, panned, and its level altered to achieve a
547 A track's type is really only related to the type of data that it stores
548 on disk. It is possible, for example, to have a MIDI track with a
549 synthesizer plugin which converts MIDI to audio. Even though the track
550 remains MIDI (in the sense that its on-disk recordings are MIDI), its
551 output may be audio-only.
554 More details can be found at
555 <a href="/working-with-tracks">Working With Tracks</a>.
558 <h2 id="busses">Busses</h2>
560 <dfn>Busses</dfn> are another common concept in both DAWs and hardware
561 mixers. They are similar in many ways to tracks; they process audio or
562 MIDI, and can run processing plugins. The only difference is that their
563 input is obtained from other tracks or busses, rather than from disk.
566 One might typically use a bus to collect together the outputs of related
567 tracks. Consider, for example, a 3-track recording of a drum-kit; given
568 kick, snare and overhead tracks, it may be helpful to connect the output
569 of each to a bus called "drums", so that the drum-kit's level can be set
570 as a unit, and processing (such as equalisation or compression) can be
571 applied to the mix of all tracks. Such buses are also called
577 A track may contain many segments of audio or MIDI. Ardour contains
578 these segments in things called <dfn>regions</dfn>, which are
579 self-contained snippets of audio or MIDI data. Any recording pass, for
580 example, generates a region on each track that is enabled for recording.
581 Regions can be subjected to many editing operations; they may be moved
582 around, split, trimmed, copied, and so on.
585 More details can be found at
586 <a href="/working-with-regions">Working With Regions</a>.
591 The details of what exactly each track should play back is described by a
592 <dfn>playlist</dfn>. A playlist is simply a list of regions; each track
593 always has an active playlist, and can have other playlists which can be
594 switched in and out as required.
597 More details can be found at
598 <a href="/working-with-playlists">Working With Playlists</a>.
603 Ardour allows you to process audio and MIDI using any number of
604 <dfn>plugins</dfn>. These are external pieces of code, commonly seen as
605 VST plugins on Windows or AU plugins on Mac OS X. Ardour supports
606 the following plugin standards:
608 <dl class="wide-table">
609 <dt><abbr title="Linux Audio Developers' Simple Plugin API">LADSPA</abbr></dt>
610 <dd>the first major plugin standard for Linux. Many LADSPA plugins are
611 available, mostly free and open-source.</dd>
612 <dt><abbr title="LADSPA Version 2">LV2</abbr></dt>
613 <dd>the successor to LADSPA. Lots of plugins have been ported from
614 LADSPA to LV2, and also many new plugins written.</dd>
615 <dt><abbr title="Virtual Studio Technology">VST</abbr></dt>
616 <dd>Ardour supports VST plugins that have been compiled for Linux.</dd>
617 <dt><abbr title="Audio Units">AU</abbr></dt>
618 <dd>Mac OS X versions of Ardour support AudioUnit plugins.</dd>
621 Ardour has some support for running Windows VST plugins on Linux, but
622 this is rather complicated, extremely difficult for the Ardour
623 developers to debug, and generally unreliable, as it requires to run a
624 large amount of Windows code in an emulated environment.<br />
625 If it is at all possible, you are strongly advised to use native
626 LADSPA, LV2 or Linux VST plugins on Linux, or AU on Mac OS X.
629 More details can be found at
630 <a href="/working-with-plugins">Working With Plugins</a>.
635 title: Basic GUI Operations
640 Ardour offers a number of different ways for you to interact with it.
641 This chapter provides information on basic techniques for <dfn>entering
642 text</dfn>, <dfn>making selections</dfn>, and <dfn>using shortcuts</dfn>.
646 title: Interface Elements
652 <h2>Pull Down Menus</h2>
653 <h2>Pop Up Menus</h2>
654 <h2>Context Menus</h2>
657 <p class="fixme">Add content</p>
665 Almost every available function in Ardour can be executed via a
666 <dfn>key binding</dfn> or <dfn><abbr title="Open Sound
667 Control">OSC</abbr></dfn> command. There are many more functions
668 available than there are keys on even the largest current computer
669 keyboards, so only a subset of them are bound to keys by default.
672 <h2>Key bindings for menu items</h2>
675 Existing key bindings in menus are listed on the right side of the
680 To create a custom key binding for a menu item quickly, navigate to
681 the relevant (sub-) menu, hover over the item with the mouse and press
682 the desired combination of modifiers and key.
686 Ardour will silently re-assign the binding if you use a key
687 combination that is already in use, possibly removing a standard
688 keyboard shortcut without warning you. That might lead to confusion
689 when you ask other users for help, and they explain something in terms
690 of a standard key binding, which will then have a completely
691 different effect on your system.
694 <h2>Key binding editor</h2>
697 For a complete overview of all existing keyboard bindings, go to
698 <kbd class="menu">Window > Key Bindings</kbd>. This widget will let
699 you view and edit even those functions that are not available in the menu,
700 and even remove key bindings altogether.
704 title: Selection Techniques
709 Ardour follows the conventions used by most other computer software
710 (including other DAWs) for <dfn>selecting objects</dfn> in the
711 <abbr title="Graphical User Interface">GUI</abbr>.
714 <h2>Selecting individual objects</h2>
717 Clicking on an object (sometimes on a particular part of its
718 on-screen representation) will select the object, and deselect other
722 <h2>Selecting multiple (similar) objects</h2>
725 A <kbd class="mod1 mouse">left</kbd> click on an object toggles its
726 <samp>selected</samp> status, so using <kbd class="mod1 mouse">left</kbd>
727 on a series of objects will select (or deselect) each one of them. You can
728 construct completely arbitrary selections with this technique.
731 <h2>Selecting a range of objects</h2>
734 In cases where the idea of "select all objects between this one and that
735 one" makes sense, you can select one object and then click
736 <kbd class="mod3 mouse">left</kbd> on another to select both of them as
737 well as all objects in between.
740 <h2>Time range selection</h2>
743 To select a time <dfn>range</dfn> in the Editor,
744 click <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd> and drag the mouse.
745 A <kbd class="mod1 mouse">Left</kbd> drag then lets you create other
746 ranges and a <kbd class="mod3 mouse">left</kbd> click extends a range
747 to cover a wider area.
750 <h2>Selection Undo</h2>
753 The set of objects (including time range) that are selected at any one
754 time is known as the selection.
755 Each time you select or deselect an object, the new selection is stored in an
757 This stack is cleared each time the content of the timeline changes.
758 If you have built up a complex selection and then accidentally cleared it,
759 choosing <kbd class="menu">Edit > Undo Selection Change</kbd> will restore your previous selection.
760 If you then decide that you had in fact made the correct change, choosing
761 <kbd class="menu">Edit > Redo Selection Change</kbd> will take you back
762 to where you were before you chose <kbd class="menu">Edit > Undo Selection Change</kbd>.
771 By default, Ardour will show helpful <dfn>tooltips</dfn> about
772 the purpose and use of each <abbr title="Graphical User
773 Interface">GUI</abbr> element if you position the pointer
774 over it and hover there for a short while.
775 These little pop-up messages can be a good way to discover the
776 purpose of many aspects of the GUI.
780 Pop-ups can be distracting for experienced users, who may opt to
781 disable them via <kbd class="optoff">Edit > Preferences > GUI >
782 Show tooltip if mouse hovers over a control</kbd>.
786 title: Undo/Redo for Editing
791 While editing, it happens that you apply an unintended change, or make
792 a choice one that you later decide was wrong. All changes to the
793 arrangement of session components (regions, control points) along the
794 timeline can be <dfn>undone</dfn> (and <dfn>redone</dfn> if necessary).
798 The default keybindings are <kbd class="mod1">Z</kbd> for Undo and
799 <kbd class="mod1">R</kbd> for Redo. These match the conventions of most
800 other applications that provide undo/redo.
804 Changes are also saved to the <dfn>session history</dfn> file, so that
805 undo/redo is possible even if you close the session and reopen it later,
806 even if you quit Ardour in between.
810 The maximum number of changes that can be undone can be configured under
811 <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Misc > Undo</kbd>.
812 The maximum number of changes stored in the history file is a separate
813 parameter, and can also be set in the same place.
817 In addition to the normal undo (which works only on actions that change
818 the timeline), there is a <dfn>visual undo</dfn> which will revert any
819 command that affects the display of the editor window. Its shortcut is
820 <kbd class="mod3">Z</kbd>.
821 There is also an undo for selection. See
822 <a href="/ardours-interface/basic-gui-operations/selection-techniques/">Selection Techniques</a> for more information.
826 Note that changes made to mixer strips, such as turning knobs or changing faders, cannot be undone.
830 title: Using the Mouse
837 Throughout this manual, the term <dfn>click</dfn> refers to the act of pressing
838 and releasing the <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd> mouse button. This action is used to select objects, activate
839 buttons, turn choices on and off, pop up menus and so forth.<br />
840 On touch surfaces, it also corresponds to a single, one-finger tap on
844 <h2>Right Clicking</h2>
847 The term <dfn>right-click</dfn> refers to the act of pressing and releasing
848 the <kbd class="mouse">Right</kbd> mouse button.
849 This action is used to pop up <dfn>context menus</dfn> (hence the term
850 "context click", which you will also see). It is also used by default in
851 combination with the shift key to delete objects within the editor
856 Some mice designed for use with Mac OS X may have only one button. By
857 convention, pressing and holding the Control key while clicking is
858 interpreted as a right-click by many application..
861 <h2>Middle Clicking</h2>
864 A <dfn>middle-click</dfn> refers to the act of pressing and releasing the
865 <kbd class="mouse">Middle</kbd> mouse button. Not all all mice have a middle click button
866 (see the <a href="/setting-up-your-system/mouse/">Mouse</a> chapter for
867 details). Sometimes the scroll wheel acts as a clickable middle button.
868 This action is used for time-constrained region copying and mapping MIDI
873 Internally, your operating system may identify the mouse buttons as
874 <kbd class="mouse">Button1</kbd>, <kbd class="mouse">Button2</kbd>, and
875 <kbd class="mouse">Button3</kbd>, respectively. It may be possible to
876 invert the order of buttons to accommodate left-handed users, or to re-assign
877 them arbitrarily. This manual assumes the canonical order.
880 <h2>Double Clicking</h2>
883 A <dfn>double click</dfn> refers to two rapid press/release cycles on the
884 leftmost mouse button. The time interval between the two actions that
885 determines whether this is seen as two clicks or one double click is
886 controlled by your system preferences, not by Ardour.
892 A <dfn>drag</dfn> primarily refers to the act of pressing the leftmost
893 mouse button, moving the mouse with the button held down, and then
894 releasing the button. On touch surfaces, this term also corresponds to
895 a single one-finger touch-move-release action.
899 Ardour also uses the middle mouse button for certain kinds of drags,
900 which will be referred to as <dfn>middle-drag</dfn>.
906 There are many actions in Ardour that can be carried out using a mouse
907 button in combination with a <dfn>modifier key</dfn>. When the manual
908 refers to <kbd class="mod1 mouse">Left</kbd>, it means that you should first
909 press the <kbd class="mod1"></kbd> key, carry out a left click
910 while <kbd class="mod1"></kbd> is held down, and then finally release the key.
914 Available modifiers depend on your platform:
917 <h3>Linux Modifiers</h3>
920 <li><kbd>Ctrl</kbd> (Control)</li>
921 <li><kbd>Shift</kbd></li>
922 <li><kbd>Alt</kbd></li>
923 <li><kbd>Mod2</kbd></li>
924 <li><kbd>Mod3</kbd></li>
925 <li><kbd>Mod4</kbd></li>
926 <li><kbd>Mod5</kbd></li>
930 The following section is almost certainly wrong. Will need to be checked
935 Mod2 typically corresponds to the <kbd>NumLock</kbd> key on many systems.
936 On most Linux systems, there are no keys that will function as modifiers
937 Mod3, Mod4 or Mod5 by default, but they can be setup using
938 <dfn>xmodmap(1)</dfn>. This can be rather useful.
941 <h3>OS X Modifiers</h3>
944 <li><kbd>Cmd</kbd> (Command, "windmill")</li>
945 <li><kbd>Ctrl</kbd> (Control)</li>
946 <li><kbd>Alt</kbd> (Option)</li>
947 <li><kbd>Shift</kbd></li>
950 <h2>Scroll Wheel</h2>
953 Ardour can make good use of a <dfn>scroll wheel</dfn> on your mouse, which can be
954 utilized for a variety of purposes. Scroll wheels generate vertical
955 scroll events, <kbd class="mouse">⇑</kbd> (ScrollUp) and
956 <kbd class="mouse">⇓</kbd> (ScrollDown). Some also emit horizontal
957 events, <kbd class="mouse">⇐</kbd> (ScrollLeft) and
958 <kbd class="mouse">⇒</kbd> (ScrollRight).
962 When appropriate, Ardour will differentiate between these two different
963 scroll axes. Otherwise it will interpret ScrollDown and ScrollLeft as
964 equivalent and similarly interpret ScrollUp and ScrollRight as equivalent.
968 Typically, scroll wheel input is used to adjust
969 <dfn>continuous controls</dfn> such as faders and knobs, or to scroll
970 vertically or horizontally inside a window.
973 <p class="fixme">Should add some mention of drag & drop operations; the "Dragging" section above doesn't mention it at all.</p>
976 title: Cut and Paste Operations
981 The <dfn>clipboard</dfn> is a holder for various kinds of objects (regions,
982 control events, plugins) that is used during <dfn>cut-and-paste
989 A <dfn>cut</dfn> operation removes selected objects and places them in the
990 clipboard. The existing contents of the clipboard are overwriten.<br />
991 The default key binding is <kbd class="mod1">x</kbd>.
997 A <dfn>copy</dfn> of the selected objects are placed in clipboard. There is
998 no effect on the selected objects themselves. The existing contents of the
999 clipboard are overwritten. <br />
1000 The default key binding is <kbd class="mod1">c</kbd>.
1006 The current contents of the clipboard are <dfn>paste</dfn>d (inserted)
1007 into the session, using the current <dfn>edit point</dfn> as the
1008 destination. The contents of the clipboard remain unchanged—you
1009 can paste the same item multiple times. <br />
1010 The default key binding is <kbd class="mod1">v</kbd>.
1014 title: Deleting Objects
1019 Within the Editor window (and to some extent within the Mixer window too),
1020 there are several techniques for <dfn>deleting</dfn> objects (regions,
1021 control points, and more).
1024 <h2>Using the mouse and keyboard</h2>
1026 Select the object(s) and then press the <kbd>Del</kbd> key.
1027 This does <strong>not</strong> put the deleted object(s) into the cut
1028 buffer, so they cannot be pasted elsewhere.
1031 <h2>Using normal cut and paste shortcuts</h2>
1033 Select the object(s) and then press <kbd class="mod1">x</kbd>. This puts
1034 the deleted object(s) into the cut buffer so that they could be pasted
1038 <h2>Using just the mouse</h2>
1040 By default, <kbd class="mouse">Shift Right</kbd> will delete the
1041 clicked-upon object. Like the Del key, this does <strong>not</strong>
1042 put the deleted object(s) into the cut buffer.
1045 The modifier and mouse button used for this can be controlled via
1046 <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > User Interaction >
1047 Delete using ...</kbd>. Any modifier and mouse button combination can
1053 title: Starting Ardour
1058 There are several ways of <dfn>starting Ardour</dfn>, which may vary
1059 depending on which platform you are using it.
1063 <li>double-click the Ardour icon in your platform's file manager (e.g.
1064 Nautilus on Linux, Finder on OS X)</li>
1065 <li>double click on an Ardour session file in your platform's file manager</li>
1066 <li>on Linux, you can also start Ardour <a
1067 href="/ardours-interface/starting-ardour/starting-ardour-from-the-command-line">on the command line</a></li>
1071 When Ardour is run for the very first time, a special dialog is displayed
1072 that will ask you several questions about your setup. You will not be asked
1073 these questions again, but you can always modify your choices via the
1074 <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences</kbd> dialog.
1078 If you want to use JACK, in general, it is sensible to start <em>before</em> you run Ardour. This is not necessary, but will provide you with more control and options over JACK's operation. You can start JACK through its <abbr title="Command Line Interface">CLI</abbr>, or using a <abbr title="Graphical User Interface">GUI</abbr> program, like <a href="https://qjackctl.sourceforge.io/">QjackCtl</a> or <a href="http://kxstudio.linuxaudio.org/Applications:Cadence">Cadence</a>.
1082 If you open Ardour without specifying an existing session it will display
1083 the <kbd class="menu">Session > New...</kbd> dialog and the <kbd class="menu">Audio/MIDI Setup</kbd> dialog. See <a href="/working-with-sessions/new-session-dialog/">New/Open Session Dialog</a> for a description of those dialogs.
1086 <h2>Starting Ardour From the Command Line (Linux)</h2>
1089 Like (almost) any other program on Linux, Ardour can be started on the
1090 command line. Type the following command in a terminal window:
1092 <kbd class="cmd lin">ardour5</kbd>
1094 To start Ardour with an existing session:
1096 <kbd class="cmd lin">ardour5 <em>/path/to/session</em></kbd>
1098 replacing /path/to/session with the actual path to your session. You can
1099 specify either the session folder or any session file inside the folder,
1100 including snapshots.
1103 To start Ardour with a new, named session:
1105 <kbd class="cmd lin">ardour5 -N <em>/path/to/session</em></kbd>
1109 title: Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts
1115 title: Default Keyboard Bindings
1116 menu_title: Key Bindings
1121 Almost every available function in Ardour can be bound to a keyboard
1122 shortcut (and those few that cannot will usually respond to an <a
1123 href="/using-control-surfaces/controlling-ardour-with-osc/"><abbr
1124 title="Open Sound Control">OSC</abbr> command</a>). Ardour comes with a
1125 rich set of default <dfn>key bindings</dfn> for the most commonly used
1129 <p>These bindings strive to be <dfn>mnemonic</dfn>, that is, easy and intuitive
1130 to remember, and follow widely accepted conventions. As a general rule,
1131 the first letter of an operation will be used for as a shortcut, if
1132 available. This does not necessarily lead to the best ergonomics for
1133 rapid editing—there are alternative binding sets for that—but it does make it simpler for newcomers to remember some of the most
1134 useful ones, for example<br />
1135 <kbd>S</kbd> for <kbd class="menu">Region > Edit > Split"</kbd>
1137 <kbd>P</kbd> for <kbd class="menu">Transport > Playhead > Playhead to Mouse</kbd>.
1141 Almost every key binding in Ardour can be changed in <kbd class="menu">Window > Key Bindings</kbd>.
1145 The conventions for using modifier keys (<kbd class="mod1">‌</kbd>, <kbd
1146 class="mod2">‌</kbd>, <kbd class="mod3">‌</kbd> etc.) differ among platforms, so we provide different default bindings for each.
1150 title: Mnemonic Bindings for Linux
1156 A printable cheat-sheet with the mnemonic bindings for <dfn>Linux</dfn>
1157 is available for download in
1158 <a href="/files/a3_mnemonic_cheatsheet.pdf">US Letter</a> and
1159 <a href="/files/a3_mnemonic_cheatsheet-a4.pdf">A4</a> paper format.
1163 This set of bindings assumes an en_US keyboard. However, most if not all
1164 bindings will also work on other keyboards when you use the
1165 <kbd>AltGr</kbd> to compose those glyphs that are not directly accessible.
1168 <h2>Transport & Recording Control</h2>
1170 <dl class="bindings">
1171 <dt>destroy last recording</dt>
1172 <dd><kbd class="mod1">Del</kbd></dd>
1173 <dt>engage record</dt>
1174 <dd><kbd class="mod3">r</kbd></dd>
1175 <dt>fast forward</dt>
1176 <dd><kbd class="mod3">→</kbd></dd>
1177 <dt>loop play (the loop range)</dt>
1178 <dd><kbd class="">l</kbd></dd>
1180 <dd><kbd class="mod3">←</kbd></dd>
1181 <dt>set playhead position</dt>
1182 <dd><kbd class="">p</kbd></dd>
1183 <dt>start recording</dt>
1184 <dd><kbd class="mod3">Space</kbd></dd>
1185 <dt>stop (keep loop/range play)</dt>
1186 <dd><kbd class="mod12">Space</kbd></dd>
1187 <dt>stop and destroy</dt>
1188 <dd><kbd class="mod1">Space</kbd></dd>
1189 <dt>toggle auto play</dt>
1190 <dd><kbd class="">5</kbd></dd>
1191 <dt>toggle auto return</dt>
1192 <dd><kbd class="">6</kbd></dd>
1193 <dt>toggle click (metronome)</dt>
1194 <dd><kbd class="">7</kbd></dd>
1195 <dt>toggle playhead follows edits</dt>
1196 <dd><kbd class="mod3">F</kbd></dd>
1197 <dt>toggle playhead tracking</dt>
1198 <dd><kbd class="mod1">F</kbd></dd>
1199 <dt>toggle roll</dt>
1200 <dd><kbd class="">Space</kbd></dd>
1201 <dt>toggle selected track rec-enable </dt>
1202 <dd><kbd class="mod3">b</kbd></dd>
1203 <dt>toggle selected track solo status</dt>
1204 <dd><kbd class="mod2">s</kbd></dd>
1205 <dt>transition to reverse</dt>
1206 <dd><kbd class="mod3">↓</kbd></dd>
1207 <dt>transition to roll</dt>
1208 <dd><kbd class="mod3">↑</kbd></dd>
1211 <h2>Session & File Handling</h2>
1213 <dl class="bindings">
1214 <dt>add track(s) or bus(ses)</dt>
1215 <dd><kbd class="mod13">n</kbd></dd>
1216 <dt>export session</dt>
1217 <dd><kbd class="mod4">e</kbd></dd>
1218 <dt>import audio files</dt>
1219 <dd><kbd class="mod1">i</kbd></dd>
1220 <dt>open a new session</dt>
1221 <dd><kbd class="mod1">n</kbd></dd>
1222 <dt>open a recent session</dt>
1223 <dd><kbd class="mod13">o</kbd></dd>
1224 <dt>open an existing session</dt>
1225 <dd><kbd class="mod1">o</kbd></dd>
1227 <dd><kbd class="mod1">q</kbd></dd>
1228 <dt>save session</dt>
1229 <dd><kbd class="mod1">s</kbd></dd>
1230 <dt>snapshot session</dt>
1231 <dd><kbd class="mod13">s</kbd></dd>
1232 <dt>toggle selected track MIDI input</dt>
1233 <dd><kbd class="mod2">i</kbd></dd>
1236 <h2>Changing What's Visible</h2>
1238 <dl class="bindings">
1239 <dt>fit tracks vertically</dt>
1240 <dd><kbd class="">f</kbd></dd>
1241 <dt>move selected tracks down</dt>
1242 <dd><kbd class="mod1">↓</kbd></dd>
1243 <dt>move selected tracks up</dt>
1244 <dd><kbd class="mod1">↑</kbd></dd>
1245 <dt>scroll down (page)</dt>
1246 <dd><kbd class="">PgDn</kbd></dd>
1247 <dt>scroll down (step)</dt>
1248 <dd><kbd class="">↓</kbd></dd>
1249 <dt>scroll up (page)</dt>
1250 <dd><kbd class="">PgUp</kbd></dd>
1251 <dt>scroll up (step)</dt>
1252 <dd><kbd class="">↑</kbd></dd>
1253 <dt>toggle editor window mixer</dt>
1254 <dd><kbd class="mod3">e</kbd></dd>
1255 <dt>visual undo</dt>
1256 <dd><kbd class="mod3">z</kbd></dd>
1257 <dt>zoom height to selected region(s)</dt>
1258 <dd><kbd class="mod12">z</kbd></dd>
1259 <dt>zoom height and time to selected region</dt>
1260 <dd><kbd class="mod2">z</kbd></dd>
1262 <dd><kbd class="">=</kbd></dd>
1264 <dd><kbd class="">-</kbd></dd>
1267 <h2>Window Visibility</h2>
1269 <dl class="bindings">
1270 <dt>toggle locations dialog</dt>
1271 <dd><kbd class="mod2">l</kbd>(ell)</dd>
1272 <dt>focus on main clock</dt>
1273 <dd><kbd class="kp">÷</kbd></dd>
1274 <dt>maximise editor space</dt>
1275 <dd><kbd class="mod12">f</kbd></dd>
1276 <dt>switch between editor & mixer window</dt>
1277 <dd><kbd class="mod2">m</kbd></dd>
1278 <dt>show rhythm ferret window </dt>
1279 <dd><kbd class="mod2">f</kbd></dd>
1280 <dt>toggle big clock</dt>
1281 <dd><kbd class="mod2">b</kbd></dd>
1282 <dt>toggle color manager</dt>
1283 <dd><kbd class="mod2">c</kbd></dd>
1284 <dt>toggle editor window</dt>
1285 <dd><kbd class="mod2">e</kbd></dd>
1286 <dt>toggle global audio patchbay</dt>
1287 <dd><kbd class="mod2">p</kbd></dd>
1288 <dt>toggle global midi patchbay</dt>
1289 <dd><kbd class="mod23">p</kbd></dd>
1290 <dt>toggle key bindings editor</dt>
1291 <dd><kbd class="mod2">k</kbd></dd>
1292 <dt>toggle preferences dialog</dt>
1293 <dd><kbd class="mod2">o</kbd></dd>
1294 <dt>toggle preferences dialog</dt>
1295 <dd><kbd class="mod13">p</kbd></dd>
1298 <h2>Editing with Edit Point</h2>
1301 Most edit functions operate on a single <dfn>Edit Point</dfn> (EP). The edit
1302 point can be any of: playhead (default), the mouse or an active marker.
1303 The choice of edit point (by default) also sets the <dfn>Zoom Focus</dfn>.
1306 <dl class="bindings">
1307 <dt>EP to next region sync</dt>
1308 <dd><kbd class="">;</kbd></dd>
1309 <dt>EP to prev region sync</dt>
1310 <dd><kbd class="">'</kbd></dd>
1311 <dt>cycle to next grid snap mode</dt>
1312 <dd><kbd class="">2</kbd></dd>
1313 <dt>cycle to next zoom focus</dt>
1314 <dd><kbd class="">1</kbd></dd>
1315 <dt>insert from region list</dt>
1316 <dd><kbd class="">i</kbd></dd>
1317 <dt>insert time</dt>
1318 <dd><kbd class="mod1">t</kbd></dd>
1319 <dt>move EP to playhead</dt>
1320 <dd><kbd class="mod2">↵</kbd></dd>
1321 <dt>next EP w/marker</dt>
1322 <dd><kbd class="mod1">`</kbd></dd>
1323 <dt>next EP w/o marker</dt>
1324 <dd><kbd class="">`</kbd></dd>
1326 <dd><kbd class="">k</kbd></dd>
1328 <dd><kbd class="">j</kbd></dd>
1329 <dt>trim region end to edit point</dt>
1330 <dd><kbd class="mod3">}</kbd></dd>
1331 <dt>trim region start to edit point</dt>
1332 <dd><kbd class="mod3">{</kbd></dd>
1333 <dt>trim region to end of prev region</dt>
1334 <dd><kbd class="mod1">j</kbd></dd>
1335 <dt>trim region to start of next region</dt>
1336 <dd><kbd class="mod1">k</kbd></dd>
1337 <dt>use previous grid unit</dt>
1338 <dd><kbd class="">3</kbd></dd>
1339 <dt>use next grid unit</dt>
1340 <dd><kbd class="">4</kbd></dd>
1341 <dt>use previous grid unit</dt>
1342 <dd><kbd class="mod1">3</kbd></dd>
1343 <dt>use next musical grid unit</dt>
1344 <dd><kbd class="mod1">4</kbd></dd>
1347 <h2>Aligning with the Edit Point</h2>
1350 <dfn>Align operations</dfn> move regions so that their start/end/sync
1351 point is at the edit point. <dfn>Relative</dfn> operations just align the first
1352 region and moves other selected regions to maintain relative positioning.
1355 <dl class="bindings">
1356 <dt>align end(s)</dt>
1357 <dd><kbd class="mod2">a</kbd></dd>
1358 <dt>align start(s)</dt>
1359 <dd><kbd class="mod14">a</kbd></dd>
1360 <dt>align start(s) relative</dt>
1361 <dd><kbd class="mod4">a</kbd></dd>
1362 <dt>align sync points</dt>
1363 <dd><kbd class="mod3">a</kbd></dd>
1364 <dt>align sync points (relative)</dt>
1365 <dd><kbd class="">a</kbd></dd>
1366 <dt>range end to next prev edge</dt>
1367 <dd><kbd class="mod1">></kbd></dd>
1368 <dt>range end to next region edge</dt>
1369 <dd><kbd class="">></kbd></dd>
1370 <dt>range start to next region edge</dt>
1371 <dd><kbd class="mod1"><</kbd></dd>
1372 <dt>range start to prev region edge</dt>
1373 <dd><kbd class=""><</kbd></dd>
1376 <h2>Edit Point Playback</h2>
1378 <dl class="bindings">
1379 <dt>play edit range</dt>
1380 <dd><kbd class="mod2">Space</kbd></dd>
1381 <dt>play from EP & return</dt>
1382 <dd><kbd class="mod4">Space</kbd></dd>
1383 <dt>play selected region(s)</dt>
1384 <dd><kbd class="">h</kbd></dd>
1386 <h2>Region Operations</h2>
1388 <dl class="bindings">
1389 <dt>duplicate region (multi)</dt>
1390 <dd><kbd class="mod3">d</kbd></dd>
1391 <dt>duplicate region (once)</dt>
1392 <dd><kbd class="mod2">d</kbd></dd>
1393 <dt>export selected region(s)</dt>
1394 <dd><kbd class="mod14">e</kbd></dd>
1395 <dt>increase region gain</dt>
1396 <dd><kbd class="">^</kbd></dd>
1397 <dt>move to original position</dt>
1398 <dd><kbd class="mod2">o</kbd></dd>
1399 <dt>mute/unmute</dt>
1400 <dd><kbd class="mod1">m</kbd></dd>
1402 <dd><kbd class="">n</kbd></dd>
1403 <dt>nudge backward</dt>
1404 <dd><kbd class="kp">–</kbd></dd>
1405 <dt>nudge forward</dt>
1406 <dd><kbd class="kp">+</kbd></dd>
1407 <dt>quantize MIDI notes </dt>
1408 <dd><kbd class="">q</kbd></dd>
1409 <dt>reduce region gain</dt>
1410 <dd><kbd class="">&</kbd></dd>
1412 <dd><kbd class="mod2">r</kbd></dd>
1413 <dt>set fade in length</dt>
1414 <dd><kbd class="">/</kbd></dd>
1415 <dt>set fade out length</dt>
1416 <dd><kbd class="">\</kbd></dd>
1417 <dt>set region sync point</dt>
1418 <dd><kbd class="">v</kbd></dd>
1420 <dd><kbd class="">s</kbd></dd>
1421 <dt>toggle fade in active</dt>
1422 <dd><kbd class="mod1">/</kbd></dd>
1423 <dt>toggle fade out active</dt>
1424 <dd><kbd class="mod1">\</kbd></dd>
1426 <dd><kbd class="mod2">t</kbd></dd>
1429 <h2>Generic Editing</h2>
1431 <dl class="bindings">
1433 <dd><kbd class="mod1">c</kbd></dd>
1435 <dd><kbd class="mod1">x</kbd></dd>
1437 <dd><kbd class="">Del</kbd></dd>
1439 <dd><kbd class="mod1">v</kbd></dd>
1441 <dd><kbd class="mod1">r</kbd></dd>
1443 <dd><kbd class="mod1">z</kbd></dd>
1449 There are a few functions that refer to an <dfn>Edit Range</dfn>. The
1450 current edit range is defined using combinations of the possible edit
1451 points: <dfn>playhead</dfn>, <dfn>active marker</dfn>, or <dfn>mouse</dfn>.
1454 <dl class="bindings">
1455 <dt>all after playhead</dt>
1456 <dd><kbd class="mod13">p</kbd></dd>
1457 <dt>all before playhead</dt>
1458 <dd><kbd class="mod1">p</kbd></dd>
1459 <dt>all enclosed by edit range</dt>
1460 <dd><kbd class="mod1">u</kbd></dd>
1461 <dt>all present in edit range</dt>
1462 <dd><kbd class="">u</kbd></dd>
1463 <dt>convert edit range to range</dt>
1464 <dd><kbd class="">F6</kbd></dd>
1465 <dt>invert selection</dt>
1466 <dd><kbd class="mod3">i</kbd></dd>
1467 <dt>select all after EP</dt>
1468 <dd><kbd class="mod13">e</kbd></dd>
1469 <dt>select all before EP</dt>
1470 <dd><kbd class="mod1">e</kbd></dd>
1471 <dt>select all in loop range</dt>
1472 <dd><kbd class="mod1">l</kbd></dd>
1473 <dt>select all in punch range</dt>
1474 <dd><kbd class="mod1">d</kbd></dd>
1475 <dt>select everything</dt>
1476 <dd><kbd class="mod1">a</kbd></dd>
1477 <dt>select next track/bus</dt>
1478 <dd><kbd class="mod2">↓</kbd></dd>
1479 <dt>select previous track/bus</dt>
1480 <dd><kbd class="mod2">↑</kbd></dd>
1483 <h2>Defining Loop, Punch Range and Tempo Changes</h2>
1485 <dl class="bindings">
1486 <dt>set loop range from edit range</dt>
1487 <dd><kbd class="">]</kbd></dd>
1488 <dt>set loop range from region(s)</dt>
1489 <dd><kbd class="mod2">]</kbd></dd>
1490 <dt>set punch range from edit range</dt>
1491 <dd><kbd class="">[</kbd></dd>
1492 <dt>set punch range from region(s)</dt>
1493 <dd><kbd class="mod2">[</kbd></dd>
1494 <dt>set tempo (1 bar) from edit range</dt>
1495 <dd><kbd class="">0</kbd></dd>
1496 <dt>set tempo (1 bar) from region(s)</dt>
1497 <dd><kbd class="">9</kbd></dd>
1501 title: Mnemonic Bindings for OS X
1506 A <a href="/files/a3_mnemonic_cheat_sheet_osx.pdf">printable cheat sheet</a>
1507 for these bindings is available for download.
1510 <h2>Transport & Recording Control</h2>
1511 <dl class="bindings">
1512 <dt>destroy last recording</dt>
1513 <dd><kbd class="mod1">Del</kbd></dd>
1514 <dt>engage record</dt>
1515 <dd><kbd class="mod3">r</kbd></dd>
1516 <dt>fast forward</dt>
1517 <dd><kbd class="mod3">→</kbd></dd>
1518 <dt>loop play (the loop range)</dt>
1519 <dd><kbd class="">l</kbd></dd>
1521 <dd><kbd class="mod3">←</kbd></dd>
1522 <dt>set playhead position</dt>
1523 <dd><kbd class="">p</kbd></dd>
1524 <dt>start recording</dt>
1525 <dd><kbd class="mod3">space</kbd></dd>
1526 <dt>stop (keep loop/range play)</dt>
1527 <dd><kbd class="mod12">space</kbd></dd>
1528 <dt>stop and destroy</dt>
1529 <dd><kbd class="mod1">space</kbd></dd>
1530 <dt>toggle auto play</dt>
1531 <dd><kbd class="">5</kbd></dd>
1532 <dt>toggle auto return</dt>
1533 <dd><kbd class="">6</kbd></dd>
1534 <dt>toggle click (metronome)</dt>
1535 <dd><kbd class="">7</kbd></dd>
1536 <dt>toggle playhead follows edits</dt>
1537 <dd><kbd class="mod3">f</kbd></dd>
1538 <dt>toggle playhead tracking</dt>
1539 <dd><kbd class="mod1">f</kbd></dd>
1540 <dt>toggle roll</dt>
1541 <dd><kbd class="">space</kbd></dd>
1542 <dt>toggle track rec-enable </dt>
1543 <dd><kbd class="mod3">b</kbd></dd>
1544 <dt>toggle track solo status</dt>
1545 <dd><kbd class="mod2">s</kbd></dd>
1546 <dt>transition to reverse</dt>
1547 <dd><kbd class="mod3">↓</kbd></dd>
1548 <dt>transition to roll</dt>
1549 <dd><kbd class="mod3">↑</kbd></dd>
1551 <h2>Session & File Handling</h2>
1552 <dl class="bindings">
1553 <dt>add track(s) or bus(ses)</dt>
1554 <dd><kbd class="mod13">n</kbd></dd>
1555 <dt>export session</dt>
1556 <dd><kbd class="mod1">e</kbd></dd>
1557 <dt>import audio files</dt>
1558 <dd><kbd class="mod1">i</kbd></dd>
1559 <dt>open a new session</dt>
1560 <dd><kbd class="mod1">n</kbd></dd>
1561 <dt>open a recent session</dt>
1562 <dd><kbd class="mod13">o</kbd></dd>
1563 <dt>open an existing session</dt>
1564 <dd><kbd class="mod1">o</kbd></dd>
1566 <dd><kbd class="mod1">q</kbd></dd>
1567 <dt>save session</dt>
1568 <dd><kbd class="mod1">s</kbd></dd>
1569 <dt>snapshot session</dt>
1570 <dd><kbd class="mod13">s</kbd></dd>
1571 <dt>toggle sel. track MIDI input</dt>
1572 <dd><kbd class="mod2">i</kbd></dd>
1574 <h2>Changing What's Visible</h2>
1575 <dl class="bindings">
1576 <dt>fit tracks vertically</dt>
1577 <dd><kbd class="">f</kbd></dd>
1578 <dt>move selected tracks down</dt>
1579 <dd><kbd class="mod1">↓</kbd></dd>
1580 <dt>move selected tracks up</dt>
1581 <dd><kbd class="mod1">↑</kbd></dd>
1582 <dt>scroll down (page)</dt>
1583 <dd><kbd class="">PgDn</kbd></dd>
1584 <dt>scroll down (step)</dt>
1585 <dd><kbd class="">↓</kbd></dd>
1586 <dt>scroll up (page)</dt>
1587 <dd><kbd class="">PageUp</kbd></dd>
1588 <dt>scroll up (step)</dt>
1589 <dd><kbd class="">↑</kbd></dd>
1590 <dt>toggle editor window mixer</dt>
1591 <dd><kbd class="mod3">e</kbd></dd>
1592 <dt>toggle last 2 zoom states</dt>
1593 <dd><kbd class="mod3">z</kbd></dd>
1594 <dt>zoom height to selected region(s)</dt>
1595 <dd><kbd class="mod1">Control+z</kbd></dd>
1596 <dt>zoom height and time to selected region</dt>
1597 <dd><kbd class="mod2">z</kbd></dd>
1599 <dd><kbd class="">=</kbd></dd>
1601 <dd><kbd class="">-</kbd></dd>
1603 <h2>Window Visibility</h2>
1604 <dl class="bindings">
1605 <dt>toggle locations dialog</dt>
1606 <dd><kbd class="mod2">l</kbd></dd>
1607 <dt>focus on main clock</dt>
1608 <dd><kbd class="kp">÷</kbd></dd>
1609 <dt>maximise editor space</dt>
1610 <dd><kbd class="mod12">f</kbd></dd>
1611 <dt>rotate editor & mixer window</dt>
1612 <dd><kbd class="mod2">m</kbd></dd>
1613 <dt>show rhythm ferret window </dt>
1614 <dd><kbd class="mod2">f</kbd></dd>
1615 <dt>toggle big clock</dt>
1616 <dd><kbd class="mod2">b</kbd></dd>
1617 <dt>toggle color manager</dt>
1618 <dd><kbd class="mod2">c</kbd></dd>
1619 <dt>toggle editor window</dt>
1620 <dd><kbd class="mod2">e</kbd></dd>
1621 <dt>toggle global audio patchbay</dt>
1622 <dd><kbd class="mod2">p</kbd></dd>
1623 <dt>toggle global midi patchbay</dt>
1624 <dd><kbd class="mod23">p</kbd></dd>
1625 <dt>toggle key bindings editor</dt>
1626 <dd><kbd class="mod2">k</kbd></dd>
1627 <dt>toggle preferences dialog</dt>
1628 <dd><kbd class="mod2">o</kbd></dd>
1629 <dt>toggle preferences dialog</dt>
1630 <dd><kbd class="mod13">p</kbd></dd>
1633 <h2>Editing with Edit Point</h2>
1635 Most edit functions operate on a single <dfn>Edit Point</dfn> (EP). The
1637 point can be any of: playhead (default), the mouse or an active marker.
1638 The choice of edit point (by default) also sets the <dfn>Zoom Focus</dfn>.
1641 <dl class="bindings">
1642 <dt>EP to next region sync</dt>
1643 <dd><kbd class="">;</kbd></dd>
1644 <dt>EP to prev region sync</dt>
1645 <dd><kbd class="">'</kbd></dd>
1646 <dt>cycle to next grid snap mode</dt>
1647 <dd><kbd class="">2</kbd></dd>
1648 <dt>cycle to next zoom focus</dt>
1649 <dd><kbd class="">1</kbd></dd>
1650 <dt>insert from region list</dt>
1651 <dd><kbd class="">i</kbd></dd>
1652 <dt>insert time</dt>
1653 <dd><kbd class="mod1">t</kbd></dd>
1654 <dt>move EP to playhead</dt>
1655 <dd><kbd class="mod2">Return</kbd></dd>
1656 <dt>next EP w/marker</dt>
1657 <dd><kbd class="mod1">^</kbd></dd>
1658 <dt>next EP w/o marker</dt>
1659 <dd><kbd class="">`</kbd></dd>
1661 <dd><kbd class="">k</kbd></dd>
1663 <dd><kbd class="">j</kbd></dd>
1664 <dt>trim region end to edit point</dt>
1665 <dd><kbd class="mod3">}</kbd></dd>
1666 <dt>trim region start to edit point</dt>
1667 <dd><kbd class="mod3">{</kbd></dd>
1668 <dt>trim region to end of prev region</dt>
1669 <dd><kbd class="mod1">j</kbd></dd>
1670 <dt>trim region to start of next region</dt>
1671 <dd><kbd class="mod1">k</kbd></dd>
1672 <dt>use previous grid unit</dt>
1673 <dd><kbd class="">3</kbd></dd>
1674 <dt>use next grid unit</dt>
1675 <dd><kbd class="">4</kbd></dd>
1676 <dt>use previous grid unit</dt>
1677 <dd><kbd class="mod1">3</kbd></dd>
1678 <dt>use next musical grid unit</dt>
1679 <dd><kbd class="mod1">4</kbd></dd>
1682 <h2>Aligning with the Edit Point</h2>
1684 <dfn>Align operations</dfn> move regions so that their start/end/sync
1685 point is at the edit point. <dfn>Relative</dfn> operations just align
1686 the first region and moves other selected regions to maintain relative
1690 <dl class="bindings">
1691 <dt>align end(s)</dt>
1692 <dd><kbd class="mod2">a</kbd></dd>
1693 <dt>align start(s)</dt>
1695 <dt>align start(s) relative</dt>
1696 <dd><kbd class=""></kbd></dd>
1697 <dt>align sync points</dt>
1698 <dd><kbd class="mod3">a</kbd></dd>
1699 <dt>align sync points (relative)</dt>
1700 <dd><kbd class="">a</kbd></dd>
1701 <dt>range end to next prev edge</dt>
1702 <dd><kbd class="mod1">></kbd></dd>
1703 <dt>range end to next region edge</dt>
1704 <dd><kbd class="">></kbd></dd>
1705 <dt>range start to next region edge</dt>
1706 <dd><kbd class="mod1"><</kbd></dd>
1707 <dt>range start to prev region edge</dt>
1708 <dd><kbd class=""><</kbd></dd>
1711 <h2>Edit Point Playback</h2>
1713 <dl class="bindings">
1714 <dt>play edit range</dt>
1715 <dd><kbd class="mod2">Space</kbd></dd>
1716 <dt>play from EP & return</dt>
1717 <dd><kbd class="mod1">Space</kbd></dd>
1718 <dt>play selected region(s)</dt>
1719 <dd><kbd class="">h</kbd></dd>
1721 <h2>Region Operations</h2>
1722 <dl class="bindings">
1723 <dt>duplicate region (multi)</dt>
1724 <dd><kbd class="mod3">d</kbd></dd>
1725 <dt>duplicate region (once)</dt>
1726 <dd><kbd class="mod2">d</kbd></dd>
1727 <dt>export selected region(s)</dt>
1729 <dt>increase region gain</dt>
1730 <dd><kbd class="">^</kbd></dd>
1731 <dt>move to original position</dt>
1732 <dd><kbd class="mod2">o</kbd></dd>
1733 <dt>mute/unmute</dt>
1734 <dd><kbd class="mod1">m</kbd></dd>
1736 <dd><kbd class="">n</kbd></dd>
1737 <dt>nudge backward</dt>
1738 <dd><kbd class="kp">–</kbd></dd>
1739 <dt>nudge forward</dt>
1740 <dd><kbd class="kp">+</kbd></dd>
1741 <dt>quantize MIDI notes </dt>
1742 <dd><kbd class="">q</kbd></dd>
1743 <dt>reduce region gain</dt>
1744 <dd><kbd class="">&</kbd></dd>
1746 <dd><kbd class="mod2">r</kbd></dd>
1747 <dt>set fade in length</dt>
1748 <dd><kbd class="">/</kbd></dd>
1749 <dt>set fade out length</dt>
1750 <dd><kbd class="">\</kbd></dd>
1751 <dt>set region sync point</dt>
1752 <dd><kbd class="">v</kbd></dd>
1754 <dd><kbd class="">s</kbd></dd>
1755 <dt>toggle fade in active</dt>
1756 <dd><kbd class="mod1">/</kbd></dd>
1757 <dt>toggle fade out active</dt>
1758 <dd><kbd class="mod1">\</kbd></dd>
1760 <dd><kbd class="mod2">t</kbd></dd>
1763 <h2>Generic Editing</h2>
1765 <dl class="bindings">
1767 <dd><kbd class="mod1">c</kbd></dd>
1769 <dd><kbd class="mod1">x</kbd></dd>
1771 <dd><kbd class="">Del</kbd></dd>
1773 <dd><kbd class="mod1">v</kbd></dd>
1775 <dd><kbd class="mod1">r</kbd></dd>
1777 <dd><kbd class="mod1">z</kbd></dd>
1782 There are a few functions that refer to an <dfn>Edit Range</dfn>. The
1783 current edit range is defined using combinations of the possible edit
1784 points: <dfn>playhead</dfn>, <dfn>active marker</dfn>, or<dfn>mouse</dfn>.
1787 <dl class="bindings">
1788 <dt>all after playhead</dt>
1789 <dd><kbd class="mod13">p</kbd></dd>
1790 <dt>all before playhead</dt>
1791 <dd><kbd class="mod1">p</kbd></dd>
1792 <dt>all enclosed by edit range</dt>
1793 <dd><kbd class="mod1">u</kbd></dd>
1794 <dt>all present in edit range</dt>
1795 <dd><kbd class="">u</kbd></dd>
1796 <dt>convert edit range to range</dt>
1797 <dd><kbd class="">F6</kbd></dd>
1798 <dt>invert selection</dt>
1799 <dd><kbd class="mod3">i</kbd></dd>
1800 <dt>select all after EP</dt>
1801 <dd><kbd class="mod1">Shift+e</kbd></dd>
1802 <dt>select all before EP</dt>
1803 <dd><kbd class="mod1">e</kbd></dd>
1804 <dt>select all in loop range</dt>
1805 <dd><kbd class="mod1">l</kbd></dd>
1806 <dt>select all in punch range</dt>
1807 <dd><kbd class="mod1">d</kbd></dd>
1808 <dt>select everything</dt>
1809 <dd><kbd class="mod1">a</kbd></dd>
1810 <dt>select next track/bus</dt>
1811 <dd><kbd class="mod2">↓</kbd></dd>
1812 <dt>select previous track/bus</dt>
1813 <dd><kbd class="mod2">↑</kbd></dd>
1815 <h2>Defining Loop, Punch Range and Tempo Changes</h2>
1816 <dl class="bindings">
1817 <dt>set loop range from edit range</dt>
1818 <dd><kbd class="">]</kbd></dd>
1819 <dt>set loop range from region(s)</dt>
1820 <dd><kbd class="mod2">]</kbd></dd>
1821 <dt>set punch range from edit range</dt>
1822 <dd><kbd class="">[</kbd></dd>
1823 <dt>set punch range from region(s)</dt>
1824 <dd><kbd class="mod2">[</kbd></dd>
1825 <dt>set tempo (1 bar) from edit range</dt>
1826 <dd><kbd class="">0</kbd></dd>
1827 <dt>set tempo (1 bar) from region(s)</dt>
1828 <dd><kbd class="">9</kbd></dd>
1836 title: Ardour Configuration
1842 title: Ardour Systems
1848 title: The Right Computer System for Digital Audio
1849 menu_title: The Right Computer System
1854 It would be nice to think that you could just go and buy any computer,
1855 install a bit of software on it and start using it to record and create
1856 music. This idea isn't wrong, but there some important details that it
1860 Any computer that you can buy today (since somewhere around the end of
1861 2012) is capable of recording and processing a lot of audio data. It
1862 will come with a builtin audio interface that can accept inputs from
1863 microphones or electrical instruments. It will have a disk with a huge
1864 amount of space for storing audio files.
1867 When you are recording, editing and mixing music, you generally want to
1868 work with very little <dfn>latency</dfn> between the time that
1869 a sound is generated and when you can hear it. When the audio signal
1870 flows through a computer, that means that the computer has to be able to
1871 receive the signal, process it and send it back out again as fast as
1873 And that is where it becomes very important <em>what</em> computer system
1874 you have, because it is <strong>absolutely not</strong> the case that any
1875 computer can do this job well.
1878 Routing audio through a computer will always cause some delay, but if it
1879 is small, you will generally never notice it. There are also ways to work
1880 in which the delay does not matter at all (for example, not sending the
1881 output from the computer to speakers).
1884 The latency that you want for working with digital audio is typically in
1885 the 1–5 ms range. For comparison, if you are sitting 1 m
1886 (3 ft) from your speakers, the time the sound takes to reach your
1887 ears is about 3 ms. Any modern computer can limit the delay to
1888 100 ms. Most can keep it under 50 ms. Many will be able to get
1889 down to 10 ms without too much effort. If you try to reduce the delay
1890 on a computer that cannot meet your goal, you will get clicks and
1891 glitches in the audio, which is clearly extremely undesirable.
1894 <h2>Hardware-related Considerations</h2>
1895 <dl class="wide-table">
1896 <dt>Video interface</dt>
1897 <dd>Poorly engineered video interfaces (and/or their device drivers) can
1898 "steal" computer resources for a long time, preventing the audio interface
1899 from keeping up with the flow of data</dd>
1900 <dt>Wireless interface</dt>
1901 <dd>Poorly engineered wireless networking interfaces (and/or their device
1902 drivers) can also block the audio interface from keeping up with the flow
1904 <dt><abbr title="Universal Serial Bus">USB</abbr> ports</dt>
1905 <dd>If you are using an audio interface connected via USB, and sometimes
1906 even if you are not, the precise configuration of your system's USB ports
1907 can make a big difference. There are many cases where plugging the
1908 interface into one port will work, but using different USB port results
1909 in much worse performance. This has been seen even on Apple systems.
1911 <dt>Internal USB Hubs</dt>
1912 <dd>Ideally, you'd like your USB ports to all connect directly to the
1913 main bus inside the computer. Some laptops (and possibly some
1914 desktop systems) come wired with an internal USB hub between the
1915 ports and the system bus, which can then cause problems for various
1916 kinds of external USB devices, including some models of audio
1917 interfaces. It is very difficult to discover whether this is true or
1918 not, without simplying trying it out.</dd>
1919 <dt><abbr title="Central Processing Unit">CPU</abbr> speed control</dt>
1920 <dd>Handling audio with low latency requires that your processor keeps
1921 running at its highest speed at all times. Many portable systems try to
1922 regulate processor speed in order to save power—for low latency
1923 audio, you want this totally disabled, either in the BIOS or at the OS
1925 <dt>Excessive Interrupt Sharing</dt>
1926 <dd>If your audio interface is forced by your computer to share an
1927 interrupt line (basically a way to tell the CPU that something needs
1928 its attention) with too many, or the wrong, other devices, this can also
1929 prevent the audio interface from keeping up with the flow of data. In
1930 laptops it is generally impossible to do anything about this. In many
1931 desktop systems, it is possible at the BIOS level to reassign interrupts
1932 to work around the problem.</dd>
1933 <dt><abbr title="System Management Interrupt">SMI</abbr>s</dt>
1934 <dd>SMIs are interrupts sent by the motherboard to tell the computer
1935 about the state of various hardware. They cannot safely be disabled,
1936 but they can also take a relatively long time to process. It is better
1937 to have a motherboard which never sends SMIs at all— this is
1938 also a requirement for realtime stock trading systems, which have
1939 similar issues with latency.</dd>
1940 <dt>Hyperthreading</dt>
1941 <dd>This technology is becoming less common as actual multi-core CPUs
1942 become the norm, but it still exists and is generally not good for
1943 realtime performance. Sometimes you can disable this in the BIOS,
1944 sometimes you cannot. A processor that uses hyperthreading will be
1945 less stable in very low latency situations than one without.</dd>
1946 <dt>Excessive vibration</dt>
1947 <dd>This doesn't affect the flow of data to/from the audio interface,
1948 but it can cause the flow of data to/from your disk storage to become
1949 <em>much</em> slower. If you are going to use a computer in an
1950 environment with loud live sound (specifically, high bass volume),
1951 make sure to place it so that the disk is not subject to noticeable
1952 vibration. The vibrations will physically displace the head-write
1953 heads of disk, and the resulting errors will force a retry of the
1954 reading from the disk. Retrying over and over massively reduces the
1955 rate at which data can be read from the disk. Avoid this.</dd>
1964 Ardour is designed to work best with a <dfn>three button mouse</dfn>
1965 equipped with a <dfn>scroll wheel</dfn>.
1969 It can be used with a two button mouse or touchpad, but at least two key
1970 operations will not (easily) be available to you:
1974 <li>time-constrained region copying</li>
1975 <li><a href="/using-control-surfaces/midi-learn/"><abbr title="Musical
1976 Instrument Digital Interface">MIDI</abbr> bindings</a>
1977 created by "learning" them from incoming MIDI data</li>
1981 You are strongly encouraged to invest in a three-button mouse. You will
1982 find that a good quality mouse (especially one with a weighted,
1983 latchable scroll wheel) will make your use of Ardour vastly more
1984 efficient. They are cheap, and time is not.
1988 For more detailed instructions, see
1989 <a href="/ardours-interface/basic-gui-operations/using-the-mouse/">Using the mouse</a>.
2000 title: Setting Up Your System
2005 Using a general purpose computer for recording digital audio is not
2006 trivial. This chapter will guide you through the basic steps and help
2007 you with some of the most common pitfalls on the way to a reliable and
2008 powerful audio workstation.
2012 title: Platform Specifics
2016 <h2>Platform Specifics</h2>
2019 This section of the manual collects together the collective wisdom
2020 of the user community regarding details of using Ardour on various
2030 <dfn>Ubuntu Linux</dfn> is the most popular variety of Linux in use on desktop
2031 and laptop systems. It has the backing of a for-profit corporation
2032 (Canonical Inc.), a defined philosophy and a huge and
2033 worldwide user base. As a result, it is a common platform for people
2034 who want to use Ardour and other tools for music creation and
2038 <h2>High Level Recommendations for Ubuntu Users</h2>
2040 Currently, installing pro audio applications on vanilla Ubuntu requires
2041 some configuration, in order for the user to gain realtime privilege
2043 Ubuntu Studio, which is an official flavor of Ubuntu, and thus shares
2044 the repositories with Ubuntu, has this already configured.
2045 Other distributions, such as KXStudio, and Dreamstudio are largely based
2046 on Ubuntu, and like Ubuntu Studio, has these settings preconfigured, while
2047 also containing customized versions of Ubuntu packages, which often are
2051 <h2>Installing Ardour</h2>
2053 There may be unintended differences, and even bugs in Ubuntu native
2054 packages, as a result of a different building method. For this reason,
2055 Ardour developers highly recommend you to install the official
2056 ready-to-run version of the program that you can get from <a
2057 href="https://community.ardour.org/download">ardour.org</a>, as Ubuntu native
2058 packages are not supported in official Ardour forums or other
2062 Follow these steps to install the latest version of Ardour.
2064 <li>Download the latest release from <a href="https://community.ardour.org/download">
2065 ardour.org</a>.</li>
2066 <li><kbd class="mouse">Right+Click</kbd> the downloaded file and choose
2068 <li>Click the Permissions tab and check the option "Allow this file to
2069 run as a program"</li>
2070 <li>Close the dialog and double-click the file.</li>
2071 <li>Follow the prompts.</li>
2075 <h2>Problems with the interaction between PulseAudio and JACK</h2>
2077 <h3>Background Info</h3>
2079 Like many distributions, Ubuntu has decided to use <dfn>PulseAudio</dfn> as the
2080 default audio system. PulseAudio is a rich and capable system that
2081 provides excellent services for typical users of Linux on the
2082 desktop. However, it is not capable of the type of performance that
2083 tools like Ardour require and in particular does not offer the
2084 possibility of sending audio between applications that can make the
2085 Linux audio environment a very interesting one.
2088 This would not be a problem if it were not for the fact that JACK
2089 will not run correctly (if at all) if it needs to use the same
2090 soundcard/audio interface that PulseAudio is using. And since on
2091 Ubuntu, PulseAudio is configured by default to always use the
2092 (typically single) audio interface on your computer, this is a bit
2096 The developers of JACK and PulseAudio got together in 2009 and
2097 agreed upon a mechanism by which PulseAudio and JACK could cooperate
2098 in their use of a single soundcard. Whether or not PulseAudio is running by
2099 default, when JACK starts up it sends out a request to use the
2100 soundcard. If PulseAudio is running, it will give up its use of the
2101 soundcard to allow JACK to take over (and can optionally be told to
2102 route its own audio through JACK). When JACK finishes, it sends out
2103 another message, and PulseAudio can once again use the soundcard
2106 <h3>What is the problem?</h3>
2108 The specific issues known at this time for all flavors of Ubuntu
2109 12.04 and 12.10 are:
2112 <li>a bug in PulseAudio that causes it not to give up the
2113 soundcard when JACK asks
2114 (<a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/1163638">LP:
2116 fixed in Ubuntu 13.04).</li>
2121 <samp>Cannot start JACK</samp> (though see the next section for other
2127 These bugs do not affect releases from 13.04, and earlier releases
2128 (12.04 and 12.10) are in the process of being fixed.
2131 <h2>Problems with JACK configuration</h2>
2133 <h3>What is the problem?</h3>
2135 To function as intended, JACK needs to run with access to two
2136 operating system facilities called <dfn>realtime scheduling</dfn> and
2137 <dfn>memory locking</dfn>. This means that you, the user who starts JACK, must be
2138 allowed access to these facilities. By default, Ubuntu does create a
2139 user group that has this permission but—it does not put new
2140 users into this group by default. Read more about why <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Audio/TheAudioGroup">here</a>.
2141 Consequently, you will not have permission to run JACK in the way you should.
2145 A message like <samp>Cannot lock down memory</samp> in the output from JACK as
2146 it starts up. This output may be hidden in the Messages window of
2147 QJackctrl (aka JACK Control), so you should check there.
2152 Make sure the file /etc/security/limits.d/audio.conf exists. If it is
2153 named /etc/security/limits.d/audio.conf.disabled, rename it to the former.
2156 <kbd class="cmd lin">sudo usermod -a -G audio
2157 <em>YOUR-LOGIN-NAME</em></kbd>
2159 Then log out and log in again. On Ubuntu Studio the user is a member of audio
2160 group by default, but not on other official flavors.
2163 <h2>Reporting Issues</h2>
2166 Given the difficulties in supporting Ubuntu and the limited time/resources
2167 of the Ardour team, the <dfn>Ubuntu Studio Project</dfn> has requested that
2168 issues and bug reports related to Ubuntu, Ubuntu Studio and other
2169 derivitives be directed to them.
2172 <h3>Contact Information for Ubuntu Studio</h3>
2174 <p><a href="http://ubuntustudio.org">The Ubuntu Studio Homepage</a></p>
2176 <p><a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=335">The Ubuntu Studio Forums.</a></p>
2178 <p><a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio/MailLists">Information on the Ubuntu Studio Mailing Lists.</a></p>
2180 <p><a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio/IRC">Information on the Ubuntu Studio IRC channel.</a> #ubuntustudio on irc.freenode.net</p>
2183 title: Microsoft Windows
2188 <dfn>Microsoft Windows</dfn> is not currently officially supported. If you are
2189 willing to live with bugs and <b>help to test</b> this platform, read on.
2192 <h2>Installing Ardour</h2>
2196 <li>Download the latest windows build from <a href="http://nightly.ardour.org/">
2197 the nightly build page</a>.</li>
2198 <li>Run the installer and follow the prompts.</li>
2202 <h2>How to help</h2>
2206 <li>Hang out in #ardour-windows on irc.freenode.net. You may ask questions
2207 there and if you can, answer questions that others have.</li>
2208 <li>Keep an eye on the <a href="https://community.ardour.org/forum/27"> Windows
2209 forum</a> and contribute to the discussions there.</li>
2210 <li>Update this manual via pull requests on <a href="https://github.com/Ardour/manual">github<a/>.</li>
2220 Under <dfn>KDE Plasma 5</dfn>, plugin and various other windows will not stay
2221 on top of any main window; therefore a workaround is required.
2224 <h2>Workaround for ancillary windows not staying on top in KDE Plasma 5</h2>
2227 In order to force ancillary windows in Ardour to stay on top, the following
2228 steps are necessary:
2232 <li>Launch the <kbd class="menu">System Settings</kbd> application.</li>
2233 <li>Open <kbd class="menu">Workspace > Window Managment</kbd>.</li>
2234 <li>Select <kbd class="menu">Window Rules</kbd> in the left-hand sidebar. It
2235 should default to the <kbd class="menu">Window matching</kbd> tab.</li>
2236 <li>Click on the <kbd class="button">New...</kbd> button.</li>
2237 <li>On the line that says <kbd class="menu">Window class (application)</kbd>,
2238 set the combo box to <kbd class="menu">Substring Match</kbd> and type <kbd
2239 class="user">ardour</kbd> in the text entry field.</li>
2240 <li>In the list box that is labeled <kbd class="menu">Window types:</kbd>,
2241 click on the option <kbd class="menu">Dialog Window</kbd>, then press and
2242 hold <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> while clicking on the second option <kbd
2243 class="menu">Utility Window</kbd>.</li>
2244 <li>Select the <kbd class="menu">Arrangement & Access</kbd> tab.</li>
2245 <li>Check the box next to the <kbd class="menu">Keep above</kbd> option. On
2246 the same line, select <kbd class="menu">Force</kbd> from the combo box, then
2247 click on the <kbd class="menu">Yes</kbd> radio button for that line.</li>
2248 <li>Click on the <kbd class="button">OK</kbd> button to dismiss the dialog.
2253 At this point you can close the <kbd class="menu">System Settings</kbd>
2257 <h3>Background Info</h3>
2260 <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=172615#c26">According to one of
2261 the lead KDE developers</a>, they are not willing to follow the <abbr
2262 title="Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual">ICCCM</abbr> standard
2263 for utility windows. Apparently they are alone in this understanding, as
2264 plugin windows on Ardour under Linux work out of the box on every other <abbr
2265 title="Window Manager">WM</abbr> out there.
2269 Under KDE 4, there was a workaround in Ardour (<kbd class="menu">Preferences
2270 > Theme > All floating windows are dialogs</kbd>) that would "trick"
2271 KDE into forcing certain window types to be on top of their parent windows,
2272 but this no longer works under KDE Plasma 5.
2283 title: Connecting Audio and MIDI Devices
2287 <p class="fixme">Add content</p>
2290 title: Using More Than One Audio Device
2295 Ardour will only ever deal with a single <dfn>audio device</dfn>. If you
2296 want to use more than one, you have two choices:
2301 If you want to use Ardour to start JACK (which handles all
2302 audio I/O) you will need to create a "fake" audio device on your
2303 computer the represents all the multiple devices you wish to
2304 use. How to do this is platform dependent and described below.
2307 Use a different tool to start JACK and manage all the devices.
2312 Ardour is fundamentally designed to be a component in a
2313 pro-audio/music creation environment. Standard operating practice
2314 for such setups involves using only a single digital <dfn>sample
2315 clock</dfn> (something counting off the time between audio samples).
2316 This means that trying to use multiple independent soundcards is
2317 problematic, because each soundcard has its own sample clock, running
2318 independently from the others. Over time, these different clocks
2320 out of sync with each other, which causes glitches in the audio. You
2321 cannot stop this drift, although in some cases the effects may be
2322 insignificant enough that some people might not care about them.
2326 Thus in an ideal world you should not use multiple independent
2327 soundcards but instead use a single device with a single clock and all
2328 the inputs, outputs and other features that you need.
2332 Of course, a lot of people don't live in an ideal world, and believe
2333 that software should make up for this.
2338 In CoreAudio, <dfn>aggregate devices</dfn> provide a method to use
2339 multiple soundcards as a single device. For example, you can
2340 aggregate two 8-channel devices so that you can record 16 channels
2345 If you are using a <em>single</em> typical 3rd party
2346 audio interface (such as those from Apogee, RME, Presonus, and many
2347 others), <em>or</em> you are using JackPilot or a similar
2348 application to start JACK, you do not need to worry about this.<br />
2349 You will need to set up an aggregate device only if either
2350 of the following conditions are true:
2353 <li>You want to use two entirely separate
2354 devices <em>and</em> want to start JACK using Ardour.</li>
2355 <li>You want to use your <dfn>builtin audio device</dfn> <em>and</em>
2356 want to start JACK using Ardour.</li>
2357 <li>You want to use more than two entirely separate devices</li>
2361 In the case of your builtin audio device, you will need to create
2362 an aggregate device that combines "Builtin Input" and "Builtin
2363 Output" into one device.
2366 The precise instructions for creating an aggregate device on OS X
2367 have varied from one released to another. Please read <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202000">https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202000</a>
2372 Please see the instructions at <a href="http://jackaudio.org/faq" title="http://jackaudio.org/faq">http://jackaudio.org/faq</a>
2383 title: Preferences and Session Properties
2388 Ardour splits its configuration options into two categories:
2392 Global <dfn>preferences</dfn> control general workflow and system
2393 configuration, and should apply to all sessions. They are located in
2394 <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences</kbd> and stored in
2395 Ardour's <dfn>user configuration file</dfn> in your home directory.
2397 <li><dfn>Session properties</dfn> control aspects of the workflow or
2398 configuration that pertain to the current session only. You can find them
2399 in <kbd class="menu">Session > Properties</kbd>, and they will be stored
2400 in the session file.
2405 title: Global Preferences Dialog
2406 menu_title: Global Preferences
2411 These preferences apply to all Ardour sessions.
2414 <img src="/images/a4_preferences_misc.png" alt="ardour preferences
2418 title: Global Misc Tab
2419 menu_title: Misc Tab
2424 This tab contains settings that do not belong on the other tabs.
2427 <img src="/images/a4_preferences_misc.png" alt="preferences
2433 <strong>DSP CPU Utilization</strong> sets how many cpu processors can be
2434 used to do signal processing. It can be set to use one up to all
2446 <strong>Limit undo history</strong> sets how many commands can be
2447 undone using <kbd class="mod1">Z</kbd> or
2448 <kbd class="menu">Edit > Undo</kbd>.
2454 <strong>Save undo history</strong> sets how many commands are saved so
2455 they are available to be undone after reopening the session.
2461 <strong>Verify removal of last capture</strong> when enabled prompts to
2462 verify removal the last recording capture when
2463 <kbd class="menu">Edit > Remove Last Capture</kbd> is executed.
2469 <strong>Make periodic backups of the session file</strong> will create
2470 a backup session file after changes to the timeline. The backup file is
2471 the session name followed by <em>.ardour.bak</em>. The backup can be
2472 used to recover from crashes when the session had not been explicitly
2481 <dfn>Session Management</dfn>
2486 <strong>Always copy imported files</strong> selects, and then disables
2487 changes to, the <em>Copy files to session</em> option in the
2488 <a href="/adding-pre-existing-material/import-dialog/">
2489 Add Existing Media</a> dialog.
2495 <strong>Default folder for new sessions:</strong> defalts the folder
2496 where Ardour will create new session folders. This is used in the
2497 <em>Session Setup</em> dialog displayed by
2498 <kbd class="menu">Session > New</kbd>.
2504 <strong>Maximum number of recent sessions:</strong> determines how many
2505 of the last opened sessions shows in the
2506 <em>Recent Sessions</em> dialog displayed by
2507 <kbd class="menu">Session > Recent</kbd>.
2520 <strong>Click audio file:</strong> sets a user defined sound to be
2521 played when Ardour's metronome is enabled in the
2522 <a href="/controlling-playback/using-the-transport-bar/">
2528 <strong>Click emphasis audio file:</strong> sets an optional different
2529 metronome sound to be played on the downbeat.
2534 <strong>Click gain level:</strong> allows the metronome's click sounds
2535 to be boosted or attenuated.
2543 <dfn>Automation</dfn>
2548 <strong>Thinning factor</strong> ranges from 0 to 1000 with larger
2549 values sending fewer automation changes. Thinning is like lossy
2550 audio compression, removing data that is less likely to be noticed,
2551 although the more you remove the more likely the loss will be noticed.
2552 The advantage to thinning is reduced CPU usage.
2557 <strong>Automation sampling interval</strong> ranges from 1 to
2558 1000 ms. Determines how frequently the automation input is
2559 sampled. The shorter the interval the higher the accuracy but also
2560 the higher the CPU requirements.
2568 title: Transport Tab
2569 menu_title: Transport Tab
2574 This tab contains settings that relate to the behavior of the
2575 <a href="/controlling-playback/using-the-transport-bar">Transport Bar</a>
2576 and <a href="/synchronization/">Synchronization</a>.
2579 <img src="/images/a4_preferences_transport.png" alt="preferences
2585 <strong>Keep record-enable engaged on stop</strong> leaves the global
2586 record-enable engaged after transport is stopped. Does not affect track
2587 level record-enable which is never changed on stop.
2593 <strong>Play loop is a transport mode</strong> changes the behavior of the
2594 loop button, turning it into a toggle. When enabled, the loop button does
2595 not start playback but forces playback to always play the loop. Looping
2596 stays engaged when the transport is stopped. Playback continues where the
2597 transport stopped and continues to loop.
2600 When disabled, the loop button starts playing the loop but stop then
2601 cancels loop playback.
2606 <strong>Stop recording when an xrun occurs</strong> will stop the transport
2607 when an xrun occurs during recording, ensuring no audible glitches are
2613 <strong>Create markers where xruns occur</strong> will create a new
2614 <a href="/working-with-markers/">marker</a> when an xrun occurs during
2615 recording at the location of the xrun. This marks where possible xruns
2616 might produce audible glitches when stopping on xruns is disabled.
2621 <strong>Stop at the end of the session</strong> causes the transport to
2622 stop during playback when it reaches the end marker. Behavior during
2623 recording is not changed.
2628 <strong>Do seamless looping</strong> removes any clicks that might
2629 otherwise be audible when the transport moves from the end of the loop
2630 range back to the beginning.
2635 <strong>Disable per-track record disarm while rolling</strong>, when
2636 enabled, will not allow the any track's record-enable to be disarmed
2637 during record, preventing accidentally stopping the recording of a take.
2642 <strong>12dB gain reduction during fast-forward and fast-rewind</strong>
2643 when enabled will reduce the unpleasant increase in perceived volume
2644 that occurs when fast-forwarding or rewinding through some kinds of audio.
2649 <strong>Sync/Slave</strong>
2653 <strong>External timecode source</strong> determines which external
2654 source to use when Ardour is using an external
2655 <a href="/synchronization/">synchronization</a> source. Depending
2656 on the timecode source chosen, additional preference options are
2662 <strong>Match session video frame rate to external timecode</strong>
2663 controls the value of the video frame rate <em>while chasing</em>
2664 an external timecode source.
2667 When enabled, the session video frame rate will be changed to match
2668 that of the selected external timecode source.
2671 When disabled, the session video frame rate will not be changed to
2672 match that of the selected external timecode source. Instead, the
2673 frame rate indication in the main clock will flash red and Ardour
2674 will convert between the external timecode standard and the session
2680 <strong>Sync-lock timecode to clock</strong> can disable drift
2684 When enabled, Ardour will never varispeed when slaved to external
2685 timecode. Sync Lock indicates that the selected external timecode
2686 source shares clock-sync (Black & Burst, Wordclock, etc) with
2687 the audio interface. This options disables drift compensation.
2688 The transport speed is fixed at 1.0. Vari-speed LTC will be ignored
2692 When disabled, Ardour will compensate for potential drift regardless
2693 if the timecode sources shares clock sync.
2698 <strong>Lock to 29.9700 fps instead of 30000/1001</strong>, when
2699 enabled, will force Ardour to assume the external timecode source
2700 uses 29.97 fps instead of 30000/1001.
2701 SMPTE 12M-1999 specifies 29.97 df as 30000/1001. The spec
2702 further mentions that drop-frame timecode has an accumulated error
2703 of -86 ms over a 24 hour period. Drop-frame timecode would
2704 compensate exactly for an NTSC color frame rate of 30 * 0.9990 (i.e.
2705 29.970000). That is not the actual rate. However, some vendors use
2706 that rate—despite it being against the specs—because the
2707 variant of using exactly 29.97 fps has zero timecode drift.
2714 <strong>LTC Reader</strong> specifies which incoming port will provide
2719 <strong>LTC Generator</strong>
2723 <strong>Enable LTC generator</strong>, when enabled Ardour will
2724 output an LTC timecode signal on it's <em>LTC-out</em> port.
2729 <strong>Send LTC while stopped</strong>, when enabled Ardour will
2730 continue to send LTC information even while the transport (playhed) is
2736 <strong>LTC generator level:</strong> specifies the peak volume of
2737 the generated LTC signal in dbFS. A good value is 0dBu^=-18dbFS in an
2738 EBU calibrated system.
2747 menu_title: Editor Tab
2752 This tab contains settings that affect behavior in the <dfn>Editor</dfn>
2753 window when <a href="/editing-and-arranging">Editing and Arranging</a>.
2756 <img src="/images/a4_preferences_editor.png" alt="preferences
2762 <strong>Allow dragging of the playhead</strong>, when enabled, allows
2763 dragging the playhead with the mouse in the <strong>Editor</strong> window.
2768 <strong>Move relevant automation when audio regions are moved</strong>,
2769 when enabled, causes automation data to stay with a region when the
2770 region is moved inside the playlist. When disabled, the automation is
2771 not affected by movement of regions.
2776 <strong>Show meters on tracks in the editor</strong>, when enabled, shows
2777 a small meter in the <strong>Editor</strong> window with each track. The
2778 meter is shown in the left side area along with the track name and buttons.
2783 <strong>Display master-meter in the toolbar</strong> when enabled displays
2784 a small copy of the master bus meter in the toolbar.
2789 <strong>Default fade shape:</strong> sets which
2790 <a href="/editing-and-arranging/create-region-fades-and-crossfades/">
2791 fade shape</a> is the default.
2796 <strong>Regions in active edit groups are edited together:</strong> sets
2797 the criteria to see if editing actions apply to tracks grouped together
2803 <strong>Make rubberband selection rectangle snap to the grid</strong> when
2804 enabled uses the grid when
2805 <a href="/editing-and-arranging/select-regions/">selecting regions</a>
2806 with a rubberband rectangle.
2811 <strong>Show waveforms in regions</strong> when enabled shows a visual
2812 representation of the region's audio waveform. Changes to this setting
2813 take affect after restarting Ardour.
2818 <strong>Show gain envelopes in audio regions:</strong> sets the criteria
2819 for displaying the gain envelope in audio regions.
2824 <strong>Waveform scale:</strong> when waveforms are shown in audio region
2825 they can be displayed using a <em>linear</em> or a <em>logarithmic</em>
2827 See <a href="/working-with-tracks/controlling-track-appearance/waveform-display/">
2828 Waveform disply</a>.
2833 <strong>Waveform shape:</strong> when waveforms are shown in audio region
2834 they can be displayed using a <em>traditional</em> or a <em>rectified</em>
2836 See <a href="/working-with-tracks/controlling-track-appearance/waveform-display/">
2837 Waveform disply</a>.
2842 <strong>Waveform Clip Level (dBFS):</strong> sets the level at which the
2843 waveform shown in an audio region will be drawn in red to indicate
2844 clipping. Setting lower than 0.0 dBFS can be useful if any tool in
2845 the audio chain has problems near 0.0 dBFS.
2850 <strong>Show waveform for audio while it is being recorded</strong> when
2851 enabled, will draw the audio waveform in regions being recorded. When
2852 disabled only a region block will be drawn while recording reducing CPU
2858 <strong>Show zoom toolbar</strong> when enabled shows a toolbar for
2859 zoom functions. When disabled the zoom commands are still available
2860 with keyboard short-cuts and the View menu. Changes to this setting
2861 take affect after restarting Ardour.
2866 <strong>Update editor window during drags of the summary</strong> when
2867 enabled the contents of the editor window will redraw the tracks area
2868 as the selection rectangle in the summary area is moved or resized. The
2869 summary area is at the bottom of the editor and shows an overview of all
2870 regions on the timelime.
2875 <strong>Name new markers</strong> when enabled, popup a dialog when a new
2876 <a href="/working-with-markers/">marker</a> is created. This allows
2877 markers to be named as they are created.
2882 <strong>Auto-scroll editor window when dragging near its edges</strong>
2883 when enabled will scroll the editor window automatically when dragging a
2884 region. This can make it easier to see where to position the region.
2889 <strong>After splitting selected regions, select</strong> determines which,
2890 if any, regions are selected after a split operation. The options are no
2891 regions, the regions created by the split, and if more than one region
2892 was selected to start with, the existing selection and the new regions.
2893 Changes to this setting take affect after restarting Ardour.
2900 menu_title: Audio Tab
2905 This tab contains settings for handling audio.
2908 <img src="/images/a4_preferences_audio.png" alt="preferences
2914 <strong>Buffering</strong> settings determine how many seconds of audio
2915 off of disk will be buffered in memory. Longer settings reduce the risk
2916 of buffer under-runs but consume more memory. The default value is
2923 <strong>Playback</strong> sets how many seconds of audio Ardour will
2924 buffer during playback.
2929 <strong>Recording</strong> sets how many seconds of audio Ardour will
2930 buffer during recording.
2938 <strong>Monitoring</strong>
2943 <strong>Record monitoring handled by:</strong> determines whether
2944 Ardour provides monitoring of incoming audio or whether
2945 monitoring is provided by hardware. See
2946 <a href="/recording/monitoring/">Monitoring</a> for more information.
2951 <strong>Tape machine mode</strong> when enabled defaults new audio
2952 tracks to tape machine mode. See
2953 <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-types/">Track Types</a>
2954 for more information.
2962 <strong>Conection of tracks and busses</strong>
2967 <strong>Auto-connect master/monitor busses</strong>
2972 <strong>Connect track inputs:</strong>
2977 <strong>Connect track and bus outputs:</strong>
2985 <strong>Denormals</strong> are a specific type of very small numbers that
2986 can cause issues with CPU consumption when using some plugins in some
2990 Ardour provides two methods of handling the issue. Try different
2991 combinations of these settings to to find the setting that minimizes CPU
2997 <strong>Use DC bias to protect against denormals</strong> adds a small
2998 constant value to numbers to move the numbers away from zero.
3003 <strong>Processor handling</strong>, if the computer's hardware
3004 supports it, offers two methods that can be used individually or
3005 combined. Flush to zero and denormals are zero.
3013 <strong>Plugins</strong>
3018 <strong>Silence plugins when the transport is stopped</strong>
3023 <strong>Make new plugins active</strong> when enabled, will activate
3024 a plugin when it is added to a track or bus
3025 <a href="/working-with-plugins/processor-box/">Processor Box</a>.
3033 <strong>Regions</strong>
3038 <strong>Enable automatic analysis of audio</strong>
3043 <strong>Replicate missing region channels</strong>
3051 title: Solo/Mute Tab
3052 menu_title: Solo/Mute Tab
3057 This tab contains settings that affect the use of
3058 <a href="/mixing/muting-and-soloing/">solo, muting</a>, and
3059 <a href="/mixing/panning/">panning</a>.
3062 <img src="/images/a4_preferences_solomute.png" alt="preferences
3068 <strong>Solo</strong>
3073 <strong>Solo-in-place mute cut</strong> sets the attenuation of the
3074 the other tracks when another track is soloed in place. This setting
3075 is also available from the <strong>Mixer</strong> monitor section.
3080 <strong>Solo controls are Listen controls</strong> when enabled the
3081 soloed track is soloed only on the monitor bus, the master fader mix
3082 is not affected by the solo. This option can also be set by enabling
3083 pre-fader listen or after-fader listen in the <strong>Mixer</strong>
3089 <strong>Listen Position:</strong> determines what is listened to when
3090 the solo controls are used as listen controls. The options are
3091 after-fader or pre-fader.
3096 <strong>PFL signals come from:</strong> determines whether the
3097 pre-fader listen position is before or after the pre-fader processors.
3102 <strong>AFL signals come from:</strong> determines whether the
3103 after-fader listen position is before or after the after-fader
3109 <strong>Exclusive solo</strong> when enabled will only solo that last
3110 track selected for solo. Previously soloed tracks will be un-soloed.
3111 This setting is also available from the <strong>Mixer</strong> monitor
3117 <strong>Show solo muting</strong> when enabled outlines the mute
3118 button on tracks and busses when another track is soloed.
3123 <strong>Soloing overrides muting</strong> when enabled allows a track
3124 to be heard when it is soloed while muted. This setting is also
3125 available from the <strong>Mixer</strong> monitor section.
3133 <strong>Default track/bus muting options</strong> sets the muting options
3134 for a newly created tracks or bus. The mute options for an existing track
3135 or bus are changed by the right-click context menu on a mute button.
3140 <strong>Mute affects pre-fader sends</strong> when enabled pre-fader
3141 sends will be muted by default.
3146 <strong>Mute affects post-fader sends</strong> when enabled post-fader
3147 sends will be muted by default.
3152 <strong>Mute affects control outputs</strong> when enabled control
3153 outputs are muted by default.
3158 <strong>Mute affects main outputs</strong> when enabled main outputs
3159 are muted by default.
3167 <strong>Send Routing</strong> affects
3168 <a href="/signal-routing/aux-sends/">aux and external sends</a>.
3173 <strong>Link panners of Aux and External Sends with main panner by
3174 default</strong> When enabled, sends follow the channel panner.
3177 When disabled, sends can panned independently of the channel panner
3178 and fader. Double clicking the send in the processor box toggles
3179 the main panner and fader between the aux send and the channel.
3188 menu_title: MIDI Tab
3193 This tab contains settings related to the use of MIDI inside Ardour.
3196 <img src="/images/a4_preferences_midi.png" alt="preferences
3202 <strong>MIDI read-ahead time</strong>
3208 <strong>Send MIDI Clock</strong> when enabled Ardour will generate MIDI
3209 clock on the <code>ardour:MIDI clock out</code> JACK port.
3215 <strong>Send MIDI Time Code</strong> when enabled Ardour will generate MIDI
3216 time code on the <code>ardour:MTC out</code> JACK port.
3222 <strong>Percentage either side of normal transport speed to transmit MTC:</strong> MIDI time code generation will be disabled when the transport speed is
3223 greater than normal sped plus this percentage or less than normal minus
3230 <strong>Obey MIDI Machine Control commands</strong> when enabled Ardour
3231 will respond to MIDI Machine Control commands received on the
3232 <code>ardour:MMC in</code> JACK port.
3238 <strong>Send MIDI Machine Control commands</strong> when enabled Ardour
3239 will send MIDI Machine Control commands on the <code>ardour:MMC out</code>
3246 <strong>Send MIDI control feedback</strong>
3252 <strong>Inbound MMC device ID:</strong> is the only device ID Ardour will
3253 respond to when an MMC command is received on the
3254 <code>ardour:MMC in</code> JACK port.
3260 <strong>Outbound MMC device ID:</strong> is the MIDI device ID Ardour will
3261 use when it sends MMC commands.
3267 <strong>Initial program change:</strong> Ardour will send a MIDI program
3268 change message on the <code>ardour:MMC out</code> JACK port when a session
3269 is loaded and whenever this field is changed. A value of -1 is for don't
3270 send any program change message.
3276 <strong>Display first MIDI bank/program as 0</strong>
3282 <strong>Never display periodic MIDI messages</strong>
3288 <strong>Sound MIDI notes as they are selected</strong>
3294 <strong>Midi Audition Synth</strong>
3300 title: User Interaction Tab
3301 menu_title: User Interaction Tab
3306 This tab contains settings that affect the user's interaction with
3307 <a href="/ardours-interface">Ardours interface</a>.
3310 <img src="/images/a4_preferences_interaction.png" alt="preferences
3311 user interaction tab"/>
3316 <strong>Use translations</strong>
3321 <strong>Keyboard</strong>
3326 <strong>Edit using:</strong> Use this keyboard and mouse combination
3327 to edit a region's name, and for audio, the region gain.
3332 <strong>Delete using:</strong>
3337 <strong>Insert note using</strong> Using this mouse and keyboard
3338 combination allows MIDI note drawing while the <strong>Editor</strong>
3344 <strong>Ignore snap using:</strong> This mouse and keyboard combination
3345 temporarily changes the
3346 <a href="/editing-and-arranging/snap-to-the-grid/">snap mode</a> to
3347 <strong>No Grid</strong>.
3352 <strong>Keyboard layout:</strong>
3360 title: Control Surfaces Tab
3361 menu_title: Control Surfaces Tab
3366 This tab contains settings for control surfaces. Also see
3367 <a href="/using-control-surfaces/">Using Control Surfaces</a>.
3370 <img src="/images/a4_preferences_control_surfaces.png" alt="preferences
3371 control surfaces tab"/>
3374 Enable a <dfn>Control Surface Protocol</dfn> and double-click on it to edit
3375 protocol specific settings. Enable feedback to allow Ardour to send position
3376 information back to a control surface.
3380 <strong>Control surface remote ID:</strong> can follow the order of the mixer
3381 or be user assigned.
3386 menu_title: Video Tab
3391 This tab contains settings related to handling of Video.
3394 <img src="/images/a4_preferences_video.png" alt="preferences
3400 <strong>Advanced Setup (remote video server)</strong>
3405 <strong>Video Server URL:</strong>
3410 <strong>Video Folder:</strong>
3417 <strong>Show Video Export Info before export</strong>
3422 <strong>Show Video Server Startup Dialog</strong>
3429 menu_title: Plugins Tab
3434 This tab contains settings that control the discovery and availability of
3438 <img src="/images/a4_preferences_plugins.png" alt="preferences
3444 <strong>General</strong>
3449 <strong>Scan for Plugins</strong> will initiate an immediate scan of
3450 the system for available plugins.
3455 <strong>Always Display Plugin Scan Progress</strong> When enabled a
3456 popup window showing plugin scan progress is displayed for indexing
3457 (cache load) and discovery (detect new plugins).
3462 <strong>Scan Time Out</strong> Specify the default timeout for plugin
3463 instantiation in 1/10 seconds. Plugins that require more time to load
3464 will be blacklisted. A value of 0 disables the timeout.
3472 <strong>VST</strong>
3477 <strong>Clear VST Cache</strong> Remove all VST plugins from the list
3478 of plugins available to be inserted into the processor box.
3483 <strong>Clear VST Blacklist</strong> Make blacklisted VST plugins
3484 available to be added to the processor box.
3489 <strong>Scan for [new] VST Plugins on Application Start</strong> When
3490 enabled new VST plugins are searched, tested and added to the cache
3491 index on application start. When disabled new plugins will only be
3492 available after triggering a 'Scan' manually.
3497 <strong>Linux VST Path:</strong> Launch a dialog to manage the
3498 directories that will be searched for Linux VST plugins.
3512 This tab contains settings that affect
3513 <a href="/ardours-interface/">Ardour's Interface</a>.
3516 <img src="/images/a4_preferences_gui.png" alt="preferences
3522 <strong>Graphically indicate mouse pointer hovering</strong>
3527 <strong>Use name highlight bars in region display</strong> When enabled the
3528 region name is displayed, in the editor, in it's own bar at the bottom of
3529 the region. When disabled, the region name is display at the top of the
3530 region, possibly over audio waveforms or MIDI notes.
3535 <strong>Font scaling</strong> allows the display size of some text in the
3536 user interface to be scaled up or down. May require a restart to take
3542 <strong>Update transport clock display at FPS</strong> when enabled the transport clock
3543 will update at the synchronization framerate instead of the default 100 ms rate.
3548 <strong>Lock timeout</strong> Lock GUI after this many idle seconds (zero to never
3549 lock). GUI may also be locked with <kbd class="menu">Session > Lock</kbd>. When
3550 locked a dialog will display a "Click to unlock" button.
3555 <strong>Mixer Strip</strong> Enable (checked) or disable (unchecked) display of
3556 controls in the mixer strip. Controls whose display can be toggled are
3557 <strong>Input</strong>, <strong>Phase Invert</strong>,
3558 <strong>Record & Monitor</strong>, <strong>Solo Iso/Lock</strong>,
3559 <strong>Output</strong>, and <strong>Comments</strong>.
3564 <strong>Use narrow strips in the mixer by default</strong> When enabled, new mixer
3565 strips are created in narrow format. When disabled, they are created in wide format.
3566 Existing mixer strips width can be toggled with the width control at the top left of
3574 menu_title: Metering Tab
3579 This tab contains settings that affect <a href="/ardours-interface/meters/">
3580 Metering</a> in Ardour.
3583 <img src="/images/a4_preferences_metering.png" alt="preferences
3589 <strong>Peak hold time:</strong> Some meter types that have a peak
3590 indicator that has a user controlled hold time. The options are off, short,
3596 <strong>DPM fall-off:</strong>
3601 <strong>Meter line-up level; 0 dBu:</strong>
3606 <strong>IEC1/DIN Meter line-up level; 0 dBu:</strong>
3611 <strong>VU Meter standard:</strong>
3616 <strong>Peak threshold[dBFS]:</strong>
3621 <strong>LED meter style</strong>
3628 menu_title: Theme Tab
3633 This tab contains settings that change the visual appearence of Ardour.
3636 <img src="/images/a4_preferences_theme.png" alt="preferences
3642 <strong>Restore Defaults</strong> When clicked will change all settings
3643 on the Theme tab back to Ardour's default values.
3648 <strong>All floating windows are dialogs</strong> When enabled Ardour will
3649 use type "Dialog" for all floating windows instead of using type
3650 "Utility" for some of them. This may help usability with some
3651 window managers. This setting requires a restart of Ardour to take effect.
3656 <strong>Transient windows follow front window</strong> When enabled
3657 transient windows will follow the front window when toggling between the
3658 editor and mixer. This setting requires a restart of Ardour to take effect.
3663 <strong>Draw "flat" buttons</strong> When enabled button controls
3664 in the user interface will be drawn with a flat look. When disabled button
3665 controls will have a slight 3D appearence.
3670 <strong>Blink Rec-Arm buttons</strong> When enabled the record-armed
3671 buttons on tracks will blink when they are armed but not currently
3672 recording. When disabled the record-armed buttons on tracks will be
3673 outlined in red instead of blinking.
3678 <strong>Color regions using their track's color</strong> When enabled
3679 the background color of regions in the editor will be displayed using the
3680 the color assigned to the track. When disabled the default region
3681 background color will be used.
3686 <strong>Show waveform clipping</strong> When enalbled the waveform
3687 displayed will show peaks marked in red if they exceed the clip level. The
3688 Waveform Clip Level is set with a slider on the Preferences
3689 <a href="/preferences-and-session-properties/preferences-dialog/editor/">
3695 <strong>Icon Set</strong> Changes the mouse cursor icons used to indicate
3696 different tool modes in the editor. An example would be the icons used to
3697 indicate whether the cursor will select a region or change the length of a
3703 <strong>Waveforms color gradient depth</strong> Determines how much
3704 gradient effect is applied to audio waveforms displayed in the editor.
3705 Values range from 0.00, no graident effect, to 0.95, maximum effect.
3710 <strong>Timeline item gradient depth</strong> Determines how much
3711 gradient effect is applied to the backgrounds of regions displayed in the
3712 editor. Values range from 0.00, no graident effect, to 0.95, maximum
3718 <strong>Colors</strong> The color of an item in the user interface is
3719 determined by which named color is assigned to it, the color displayed for
3720 each named color in the palette, and in some cases, the transparency of
3726 <strong>Items</strong> Each display item has a named color assigned to
3727 it from the palette. Example color names are
3728 "meter color9" and "color 4".
3731 Click on an item's color example to change the named color choice.
3736 <strong>Palette</strong> Hover over a color to display it's name. Click
3737 on a color to open a color chooser dialog.
3742 <strong>Transparency</strong> Some items have a transparency value.
3743 Transparency can be changed from opaque to totally transparent.
3751 title: Session Properties Dialog
3752 menu_title: Session Properties
3756 <img src="/images/a4_session_properties_timecode.png" alt="session properties dialog"/>
3759 This dialog allows you to change settings for the current session. These
3760 settings are initially set from the template used to create the session. To
3761 open the dialog use <kbd class="menu">Session > Properties</kbd>
3766 menu_title: Timecode Tab
3770 <img src="/images/a4_session_properties_timecode.png" alt="session properties timecode tab"/>
3773 This tab is used to change how Ardour interprets and manipulates timecode.
3778 Timecode Settings lets you set the number of frames per second
3779 and pull up/down to match the timecode used other synchronized systems.
3782 External Timecode Offsets allows Ardour to a fixed offset from other
3783 synchronized systems. <dfn>Slave Timecode offset</dfn> adds the
3784 specified offset to the recieved timecode (MTC or LTC).
3785 <dfn>Timecode Generator offset</dfn> adds the specified offset to
3786 the timecode generated by Ardour (so far only LTC).
3789 Jack Transport / Time Settings determines whether Ardour controls
3790 Bar|Beat|Tick and other information for Jack.
3796 menu_title: Sync Tab
3800 <img src="/images/a4_session_properties_sync.png" alt="session properties sync tab"/>
3803 This tab is used to modify the timecode settings when working with video to
3804 use the imported video's timecode settings instead of the session defaults.
3809 menu_title: Fades Tab
3813 <img src="/images/a4_session_properties_fades.png" alt="session properties fades tab"/>
3816 Change how Ardour works with region crossfades.
3821 <dfn>Destructive crossfade length</dfn> is used when an operation on a
3822 region is destructive, such as when recording in a track is in tape mode.
3825 When <dfn>Region fades</dfn> <strong>active</strong> is checked, the
3826 region fades set up in the mixer are used during playback. When unchecked,
3827 the fades are ignored.
3830 When <strong>Region fades visible</strong> is checked the region fades are visible
3831 in the the <strong>Editor</strong>.
3837 menu_title: Media Tab
3841 <img src="/images/a4_session_properties_media.png" alt="session properties media tab"/>
3844 Change how sound is stored on disk. These options do not change how sound is handled
3850 <dfn>Sample format</dfn> defaults to 32-bit floating point, the same as
3851 the internal representation. 24 and 16-bit integer representation are
3855 <strong>File type</strong> options are WAVE, WAVE-64, and CAF.
3860 title: Locations Tab
3861 menu_title: Locations Tab
3865 <img src="/images/a4_session_properties_locations.png" alt="session properties locations tab"/>
3868 These options add file locations that will be searched to find the audio and
3869 midi files used by the session. This is useful when the files have been
3870 imported into the session but not copied into the session.
3874 To add a location, navigate to the directory where the files are stored.
3875 Drill down into the directory and then click open. The directory will
3876 show up in the dialog. The remove button next to the added directory can be used
3877 to remove it from the search path.
3881 title: Filenames Tab
3882 menu_title: Filenames Tab
3886 <img src="/images/a4_session_properties_filenames.png" alt="session properties filenames tab"/>
3889 This tab is used to change how Ardour names recorded regions.
3890 If <dfn>Prefix track number</dfn> is selected a unique number will appear on each track
3891 in the <dfn>Editor</dfn> window and will prefix the region name. If the track number
3892 is 2 and the region would have been Gtr-1.1 with track number prefix turned on the region
3893 will be named 2_Gtr-1.1 instead. See XX for base of the region name.
3897 If <dfn>Prefix take name</dfn> is selected and the <dfn>Take name</dfn> has Take1 the region
3898 will have the name Take1_Gtr-1.1 instead. If both boxes are checked the name will be
3899 Take1_2_Gtr-1.1 instead.
3903 When <dfn>Prefix take name</dfn> is enabled, the first time a track is recorded it will
3904 have the specified take name. When recording is stopped, any trailing number on the
3905 end of the take name will incremented by 1. If the track name specified doen't have
3906 a number on the end, the number 1 will be suffixed.
3910 title: Monitoring Tab
3911 menu_title: Monitoring Tab
3916 Provides options affecting monitoring.
3919 <img src="/images/a4_session_properties_monitoring.png" alt="session properties monitoring tab"/>
3922 The <strong>Track Input Monitoring automatically follows transport state</strong>
3923 affects how input monitoring is handling. See
3924 <a href="/recording/monitoring/monitor-setup-in-ardour/">Monitor Setup in Ardour</a>.
3927 <img class="left" src="/images/a4_monitoring_section.png" alt="monitoring section"/>
3930 The 'Use monitor section' displays an extra section in the <strong>Mixer</strong>
3931 window that is modelled on the similiarly named section on large analog consoles.
3935 title: Meterbridge Tab
3936 menu_title: Meterbridge Tab
3941 The meters from audio tracks always display in the <dfn>Meterbridge</dfn>.
3942 This tab changes what additional controls are also displayed.
3945 <img src="/images/a4_session_properties_meterbridge.png" alt="session properties meterbridge tab"/>
3949 <dfn>Route Display</dfn> has options for showing midi tracks, busses, and the master bus.
3952 <dfn>Button Area</dfn> has options for adding record enable, mute, solo, and input monitor buttons.
3955 <dfn>Name Labels</dfn> adds the track name and, if numbers are enabled on the filenames tab, the number.
3959 <img src="/images/a4_meterbridge_full.png" alt="image of meterbidge with all options on"/>
3962 title: Session Misc Tab
3963 menu_title: Misc Tab
3968 This tab has several things that don't fit on the other tabs.
3971 <img src="/images/a4_session_properties_misc.png" alt="session properties misc tab"/>
3975 <dfn>MIDI Options</dfn>
3978 If <dfn>MIDI region copies are independent</dfn> is selected, when a
3979 MIDI region is copied or duplicated, the new region is not linked to
3980 the region it was copied from. If it is not selected, the copied regions
3981 are linked and any editing of one of the linked regions changes all
3982 of the linked regions.
3985 The <dfn>Editor</dfn> can be configured to handle overlapping MIDI notes
3988 <li>never allow them</li>
3989 <li>don't do anything in particular</li>
3990 <li>replace any overlapped existing notes</li>
3991 <li>shorten the overlapped existing note</li>
3992 <li>shorten the overlapped new note</li>
3993 <li>replace both overlapping notes with a single note</li>
3999 <dfn>Glue to bars and beats</dfn>
4001 <li>New markers can be glued to bars and beats</li>
4002 <li>New regions can be glued to bars and beats</li>
4006 Settings from the session properties dialogs can be saved to the
4007 default session template.
4013 title: Configuring MIDI
4019 title: Using External MIDI Devices
4023 <p class="fixme">Add content</p>
4027 title: Setting Up MIDI
4031 <h2>What Can Ardour Do With MIDI?</h2>
4033 <dfn><abbr title="Musical Instrument Digital
4034 Interface">MIDI</abbr></dfn> is a way to describe musical
4035 performances and to control music hardware and software.
4037 <p>Ardour can import and record MIDI data, and perform a variety of
4038 editing operations on it. Furthermore, MIDI can be used to control
4039 various functions of Ardour.
4042 <h2>MIDI Handling Frameworks</h2>
4044 MIDI input and output for Ardour are handled by the same "engine"
4045 that handles audio input and output. Up to release 3.5, that means
4046 that all MIDI I/O takes place via JACK. JACK itself uses the
4047 native MIDI support of the operating system to receive and send
4048 MIDI data. The native MIDI support provides device drivers for MIDI
4049 hardware and libraries needed by software applications that want to
4055 <dd> <dfn>CoreMIDI</dfn> is the standard MIDI framework on OSX systems.
4059 <dfn><abbr title="Advanced Linux Sound API">ALSA</abbr> MIDI</dfn>
4060 is the standard MIDI framework on Linux systems.
4065 On Linux systems, <dfn>QJackCtl</dfn> control software displays ALSA MIDI
4066 ports under its "ALSA" tab (it does not currently display CoreMIDI
4067 ports). By contrast, JACK MIDI ports show up under
4068 the <kbd class="menu">MIDI</kbd> tab in QJackCtl.
4071 <h2>JACK MIDI Configuration</h2>
4073 By default, JACK will <strong>not</strong> automatically detect and use existing MIDI
4074 ports on your system. You must choose one of several ways
4075 of <dfn>bridging</dfn> between the native MIDI frameworks
4076 (e.g. CoreMIDI or ALSA) and JACK MIDI, as described in the sections
4081 title: MIDI on Linux
4085 <p>The right approach for using MIDI on Linux depends on which version of
4086 JACK you use. The world divides into:</p>
4089 <dt>Systems using JACK 1, versions 0.124 or later</dt>
4090 <dd>On these systems, just start JACK with the <code>-X alsa_midi</code> server argument. To support legacy control applications, you can also use the <code>-X seq</code> argument to the ALSA backend of JACK and get the exact same results.</dd>
4092 <dd>Use a2jmidid to act as a bridge between ALSA MIDI and JACK. Do not use the <code>-X seq</code> or <code>-X raw</code> arguments—the timing and performance of these options is not acceptable.
4099 <dfn>a2jmidid</dfn> is an application that bridges between the system
4100 <abbr title="Musical Instrument Digital Interface">MIDI</abbr> ports and
4101 <abbr title="JACK Audio Connection Kit">JACK</abbr>.
4105 First you should make sure that there is no ALSA sequencer support enabled
4106 in JACK. To do that open QJackCtl's <kbd class="menu">Setup</kbd> window.
4110 Set <kbd class="menu">Settings > MIDI Driver</kbd> to <kbd
4111 class="input">none</kbd>.
4112 Then uncheck the <kbd class="optoff">Misc > Enable ALSA Sequencer
4113 support</kbd> option.<br />
4114 Now it's time to restart your jack server before going on.
4117 <h3>Check for a2jmidid availability</h3>
4120 First, check whether a2jmidid is already installed in your system. After
4121 starting your JACK server, go to the command line and type
4124 <kbd class="cmd lin">a2jmidid -e</kbd>
4127 If a2jmidid does not exist, install it with the software manager of your
4128 Linux distribution and try again.
4131 <h2>Check available MIDI ports</h2>
4134 If you have correctly configured JACK for MIDI, then your MIDI ports should appear in
4135 qjackctl under <kbd class="menu">Connections > MIDI </kbd>.
4138 <h3>Making it automatic</h3>
4141 Once you've verified that the ports appear in JACK as expected, you
4142 can make this happen whenever you start JACK.
4145 <p>If you use a newer version of JACK 1, just make sure the -X
4146 alsa_midi or -X seq options are enabled for whatever technique you use
4151 For other versions of JACK,
4152 add <kbd class="input">a2jmidid -e &</kbd> as an "after start-up" script
4153 in the <kbd class="menu">Setup > Options</kbd> tab of QJackCtl, so
4154 that it is started automatically whenever you start JACK.
4157 <p class="fixme">Is this true anymore in Ardour 5? This section may have been relevant in Ardour 3, but it might not be relevant anymore.</p>
4165 In order for CoreMIDI to work with Jack MIDI, a CoreMIDI-to-JACK-MIDI
4167 is required. This feature is available on versions equal to or great than
4168 version 0.89 of JackOSX.
4171 <h2>Routing MIDI</h2>
4173 <h3>Inside Ardour</h3>
4176 MIDI ports show up in Ardour's MIDI connection matrix in multiple
4177 locations. Bridged CoreMIDI ports as well as JACK MIDI ports that have
4178 been created by other software clients will show up under the "Other" tab.
4179 Bridged CoreMIDI hardware ports show up under the "Hardware" tab.
4182 <h3>External Applications</h3>
4185 There are multiple options for connecting MIDI ports outside of Ardour.
4189 <li><a href="http://www.snoize.com/MIDIMonitor/">MIDI Monitor</a> is a handy
4190 tool for doing various MIDI-related tasks.</li>
4191 <li><a href="http://notahat.com/midi_patchbay">MIDI Patchbay</a> lets you
4192 connect ports and filters MIDI data.</li>
4197 title: Ardour's Interface
4203 title: About Ardour's Interface
4208 In Ardour, you work in two main windows: the <dfn>Editor</dfn> and the <dfn>Mixer</dfn>.
4212 <img src="/images/editor_split.png" alt="Ardour's mixer window">
4213 <img src="/images/mixer_split.png" alt="Ardour's editor window">
4215 <ol class="multicol4">
4218 <li>Transport bar & Times</li>
4219 </ol><ol class="multicol4" start="4">
4220 <li>Mode switch</li>
4221 <li>The <dfn>Editor</dfn> window</li>
4222 <li>a track's mixer strip</li>
4223 </ol><ol class="multicol4" start="7">
4224 <li>Editors List</li>
4225 <li>The <dfn>Mixer</dfn> window</li>
4226 <li>Favorite plugins</li>
4227 </ol><ol class="multicol4" start="10">
4230 <li>Master strip</li>
4236 To switch between those windows, use the buttons (#4 Mode switch in the upper right), the shortcut <kbd class="mod2">M</kbd>, or the menu <kbd class="menu">Window > Editor <em>(or Mixer)</em> > Show</kbd>. Both windows can be visible at the same time (eg. for a multi-monitor setup) using <kbd class="menu">Detach</kbd> in the same menu.
4247 title: The Session Menu
4252 The <kbd class="menu">Session</kbd> menu groups together everything related to the session and the file operations.
4256 <dt>New...</dt><dd>Creates a <a href="/working-with-sessions/new-session-dialog/">new</a> session</dd>
4257 <dt>Open...</dt><dd>Opens an existing session</dd>
4258 <dt>Recent...</dt><dd>Opens a list of recent session that can be opened</dd>
4259 <dt>Close</dt><dd>Closes the current session (but not Ardour)</dd>
4261 <dt>Save</dt><dd>Saves the current session</dd>
4262 <dt>Save As...</dt><dd>Saves to a new session (with options)</dd>
4263 <dt>Rename...</dt><dd>Changes the name of the session</dd>
4264 <dt>Snapshot (keep working on current version) ...</dt><dd>Create a <a href="/working-with-sessions/snapshots/">Snapshot</a> but any subsequent change will be saved to this session</dd>
4265 <dt>Snapshot ( switch to new version) ...</dt><dd>Same thing, and any subsequent change will be saved to this new snapshot session</dd>
4266 <dt>Save Template...</dt><dd>Saves the session as a <a href="/working-with-sessions/session-templates/">template</a>, without the audio</dd>
4268 <dt class="sub1">Edit Metadata...</dt><dd>Opens the <a href="/working-with-sessions/metadata/">Metadata</a> window, where informations about the session can be saved</dd>
4269 <dt class="sub1">Import Metadata...</dt><dd>Creates the metadata by extracting them from another session</dd>
4271 <dt>Add Track, Bus or VCA...</dt><dd>Adds a <a href="/working-with-tracks/adding-tracks-and-busses/">new track/bus/VCA</a> to the session, same as the <kbd class="menu">Track > Add Track, Bus or VCA...</kbd></dd>
4273 <dt>Import</dt><dd>Opens the <a href="/adding-pre-existing-material/">Import</a> windows, to add media to the session</dd>
4274 <dt>Import PT session</dt><dd>Import a ProTools© session file. Not everything in the original session can be imported.</dd>
4276 <dt class="sub1">Add Lua Script...</dt><dd>Loads or adds a <a href="/lua-scripting/">Lua Session script</a> to the current session</dd>
4277 <dt class="sub1">Remove Lua Script</dt><dd>Removes a loaded Lua Session script from the session</dd>
4278 <dt>Open Video...</dt><dd>Imports a <a href="/video-timeline/">video file</a> in the session</dd>
4279 <dt>Remove Video</dt><dd>Removes the video part of the session (the video timeline disappears)</dd>
4281 <dt class="sub1">Export to Audio File(s)...</dt><dd><a href="/exporting/">Export</a> all or part of the session in audio form</dd>
4282 <dt class="sub1">Stem export...</dt><dd><a href="/exporting/export-dialog/">Exports each track</a> as its own audio file (for e.g. DAW interchange)</dd>
4283 <dt class="sub1">Export to Video File</dt><dd>Exports the session to a <a href="/video-timeline/operations/">video file</a></dd>
4285 <dt class="sub1">Bring all media into session folder</dt><dd>Copies all the media files imported from outside the session folder in that folder, see <a href="/working-with-sessions/cleaning_up/">Cleaning up Sessions</a></dd>
4286 <dt class="sub1">Reset Peak Files</dt><dd>Reinitializes the buffered images representing the audio files</dd>
4287 <dt class="sub1">Clean-up Unused Sources...</dt><dd>Quarantines all the media files not used in the session to a specific subfolder of the session</dd>
4288 <dt class="sub1">Flush Wastebasket</dt><dd>Deletes those quarantined files</dd>
4290 <dt>[] Properties</dt><dd>Shows the <a href="/preferences-and-session-properties/session-properties-dialog/">Session Properties</a> dialog, allowing to fine-tune the parameters of the current session</dd>
4292 <dt>Lock</dt><dd>Locks the session by showing an Unlock window that (until cliked) blocks every action on Ardour's window</dd>
4294 <dt>Quit</dt><dd>Exits Ardour. Prompts for saving the session if it has been modified.</dd>
4298 title: The Transport Menu
4303 The <dfn>Transport</dfn> menu handles how Ardour handles the playback and playhead.
4307 <dt>Start/Stop</dt><dd>Starts or stops the playhead, and recording if it's armed</dd>
4309 <dt class="sub1">Play Selection</dt><dd>Only plays the selected part of the session, be it a range or selected regions</dd>
4310 <dt class="sub1">Play Selection w/Preroll</dt><dd>As the previous menu, except it starts the playback 1/2 bar before the beginning of the selection</dd>
4311 <dt class="sub1">Start/Continue/Stop</dt><dd>FIXME</dd>
4312 <dt class="sub1">Play from Edit Point and Return</dt><dd>Starts the playback at the <a href="/ardours-interface/the-editor/the-toolbar/the-edit-point-control/">Edit point, and when stopped, goes back to the orginial location</a></dd>
4313 <dt class="sub1">Play Loop Range</dt><dd>If a <a href="/working-with-markers/loop-range/">Loop range</a> is defined, play it and loop until stopped</dd>
4314 <dt>Start Recording</dt><dd>This is a shortcut to trigger the global recording, and start playback at once</dd>
4315 <dt>Stop and Forget Capture</dt><dd>Stops the recording, removes the newly created material, and goes back to the original position</dd>
4316 <dt>Enable Record</dt><dd>Triggers the global recording. Next time "Play" is pressed, it will record on the track(s) that are armed for recording</dd>
4318 <dt>Set Loop from Selection</dt><dd>Converts the selection into a <a href="/working-with-markers/loop-range/">Loop range</a> by placing loop markers at the start and end of the selected range</dd>
4319 <dt>Set Punch from Selection</dt><dd>Same thing, for <a href="/working-with-markers/punch-range/">Punch</a></dd>
4320 <dt>Set Session Start/End from Selection</dt><dd>Same thing, for the start and end markers of the session, defining the sessions length</dd>
4322 <dt>Forward</dt><dd>FIXME</dd>
4323 <dt>Rewind</dt><dd>Plays the audio backwards from the playhead on</dd>
4324 <dt>Transition to Roll</dt><dd>FIXME</dd>
4325 <dt>Transition to Reverse</dt><dd>FIXME</dd>
4327 <dt>Playhead</dt><dd></dd>
4328 <dt class="sub1">Playhead to Mouse</dt><dd>Set the position of the playhead at the current position of the mouse cursor</dd>
4329 <dt class="sub1">Playhead to Active Mark</dt><dd>If a marker is selected, set the position of the playhead at the position of the marker</dd>
4330 <dt class="sub1">Center Playhead</dt><dd>Centers the view on the playhead without changing the zoom level (putting the playhead in the middle of the screen)</dd>
4332 <dt class="sub1">Nudge Playhead Forward</dt><dd>Shifts the position of the playhead to the right by the amount shown in the <a href="/ardours-interface/the-editor/the-toolbar/the-nudge-controls/">nudge timer</a></dd>
4333 <dt class="sub1">Nudge Playhead Backward</dt><dd>Same thing, to the left</dd>
4335 <dt class="sub1">Move to Next Transient</dt><dd>When transient have been set, moves the playhead to the next one to the right</dd>
4336 <dt class="sub1">Move to Previous Transient</dt><dd>Same, to the left</dd>
4338 <dt class="sub1">Playhead to Next Grid</dt><dd>Regardless of the state of the Grid Mode, goes to the next grid to the right, as set by the <a href="/ardours-interface/the-editor/the-toolbar/the-grid-controls/">Snap/Grid unit</a></dd>
4339 <dt class="sub1">Playhead to Previous Grid</dt><dd>Same, to the left</dd>
4341 <dt class="sub1">Playhead to Next Region Boundary</dt><dd>Moves the playhead to the right to the next beginning or end of region on the selected track or, if no track is selected, on all tracks</dd>
4342 <dt class="sub1">Playhead to Previous Region Boundary</dt><dd>Same, to the left</dd>
4343 <dt class="sub1">Playhead to Next Region Boundary (No Track Selection)</dt><dd>Moves the playhead to next beginning or end of region, be it on the selected track or any other</dd>
4344 <dt class="sub1">Playhead to Previous Region Boundary (No Track Selection)</dt><dd>Same, to the left</dd>
4345 <dt class="sub1">Playhead to Next Region Sync</dt><dd>Moves the playhead to next Region Sync Point, that is by default the beginning of a region but <a href="/ardours-interface/the-editor/the-toolbar/the-grid-controls/">can be moved</a></dd>
4346 <dt class="sub1">Playhead to Previous Region Sync</dt><dd>Same, to the left</dd>
4348 <dt class="sub1">Jump to Next Mark</dt><dd>moves the playhead to the next <a href="/working-with-markers/creating-location-markers/">marker</a> on the Ruler</dd>
4349 <dt class="sub1">Jump to Previous Mark</dt><dd>Same, to the left</dd>
4351 <dt class="sub1">Go to Zero</dt><dd>Sends the playhead to the 00:00:00:00 time, regardless of the sessions Start marker</dd>
4352 <dt class="sub1">Go to Start</dt><dd>Sends the playhead to the Start marker of the session</dd>
4353 <dt class="sub1">Go to End</dt><dd>Sends the playhead to the End marker of the session</dd>
4354 <dt class="sub1">Go to Wall Clock</dt><dd>Sends the playhead to the current value of system time, as shown on the top right of the <a href="/ardours-interface/status-bar/">Status bar</a></dd>
4355 <dt>Active Mark</dt>
4356 <dt class="sub1">To Next Region Boundary</dt><dd>Moves the currently selected <a href="/working-with-markers/">marker</a> to the next region beginning or end</dd>
4357 <dt class="sub1">To Previous Region Boundary</dt><dd>Same, to the left</dd>
4358 <dt class="sub1">To Next Region Sync</dt><dd>Moves the currently selected to the next region sync point (by default : beginning or end of the region)</dd>
4359 <dt class="sub1">To Previous Region Sync</dt><dd>Same, to the left</dd>
4360 <dt>Markers</dt><dd></dd>
4361 <dt class="sub1">Add Mark from Playhead</dt><dd>Creates a Marker at he position of the playhead</dd>
4362 <dt class="sub1">Remove Mark at Playhead</dt><dd>Removes any marker at the position of the playhead</dd>
4363 <dt class="sub1">Toggle Mark at Playhead</dt><dd>Combine the 2 previous : if a marker exists, deletes it, otherwise create it</dd>
4365 <dt class="sub1">Locate to Mark <em>n</em></dt><dd>If it exists, goes to the <em>n-th</em> marker</dd>
4367 <dt class="sub1">Set Session Start from Playhead</dt><dd>Puts the Start of the session marker at the playhead's position</dd>
4368 <dt class="sub1">Set Session End from Playhead</dt><dd>Puts the End of the session marker at the playhead's position</dd>
4370 <dt>[] Time Master</dt><dd>Sets Ardour as the Time master, i.e. Ardour sends the time information to the audio system</dd>
4371 <dt>[] Punch In/Out</dt><dd>Based on the Punch in and Punch out markers if they exist, tells Ardour to record only between those two points</dd>
4372 <dt>[] Punch In</dt><dd>Based on the Punch in marker, only allow to record from this point on</dd>
4373 <dt>[] Punch Out</dt><dd>Based on the Punch out marker, forbids recording before this point</dd>
4374 <dt>[] Audio Input</dt><dd>If checked, automatically switch the <a href="/recording/monitoring/monitor-setup-in-ardour/">monitor</a> from <em>input</em> to <em>playback</em>mode when playing</dd>
4375 <dt>[] Follow Edits</dt><dd>If checked, selecting a region moves the playhead to its beginning</dd>
4376 <dt>[] Auto Play</dt><dd>If checked, moving the playhead in the ruler starts the playback</dd>
4377 <dt>[] Auto Return</dt><dd>If checked, when the playback is stopped, go back to the previous position of the playhead. If not, the playhead stays where it is when the playback is stopped</dd>
4378 <dt>[] Click</dt><dd>Activates/desactivates the click track (metronome)</dd>
4379 <dt>[] Follow Playhead</dt><dd>If checked, while playing, when the playhead reaches the right of the screen, Ardour scrolls one screen to the right to keep the playhead visible at all times</dd>
4380 <dt>[] Stationary Playhead</dt><dd>If checked <em>and</em> if <kbd class="menu">Follow playhead</kbd> is checked, on playback, the playhead stays at the center of the screen, and the session scrolls</dd>
4381 <dt>Panic</dt><dd>Immediately stops all MIDI playback (usefull e.g. when a MIDI bug in encountered)</dd>
4385 title: The Edit Menu
4390 The <dfn>Edit</dfn> menu groups together the actions related to the edition, and so will be mostly used while in Editor mode.
4394 <dt>Undo (<em>action</em>)</dt><dd>Reverts the last editing operation, namely <em>action</em></dd>
4395 <dt>Redo</dt><dd>Does the last editing operation again, after an Undo</dd>
4397 <dt>Undo Selection Change</dt><dd>Reverts the last selection operation</dd>
4398 <dt>Redo Selection Change</dt><dd>Does the last selection operation again after an Undo Selection Change</dd>
4400 <dt>Cut</dt><dd>Deletes the current selection, but puts it in memory ready to be pasted</dd>
4401 <dt>Copy</dt><dd>Copies the current selection to memory</dd>
4402 <dt>Paste</dt><dd>Pastes the memory at the <a href="/ardours-interface/the-editor/the-toolbar/the-edit-point-control/">edit point</a>, after a Cut or Copy operation</dd>
4405 <dt class="sub1">Select All Objects</dt><dd>Selects all the regions and automation pints in the session</dd>
4406 <dt class="sub1">Select All Tracks</dt><dd>Selects all the tracks, busses and control masters in the session</dd>
4407 <dt class="sub1">Deselect All</dt><dd>Deselects all objects or tracks, nothing is selected</dd>
4408 <dt class="sub1">Invert Selection</dt><dd>Select the previously unselected regions, and deselect the previously selected ones</dd>
4410 <dt class="sub1">Set Range to Loop Range</dt><dd>Creates a range selection on the selected tracks, based on the selected loop markers, and switches to <a href="/ardours-interface/the-editor/the-toolbar/the-toolbox/">Range Mode tool</a></dd>
4411 <dt class="sub1">Set Range to Punch Range</dt><dd>Same as above, based on the selected punch markers</dd>
4412 <dt class="sub1">Set Range to Selected Regions</dt><dd>Same as above, based on the selected regions (i.e. from the start of the earliest region to the end of the latest one)</dd>
4414 <dt class="sub1">Select All After Edit Point</dt><dd>Select all the regions and automation points that exist after the Edit Point, even if the region starts before it. If some tracks are selected, only selects on these tracks.</dd>
4415 <dt class="sub1">Select All Before Edit Point</dt><dd>Same as above, but before the Edit point (i.e. to the left of it)</dd>
4416 <dt class="sub1">Select All Overlapping Edit Range</dt><dd>Select all the regions and automation points of which at least a part is in the current selection range</dd>
4417 <dt class="sub1">Select All Inside Edit Range</dt><dd>Selects all the regions that are completely inside the selection range, i.e. their start and end are inside the range. If some tracks are selected, only selects on these tracks.</dd>
4418 <dt class="sub1">Select All in Punch Range</dt><dd>Selects all the regions of which a part in in the punch range. If some tracks are selected, only selects on these tracks.</dd>
4419 <dt class="sub1">Select All in Loop Range</dt><dd>Same as above, based on the loop range</dd>
4421 <dt class="sub1">Move Range Start to Previous Region Boundary</dt><dd>Extends the left boundary of the range to the left to the next region start or end. The region must be in the range.</dd>
4422 <dt class="sub1">Move Range Start to Next Region Boundary</dt><dd>Same as above, to the right (reduces the selection)</dd>
4423 <dt class="sub1">Move Range End to Previous Region Boundary</dt><dd>Same as above, with the right edge of the range, to the left (reduces the selection)</dd>
4424 <dt class="sub1">Move Range End to Next Region Boundary</dt><dd>Same as above, with the right edge, to the right (extends the selection)</dd>
4426 <dt class="sub1">Start Range</dt><dd>Sets the left edge of the range to the Edit point</dd>
4427 <dt class="sub1">Finish Range</dt><dd>Sets the right edge of the range to the Edit point</dd>
4429 <dt class="sub1">Select Next Track or Bus</dt><dd>Select the track or bus under the currently selected one. If multiple tracks are selected, only the first one is considered</dd>
4430 <dt class="sub1">Select Previous Track or Bus</dt><dd>Same as above, with the track/bus above the first one selected.</dd>
4432 <dt>Delete</dt><dd>Deletes all that is currently selected</dd>
4433 <dt>Crop</dt><dd>Cuts the parts of the regions that are outside the range boundaries. Only applies on the regions that belong at least in part to the range.</dd>
4434 <dt>Split/Separate</dt><dd>Cuts the selected regions at the Edit point, separating them in two regions</dd>
4436 <dt class="sub1">Separate Under</dt><dd>Removes all the parts of the regions that are under the selected one. Once done, the selected region is alone on its part of the track.</dd>
4437 <dt class="sub1">Separate Using Loop Range</dt><dd>Cuts the selected regions or the regions on the selected tracks along the Loop range's start and end markers. If nothing is selected, acts on all tracks at once.</dd>
4438 <dt class="sub1">Separate Using Punch Range</dt><dd>Same as above, with the Punch range markers</dd>
4440 <dt class="sub1">Align Start</dt><dd>Moves the selected regions to align the beginning of the regions to the Edit point</dd>
4441 <dt class="sub1">Align Start Relative</dt><dd>When multiple regions are selected, moves all the regions together as a block to align the beginning of the earliest one to the Edit point.</dd>
4442 <dt class="sub1">Align End</dt><dd>Moves the selected regions to align the end of the regions to the Edit point</dd>
4443 <dt class="sub1">Align End Relative</dt><dd>When multiple regions are selected, moves all the regions together as a block to align the end of the latest one to the Edit point.</dd>
4444 <dt class="sub1">Align Sync</dt><dd>Moves the selected regions to align the Sync point of the regions to the Edit point</dd>
4445 <dt class="sub1">Align Sync Relative</dt><dd>When multiple regions are selected, moves all the regions together as a block to align the earliest Sync point to the Edit point.</dd>
4447 <dt class="sub1">Fade Range Selection</dt><dd>For all the regions that either begin or end in the range, create a fade in or out on the regions length.</dd>
4448 <dt class="sub1">Set Fade In Length</dt><dd>If the edit point is withing the region boundaries, adjusts selected audio regions' fade in to end at the edit point.</dd>
4449 <dt class="sub1">[] Fade In</dt><dd>Toggles the fade in on the selected region on or off</dd>
4450 <dt class="sub1">Set Fade Out Length</dt><dd>Same as above, for the fade out</dd>
4451 <dt class="sub1">[] Fade Out</dt><dd>Toggles the fade out on the selected region on or off</dd>
4453 <dt>Remove Last Capture</dt><dd>Destroy the last recording. A prompt reminds the user this <em>cannot</em> be undone.</dd>
4456 <dt class="sub1">Change Edit Point</dt><dd>Toggles between the mouse and the playhead as the Edit point</dd>
4457 <dt class="sub1">Change Edit Point Including Marker</dt><dd>Toggles between the mouse, the playhead and marker as the Edit point</dd>
4459 <dt class="sub1">() No Grid</dt><dd>Disables <a href="/ardours-interface/the-editor/the-toolbar/the-grid-controls/">snapping</a>, i.e. allows free movement of regions and boundaries</dd>
4460 <dt class="sub1">() Grid</dt><dd>Forces snapping, so any move of region boundary will be lined to the grid as chosen</dd>
4461 <dt class="sub1">() Magnetic</dt><dd>If the movement of the region or boundary happens near a grid line, snaps, otherwise, allow free movement</dd>
4463 <dt class="sub1">Next Snap Mode</dt><dd>Toggles between the No Grid, Grid and Magnetic snap modes</dd>
4464 <dt class="sub1">Next Snap Choice</dt><dd>Circles through the snap choices, as detailed below</dd>
4465 <dt class="sub1">Previous Snap Choice</dt><dd>Circles through the snap choices, as detailed below, in reverse order</dd>
4466 <dt class="sub1">Next Musical Snap Choice</dt><dd>Circles through the musical snap choices, e.g. those expressed in bars and beats</dd>
4467 <dt class="sub1">Previous Musical Snap Choice</dt><dd>Same as previous, but in reverse order</dd>
4469 <dt class="sub1">Snap to CD Frame</dt><dd>The grid unit will be 1/75th of a second</dd>
4470 <dt class="sub1">Snap to Timecode Frame/Second/Minute</dt><dd>The grid unit will be based on the timecode settings for the session</dd>
4471 <dt class="sub1">Snap to Second/Minute</dt><dd>The grid unit will be based on absolute times</dd>
4472 <dt class="sub1">Snap to <em>n</em>th</dt><dd>The grid unit will be 1/<em>n</em> beats and will depend on the tempo and meter in effect at that point in the timeline.</dd>
4473 <dt class="sub1">Snap to Beat</dt><dd>Same as above, whole beat</dd>
4474 <dt class="sub1">Snap to Bar</dt><dd>Same as above, whole bar</dd>
4475 <dt class="sub1">Snap to Mark</dt><dd>The grid will be made of markers</dd>
4476 <dt class="sub1">Snap to Region Start</dt><dd>No grid, the regions will snap to the closest region start on any track</dd>
4477 <dt class="sub1">Snap to Region End</dt><dd>Same as above with the regions' ends</dd>
4478 <dt class="sub1">Snap to Regions Sync</dt><dd>Same as above, with the Sync points (by default, start of the region)</dd>
4479 <dt class="sub1">Snap to Region Boundaries</dt><dd>Same as above, for both the starts and ends of regions</dd>
4481 <dt>Tempo</dt><dd></dd>
4482 <dt class="sub1">Set Tempo from Region = Bar</dt><dd>Computes the tempo so that the duration of the first selected region is 1 bar. Ardour prompts if the user wants it to be the global tempo, or a tempo marker at the beginning of the region used</dd>
4483 <dt class="sub1">Set Tempo from Edit Range = Bar</dt><dd>Same thing, with the current Range instead of a region</dd>
4484 <dt>[] Smart Object Mode</dt><dd>Toggles the Smart Mode, allowing the mouse to be in Range Mode in the upper half of a region, and in Grab Mode in the lower half</dd>
4486 <dt>Scripted Actions</dt><dd></dd>
4487 <dt class="sub1">[] Script Manager</dt><dd>Shows the <a href="/lua-scripting/">Script manager</a>, allowing to use and manage the Lua scripts in the session</dd>
4489 <dt class="sub1">Unset #<em>n</em></dt><dd>Desactivate the <em>n</em>th script</dd>
4491 <dt>Preferences</dt><dd>Displays the <a href="/preferences-and-session-properties/preferences-dialog/">Preferences</a> panels, allowing to change Ardour's behaviour</dd>
4495 title: The Region Menu
4500 The <kbd class="menu">Region</kbd> Menu is where the user can tweak its regions, the parts of audio or MIDI that sit on the timeline.
4504 <dt>Insert Region from Region List</dt><dd>If a region is selected in the Editor List, add it at the Edit point</dd>
4505 <dt>Play</dt><dd>Starts playback at the beginning of the selected region(s), and stops at its(their) end</dd>
4506 <dt>Loop</dt><dd>Creates a loop range on the selected region's boundaries, and starts the looped playback</dd>
4507 <dt>Rename...</dt><dd>Changes the name of the region, that appears in its top left area</dd>
4508 <dt>Properties...</dt><dd>Shows the <kbd class="menu">Region properties</kbd> window, that displays detailed information about the region and allow for some modifications</dd>
4509 <dt>Loudness Analysis...</dt><dd>Shows the <kbd class="menu">Audio Report/Analysis</kbd> window, that displays detailed <a href="/meters/">dBFS information</a> as well as a spectrogram (dBFS of frequency against time)</dd>
4510 <dt>Spectral Analysis...</dt><dd>Shows the <kbd class="menu">Audio Report/Analysis</kbd> window, that displays a integrated spectral view of the region (dBFS agaisnt frequency)</dd>
4512 <dt class="sub1">Combine</dt><dd>Creates a new region by joining the selected audio regions in the same track, and replaces those region with the newly created compound. The same rules are applied to create the compound as for playback regarding e.g. layering</dd>
4513 <dt class="sub1">Uncombine</dt><dd>Splits back the compound created by <em>combining</em> into its original audio regions</dd>
4514 <dt class="sub1">Pitch Shift...</dt><dd>Changes the tune of the audio region, by octave, semitones or percentage, based on spectral analysis. Optionaly, and if they have been set for the region, preserves the formants</dd>
4515 <dt class="sub1">Split/Separate</dt><dd>Cuts the selected regions at the Edit point, separating them in two regions</dd>
4516 <dt class="sub1">Split at Percussion Onset</dt><dd>Allows splitting the selected regions on its PErcussion Onsets marker as set by the Rhythm Ferret (Not usable as of 5.5)</dd>
4517 <dt class="sub1">Make Mono Regions</dt><dd>Creates mono regions out of a stereo or multichannel region by splitting it into its discrete channels. The created regions are added to the Editor List</dd>
4518 <dt class="sub1">Close Gaps</dt><dd>Extends (or reduces) the selected regions to be perfecltly aligned. Optionnaly, sets up a crossfade duration, or a pull-back (spacing between regions)</dd>
4519 <dt class="sub1">Place Transient</dt><dd>Places a transient at the Edit Point. Used e.g. for the <kbd class="menu">Pitch Shift...</kbd> action</dd>
4520 <dt class="sub1">Rhythm Ferret...</dt><dd>Opens the <kbd class="menu">Rhythm Ferret</kbd> which is a powerfull tool to sequence audio files</dd>
4521 <dt class="sub1">Strip Silence...</dt><dd>Opens the <kbd class="menu">Strip Silence</kbd> window which is a very handy tool to remove all audio under a user-chosen threshold (with a preview)</dd>
4522 <dt class="sub1">Reverse</dt><dd>Mirrors the audio horizontally</dd>
4524 <dt class="sub1">Raise to Top</dt><dd>On overlapping regions, puts the selected one(s) on top</dd>
4525 <dt class="sub1">Raise</dt><dd>On overlapping region, makes the selected one(s) one layer higher</dd>
4526 <dt class="sub1">Lower</dt><dd>Makes the selected region(s) one layer lower</dd>
4527 <dt class="sub1">Lower to Bottom</dt><dd>Sends the selected region to the background</dd>
4529 <dt class="sub1">Transpose...</dt><dd>On a MIDI region, shows the <a href="/editing-and-arranging/edit-midi/transpose-midi/"><kbd class="menu">Transpose MIDI</kbd> window</a>, allowing to shift the pitch of the whole MIDI region by ± <em>n</em> semitones or octaves</dd>
4530 <dt class="sub1">Insert Patch Change...</dt><dd>Inserts a patch change at the Edit Point, allowing a change of patch, channel, program and/or bank</dd>
4531 <dt class="sub1">Quantize...</dt><dd>Shows the <a href="/editing-and-arranging/edit-midi/quantize-midi/"><kbd class="menu">Quantize</kbd> window</a>, allowing to perfectly align the MIDI notes to the musical grid</dd>
4532 <dt class="sub1">Legatize</dt><dd>Shortens or elongates the MIDI notes to make them perfectly sequentials, i.e. the end of a note is the start of the following one</dd>
4533 <dt class="sub1">Remove Overlap</dt><dd>FIXME Shortens or elongates the MIDI notes to make them perfectly sequentials, i.e. the end of a note is the start of the following one</dd>
4534 <dt class="sub1">Transform...</dt><dd><a href="/editing-and-arranging/edit-midi/transformation-midi/"><kbd class="menu">Transform</kbd> window</a>, that allows for mathematical operations on the midi notes</dd>
4535 <dt class="sub1">Unlink from Other copies</dt><dd>Makes the selected MIDI region independant, e.g. editing this region won't affect any other one.</dd>
4536 <dt class="sub1">List Editor...</dt><dd>Shows the <kbd class="menu">List Editor</kbd> which sequentially lists all the MIDI events in the region, and allows for precise modifications</dd>
4538 <dt class="sub1">[] Opaque</dt><dd>When checked, makes the region opaque audio-wise, i.e., the underlying regions won't be audible</dd>
4539 <dt class="sub1">[] Mute</dt><dd>When checked, mutes <em>only</em> the selected region on the track, without muting the track. The muted regions will have <em>!!</em> prepended to their name and will be semi-transparent</dd>
4540 <dt class="sub1">Normalize...</dt><dd>Shows the <kbd class="menu">Normalize region</kbd> dialog, which allows to scale the region level by setting its maximum level, optionaly constraining the RMS</dd>
4541 <dt class="sub1">Boost Gain</dt><dd>Increases the gain on the selected region by boosting the audio, without touching the enveloppe or automation</dd>
4542 <dt class="sub1">Cut Gain</dt><dd>Reduces the gain without touching the enveloppe or automation</dd>
4543 <dt class="sub1">Reset Envelope</dt><dd>If the gain enveloppe has been edited, resets it to its initial value (constant at 0 dB)</dd>
4544 <dt class="sub1">[] Envelope Active</dt><dd>When unchecked, disables any enveloppe editing that has been made. The enveloppe will be displayed in yellow instead of green.</dd>
4546 <dt class="sub1">Move to Original Position</dt><dd>Moves the region where it was initially recorded or inserted in the session</dd>
4547 <dt class="sub1">Snap Position to Grid</dt><dd>If the Grid Mode is set to <em>Grid</em>, snaps the region to the nearest grid line</dd>
4548 <dt class="sub1">[] Lock</dt><dd>Blocks the selected regions at their current positions in time and tracks, avoiding any movement on the timeline. The region name will be surrounded by <em>></em> and <em><</em> brackets</dd>
4549 <dt class="sub1">[] Glue to Bars and Beats</dt><dd>Locks the region position to relative to the musical grid, i.e. a change of tempo will move the region to keep it on the same bar/beat</dd>
4550 <dt class="sub1">[] Lock to Video</dt><dd>Same as above, relative to the position in the video</dd>
4551 <dt class="sub1">Set Sync Position</dt><dd>Creates or move the Sync position, i.e. the point of the region that will be aligned or snapped to the grid, and that is (by default) the beggining of the region.</dd>
4552 <dt class="sub1">Remove Sync</dt><dd>Removes any user defined Sync point, and resets the sync position to the beginning of the region</dd>
4553 <dt class="sub1">Nudge Later</dt><dd>Moves the region to the right by the amount shown in the <a href="/ardours-interface/the-editor/the-toolbar/the-nudge-controls/">nudge timer</a></dd>
4554 <dt class="sub1">Nudge Earlier</dt><dd>Same as above, to the left</dd>
4555 <dt class="sub1">Nudge Later by Capture Offset</dt><dd>Moves the region to the right by the capture latency computed by ardour based on the user's settings regarding latency</dd>
4556 <dt class="sub1">Nudge Earlier by Capture Offset</dt><dd>Same as above, to the left</dd>
4557 <dt class="sub1">Sequence Regions</dt><dd>Puts the selected regions one after the other, so that the end of one region is the beggining of the next one, removing any overlap or silence. The reference point is the earliest region.</dd>
4559 <dt class="sub1">Trim Start at Edit Point</dt><dd>If the Edit Point is within the region boundaries, shortens the region to align its start with the Edit Point</dd>
4560 <dt class="sub1">Trim End at Edit Point</dt><dd>Same as above, for the end of the region</dd>
4561 <dt class="sub1">Trim to Loop</dt><dd>Uses both the start and end Loop markers to shorten the region</dd>
4562 <dt class="sub1">Trim to Punch</dt><dd>Same as above with the Punch markers</dd>
4563 <dt class="sub1">Trim to Previous</dt><dd>On overlapping regions, shortens the selected one so that the previous region is complete, i.e. the new start point for the selected region is the end point of the previous region on the timeline</dd>
4564 <dt class="sub1">Trim to Next</dt><dd>Same as above, with the end of the selected region aligned to the start of the following one.</dd>
4566 <dt class="sub1">Set Loop Range</dt><dd>Creates a Loop range based on the selected regions, i.e. the strt of the loop range is the start of the earliest region, and the end of the loop is the end of the latest region.</dd>
4567 <dt class="sub1">Set Punch</dt><dd>Same as above, for the Punch range</dd>
4568 <dt class="sub1">Add Single Range Marker</dt><dd>Same as above, for the Edit range</dd>
4569 <dt class="sub1">Add Range Marker Per Region</dt><dd>For each selected region, creates its own Edit range based on the boundaries of each region</dd>
4570 <dt class="sub1">Set Range Selection</dt><dd>Creates a range selection based on the boundaries of the selected regions</dd>
4572 <dt class="sub1">[] Fade In</dt><dd>Activates/desactivates the Fade In at the start of the region</dd>
4573 <dt class="sub1">[] Fade Out</dt><dd>Same as above, for the Fade out at the end of the region</dd>
4574 <dt class="sub1">[] Fades</dt><dd>Shortcut to activate/desactivate both the fade in and fade out</dd>
4576 <dt class="sub1">Duplicate</dt><dd>Creates a copy of the selected region(s) and happend it to the original</dd>
4577 <dt class="sub1">Multi-Duplicate...</dt><dd>Shows the <kbd class="menu">Duplicate</kbd> dialog, allowing to create multiple copies, or a not-integer number of copies (the last one will then be truncated)</dd>
4578 <dt class="sub1">Fill Track</dt><dd>Creates duplicates until it fills the session, i.e. reaches the End marker of the session. The last duplicate may be truncated to fit in</dd>
4579 <dt>Export...</dt><dd>Shows the <a href="/exporting/export-dialog/"><kbd class="menu">Export</kbd> dialog</a>, with all parameters set to export only the selected region(s)</dd>
4580 <dt>Bounce (without processing)</dt><dd>Creates a bounce, i.e. a version of the region with all the edits (boundaries, enveloppe), as a new region in the Editor List, without any of the effects of the mixer strip</dd>
4581 <dt>Bounce (with processing)</dt><dd>Same as above, <em>with</em> the effects of the mixer strip</dd>
4583 <dt>Remove</dt><dd>Deletes the region from the edit (no file is harmed in the process, and the region stays in the Editor for later use)</dd>
4587 title: The Track Menu
4592 The <kbd class="menu">Track</kbd> menu is where one can deal with the tracks, busses and control masters.
4596 <dt>Add Track, Bus or VCA...</dt><dd>Shows the <a href="/working-with-tracks/adding-tracks-and-busses/"><kbd class="menu">Add Track, Bus or VCA...</kbd> window</a>, where one can add one or more tracks, busses or control masters to the session and define its parameters</dd>
4597 <dt>Duplicate Tracks/Busses...</dt><dd>Shows the <kbd class="menu">Duplicate Tracks and Busses</kbd> window, allowing to duplicate the selected track(s) and optionnaly, its playlist</dd>
4599 <dt>Toggle Record Enable</dt><dd>Sets the Record Enable mode On on the selected track(s). These tracks will record audio/midi next time the global record is active and playback is started.</dd>
4600 <dt>Toggle Solo</dt><dd>Sets the solo On on the selected tracks, so only these tracks will play</dd>
4601 <dt>Toggle Mute</dt><dd>Mutes the selected tracks, they wont play until unmuted</dd>
4603 <dt>Insert Time</dt><dd>Shows the <kbd class="menu">Insert Time</kbd> window, allowing to insert a blank time in the selected tracks' playlist. By default, it'll be inserted at the Edit Point, but that can be changed in the dialog, as does the behaviour of the regions</dd>
4604 <dt>Remove Time</dt><dd>Same as above, but to remove time</dd>
4605 <dt>Move Selected Tracks Up</dt><dd>Changes the position of the selected tracks one track up towards the top. In the mixer, the tracks will be moved to the left.</dd>
4606 <dt>Move Selected Tracks Down</dt><dd>Same as above, towards the bottom</dd>
4608 <dt class="sub1">Fit Selection (Vertical)</dt><dd>Will fit the selected track(s) in the window. If too many tracks are selected, they'll be reduced to their minimum height.</dd>
4609 <dt class="sub1">Largest</dt><dd>Sets the selected tracks height to a very high value, hence making the tracks wide on screen</dd>
4610 <dt class="sub1">Larger</dt><dd>Same as above, but a little less high</dd>
4611 <dt class="sub1">Large</dt><dd>Same as above, but again less high</dd>
4612 <dt class="sub1">Normal</dt><dd>Sets the height of the track to its default value which is a trade-off between readability and number of tracks displayed</dd>
4613 <dt class="sub1">Small</dt><dd>Reduces the size of the tracks to a low value, increasing the number of on screen tracks</dd>
4615 <dt>Toggle Active</dt><dd>Toggles the active state of a track. An inactive track will be grayed and wont play any sound. That can be seen in the <kbd class="menu">A</kbd> colomn of the <a href="/ardours-interface/the-editor/the-editor_s-lists/tracks-and-busses-list/">Tracks and Busses List</a></dd>
4616 <dt>Remove</dt><dd>Deletes this track and its playlist (no file is harmed in the process, and the regions from the playlist stay in the Editor for later use)</dd>
4620 title: The View Menu
4625 The <dfn>View</dfn> menu sets how the session is seen, and what's visible or not.
4629 <dt>[] Maximise Editor Space</dt><dd>Puts the Editor window in full screen mode</dd>
4630 <dt>[] Maximize Mixer Space</dt><dd>Puts the Mixer window in full screen mode</dd>
4632 <dt>Primary Clock</dt>
4633 <dt class="sub1">Focus On Clock</dt><dd>Sets the focus on the <a href="/ardours-interface/transport-bar-and-times/times/">main clock</a>, allowing to type in numbers directly to change the playhead position</dd>
4634 <dt class="sub1">Timecode</dt><dd>Sets the main clock in timecode mode, so it displays time in the Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames format</dd>
4635 <dt class="sub1">Bars & Beats</dt><dd>Sets the main clock in musical time mode, so it displays time in the Bars:Beats:Ticks format</dd>
4636 <dt class="sub1">Minutes & Seconds</dt><dd>Sets the main clock in absolute time mode, so it displays time in the Hours:Minutes:Seconds.Milliseconds format</dd>
4637 <dt class="sub1">Samples</dt><dd>Sets the main clock in samples time mode, so the time is displayed in samples from the absolute start</dd>
4638 <dt>Secondary Clock</dt>
4639 <dt class="sub1">Timecode</dt><dd>Same as for the main clock (see above)</dd>
4640 <dt class="sub1">Bars & Beats</dt><dd>Same as for the main clock</dd>
4641 <dt class="sub1">Minutes & Seconds</dt><dd>Same as for the main clock</dd>
4642 <dt class="sub1">Samples</dt><dd>Same as for the main clock</dd>
4645 <dt class="sub1">Zoom In</dt><dd>Zooms in, focusing the <em>Zoom Focus</em> (see bellow)</dd>
4646 <dt class="sub1">Zoom Out</dt><dd>Zooms out</dd>
4647 <dt class="sub1">Zoom to Session</dt><dd>Adjust the zoom value so that all the session (as defined by its start and end markers) fit in the window</dd>
4648 <dt class="sub1">Zoom to Selection</dt><dd>Adjust the zoom value so that all the selected regions fit in the window</dd>
4649 <dt class="sub1">Fit Selection (Vertical)</dt><dd>Fits the selected track(s) in the window. If too many tracks are selected, they'll be reduced to their minimum height.</dd>
4650 <dt class="sub1">Toggle Zoom State</dt><dd>Reverts to last zoom state (kind of "undo" for zoom, even if edits have been made inbetween)</dd>
4651 <dt class="sub1">Expand Track Height</dt><dd>Increases the height of the selected tracks. If no track is selected, then all the tracks are expanded</dd>
4652 <dt class="sub1">Shrink Track Height</dt><dd>Same as above, but reduces the height of the tracks</dd>
4654 <dt class="sub1">Zoom Focus Left</dt><dd>Sets the screen's left side as the zoom target, i.e. when zooming in, the left side of the screen will stay at the same place in the timeline</dd>
4655 <dt class="sub1">Zoom Focus Right</dt><dd>Same, with the right of the screen</dd>
4656 <dt class="sub1">Zoom Focus Center</dt><dd>Same, with the center of the screen</dd>
4657 <dt class="sub1">Zoom Focus Playhead</dt><dd>Sets the playhead as the focus point of the zoom, i.e. the point in time that will stay fixed</dd>
4658 <dt class="sub1">Zoom Focus Mouse</dt><dd>Same as above, with the mouse pointer</dd>
4659 <dt class="sub1">Zoom Focus Edit Point</dt><dd>Same as above, with the Edit Point</dd>
4660 <dt class="sub1">Next Zoom Focus</dt><dd>Circles between the previous modes</dd>
4662 <dt class="sub1">[] Min:Sec</dt><dd>Showss (when checked) or hides a line in <a href="/ardours-interface/the-editor/the-ruler/">the Ruler</a> with the time formatted as Hours:Minutes:Seconds.Milliseconds</dd>
4663 <dt class="sub1">[] Timecode</dt><dd>Same as above, with the time formatted as Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames</dd>
4664 <dt class="sub1">[] Samples</dt><dd>Same as the above, with the time displayed in samples from the absolute start</dd>
4665 <dt class="sub1">[] Bars & Beats</dt><dd>Same as the above, with the time formatted as Bars:Beats:Ticks</dd>
4667 <dt class="sub1">[] Meter</dt><dd>Shows / hides the Meter line in the ruler, where the signature can be adjusted along the playline</dd>
4668 <dt class="sub1">[] Tempo</dt><dd>Shows / hides the Tempo line, where the BPM can be changed with markers</dd>
4669 <dt class="sub1">[] Ranges</dt><dd>Shows / hides the Range line, where ranges can be defined</dd>
4670 <dt class="sub1">[] Loop/Punch</dt><dd>Shows / hides the Loop/Punch line, where loops and Punches can be defined</dd>
4671 <dt class="sub1">[] CD Markers</dt><dd>Shows / hides the Range line, where CD Markers can be defined</dd>
4672 <dt class="sub1">[] Markers</dt><dd>Shows / hides the Markers line, where custom markers can be defined</dd>
4674 <dt class="sub1">[] Video</dt><dd>Shows / hides the Video timeline, where frames of the video are shown for syncing purposes</dd>
4675 <dt>Video Monitor</dt>
4676 <dt class="sub1">Original Size</dt><dd>When the <a href="/video-timeline/">Video Monitor</a> is active, resets its size to the original size, i.e. 1 pixel in the video is 1 pixel on screen</dd>
4677 <dt class="sub1">[] Letterbox</dt><dd>When checked, forces the ratio (width/height) to be the one of the original video. If unched, the video will be stretched to fit the window</dd>
4679 <dt class="sub1">[] Always on Top</dt><dd>Stays above all other windows, enabling to work in Ardour without the video windows to be hidden in the background</dd>
4680 <dt class="sub1">[] Fullscreen</dt><dd>Sets the Xjadeo window to be fullscreen. Can be usefull in a dual monitor setup</dd>
4682 <dt class="sub1">[] Timecode</dt><dd>When checked, displays a Timecode over the video, in the Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames format</dd>
4683 <dt class="sub1">[] Frame number</dt><dd>When checked, shows the absolute frame number inside the video, i.e. this image is the <em>n</em>th of the video</dd>
4684 <dt class="sub1">[] Timecode Background</dt><dd>Adds a black background to the timecode for readability</dd>
4686 <dt class="sub1">Scroll Tracks Down</dt><dd>Scrolls the view toward the bottom of the session from one screen (vertically, so along tracks)</dd>
4687 <dt class="sub1">Scroll Tracks Up</dt><dd>Same as above, towards the top</dd>
4688 <dt class="sub1">Scroll Forward</dt><dd>Scrolls the view toward the right of the session from one screen (horizontally, so along time)</dd>
4689 <dt class="sub1">Scroll Backward</dt><dd>Same as above, to the left</dd>
4691 <dt class="sub1">Save View <em>n</em></dt><dd>Saves the position on the timeline in the memory, horizontally and vertically (along time and tracks)</dd>
4692 <dt class="sub1">Go to View <em>n</em></dt><dd>Loads and displays a saved position (see above)</dd>
4694 <dt>[] Show Editor Mixer</dt><dd>When checked, the selected tracks' mixer strip is displayed on the left of the editor window, allowing for a quick access to e.g. efffects and routing</dd>
4695 <dt>[] Show Editor List</dt><dd>In the Editor window, shows the <a href="/ardours-interface/the-editor/the-editor_s-lists/">Editor List</a>, giving access to a number of handy lists (regions, tracks, ...)</dd>
4696 <dt>[] Toggle Mixer List</dt><dd>In the Mixer view, shows the Mixer list, giving access to some handy lists (<a href="/ardours-interface/the-mixer/favorite-plugins-window/">Favorite plugins</a>, <a href="/ardours-interface/the-mixer/the-strips-list/">The Strip list</a>,...)</dd>
4697 <dt>[] Toggle Monitor Section Visibility</dt><dd>If the <kbd class="option">Use monitoring section on this session</kbd> has been checked in the <a href="/preferences-and-session-properties/session-properties-dialog/monitoring/">Session Properties window</a>, shows pr hide the Monitor Section in the Mixer</dd>
4698 <dt>[] Show Measure Lines</dt><dd>If checked, in the Editor, shows a vertical white lines at each measure start</dd>
4699 <dt>[] Show Summary</dt><dd>If checked, in the Editor, shows the <a href="/ardours-interface/the-editor/the-summary/">Summary</a>, allowing a faste navigation in the session</dd>
4700 <dt>[] Show Group Tabs</dt><dd>If checked, makes the groups visible as tabs on the left in the Editor, and on the top in the mixer</dd>
4701 <dt>[] Show Marker Lines</dt><dd>If checked, each marker is extended across all the tracks in the editor with a line of the same color</dd>
4705 title: The Window Menu
4710 The <dfn>Window</dfn> menu deals with the layout of the different windows, and their visibility.
4714 <dt>[] Audio/MIDI Setup</dt><dd>Shows the <a href="/working-with-sessions/new-session-dialog/"><kbd class="menu">Audio/MIDI Setup</kbd> window</a>, where the sound system configuration can be modified</dd>
4717 <dt class="sub1">Show</dt><dd>Switches to the Editor view</dd>
4718 <dt class="sub1">Hide</dt><dd>Hides the Editor, hence showing the Mixer when the windows are attached</dd>
4719 <dt class="sub1">Attach</dt><dd>If the Editor window is detached, separated from the main window, attach it back</dd>
4720 <dt class="sub1">Detach</dt><dd>If the Editor is attached to the main window, fetach it (makes the Editor a separated window, usefull for multi-monitor setup)</dd>
4722 <dt class="sub1">Show/Hide/Attach/Detach</dt><dd>Same as for the Editor, for the <em>Mixer</em> window</dd>
4723 <dt>Preferences</dt><dd></dd>
4724 <dt class="sub1">Show/Hide/Attach/Detach</dt><dd>Same as for the Editor, for the <em>Preferences</em> window</dd>
4725 <dt>Meterbridge</dt><dd>Shows the <a href="/meters/"><kbd class="menu">Meterbridge</kbd> window</a>, that displays all the tracks' meter at once and their recording status, and is very handy for multitrack recording</dd>
4726 <dt>Scripting</dt><dd>Opens the <a href="/lua-scripting/"><kbd class="menu">Lua Scripting</kbd> window</a>, allowing to edit and run Lua scripts</dd>
4728 <dt>[] Tracks and Busses</dt><dd>Opens the <kbd class="menu">Tracks and Busses</kbd> window, which is a shortcut to many tracks/busses operations (routing, effects, ...)</dd>
4729 <dt>[] Locations</dt><dd><dd>Opens the <a href="/ardours-interface/the-editor/the-editor_s-lists/ranges-and-marks-list/"><kbd class="menu">Ranges and Marks</kbd> window</a>, a single point of control for all range and location markers</dd>
4730 <dt>[] Binding Editor</dt><dd>Opens the <a href="/default-keyboard-bindings/"><kbd class="menu">Key Bindings</kbd> window</a>, which allows for easy creation or modification of any keyboard shortcut</dd>
4731 <dt>[] Bundle Manager</dt><dd>Opens the <kbd class="menu">Bundle Manager</kbd> window, allowing to create and manage <em>Bundles</em>, which are a way to simplify connection management, by defining groups of ports</dd>
4732 <dt>[] Big Clock</dt><dd>Opens the <a href="/ardours-interface/transport-bar-and-times/times/">Main Clock</a> as its own separate (and huge) window, which is helpfull when recording</dd>
4734 <dt>[] Video Monitor</dt><dd>If a <a href="/video-timeline/">video</a> has been imported in the session, opens a video window (namely, <em>Xjadeo</em>), synced to the timeline</dd>
4736 <dt>Midi Tracer</dt><dd>Opens the <kbd class="menu">MIDI Tracer</kbd> window, allowing to follow each and every MIDI message entering or leaving Ardour</dd>
4737 <dt>[] Audio Connections</dt><dd>Opens the <a href="/signal-routing/Patchbay/"><kbd class="menu">Audio Connection Manager</kbd> window</a>, a way to make connections to, from and within Ardour's mixer</dd>
4738 <dt>[] MIDI Connections</dt><dd>Same as above, for the MIDI connections</dd>
4739 <dt>[] Log</dt><dd>Shows the <kbd class="menu">Log</kbd> window, where Ardour lists usefull information, warnings and errors</dd>
4743 title: The Help Menu
4748 The <dfn>Help</dfn> Menu gives acces to useful information about Ardour.
4752 <dt>[] About</dt><dd>Shows the <kbd class="menu">About Ardour</kbd> window, which contains information about the version, config, authors,and license of Ardour</dd>
4753 <dt>Chat</dt><dd>This is a shortcut to the webchat version of the Freenode IRC channel of Ardour, where the developpers meet, and questions can be asked if the Manual is not enough</dd>
4754 <dt>Manual</dt><dd>Link to a FLOSSManual guide to Ardour</dd>
4755 <dt>Reference</dt><dd>Link to this manual, hosted on ardour.org</dd>
4756 <dt>User Forums</dt><dd>Link to ardour.org's user forum</dd>
4757 <dt>How to Report a Bug</dt><dd>Link to an helping page about reporting bugs</dd>
4758 <dt>Report a Bug</dt><dd>Link to Ardour's Mantis bugtracker</dd>
4759 <dt>Ardour Website</dt><dd>Link to Ardour's main and official website</dd>
4760 <dt>Ardour Development</dt><dd>Link to the developpers' part of the official website</dd>
4769 <img src="/images/status-bar.png" alt="The status bar">
4771 <p>The status bar is an informative bar at the top of the window, showing:</p>
4774 <li><dfn>File:</dfn> the file format used in the session, including when recording</li>
4775 <li><dfn>TC:</dfn> is the timecode, i.e. the number of frames per second used by the session (for videos)</li>
4776 <li><dfn>Audio:</dfn> gives the sample rate used in the session, and the latency computed from the buffer size</li>
4777 <li><dfn>Buffers:</dfn> decribe how much data is buffered, see below</li>
4778 <li><dfn>DSP:</dfn> for Digital Sound Processing, shows how much of the CPU is used by Ardour and its plugins</li>
4779 <li><dfn>X:</dfn> shows the number of xruns since Ardour's launch, see below</li>
4780 <li><dfn>Disk:</dfn> reports the remaining hard disk space as the time that can be recorded with the current session setting</li>
4781 <li><dfn>a Clock</dfn> showing the system time</li>
4782 <li><dfn>a Log button</dfn> that indicates if Ardour has encountered any warning or error.</li>
4785 <p>The buffers are labeled as <kbd class="menu">p</kbd> for playback and <kbd class="menu">c</kbd> for capture. If the
4786 system is fast enough, these buffers should be 100% full at all times, showing the system has time to precompute
4787 all the data before delivering it to the audio system. A buffer constantly under 20% is a sign of an underpowered
4788 computer system or of too much processing.</p>
4790 <p>An Xrun (short for buffer over- or under-run) happens when the system has been forced to skip audio frames, e.g. if the latency
4791 asked is too short for the computing power of the machine. It usually results in clicks, pops and crackles if it happens while recording.</p>
4793 <p>The log button turns yellow when a warning occurs, and red when an error occurs. Clicking the log button gives acces to the log.</p>
4796 title: Transport bar and times
4801 Ardour offers many ways to <dfn>control playback</dfn> of your session, including the transport bar, key bindings and remote controls. You can also use markers to define locations or ranges within the session and rapidly move around between them.
4804 <img src="/images/transport-bar.png" alt="Ardour's transport bar" />
4807 If you synchronize Ardour with other devices then some or all of these control methods may be unavailable—depending on the synchronization protocol, Ardour may respond only to commands sent from its master device(s).
4811 The <dfn>Transport Bar</dfn> at the top of the window is made of:
4815 <li>the Transport Controls</li>
4817 <li>3 status indicators:
4819 <li><dfn>Solo</dfn>: Blinks when one or more tracks are being soloed, see <a href="/mixing/muting-and-soloing/">Muting and Soloing</a>. Clicking this button disables any active explicit and implicit solo on all tracks and busses.</li>
4820 <li><dfn>Audition</dfn>: Blinks when using the import dialog to audition material.</li>
4821 <li><dfn>Feedback</dfn>: Blinks when Ardour detects a <dfn>feedback loop</dfn>, which happens when the output of an audio signal chain is plugged back to its input. This is probably not wanted and can be dangerous for the hardware and the listener.</li>
4823 <li>A global Meter, showing the level of the Master Output, see <a href="/introducing-ardour/meters/">Metering in Ardour</a></li>
4824 <li>the Mode Selector, allowing to switch between Editor and Mixer views, or edit the Preferences.</li>
4828 title: The Transport Bar
4833 The <dfn>Transport Bar</dfn> groups all the actions regarding the control of playback and recording.
4836 <p class="center"><img src="/images/transport.png" alt="The transport controls" /></p>
4839 This bar is made of (from left to right):
4844 <dfn>Midi Panic</dfn>: Immediately stops all midi output.
4847 <dfn>Enable/disable Audio Click</dfn>: Toggles (on/off) a click track (metronome) along the <a href="/tempo-meter/tempo-and-meter/">tempo</a>.
4850 <dfn>Go to Start of the Session</dfn>: Jumps back at the beginning of the session, as defined by the <a href="/working-with-markers/">start marker</a>.
4853 <dfn>Go to End of the Session</dfn>: Jumps forward to the end of the session, as defined by the <a href="/working-with-markers/">end marker</a>.
4856 <dfn>Play Loop Range</dfn>: Repeats the defined <a href="/controlling-playback/looping-the-transport/">loop</a> as defined by the <a href="/working-with-markers/loop-range/">Loop range</a>, until the "Stop playback" button is pressed. Clicking the "Play loop Range" button while already active switches to normal Play mode, which exits the loop without stopping and restarting playback.
4859 <dfn>Play Range/Selection</dfn>: If a range has been defined using the Range Mode button, plays the range; or if an audio or MIDI region is selected, plays this region. In both cases, the playback stops at the end of the range or selected region.
4862 <dfn>Play from playhead</dfn>: Starts the playback and optionally record (more below).
4865 <dfn>Stop</dfn>: Whatever the playing mode (loop, range, …) stops all playback. Depending on other settings, some effects (like chorus or reverb) might still be audible for a while.
4868 <dfn>Toggle Record</dfn>: Global switch button to activate/deactivate recording. While active, the button blinks red. The button doesn't start recording by itself: if one or more tracks are marked as record-enabled, pressing the "Play from Playhead" starts recording on those tracks. See <a href="/recording/">Recording</a>.
4872 <p class="fixme">Add default keyboard shortcuts to the above.</p>
4875 All these actions are bound to keyboard shortcuts, which allows for speedier use and more focused work.
4879 Under these buttons is the <dfn>Shuttle Speed Control</dfn> that allows to scrub through the audio quickly.
4883 The Shuttle Speed Control supports 2 operating modes, that can be chosen with right click > Mode:
4887 <li><dfn>Sprung mode</dfn> that allows for a temporary scrub: it only scubs while the mouse is left clicked on the control.</li>
4888 <li><dfn>Wheel mode</dfn> that allows to set a playback speed until the "Stop" button is pressed, which stops the playback and resets its speed.
4892 The mode is displayed on the right of the control. The current playback speed is shown by a green slider, that is square and centered when the playback speed is normal (1X) and becomes a circle when its changed. The further from the center the slider is set, the faster the playback will scrub in both directions, as displayed on the left of the control.
4896 The 3 vertical buttons on the right of the transport bar control the behavior of the playhead:
4901 The positional sync button (which might show <dfn>Internal</dfn>, or <dfn>MTC</dfn> or several other values) can be used to control whether or not the transport position and start is controlled by Ardour, or by an external positional synchronization source, such as MIDI Time Code (MTC), Linear Time Code (LTC) or JACK. (see <a href="/synchronization/timecode-generators-and-slaves/">Timecode Generators and Slaves</a>).
4904 <dfn>Follow Edits</dfn> is a toggle that can be used to control whether or not making a selection (range or object) will move the playhead to the start of the selection.
4907 <dfn>Auto Return</dfn> is a toggle switch too. When active, pressing the Stop button returns the playhead to its previous position, and when inactive, pressing Stop keeps the playhead at its current location. Activating Auto Return can be useful for hearing the same piece of audio before and after tweaking it, without having to set a loop range on it.
4911 <h2>Using Key Bindings</h2>
4914 Ardour has many available commands for playback control that can be bound
4915 to keys. Many of them have default bindings, some do not, so the list below
4916 shows both the default bindings and internal command names for some of them.
4919 <dl class="wide-table">
4920 <dt><kbd>Space</kbd></dt>
4921 <dd>switch between playback and stop.</dd>
4922 <dt><kbd>Home</kbd></dt>
4923 <dd>Move playhead to session start marker</dd>
4924 <dt><kbd>End</kbd></dt>
4925 <dd>Move playhead to session end marker</dd>
4926 <dt><kbd>→</kbd></dt>
4927 <dd>Playhead to next region boundary</dd>
4928 <dt><kbd>←</kbd></dt>
4929 <dd>Playhead to previous region boundary</dd>
4930 <dt><kbd>0</kbd></dt>
4931 <dd>Move playhead to start of the timeline</dd>
4935 Go to the <kdb class="menu">Transport</kbd> and <kdb class="menu">Transport >> Playhead</kbd> to find more.
4944 <dfn>Clocks</dfn> in Ardour are used to display <dfn>time values</dfn> precisely. In many cases, they are also one way to edit (change) time values, and in a few cases, the only way. All clocks share the same basic appearance and functionality, which is described below, but a few clocks serve particularly important roles.
4947 <h2>Transport Clocks</h2>
4950 In the transport bar of the editor window there are two clocks (unless you
4951 are on a very small screen), that display the current position of the playhead
4952 and additional information related to transport control and the timeline. These
4953 are called the <dfn>transport clocks</dfn>; the left one is the primary
4954 transport clock and the right one is the secondary transport clock.
4955 They look like this:
4958 <img src="/images/a3_new_main_clocks.png" alt="An image of the transport clocks in Ardour 3" />
4961 Editing the time in the transport clocks will reposition the playhead in the same
4962 way that various other editing operations will.
4965 <h3>The Big Clock</h3>
4968 To show the current playhead position in a big, resizable window, activate
4969 <kbd class="menu">Window > Big Clock</kbd>. The big clock is very useful
4970 when you need to work away from the screen but still want to see the playhead
4971 position clearly (such as when working with a remote control device across
4972 a room). The big clock will change its visual appearance to indicate when active
4973 recording is taking place. Below on the left is a screenshot showing a fairly
4974 large big clock window filling a good part of the display, and on the right,
4975 the same clock during active recording.
4978 <a href="/images/bigclock.png"><img src="/images/bigclock.png" height="100" alt="an image of the big clock filling a screen" /></a>Â <a href="/images/bigclock-recording.png"><img src="/images/bigclock-recording.png" height="100" alt="an image of the big clock while recording"
4981 <h3>The Special Role of the Secondary Transport Clock</h3>
4984 On a few occasions Ardour needs to display time values to the user, but there
4985 is no obvious way to specify what units to use. The most common case is the big
4986 cursor that appears when dragging regions. For this and other similar cases,
4987 Ardour will display time using the same units as the secondary clock.
4990 <h4>Why are there two transport clocks?</h4>
4993 Having two transport clocks lets you see the playhead position in two different
4994 time units without having to change any settings. For example, you can see the
4995 playhead position in both timecode units and BBT time.
4998 <h3>Selection and Punch Clocks</h3>
5001 The transport bar also contains a set of 5 clocks that show the current
5002 <dfn>selection range</dfn> and <dfn>punch ranges</dfn>. Clicking on the punch
5003 range clocks will locate to either the beginning or end of the punch range.
5004 Similarly, clicking on the range clocks will locate to either the beginning
5005 or end of the current selection. In this screen shot there is no current
5006 selection range, so the selection clocks show an "off" state.
5009 <img src="/images/selectionpunchclocks.png" alt="An image of the the selection and punch clocks in Ardour 3" />
5011 <h2>Clock Modes</h2>
5014 Every clock in Ardour has four different, selectable <dfn>clock
5015 modes</dfn>. Each mode displays time using different units.
5016 You can change the clock mode by <kbd class="mouse">Right</kbd>-clicking
5017 on the clock and selecting the desired mode from the menu. Some clocks are
5018 entirely independent of any other clock's mode; others are linked so that
5019 changing one changes all clocks in that group. The different modes are:
5023 <dd>Time is shown as <dfn><abbr title="Society of Motion Picture and Television
5024 Engineers">SMPTE</abbr> timecode</dfn> in Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames,
5025 measured from the timecode zero point on the timeline (which may not
5026 correspond to the session start and/or absolute zero on the timeline,
5027 depending on configurable timecode offsets).
5028 The frames value is dictated by either the session <abbr title="Frames Per
5029 Second">FPS</abbr> setting, or, if slaved to an external timecode master,
5030 the master's setting. In the transport clocks, the FPS value is shown below
5031 the time display, along with an indication of the current timecode source
5032 (<samp>INT</samp> means that Ardour is its own timecode source).</dd>
5034 <dd>Time is shown as Bars:Beats:Ticks, indicating <dfn>musical time</dfn> measured
5035 from the start of the session. The transport clocks show the current tempo
5036 in <abbr title="Beats Per Minute">bpm</abbr> and meter below the time
5038 <dt>Minutes:Seconds</dt>
5039 <dd>Time is shown as Hours:Minutes:Seconds.Milliseconds, measured from the
5040 absolute start of the timeline (ignoring the session start and any timecode
5043 <dd>Time is shown as a <dfn>sample count</dfn> from the absolute start of the timeline
5044 (ignoring the session start and any timecode offsets). The number of
5045 samples per second is given by the current sample rate, and in the transport
5046 clocks, this rate is shown below the time display along with any
5047 pullup/pulldown adjustment.</dd>
5050 <h3>Special Modes for the Transport Clocks</h3>
5052 In addition to the time-unit modes mentioned above, each of the two transport
5053 clocks (if you work on a small screen, you may only have one) can be
5054 independently set to display <dfn>Delta to Edit Point</dfn> in whatever time
5055 units its current mode indicates. This setting means that the clock shows the
5056 distance between the playhead and the current edit point, and it may show a
5057 positive or negative value depending on the temporal order of these two points.
5058 The clocks will use a different color when in this mode to avoid confusion.
5061 To switch either (or both!) of the transport clocks into this mode, use
5062 <kbd class="menu"> Edit > Preferences > Transport</kbd> and select
5063 the relevant checkboxes.
5066 Note that when in <samp>Delta to Edit Point</samp> mode, the transport clocks
5070 <h2>Changing clock values with the keyboard</h2>
5072 New values for the clock can be typed in after clicking on the relevant clock.
5073 Clicking on the clock will show a thin vertical cursor bar just to the right
5074 of the next character to be overwritten. Enter time in the same order as the
5075 current clock mode—if the clock is in Timecode mode, you need to enter
5076 hours, minutes, seconds, frames. So, to change to a time of 12:15:20:15 you
5077 would type <kbd class="input">1 2 1 5 2 0 1 5</kbd>. Each number you type will
5078 appear in a different color, from right to left, overwriting the existing value.
5079 Mid-edit, after typing <kbd class="input">3 2 2 2</kbd> the clock might look like this:
5081 <img src="/images/clockedit.png" alt="An image of a clock being edited in Ardour 3" />
5083 To finish the edit, press <kbd>↵</kbd> or <kbd>Tab</kbd>. To exit an
5084 edit without changing the clock press <kbd>ESC</kbd>. If you mis-type an entry
5085 so that the new value would be illegal (for example, resulting in more than 30
5086 frames when Timecode is set to 30 frames per second), the clock will reset at
5087 the end of the edit, and move the cursor back to the start so that you can
5091 <h3>Avoiding the mouse entirely</h3>
5093 There is a shortcut available for those who wish to be able to edit the transport
5094 clocks entirely without the mouse. It can be found in
5095 <kbd class="menu">Window > Key Bindings > Transport > Focus On
5096 Clock</kbd>. If bound to a key (<kbd>÷</kbd> on the numerical
5098 default), then pressing that key is equivalent to clicking on the primary (left)
5099 transport clock, and editing can begin immediately.
5102 <h3>Entering Partial Times</h3>
5104 One detail of the editing design that is not immediately obvious is that it is
5105 possible to enter part of a full time value. Suppose that the clock is in BBT
5106 mode, displaying <samp>024|03|0029</samp>, and you want to alter the value to
5107 the first beat of the current bar. Click on the clock and type
5108 <kbd class="input">0 1 0 0 0 0</kbd>. Similarly, if it is in Minutes:Seconds
5109 mode, displaying <samp>02:03:04.456</samp>, and you want to get to exactly 2
5110 hours, click on the clock and type <kbd class="input">0 0 0 0 0 0 0</kbd> to
5111 reset the minutes, seconds and milliseconds fields.
5114 <h3>Entering Delta Times</h3>
5116 You can also type values into the clock that are intended as a relative change,
5117 rather than a new absolute value. Simply end the edit by pressing
5118 <kbd>+</kbd> or <kbd>-</kbd> (the ones on any keypad will also work). The plus
5119 key will add the entered value to the current value of the clock, minus will
5120 subtract it. For example, if the clock is in Samples mode and displays
5121 <samp>2917839</samp>, you move it back 2000 samples by typing
5122 <kbd class="input">2 0 0 0</kbd> and <kbd>-</kbd>, rather than ending with
5125 <h2>Changing clock values with the mouse</h2>
5127 <h3>Using a scroll wheel</h3>
5130 Position the mouse pointer over the clock, and move the scroll wheel. Moving
5131 the scroll wheel up (<kbd class="mouse">⇑</kbd>) increases the value
5132 shown on the clock, moving it down (<kbd class="mouse">⇑</kbd>)
5133 decreases it. The step size is equal to the unit of the field
5134 you are hovering over (seconds, hours, etc.).
5137 <h3>Dragging the mouse</h3>
5140 Position the mouse pointer over the clock, press the left mouse button and drag.
5141 Dragging upwards increases the value shown on the clock, dragging downwards
5142 decreases it, again with a step size equal to the unit of the field you
5153 <img src="/images/detailed-editor-window.png" alt="Ardour's editor windo
5156 <ol class="multicol4">
5159 </ol><ol class="multicol4" start="3">
5160 <li>Editor's List</li>
5161 <li>a Mixer strip</li>
5162 </ol><ol class="multicol4" start="5">
5164 <li>an audio track</li>
5166 </ol><ol class="multicol4" start="7">
5167 <li>a MIDI track</li>
5174 The <dfn>Editor</dfn> window includes the editor track <dfn>canvas</dfn>
5175 where you can arrange audio and MIDI data along a timeline. This is the
5176 window you will be in while editing and arranging a project. The window
5177 has a general "horizontal" sense to it: the timeline flows from left to
5178 right, the playhead showing the current position in the session moves
5179 from left to right—the window really represents <dfn>time</dfn>
5180 in a fairly literal way.
5184 It is possible to show a single channel strip in the editor window, and
5185 some people find this enough to work on mixing without actually opening
5186 the mixer window. Most of the time though, you will want both of these
5187 windows at various stages of a session's lifetime—sometimes
5188 you'll be focused on editing, sometimes on mixing and possibly some of
5193 This section is a description of the Editor window. To learn more about the
5194 editing workflow, see <a href="fixme">Editing</a>.
5199 title: The Editor - The Toolbar
5204 <img src="/images/toolbar_split.png" alt="Ardour's editor toolbar">
5206 <ol class="multicol5">
5208 </ol><ol class="multicol5" start="2">
5209 <li>Zoom Control</li>
5210 </ol><ol class="multicol5" start="3">
5211 <li>Grid Control</li>
5212 </ol><ol class="multicol5" start="4">
5214 </ol><ol class="multicol5" start="5">
5221 The Toolbar is made of 5 parts, described in this part.
5229 <img src="/images/toolbar-tools.png" alt="Editor toolbar's tools, aka toolbox">
5231 <h2>Global Edit mode</h2>
5234 Ardour has a global <dfn>edit mode</dfn> selector at the left of the
5235 Editing toolbar, which affect how regions are moved or copied:
5239 <dt><kbd class="menu">Slide</kbd></dt>
5240 <dd>Regions move freely. Ardour creates overlaps when necessary.</dd>
5241 <dt><kbd class="menu">Ripple</kbd></dt>
5242 <dd>Editing affects the regions to the "right" of the edit (see below).</dd>
5243 <dt><kbd class="menu">Lock</kbd></dt>
5244 <dd>No region motion is permitted (except for "nudge").</dd>
5248 Ripple Edit mode provides the following conveniences:
5250 <li>Deleting a range will move later regions to compensate for the deleted time</li>
5251 <li>Deleting a region will move later regions to compensate for the deleted region's length</li>
5252 <li>Moving a region will move later regions to compensate for the length of the move</li>
5253 <li>Inserting a new region (via dragging or via Paste) will move later regions to the right to compensate</li>
5258 If <kbd class="menu">Snap To Grid</kbd> is enabled, then regions can
5259 only move so that they align with locations determined by the current
5260 snap settings (beats, or seconds, or other region boundaries, etc).
5261 See <a href="/editing-and-arranging/snap-to-the-grid">Snap To the Grid</a>
5265 <h2>The <em>Smart</em> switch
5268 The <dfn>Smart Mode</dfn> button to the left of the mouse mode buttons
5269 modifies the <dfn>Grab Mode</dfn>. When enabled, the mouse behaves as if it
5270 is in "Range Mode" in the upper half of a region, and in "Grab Mode" in the
5271 lower half. This allows avoiding constant switching between these two modes.
5274 <h2>Mouse Modes</h2>
5276 <dl class="wide-table">
5278 <dt id="object">Grab Mode</dt>
5279 <dd>The <dfn>Grab Mode</dfn> is used for selecting, moving, deleting and
5280 copying objects. When in object mode, the mouse pointer appears as a hand
5281 whenever it is over the track canvas or the rulers. The mouse can now be
5282 used to select and perform operations on objects such as regions, markers etc.
5283 This is the most common mode to work in, as it allows you to select and move regions,
5284 as well as modify automation points on the automation tracks.</dd>
5287 <dd>When in <dfn>Range Mode</dfn>, the mouse pointer appears as a vertical line
5288 whenever it is over the track canvas or the rulers. The mouse will now be
5289 able to select a point or range of time. Time ranges can be selected over
5290 one or several tracks, depending on the selection of your tracks.<br>
5291 If none of your tracks are selected, the Range Tool will operate on all the
5292 session track visualized in the Editor.<br>
5293 If you want to edit only particular tracks, select them before you apply
5294 the range tool.</dd>
5296 <dt>Cut Tool Mode</dt>
5297 <dd>When in <dfn>Cut Tool Mode</dfn>, the mouse pointer appears as a pair of scissors
5298 whenever it is over the track canvas or the rulers. This tools allows to cut
5299 any region into 2 regions at the mouse cursor, regardless of the Edit Point.<br>
5300 If one or more track(s) is selected, then all the regions on these tracks will
5301 be split at the mouse cursor position.<br>
5302 If no track is selected, then only the region hovered by the mouse cursor will
5305 <dt>Stretch Mode</dt>
5306 <dd>When in <dfn>time fx</dfn> mode, the mouse pointer appears as a
5307 distinctive expanding square symbol whenever it is over the track canvas or
5308 the rulers. This mode is used to resize regions using a timestretch
5309 algorithm. Click on an edge of a region of audio and drag it one way or the other to
5310 stretch or shrink the region.</dd>
5312 <dt>Audition Tool</dt>
5313 <dd>Clicking a region using the <dfn>audition tool</dfn> will play this
5314 region to the control room outputs.<br>
5315 You can also <dfn>scrub</dfn> with this tool by clicking and dragging in
5316 the direction you wish to listen. The amount you drag in one direction or
5317 the other will determine the playback speed.</dd>
5320 <dd>When in <dfn>Draw Tool</dfn> mode, the mouse pointer will change to
5321 a pencil. You can then click within an audio region to change the <dfn>gain
5322 envelope</dfn> for that region. This curve is separate from fader automation
5323 for individual tracks. It will remain locked to the region's time, so if the
5324 region is moved, the region gain envelope is moved along with it.<br>
5325 The draw tool works on automation too, allowing the creation and modification
5326 of control points on the automation curves.<br>
5327 Last, it is used on a MIDI region to edit the notes.</dd>
5329 <dt>Internal/Region Edit Mode</dt>
5330 <dd>When in <dfn>Internal Edit</dfn> mode, the mouse pointer will change to
5331 cross-hairs. This tool acts on gegion gain and automation as the Draw tool.<br>
5332 On a MIDI region, it allows to lasso-select multiple notes at a time.</dd>
5335 <p class="fixme">Make sure the Internal Edit and Draw tool act as described</p>
5338 title: the Zoom Controls
5342 <img class="left" src="/images/toolbar-zoom.png" alt="Editor toolbar's zoom">
5344 <p>The zoom controls allow to navigate the session along both the time and track axes.</p>
5346 <p>The drop down <kbd class="menu">Zoom Focus</kbd> menu allows to select a focus
5347 point for the zoom, i.e. the center of the zoom. The choices are :</p>
5350 <li><dfn>Left</dfn> of the screen</li>
5351 <li><dfn>Right</dfn> of the screen</li>
5352 <li><dfn>Center</dfn> of the screen</li>
5353 <li><dfn>Playhead</dfn></li>
5354 <li><dfn>Mouse</dfn></li>
5355 <li><dfn>Edit Point</dfn> as set in the <a href=" fixme ">Edit point</a> control.</li>
5358 <p>The 2 leftmost zoom buttons (<kbd class="menu">−</kbd> and
5359 <kbd class="menu">+</kbd>) use this zoom focus to zoom out and in
5362 <p>The <kbd class="menu">Zoom to session</kbd> button is a handy shortcut to zoom
5363 out or in until all the session (as defined by it's <a href=" fixme ">start/end
5364 markers</a>) fits horizontally.</p>
5366 <p>Changing the <kbd class="menu">Number of visible tracks</kbd> dropdown menu
5367 allows to fit this number of tracks vertically in the screen.<p>
5369 <p class="note">There <em>is</em> a minimal track height to keep it visible, so
5370 according to you screen vertical size, some high number can have no effect.</p>
5372 <p>Inside this menu are 2 handy choices :</p>
5374 <li><dfn>Selected tracks</dfn> that focus on the selected tracks. If the selected
5375 tracks are not contiguous, the unselected tracks inbetween will be hidden, see
5376 the <a href=" fixme ">Track and Bus list</a>.</li>
5377 <li><dfn>All</dfn> that fits all the tracks of the sessions vertically (provided
5378 there's enough screen estate).</li>
5381 <p>The rightmost buttons <kbd class="menu">Shrink tracks</kbd> and
5382 <kbd class="menu">Expand tracks</kbd> reduce or expand the vertical size of the
5383 selected tracks. If no track is selected, all the tracks will be shrunk or
5384 expanded each time the button is pushed.
5387 title: the Grid Controls
5391 <img class="left" src="/images/toolbar-grid.png" alt="Editor toolbar's grid">
5394 Ardour's editor utilizes a <dfn>grid</dfn> to assist in the placement
5395 of regions on the timeline, or with editing functions that need to happen
5396 at a specific point in time. You can choose if you want the cursor and
5397 various objects to snap to this grid, and how you want the snapping to
5398 behave. You can modify the grid units to fit your needs.
5401 <h2>About Snapping</h2>
5403 <p>There are two ways to think about aligning material to a grid.
5404 The first and most obvious one is where an object's position is clamped
5405 to grid lines. In Ardour, this is called <dfn>absolute snap</dfn>
5406 and is commonly used when working with sampled material where audio
5407 begins exactly at the beginning of a file, note or region.</br>
5408 The second, <dfn>relative snap</dfn>, is used when an object's position
5409 relative to the grid lines is important. In music, this allows you to
5410 move objects around without changing the "feel" (or timing) of a performance.</br>
5411 Absolute snap is the default method of snapping in Ardour.</br>
5412 While dragging objects you may switch from absolute to relative snap by
5413 pressing the absolute snap modifier key(s).</br>
5414 You may also disable snap entirely by using the snap modifier (see below).</br>
5415 Note that in relative snap mode the reference point is taken to be the distance
5416 to the nearest grid line.</br>
5417 Note also that when an object lies exactly on a grid line, there will be no difference
5418 between relative and absolute snap modes.</br>
5419 The realtive snap and snap modifiers (along with other modifier keys) may be set in
5420 <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > User Interaction</kbd></br>
5421 For common use patterns, it is recommended that you assign a unique key for
5422 one snap modifier and two keys for the other in such a way that they share an otherwise unused key.
5423 For example, you may choose the snap modifier to be the <kbd class="mod2"> </kbd> key and the
5424 relative snap modifier to be the <kbd class="mod2"> </kbd> and <kbd class="mod4"> </kbd> keys.
5429 Using the above modifications, Ardour supports three different modes of snapping to the grid:
5432 <dl class="wide-table">
5433 <dt><kbd class="menu">No Grid</kbd></dt>
5434 <dd>disables the grid. All objects move freely in this mode.</br>
5435 In <kbd class="menu">No Grid</kbd> mode, you may temporarily activate the grid by pressing the
5436 snap modifier (for absolute snap) or switch to relative snap by pressing the relative snap modifier.</dd>
5437 <dt><kbd class="menu">Grid</kbd></dt>
5438 <dd>activates normal snapping. All positions of objects snap to
5439 the grid. (See <a href="#gridunits">Grid Units</a> below
5440 to change the grid). If you try to move an object in "Grid"-mode, it
5441 does not change its position until you move the mouse far enough for the
5442 object to reach the next grid line.</br>
5443 Sometimes you may wish to maintain an objects' position relative to the grid line.
5444 In order to do this, use the "snap relative" modifier.
5445 When holding down this modifier during a drag, the dragged object will jump
5446 while maintaining its original distance from the line.</br>
5447 New objects will always be created at grid points.</br>
5448 Holding down the snap modifier will disable the current grid setting and allow you to move the object freely.</br>
5450 <dt><kbd class="menu">Magnetic</kbd></dt>
5451 <dd>is a less strict type of snapping. Objects can still be moved to any
5452 position, but positions close to the relative or absolute grid points will snap.
5453 In order to move an object very close to a snap point, it may be necessary
5454 to zoom in to prevent snapping to that point, or to use the snap modifier to disable snap completely.</br>
5455 As with Grid mode, the snap modifier will disable snap completely while the
5456 absolute snap modifier will move the "notch" of Magnetic snap to the grid lines.</dd>
5459 <h2>Syncing Regions to the Grid</h2>
5461 By default, a region's beginning will be used as the reference for both types of snapping,
5462 but you can change this behaviour by setting a <dfn>sync point</dfn> in
5463 the region. Select the region(s) and press <kbd>V</kbd>. This will set
5464 the sync point to your edit point.</p>
5466 <h2 id="gridunits">Grid Units</h2>
5468 The selector next to the grid mode selector defines the size of the grid
5469 elements. You can set your grid to several different units:
5471 <dl class="wide-table">
5472 <dt><kbd class="menu">CD Frames</kbd></dt>
5473 <dd>A CD Frame is 1/75th of a second. Snapping to CD Frames (using absolute snap) can be used to avoid issues with CD track
5475 <dt><kbd class="menu">Timecode Frames/Seconds/Minutes</kbd></dt>
5476 <dd>The duration of a frame depends on the timecode settings for the
5478 <dt><kbd class="menu">Seconds/Minutes</kbd></dt>
5479 <dd>These are absolute time units, unaffected by sample rate or timecode settings</dd>
5480 <dt><kbd class="menu">Beats/N</kbd></dt>
5481 <dd>Set the grid to units of 1/N beats, where N can be 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. The duration of a grid unit will depend on the tempo and meter in effect at that point in the timeline.</dd>
5482 <dt><kbd class="menu">Beats</kbd></dt>
5483 <dd>Set the grid to whole beats. The duration of a grid unit will depend on the tempo and meter in effect at that point in the timeline.</dd>
5484 <dt><kbd class="menu">Bars</kbd></dt>
5485 <dd>Set the grid to whole bars. The duration of a grid unit will depend on the tempo and meter in effect at that point in the timeline.</dd>
5486 <dt><kbd class="menu">Markers</kbd></dt>
5487 <dd>The grid lines are the markers.</dd>
5488 <dt><kbd class="menu">Region Starts</kbd></dt>
5489 <dd>The grid lines are constructed from region start points (see below).</dd>
5490 <dt><kbd class="menu">Region Ends</kbd></dt>
5491 <dd>The grid lines are constructed from region end points (see below).</dd>
5492 <dt><kbd class="menu">Region Syncs</kbd></dt>
5493 <dd>The grid lines are constructed from region sync points.</dd>
5494 <dt><kbd class="menu">Region Bounds</kbd></dt>
5495 <dd>The grid lines are constructed from region start or end points.</dd>
5499 To use Region starts/ends/syncs/bounds as snap choices, you must have
5504 <li><em>No</em> tracks selected, which means that Ardour snaps to regions on any track, or </li>
5505 <li>Several tracks selected, which means that Ardour only snaps to regions on those selected tracks.</li>
5509 If you are moving items on a track, and only the current track is selected,
5510 then you will only be able to snap to other regions on the same track.
5511 This means that enabling
5512 <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Editor > Link Selections of Regions and
5513 Tracks</kbd> will make the "Region" grid unit unusable. Avoid the use of this option if
5514 you are going to use any of the Region grid units.
5518 title: the Edit Point Control
5522 <img class="left" src="/images/toolbar-editpoint.png" alt="Editor toolbar's Edit Point">
5525 Editing operations in a Digital Audio Workstation like Ardour can be broken
5526 down according to how many points on the timeline are required to carry the
5527 operation out. Splitting a region for example, requires just one position
5528 on the timeline (the one where the split will happen). Cutting out a time
5529 range requires two positions, one for the start of the cut and one for the end.
5533 In Ardour the <dfn>edit point</dfn> is the location where most single-point
5534 editing operations take place. It can be set to either of the following:
5538 <li>the <dfn>Playhead</dfn> position</li>
5539 <li>the selected (or "active") <dfn>Marker</dfn></li>
5540 <li>the position of the <dfn>Mouse</dfn> (or touch) pointer</li>
5544 The default edit point is the location of the pointer.
5548 There are 2 keybindings available to cycle through the edit point options.
5549 The most common workflow tends to involve switching back and forth between
5550 the playhead and mouse as the edit point. Press the grave accent key
5551 <kbd>`</kbd> to switch between these two. Use <kbd class="mod1">`</kbd> to
5552 cycle through all three choices (including the selected marker). You can
5553 also switch the edit point using a combo-selector just right of the snap/grid
5559 title: The Nudge Controls
5563 <img class="left" src="/images/toolbar-nudge.png" alt="Editor toolbar's Nudge">
5566 The <dfn>nudge controls</dfn> will move the selected region(s) by a fixed amount of time. The left and right buttons move either backward or forward in time, and the small clock to the left of these buttons sets the amount of time to nudge by. As with all other clocks, you can right-click on the clock to choose the time representation you want to use.
5570 If there are no selected objects, the nudge controls can be used to move the playhead backward or forward by the amount shown on the clock.
5578 <img src="/images/ruler.png" alt="Ardour's Ruler">
5581 The <dfn>Ruler</dfn> scales the session along time, allows navigating, and can be marked for different uses. The main use of the Ruler is to move the playhead: clicking anywhere on the timeline will bring the playhead at this location in time.
5585 It is made of a succession of rows, each having a special role related to time.From top to bottom, those rows are :
5589 <dt><dfn>Timecode</dfn></dt><dd>scaling the session whith the traditional Hours:Mins:Secs:Frames notation</dd>
5590 <dt><dfn>Bars:Beats</dfn></dt><dd>slicing the time according to the time signature ot the Meter</dd>
5591 <dt><dfn>Meter</dfb></dt><dd>shows the time signature. It can be changed along the timeline, by <kbd class="mouse">Right click</kbd> > <kbd class="menu">New Meter</kbd>. The Bars:Beats ruler will reflect the change.</dd>
5592 <dt><dfn>Tempo</dfn></dt><dd>shows the BPM. It can be changed along the timeline, by <kbd class="mouse">Right click</kbd> > <kbd class="menu">New Tempo</kbd>. The Bars:Beats ruler will reflect the change.</dd>
5593 <dt><dfn>Range Markers</dfn></dt><dd>allow to create and modify ranges directly on the Ruler.</dd>
5594 <dt><dfn>Loop/Punch Ranges</dfn></dt><dd>are special kind of ranges designed to be played as a loop and to do punch recording, i.e. recording on a precise section of time, respectively.</dd>
5595 <dt><dfn>CD Markers</dfn></dt><dd>are markers designed to be used while creating a recording that has to be split in time, as an audio CD</dd>
5596 <dt><dfn>Location Markers</dfn></dt><dd>is meant to receive any kind of marker, user generated or from Ardour itself.</dd>
5600 Most of the operations on the markers are described in <a href="/working-with-markers/">Working with Markers</a>, while the Meter, Tempo, Bars:Beats and Timecode use are described in <a href="/tempo-meter/tempo-and-meter/">Tempo and Meter</a>.
5605 title: The Editor - The Editor's Lists
5610 At the right of the editor window is an optional area which provides one of a
5611 range of useful lists of parts of your session. It is not shown by default
5612 when you first start using Ardour. The <dfn>Editor list</dfn> can be hidden
5613 or shown using <kbd class="menu">View > Show Editor List</kbd>. The very
5614 right-hand side of the list gives a selection of tabs which are used to
5615 choose the list to view. The left-hand border of the list can be dragged to
5616 vary the width of the list.
5625 The region list shows all the regions in the session. The left-hand column gives the region name, and there are a range of times given for information:
5629 <dt>Position</dt><dd>position of the start of the region on the global timeline</dd>
5630 <dt>End</dt><dd>position of the region on the global timeline</dd>
5631 <dt>Length</dt><dd>duration of the region</dd>
5632 <dt>Sync</dt><dd>position of the sync point, relative to the start of region (can be negative)</dd>
5633 <dt>Fade In</dt><dd>duration of the fade in. Can't be less than 1 ms, to avoid clipping.</dd>
5634 <dt>Fade Out</dt><dd>duration of the fade out (positive value, ≥ 1 ms).</dd>
5638 The units used to display those times are those used for the clock, so changing the units on the clocks change the display of this values.
5642 At the right of the list are four columns of flags that can be altered:
5647 <dd>whether the region position is locked, so that it cannot be moved.</dd>
5649 <dd>whether the region's position is ‘glued’ to bars and beats. If so, the region will stay at the same position in bars and beats even if the tempo and/or time signature change.</dd>
5651 <dd>whether the region is muted, so that it will not be heard.</dd>
5653 <dd>whether the region is opaque; opaque regions ‘block’ regions below them from being heard, whereas ‘transparent’ regions have their contents mixed with whatever is underneath. </dd>
5657 Hovering the mouse pointer over a column heading shows a tool-tip which can be handy to remember what the columns are for.
5661 A handy feature of the region list is that its regions can be dragged and dropped into a suitable track in the session.
5665 title: Tracks and Busses List
5670 This lists the tracks and busses that are present in the session. The list order reflects the order in the editor, and you can drag-and-drop track or bus names in the editor list to re-order them in the editor. The columns in the list represent the following:
5674 <dt id="visible">V</dt>
5675 <dd>whether the track or bus is visible; they can be hidden, in which case they will still play, but just not be visible in the editor; this can be useful for keeping the display uncluttered.</dd>
5676 <dt id="active">A</dt>
5677 <dd>whether the track or bus is active; unactive tracks will not play, and will not consume any CPU.</dd>
5678 <dt id="input">I</dt>
5679 <dd>for MIDI tracks, whether the MIDI input is enabled; this dictates whether MIDI data from the track's inputs ports will be passed through the track.</dd>
5680 <dt id="record">R</dt>
5681 <dd>whether the track is record-enabled.</dd>
5682 <dt id="record-safe">RS</dt>
5683 <dd>whether the track is record safe; a record safe track cannot be armed for recording, to protect against a mistake.</dd>
5684 <dt id="mute">M</dt>
5685 <dd>whether the track is muted.</dd>
5686 <dt id="solo">S</dt>
5687 <dd>track solo state.</dd>
5688 <dt id="solo-isolated">SI</dt>
5689 <dd>track solo-isolated state.</dd>
5690 <dt id="solo-safe">SS</dt>
5691 <dd>solo safe state.</dd>
5695 Each icon in these columns can be clicked to toggle the track/bus state, which is a very fast way to set multiple tracks/busses state at once.
5699 As with the region list, hovering the mouse pointer over a column heading shows a tool-tip which can be handy to remember what the columns are for.
5703 title: Snapshot List
5708 This list gives the snapshots that exist of this session. Clicking on a snapshot
5709 name will load that snapshot.
5713 See <a href="/working-with-sessions">Working with Sessions</a> for more
5714 information on snapshots.
5718 title: Track and Bus Group List
5723 This shows the track/bus groups that exist in the session. These groups allow related tracks to share various properties (such as mute or record enable state). For full details, see the section called <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-and-bus-groups/">Track and Bus Groups</a>.
5727 The columns in this list are as follows:
5732 <dd>the colour that the group uses for its tab in the editor.</dd>
5734 <dd>the group name.</dd>
5736 <dd>whether the tracks and busses in the group are visible.</dd>
5738 <dd>whether the group is enabled.</dd>
5740 <dd>ticked if the constituents of the group are sharing gain settings.</dd>
5742 <dd>ticked if shared gains are relative.</dd>
5744 <dd>ticked if the constituents share mute status.</dd>
5746 <dd>ticked if the constituents share solo status.</dd>
5748 <dd>ticked if the constituents share record-enable status.</dd>
5750 <dd>whether the constituents share monitor settings.</dd>
5752 <dd>whether the constituents are selected together.</dd>
5754 <dd>whether the constituents share active status.</dd>
5758 title: Ranges and Marks List
5763 The <dfn>Ranges & Marks List</dfn> is a tab in the <dfn>Editor Lists</dfn> area on the right of the Editor window. If the editor list area isn't visible it can be enabled by checking <kbd class="option">View > Show Editor List</kbd>. The Ranges & Marks list can be used as a single point of control for all range and location markers (including the punch and loop ranges), or as a supplement to other methods of working with them.
5766 <h2>Common elements</h2>
5769 Each section has a set of <dfn>editable <a
5770 href="/ardours-interface/using-ardour-clock-displays/">clock widgets</a></dfn>
5772 the location of a marker, or the start, end, and duration times of a range,
5774 The <kbd class="menu">Use PH</kbd> buttons allow you to set
5775 the corresponding clock to the current playhead position.
5776 A <kbd class="mouse">Middle</kbd> click on any of the clocks will move
5777 the playhead to that location. Both functions are also available from the
5778 clock context menus.<br />
5779 Right clicking on any of the clocks brings up a context menu that allows
5780 changing of the display between Timecode, Bars:Beats, Minutes:Seconds,
5785 The <kbd class="menu">—</kbd> (subtract) button in front of each
5786 user-defined range or marker in the list allows that particular item to
5787 be removed. The name fields of custom ranges and markers can be edited.
5791 The <kbd class="option">Hide</kbd> checkboxes make markers and ranges invisible
5792 on the respective ruler to reduce visual clutter; the markers remain
5793 active however, and can be used normally.<br />
5794 Selecting <kbd class="option">Lock</kbd> prevents the respective marker
5795 from being moved until unlocked.
5796 Where applicable, <kbd class="option">Glue</kbd> fixes the marker position
5797 relative to the current musical position expressed in bars and beats, rather
5798 than the absolute time. This will make the respective marker follow
5799 changes in the tempo map.
5803 At the bottom of the list are buttons to add new markers or ranges.
5805 <h2>List sections</h2>
5808 <dt>Loop/Punch Ranges</dt>
5809 <dd>This list shows the current <dfn>loop</dfn> and <dfn>punch</dfn> range
5810 settings. Since these are built-in ranges, you cannot rename or remove them.</dd>
5811 <dt>Markers (Including CD Index)</dt>
5812 <dd>This section lists the session's <dfn>markers</dfn>. By ticking <kbd
5813 class="option">CD</kbd>, you instruct Ardour to create a <dfn>CD track
5814 index</dfn> from this marker, which will be included in the TOC or CUE file when you
5816 <dt>Ranges (Including CD Track Ranges)</dt>
5817 <dd>This is the list of <dfn>ranges</dfn> (including <dfn>CD track
5818 ranges</dfn>). Ticking <kbd class="option">CD</kbd> will convert
5819 the range to a <dfn>CD track</dfn>, which will again be included in
5820 exported TOC or CUE files. This is relevant for Disk-At-Once recordings
5821 that may contain audio data between tracks.</dd>
5829 <img src="/images/summary.png" alt="Ardour's Summary">
5832 The <dfn>Summary</dfn> is a global overview of the session, allowing for a good "bird's eye" view of where in time and tracks the work happens.
5836 Each horizontal line represents a track in the session, with the colored bars being the audio and MIDI regions, colored as per their track's color setting.
5840 Two yellow vertical lines show the position of the <em>Start</em> and <em>End</em> markers, defining the session's length. The red line shows the playhead's position.
5844 The transparent white rectangle represents what's actually displayed in the Editor window, i.e. what part of the session is being looked at on screen.
5848 The Summary also doubles as a navigator:
5852 <li>the arrows on the left allow to scroll the view horizontally, by 1 length of the veiw each time</li>
5853 <li>the arrows on the right allow to scroll vertically, by 1 track each time</li>
5854 <li>the white rectangle can be dragged anywhere on the session, moving the view accordingly</li>
5855 <li>each border and corner of the white square can be resized, changing the view accordingly</li>
5865 <img src="/images/detailed-mixer-window.png" alt="Ardour's mixer window">
5867 <ol class="multicol3">
5868 <li>Favorite Plugins</li>
5870 </ol><ol class="multicol3" start="3">
5872 <li>a track's strip</li>
5873 </ol><ol class="multicol3" start="5">
5874 <li>Master strip</li>
5875 <li>Monitor section</li>
5881 The <dfn>Mixer</dfn> window on the other hand represents signal flow and is the window you will probably be using most when mixing a session. It includes <dfn>channel strips</dfn> for each track and bus in your session. It has a general "vertical" sense to it: signals flow from the top of each channel strip through the processing elements in the strip to reach the output listed at the bottom.
5885 This section describes the Mixer. To learn more about the process of mixing, see <a href="/mixing/">Mixing<a>.
5889 title: The Mixer - Favorite Plugins Window
5893 <img class="right" src="/images/favorite-plugins.png" alt="Favorite Plugins window">
5896 The <dfn>Favorite Plugins</dfn> window is on the top-left side of the <dfn>Mixer Window</dfn>. Like other elements in that window it has variable height and can be hidden by dragging it to zero-height. If it is not visible, the top-handle can be grabbed and dragged down to reveal it.
5900 Plugin names that have a right facing triangle next to them have presets associated with them; clicking on the triangle will cause all presets associated with the plugin to show in the list.
5905 <img class="right" src="/images/mixer-to-fav-dnd.png" alt="Dragging plugin to Favorites window">
5907 The Favorite Plugins window provides easy access to frequently used plugins:
5911 <li>Plugins can be dragged from the window to any track or bus <a href="/working-with-plugins/processor-box/"><dfn>processor box</dfn></a>, which will add the plugin to that track or bus at the given position.</li>
5912 <li>The list includes user-presets for the plugins. Dragging a preset to a given track or bus will load that preset after adding the plugin.</li>
5913 <li>Double-clicking on a plugin or preset adds the given plugin to all selected tracks/busses pre-fader. Other insert positions are available from the context menu (right click).</li>
5914 <li>Dragging a plugin from a track into the window will add it to the list and optionally create a new preset from the current settings. The horizontal line in the list shows the spot where the plugin will land.</li>
5915 <li>The context-menu allows the deletion of presets or removal of the plugin from the list.</li>
5916 <li>Plugins in the list can be re-ordered using drag & drop. The custom order is saved.</li>
5920 When favorites are added with the <a href="/working-with-plugins/plugin-manager">Plugin Manager</a>, they are appended to the bottom of the list.
5924 title: The Mixer - The Strips list
5929 The <dfn>Strips List</dfn> is a quick way to manage big sessions, with lots of tracks, where the mixer would otherwise be too crowded.
5933 It is a list of all the tracks, busses and VCA in the session, with a tick to allow for hiding or showing them. This visibility status also affects the Editor view, and is exactly the same as toggling the <kbd class="option">V</kbd> checkbox in the <a href="/ardours-interface/the-editor/the-editor_s-lists/tracks-and-busses-list/">Tracks and Busses</a> panel of the Editor List.
5937 Dragging and dropping tracks inside the Strips List allows to reorganise the tracks in the session, both in the Mixer and the Editor.
5941 It is possible, by <kbd class="mouse">right</kbd> clicking, to act on multiple tracks at once:
5947 <li>Show All Audio Tracks</li>
5948 <li>Hide All Audio Tracks</li>
5949 <li>Show All Audio Busses</li>
5950 <li>Hide All Audio Busses</li>
5951 <li>Show All MIDI Tracks</li>
5952 <li>Hide All MIDI Tracks</li>
5956 The <kbd class="menu">+</kbd> button under the list is a shortcut to create a new track, bus or VCA, as in clicking <kbd class="menu">Track > Add Track, Bus or VCA…</kbd>.
5960 title: The Mixer - The Groups list
5965 The <dfn>Goups List</dfn> allows to quickly manage the <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-and-bus-groups/">groups</a> of the session, and make use of them.
5969 Each group has a <kbd class="option">Show</kbd> checkbox to quickly toggle their visibility. Clicking an already selected group allows to rename it.
5973 The context menu, reached by <kbd class="mouse">right</kbd> clicking a group, allows for multiple mixing actions:
5977 <dt>Create New Group From...</dt><dd>Creates a new group based on some track properties. The choice is :
5979 <li><kbd class="menu">Selection...</kbd> to create a group of all selected tracks</li>
5980 <li><kbd class="menu">Record Enabled...</kbd> to create a group of all the tracks that are record enabled</li>
5981 <li><kbd class="menu">Soloed...</kbd> to create a group of all the soloed tracks</li>
5983 <dt>Create New Group with Master From...</dt><dd>Acts exactly as the previous choice, but also creates a Control Master tied to these tracks.</dd>
5984 <dt>Assign Selection to Control Master...</dt><dd>Allows to link all the selected tracks to a chosen Control Master, whether or not they belong to a group.</dd>
5985 <dt>Assign Record Enabled to Control Master...</dt><dd>Allows to link all the record armed tracks to a chosen Control Master.</dd>
5986 <dt>Assign Soloed to Control Master...</dt><dd>Allows to link all the soloed tracks to a chosen Control Master.</dd>
5987 <dt>Enable All Groups</dt><dd>Enable all the groups, i.e. their selected properties are synchronized.</dd>
5988 <dt>Disable All Groups</dt><dd>Disable all the groups, i.e. changing a property in a track won't affect the others.</dd>
5992 When a group is selected, <kbd class="mouse">right</kbd> clicking it adds the following menu entries :
5996 <dt>Create New Group with Master From...</dt><dd>Acts exactly as the previous choice, but also creates a Control Master tied to these tracks.</dd>
5997 <dt>Edit Group...</dt><dd>Shows the <kbd class="menu">Track/bus Group</kbd> <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-and-bus-groups/">window</a>.</dd>
5998 <dt>Collect Group</dt><dd>Rearranges the tracks/busses order to visualy group together the tracks belonging to the same group.</dd>
5999 <dt>Remove Group</dt><dd>Deletes the group (but not the tracks/busses belongidng to this group).</dd>
6000 <dt>Assign Group to Control Master...</dt><dd>Allows to link all the tracks in the group to a chosen VCA.</dd>
6001 <dt>Add/Remove Subgroup Bus</dt><dd>Creates/removes a new bus connected to the Master, and send the output of all the tracks in the group to this new bus.</dd>
6002 <dt>Add New Aux Bus (pre/post-fader)</dt><dd>Creates a new bus connected to the Master, and create <a href="/signal-routing/aux-sends/">Aux Sends</a> (pre or post-fader) in all the tracks in the group to this new bus.</dd>
6006 The <kbd class="menu">+</kbd> button under the list allows the creation of an (empty) group, while the <kbd class="menu">−</kbd> button deletes the selected group (but not the tracks in this group).
6010 title: The Mixer - The Master Strip
6014 <p class="fixme">add content</p>
6017 title: The Mixer - The Monitor Section
6021 <p class="fixme">add content</p>
6026 title: Sessions & Tracks
6038 title: New/Open Session Dialog
6042 <p class="fixme">Info is out of date, image needs updating</p>
6045 The initial <dfn>Session</dfn> dialog consists of several consecutive pages:
6048 <h2>Open Session Page</h2>
6050 On this page, you can open an <dfn>existing session</dfn>. You can also
6051 open any <a href="/working-with-sessions/snapshots/">snapshot</a> of a
6052 particular session by clicking on the arrow next to the session name to
6053 display all snapshots, and then selecting one. If your session is
6054 not displayed in the Recent Sessions list, the <kbd class="menu">Other
6055 Sessions</kbd> button will bring up a file selection dialog to navigate
6056 your hard drive.<br />
6057 Alternatively, you can opt to create a <kbd class="menu">New
6061 <h2>New Session page</h2>
6063 Here you can type in the name of a session, select a folder to save in, and
6064 optionally use an existing <a href="/working-with-sessions/session-templates/">template</a>.
6067 Under <dfn>Advanced Options</dfn>, you can select whether you wish to create
6068 a Master Bus, or a Control Bus, and how many channels you wish either to have.
6069 You can also decide whether you want Ardour to automatically connect all inputs
6070 to the physical ports of your hardware. Ardour will do so
6071 sequentially and in round-robin fashion, connecting the first track's
6072 input to the first input of your hardware and so on. When Ardour has used
6073 all available hardware inputs, it will begin again with the first physical
6075 You can limit the number of channels on your physical hardware that Ardour
6079 By default Ardour will connect all tracks and busses to the Master Bus if
6080 there is one. However you can also tell it to automatically connect each
6081 output to the physical outputs of your interface or sound card, and limit
6082 the number of physical outputs used, as above.
6085 <h3>Audio/MIDI Setup</h3>
6087 <img class="right" src="/images/Audio-MIDI_Setup.png" alt="The Audio+MIDI
6091 This page is not displayed if <abbr title="JACK Audio Connection
6092 Kit">JACK</abbr> is already running when you start
6093 Ardour. It provides a simple interface to configure JACK, which
6094 will then be started by Ardour. For more control and options regarding
6095 JACK, it is recommended that you start JACK before using Ardour, via a
6096 JACK control application such as QJackCtl (sometimes called "Jack
6097 Control"), JackPilot, etc.
6100 <dt>Audio System</dt>
6101 <dd>Currently, the only option here is <kbd class="menu">JACK</kbd>. In the future, native
6102 hardware access may be supported.</dd>
6105 On Mac OS X this will typically be <kbd class="menu">CoreAudio</kbd>. On Linux usually
6106 this will be either <kbd class="menu"><abbr title="Free Firewire Audio Driver fOr
6107 linux">FFADO</abbr></kbd>
6108 or <kbd class="menu"><abbr title="Advanced Linux Sound
6109 Architecture">ALSA</abbr></kbd>, depending on whether or not you are
6110 utilizing a firewire device. Advanced users on all platforms may also
6111 use <kbd class="menu">NetJack</kbd> which provides network audio I/O.
6114 <dd>The selector should show all availiable interfaces provided by the
6115 driver above and which are capable of duplex operation.
6117 If you are using an Intel Mac running OS X and the builtin audio
6119 first <a href="setting-up-your-system/using_more_than_one_audio_device/">merge
6120 its separate input and output devices into a single "aggregate
6121 device"</a> before Ardour will be able to use it.
6124 <dt>Sample Rate</dt>
6126 The selector will allow you to select from any sample rate
6127 supported by the device selected above it.
6129 <dt>Buffer Size</dt>
6131 You can adjust the size of the buffer used by your audio interface
6132 to allow for either lower latency, or lower CPU usage and higher
6135 <dt>Input/Output Channels</dt>
6137 Here you can specify the number of hardware channels to use. The
6138 default is <kbd class="menu">all available channels</kbd>.</dd>
6139 <dt>Hardware Input/Output Latency</dt>
6140 <dd>Specify the hardware delay in samples for precise latency compensation.</dd>
6143 This button guides you through a semi-automated process to obtain
6144 precise hardware latency measurements for the above option.</dd>
6145 <dt>MIDI System</dt>
6147 Select the MIDI driver to use. On Mac OS X, this will be <kbd
6148 class="menu">CoreMIDI</kbd>. On Linux, you can change between two legacy
6149 ALSA drivers or the (preferred) new JACK+ALSA implementation.</dd>
6153 title: What's in a Session?
6158 The <dfn>Session</dfn> is the fundamental document type that is created and
6159 modified by the Ardour workstation. A Session is a folder on your computer
6160 filesystem that contains all the items that pertain to a particular project
6161 or "recording/editing/mixing session".
6165 The Session folder includes these files and folders:
6169 <li><code><em>session_name</em>.ardour</code> the main session snapshot</li>
6170 <li><code>*.ardour</code>, any additional snapshots </li>
6171 <li><code><em>session_name</em>.ardour.bak</code>, the auto-backup snapshot</li>
6172 <li><code><em>session_name</em>.history</code>, the undo history for the session </li>
6173 <li><code>instant.xml</code>, which records the last-used zoom scale and other metadata</li>
6174 <li><code>interchange/</code>, a folder which holds your raw audio and MIDI
6175 files (whether imported or recorded)</li>
6176 <li><code>export/</code>, a folder which contains any files created by the
6177 <kbd class="menu">Session > Export</kbd> function</li>
6178 <li><code>peaks/</code>, a folder which contains waveform renderings of
6179 all audio files in the session</li>
6180 <li><code>analysis/</code>, a folder which contains transient and pitch
6181 information of each audio file that has been analysed</li>
6182 <li><code>dead sounds/</code>, a folder which contains sound files which
6183 Ardour has detected are no longer used in the session (during a <kbd
6184 class="menu">Session > Clean-up > Clean-up Unused Sources</kbd>
6185 operation, will be purged by <kbd class="menu">Flush Waste Basket</kbd>)</li>
6188 A session combines some setup information (such as audio and MIDI routing,
6189 musical tempo & meter, timecode synchronization, etc.) with one or more
6190 Tracks and Buses, and all the Regions and Plug-Ins they contain.
6194 title: Where Are Sessions Stored?
6199 <dfn>Sessions</dfn> are stored in a single folder on your computer's filesystem.
6203 The first time you run Ardour, you will be asked where you would like the
6204 default location for sessions to be, with the initial choice being your
6209 After the first-run dialog, you can still change the default location at
6210 any time via <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Misc > Session
6211 Management</kbd>. You can also specify a particular (different) location for
6212 a session when creating it, in the
6213 <a href="/working-with-sessions/new-session-dialog/">New Session dialog</a>.
6217 title: Backup and Sharing of Sessions
6222 An Ardour session is stored in a single folder on your computer's filesystem.
6223 This makes <dfn>backup</dfn> very easy—any tool capable of backing up
6224 a folder can be used to backup a session. You pick the location of a session
6225 when it is created—by default it will be in your default session location,
6226 which can be altered via <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Misc > Session
6231 There is one complication: a session may reference media files that are stored
6232 outside of the session folder, if the user has opted not to select <kbd
6233 class="optoff">Session > Import > Copy to Session</kbd> during
6234 import. Backing up a session with embedded files will not create a
6235 copy of the session containing those files.
6239 The single folder approach also makes sharing a project easy. Simply copy the session
6240 folder (onto a storage device, or across a network) and another Ardour user (on any
6241 platform) will be able to use it. The limitation regarding embedded files applies to
6242 session sharing as well.
6246 title: Interchange with other DAWs
6251 It has never been particularly easy to move sessions or projects from one
6252 <abbr title="Digital Audio Workstation">DAW</abbr> to another. There are two
6253 <dfn>interchange standards</dfn> that have reasonably widespread support:</p>
6255 <li>OMF (Open Media Framwwork), also known as OMFI. Developed and controlled
6256 by Avid, never standardized</li>
6257 <li>AAF (Advanced Authoring Format). Developed by a consortium of media-related
6261 In practice both of these standards have such complex and/or incomplete
6262 specifications that different DAWs support them only partially,
6263 differently, or not at all.
6265 <h2>Moving an Ardour session to another DAW</h2>
6266 <p>To move an Ardour session to another DAW, you have 3 basic choices:</p>
6268 <li>Copy the interchange folder</li>
6269 <li>Stem exports</li>
6270 <li>Use AATranslator</li>
6272 <h3>Moving another DAW session to Ardour</h3>
6273 <p>To move a session from another DAW to Ardour, you have 2 basic choices:</p>
6275 <li>Stem exports</li>
6276 <li>Use AATranslator</li>
6280 title: Copying The Interchange Folder
6285 All media in a session folder is stored in a sub-folder called
6286 <samp>interchange</samp>. Below that is another folder with the name
6287 of the session. You can copy either of these to another location and
6288 use the files within them with any other application, importing them
6289 all into a project/session. You will lose all information about regions,
6290 tracks, and timeline positioning, but all the data that Ardour was working
6291 with will be present in the other DAW. Nothing below the interchange
6292 folder is specific to Ardour—any DAW or other audio/MIDI
6293 application should be able to handle the files without any issues.
6302 <dfn>Stem exports</dfn> are covered fully in the
6303 <a href="/exporting">Export</a> chapter. A stem export creates one file
6304 per track, starting at the beginning of the session. You can then import
6305 each track into another DAW and begin working on it. You lose all data
6306 except the actual audio/MIDI (no plugins, no automation). This is one of
6307 the most common methods of interchange because it works between all DAWs.
6311 title: Using AATranslator
6316 <dfn>AATranslator</dfn> is a Windows
6317 application that can convert sessions/projects from many diffferent DAWs
6318 into other formats. At the present time (December 2016), it can read and
6319 write Ardour 2.X sessions, and can read Ardour 3 sessions.
6322 The program runs very well on Linux using
6323 <a href="http://www.winehq.org/">Wine</a> (a Windows environment for Linux).
6324 There are equivalent solutions for running Windows applications on OS X,
6325 but we have no experience with them at this time. Ardour users have reported
6326 great results using AATranslator on Ardour 2.X sessions.</p>
6328 The <a href="http://www.aatranslator.com.au/">AATranslator website</a>
6329 has full details on supported formats and DAWs. The list includes
6330 ProTools, Live, Reaper, OMF, AAF and many more.
6333 AATranslator is closed-source, non-free software (as of this writing, Dec. 2016, the cost is 60 USD for the "Standard" version, and 200 USD for the "Enhanced" version).
6337 title: Renaming a Session
6342 Use <kbd class="menu">Session > Rename</kbd> to give your session a
6343 new name. A dialog will appear to ask you for the new name.
6347 This operation does <strong>not</strong> make a new session folder —
6348 the existing session folder and relevant contents are renamed. If your
6349 session was not saved before a rename operation, it will be saved
6350 automatically and then renaming will continue.
6354 Ardour's <kbd class="menu">Session > Save As</kbd> operation will not
6355 make a new copy of the session folder and its contents. All it does is
6356 create a new session file.
6360 title: Session Templates
6365 <dfn>Session templates</dfn> are a way to store the setup of a session
6366 for future use. They do not store any <em>audio</em> data but can store:
6370 <li>The number of tracks and busses, along with their names</li>
6371 <li>The plugins present on each track or bus (if any)</li>
6372 <li>All I/O connections</li>
6375 <h2>Creating a Session Template</h2>
6378 Choose <kbd class="menu">Session > Save Template</kbd>. A dialog will ask
6379 you for the name of the new template.
6382 <h2>Using a Session Template</h2>
6385 In the New Session dialog, choose the desired template from the combo
6390 Note that you can also use an existing session as a template, without
6391 saving it as one. This is available as an option in the New Session dialog.
6392 Doing this will not alter the existing session at all, but will use its track,
6393 bus and plugin configuration just like a template.
6397 See also <a href="/missing">Track & Bus templates</a> for information
6398 on templates for individual tracks or busses.
6401 <p class="fixme">Broken link</p>
6409 Sometimes you will want to save a <dfn>snapshot</dfn> of the current state of a session for possible
6410 use in the future. For example, you may be about to change the entire
6411 arrangement of a piece, or drastically alter the signal processing, and
6412 want a reference to come back to, should that not work out.
6416 This is easily accomplished using <kbd class="menu">Session >
6418 A small dialog will appear, allowing you to enter a name for the snapshot.
6419 The default name is based on the current date and time.<br />
6420 You can create any number of snapshots.
6424 Creating a snapshot does <strong>not</strong> modify your session,
6425 nor does it save your session. Instead, it saves an alternate version
6426 of the session, within the session folder. The snapshot shares all data
6427 present in the session.
6431 After creating a snapshot, you can continue working on the session and
6432 save it normally using <kbd class="menu">Session > Save</kbd> and any
6433 existing snapshots will remain unchanged.
6436 <h2>Switching to a Snapshot</h2>
6439 If you are already working on a session and want to to switch to an
6440 existing snapshot, navigate the Snapshots tab of the
6441 <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/editor-lists">Editor List</a>.
6442 Find the name of the snapshot in the list and click it. Ardour will switch
6443 to the snapshot. If there are unsaved changes in the current session, Ardour will
6444 ask what you want to do.
6447 <h2>Starting Ardour With a Snapshot</h2>
6450 Since a snapshot is just another session file stored within the session
6451 folder, you can specify that "version" when loading an existing session.
6452 The browser in the "Open Session" dialog will show an expander arrow for
6453 sessions that have more than 1 session file (i.e. snapshots) present—click on it to see the list, and then click on the name of the
6454 snapshot you want to load.
6457 <h2>Saving and Switching to a Snapshot</h2>
6460 Sometimes you may want to create a snapshot and then have all future
6461 edits and modifications saved to that snapshot rather than the main
6462 session. This is easily done using <kbd class="menu">Session > Save
6463 As</kbd>. This does not create a new session folder, but saves your
6464 session as a new snapshot and then switches the "current snapshot"
6465 to the newly created one. All subsequent saves of the session will
6466 be stored in this new snapshot, and existing snapshots (and the main
6467 session) will be left unaffected.
6476 Sessions can have various items of metadata attached to them, via
6477 <kbd class ="menu">Session > Metadata > Edit Metadata...</kbd> and
6478 <kbd class ="menu">Session > Metadata > Import Metadata...</kbd>.
6481 <h2>Edit Session Metadata Dialog</h2>
6483 <img src="/images/edit-session-metadata.png" />
6485 <p class="fixme">Add content</p>
6488 title: Cleaning up Sessions
6493 Recording and editing any serious session might leave the session with some
6494 unused or misplaced files here and there. Ardour can help deal with this clutter thanks
6495 to the tools located in the <kbd class="menu">Session > Clean-up</kbd> menu.
6498 <h2 id="bring_all_media_into_session_folder">Bring all media into session folder</h2>
6501 When <a href="/adding-pre-existing-material/">importing media files</a>, if
6502 the <kbd class="option">Copy files to session</kbd> hasn't been checked, Ardour uses
6503 the source file from its original destination, which can help avoiding file duplication.
6504 Nevertheless, when the session needs to be archived or transfered to another computer, moving
6505 the session folder won't move those <em>external</em> files as they are not in the folder, as seen
6506 in <a href="/working-with-sessions/backup-and-sharing-of-sessions/">Backup and sharing of sessions</a>.
6510 Using the <kbd class="menu">Bring all media into session folder</kbd> menu ensures
6511 that all media files used in the session are located inside the session's folder, hence avoiding
6512 any missing files when copied.
6515 <h2 id="reset_peak_files">Reset Peak Files</h2>
6518 Ardour represents audio waveforms with peak files, that are graphical images generated from the
6519 sound files. This generation can be time and CPU consuming, so it uses a cache of the generated
6520 images to speed up the display process. To watch for files modification, Ardour relies on the file-modification
6521 time. If an external file is embedded in the session and that file changes, but the system-clock is skewed
6522 or it is stored on an external USB disk (VFAT), Ardour can't know the change happend, and will still use its
6523 deprecated peak files.
6527 Using the <kbd class="menu">Reset Peak Files</kbd> menu allows to reset this cache, which frees up disk space,
6528 and forces the re-creation of the peak files used in the session. It can prove useful if some waveforms
6529 are not used anymore, or if a graphical or time glitch happens.
6532 <h2 id="clean_up_unused_sources">Clean-up Unused Sources...</h2>
6535 Recording usually lefts a lot of unused takes behind, be it in midi or audio form, that can clutter
6536 the Region List, and eat up a lot of hard drive space. While its generally a good practice to keep as
6537 many things as possible while recording, when transferring or archiving the session, some clean up can
6538 help a lot in reducing the sessions clutter and size.
6542 Selecting <kbd class="menu">Clean-up Unused Sources...</kbd> will force Ardour to detect those unused waveforms
6543 by looking for unused regions, and (through a prompt) for unused playlists. The media files won't be destroyed, though.
6544 At this stage, they are just copied in a particular place of the session path (namely, in the <code>dead sounds/</code>
6548 <h2 id="flush_wastebasket">Flush Wastebasket</h2>
6551 Although Ardour is a <em>non-destructive</em> audio-editor, it allows for a very careful destruction of unused media materials.
6552 This function is closely linked to the previous one. When the unused sources have been cleaned up and quarantined, the
6553 <kbd class="menu">Flush Wastebasket</kbd> menu will allow for their physical destruction.
6557 As a safeguarding mechanism though, Flushing the wastebasket in impossible in the same working session as the Cleaning up of unused sources:
6558 the user needs to close the session and reload it before flushing. It allows to test the playback of the session and ensure both that Ardour didn't commit
6559 any mistake (unlikely, but better safe than sorry), and that the user is absolutely sure of what he does.
6563 Notice that all media destroyed this way is not sent to the system's <em>trash can</em> but permanently deleted. If a file is mistakenly destroyed this way, the user will have to rely on data recovery techniques to try getting it back.
6567 title: Copying versus Linking
6572 <dfn>Copying</dfn> and <dfn>linking</dfn> are two different methods of
6573 using existing audio files on your computer (or network file system)
6574 within a session. They differ in one key aspect:
6580 An existing media file is copied to the session's audio folder, and
6581 if necessary converted into the session's native format.
6585 For audio files, you can control the choice of this format (eg. WAVE
6586 or Broadcast WAVE). Audio files will also be converted to the session
6587 sample rate if necessary (which can take several minutes for larger
6592 MIDI files will already be in SMF format, and are simply copied into
6593 the session's MIDI folder.
6599 A link to an existing media file somewhere on the disk is used as a the
6600 source for a region, but the data is <strong>not copied or modified</strong>
6605 While linking is handy to conserve disk space, it means that your session
6606 is <dfn>no longer self-contained</dfn>. If the external file moves, it
6607 will become unavailable, and any changes to it from elsewhere will affect
6608 the session. A backup of the session directory will miss linked files.
6612 You can choose to copy or link files into your session with the
6613 <kbd class="option">Copy file to session</kbd> option in the Import
6618 <img class="left" src="/images/225-ARDOUR_1_2_1.png" />
6619 ← This file will be imported in the audio/MIDI folder of your session.
6623 <img class="left" src="/images/226-ARDOUR_1_2_1.png" />
6624 ← This file won't be copied.
6628 There is a global preference <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Misc > Session Management > Always copy imported files</kbd>. If it is enabled, you will not be able to link a file.
6632 title: Adding Pre-existing Material
6637 There are several ways to importing an audio or MIDI file into a
6641 <li><kbd class="menu">Session > Import</kbd></li>
6642 <li>Region List context menu: <kbd class="menu">Import To Region List</kbd></li>
6643 <li>Track context menu: <kbd class="menu">Import Existing Media</kbd>
6647 These methods are all equivalent: they open the <a
6648 href="/adding-pre-existing-material/import-dialog/">Add Existing Media</a>
6652 Finally, you can also easily import files into your project by dragging
6653 and dropping a file from some other application (e.g. your platform's
6654 file manager). You can drag onto the
6655 <dfn>Region List</dfn>, into the desired <dfn>track</dfn> or into empty
6656 space in the editor track display.<br />
6657 The file will be imported and copied
6658 into your session, and placed at the position where the drag ended.
6662 title: Import Dialog
6667 Many sessions will require the use of <dfn>existing material</dfn>,
6668 whether it consists of audio and/or MIDI data. Using existing samples,
6669 loops and riffs from files stored on your system can be the basis for
6670 a new session, or a way to deepen and improve one that is already
6675 You can import audio and MIDI data into your session with the
6676 <dfn>Add Existing Media</dfn> dialog.
6679 <p class="fixme">Update image, possibly update content if out of date</p>
6680 <img src="/images/209-ARDOUR_1_2_1.png" />
6682 <h2>The Soundfile Information Box</h2>
6685 This box will display information about the currently selected file:
6689 <li>number of channels,</li>
6690 <li>sample rate,</li>
6691 <li>file format,</li>
6693 <li>embedded timestamp (applies to some professional formats such as
6694 Broadcast WAVE), and</li>
6695 <li>tags (attached metadata to help categorize files in a library).</li>
6699 If the sample rate differs from the current session rate, it is displayed
6700 in red, which indicates that the file must be resampled before
6701 importing. Resampling is controlled by the <kbd class="menu">Conversion quality</kbd> option described below.
6707 Files can be auditioned before importing. The slider under the play and
6708 stop buttons allows you to scrub around, a fader on the right side allows
6709 you to control the playback volume.
6712 <h2>Importing options</h2>
6715 You can import files into new, automatically created tracks, to the region
6716 list (from where you can manually drag them into a track), or as new
6717 <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-types/">Tape tracks</a> with the
6718 <kbd class="menu">Add new files as...</kbd> option.
6722 New files will be inserted at either the file timestamp (if available,
6723 zero by default), at the <a href="/missing">edit point</a>, at the
6724 playhead, or at the start of the session, as specified in <kbd
6725 class="menu">Insert at...</kbd>.
6729 The Channel <kbd class="menu">mapping</kbd> is either "one track/region per
6730 file", or "one track/region per channel". The latter splits multichannel
6731 source files into mono regions. If you have selected multiple files and are importing them into a track,
6732 you can also choose whether to sequence all files into a single track in
6733 the order of selection, or to create as many tracks as there are files to
6738 The <kbd class="menu">Conversion quality</kbd> drop-down controls the
6739 quality of the resampling process, if the sampling rate of the source file
6740 differs from the session rate.
6744 Finally, and most importantly, you can decide whether to <kbd
6745 class="option">Copy files to session</kbd>, or to link them. Please read
6746 <a href="/adding-pre-existing-material/copying-versus-linking/">Copying
6747 versus Linking</a> for details.
6751 title: Searching and Importing From Freesound
6752 menu_title: Freesound Search/Import
6756 <p class="fixme">This section is irrelevant now, as the Freesound import function has been removed due to changes done on Freesound's end</p>
6759 <a href="http://www.freesound.org"
6760 title="http://www.freesound.org"><dfn>Freesound</dfn></a>
6761 is an online repository of searchable sound files licensed under
6762 Creative-Commons term. The <kbd class="menu">Search Freesound</kbd> tab
6763 of the import dialog allows you to search the Freesound database,
6764 and to download and audition files directly.
6769 <dd>Enter metadata tags that you would like to search for. You may enter
6770 multiple search terms separated by spaces. For example,
6771 <kbd class="input">drums 120bpm</kbd> will search for files that are tagged
6772 <samp>drums</samp>, <samp>120bpm</samp>, or both.</dd>
6774 <dd>Choosing one of the sort options will cause Freesound to return the list
6775 of available files sorted accordingly. This can save time if you know (for
6776 example) the sound you need is very short.</dd>
6778 <dd>Click this button to initiate the search. Freesound will begin returning
6779 pages of information, with 20 items per page. The <kbd
6780 class="menu">Stop</kbd> button interrupts the download.</dd>
6781 <dt>The file list</dt>
6782 <dd>Click on a file to download it from Freesound. Double-click the file to
6783 auto-play it in the auditioner.</dd>
6787 Files imported with Freesound will automatically include any tags that are
6788 associated with the file, and these tags will be included in a search when
6789 you use the <kbd class="menu">Search Tags</kbd> tab.
6793 title: Searching for Files Using Tags
6798 A <dfn>tag</dfn> is bit of information, or metadata, that is associated
6799 with a data file. Specifically, tags are keywords or terms that you feel
6800 have some relevance to a particular soundfile. Ardour can store these tags
6801 in a searchable <dfn>database</dfn> so that you can quickly search for sounds
6802 based on the tags that you have assigned to them.
6806 For example you can assign the term <kbd class="input">120bpm</kbd> to a
6807 sound, and then when you search for this tag, the file will appear in the
6808 search list. Tags are independent of the filename or anything else about
6809 the file. Tags, and the file paths that they are associated with, are
6810 stored in a file called <samp>sfdb</samp> in your Ardour user folder.
6814 To <dfn>add tags</dfn> to a given file, open the <kbd class="menu">Session >
6815 Import</kbd> dialog, select the file in the browser, and type new tags into tag
6816 area in the soundfile information box on the right. Tags are stored when the
6817 input box loses focus, there is no need to explicitly save them.
6821 You can <dfn>search</dfn> for specific tags in the <kbd
6822 class="menu">Search Tags</kbd> tab of the same dialog. Files which have
6823 been tagged with the relevant terms will appear in the results window.
6824 Selected files can be auditioned and marked with additional tags if
6829 title: Supported File Formats
6834 The list of audio file formats that Ardour can understand is quite long.
6835 It is based on the functionality offered by <dfn>libsndfile</dfn>, an excellent and
6836 widely used software library by Australian programmer Erik de Castro Lopo.
6837 As libsndfile's capabilities expand, so will Ardour's abilities to import
6838 (and export) new formats. Ardour supports all common audio file formats,
6839 including WAV, AIFF, AIFC, CAF, W64 and BWF, with all typical sample formats
6840 (8-, 16-, 24-, 32-bit integer, floating point, and more).
6844 You can find a full list of libsndfile's supported formats
6845 <a href="http://www.mega-nerd.com/libsndfile/#Features">here</a>.
6849 For MIDI import, Ardour will read any Standard MIDI Format (SMF) file.
6865 Ardour offers three <dfn>track types</dfn> depending on the type of
6866 data they contain, and differentiates between three <dfn>track modes</dfn>,
6867 depending on their recording behaviour.
6870 <h2>Track types</h2>
6873 An Ardour track can be of type <dfn>audio</dfn> or <dfn>MIDI</dfn>,
6874 depending on the <dfn>data</dfn> that the track will primarily record
6875 and play back. <em>However, either type of track can pass either
6876 type of data.</em> Hence, for example, one might have a MIDI track that
6877 contains an instrument plugin; such a track would record and play back
6878 MIDI data from disk but would produce audio, since the instrument plugin
6879 would turn MIDI data into audio data.
6883 Nevertheless, when adding tracks to a session, you typically have an idea
6884 of what you need to use the new tracks for, and Ardour offers you three
6888 <dl class="narrower-table">
6890 <dd>An <dfn>Audio Track</dfn> is created with a user-specified number of
6891 inputs. The number of outputs is defined by the master bus channel count
6892 (for details see <a href="#channelconfiguration">Channel Configuration</a>
6893 below). This is the type of track to use when planning to work with
6894 existing or newly recorded audio.</dd>
6896 <dd>A <dfn>MIDI track</dfn> is created with a single MIDI input, and a
6897 single MIDI output. This is the type of track to use when planning to
6898 record and play back MIDI. There are several methods to enable playback
6899 of a MIDI track: add an instrument plugin to the track, connect the
6900 track to a software synthesizer, or connect it to external MIDI hardware.
6902 If you add an instrument plugin, the MIDI track outputs audio instead
6906 <dd>There are a few notable plugins that can usefully accept both <dfn>Audio
6907 and MIDI</dfn> data (Reaktor is one, and various "auto-tune" like plugins
6908 are another). It can be tricky to configure this type of track manually,
6909 so Ardour allows you to select this type specifically for use with such
6910 plugins. It is <em>not</em> generally the right choice when working normal
6911 MIDI tracks, and a dialog will warn you of this.</dd>
6915 title: Adding Tracks, Busses and VCAs
6919 <img class="right" src="/images/add-track-or-bus.png" alt="the add-track dialog" />
6922 A track, bus or VCA can be added to a session in various ways:
6926 <li>Choose <kbd class="menu">Track > Add Track, Bus or VCA...</kbd>.</li>
6927 <li><kbd class="mouse">Right</kbd>-click in an empty part of the track controls area.</li>
6928 <li>Click the <kbd class="menu">Plus (+)</kbd> button underneath the list of tracks in the mixer.</li>
6932 Any of these actions will open the Add Track/Bus/VCA dialog.
6937 <dd>Here you can select the number of tracks, busses or VCAs you wish to create, and
6938 their <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-types/">types</a>.</dd>
6940 <dd>Defines the name of the new track(s). If multiple tracks are created, or if a track with the same name already exists, a space and number will be happened at the end (e.g.: Audio 1, Audio 2...)</dd>
6941 <dt>Configuration</dt>
6942 <dd>This menu lets you choose from a number of route templates, which determine the number of input ports and optionally contain plugins and other mixer strip configuration. The most common choices here are <em>mono</em> and <em>stereo</em>.</dd>
6943 <dt>Record mode</dt>
6944 <dd>This option is only available for audio tracks and affects how it behaves when recording. See <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-types/#trackmodes">Track Modes</a> for details.</dd>
6946 <dd>This option is only available for MIDI tracks and busses and lets you select a
6947 default instrument from the list of available plugins.</dd>
6949 <dd>Tracks and busses can be assigned groups so that a selected range of
6950 operations are applied to all members of a group at the same time (selecting
6951 record enable, or editing, for example). This option lets you assign to an
6952 existing group, or create a new group.</dd>
6954 <dd>Defines where in the track list is the track created. The default is <em>Last</em>, i.e. after all the tracks and busses, and can also be <em>First</em>, <em>Before Selection</em> (to place it just above the selected track) or <em>After selection</em>.</dd>
6955 <dt>Output Ports</dt>
6956 <dd>Defines how the number of output responds to adding a plugin with a different number of outputs than the track itself. in <em>Strict I/O</em> mode, the track will only use a few of the plugins I/O and will keep its own number of output fixed, while in <em>lexible I/O</em> mode, it will automatically adapt to the I/O of its plugins. See <a href="/signal-routing/signal-flow/">Signal flow</a> to learn more about those options.</dd>
6960 New tracks appear in both the editor and mixer windows. The editor window
6961 shows the timeline, with any recorded data, and the mixer shows just the
6962 processing elements of the track (its plugins, fader and so on).
6965 <h2>Removing Tracks and Busses</h2>
6968 To <dfn>remove</dfn> tracks and busses, select them, <kbd
6969 class="mouse">right</kbd>-click and choose <kbd
6970 class="menu">Remove</kbd>
6971 from the menu. A warning dialog will pop up, as track removal cannot be undone;
6972 use this option with care!
6976 title: Selecting Tracks
6981 Tracks are <dfn>selected</dfn> by clicking on the Track header at the left
6982 of the Editor window. You can select multiple tracks with <kbd class="mod1
6983 mouse">Left</kbd> clicks, or a range of consecutive tracks with <kbd
6984 class="mod3 mouse">Left</kbd>.
6987 By default, <dfn>selecting regions</dfn> has no impact on
6988 <dfn>track selection</dfn>.
6989 You can select a track, then select a region in another track
6990 (or vice versa) and both selections will co-exist happily.
6991 Operations that are applied to tracks will use the track selection,
6992 and those that apply to regions will use the region selection.
6993 Similarly, deselecting a region will not deselect the track it
6994 is in (if that track was selected).
6997 In some workflows, and particularly if you have experience with
6998 other <abbr title="Digital Audio Workstation">DAW</abbr>s, this
6999 is not the most comfortable way to work. You may prefer to work
7000 in a style where selecting a region will also select the track
7001 that the region is in. Similarly, when the last selected region
7002 in a track is deselected, the track will also become unselected.
7005 To control this behaviour, set <kbd class="menu">Edit >
7006 Preferences > Editor > Link selection of regions and tracks</kbd>.
7010 title: Controlling Track Appearance
7015 Ardour offers many options for controlling the appearance of tracks, including color, height, waveform style and more. These can all be found in the <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Editor</kbd> menu.
7019 title: Layering Display
7023 <img class="right" style="clear:both" src="/images/track-layer-dialog.png"
7024 alt="Track layering menu" />
7027 Ardour allows arbitrary <dfn>layering</dfn> of regions—you can
7028 have as many regions you wish at a given position. By default, the regions are
7029 <dfn>overlaid</dfn> in the editor window, to save vertical space.
7033 However, this display mode can be confusing for tracks with many overdubs,
7034 because its not obvious in which order the overdubs are layered. Although
7035 there are other methods of moving particular regions to the top of an
7036 overlapping set, and although Ardour also has playlists to let you manage
7037 <a href="/working-with-playlists/playlist_usecases/">takes</a> a bit more
7038 efficiently than just continually layering,
7039 there are times when being able to clearly see all regions in a track without
7040 any overlaps is reassuring and useful.
7044 Here is an image of a track with a rather drastic overdub situation,
7045 viewed in normal <dfn>overlaid mode</dfn>:
7048 <img src="/images/a3_overlaps_layered.png" alt="overlapping regions in overlaid mode" />
7051 To change this display, right click on the track header, and you'll see
7052 the menu displayed above. There are two choices for layers. <kbd
7053 class="menu">overlaid</kbd> is currently selected. Click on <kbd
7054 class="menu">stacked</kbd> and the track display changes to this:
7057 <img src="/images/a3_layers_stacked.png" alt="overlapping regions in stacked mode" />
7060 You can still move regions around as usual, and in fact you can
7061 even drag them so that they overlay each again, but when you
7062 release the mouse button, things will flip back to them all being
7063 stacked cleanly. The number of <dfn>lanes</dfn> for the track is determined by
7064 the maximum number of regions existing in any one spot throughout
7065 the track, so if you have really stacked up 10 overdubs in one spot,
7066 you'll end up with 10 lanes. Obviously, using a large track height
7067 works much better for this than a small one.
7076 New tracks in Ardour are assigned a random color from a pastel color
7077 palette, so they should never end up being particularly bright or
7081 <h2>Changing the color of specific tracks</h2>
7084 Select the tracks whose color you wish to change. Context-click
7085 on the track header of one of them. From the context menu, select
7086 <kbd class="menu">Color</kbd> and pick a hue to your taste in the
7087 color dialog. Every selected track will be re-colored.
7091 Note that if you are only changing one track, context-clicking on
7092 that track's header will be enough to select it, saving the extra
7096 <h2>Changing the color of all tracks in a group</h2>
7099 Tracks that belong to a
7100 <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-and-bus-groups">track/bus group</a>
7101 can share a common color by enabling the <kbd
7102 class="option">Color</kbd> option for the group. With this enabled,
7103 any color change will be propagated to all group members.
7107 You can also explicitly change the group color by context-clicking
7108 on the group tab in the Mixer, selecting <kbd class="menu">Edit
7109 Group...</kbd> and then clicking on the Color selector in that dialog
7119 Depending on the stage of your production, you may require a quick
7120 overview over as many tracks as possible, a detailed view into just a
7121 few, or a combination of the two. To facilitate this, the
7122 <dfn>height</dfn> may be configured individually for each track in
7127 A context click on a track header will display the
7128 <kbd class="menu">Height</kbd> menu, and allow you to choose from a
7129 list of standard sizes. All selected tracks will be redrawn using that
7134 Alternatively, select the tracks you wish to resize. Move the pointer
7135 to the bottom edge of one track header. The cursor will change to a
7136 two-way vertical arrow shape. <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd>-drag to
7137 dynamically resize all selected tracks.
7140 <h2>Fit to the Editor Window</h2>
7143 Select the tracks you wish to display in the Editor window.
7144 Choose <kbd class="menu">Track > Height > Fit Selected Tracks</kbd>
7145 or use the keyboard shortcut, <kbd>f</kbd>. Ardour adjusts the track
7146 heights and view so that the selected tracks completely fill the vertical
7147 space available, unless the tracks cannot be made to fit even at the smallest
7152 You can use <dfn>Visual Undo</dfn> (default shortcut: <kbd class="mod3">Z</kbd>
7153 to revert this operation.
7157 title: Waveform display
7162 The display of <dfn>waveforms</dfn> (or, more correctly, <dfn>peak
7163 envelopes</dfn>, since the actual waveform is only visible at the highest
7164 zoom levels) is configurable via the <kbd
7165 class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Editor</kbd> dialog, to support
7166 different usecases and user preferences. The following options are
7170 <dl class="wide-table">
7171 <dt>Show waveforms in regions</dt>
7172 <dd>By default, Ardour draws waveforms within audio regions. Disable this
7173 option to hide them.</dd>
7174 <dt>Waveform scale</dt>
7178 <dd>This is the traditional <dfn>linear</dfn> (1:1) display of the
7179 peak envelope, or, at higher zoom levels, the individual samples.</dd>
7180 <dt>Logarithmic</dt>
7181 <dd>Alternatively, you can use a <dfn>logarithmic</dfn> display of the
7182 peak envelope. This will give you a better idea of program loudness (it is similar
7183 to dBs) and plot soft passages more clearly, which is useful for soft
7184 recordings or small track height.</dd>
7187 <dt>Waveform shape</dt>
7190 <dt>Traditional</dt>
7191 <dd>The <dfn>zero</dfn> line appears in the middle of the display and waveforms
7192 appear as positive and negative peaks above <em>and</em> below.</dd>
7194 <dd>The zero line appears at the bottom of the display and waveforms appear
7195 as absolute peaks <em>above</em> the line only.</dd>
7201 title: Controlling Track Ordering
7206 Ardour does not impose any particular ordering of tracks and busses in
7207 either the editor or mixer windows. The default arrangements are as follows:
7211 In the <dfn>Editor</dfn>, the Master bus will always be on top unless
7212 hidden. Tracks and busses will appear in their initial order, from top to
7213 bottom. The monitor section (if used) will never be visible in the editor
7218 In the <dfn>Mixer</dfn>, the tracks and busses will be displayed in their
7219 initial order, from left to right. The Master bus is always on the far
7220 right and occupies its own pane, so that it is always visible no matter
7221 how you scroll the other mixer strips. If a Monitor section is used,
7222 it shows up at the right edge of the mixer window, from where it can be
7223 torn off into a separate window.
7227 title: Reordering Tracks
7232 The <dfn>track ordering</dfn> of the Editor and Mixer is <dfn>synchronized</dfn>: if you
7233 reorder in one window, the ordering in the other window will follow.
7236 <h2>Reordering in the Editor Window</h2>
7239 Select the tracks you want to move. Then use<br />
7240 <kbd class="menu">Track > Move Selected Tracks Up</kbd>
7241 (shortcut: <kbd class="mod1">↑</kbd>) or<br />
7242 <kbd class="menu">Track > Move Selected Tracks Down</kbd>
7243 (shortcut: <kbd class="mod1">↓</kbd>).
7247 Alternatively, you can use the <kbd class="menu">Tracks & Busses</kbd>
7249 <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/editor-lists/">Editor
7250 Lists</a>, if visible.
7251 Here, you can freely drag-and-drop tracks and busses into any order you prefer.
7254 <h2>Reordering in the Mixer Window</h2>
7257 Within the <kbd class="menu">Strips</kbd> pane at the top left of the
7258 Mixer window, you can freely drag-and-drop tracks and busses into any
7262 <h2>"Collecting" Group Members</h2>
7265 Tracks and Busses that are members of a group can be reordered so that they
7266 display contiguously within the Editor and Mixer windows. Context-click on
7267 the group tab and choose <kbd class="menu">Collect</kbd>.
7270 <h2>Ordering of New Tracks</h2>
7273 When <dfn>adding new tracks</dfn>, the current selection determines their
7274 placement. New tracks will be placed after the rightmost (in the mixer) or
7275 bottom-most (in the editor) selected track. If no tracks are selected, new
7276 tracks will be added at the end.
7280 Because new tracks are automatically selected, you can quickly reorder them
7281 in the editor window via the keyboard shortcuts after adding them (see above).
7285 title: Track Ordering and Remote Control IDs
7290 Every track and bus in Ardour is assigned a <dfn>remote control ID</dfn>. When a <a href="/using-control-surfaces/">control surface</a> or any other remote control is used to control Ardour, these IDs are used to identify which track(s) or buss(es) are the intended target of incoming commands.
7294 Remote IDs will be assigned to tracks and buses in the order that they appear in the mixer window from left to right, starting from 1. Manual assignment of remote IDs is not possible. The master bus and monitor section can be accessed by name.
7302 <p>A typical control area or <dfn>bus header<dfn> is shown below:</p>
7304 <img src="/images/typical-bus-controls.png" alt="bus controls" />
7307 At the top-left of the controls is the name of the bus, which can be
7308 edited by double-clicking on it. The new name must be unique within the
7309 session. Underneath the name is a copy of the bus' main level fader.
7310 The control buttons to the right-hand side are:
7314 <dt id="mute">M</dt>
7315 <dd><dfn>Mute</dfn>—click to mute the bus. Right-click to display
7316 a menu which dictates what particular parts of the bus should be muted.</dd>
7317 <dt id="solo">S</dt>
7318 <dd><dfn>Solo</dfn>—solo the bus. The behaviour of the solo system
7319 is described in detail in the section <a
7320 href="/mixing/muting-and-soloing/">Muting and Soloing</a>.</dd>
7321 <dt id="automation">A</dt>
7322 <dd><dfn>Automation</dfn>—opens the automation menu for the
7323 bus. For details see <a href="/automation/">Automation</a>.</dd>
7324 <dt id="group">G</dt>
7325 <dd><dfn>Group</dfn>—lets you assign the bus to an existing or a
7326 new group. For details see <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-and-bus-groups/">Track and bus groups</a>. </dd>
7330 title: Audio Track Controls
7335 A typical control area or <dfn>track header</dfn> for an audio track is
7339 <img src="/images/typical-audio-track-controls.png" alt="audio track controls"
7343 An audio track has the same
7344 <a href="/working-with-tracks/bus-controls">controls as a bus</a>, with the
7345 addition of two extras.
7349 <dt id="record" style="color:red;font-weight:bold;">[•]</dt>
7350 <dd><dfn>Record</dfn>—The button with the pink circle arms the track
7351 for recording. When armed, the entire button will turn pink, and change to
7352 bright red as soon as the transport is rolling and the track is recording.</dd>
7353 <dt id="playlist">p</dt>
7354 <dd><dfn>Playlist</dfn>—Opens a playlist menu when clicked. The menu
7355 offers various operations related to the track's <a
7356 href="/working-with-playlists/">playlist</a>.
7361 title: MIDI Track Controls
7365 <p>A typical <dfn>MIDI track header</dfn> looks like this:</p>
7367 <img src="/images/typical-midi-track-controls.png" alt="midi track controls"
7371 To see the full set of MIDI track controls, you need to increase the
7372 <a href="/working-with-tracks/controlling-track-appearance/track-height/">track height</a>
7373 beyond the default. MIDI tracks show only a few of the control elements
7374 when there is insufficient vertical space.
7378 A MIDI track has the same basic
7379 <a href="/working-with-tracks/audio-track-controls">controls as an audio track</a>,
7380 with the addition of two extra elements. The set of buttons below the main track
7381 controls the <dfn>MIDI channel</dfn>(s) that will be visible in the editor. A MIDI track's
7382 data may span any number of the 16 available MIDI channels, and sometimes it is
7383 useful to view only a subset of those channels; different instruments may,
7384 for example, be put on different channels. Clicking on a channel number toggles
7389 To the right of the MIDI track controls is a representation of a piano keyboard
7390 called the <dfn>scroomer</dfn> (a portmanteau of scrollbar and zoomer). This performs several functions:
7394 <li>The scrollbar controls the range of pitches that are visible on the
7395 track, as visualized by the piano keyboard.</li>
7396 <li>Dragging the body of the scrollbar up and down displays higher or lower
7398 <li>Dragging the scrollbar handles zooms in and out and increases and decreases the range of visible pitches.</li>
7399 <li>Clicking on the piano plays the corresponding MIDI note for reference.</li>
7403 To edit the contents of a MIDI track see <a href="/editing-and-arranging/edit-midi/">Edit
7408 title: Track Context Menu
7413 Within the editor window, context-click (right-click) on either a region
7414 or empty space within a track to display the <dfn>track context menu</dfn>.
7415 The context menu provides easy access to many track-level operations.
7419 If you click on a <dfn>region</dfn>, the first item in the menu is the name of the
7420 region. If you click on a
7421 <a href="/working-with-tracks/controlling-track-appearance/layering-display/">layered region</a>,
7422 the next item in the menu is <kbd class="menu">Choose Top</kbd>. If selected,
7423 you will see a dialog that allows you to change the vertical order of layers
7424 at that point. See <a href="/missing">Controlling Region Layering</a> for more details.
7425 <p class="fixme">Broken link</p>
7429 The rest of the track context menu is structured as follows:
7432 <dl class="narrower-table">
7435 <dl class="narrower-table">
7436 <dt>Play from Edit Point</dt>
7437 <dd>Play from the location of the current <a href="/editing-and-arranging/edit-point">edit point</a>.</dd>
7438 <dt>Play from Start </dt>
7439 <dd>Play from the start of the session</dd>
7440 <dt>Play Region(s)</dt>
7441 <dd>Plays the duration of the session from the start of the earliest selected region to the end of the latest selected region</dd>
7446 <dl class="narrower-table">
7447 <dt>Select All in Track</dt>
7448 <dd>Selects all regions in a track</dd>
7449 <dt>Select All Objects</dt>
7450 <dd>Selects all regions in the session</dd>
7451 <dt>Invert Selection in Track</dt>
7453 <dt>Invert Selection</dt>
7455 <dt>Set Range to Loop Range</dt>
7457 <dt>Set Range to Punch Range</dt>
7459 <dt>Select All After Edit Point</dt>
7461 <dt>Select All Before Edit Point</dt>
7463 <dt>Select All After Playhead</dt>
7465 <dt>Select All Before Playhead</dt>
7467 <dt>Select All Between Playhead and Edit Point</dt>
7469 <dt>Select All Within Playhead and Edit Point</dt>
7471 <dt>Select Range Between Playhead and Edit Point</dt>
7477 <dl class="narrower-table">
7486 <dt>Align Relative</dt>
7490 <dt>Insert Selected Region</dt>
7492 <dt>Insert Existing Media</dt>
7496 <dl class="narrower-table">
7497 <dt>Nudge Entire Track Later</dt>
7499 <dt>Nudge Track After Edit Point Later</dt>
7501 <dt>Nudge Entire Track Earlier</dt>
7503 <dt>Nudge Track After Edit Point Earlier</dt>
7512 <i>This text here to prevent following FIXME from corrupting the above table</i>
7514 <p class="fixme">Add missing content</p>
7518 title: Grouping Tracks
7524 title: Track and Bus Groups
7529 Tracks and busses can be put into <dfn>groups</dfn>. Members of a group
7530 can share various settings—useful for managing tracks that are closely
7531 related to each other. Examples might include tracks that contain
7532 multiple-microphone recordings of a single source (an acoustic guitar,
7533 perhaps, or a drum-kit).
7537 You can group tracks and busses in various ways. In the editor window,
7538 a track's controls might look like these:
7541 <img class="left" src="/images/track-in-group.png" alt="track headers for a group" />
7544 The green tab to the left of the track header indicates that this track
7545 is in a group called <samp>Fred</samp>. You can drag these tabs to add
7546 adjacent tracks to a group.
7549 <h2>Create New Groups</h2>
7552 There are several ways to <dfn>create groups</dfn> for tracks and bussess:
7556 <li>Context-click on the group tab and use one of the <kbd
7557 class="menu">Create...</kbd> options there. You can create a group with
7558 no members, or one that starts with the currently selected tracks, or
7559 record-enabled tracks, or soloed tracks.</li>
7560 <li>Alternatively, click the ‘g’ button on a track header to open the
7561 Group menu. The menu lists the available groups. Selecting one of these
7562 groups will add the track or bus to that group. The menu also lets you
7563 create a new group.</li>
7564 <li>Finally, the Groups tab of the
7565 <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/editor-lists">Editor Lists</a>
7566 or the Mixer Window has a <kbd class="menu">plus (+)</kbd> button at the
7567 bottom of the list. Click on the plus sign to create a new group.</li>
7570 <h2>Remove Groups</h2>
7573 Context-click on a <dfn>group tab</dfn> and select <kbd class="menu">Remove
7574 Group</kbd> from the menu. Removing a group does <em>not</em> remove
7575 the members of a group.
7579 You can also remove groups by selecting them in the Groups tab of the
7580 <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/editor-lists">Editor Lists</a>
7581 or Mixer Window and then pressing the <kbd class="menu">minus (-)</kbd>
7582 button at the bottom of the list.
7585 <h2>Add/Remove Tracks and Busses From a Group</h2>
7588 Click the <kbd class="menu">g</kbd> button to display a menu with a list
7589 of the available groups. Select one of these groups to add the track or bus
7590 to that group. Select <kbd class="menu">No Group</kbd> to remove it.
7594 Alternatively, you can also drag a group tab to add or remove tracks from
7598 <h2>Activate/Deactivate Groups via the Group Tab</h2>
7601 Clicking on a group tab toggles the group between being active and inactive.
7602 An inactive group has no effect when editing its members. An active group
7603 will share its configured properties across its members. Tabs for disabled
7604 groups are coloured grey.</p>
7606 <h2>Modify Group Properties</h2>
7609 To edit the properties of a group, context-click on its tab and choose
7610 <kbd class="menu">Edit Group…</kbd>. This opens the track/bus group dialog,
7611 which is also used when creating new groups:
7614 <img class="right" src="/images/route-group-dialogue.png" alt="the track/bus group dialog" />
7616 <h3>Group Color</h3>
7619 Click on the color selector button to change a group's colour. This affects
7620 the colour of the group's tab in the editor and mixer windows. The color does
7621 <em>not</em> affect the color of the group members unless you also enable the
7622 shared <kbd class="menu">Color</kbd> property.
7625 <h3>Shared Properties</h3>
7628 <kbd class="option">Gain</kbd> means that the track faders will be synced to
7629 always have the same value; <kbd class="option">Relative</kbd> means that the
7630 gain changes are applied relative to each member's current value. If, for
7631 example, there are two tracks in a group with relative gain sharing, and their
7632 faders are set to -3 dB and -1 dB, a change of the first track to a
7633 gain of -6 dB will result in the second track having a gain of
7634 -4 dB (the <em>difference</em> of the gains remains the same).
7638 <a href="/working-with-tracks/bus-controls/#mute"><kbd class="option">Muting</kbd></a>,
7639 <a href="/working-with-tracks/bus-controls/#solo"><kbd class="option">Soloing</kbd></a>,
7640 <a href="/working-with-tracks/audio-track-controls/#record"><kbd class="option">record enable</kbd></a>,
7641 <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/editor-lists/tracks--busses-list/#active"><kbd class="option">active state</kbd></a>,
7642 <a href="/working-with-tracks/controlling-track-appearance/track-coloring/"><kbd class="option">colour</kbd></a> and
7643 <a href="/recording/monitoring/"><kbd class="option">monitoring</kbd></a>
7644 are all straightforward. They simply mean that all member tracks or busses will
7645 share the same settings in these respects.
7649 <kbd class="option">Selection</kbd> means that if a region is selected or
7650 deselected on one member track, <a
7651 href="/working-with-regions/corresponding-region-selection/">corresponding
7652 regions</a> on other member tracks
7653 will be similarly selected. Since region editing operations are applied to all
7654 currently selected regions, this is the way to make edits apply across all tracks in the group.
7657 <p class="fixme">Broken link</p>
7659 <h3>Group Tab Context Menu</h3>
7661 <p>Context-clicking on the group tab offers a further menu of group-related actions. </p>
7663 <dl class="wide-table">
7664 <dt>Create a New Group</dt>
7665 <dd>create a new group</dd>
7666 <dt>Create New Group from...</dt>
7667 <dd> create a new group and automatically add ...
7668 <dl class="narrower-table">
7670 <dd>all currently selected tracks and busses</dd>
7671 <dt>Rec-enabled</dt>
7672 <dd>all currently record-enabled tracks</dd>
7674 <dd>all currently soloed tracks and busses</dd>
7677 <dt>Collect Group</dt>
7678 <dd>moves all the member tracks so that they are together in the editor window</dd>
7679 <dt>Remove Group</dt>
7680 <dd>removes the group (and only the group, not its members).</dd>
7681 <dt>Add New Subgroup Bus</dt>
7682 <dd> creates a bus (giving it the name of the group) and connects the output of each member to the new bus.
7684 <dt>Add New Aux Bus</dt>
7685 <dd>adds a bus and gives each member a send to that bus. There are two options for this, specifying whether the sends should be placed pre- or post-fader.</dd>
7686 <dt>Fit to Window</dt>
7687 <dd> will zoom the member tracks so that they fill the editor window.</dd>
7688 <dt>Enable All Groups</dt>
7689 <dd>makes all group active, including any hidden groups.</dd>
7690 <dt>Disable All Groups</dt>
7691 <dd>makes all groups inactive, including any hidden groups.</dd>
7696 title: Importing and Exporting Session Data
7700 <p class="fixme">Add content</p>
7704 title: File and Session Management and Compatibility
7708 <p class="fixme">Add content</p>
7712 title: Playback & Recording
7718 title: Playing Back Track Material
7724 title: Controlling Playback
7728 <h2>Positioning the Playhead</h2>
7731 The <dfn>playhead</dfn> is a vertical line with two arrows at each end
7732 that indicates the current position of playback.
7735 <h3>Positioning the playhead at the current pointer position</h3>
7738 Pressing <kbd>P</kbd> will set the playhead to the current position of
7739 the mouse pointer, if it is within the editor track area.
7742 <h2>Positioning the playhead on the timeline</h2>
7745 A <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd> click anywhere on the timeline (rulers)
7746 will move the playhead to that position.
7749 <h3>Positioning the playhead with the transport clocks</h3>
7752 Click on either the primary or secondary transport clock and
7753 <a href="/ardours-interface/using-ardour-clock-displays">edit their value</a>
7754 to move the playhead to a specific position.
7757 <h3>Positioning the playhead at a marker</h3>
7760 Click <kbd class="mouse">Right</kbd> on the marker and select either
7761 <kbd class="menu">Locate to here</kbd> or <kbd class="menu">Play from
7766 The playhead can also be moved backward and forward through the markers by
7767 respectively pressing the <kbd>Q</kbd> and <kbd>W</kbd> keys. Pressing
7768 <kbd>Home</kbd> and <kbd>End</kbd> will move the playhead to the special
7769 markers <dfn>start</dfn> and <dfn>end</dfn>, respectively.
7772 <h2>Looping the Transport</h2>
7775 When the <dfn>loop transport</dfn> button is pressed, the playhead will jump the start of the loop range, and continue to the end of that range before returning to the start and repeating. While looping, a light green area is displayed in the time ruler over the tracks to show the loop range.
7779 By default, looping is bound to the <kbd>l</kbd> key.
7783 For more information on defining and altering the loop range see <a href="/working-with-markers/the-loop-range">Loop Range Markers</a>.
7786 <p class="fixme">Broken link</p>
7789 title: Using Key Bindings
7794 Ardour has many available commands for playback control that can be bound
7795 to keys. Many of them have default bindings, some do not, so the list below
7796 shows both the default bindings and internal command names.
7799 <dl class="wide-table">
7800 <dt><kbd>Space</kbd></dt>
7801 <dd>switch between playback and stop.</dd>
7802 <dt><kbd>Home</kbd></dt>
7803 <dd>Move playhead to session start marker</dd>
7804 <dt><kbd>End</kbd></dt>
7805 <dd>Move playhead to session end marker</dd>
7806 <dt><kbd>→</kbd></dt>
7808 <dt><kbd>←</kbd></dt>
7810 <dt><kbd>0</kbd></dt>
7811 <dd>Move playhead to start of the timeline</dd>
7814 <p>Commands without default bindings include:</p>
7816 <p class="fixme">Add content</p>
7827 title: Track Recording Modes
7832 The <dfn>Recording mode</dfn> is a per-track property (applies to audio
7833 tracks only) that affects the way that recording new material on top of
7834 existing material ("overdubbing") operates <em>in that track</em>.
7837 <h2 id="trackmodes">Track Modes</h2>
7840 Audio tracks in Ardour have a <dfn>mode</dfn> which affects how they behave
7844 <dl class="narrower-table">
7846 <dd>Tracks in <dfn>normal mode</dfn> will record non-destructively—new
7847 data is written to new files, and when overdubbing, new regions will be
7848 layered on top of existing ones. This is the recommended mode for most
7851 <dt>Non-Layered</dt>
7852 <dd>Tracks using <dfn>non-layered mode</dfn> will record non-destructively—new data is written to new files, but when overdubbing,
7854 regions are trimmed so that there are no overlaps. This does not affect
7855 the previously recorded audio data, and trimmed regions can be expanded
7856 again at will. Non-layered mode can be very useful for spoken word material,
7857 especially in combination with <a href="/editing-and-arranging/change-region-lengths/pushpull-trimming">push/pull trimming</a>.
7859 <p class="fixme">Broken link</p>
7863 <dd><dfn>Tape-mode</dfn> tracks do <strong>destructive</strong> recording:
7864 all data is recorded to a single file and if you overdub a section of existing
7865 data, the existing data is destroyed irrevocably—there is no undo.
7866 Fixed crossfades are added at every punch in and out point. This mode can be
7867 useful for certain kinds of re-recording workflows, but it not suggested for normal
7871 <img class="right" src="/images/a3_nonlayered_example.png" alt="normal and non-layered overdubbing comparision"
7875 The screenshot on the right shows the subtle difference between an overdub
7876 in <dfn>normal mode</dfn> (upper track) and one in <dfn>non-layered mode</dfn>
7877 (lower track). Both tracks were created using identical audio data.
7881 The upper track shows a new region which has been <dfn>layered on
7882 top</dfn> of the the existing (longer) region. You can see this if you look
7883 carefully at the region name strips. The lower track has split the existing
7884 region in two, trimmed each new region to create space for the new overdub,
7885 and inserted the overdub region in between.
7888 <h2 id="channelconfiguration">Channel Configuration</h2>
7891 Ardour tracks can have any number of inputs and any number of outputs, and
7892 the number of either can be changed at any time (subject to restrictions
7893 caused by any plugins in a track). However it is useful to not have to
7894 configure this sort of thing for the most common cases, and so the
7895 <a href="/working-with-tracks/adding-tracks">Add Tracks</a> dialog allows you
7896 to select "Mono", "Stereo" and few other typical multichannel presets.
7897 The name of the preset describes the number of <dfn>input channels</dfn>
7898 of the track or bus.
7902 If you have configured Ardour to automatically connect new tracks and
7903 busses for you, the number of outputs will be determined by the number of
7904 inputs of the <dfn>master <a
7905 href="/introducing-ardour/understanding-basic-concepts-and-terminology/#busses">bus</a></dfn>,
7906 to which the track outputs will be connected.
7910 For example, if you have a two-channel master bus, then a Mono track has one
7911 input and two outputs; a Stereo track has two inputs and two outputs.
7915 Setting <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Audio
7916 > Connection of Tracks and Busses</kbd> to <kbd
7917 class="menu">manual</kbd> will leave tracks disconnected by default
7918 and there will be as many outputs as there are inputs. It is up to you to
7919 connect them as you wish. This is not a particularly useful way to work
7920 unless you are doing something fairly unusual with signal routing and
7921 processing. It is almost always preferable to allow Ardour to make
7922 connections automatically, even if some of them have to be changed manually
7928 title: Audio Recording
7939 When recording, it is important that performers hear themselves, and to
7940 hear any pre-recorded tracks they are performing with.
7941 Audio recorders typically let you <dfn>monitor</dfn> (i.e. listen to)
7942 the input signal of all tracks that are armed for recording, and playing
7943 back the unarmed tracks.
7947 title: Latency Considerations
7953 In the days of analog tape recording, the routing of monitor signals was
7954 performed with relays and other analog audio switching devices. Digital
7955 recorders have the same feature, but may impart some
7957 href="/synchronization/latency-and-latency-compensation/"><dfn>latency</dfn></a>
7958 (delay) between the time you make a noise and the time that you hear it
7959 come back from the recorder.
7963 The latency of <em>any</em> conversion from analog to digital and back to
7964 analog is about 1.5–2 ms. Some musicians claim that even the
7965 basic <abbr title="Analog to Digital to Analog">A/D/A</abbr> conversion
7966 time is objectionable. However even acoustic instruments such as the piano
7967 can have approximately 3 ms of latency, due to the time the sound
7968 takes to travel from the instrument to the musician's ears. Latency below
7969 5 ms should be suitable for a professional recording setup. Because
7970 2 ms are already used in the A/D/A process, you must use extremely low
7971 <dfn>buffer sizes</dfn> in your workstation <abbr title="Input/Output">I/O</abbr>
7972 setup to keep the overall latency below 5ms. Not all
7973 <a href="/setting-up-your-system/the-right-computer-system-for-digital-audio">computer audio systems</a>
7974 are able to work reliably at such low buffer sizes.
7978 For this reason it is sometimes best to route the monitor signal
7979 through an external mixing console while recording, an approach taken by
7980 most if not all professional recording studios. Many computer I/O devices
7981 have a hardware mixer built in which can route the monitor signal "around"
7982 the computer, avoiding the system latency.
7986 In either case, the monitoring hardware may be digital or analog. And in
7987 the digital case you will still have the A-D-A conversion latency of
7992 title: Monitor Signal Flow
7993 menu_title: Signal Flow
7998 There are three basic ways to approach monitoring:
8001 <h3>External Monitoring</h3>
8003 <p><img class="right" src="/images/external-monitoring.png" /></p>
8006 When using <dfn>external monitoring</dfn>, Ardour plays no role in monitoring at all. Perhaps the recording set-up has an external mixer which can be used to set up monitor mixes, or perhaps the sound-card being used has a "listen to the input" feature. This approach yields zero or near-zero latency. On the other hand it requires external hardware, and the monitoring settings are less flexible and not saved with the session.
8009 <h3>JACK-Based Hardware Monitoring</h3>
8011 <p><img class="right" src="/images/jack-monitoring.png" /></p>
8014 Some sound cards have the ability to mix signals from their inputs to their outputs with very low or even zero latency, a feature called <dfn>hardware monitoring</dfn>. Furthermore, on some cards this function can be controlled by JACK. This is a nice arrangement, if the sound card supports it, as it combines the convenience of having the monitoring controlled by Ardour with the low latency operation of doing it externally.
8017 <p class="fixme">Broken link</p>
8019 <h3>Software Monitoring</h3>
8021 <p><img class="right" src="/images/ardour-monitoring.png" /></p>
8024 With the <dfn>software monitoring</dfn> approach, all monitoring is performed by Ardour—it makes track inputs available at track outputs, governed by various controls. This approach will almost always have more routing flexibility than JACK-based monitoring. The disadvantage is that there will be some latency between the input and the output, which depends for the most part on the JACK buffer size that is being used.
8028 title: Monitor Setup in Ardour
8029 menu_title: Setup in Ardour
8034 Ardour has three main settings which affect how
8035 monitoring is performed. The first is
8036 <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Audio >
8037 Record monitoring handled by</kbd>. There are two or three
8038 options here, depending on the capabilities of your hardware.
8042 The other two settings are more complex. One is
8043 <kbd class="menu">Tape machine mode</kbd>, found in the
8044 same dialog, and the other is the
8045 <kbd class="option">Session > Properties > Monitoring
8046 automatically follows transport state</kbd> setting.
8050 Monitoring also depends on the state of the track's record-enable button,
8051 the session record-enable button, and on whether or not the transport is
8055 <h2>Software or Hardware Monitoring Modes</h2>
8058 If Ardour is set to <dfn>external monitoring</dfn>, the explanation of
8059 Ardour's monitoring behaviour is simple: it does not do any.
8062 <h2>Monitoring in Non-Tape-Machine Mode</h2>
8065 When <dfn>Tape-Machine mode is off</dfn>, and a track is armed,
8066 Ardour <em>always</em> monitors the live input, except in one case:
8067 the transport is rolling, the session is not recording, and
8068 <dfn>auto-input</dfn>
8069 is active. In this case only, you will hear playback from an armed track.
8073 Unarmed tracks will play back their contents from disc, unless the
8074 transport is stopped <em>and</em> <dfn>auto-input</dfn> is enabled.
8075 In this case, the track monitors its live input.
8078 <h2>Monitoring in Tape-Machine Mode</h2>
8081 In <dfn>Tape-Machine mode</dfn>, things are slightly simpler: when a
8082 track is armed, its behaviour is the same as in non-tape-machine mode.
8086 Unarmed tracks however will always just play back their contents from
8087 disk; the live input will never be monitored.
8092 title: MIDI Recording
8098 title: Punch Recording Modes
8104 title: Working With Markers
8109 It is very useful to be able to tag different locations in a session for
8110 later use when editing and mixing. Ardour supports both
8111 <dfn>locations</dfn>, which define specific positions in time,
8112 and <dfn>ranges</dfn> which define a start and end position in time.
8116 In addition to the standard location markers, there are three kinds of
8122 <dfn>CD markers</dfn> are locations that are restricted to legal
8123 <dfn>CD sector boundaries</dfn>. They can be used to add track index
8124 markers to compact disc images.
8127 The <dfn>Loop range</dfn> defines the start end end points for Looping.
8130 The <dfn>punch range</dfn> defines the in and out points for punch
8136 title: Creating Location Markers
8141 <dfn>Location Markers</dfn> appear in the <dfn>Locations ruler</dfn> at the top
8142 of the timeline. The <dfn>start</dfn> and <dfn>end</dfn> markers appear
8143 automatically, but you can create custom markers at any position in a
8148 To add a marker at the <strong>current playhead position</strong>, press
8149 <kbd>Num-↵</kbd> (the Enter key on the numeric keypad).
8150 Alternatively, use <kbd class="menu">Transport > Markers > Add
8151 Mark from Playhead</kbd>.
8155 To add a marker at an <strong>arbitrary location</strong> on the timeline,
8156 navigate to the desired position, right-click on the Locations ruler and
8157 select <kbd class="menu">New Location Marker</kbd>.
8158 You can also go to the Editor list, click <kbd class="menu">New
8159 Marker</kbd> and use the clock widget to set its position.
8164 <a href="/working-with-markers/rangesmarks-list/">Ranges & Marks
8166 and <a href="/ardours-interface/using-ardour-clock-displays/"> Using
8167 Ardour Clock Displays</a>.
8171 title: Creating Range Markers
8175 <p class="fixme">Add images</a>
8178 <dfn>Range markers</dfn> are essentially two location markers the are grouped
8179 together to mark the beginning and end of a section in the timeline.
8182 <h2>Creating a Range on the timeline</h2>
8185 To create a new <dfn>range</dfn>, right-click on the
8186 Ranges ruler at the top of the timeline, then select
8187 <kbd class="menu">New Range</kbd>.
8188 Two markers with the same name will appear along the ruler.
8189 Both marks can be moved along the timeline by clicking and dragging
8190 them to the desired location.
8194 It is also possible to create range markers from a selected range or
8195 region in the Editor window, or to use the <kbd class="menu">Ranges
8196 & Marks List</kbd> in the Editor list.
8201 title: Moving Markers
8205 <h2>Single marker</h2>
8208 <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd>-click and drag to move a single marker to a
8209 new location on the timeline.
8212 <h2>Multiple markers</h2>
8215 It is possible to move multiple markers by the same distance. <kbd
8216 class="mouse mod1">Left</kbd>-click each marker you want to move, then drag
8217 one of the selected markers to a new location. All selected markers will
8218 then move together. Note that the markers are bounded by the zero point on
8219 the timeline. In other words, the first marker in your selection cannot move
8220 to the left of zero on the timeline.
8223 <h2>Both ends of a range marker</h2>
8226 <kbd class="mod1 mouse">Left</kbd>-drag either end of the range marker. The
8227 other end will move by the same distance.
8231 title: The Loop Range
8235 <p class="fixme">Missing content</a>
8238 The <dfn>loop range</dfn> is a special range that defines the start and end points
8239 for loop play, which can be enabled in the transport bar.
8243 It can be defined via the <a href="/missing">timeline</a> or the <a
8244 href="/working-with-markers/rangesmarks-list/">Ranges & Marks
8248 <p class="fixme">Broken links</a>
8251 title: Marker Context Menu
8256 <kbd class="mouse">Right</kbd>-clicking a marker in the timeline opens the
8257 marker context menu. From this menu, you can:
8260 <dt>Locate to Here</dt>
8261 <dd>Move the playhead to this marker's position.</dd>
8262 <dt>Play from Here</dt>
8263 <dd>start playback from this marker's position.</dd>
8264 <dt>Move Mark to Playhead</dt>
8265 <dd>Move this marker to the current playhead position.</dd>
8266 <dt>Create Range to Next Marker</dt>
8267 <dd>Create a range marker between this location and the next one along on
8270 <dd>Hide this marker from the view. It can be made visible again from the
8271 <kbd class="menu">Window > Locations</kbd> window or the <a
8272 href="/working-with-markers/rangesmarks-list/">Ranges & Marks
8275 <dd>Change the name of the marker.</dd>
8277 <dd>If this is ticked, it will be impossible to drag the marker's
8278 position; useful if you want to prevent accidental movements.</dd>
8279 <dt>Glue to Bars and Beats</dt>
8280 <dd>If this is ticked, the marker will maintain its position in bars and
8281 beats even if there are changes in tempo and meter.</dd>
8283 <dd>Removes the marker. </dd>
8287 There are also a few options in <kbd class="menu">Transport > Active
8288 Mark</kbd>. These options apply to the currently selected location marker,
8289 and move it to a nearby region boundary, region sync point, or to the
8298 <p class="fixme">Missing content</a>
8301 The <dfn>punch range</dfn> is a special range used to define where
8302 recording will start and/or stop during a <dfn>punch</dfn>.
8306 It can be defined on the <a href="/missing">timeline</a> or in the
8307 <a href="/working-with-markers/rangesmarks-list/">Ranges & Marks</a>
8311 <p class="fixme">Broken links</a>
8321 title: Editing Basics
8327 title: Working With Regions
8331 <h2>Working With Regions</h2>
8334 <dfn>Regions</dfn> are the basic elements of editing and composing in
8335 Ardour. In most cases, a region represents a single contiguous section
8336 of one or more media files. Regions are defined by a fixed set of attributes:
8340 <abbr title="Musical Instrument Digital Interface">MIDI</abbr>
8341 <dfn>source file(s)</dfn> they represent,</li>
8342 <li>an <dfn>offset</dfn> (the "start point") in the audio or MIDI file(s), and</li>
8343 <li>a <dfn>length</dfn>.</li>
8346 When placed into a playlist, they gain additional attributes:
8349 <li>a <dfn>position</dfn> along the timeline, and</li>
8350 <li>a <dfn>layer</dfn>.</li>
8353 There are other attributes as well, but they do not <em>define</em> the
8354 region. Things you should know about regions:
8357 <h3>Regions Are Cheap</h3>
8359 By themselves, regions consume very little of your computer's resources.
8360 Each region requires a small amount of memory, and represents a rather
8361 small amount of CPU work if placed into an active track. So, don't worry
8362 about creating regions whenever you need to.
8365 <h3>Regions Are Not Files</h3>
8367 Although a region can represent an entire audio file, they are never
8368 equivalent to an audio file. Most regions represent just parts of an audio
8369 file(s) on disk, and removing a region from a track has nothing to do with
8370 removing the audio file(s) from the disk (the <kbd
8371 class="menu">Destroy</kbd> operation, one of Ardour's few destructive
8372 operations, can affect this). Changing the length of a region has no effect
8373 on the audio file(s) on disk. Splitting and copying regions does not alter
8374 the audio file in anyway, nor does it create new audio files (only
8375 <dfn>recording</dfn>,
8376 and the <kbd class="menu">Export</kbd>, <kbd class="menu">Bounce</kbd> and
8377 <kbd class="menu">Reverse</kbd> operations create new audio files).</p>
8380 title: Region Naming
8385 <dfn>Region names</dfn> are initially derived from either</p>
8387 <li>the name of the playlist for which they were recorded,</li>
8388 <li>the name of the track for which they were recorded, or</li>
8389 <li>the name of the embedded/imported file they represent.</li>
8392 It appears that recorded regions are always named after the track, not the
8393 active playlist in that track.
8396 <h2>Whole File Region Names</h2>
8398 These are not audio files, but regions that represent the full extent of an
8399 audio file. Every time a new recording is done, or a new file is imported
8400 to the session, a new region is created that represents the <dfn>entire audio
8401 file</dfn>. This region will have the name of the track/playlist/original file,
8402 followed by a "-", then a number plus a dot and then a number.
8405 For <dfn>recorded regions</dfn>, the number will increase each time a new recording
8406 is made. So, for example, if there is a playlist called
8407 <samp>Didgeridoo</samp>, the
8408 first recorded whole file region for that playlist will be called
8409 <samp>Digderidoo-1</samp>. The next one will be <samp>Digeridoo-2</samp> and so on.
8412 For <dfn>imported regions</dfn>, the region name will be based on the original file
8413 name, but with any final suffix (e.g. ".wav" or ".aiff") removed.
8416 Normally, whole file regions are not inserted into tracks or playlists,
8417 but regions derived from them are. The whole-file versions live in the
8418 editor region list where they act as an organizing mechanism for regions
8419 that are derived from them.
8422 <h2>Normal Region Names</h2>
8424 When a region is inserted into a track and playlist, its initial name will
8425 end in a <dfn>version number</dfn>, such as <samp>.1</samp>. For a recorded region,
8426 if the whole file region was <samp>Hang drum-1</samp>, then the region in
8427 the track will appear with the name <samp>Hang drum-1.1</samp>. For an
8428 imported region, if the whole file region was <samp>Bach:Invention3</samp>,
8429 then the region in the track will appear with the name
8430 <samp>Bach:Invention3.1</samp>.
8433 <h2>Copied Region Names</h2>
8435 If you <dfn>copy a region</dfn>, it initially shares the same name as the original.
8436 When you perform an operation modifies one of the copies, Ardour will
8437 increment the version number on the particular copy that changed.
8440 <h2>Renaming Regions</h2>
8442 You can <dfn>rename a region</dfn> at any time. Use the region context menu to
8443 pop up the <kbd class="menu">Rename</kbd> dialog. The new name does not need to
8444 have a version number in it (in fact, it probably should not). Ardour will add a
8445 version number in the future if needed (e.g. if you copy or split the region).
8449 title: Corresponding Regions Selection
8454 <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-and-bus-groups/">Track Groups</a> have
8455 a property titled <kbd class="option">Select</kbd> which, if enabled, cause
8456 Ardour to propagate a region selection in one track of a group to the
8457 <dfn>corresponding regions</dfn> of the other tracks in that group.
8460 For example, let's assume you have used multiple microphones to record a
8461 drum kit to multiple tracks. You have created a track group, added all the
8462 drum tracks, enabled the group and enabled the Select property for the group.
8463 When you select a region in one of the drum tracks, Ardour will select the
8464 corresponding region in every other drum track in the group, which in turn
8465 means that a subsequent edit operation will affect all the grouped drum
8469 <h2>How Ardour Decides Which Regions are "Corresponding"</h2>
8471 Regions in different tracks are considered to be corresponding for the purposes
8472 of sharing <dfn>selection</dfn> if they satisfy <em>all</em> the following criteria:
8475 <li>Each region starts at the <dfn>same offset</dfn> within its source file,</li>
8476 <li>each region is located at the <dfn>same position</dfn> on the timeline, and</li>
8477 <li>each region has the <dfn>same length</dfn>.</li>
8480 <h2>Overlap Correspondence</h2>
8482 Sometimes, the rules outlined above are too strict to get Ardour to do what you
8483 want. Regions may have been trimmed to slightly different lengths, or positioned
8484 slightly differently, and this will cause Ardour to not select regions in other
8487 In this case, change
8488 <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Editor > Regions in
8489 active edit groups are edited together:</kbd> to <kbd
8490 class="menu">whenever they overlap in time</kbd>. With this option enabled, r
8491 egions in different tracks will be considered equivalent for the purposes of selection if they
8492 <dfn>overlap</dfn>. This is much more flexible and will cover almost all of the
8493 cases that the fixed rules above might make cumbersome.
8497 title: Region Context Menu
8501 <p class="fixme">Need to add detail to the context menu table to describe what the options do</p>
8504 In the editor window, right clicking (context clicking) on a region
8505 displays a menu with <dfn>track and region operations</dfn>. The menu begins with the
8506 name of the region, or <kbd class="menu">Selected Regions</kbd> if multiple
8507 regions are selected.
8510 If there is more than one region layered at the point where you clicked, the
8511 menu will also contain an item <kbd class="menu">Choose Top</kbd>. This
8512 dialog lets you select which region you want on the top <dfn>layer</dfn>. See
8513 <a href="manual/region_layering">Adjusting Region Layering</a> for more details.
8516 Below these items is the rest of the
8517 <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-context-menu">Track Context Menu</a>, which
8518 provides access to <dfn>track-level operations</dfn>. To see the contents
8519 of the region context menu, select the region name or "Selected Regions", and
8520 the following submenu structure appears:
8522 <dl class="narrower-table">
8533 <dl class="wide-table">
8540 <dt>Make Mono Regions</dt>
8546 <dt>Pitch Shift</dt>
8552 <dt>Place Transients</dt>
8554 <dt>Rhythm Ferret</dt>
8556 <dt>Strip Silence</dt>
8562 <dl class="wide-table">
8563 <dt>Move To Original Position</dt>
8567 <dt>Glue to Bars and Beats</dt>
8569 <dt>Snap Position to Grid</dt>
8571 <dt>Set Sync Position</dt>
8573 <dt>Remove Sync</dt>
8575 <dt>Nudge Later</dt>
8577 <dt>Nudge Earlier</dt>
8579 <dt>Nudge Later by capture offset</dt>
8581 <dt>Nudge Earlier by capture offset</dt>
8587 <dl class="wide-table">
8588 <dt>Trim Start at Edit Point</dt>
8590 <dt>Trim End at Edit Point</dt>
8592 <dt>Trim to Loop</dt>
8594 <dt>Trim to Punch</dt>
8596 <dt>Trim to Previous</dt>
8598 <dt>Trim to Next</dt>
8604 <dl class="wide-table">
8605 <dt>Raise to Top</dt>
8611 <dt>Lower to Bottom</dt>
8617 <dl class="wide-table">
8618 <dt>Set Loop Range</dt>
8620 <dt>Set Punch Range</dt>
8622 <dt>Add Single Range Marker</dt>
8624 <dt>Add Range Marker per Region</dt>
8626 <dt>Set Range Selection</dt>
8632 <dl class="wide-table">
8639 <dt>Reset Envelope</dt>
8641 <dt>Envelope Active</dt>
8647 <dl class="wide-table">
8658 <dl class="wide-table">
8661 <dt>Multi-Duplicate</dt>
8669 <dt>Bounce (without processing)</dt>
8671 <dt>Bounce (with processing)</dt>
8673 <dt>Spectral Analysis</dt>
8680 title: Common Region Edit Operations
8681 menu_title: Region Editing
8686 This section covers a set of <dfn>region editing operations</dfn>
8687 that you are likely to use often while working on a session.
8688 Depending on your work habits (and experience of other
8689 <abbr title="Digital Audio Workstation">DAW</abbr>s) you will find
8690 some of these operations critical while others are used only rarely.
8694 You can carry out all of these operations from the keyboard (see
8695 <a href="/default-keyboard-bindings">Default Keyboard Shortcuts</a>
8696 for a list). Equivalent operations can be performed with the mouse
8701 You may want to review your understanding of
8702 <a href="/editing-and-arranging/edit-point">the edit point/range</a> and
8703 <a href="/editing-and-arranging/which-regions-are-affected">which regions will be affected by region operations</a>.
8706 <dl class="wide-table">
8707 <dt><kbd class="menu">Spot (Align)</kbd></dt>
8708 <dd>Move selected regions to the edit point.</dd>
8709 <dt><kbd class="menu">Split</kbd></dt>
8710 <dd>Split selected regions at the edit point.</dd>
8711 <dt><kbd class="menu">Trim Start</kbd></dt>
8712 <dd>Adjust the start of selected regions to the edit point (or as close as
8714 <dt><kbd class="menu">Trim End</kbd></dt>
8715 <dd>Adjust the end of selected regions to the edit point (or as close as
8717 <dt><kbd class="menu">Duplicate</kbd></dt>
8718 <dd>Make a copy of each selected region and position it immediately after the
8720 <dt><kbd class="menu">Crop</kbd></dt>
8721 <dd>Truncate selected regions to the edit range.</dd>
8722 <dt><kbd class="menu">Separate</kbd></dt>
8723 <dd>Split selected regions at both ends of the edit range.</dd>
8724 <dt><kbd class="menu">Set Fade In</kbd></dt>
8725 <dd>Adjust selected audio regions' fade in to end at the edit point.</dd>
8726 <dt><kbd class="menu">Set Fade Out</kbd></dt>
8727 <dd>Adjust selected audio regions' fade out to end at the edit point.</dd>
8728 <dt><kbd class="menu">Toggle Fade In</kbd></dt>
8729 <dd>Turn selected audio regions' fade in on or off.</dd>
8730 <dt><kbd class="menu">Toggle Fade Out</kbd></dt>
8731 <dd>Turn selected audio regions' fade out on or off.</dd>
8732 <dt><kbd class="menu">Play Region</kbd></dt>
8733 <dd>Play session from the start of the earliest selected region.</dd>
8734 <dt><kbd class="menu">Zoom To Region</kbd></dt>
8735 <dd>Zoom horizontally so that the selected regions span the editor track
8737 <dt><kbd class="menu">Set Sync Point</kbd></dt>
8738 <dd>Set the sync point of all selected regions to the edit point.</dd>
8739 <dt><kbd class="menu">Insert</kbd></dt>
8740 <dd>Inserts the currently selected regions in the Region List at the edit
8749 <h2>Copy a Single Region</h2>
8752 To copy a region, make sure you are in object mouse mode. Move the mouse
8753 pointer into the region and <kbd class="mouse mod1">left</kbd>-drag. Ardour
8754 creates a new region and follows the mouse pointer as it moves. See
8755 <a href="/editing-and-arranging/move-regions/">Move Regions</a> for more
8756 details on moving the copied region.
8759 <h2>Copy Multiple Regions</h2>
8762 To copy multiple regions, select them before copying. Then
8763 <kbd class="mouse mod1">left</kbd>-drag one of the selected regions. All the
8764 regions will be copied and as they move. The copied regions will keep their
8765 positions relative to each other.
8768 <h2>Fixed-Time Copying</h2>
8771 If you want to copy region(s) to other track(s) but keep the copies at the
8772 exact position on the timeline as the originals, simply use
8773 <kbd class="mouse mod1">Middle</kbd>-drag instead.
8778 title: Move Regions With the Mouse
8783 To move or copy a region, make sure you are in object mode. If you are
8784 using smart mode, the pointer must be in the lower half of the region
8785 to begin a move or copy operation.
8789 Move the pointer into the region, use a <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd>-drag.
8790 The region will follow the pointer as you move it around. By default,
8791 the region can move freely along the timeline.
8795 To move a region from one track to another, simply start a move as
8796 described above, but move the pointer into the desired track. The
8797 region will follow the pointer. Note that if you have other kinds of
8798 tracks visible, the region will remain where it is as the pointer
8799 moves across them, and will then jump to the new track. This serves as
8800 a visual reminder that you cannot drag an audio region into an automation
8801 track or a bus, for example.
8804 <h2>Move Multiple Regions</h2>
8807 To move multiple regions, select them before moving. Then
8808 <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd>-drag one of the selected regions. All the
8809 regions will move, keeping their positions relative to each other.
8812 <h2>Fixed-Time Motion</h2>
8815 Sometimes, you want to move a region to another track, but keeping its
8816 position along the timeline exactly the same. To do this, use
8817 <kbd class="mouse">Middle</kbd>-drag instead.
8821 title: Align (Spot) Regions
8826 Aligning regions (sometimes called "spotting") means moving one or more
8827 regions based on a defined location, which in Ardour is always the
8828 <a href="/editing-and-arranging/edit-point">edit point</a>. An
8829 alignment operation moves the region(s) so that some part of the region
8830 is positioned at the edit point. Available alignment commands include:
8833 <dl class="wide-table">
8834 <dt>Align Region starts <kbd class="mod14">a</kbd></dt>
8835 <dd>Selected region(s) are moved so that their start is located at the current edit point</dd>
8836 <dt>Align Region ends <kbd class="mod2">a</kbd></dt>
8837 <dd>Selected region(s) are moved so that the end is located at the current edit point</dd>
8838 <dt>Align Region sync points <kbd>Shift-a</kbd></dt>
8839 <dd>Selected region(s) are moved so that their sync point is located at the current edit point</dd>
8840 <dt>Align Region starts relative <kbd class="mod4">a</kbd></dt>
8841 <dd>Selected region(s) are moved so that the start of the earliest region is located at the current edit point, and all others maintain their relative position relative to that region</dd>
8846 title: Edit Mode and Tools
8852 title: Which Regions Are Affected?
8853 menu_title: Affected Regions
8857 <p class="fixme">This one is alone in its chapter. Find him a place somewhere else.</p>
8860 This section explains the rules used to decide which regions are affected
8861 by editing operations. You don't really have to understand them—hopefully
8862 things will Just Work™—but it may be useful eventually to understand the rules.
8866 Editing operations in Ardour either operate on a single point in time
8867 (<kbd class="menu">Split</kbd> being the obvious example) or on two
8868 points (which can also be considered to be a range of sorts); <kbd
8869 class="menu">Separate</kbd> is a good example of this.
8873 Most operations will operate on the currently selected region(s), but if
8874 no regions are selected, the region that the mouse is in will be used
8875 instead. Single-point operations will generally pick a set of regions to
8876 use based on the following rules:
8880 <li> If the edit point is 'mouse', then
8882 <li>if the mouse is over a selected region, or no region, use all selected
8884 <li>if the mouse is over an unselected region, use just that region.</li>
8887 <li> For all other edit points
8890 use the selected regions <em>and</em> those that are both
8891 under the edit position <em>and</em> on a selected track,
8892 or on a track which is in the same active edit-enabled route group
8893 as a selected region.
8900 The rationale here for the two different rules is that the mouse edit point
8901 is special in that its position indicates both a time and a track; the other
8902 edit points (Playhead, Marker) indicate a time only.
8907 title: Making Selections
8913 title: Select Regions
8917 <p class="fixme">Remove all "you" references FFS</p>
8920 Many editing operations in Ardour require you to first <dfn>select one or more
8921 regions</dfn> that you want to change in some way. You can select a single region,
8922 or multiple regions, including regions in different tracks. When you select
8923 a region, it will appear in a darker color than unselected regions.
8927 Note that if a track is a member of a group that is active and has the
8928 <kbd class="option">Select</kbd> property enabled, then Ardour will attempt to
8929 match whatever selections you make in one track across every other track of the
8931 <a href="/working-with-regions/corresponding-regions-selection/">Corresponding
8932 Regions Selection</a> for more information on precisely how selections will be
8933 propagated to other tracks.
8936 <h2>Region Selection and Track Selection</h2>
8940 <a href="/working-with-tracks/selecting-tracks/region-and-track-selection">Region & Track Selection</a>
8941 for more information on how selecting regions and selecting tracks interact.
8944 <p class="fixme">Broken link</p>
8946 <h2>Select a Region</h2>
8949 Confirm that you are using the
8950 <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/the-editing-toolbar/#object">Object tool</a>,
8951 then click on a region to select it. If
8952 <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/the-editing-toolbar/#smartmode">smart mode</a>
8953 is enabled, click in the lower half of the region.
8956 <h2>Deselect a Region</h2>
8959 Confirm you are using the
8960 <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/the-editing-toolbar/#object">Object tool</a>,
8961 then <kbd class="mouse mod1">Left</kbd>-click the region. If
8962 <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/the-editing-toolbar/#smartmode">smart mode</a>
8963 is enabled, click in the lower half of the region.
8967 Note that a <kbd class="mouse mod1">left</kbd> click simply toggles the
8968 selected status of an object, so it can be used to select unselected regions
8972 <h2>Select Multiple Regions in a Track</h2>
8974 <p>Do one of the following:</p>
8977 <li><kbd class="mouse mod1">Left</kbd>-click each region, or</li>
8979 drag a rubberband box from an empty point in a track before the first
8980 region you wish to select to a point within or after the last region
8981 you wish to select (you can <kbd class="mouse mod1">left</kbd>-drag to do this
8982 multiple times), or,
8985 if the regions are all adjacent to one another, click the first region
8986 you wish to select, then <kbd class="mouse mod3">Left</kbd>-click the last
8987 region you wish to select.
8991 <h2>Select All Regions in a Track</h2>
8994 Context-click the track, and in the context menu, navigate to
8995 <kbd class="menu">Select > Select All In Track</menu>.
8999 See the <a href="/working-with-tracks/the-track-context-menu">Track Context Menu</a>
9000 for more information on other per-track selection operations that are available.
9003 <p class="fixme">Broken link</p>
9005 <h2>Select Multiple Regions Across Different Tracks</h2>
9008 <kbd class="mouse mod1">Left</kbd>-click or <kbd class="mouse
9009 mod3">Left</kbd>-click the regions you wish to select.
9012 <h2>Select a Region From the Region List</h2>
9015 Click the name of the region in the
9016 <a href="/ardours-interface/introducing-the-editor-window/editor-lists/region-list/">Region List</a>.
9017 Note that this will do nothing for whole-file regions, since they do not exist
9018 anywhere in a playlist or track.
9023 title: Editing Regions and Selections
9028 title: Trimming Regions
9032 <p class="fixme">Add images, description of mouse cursor changes that signal this type of editing</p>
9035 Changing the <dfn>length</dfn> of a region is a very common editing
9036 operation, often known as <dfn>trimming</dfn>. There are several ways
9037 to accomplish this with Ardour, and some very useful specialized trimming
9041 <h2>Drag-Trimming With the Mouse</h2>
9044 In object mode, move the pointer near the beginning or end of the region.
9045 The cursor will change to indicate that trimming is possible, and you then
9046 <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd>-drag the edge of the region.
9050 Trimming will obey <a href="/editing-and-arranging/snap-to-the-grid/">Snap settings</a>.
9053 <h2>Click Trimming With the Mouse</h2>
9056 <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd>-click in the colored bar at the bottom of a region.
9057 If you are nearer to the start of a region, this will trim the start time to the
9058 position of the pointer. If you are nearer to the end of a region, it will trim the
9062 <h2>Keyboard Shortcuts for Trimming</h2>
9064 There are several commands for region trimming. Some use the
9065 <a href="/editing-and-arranging/edit-point">edit point</a> to determine where
9066 to trim to. Some are not bound to any keys by default (but could be via the
9067 Keybindings Editor).
9070 <dl class="wide-table">
9071 <dt><kbd class="menu">Region/trim-front</kbd> <kbd>j</kbd></dt>
9072 <dd>Trim selected region(s) start to edit point.</dd>
9073 <dt><kbd class="menu">Region/trim-end</kbd> <kbd>k</kbd></dt>
9074 <dd>Trim selected region(s) end to edit point.</dd>
9077 <h2 id="trimtonextprevious">Trim to Next/Previous Region</h2>
9080 Sometimes you just want to extend the start or end of region so that it reaches
9081 the end or start of an adjacent region. There is now an operation accessible
9082 from the region context menu, under <kbd class="menu">Edit >Trim > Trim to
9083 Next</kbd> or <kbd class="menu">Edit > Trim > Trim to Previous</kbd>. This
9084 will extend the selected regions so they directly adjoin their neighbours, unless
9085 their source files are not long enough, in which case they will be extended to the
9086 maximum possible. Trim to Next will extend the end of the selected regions to the
9087 start of the next region; Trim to Previous will extend the start of the selected
9088 regions to the end of the previous region.
9091 <dl class="wide-table">
9092 <dt><kbd class="menu">Region/trim-to-previous-region</kbd> <kbd class="mod1">j</kbd></dt>
9093 <dd>Trim the start of selected region(s) to the end of the previous
9095 <dt><kbd class="menu">Region/trim-to-next-region</kbd> <kbd class="mod1">k</kbd></dt>
9096 <dd>Trim the end of selected region(s) to the start of the following
9100 <h2>Other Possible Commands for Trimming</h2>
9103 These are not bound to any keys by default, but could be via the Keybindings
9104 Editor. They can also be sent via OSC or other control protocols.
9107 <dl class="wide-table">
9108 <dt><kbd class="menu">Region/trim-region-to-loop</kbd></dt>
9109 <dd>Trim region to match the current loop range.</dd>
9110 <dt><kbd class="menu">Region/trim-region-to-punch</kbd></dt>
9111 <dd>Trim region to match the current punch range.</dd>
9115 title: Push/Pull Trimming
9120 Normally, when you trim regions by dragging with the mouse, it affects
9121 only the selected regions. Their lengths are directly affected by the
9122 trim operation, but nothing else is. Sometimes though, you might like
9123 to trim a region that directly adjoins another, and keep this relationship
9124 the same—you are not trying to make one of the regions extend
9125 over the other—you would like the junction to move in one
9126 direction or the other as part of the trim. This requires trimming both
9127 regions on either side of the junction, in opposite directions.
9128 <dfn>Push/Pull trim</dfn>, activated by pressing shift key before
9129 starting the drag, will do just that. Here's a few pictures to show the
9130 difference in the results of a normal trim and push/pull trim. First,
9131 the initial situation:
9134 <p class="center"><img src="/images/a3_before_trim.png" alt="region arrangement before trim" /></p>
9137 Here is what happens after we trim the right hand (selected) region by
9138 dragging its starting position earlier:
9141 <p class="center"><img src="/images/a3_after_trim.png" alt="region arrangement after a trim" /></p>
9144 You can see that it now overlaps the earlier region and a crossfade has
9145 been created between them.
9149 Lets look now at what happens if we do the same trim, but <kbd
9150 class="mouse mod3">Left</kbd>-dragging to turn it into a push-pull trim instead:
9153 <p class="center"><img src="/images/a3_after_push_trim.png" alt="region arrangement after a push trim" /></p>
9156 There is no overlap, and the end of the earlier region has been moved
9157 along with the start of the later region, so that they still directly
9162 title: Separate Under
9167 You may have a situation where you have positioned one region over another,
9168 and you just want to cut the lower region so that it directly adjoins both
9169 ends of the overlapping one, with no overlaps. To do this, select the upper
9170 region, then choose <kbd class="menu">Edit > Separate > Separate
9171 Under</kbd>. This will split the lower region so that it no longer overlaps
9172 the upper region at all.
9176 Here is an example where we start with a short region placed so that it
9177 overlaps a longer region:
9180 <p class="center"><img src="/images/a3_before_separate_under.png" alt="region arrangement before separate under" /></p>
9183 When we perform the <dfn>Separate Under</dfn> edit, the lower region splits
9184 in two, with boundaries exactly positioned at the edges of the upper region:
9187 <p class="center"><img src="/images/a3_after_separate_under.png" alt="region arrangement after separate under" /></p>
9190 If the upper region covers only one end of the lower region, then this
9191 operation is equivalent to
9192 <a href="/editing-and-arranging/change-region-lengths/#trimtonextprevious">Trim to Next/Previous Region</a>, depending on which end is covered.
9196 title: Separate Range
9200 <p class="fixme">Add example with images; 1p ≥ 1,000w</p>
9203 A final new editing feature is an operation in the context menu of a
9204 range labeled <kbd class="menu">Separate Regions Under Range</kbd>.
9205 This splits any selected regions that are covered by the range at both
9206 ends of the range (or just one, if the range only covers part of the
9207 region). This makes it easy to generate regions that correspond
9208 precisely to a range.
9212 title: Strip Silence from Audio Regions
9213 menu_title: Stripping Silence
9218 From the region context menu, choose <kbd class="menu">Edit > Strip
9219 Silence</kbd> to detect silence (based on a user-chosen threshold in
9220 <abbr title="Decibels relative to Full Scale">dBFS</abbr>), split a
9221 region based on the boundaries of the silent segments, and remove the
9222 silence. You can also specify a minimum length for silence—useful
9223 when editing very percussive material and just needing to automatically trim
9224 the ends of a region. The dialog looks like this:
9228 <img src="/images/a3_strip_silence.png" alt="strip silence dialog" />
9232 The edit applies to all selected regions, allowing batch processing.
9233 You can also see in the screenshot how the main editor window is used
9234 to show silent segments and report the number and durations of the
9240 title: Fades and Crossfades
9246 title: Create Region Fades and Crossfades
9250 <p class="fixme">Add images--an image is worth more than 1,000 words</p>
9253 Every Region has a fade-in and fade-out. By default, the region fade
9254 is very short, and serves to de-click the transitions at the start and
9255 end of the region. By adjusting the regions fade length, a more
9256 gradual transition can be accomplished.
9259 <h2>Region Fades</h2>
9262 <dfn>Region fades</dfn> are possible at the beginning and end of
9263 all audio regions. In object mode, a grip appears at the top left and
9264 top right of an audio region when the cursor hovers over it. Placing
9265 the cursor over the top of the grip displays the region fade cursor
9266 tip. Click and drag the grip left or right in the timeline to
9267 adjust the length of the fade.
9273 <dfn>Crossfades</dfn> refer to the behavior when you want to make
9274 a smooth transition (mix) from one audio region to another on the same
9275 track. Historically, this was done by splicing 2 pieces of analog
9276 tape together, and this concept was carried forward into digital
9277 editing. Each track is a sequence of sound files (regions). If
9278 two regions are butted against each other, there needs to be a method
9279 to splice them smoothly together. The crossfade allows one region
9280 to fade smoothly out, while the next region fades smoothly in, like 2
9281 pieces of tape that have been cut at and angle, and overlapped.
9285 But Ardour uses a more refined "layered" editing model, and
9286 therefore it is possible for multiple regions to be stacked on a single
9287 location with arbitrary overlaps between different layers. For
9288 this reason, crossfades must be implemented differently. We can't
9289 assume that a crossfade is an entitry that exists between 2 regions;
9290 instead each region must have its own associated crossfades at each
9291 end, and the topmost region must always crossfade down to the
9292 underlying region(s), if any.
9296 Ardour solves this problem by putting a crossfade at the beginning
9297 and end of every region. The fades of the bottom-most region are
9298 first rendered, and then each region is rendered on top of the one
9299 below it, with fades at the end of each region providing a crossfade to
9300 the region(s) beneath it.
9304 It is important to understand that region fades <em>are</em> crossfades. When one region has
9305 another region or multiple regions beneath its fade area, then you will
9306 hear the topmost region fade-out be mirrored as a fade-in on the
9307 underlying region(s). The grip for the topmost region will allow
9308 changing the length and type of the crossfade into the underlying
9309 region(s). In this way you can create a complicated series of
9310 crossfades, and then layer another region atop the others, and fade
9311 into <em>that</em> complicated series.
9313 <p class="fixme">An image here would probably help.</p>
9316 If a region doesn't have any region(s) under it, then the region is
9317 crossfaded to silence; for convenience we call this a "fade"
9318 rather than a crossfade.
9321 <h2>Fade Shapes</h2>
9323 To activate/deactivate or change the shape of a region's fade-in or
9324 fade-out, hover the cursor over the region fade grip till the cursor tip
9325 indicates region fade editing and context-click to bring up a context
9326 menu. In the context menu there is a list of options for the
9327 region fade. <kbd class="menu">Activate/Deactivate</kbd> enables and
9328 disables the region fade.
9332 Because each fade is also a crossfade, it has an inverse fade shape
9333 for the audio beneath the fade. It is important to know how the
9334 shapes differ, and which are most suitable for various editing tasks.
9338 The different types of fades are:
9341 <dl class="narrower-table">
9342 <dt><kbd class="menu">Linear</kbd></dt>
9343 <dd>A simple linear coefficient decrease, and its mathematical inverse. A Linear fade starts attentuating quickly and then cuts off even more abruptly at lower levels. When used as a crossfade, the signals are each -6dB attenuated at the midpoint. This is the correct crossfade to use with highly-correlated signals for a smooth transition.</dd>
9344 <dt><kbd class="menu">Constant Power</kbd></dt>
9345 <dd>The constant power curve starts fading slowly and then cuts off abruptly. When used as a crossfade between 2 audio regions, the signals are symetrically attenuated, and they each reach -3dB at the midpoint. This is the correct crossfade to use when you want to splice audio in the general (uncorrelated) case.</dd>
9346 <dt><kbd class="menu">Symmetric</kbd></dt>
9347 <dd>The Symmetric fade starts slowly, then attenuates significantly before transitioning to a slower fade-out near the end of the fade. When used as a crossfade, the Symmetric curve is not mathematically correct like the Equal Power or Linear curves, but it provides a slower fade-out at low volumes. This is sometimes useful when editing two entire works of music together so that the transition is more gradual.</dd>
9348 <dt><kbd class="menu">Fast</kbd></dt>
9349 <dd>The Fast curve is a linear decibel fade; It sounds like a perfectly smooth fader or knob moved to silence. This shape is excellent as a general-purpose fade-in. When used as a crossfade, the inverse fade curve maintains constant power but is therefore non-symmetric; so its use is limited to those cases where the user finds it appropriate.</dd>
9350 <dt><kbd class="menu">Slow</kbd></dt>
9351 <dd>The Slow curve is a modified linear decibel fade. The initial curve starts more gradually so that it has a less abrupt transition near unity. After that, it sounds like a perfectly smooth fader or knob moved to silence. This shape is excellent as a general-purpose fade-out. When used as a crossfade, the inverse fade curve maintains constant power but is therefore non-symmetric; so its use is limited to those cases where the user finds it appropriate.</dd>
9355 Although these fade shapes serve specific purposes, any of the shapes is usable in certain situations. The final decision is an artistic choice rather than a rigidly prescribed one.
9359 These fade curves are developed to provide a range of common uses, and
9360 are developed with the least possible amount of changes in the "slope"
9361 of the line. This provides artifact-free crossfades. Some
9362 DAWs provide complicated fade editors with parametric "spline" controls
9363 of the fade curves. While it might be interesting to develop a
9364 fade curve with a faster cutoff, the mathematical difference between
9365 this and simply shortening the fade is vanishingly small; the
9366 amount of effort to shorten the fade is much easier than fooling around with a
9367 crossfade editor dialog.
9378 title: Understanding Playlists
9383 A <dfn>playlist</dfn> is a list of regions ordered in time. It defines
9384 which parts of which source files should be played and when. Playlists
9385 are a fairly advanced topic, and can be safely ignored for many types
9386 of audio production. However, the use of playlists allows the audio
9387 engineer more flexibility for tasks like multiple takes of a single
9388 instrument, alternate edits of a given recording, parallel effects such
9389 as reverb or compression, and other tasks.
9392 Each audio <dfn>track</dfn> in Ardour is really just a mechanism for
9393 taking a playlist and generating the audio stream that it represents.
9394 As a result, editing a track really means modifying its playlist in
9395 some way. Since a playlist is a list of regions, most of the
9396 modifications involve manipulating regions: their position, length
9397 and so forth. This is covered in the chapter
9398 <a href="/working-with-regions/">Working With Regions</a>.<br />
9399 Here, we cover some of the things you can do with playlists as objects
9403 <h2>Tracks are not Playlists</h2>
9405 It is important to understand that a track <em>is not</em> a playlist.
9406 A track <em>has</em> a playlist. A track is a mechanism for generating
9407 the audio stream represented by the playlist and passing it through a
9408 signal processing pathway. At any point in time, a track has a single
9409 playlist associated with it. When the track is used to record, that
9410 playlist will have one or more new regions added to it. When the track
9411 is used for playback, the contents of the playlist will be heard.
9412 You can change the playlist associated with a track at (almost) any
9413 time, and even share playlists between tracks.
9417 If you have some experience of other
9418 <abbr title="Digital Audio Workstation">DAW</abbr>s, then you might
9419 have come across the term <dfn>"virtual track"</dfn>, normally defined as a track
9420 that isn't actually playing or doing anything, but can be
9421 mapped/assigned to a real track. This concept is functionally
9422 identical to Ardour's playlists. We just like to be little more
9423 clear about what is actually happening rather than mixing old and
9424 new terminology ("virtual" and "track"), which might be confusing.</p>
9426 <h2>Playlists are Cheap</h2>
9429 One thing you should be clear about is that playlists are cheap. They
9430 don't cost anything in terms of CPU consumption, and they have very
9431 minimal efforts on memory use. Don't be afraid of generating new
9432 playlists whenever you want to. They are not equivalent to tracks,
9433 which require extra CPU time and significant memory space, or audio
9434 files, which use disk space, or plugins that require extra CPU time.
9435 If a playlist is not in use, it occupies a small amount of memory, and
9440 title: Playlist Operations
9445 In the track header (editor window, left pane) is a button labelled <kbd
9446 class="menu">p</kbd> (for "Playlist"). If you click on this button, Ardour
9447 displays the following menu:
9450 <dl class="wide-table">
9451 <dt>(Local Playlists)</dt>
9452 <dd>Shows all of the playlists associated with this track, and indicates
9453 the currently selected playlist</dd>
9455 <dd>Displays a dialog to rename the current playlist</dd>
9457 <dd>Creates a new empty playlist, and the track switches to the new playlist</dd>
9459 <dd>Creates a new playlist that is a copy of the current playlist; the track switches to the new playlist</dd>
9460 <dt>Clear Current</dt>
9461 <dd>Removes all regions from the current playlist</dd>
9462 <dt>Select From All</dt>
9463 <dd>Displays a playlist browser to manually choose which playlist this track should use. (You can even select playlists from other tracks here)</dd>
9466 <h2>Renaming Playlists</h2>
9469 Playlists are created with the name of the track of which they are
9470 associated, plus a version number. So, the first playlist for a track
9471 called "Cowbell" will be called <samp>Cowbell.1</samp>. This name will
9472 be used to define the names of any regions added to the playlist by
9473 recording. You can change the name at any time, to anything you want.
9474 Ardour does not require that your playlist names are all unique, but it
9475 will make your life easier if they are. Suggested examples of user-assigned
9476 names for a playlist might include <kbd class="input">Lead Guitar, 2nd
9477 take</kbd>, <kbd class="input">vocals (quiet)</kbd>,
9478 and <kbd class="input">downbeat cuica</kbd>. Notice how these might be
9479 different from the associated track names, which for these examples might
9480 be <kbd class="input">Lead Guitar</kbd>,
9481 <kbd class="input">Vocals</kbd> and <kbd class="input">Cuica</kbd>. The
9482 playlist name provides more information because it is about a specific
9483 version of the material that may (or may not) end up in the final version
9488 If you are going to rename your playlists, do so before recording new
9493 It appears that recorded regions are not named after the playlist, but
9497 <h2>Sharing Playlists</h2>
9500 It is entirely possible to <dfn>share playlists</dfn> between tracks. The only
9501 slightly unusual thing you may notice when sharing is that edits to the
9502 playlist made in one track will magically appear in the other. If you
9503 think about this for a moment, its an obvious consequence of sharing.
9504 One application of this attribute is parallel processing, described
9509 You might not want this kind of behaviour, even though you still want
9510 two tracks to use the same (or substantially the same) playlist. To
9511 accomplish this, select the chosen playlist in the second track, and
9512 then use New Copy to generate an <dfn>independent copy</dfn> of it for
9513 that track. You can then edit this playlist without affecting the original.
9517 title: Playlist Usecases
9521 <h3>Using Playlists for Parallel Processing</h3>
9524 One of the uses of playlists is to apply multiple effects to the same
9525 audio stream. For example, let's say you would like to apply two
9526 different non-linear effects such as distortion or compression to the
9527 same audio source (for linear effects, you could just apply them one after
9528 the other in the same track).<br />
9529 Create a new track, apply the original track's playlist, and
9530 then apply effects to both tracks independently.
9534 The same result could be achieved by feeding your track to multiple busses which
9535 then contain the processing, but this increases the overall latency,
9536 complicates routing and uses more space in the Mixer window.
9539 <h2>Using Playlists for "Takes"</h2>
9542 Using Playlists for <dfn>takes</dfn> is a good solution if you are going
9543 to need the ability to edit individual takes, and select between them.
9547 Each time you start a new take, create a new playlist with
9548 <kbd class="menu">p > New</kbd>
9549 Later, you can Select your way back to previous or later takes as
9554 If you want to create a composite edit from multiple takes, create a new
9555 track to assemble the final version, and "cherry pick" from the playlists
9556 in the original track by copying regions over as required.
9560 Alternatively, record each successive take on top of the
9561 others in "layers" and then edit them using the layer tools, explained
9565 <h2>Using Playlists for Multi-Language Productions</h2>
9568 The same approach as for takes is useful when you are recording or
9569 editing content in multiple versions, such as dubbed movie dialog in
9570 several languages, and you want all versions on the same track, to
9571 get the same processing. <br />
9572 Select the appropriate language before exporting the session.
9577 title: Rhythm Ferret
9581 <p class="fixme">Add content</p>
9602 Ardour's handling of <dfn><abbr title="Musical Instrument Digital Interface">MIDI</abbr> editing</dfn> differs from most other <abbr title="Digital Audio Workstation">DAW</abbr>s and MIDI sequencers.
9605 <h2>Key features of Ardour MIDI handling</h2>
9609 All editing is done in-place, in-window. There is no separate piano roll window or pane. Edit notes right where you see them.
9612 All MIDI I/O is done via <abbr title="Jack Audio Connection Kit">JACK</abbr> for sample accurate timing and maximal efficiency when communicating with external software synthesizers.
9615 Every MIDI track has its own JACK MIDI port for input; it may have an arbitrary combination of audio and MIDI outputs, depending on the signal processing in the track; the full flexibility of JACK connectivity is present for MIDI just as it is for audio.
9618 Full automation for MIDI tracks, integrated with the handling of all MIDI <abbr title="Continuous Controller">CC</abbr> data for each track.
9621 Controllers (CC data) can be set to discrete or continuous modes (the latter will interpolate between control points and send additional data).
9624 There is a <em>Normal</em> and a <em>Percussive</em> mode for note data editing.
9627 The <dfn>scroomer</dfn> is a combination scroll/zoom tool for altering
9628 the zoom level and range of visible MIDI data.
9632 <h2>Notable Differences</h2>
9636 Fader (volume) control currently operates on transmitted MIDI data, not by sending CC #7.
9639 All note/data editing is per-region. There are no cross-region operations at this time.
9642 By default, copying a MIDI region creates a <dfn>deep link</dfn>—both regions share the same data source, and edits to the contents of one will affect the other. To break this link, select <kbd class="menu">MIDI > Unlink from other copies</kbd> from the region context menu, after which the selected region(s) will have their own copies of <em>only</em> the data that they visually display on screen. You will not be able to trim the region back its original length after an Unlink operation, and the operation cannot be undone.
9647 title: Fundamental Concepts
9651 <p class="fixme">Check to see if this is still true for v5</p>
9653 <p>Ardour's MIDI editing is based on two basic principles:</p>
9656 <li>Editing should be done without having to enter a new window</li>
9658 Editing should be able to carried out completely with the keyboard,
9659 or completely with the mouse, or with any combination of the two.
9664 Currently, MIDI editing is primarily restricted to note data. Other
9665 kinds of data (controller events, sysex data) are present and can be
9666 added and deleted, but not actually edited.
9669 <h2>Fundamentals of MIDI Editing in Ardour 3</h2>
9672 MIDI, just like audio, exists in <dfn>regions</dfn>. MIDI regions
9673 behave like audio regions: they can be moved, trimmed, copied (cloned),
9674 or deleted. Ardour allows either editing MIDI (or audio) regions, or MIDI
9675 region content (the notes), but never both at the same time. The
9676 <kbd>e</kbd> key (by default) toggles between <dfn>region level</dfn>
9677 and <dfn>note level</dfn> editing, as will double-clicking on a MIDI region.
9681 One very important thing to note: editing note information in Ardour
9682 occurs in only a single region. There is no way currently to edit in note
9683 data for multiple regions at the same time, so for example you cannot select
9684 notes in several regions and then delete them all, nor can you copy-and-paste
9685 notes from one region to another. You can, of course, copy and paste the
9686 region(s), just as with audio.
9690 title: Create MIDI Tracks
9695 To create a new <dfn>MIDI track</dfn>, choose <kbd class="menu">Session >
9696 Add Track/Bus</kbd>. In the Add Track/Bus dialog, pick <kbd class="menu">MIDI
9697 Track</kbd> from the combo selector at the upper right.
9701 You may decide to use a track template if you have one. You may also know the instrument (a plugin that will generate audio in response to receiving MIDI) that you want to use in the track. The Instrument selector will show you a list of all plugins that you have which accept MIDI input and generate audio output.
9704 <p class="fixme">Remove "you" language</p>
9707 title: Create MIDI Regions
9712 Although recording MIDI is a common way to create new MIDI regions, it is
9713 often desirable to do so as part of editing/arranging.
9717 To create a new MIDI region, simply <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd>-click in
9718 a MIDI track. A region will be created that is one bar long. It can
9719 <a href="/editing-and-arranging/changing-region-lengths">trimmed</a> to any
9723 <p class="fixme">Broken link</p>
9726 Once a region has been created, <a href="/editing-and-arranging/edit-midi/add-new-notes">notes can be added</a> to it.
9730 title: Add New Notes
9734 <h2>Adding new notes</h2>
9737 In general, most MIDI editing will be done with the mouse in object mode. This allows selecting notes, copying, moving or deleting them and altering their properties (see below). <em>Adding</em> notes to a MIDI region using the mouse requires dragging with the mouse if they are to be anything other than a fixed length. Since this would normally be a selection operation if the mouse is in object mode, there needs to be some way to tell Ardour to <dfn>draw</dfn> new notes within a MIDI region. Ardour provides two ways do this: one is to leave the mouse in object mode and <kbd class="mouse mod1">Left</kbd>-drag; the other, useful if entering a lot of notes for a while, is to switch the mouse into <kbd class="menu">Draw Notes</kbd> mode, which will now interpret any drags and clicks as requests to add a new note. For obvious reasons, Draw Notes mode cannot be used while using region-level editing.
9740 <p>So, to summarize:</p>
9742 <dl class="wide-table">
9743 <dt>Selecting, moving, copying, trimming, deleting <em>regions</em></dt>
9745 leave <kbd class="menu">Note Level Editing</kbd> disabled, use object,
9746 range or other mouse modes
9748 <dt>Selecting, moving, copying trimming, deleting <em>notes</em></dt>
9749 <dd>enable <kbd class="menu">Note Level Editing</kbd>and use mouse object mode</dd>
9750 <dt>Adding new notes</dt>
9752 enable "Note Level Editing" and then either
9754 <li>use mouse object mode and <kbd class="mouse mod1">Left</kbd>-drag,
9756 <li>use mouse draw mode.</li>
9761 <!-- FIXME: This is needed to keep the table from sucking up the following note's styling. Probably need a fix in the CSS. -->
9765 It is also a <a href="/editing-and-arranging/edit-midi/step-entry">a step entry editor</a> allowing entry of notes from a virtual keyboard, and lots more besides.
9769 title: Change Note Properties
9774 Details about a selected note can be viewed by context-clicking on it. The
9775 dialog that pops up will also allow modification of all the properties of the
9776 selected note(s). Individual properties can be modified more efficiently using
9777 the techniques described below:
9781 <dt>Moving notes</dt>
9783 Right arrow and Left arrow move the selected note(s) early and later in time.
9785 <dt>Changing pitch values</dt>
9787 <kbd>↑</kbd> increases the pitch of the selected notes.<br />
9788 <kbd>↓</kbd> reduces the pitch of the selected notes.<br />
9789 If any of the selected notes are already at the maximum or minimum value,
9790 no changes will be made to any of the notes, to preserve relative pitches.
9791 This can be overridden with <kbd class="mod2">‌</kbd>. The default shift
9792 distance is one semitone. Use <kbd class="mod3">‌</kbd> to alter this to
9795 <dt>Changing velocity values</dt>
9797 <kbd class="mod1">↑</kbd> increases the velocity of the selected notes.
9799 <kbd class="mod1">↓</kbd> reduces the velocity of the selected
9801 If any of the selected notes are already at the maximum or minumum value,
9802 no changes will be made to any of the notes, to preserve relative velocities.
9803 This can be overridden with <kbd class="mod2">‌</kbd>.
9804 Presssing <kbd>v</kbd> will popup a dialog that will allow the setting of
9805 the absolute velocity value of each selected note. Finally, the scroll wheel
9806 <kbd class="mouse">⇑</kbd> <kbd class="mouse">⇓</kbd> will also
9807 adjust notes in the same way as the arrow keys.
9808 <p class="note">Like the arrow keys, it only affects selected notes, not the note the pointer is over.</p>
9810 <dt>Changing channel</dt>
9812 Press <kbd>c</kbd> to bring up a dialog that allows viewing and altering the
9813 MIDI channel of the selected notes. If the selected notes use different
9814 channels, they will all be forced to the newly selected channel.
9816 <dt>Changing start/end/duration</dt>
9818 <kbd>,</kbd> (comma) will alter the start time of the note. <br />
9819 <kbd>.</kbd> (period) will alter the end time of the note. Both keys will by
9820 default make the note longer (either by moving the start earlier or the end
9821 later). For the opposite effect, use <kbd class="mod1">,</kbd>/<kbd
9822 class="mod1">.</kbd>. The note will be altered by the current grid setting.
9823 To change the start/end positions by 1/128th of a beat, use the <kbd
9824 class="mod2">‌</kbd> modifier in addition to these shortcuts.
9826 <dt>Quantization</dt>
9828 <kbd>q</kbd> will quantize the selected notes using the current quantize
9829 settings. If the quantize settings have not been set for this session yet,
9830 the quantize dialog will appear. <kbd class="mod2">q</kbd> will display the
9831 quantize dialog to allow resetting of the quantize settings, and then
9832 quantize the selected notes. The default quantize settings are: quantize
9833 note starts to the current grid setting, no swing, no threshold, full
9836 <dt>Step Entry, Quantize etc.</dt>
9837 <dd><em>missing</em></dd>
9840 <p class="fixme">Add missing content</p>
9843 title: Handling Overlapping Notes
9844 menu_title: Overlapping Notes
9849 Every MIDI note consists of two messages, a NoteOn and a NoteOff. Each one
9850 has a note number and a channel (also a velocity, but that isn't relevant
9851 here). The MIDI standard stresses that it is invalid to send a second NoteOn
9852 for the same note number on the same channel before a NoteOff for the first
9853 NoteOn. It is more or less impossible to do this with a physical MIDI
9854 controller such as a keyboard, but remarkably easy to trigger when editing
9855 in a DAW—simply overlapping two instances of the same note will do it.
9859 Ardour offers many options for how to deal with instances where you overlap
9860 two instances of the same note. Which one to use is a per-session property
9861 and can be modified from <kbd class="menu">Session > Properties > Misc > MIDI
9865 <dl class="wide-table">
9866 <dt>never allow them</dt>
9867 <dd>Edits that would create note overlaps are not allowed</dd>
9868 <dt>don't do anything in particular</dt>
9869 <dd>Ardour leaves overlapping notes alone—the behaviour of a MIDI receiver (plugin or hardware) is undefined</dd>
9870 <dt>replace any overlapped existing note</dt>
9871 <dd>When one note is moved to overlap another, remove the one that wasn't being moved</dd>
9872 <dt>shorten the overlapped existing note</dt>
9873 <dd>When one note is moved to overlap another, shorten the one that wasn't moved so that there is no overlap</dd>
9874 <dt>shorten the overlapping new note</dt>
9875 <dd>When one note is moved to overlap another, shorten the one that was moved so that there is no overlap</dd>
9876 <dt>replace both overlapping notes with a single note</dt>
9877 <dd>When one note is moved to overlap another, merge them both to form one (longer) note</dd>
9881 Changing the option in use will not retroactively make changes—it will
9882 only affect new note overlaps created while the option remains chosen.
9886 Ardour does not check for note overlaps across tracks or even across regions.
9887 If you create these, it is your responsibility to deal with the consequences.
9891 title: Note Cut, Copy and Paste
9896 While in note edit mode, selected notes can be cut using
9897 <kbd class="mod1">x</kbd>, copied with <kbd class="mod1">c</kbd> and
9898 deleted with <kbd>Delete</kbd>, just as regions can. Once cut or
9899 copied, they can be pasted at the edit point using
9900 <kbd class="mod1">v</kbd>.
9904 title: Note Selection
9908 <h2>Selecting/Navigating note-by-note</h2>
9911 Tab selects the next note. <kbd class="mod1">Tab</kbd> selects the previous
9912 note. <kbd class="mod3">Tab</kbd> or <kbd class="mod13">Tab</kbd> adds
9913 the next/previous note to the selection.
9916 <h2>Selecting notes with the mouse</h2>
9919 While in mouse object mode, you can click on a note to select it. Once you
9920 have selected one note, <kbd class="mouse mod3">Left</kbd>-click on another
9921 to select all notes between them. To add or remove a note to/from the
9922 selection, click <kbd class="mouse mod1">Left</kbd>. You can also click and
9923 drag outside of a note to <dfn>rubberband select</dfn> a series of notes.
9927 Three different selection operations are possible if you switch to mouse
9933 Vertical drags within the MIDI region will select all notes within the
9937 Clicks on the piano header of the track (if visible—the track must
9938 be tall enough to display it) will select all occurences of that note.
9941 Drags on the piano header of the track will select all notes within the
9946 <h2>Listening to Selected Notes</h2>
9949 If <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > MIDI > Sound MIDI notes
9950 as they are selected</kbd> is enabled, Ardour will send a pair of
9951 NoteOn/NoteOff messages through the track, which will typically allow you to
9952 hear each note as it is selected.
9956 title: Quantize MIDI
9960 <p class="fixme">Needs fleshing out; this is a bit thin at the moment</p>
9962 <p><img class="right" src="/images/a3_quantize.png" alt="quantize dialog" /></p>
9964 <p>Accessed via <kbd>q</kbd>, the dialog includes:</p>
9967 <li>Options for grid, legato and groove quantize</li>
9968 <li>Snap note start, or end</li>
9969 <li>Snap to current grid, or many beat subdivisions</li>
9970 <li>Quantize threshold (how far away from a chosen position a note must be in order to be quantized)</li>
9971 <li>Strength (how close to move a note to its new position, as a percentage of the nominal distance)</li>
9981 Sometimes editing MIDI data directly from a connected MIDI device like a musical
9982 keyboard or pad controller is desired; sometimes using the mouse is. Sometimes
9983 the fine-grained control, precision and speed of entry that comes from using a
9984 custom note entry dialog is; the <dfn>Step Entry</dfn> dialog aims to be the
9989 The step entry dialog is accessed via a right click context menu on the
9990 rec-enable button, because step entry is related to <em>recording</em> MIDI
9991 data—step editing and recording MIDI via the track's MIDI port cannot be
9992 done simultaneously.
9995 <p class="center"><img src="/images/a3_step_entry.png" /></p>
9997 <p>The dialog (closely modeled after Logic's) contains:</p>
10001 Chord entry switch (successive notes are stacked in a chord until
10002 it is released)</li>
10003 <li>Note length selectors</li>
10004 <li>Triplet toggle</li>
10005 <li>Normal, single, double and triple dotted note selectors</li>
10006 <li>Sustain button</li>
10009 <li>Insert a rest of the current selected note duration</li>
10010 <li>Insert a rest of the current grid step size</li>
10011 <li>Move back to the last inserted note</li>
10012 <li>Move forward to the next beat, or bar</li>
10013 <li>Move forward to the edit point</li>
10016 <li>Dynamics controls from pianississimo to fortississimo</li>
10017 <li>Channel selector</li>
10019 Explicit numerical velocity selector, for more precise control
10020 than the dynamics selectors offer
10022 <li>Octave selector</li>
10023 <li>Buttons to add bank or program change events</li>
10024 <li>a full 10 octave virtual keyboard</li>
10028 More or less all actions in the step entry dialog can be driven directly from
10029 the keyboard, so moving back and forth from keyboard to mouse to do complex data
10030 insertion is unnecessary.
10034 title: Patch Change
10039 A <dfn>patch change</dfn> is Ardour's description for a combination
10040 of MIDI program change and bank select messages, that (typically)
10041 instruct a synthesizer or sampler to select a different sound to use
10042 on a particular channel.
10046 Patch changes are shown within MIDI regions as small rectangles or
10047 <dfn>flags</dfn>, as shown below:
10050 <p class="fixme">Add missing images</p>
10052 <h2>Inserting Patch Changes</h2>
10056 <a href="/editing-and-arranging/edit-point">edit point</a> is
10057 located where the patch change should be (within an existing
10058 MIDI region). Context click, and from the MIDI region's context menu,
10059 select <kbd class="menu">MIDI > Insert Patch Change</kbd>. A
10060 dialog will appear allowing the setting of the bank and program values.
10063 <h2>Modifying Patch Changes</h2>
10066 Context-clicking on a patch change will bring up the same dialog that
10067 was used to create it, allowing the modification of the program and/or bank
10072 The mouse wheel can also be used: <kbd class="mouse">⇑</kbd>/<kbd
10073 class="mouse">⇓</kbd> on the patch change will alter the program
10074 number, <kbd class="mouse mod1">⇑</kbd>/<kbd
10075 class="mouse mod1">⇓</kbd> will modify the bank number.
10078 <h2>Moving Patch Changes</h2>
10081 Just <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd>-drag on the patch change to move it
10085 <h2>Removing Patch Changes</h2>
10088 Put the mouse pointer into the rectangular area, and press <kbd>Del</kbd>
10089 or use the delete mouse button operation. This will remove the patch change
10090 (the operation can be undone).
10093 <h2>Names for Patch Numbers: MIDNAM files</h2>
10096 …mising…
10099 <p class="fixme">Add missing content</p>
10102 title: Independent and Dependent MIDI Region Copies
10103 menu_title: Copy MIDI Region
10108 When <dfn>copying a MIDI region</dfn>, Ardour has to decide whether to make the
10109 copy refer to the same data as the original or not. If it does refer
10110 to the same data, then editing either the copy or the original will
10111 affect the both of them. If it refers to an independent copy of the
10112 data then each one can be edited without affecting the other.
10115 <h2>Changing dependent/independent copying for the entire session</h2>
10118 <kbd class="menu">Sesson > Properties > Misc > MIDI region copies are
10119 independent</kbd> can be used to control the default behaviour when
10120 making a copy of a MIDI region.
10124 When enabled, every new copy of a MIDI
10125 region results in a copy being made of the MIDI data used by the
10126 region, and the new copy of the region will refer to that data.
10130 When disabled, every new copy of a MIDI region will refer to the same
10131 MIDI data, and thus editing any copy will change the contents of all
10136 Changing the status of this option has no effect on the existing
10137 dependent/independent status of existing region copies.
10140 <h2>Making an existing copy of a MIDI region independent</h2>
10143 Context-click on the MIDI region to be made independent. From the context menu, select <kbd class="menu">MIDI > Unlink From Other Copies</kbd>. The copy is now using an independent version of the data, and edits to the copy will affect only the copy. Other linked copies will continue to share data.
10147 The copied data only covers the extent of the region when the copy is made. If the region was already trimmed and then a copy is made, an independent copy will have no access to data that is earlier or later than the bounds of the region it was copied from. Put differently, if an independent copy of a trimmed MIDI region is made, it cannot be "untrimmed" to a larger size.
10151 title: Automating MIDI - Pitch bending and aftertouch
10152 menu_title: Automating MIDI
10157 Adding pitch bending or aftertouch can add a lot of subtlety to an otherwise plain sounding midi region and help humanize it.
10160 <img src="/images/MIDI_pitch_bending.png" alt="Automation: pitch bending" />
10163 Pitch bending and aftertouch both work the same way, through automation. Right click the MIDI track's header > Automation > Bender <em>(or Pressure)</em> > <em>choose the channel you want to bend</em>.
10167 Using the Draw tool, as for all the automation, allows creation of a gradual change from one drawn point to another. A line in the center produces no change to the pitch, while a line above the center will bend the pitch to a higher note (up to 4 semitones) and a line going under the middle will bend the pitch to a lower note.
10171 The values can be anything between 0 (-4 semitones) to 16,383 (+4 semitones). No automation or a value of 8,192 means no pitch shifting.
10175 Aftertouch works very similarly, though the values are between 0 and 127. It should be noted that aftertouch differs from velocity, as aftertouch allows to slightly change the timbre or create a vibrato, while the velocity sets the power with which the note is played (e.g. on a keyboard, the key is hit).
10179 title: Transforming MIDI - Mathematical operations
10180 menu_title: Transforming MIDI
10185 Considering the numerical nature of MIDI events, it can be tempting to apply mathematical transformations to our MIDI regions by using mathematical operations. Ardour makes it very easy and powerful with the Transform tool.
10188 <p class="center"><img src="/images/MIDI_transform.png" alt="MIDI transformation" /></p>
10191 To access the Transform tool, right click the MIDI region > <em>name_of_the_region</em> > MIDI > Transform...
10195 First, select the property you want to modify in the 'Set' field, then change the target value using the 2 following fields. If you want to add more operands, click the "+" sign to create new lines. You can remove a superfluous line using the "-" sign on the right of the newly created line.
10199 In the picture above, we've used the Transform tool to add a bit of humanization, by slightly changing the velocity of each note of the region, by a random number between -19 and +19 from it's original velocity. So we've used 3 operations:
10203 <li>Set velocity to this note's velocity</li>
10204 <li>+ a random number from 1 to 20</li>
10205 <li>- a random number from 1 to 20</li>
10208 <p>Each note will trigger a calculation of its own, so its velocity will be increased by a random number between 1 and 20, then decreased by a random number between 1 and 20.</p>
10211 The properties that can be computed are:
10215 <li>note number (eg C2 is note number 24, C#2 is 25 and so on)</li>
10216 <li>velocity (the global intensity of the note, between 0 and 127)</li>
10217 <li>start time (in beats)</li>
10218 <li>length (in beats)</li>
10223 and the calculation may be based on the following properties:
10227 <li>this note's</li>
10228 <li>the previous note's</li>
10229 <li>this note's index (number of the note, i.e. the first one is 0, the second is 1, etc.)</li>
10230 <li>exactly (for a constant value, between 1 and 127)</li>
10231 <li>a random number from <em>lower</em> to <em>higher</em> (<em>lower</em> and <em>higher</em> beeing constant values between 1 and 127)</li>
10232 <li>equal steps from <em>lower</em> to <em>higher</em> (<em>lower</em> and <em>higher</em> beeing constant values between 1 and 127)</li>
10236 The mathematical operators can be:
10240 <li>+ (addition)</li>
10241 <li>- (substration)</li>
10242 <li>* (multiplication)</li>
10243 <li>/ (euclidian division)</li>
10244 <li>mod (rest of the euclidian division)</li>
10248 All this operations can be very handy, as long as you find a mathematical way to achieve your goal. Beware though of odd "border cases": division by zero (which does nothing), using the note's index and forgetting it starts at 0 and not 1, etc.
10252 You can nevertheless create very interesting results, like humanizing (randomizing the velocity, start time and duration of all the notes), creating arpeggios, automating tedious tasks, transposing, etc.
10257 title: MIDI Editors
10263 title: MIDI Scene Automation
10268 Ardour is capable of being used to both record and deliver MIDI
10269 "scene" automation. These are MIDI messages typically used to switch
10270 presets or "scenes" on a variety of external equipment (or
10271 software), including lighting and other audio/video tools. A common
10272 use case is to automatically change presets between songs or to change
10273 lighting conditions based on a specific position on the timeline.
10277 Each change from one scene to another is represented by a marker in
10282 Technically, scene changes are delivered as a combination of bank and
10283 program change MIDI messages. MIDI allows for 16,384 banks, each with
10287 <h2>Recording Scene Changes</h2>
10290 Ardour has a dedicated MIDI port named "Scene In". Connect this port
10291 to whatever source(s) of MIDI scene (bank/program change) messages you
10296 Whenever the global record enable button is engaged and Ardour's
10297 transport is rolling, a new marker will be created for each scene
10298 change message received via the "Scene In" port.
10302 If two different scene changes are received within a certain time
10303 period, only the later one will be recorded as a new marker. The
10304 default threshold for this is one millisecond.
10308 If a scene change message is received while the playhead is close to
10309 an existing marker with an associated scene change, the recording
10310 process will alter the scene change in the existing marker rather than
10311 adding a new one. The default threshold for this "proximity" test is one
10315 <h2>Manually Creating Scene Changes</h2>
10318 This feature is not currently implemented.
10321 <h2>Playing back Scene Changes</h2>
10324 Ardour has a dedicated MIDI port named "Scene Out". Connect this port
10325 to wherever you wish to send MIDI scene (bank/program change) messages.
10329 When the global record enable button is
10330 <em>not</em> enabled, the relevant message(s) will be sent via the
10331 "Scene Out" port as the playhead rolls past each marker with a scene
10332 change associated with it.
10335 <h2>Editing Scene Changes</h2>
10338 This feature is not currently implemented.
10341 <h2>Disabling Scene Changes</h2>
10344 This feature is not currently implemented.
10349 title: Score Editor
10355 title: MIDI Event List
10370 title: Time, Tempo and Meter
10376 title: Tempo and Meter
10381 Tempo and meter belong together. without both, there is no way to know where a beat lies in time.
10385 Tempo provides a musical pulse, which is divided into beats and bars by a meter. When tempo is changed or an audio-locked meter is moved, all objects on the timeline that are glued to bars and beats (locations, regions) will move in sympathy.
10389 When performing meter or tempo operations, it is advised to show the BBT ruler (available by right-clicking an existing marker or ruler name), and that the constraint modifier is set (in Preferences->User Interaction) so that no other modifiers share its key combination.
10393 The constraint modifier is the "Constrain drags using:" setting under the "When Beginning a Drag" heading. One viable setting is <kbd class="mod1"></kbd><kbd class="mod3"></kbd>.
10399 Tempo can be adjusted in several ways:
10403 <li>by double clicking on a tempo marker. This opens the tempo dialog which will allow entering the tempo directly into an entry box.</li>
10404 <li>by using the constraint modifier (which is set in Preferences->User Interaction) to drag the beat/bars in the BBT ruler or the tempo/meter lines.
10405 This is the preferred way to match the tempo to previously recorded material.</li>
10408 When dragging the BBT ruler, musical snap has no effect, however be warned that non-musical snap is in effect if enabled. Snapping to a minute while dragging a beat may result in some verly slow tempos. Snapping a beat to a video frame however is an incredibly useful way to ensure a soundtrack is punchy and synchronised to the sample.
10411 <li>by holding down the constaint modifier while dragging a tempo vertically. This is used for more complex tempo solving, as it allows changing the position and tempo of a tempo marker in the same drag; it is, however, a useful way to adjust the first tempo for a quick result.</li>
10415 A tempo may be locked to audio or musical time. This may be changed by right-clicking on a tempo. If a tempo is locked to music, an entry will be available to lock it to audio. Similarly an audio-locked tempo may be locked to music by right clicking it an selecting the "Lock to Music" entry.
10419 Audio locked tempo marks stay in their frame position as their neigbours positions are altered. Their pulse (musical) position will change as their neighbours move. Music locked tempo marks move their frame position as their neighbours are moved, but keep their pulse position (they will move as the music is moved).
10423 A tempo may be ramped or constant.
10425 <li>A constant tempo will keep the sesion tempo constant until the next tempo section, at which time it will jump instantly to the next tempo. These are mostly useful abrupt changes, and is the way in which traditional DAWs deal with tempo changes (abrupt jumps in tempo).</li>
10426 <li>A ramped tempo increases its tempo over time so that when the next tempo section has arrived, the sesion tempo is the same as the second one. This is useful for matching the session tempo to music which has been recorded without a metronome. Ramps may also be used as a compositional tool, but more on this later. Note that a ramp requires two points—a start and an end tempo. The first tempo in a new session is ramped, but appears to be constant as it has no tempo to ramp to. It is only when a new tempo is added and one of them is adjusted that a ramp will be heard. The same applies to the last tempo in the session—it will always appear to be constant until a new last tempo is added and changed.
10432 <img src="/images/constant-tempo.png" alt="A constant tempo displaying the tempo at the playhead in the audio clock">
10434 A series of constant tempo markers. The tempo at the playhead position is the same as the previous tempo.
10438 <img src="/images/ramped-tempo.png" alt="A ramped tempo displaying the tempo at the playhead in the audio clock">
10440 A ramped tempo marker. The tempo at the playhead position is approaching the second tempo. Because the playhead is equidistant (in beats) between the
10441 two markers, the tempo at the playhead is the average of the two.
10445 To add a new tempo, use the primary modifier and click on the tempo line at the desired position. The new tempo will be the same as the tempo at the position of the mouse click (it will not change the shape of the ramp).
10449 To copy a tempo, hold down the primary modifier and drag the tempo desired to be copied.
10455 Meter positions beats using the musical pulse of a tempo, and groups them into bars using its number of divisions per bar.
10459 The first meter in a new session may be moved freely. It has an associated tempo which cannot be dragged by itself (although all others can). It can be moved freely and is locked to audio.
10463 New meters are locked to music. They may only occur on a bar line if music locked.
10467 An audio locked meter provides a way to cope with musical passages which have no meter (rubato, pause), or to allow a film composer to insert a break in music which cannot be counted in beats.
10471 If a meter is audio-locked, its bar number is fixed from the point at which it left the main score. That bar number cannot be changed, nor can tempo motion allow the previous bar to overlap. If another bar is needed, lock the meter to music again (right click->"Lock to Music"), drag the meter to the desired bar and re-lock to audio. The new bar may be freely moved again.
10474 <li>To change a meter, double click it. A dialog will appear.</li>
10475 <li>To copy a meter, hold down <kbd class="mod1"></kbd> and drag it.</li>
10478 title: Techniques for Working with Tempo and Meter
10482 <h3>Techniques </h3>
10485 As a general approach, the best way to control tempo ramps is to use them in pairs.
10489 Lets imagine we want to match the click to a drum performance recorded in 'free time'.
10493 The first thing we need to do is determine where the first beat is. Drag the first meter to that position.
10497 Now the first click will be in time with the first beat. To get all the other beats to align, we listen to the drums and visually locate the position of bar 4. You may wish to place the playhead here.
10501 We then locate bar 4 in the BBT ruler and while holding the constraint modifier, drag it to bar 4 in the drum performance.
10505 We notice that the click now matches the first 4 bars, but after that it wanders off. You will see this reflected in the tempo lines.. they won't quite match the drum hits. We now locate the earliest position where the click doesn't match, and place a new tempo just before this. Two bars later, place another new tempo.
10509 Now while dragging any beat <strong>after</strong> the second new tempo, watch the drum audio and tempo lines until they align.
10513 Notice what is happening here: the tempo previous to your mouse pointer is being changed so that the beat you grabbed aligns with the pointer. Notice that the tempo lines previous to the changed one also move. This is because the previous tempo is ramping <strong>to</strong> the tempo you are changing. Look further to the left. The tempo lines in the first four bars do not move.
10517 Again, some time later the click will not align. I didn't say this was easy.
10521 Repeat the same technique: add two new tempos and drag the BBT ruler <strong>after</strong> the newest tempo so that the beats align with the audio again.
10525 In a general sense, adding tempo markers in pairs allows you to 'pin' your previous work while you move further to the right.
10528 <h3>Another use case: matching accelerando</h3>
10531 Imagine you have some video and have located where your music cue begins. Move the first meter to that frame (you may snap to TC frames, but not music with an audio locked meter).
10535 Find a starting tempo by listening to the click while you drag the meter's tempo vertically using the constraint modifier.
10539 You have the playhead at point where the dude slams the phone down, and your idea was that 4|1|0 would be good for this, but you want an accelerando to that point.
10543 Add a tempo at bar 4.
10547 Holding down the constraint modifier, and with snap set to 'TC Frames', grab the BBT ruler just <strong>after</strong> 4|1|0. Drag the ruler so that 4|1|0 snaps to the 'phone' frame.
10551 Notice what happened: The second tempo was changed.<br />
10552 You had set a musical position for the second tempo marker. It was not aligned with the frame you wanted, so you dragged the BBT ruler, making the second tempo provide enough pulses over the ramp for 4|1|0 to align with the desired frame.
10556 If the ramp doesn't feel right, you may add more points within it and keep adjusting beat positions in a similar manner.
10562 Audio locked meters can be useful when composing, as they allow a continuous piece of music to be worked on in isolated segments, preventing the listening fatigue of a fixed form. Reassembly is left as an excercise for the reader.
10567 title: Memory Locations
10571 <p class="fixme">Add content</p>
10575 title: Arranging Regions
10579 <p class="fixme">Add content</p>
10583 title: Region Loops and Groups
10587 <p class="fixme">Add content</p>
10597 title: Basic Mixing
10603 title: Metering in Ardour
10607 <h2>Introduction</h2>
10610 An engineer reading and using audio level meters compares to a musician
10611 reading or writing sheet-music. Just like there are virtuoso musicians
10612 who can't read a single note, there are great sound-engineers who just
10613 go by their ears and produce great mixes and masters without ever looking
10618 Yet, if you want to work in or with the broadcast industry, it is
10619 usually unavoidable to use meters.
10623 Audio level meters are very powerful tools that are useful in every
10624 part of the entire production chain:
10628 <li>When tracking, meters are used to ensure that the input
10629 signal does not <dfn>overload</dfn> and maintains reasonable
10630 <dfn>headroom</dfn>.</li>
10631 <li>Meters offer a <dfn>quick visual indication</dfn> of a
10632 activity when working with a large number of tracks.</li>
10633 <li>During mixing, meters provide an rough estimate of the
10634 <dfn>loudness</dfn> of each track.</li>
10635 <li>At the mastering stage, meters are used to check
10636 compliance with upstream <dfn>level</dfn> and <dfn>loudness
10637 standards</dfn> and to optimize the <dfn>loudness range</dfn>
10638 for a given medium.</li>
10641 <h2>Meter Types</h2>
10644 A general treatise on metering is beyond the scope of this
10645 manual. It is a complex subject with a history...
10646 For background information and further reading we recommend:
10650 <li><a href="http://www.digido.com/how-to-make-better-recordings-part-2.html">How To Make Better Recordings in the 21st Century—An Integrated Approach to Metering, Monitoring, and Leveling Practices</a> by Bob Katz. Has a good historic overview of meters and motivates the K-meter</li>
10651 <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_programme_meter#Table_of_characteristics">Wikipedia: Peak programme meter</a>—overview of meter types.</li>
10652 <li>"Audio Metering: Measurements, Standards and Practice: Measurements, Standards and Practics", by Eddy Brixen. ISBN: 0240814673</li>
10653 <li>"Art of Digital Audio", by John Watkinson. ISBN: 0240515870</li>
10657 There are different metering standards, most of which are available in Ardour. In short:
10661 <dt>Digital peak-meter</dt>
10662 <dd>A <dfn>Digital Peak Meter</dfn> displays the absolute maximum signal
10663 of the raw audio PCM signal (for a given time). It is commonly used when
10664 tracking to make sure the recorded audio never clips. To that end, DPMs
10665 are always calibrated to 0 <abbr title="DeciBel Full
10666 Scale">dBFS</abbr>, or the maximum level that can be represented digitally
10667 in a given system. This value has no musical reason whatsoever and depends
10668 only on the properties of the signal chain or target medium. There are
10669 conventions for <dfn>fall-off-time</dfn> and <dfn>peak-hold</dfn>, but no
10670 exact specifications.
10672 Various conventions for DPM fall-off times and dBFS line-up level can be
10673 chosen in <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > GUI</kbd>.
10677 <dt>RMS meters</dt>
10678 <dd>An <dfn><abbr title="Root Mean Square">RMS</abbr>-type meter</dfn>
10679 is an averaging meter that looks at the energy in the signal. It
10680 provides a general indication of loudness as perceived by humans. Ardour
10681 features three RMS meters, all of which offer additonal peak indication.
10683 <li><dfn>K20</dfn>: A meter according to the K-system introduced by Bob
10684 Katz, scale aligned to -20 dBFS, rise/fall times and color schema
10685 according to spec.</li>
10686 <li><dfn>K14</dfn>: Same as K20 with scale aligned to -14 dBFS.</li>
10687 <li><dfn>K12</dfn>: Same as K20 with scale aligned to -12 dBFS (since 3.5.143).</li>
10688 <li><dfn>Peak + RMS</dfn>: standard RMS, customizable via
10689 <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > GUI > Metering</kbd></li>
10694 <dd><dfn><abbr title="International Electrontechnical Commission">IEC</abbr>-type
10695 <abbr title="Peak Programme Meters">PPM</abbr>s</dfn> are a mix between DPMs and
10696 RMS meters, created mainly for the purpose of
10697 interoperability. Many national and institutional varieties exist (<abbr
10698 title="European Broadcasting Union">EBU</abbr>, <abbr title="British Broadcasting
10699 Corporation">BBC</abbr>, <abbr title="Deutsche Industrie-Norm">DIN</abbr>).
10701 These loudness and metering standards provide a common point of
10702 reference which is used by broadcasters in particular so that the
10703 interchange of material is uniform across their sphere of influence,
10704 regardless of the equipment used to play it back.
10707 For home recording, there is no real need for this level of
10708 interoperability, and these meters are only strictly required when
10709 working in or with the broadcast industry. However, IEC-type meters have
10710 certain characteristics (rise-time, ballistics) that make them useful
10711 outside the context of broadcast.
10714 Their specification is very exact, and consquently, there are no
10715 customizable parameters.
10720 <dd><dfn><abbr title="Volume Unit">VU</abbr> meters</dfn> are the dinosaurs (1939)
10721 amongst the meters. They react very slowly, averaging out peaks.
10722 Their specification is very strict (300ms rise-time, 1–1.5% overshoot,
10723 flat frequency response). Ardour's VU meter adheres to that spec, but for
10724 visual consistency it is displayed as a bar-graph rather than needle-style
10729 <h2>Ardour Specifics</h2>
10731 <img class="right" src="/images/mixer-meter-context-menu.png" alt="mixer strip meter context menu" />
10734 Meters are available in various places in ardour:
10738 <li>The mixer window features fixed height meters for each <dfn>channel strip</dfn>.</li>
10739 <li>There are small (narrow) meters on each <dfn>track-header</dfn> in the editor window.</li>
10740 <li>There are variable height meters in the <dfn>meterbridge window</dfn>.</li>
10741 <li>Optionally, a fixed-size <dfn>master meter</dfn> can be displayed in the main toolbar.</li>
10742 <li>Various other locations (<dfn>file import</dfn>, <dfn>sends</dfn>) have level-meters.</li>
10746 They all share the same configuration and color-theme which is available in
10747 preferences and the theme-manager. Settings for the Peak and RMS+Peak meters
10748 as well as VU meter standards are found in
10749 <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > GUI > Metering</kbd>.
10753 The type of meter and the <dfn>metering point</dfn> (the place in the signal chain
10754 where the meter taps the signal) are configurable in the context menu of each meter.
10755 Depending on the <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > GUI > Mixer
10756 Strip</kbd> settings, the metering point is also accessible via a button in
10760 <img class="right" src="/images/meter-preferences.png" alt="" />
10763 Regardless of meter type and standard the meter display will highlight red if
10764 the signal on the given channel exceeds the configured peak threshold.
10768 <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd> on the peak-indicator button resets the
10769 <dfn>peak-hold indicator</dfn> of a single channel.<br />
10770 <kbd class="mod1 mouse">Left</kbd> resets a whole <dfn>group</dfn>, and<br/>
10771 <kbd class="mod13 mouse">Left</kbd> resets all meters.
10774 <h2>Overview of meter types</h2>
10777 The figure on the left below shows all available meter-types in Ardour 3.4 when fed with a -18 dBFS 1 kHz sine wave.
10780 <img class="right" style="max-width:45%;height:400px;" src="/images/needle-meters-18.png"
10781 alt="Needle-style meters as external LV2 plugins" />
10782 <img style="max-width:45%; height:400px" src="/images/meter-types-18.png"
10783 alt="Bar-graph meters in Ardour" />
10787 Due to layout concerns and consistent look &Â feel, all meters available in
10788 Ardour itself are bar-graph type meters. Corresponding needle-style meters—which take up more visual screen space—are available as
10789 <a href="https://github.com/x42/meters.lv2/">LV2 plugins</a> (see image on the upper right).
10793 title: Signal Routing
10798 Ardour does most of its internal <dfn>signal routing</dfn> via JACK:
10799 all track and bus inputs and outputs are JACK ports, as are sends and
10800 inserts—which means they can be tapped into by other JACK clients.
10801 Only the signal flow inside a track or bus (i.e. from <a
10802 href="/working-with-plugins/processor-box/">processor to processor</a>) is
10803 handled internally.
10807 By default, Ardour will create the following connections:
10812 <dfn>Track inputs</dfn> are optionally auto-connected to hardware inputs, in round robin order, depending on the setting you chose in the
10813 <a href="/working-with-sessions/new-session-dialog"><kbd
10814 class="menu">Session > New Session</kbd> dialog</a>.
10817 <dfn>Bus inputs</dfn> are left disconnected.
10820 The number of <dfn>track and bus outputs</dfn> are equal to the number
10821 of inputs of the master bus.
10824 Track and bus outputs are always auto-connected to the master bus inputs.
10827 Master bus outputs are connected to hardware outputs.
10832 This configuration is normally sufficient to do basic tracking and playback of sessions without any adjustments. When changing these connections, be certain that there is good reason for doing so—it is generally not necessary and can often lead to problems.
10836 However, for many workflows during mixing, more complicated signal routing is required. Fortunately, Ardour is very flexible in the ways it offers to connect things to each other.
10840 title: Busses and VCAs
10845 In order to use the process of mixing, Ardour offers two tools traditionally found on hardware mixing consoles: <dfn>Busses</dfn> and <dfn><abbr title="Voltage-Controlled Amplifier">VCA</abbr></dfn>s.
10851 An Ardour bus can be considered a virtual track, as in a track that doesn't have a playlist (so, no regions).
10855 Its use is to "group" some audio signals to be treated the same way. One simple use case is to group all the audio tracks containing the different drums of a drumkit. Routing all the drums tracks outputs to a bus allows, once the different levels amongst the drums have been set, to adjust the global level of the drumkit in the mix.
10859 Bus usage goes way beyond this simple example though: busses, as tracks, can receive plugins for common audio treatment, and be routed themselves as needed. This makes for a very useful tool that is very commonly used both for musical purposes and computing ones: instead of using e.g. 10 discrete delay plugins on 10 different tracks, busses are often used as receivers of <a href="/signal-routing/aux-sends/">sends</a>, and only 1 delay plugin is used on this bus, reducing the processing power needed.
10862 <p class="note">Note that the Master strip, which by default receives the output from all tracks, <em>is</em> a bus itself.</p>
10864 <h3>Audio Busses vs MIDI Busses</h3>
10867 Ardour supports 2 types of busses: Audio and MIDI. A MIDI bus differs from an audio bus just by its input (which is 1 midi input instead of <em>n</em> audio), the fact that you can put an instrument on it at creation time, whereas you can't easily add an instrument to an audio bus.
10871 MIDI bus are provide a particularly efficient workflow for virtual drumkits where the arrangement uses different MIDI tracks. Moreover, busses with both Audio and MIDI inputs are well suited for vocoders and similar plugins.
10875 Depending on the user's workflow and the way busses are used, 2 possibilities exists:
10878 <h3>Connecting a track to a bus via outputs</h3>
10880 <img class="right" src="/images/connecting_bus_output.png" alt="Connecting a bus through a track's outputs">
10883 Connecting the output(s) of a track to the input(s) of the bus sends <em>all</em> the audio/MIDI to the bus. In the mixer strip, select (at the bottom) the OUTPUT button (often, by default, "Master"), and in the list, choose the input of a bus. Note that only the bus able to receive this output will show up, e.g. a mono bus wont be able to be connected to the output of a stereo track).
10887 Obviously, doing so will (by default) disconnect the output from the Master's input, which means all the audio/MIDI will be routed to the bus. For more complex routing, the OUTPUT button allows to show the <kbd class="menu">Routing Grid</kbd> that allows to plug the output of the track to multiple outputs at once, be it busses, tracks, Master... The button will then reflect these multiple connections by showing a <em>*number*</em>, number being the number of connections made in the routing grid.
10890 <h3>Connecting a track to a bus via Sends</h3>
10892 <img class="left" src="/images/connecting_bus_send.png" alt="Connecting a bus through a send">
10895 This allows not to interrupt the natural flow of the signal, i.e. the track will still output to what its connected to (e.g. Master). The signal is "tapped" at the point of insertion of the send, to be sent to the bus. Right click where in the signal flow you want the send to happen, and select <kdb class="menu">New Aux Send... > name_of_the_bus</kbd>.
10899 By <kbd class="mouse">left-clicking</kbd> the send meter, it is possible to adjust the amount of signal sent to the bus. This is often the way tracks are connected to an effect bus, like a Delay bus.
10903 Busses can be plugged to other busses, through outputs or sends. Both example workflows discussed previously, i.e. busses for grouping tracks and busses for effects, can both coexist, as e.g. a "grouping" drum bus can have a send to a reverb bus, and be connected to a compressor bus.
10909 Reword this section to Control MAster, separate from Busses, Detail the fact a track can have multiple VCA attached
10912 <img class="left" src="/images/vcas.png" alt="VCAs strips">
10915 Although track/bus <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-and-bus-groups/">groups</a> offer a certain kind of grouped-control over gain, solo, mute and more, traditional mixing consoles have long had group master channels ("VCAs") which allows to combine both a single fader to control the group level while also allowing you to easily adjust the relative levels inside the group. For large projects, this can make mixing much easier to control.
10919 It allows to use either or both of the conventions for combining multiple masters:
10923 <li>Nest VCAs (VCA 2 controls VCA 1 etc.)</li>
10924 <li>Chain VCAs (VCA 1 and VCA2 both control track or bus N)</li>
10927 <h3>Using a VCA strip</h3>
10930 A VCA strip is made of (from top to bottom in the screenshot):
10934 <li><dfn>1</dfn>: number of the VCA</li>
10935 <li><dfn>X</dfn>: allows to hide the VCA strip. Left clicking this button toggles the exclusive visibility of the tracks connected to this VCA</li>
10936 <li><dfn>M</dfn>: mutes the VCA</li>
10937 <li><dfn>S</dfn>: solos the VCA</li>
10938 <li><dfn>A level meter</dfn>: allows to adjust the level of the VCA</li>
10939 <li><dfn>~vca~</dfn>: a VCA button to optionally connect to another VCA</li>
10943 Right-clicking the name button shows a context menus comprised of:
10947 <li><kbd class="menu">Rename</kbd>: Renames the VCA</li>
10948 <li><kbd class="menu">Color...</kbd>: Changes the color of the VCA button in the tracks connected to this one</li>
10949 <li><kbd class="menu">Drop All Slaves</kbd>: Deletes all connections to this VCA, i.e. no tracks are controlled by this VCA anymore</li>
10950 <li><kbd class="menu">Remove</kbd>: Deletes this VCA</li>
10953 <h3>Connecting to a VCA strip</h3>
10955 <img class="left" src="/images/connecting_to_vca.png" alt="Connecting to VCA">
10958 Connecting a track/bus/VCA to a VCA is as simple as clicking the VCA button on any mixer strip and choosing the VCA to connect to.
10962 The VCA button only shows up in mixer strips when at least 1 VCA exists, i.e., you have to first create a VCA before connecting it.
10971 <dfn>Auxilliary sends</dfn> are <a
10972 href="/working-with-plugins/processor-box/">processors</a> in a bus or
10973 track channel strip. They tap the signal at a specific point in the signal
10974 flow (pre-fader, post-fader, before or after EQs and other plugins, etc.)
10975 and send a copy of that signal somewhere else, without affecting the
10976 normal signal flow downwards to the channel fader.
10980 Usually, aux sends from several tracks are collectively sent to a
10981 dedicated <dfn>Aux bus</dfn> in Ardour, to create a monitor mix for a
10982 musician, or to feed an effect unit. The output of such a bus might
10983 be routed to separate hardware outputs (in the case of headphone or monitor
10984 wedge mixes), or returned to the main mix (in the case of an effect).
10988 Since sends are JACK ports, it is also possible to send the tapped signal
10989 somewhere else directly, which is not usually possible on hardware mixers
10990 (see <a href="/signal-routing/external-sends/">External Sends</a>).
10994 It may be useful to
10995 <a href="/signal-routing/comparing-aux-sends-and-subgroups">compare and contrast</a>
10996 the use of aux sends with <a href="/signal-routing/subgrouping">subgrouping</a>.
10999 <h2>Adding a new aux bus</h2>
11002 Choose <kbd class="menu">Session > Add New Track or Bus</kbd>. In the
11003 <kbd class="menu">New Track & Bus</kbd> dialog, select "Busses" in the Track/Bus
11004 selector at the upper right.
11007 <h2>Adding a send to an aux bus</h2>
11010 Context-click on the processor box for the track you want to send to the bus, and
11011 choose <kbd class="menu">New Aux Send</kbd>. From the submenu, choose the bus you
11012 want to send to. A send will be added (and will be visible in the processor box).
11013 Note that the submenu may be empty if you have not created a bus yet.
11016 <h3>Pre-fader and Post-fader Aux Sends</h3>
11019 Depending on whether you context-click above or below the fader in the processor box,
11020 the new aux send can be placed before or after the fader in the channel strip.
11021 <dfn>Post-fader</dfn> aux sends are typically used when using an aux for shared signal
11022 processing (FX), so that the amount of effect is always proportional to
11023 the main mix fader. <dfn>Pre-fader</dfn> sends ensure that the level sent to the bus
11024 is controlled <em>only</em> by the send, not the main fader—this is typical
11025 when constructing headphone and monitor wedge mixes.
11028 <h2>Adding a new aux bus and sending a Track Group to it</h2>
11031 You can add aux sends to all members of a group and connect them to a new aux bus
11032 with a single click. After creating the track group (and adding tracks to it),
11033 context-click on the group tab and choose either
11034 <kbd class="menu">Add New Aux Bus (pre-fader)</kbd> or
11035 <kbd class="menu">Add New Aux Bus (post-fader)</kbd>. A new aux bus will be created,
11036 and a new aux send added to every member of the track group that connects to
11040 <p class="fixme">Add images, fix factual inaccuracies</p>
11041 <h2>Altering Send Levels</h2>
11044 You can alter the amount of the signal received by a send that it delivers to the bus
11045 it connects to. There are three approaches to this:
11048 <h3>Use the Send Fader</h3>
11051 Every send processor has a small horizontal fader that can be adjusted in the usual way. It is
11052 not very big and so this can be a little unsatisfactory if you want very fine control
11053 over the send level.
11056 <h3>Mapping the Main Fader</h3>
11059 Double-clicking on the send in the processor box will allow you to use the
11060 big fader of the mixer strip to control the send. The visual appearance of
11061 the mixer strip will change to reflect this. Double-click the send again to
11062 revert back to normal function for the strip.
11065 <h3>Map Aux Sends To Main Faders</h3>
11068 Pressing the button marked <kbd class="menu">Aux Sends</kbd> on a aux bus will
11069 alter the channel strip for every track or bus that feeds the aux bus. Many
11070 aspects of the strip will become insensitive and/or change their visual
11071 appearance. More importantly, the main fader of the affected channel strips
11072 will now control the send level and <strong>not</strong> the track gain.
11073 This gives a larger, more configurable control to alter the level. Click the
11074 <kbd class="menu">Aux Sends</kbd> button of the aux bus again to revert the
11075 channel strips to their normal use.
11078 <h2>Disabling Sends</h2>
11081 Clicking on the small "LED" in the send display in the processor box of the
11082 channel strip will enable/disable the send. When disabled, only silence will
11083 be delivered to the aux bus by this track. When enabled, the signal arriving
11084 at the send will be delivered to the aux bus.
11087 <h2>Send Panning</h2>
11090 Send panners can be configured to either be independent of the main
11091 panner, or to follow it. The latter could be useful for Reverb effects, or
11092 for in-ear monitor mixes delivered in stereo.
11096 title: Comparing Aux Sends and Subgroups
11097 menu_title: Auxes vs. Groups
11102 Auxes and Subgroups share a common concept—they both provide a way
11103 for one or more tracks (or busses) to send their signal to a single bus so
11104 that common signal processing can be applied to the mix of their signals.
11108 <dfn>Aux sends</dfn> leave the existing signal routing to the main mix in place,
11109 and are typically used to create a separate mix to send to (for example)
11110 monitors or headphones (for performer monitor mixes):
11113 <img width="300px" src="/images/a3_aux_routing.png" alt="aux signal routing" />
11116 <dfn>Subgroups</dfn> usually remove the original signal routing to the main mix and replace it with a new one that delivers the output of the subgroup bus to the main mix instead.
11119 <img width="300px" src="/images/a3_subgroup_routes.png" alt="sub group signal routing" />
11122 title: External Sends
11127 Like a normal aux send, an <dfn>external send</dfn> taps the signal at a
11128 specific within a channel strip, but delivers it to an external application
11129 or piece of hardware rather than an Ardour bus. By itself, an external
11130 send has no effect whatsoever on the audio signals within Ardour—it is a one-way signal routing that leaves all existing signal processing
11135 Most people will not have much use for this, but it can be useful if you
11136 want to experiment with external applications or hardware signal processing
11140 <h2>Adding an External Send</h2>
11143 Context-click on the
11144 <a href="/working-with-plugins/processor-box">processor box</a> in a
11145 channel strip (at the desired location, pre or post fader) and choose
11146 <kbd class="menu">Add new External Send</kbd>. A dialog will appear
11147 containing the standard Ardour
11148 <a href="/signal-routing/the-patchbay"><dfn>patchbay</dfn></a> to allow
11149 you to connect the send to the desired destination.
11152 <p class="fixme">Broken links</p>
11154 <h2>Removing an External Send</h2>
11156 <p>You can remove an external send in several ways:</p>
11159 <li><kbd class="mouse mod3">Right</kbd>-click the send in the processor box.</li>
11160 <li>Position the pointer over the send and press the <kbd>Del</kbd> key.</li>
11161 <li>Position the pointer over the send and press <kbd class="mod1">x</kbd>.</li>
11162 <li>Context-click the send and choose either <kbd class="menu">Cut</kbd> or
11163 <kbd class="menu">Delete</kbd>.</li>
11166 <h2>Altering Send Levels</h2>
11169 Just below the send in the processor box is a small fader that can be used
11170 like all other faders in Ardour to control the gain applied to the signal
11171 delivered by the send. Drag it to alter the level, Shift-click to restore
11172 to unity (0dB) gain.
11175 <h2>Disabling Sends</h2>
11178 Click the small "LED" in the send display within the processor box to turn
11179 it on and off. When turned off, silence will be delivered to the send. When
11180 turned on, the signal within the channel strip will be delivered.
11183 <h2>Editing Send Routing</h2>
11186 Double-clicking or Edit-clicking on the send in the processor box will
11187 redisplay the patchbay dialog that allows you full control over the routing
11197 <dfn>Inserts</dfn> are signal tap points that can be placed anywhere
11198 inside a channel strip. Unlike Auxes, they will interrupt the signal flow,
11199 feeding the signal from before the insert point to its <dfn>Insert
11200 send(s)</dfn>, and connecting the remainder of the channel strip to the
11201 <dfn>Insert return(s)</dfn>, both of which are JACK ports which are
11202 visible to other JACK applications.
11206 Inserts are the JACK equivalents of normalized switching jacks on an
11211 An insert allows you to either use a special external DSP JACK
11212 application that is not available as a plugin, or to splice an external
11213 analog piece of gear into your channel strip, such as a vintage
11214 compressor, tube equalizer, etc. In the latter case, you would first
11215 connect your inserts to a pair of hardware ports, which are in turn
11216 connected to the outboard gear.
11220 To disable (bypass) an insert, click on its LED in the processor box.
11224 When you create an insert, the signal will be interrupted until you make
11225 the relevant connections to the insert ports!
11229 Inserts will incur an additional JACK period of latency, which can be
11230 measured and compensated for during mixing, but not during tracking!
11239 <dfn>Subgrouping</dfn> (sometimes known as "Grouping" or "Audio Grouping")
11240 is a way to collect related signals together to apply some common
11241 treatment, before sending them on to the main mix. One standard
11242 application is to group several tracks belonging to the same instrument or
11243 section (such as a drumkit or horn section), to be able to adjust their
11244 volume with a single fader, after their inner balance has been set using
11249 To create a subgroup from an existing Track/Bus group, context-click on
11250 the relevant <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-and-bus-groups">group tab</a>,
11251 and choose <kbd class="menu">Add new subgroup bus</kbd>. A new bus will be
11252 created and every member of the track group will have its outputs disconnected
11253 from other destinations and then connected to the new bus inputs. The bus
11254 outputs will feed the master bus unless you have selected manual connections
11255 for the session. The bus will be named after the track group name.
11259 Alternatively, you can create a group manually, by first adding a new bus,
11260 then, for each track you want to feed the subgroup bus, disconnect its outputs
11261 from the master and connect it to the inputs of the subgroup bus instead.
11262 You can do this in the global audio patchbay or a track by track basis via the
11263 output button of each track's channel strip.
11267 To remove a subgroup (bus), context-click on the track group tab, and select
11268 <kbd class="menu">Remove subgroup bus</kbd>. You can also simply delete the
11269 bus itself. Note that this operation will <strong>not</strong> restore signal
11270 routing to the way it was before the addition of the subgroup bus—tracks
11271 that had been subgrouped will be left with their main outputs disconncted.
11280 The <dfn>patchbay</dfn> is the main way to make connections to, from and
11281 within Ardour's mixer.
11285 Notable exceptions are internal aux sends and connections to the monitor bus (if
11286 you are using one): these cannot be controlled from a patchbay, and are
11287 basically not under manual control at all.
11290 <img class="right" src="/images/connection-manager.png" alt="an example patchbay" />
11293 The patchbay presents two groups of ports; one set of <dfn>sources</dfn> (which produce data), and one of <dfn>destinations</dfn> (which consume data). Depending on the relative number of each, the sources will be placed on the left or the top of the dialogue, and the destinations on the right or the bottom. Thus, in general, signal flow is from top or left to right or bottom.
11297 Both sources and destinations are divided up into groups, with each group being given a tab:
11300 <dl class="narrower-table">
11303 These are ports which are connected to a physical piece of hardware (a sound card or MIDI interface).</dd>
11304 <dt>Ardour Busses</dt>
11305 <dd>All ports belonging to busses.</dd>
11306 <dt>Ardour Tracks</dt>
11307 <dd>All ports belonging to tracks.</dd>
11308 <dt>Ardour Misc</dt>
11310 These are other ports that do not fit into the previous two categories; for example, the ports on which the metronome click is output, and MIDI ports for things like control surfaces and timecode.
11314 If you have other JACK clients running, their ports will be found here. If there are no such ports, the tab will not exist (on one or both axes of the grid).</dd>
11318 The main part of the patchbay is a <dfn>matrix grid</dfn>. Within this grid, green dots represent connections, and you can click in any of the squares to make or break connections. You can also click and drag to draw a line of connections, which is sometimes useful for making many connections at once.
11322 In the example patchbay shown above we can note various things. We are using the <kbd class="menu">Ardour Tracks</kbd> sources tab, so we see the output ports of the three tracks in our session: Fred, Jim and Foo. Our destinations are from the <kbd class="menu">Ardour Busses</kbd> tab, so we have the inputs of a session bus, Sheila, and the inputs of the master bus. Fred and Jim have stereo outputs, so have L and R connections. Foo is a MIDI track, so it only has one connection, and its squares in the grid are coloured light grey to indicate that no connection can be made between Foo (a MIDI output) and our busses (which are all audio-input).
11326 The green dots in the example show that both Foo and Bar are connected to the master bus, left to left and right to right.
11329 <h2>Variants on the Patchbay</h2>
11332 Slightly different versions of the patchbay are available from different places in Ardour. For a global view of all JACK audio connections, use <kbd class="menu">Window > Audio Patchbay</kbd>, or press <kbd class="mod2">P</kbd>. A corresponding MIDI Connection Manager can be opened using <kbd class="mod23">P</kbd>.
11336 There is also a patchbay available when connecting individual tracks; clicking on the input or output buttons of a mixer strip will open a connection manager which has the corresponding track input or output as the only destination or source, with all other ports available for connection to it.
11339 <h2>Other patchbay features</h2>
11342 Context-clicking on a port name in the connection manager opens a menu which provides a few handy options:
11345 <dl class="wide-table">
11346 <dt><kbd class="menu">Add audio port</kbd> and <kbd class="menu">Add MIDI port</kbd></dt>
11348 These options add audio or MIDI ports to the thing that you opened the menu over, if this is possible. In this way, for example, tracks and busses can be extended to have more inputs or outputs.
11350 <dt><kbd class="menu">Remove</dt>
11352 Removes the given port, if possible. <kbd class="mouse mod3">Right</kbd>-clicking a port will do the same.
11354 <dt><kbd class="menu">Disconnect all from…</kbd></dt>
11355 <dd>Disconnects everything from the given port.</dd>
11356 <dt><kbd class="menu">Rescan</kbd></dt>
11358 Ardour will try to keep abreast of any changes to the JACK ports on your system, and reflect them in any connection managers which are open. If for some reason this fails, use this to re-scan the list of ports and update the manager.
11360 <dt><kbd class="menu">Show individual ports</kbd></dt>
11362 If you have a session which has lots of multi-channel tracks or busses, it may be an unnecessary detail that you have to connect left to left and right to right every time you make a connection. This obviously gets worse with higher channel counts (such as for 5.1 or Ambisonics). To make life easier with such sessions, you can untick Show individual ports. After that, the channels of tracks and busses will be hidden, and any green dots you add in the connection manager will automatically connect each channel of the source to the corresponding channel of the destination (left to left, right to right and so on). In this mode, a half-circle in the connection grid indicates that some (but not all) of the source's ports are connected to the destination.
11364 <dt><kbd class="menu">Flip</kbd></dt>
11366 This will flip the visible ports on the vertical axis with those on the horizontal. If, for example, the top of the connection manager is showing <kbd class="menu">Ardour Busses</kbd> and the right is showing <kbd class="menu">Hardware</kbd>, flip will swap the view to the opposite. You can also flip by pressing <kbd>f</kbd>. Note that if there are no matching tabs on both axes, flipping will be impossible.
11371 title: Track/Bus Signal Flow
11378 In each individual Track or Bus the signal flow is top to bottom. Consider the following diagram:
11381 <p class="center"><img width="360px" src="/images/track_signal_routing.png" alt="track signal routing" /></p>
11384 Trim, Fader and Panner are provided by Ardour. The Processor-Box can hold 3rd Party Plugins or host-provided redirects (insert, aux-send,..).
11387 <p class="fixme">Where is the processor box in that image?</p>
11390 An important aspect is that the signal flow is multi-channel and not fixed throughout the track. For example, a Track can have a mono input, a mono to stereo plugin (e.g. reverb) flowing into a surround panner with 6 outputs. The design of Ardour is that width of the signal flow is defined by the passage through plugins in the processor box, followed by panning.
11391 The number of inputs to the panner is defined by the number outputs of the last plugin in the chain. The number of panner outputs is equal to the track's outputs ports, which can be added and remove dynamically. This schema called <em>Flexible I/O</em>. It's very powerful and a distinct feature of Ardour.
11395 The golden rule of processor signal flow:<br/>The number of outputs of one link of the process chain defines the number inputs of the next, until the panner.
11399 Due to this rule there is one very common case that is hard to achieve: Keep a mono track mono. With <em>Flexible I/O</em>, if a stereo plugin is added on a mono track, the signal flow after that plugin becomes stereo.
11402 <h2>Strict I/O</h2>
11405 Strict I/O enforces a simple rule: Plugins have the same number of inputs as they have outputs. By induction the track will have as many output-ports as there are input ports.
11409 <li>Adding a Plugin will not modify the signal-flow. The number of plugin outputs is forced to the number of inputs present at the point of insertion.
11410 If a plugin-pin is missing, it is ignored. If Plugin-pin is unconnected, it is fed with silence. Unconnected plugin outputs are ignored).</li>
11411 <li>Strict I/O enforces the number of output ports. The number of inputs to the panner (outputs of last plugin) defines the number of track outputs (after panner).
11412 Required ports are automatically added, excess ports are removed. The user cannot manually add/remove output ports.</li>
11416 Strict I/O is set when creating the track and can later be en/disabled dynamically in the context menu of every mixer strip.
11419 <p class="center"><img src="/images/strict_io_routing.png" alt="strict i/o routing" /></p>
11422 There are two exceptions to the above rule 1.
11426 <li>Midi Synths. When adding a synth at a point where there is a Midi port only, the synthesizer plugin will add audio-output ports,
11427 which trickle down the processor chain to all follow up plugins as inputs and in turn force their outputs to match.</li>
11428 <li>Side chain inputs are not affected by strict I/O</li>
11431 <h2>Customizing the Signal Flow</h2>
11434 The signal flow though the mixer can be customized at every processor node via "Pin Configuration" in the context menu of every processor.
11435 User customization override all automatic (flexible/strict I/O mode) inferred output port settings for the given processor.
11436 Non-customized plugins downstream will follow suit depending on the selected route mode, e.g. adding an additional output to a plugin on a track set to strict I/O will trickle down the process chain until the output and result in the addition of an output port. This is useful for example in case of a mono to stereo reverb.
11440 One can also bypass plugin instances with a 'thru' connection. This connection is latency compensated. One example is separate Left/Right channel Equalization using two mono plugins on a stereo track:
11443 <p class="center"><img src="/images/left_right_eq.png" alt="separate left/right Eq" /></p>
11446 title: Muting and Soloing
11451 Each track and bus has two buttons which have important implications
11452 for signal flow: <dfn>mute</dfn> and <dfn>solo</dfn>. The behaviour
11453 of these buttons is configurable in Ardour, to suit different studio
11457 <h2>Without a monitor bus</h2>
11460 If you are using Ardour without a monitor bus, there is only one way
11461 in which mute and solo will work:
11466 Mute on a track or bus will mute that track on the master bus,
11467 so that it will not be heard.
11470 Solo on a track or bus will solo that track or bus and mute all
11471 others. Soloing a bus will also solo any tracks or
11472 busses which feed that bus.
11476 <h2>With a monitor bus</h2>
11479 For setups with a monitor bus, you have more options, mostly
11480 governed by the setting of the
11481 <kbd class="option">Solo controls are Listen controls</kbd> option
11482 in <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Solo / mute.
11486 With <kbd class="optoff">Solo controls are Listen controls</kbd>
11487 unticked, behaviour is almost exactly the same as the situation
11488 without a monitor bus. Mute and solo behave the same, and the monitor
11489 bus is fed from the master bus, so it sees the same thing.
11493 With <kbc class="option">Solo controls are Listen controls</kbd>
11494 ticked, the master and monitor busses behave differently. In this
11495 mode, solo controls are more properly called <dfn>listen</dfn>
11496 controls, and Ardour's solo buttons will change their legend from
11497 <samp>S</samp> to either <samp>A</samp> or <samp>P</samp> to
11502 Now, without any mute or listen, the monitor bus remains fed by
11503 the master bus. Also:
11508 Mute will mute the track or bus, so that it will not be heard
11509 anywhere (neither on the master nor monitor busses), much as before.
11512 Listen will disconnect the monitor bus from the master bus, so
11513 that the monitor bus now only receives things that are "listened to".
11514 Listen will not perform any muting, and hence the master bus will
11515 not be affected by a listened track or bus.
11520 When solo controls are listen controls, the listening point can be set
11521 to either After-Fade Listen (AFL) or Pre-Fade Listen (PFL). The precise
11522 point to get the signal from can further be configured using the
11523 <kbd class="menu">PFL signals come from</kbd> and
11524 <kbd class="menu">AFL signals come from</kbd> options.
11528 The solo-mute arrangement with a monitor bus is shown below:
11531 <img src="/images/solo-mute.png" alt="mute/solo signal flow" />
11534 Here we have a number of tracks or busses (in orange). Each one has an
11535 output which feeds the master bus. In addition, each has PFL and AFL
11536 outputs; we have a choice of which to use. PFL/AFL from each track or
11537 bus are mixed. Then, whenever anything is set to AFL/PFL, the monitor out
11538 becomes just those AFL/PFL feeds; the rest of the time, the monitor out is
11539 fed from the master bus.
11543 In this scheme Solo has no effect other than to mute other non-soloed tracks;
11544 with solo (rather then listen), the monitor out is fed from the master bus.
11547 <h2>Other solo options</h2>
11550 <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Solo / Mute</kbd> has some
11554 <h3>Solo-in-place mute cut</h3>
11557 When using solo-in-place (SiP), in other words when soloed tracks are being
11558 listened to on the master bus, this fader specifies the gain that will be
11559 applied to other tracks in order to mute them. Setting this level to
11560 -∞&nbdp;dB will mean that other tracks will not be heard at all; setting to
11561 some higher value less than 0dB means that other non-soloed tracks will be h
11562 eard, just reduced in volume compared to the soloed tracks. Using a value
11563 larger than -∞dB is sometimes called "Solo-In-Front" by other DAWs, because
11564 the listener has the sense that soloed material is "in front" of other
11565 material. In Ardour, this is not a distinct mode, but instead the mute cut
11566 control offers any level of "in-front-ness" that you might want to use.
11569 <h3>Exclusive solo</h3>
11572 If this is enabled, only one track or bus will ever be soloed at once; soloing
11573 track B while track A is currently soloed will un-solo track A before soloing
11577 <h3>Show solo muting</h3>
11580 If this is enabled, the mute button of tracks and busses will be drawn
11581 outlined to indicate that the track or bus is muted because something else
11582 is soloed. This is enabled by default, and we recommend that you leave it
11583 that way unless you are extremely comfortable with Ardour's mute/solo
11587 <h3>Soloing overrides muting</h3>
11590 If this is enabled, a track or bus that is both soloed and muted will behave
11591 as if it is soloed.
11594 <h3>Mute affects…</h3>
11597 These options dictate whether muting the track will affect various routes out
11598 of the track; through the sends, through the control outputs (to the monitor
11599 bus) and to the main outputs.
11608 <dfn>Panning</<dfn> is the process of distributing one or more signals
11609 across a series of outputs so that the listener will have the
11610 experience of them coming from a particular point or area of the
11611 overall listening field.
11615 It is used to create a sense of space and/or a sense of motion in an
11616 audio mix. You can spread out different signals across the space, and
11617 make them move over time.
11620 <h2>Types of Panners</h2>
11623 The way a panner works depends a great deal on how many signals it
11624 is going to process and how many outputs it will send them to. The
11625 simplest case is distributing a single signal to 2 outputs, which is
11626 the common case when using a "mono" track and a stereo speaker
11631 But panning in Ardour could theoretically involve distributing any
11632 number of signals to any number of ouputs. In reality, Ardour does
11633 not have specific panners for each different situation. Currently,
11634 it has dedicated panners for the following situations:
11638 <li>1 signal distributed to 2 outputs (the mono panner)</li>
11639 <li>2 signals distributed to 2 outputs (the stereo panner)</li>
11640 <li>N signals distributed to M outputs (the VBAP panner)</li>
11644 Even for each of these cases, there are many different ways to
11645 implement panning. Ardour currently offers just one solution to each
11646 of these situations, but in the future will offer more.
11650 In addition to the panners, Ardour has a balance control for subtle
11651 corrections to existing stereo images.
11660 The default <dfn>mono panner</dfn> distributes 1 input to 2 outputs. Its
11661 behaviour is controlled by a single parameter, the <dfn>position</dfn>. By
11662 default, the panner is centered.
11665 <h2>Mono Panner User Interface</h2>
11667 <img src="/images/mono-panner-annotated.png" alt="image of the mono panner"/>
11670 The mono panner looks a quite similar to the
11671 <a href="/mixing/panning/stereo_panner">stereo panner</a>
11672 interface. The difference is that the L/R labels in the lower half
11673 of the mono panner do not move because there is no "width" to
11677 <h2>Using the mouse</h2>
11679 <p>To change the position smoothly, press the right button and drag
11680 anywhere within the panner. <em>Note: you do not need
11681 to grab the position indicator in order to drag</em>
11686 <dt>Reset to defaults</dt>
11687 <dd>Click <kbd class="mod3 mouse">right</kbd></dd>
11689 <dt>Change to a "hard left"</dt>
11690 <dd>Double click <kbd class="mouse">right</kbd> in the left side
11693 <dt>Change to a "hard right"</dt>
11694 <dd>Double click <kbd class="mouse">right</kbd> in the right side
11697 <dt>Set the position to center</dt>
11698 <dd>Double Click <kbd class="mouse">right</kbd> in the middle of the panner</dd>
11701 <h2>Keyboard bindings</h2>
11704 When the pointer is within a mono panner user interface, the following keybindings are available to operate on that panner:
11708 <dt><kbd>←</kbd> / <kbd class="mod1">←</kbd></dt>
11709 <dd>move position 1° / 5° to the left</dd>
11710 <dt><kbd>→</kbd> / <kbd class="mod1">→</kbd></dt>
11711 <dd>move position 1° / 5° to the right</dd>
11712 <dt><kbd>0</kbd></dt>
11713 <dd>reset position to center</dd>
11716 <h2>Using the scroll wheel/touch scroll</h2>
11719 When the pointer is within a mono panner user interface, the scroll wheel may be used as follows:
11723 <dt><kbd class="mouse">⇑</kbd> or <kbd class="mouse">⇐</kbd></dt>
11724 <dd>move position to the left by 1°</dd>
11725 <dt><kbd class="mod1 mouse">⇑</kbd> or <kbd class="mod1 mouse">⇐</kbd></dt>
11726 <dd>move position to the left by 5°</dd>
11727 <dt><kbd class="mouse">⇓</kbd> or <kbd class="mouse">⇒</kbd></dt>
11728 <dd>move position to the right by 1°</dd>
11729 <dt><kbd class="mod1 mouse">⇓</kbd> or <kbd class="mod1 mouse">⇒</kbd></dt>
11730 <dd>move position to the right by 5°</dd>
11734 title: Balance Control
11739 For stereo tracks, you can now switch between the default stereo panner and a traditional <dfn>balance control</dfn> by right-clicking on the panner widget.
11742 <img class="left" src="/images/stereo-balance.png" alt="Stereo Balance
11746 When the balance is centered, the incoming signals will be unaffected. Moving it to one side will linearly attenuate the signal of the opposite side.
11750 While the balance control is considerably less flexible than the stereo panner, it works with arbitrary content without danger of introducing comb filter artifacts.
11754 title: Stereo Panner
11759 The default <dfn>stereo panner</dfn> distributes two inputs to two outputs. Its
11760 behaviour is controlled by two parameters, <dfn>width</dfn> and
11761 <dfn>position</dfn>. By default, the panner is centered at full width.
11765 The stereo panner assumes that the signals
11766 you wish to distribute are either uncorrelated (i.e. totally
11767 independent), or that they contain a stereo image which is
11768 <dfn>mono-compatible</dfn>, such as a co-incident microphone recording, or a
11769 sound stage that has been created with pan pots.<sup><a href="#caveat">*</a></sup>
11773 With the default values it is not possible to alter the position,
11774 since the width is already spread entirely across both outputs. To
11775 alter the position, you must first reduce the width.
11778 <h2>Stereo Panner User Interface</h2>
11780 <img src="/images/stereo-panner-annotated.png" alt=""/>
11783 The <dfn>panner user interface</dfn> consists of three elements, divided between
11784 the top and bottom half. Click and/or drag in the top half to
11785 control position; click and/or drag in the bottom half to control
11786 width (see below for details).
11790 In the top half is the position indicator, which shows where the
11791 center of the stereo image is relative to the left and right
11792 edges. When this is the middle of the panner, the stereo image is
11793 centered between the left and right outputs. When it all the way to
11794 the left, the stereo image collapses to just the left speaker.
11798 In the bottom half are two signal indicators, one marked "L" and the
11799 other "R". The distance between these two shows the width of the
11800 stereo image. If the width is reduced to zero, there will only be a
11801 single signal indicator marked "M" (for mono), whose color will
11802 change to indicate the special state.
11806 It is possible to invert the outputs (see below) so that whatever
11807 would have gone to the right channel goes to the left and vice
11808 versa. When this happens, the entire movable part of the panner
11809 changes color to indicate clearly that this is the case.
11812 <h3>Position vs. L/R</h3>
11815 Although the implementation of the panner uses the "position"
11816 parameter, when the user interface displays it numerically, it shows
11817 a pair of numbers that will be familiar to most audio engineers.
11821 <tr><th>Position</th><th>L/R</th><th>English</th></tr>
11822 <tr><td>0</td><td>L=50% R=50%</td><td>signal image is midway between
11823 left and right speakers</td></tr>
11825 <tr><td>-1</td><td>L=100% R=0%</td><td>signal image is entirely
11826 at the left speaker</td></tr>
11828 <tr><td>1</td><td>L=0% R=100%</td><td>signal image is entirely
11829 at the right speaker</td></tr>
11833 One way to remember this sort of convention is that the middle of the
11834 USA is not Kansas, but "Los Angeles: 50% New York: 50%".
11837 <h3>Examples In Use</h3>
11840 <tr><th>Appearance</th><th>Settings</th></tr>
11841 <tr><td><img src="/images/stereo-panner.png"></td><td>Width=100%,
11842 L=50 R=50</td></tr>
11843 <tr><td><img src="/images/stereo-panner-zero.png"></td><td>Width=0%,
11844 L=50 R=50</td></tr>
11845 <tr><td><img src="/images/stereo-panner-inverted.png"></td><td>Width=-100%, Position = 0 (center)</td></tr>
11846 <tr><td><img src="/images/stereo-panner-right.png"></td><td>Width=36%,
11847 L=44 R=56</td></tr>
11848 <tr><td><img src="/images/stereo-panner-hard-right.png"></td><td>Width=0%,
11849 L=0 R=100</td></tr>
11852 <h4>Using the mouse</h4>
11855 Mouse operations in the upper half of the panner adjust the position
11856 parameter, constrained by the current width setting.
11859 Mouse operations in the lower half of the panner adjust the width
11860 parameter, constrained by the current position setting.
11863 To change the position smoothly, press the right button and drag
11864 within the top half of the panner, then release. The position will
11865 be limited by the current width setting. <em>Note: you do not need
11866 to grab the position indicator in order to drag.</em>
11869 To change the width smoothly, press the right button and drag
11870 within the lower half of the panner, then release. The width will be
11871 limited by the current position setting. <em>Note: you do not need to
11872 grab the L/R indicators in order to drag.</em>
11877 <dt>Reset to defaults</dt>
11878 <dd>Click <kbd class="mod3 mouse">right</kbd></dd>
11880 <dt>Change to hard left</dt>
11881 <dd>Double click <kbd class="mod2 mouse">right</kbd> in the upper left half
11884 <dt>Change to a hard right</dt>
11885 <dd>Double click <kbd class="mod2 mouse">right</kbd> in the upper right half
11888 <dt>Move position as far left as possible, given width</dt>
11889 <dd>Double click <kbd class="mouse">right</kbd> in the upper left half of the
11892 <dt>Move position as far right as possible, given width</dt>
11893 <dd>Double click <kbd class="mouse">right</kbd> in the upper right half of the
11896 <dt>Set the position to center</dt>
11897 <dd>Click <kbd class="mouse">right</kbd> in the upper middle of the panner</dd>
11899 <dt>Reset to maximum possible width</dt>
11900 <dd>Double click <kbd class="mouse">right</kbd> on the lower left side</dd>
11902 <dt>Invert (flip channel assignments)</dt>
11903 <dd>Double click <kbd class="mouse">right</kbd> on the lower right side</dd>
11905 <dt>Set width to 0°</dt>
11906 <dd>Double click <kbd class="mouse">right</kbd> in the lower middle</dd>
11909 <h4>Keyboard bindings</h4>
11912 When the pointer is within a stereo panner user interface, the following
11913 keybindings are available to operate on that panner:
11917 <dt><kbd>↑</kbd> / <kbd class="mod1">↑</kbd></dt>
11918 <dd>increase width by 1° / 5°</dd>
11919 <dt><kbd>↓</kbd> / <kbd class="mod1">↓</kbd></dt>
11920 <dd>decrease width by 1° / 5°</dd>
11921 <dt><kbd>←</kbd> / <kbd class="mod1">←</kbd></dt>
11922 <dd>move position 1° / 5° to the left</dd>
11923 <dt><kbd>→</kbd> / <kbd class="mod1">→</kbd></dt>
11924 <dd>move position 1° / 5° to the right</dd>
11925 <dt><kbd>0</kbd></dt>
11926 <dd>reset position to center</dd>
11927 <dt><kbd class="mod2">↑</kbd></dt>
11928 <dd>reset width to full (100%)</dd>
11931 <h4>Using the scroll wheel/touch scroll</h4>
11934 When the pointer is within a stereo panner user interface, the scroll
11935 wheel may be used as follows:
11939 <dt><kbd class="mouse">⇐</kbd> / <kbd class="mod1 mouse">⇐</kbd></dt>
11940 <dd>increase width by 1° / 5°</dd>
11941 <dt><kbd class="mouse">⇒</kbd> / <kbd class="mod1 mouse">⇒</kbd></dt>
11942 <dd>decrease width by 1° / 5°</dd>
11943 <dt><kbd class="mouse">⇑</kbd> / <kbd class="mod1 mouse">⇑</kbd></dt>
11944 <dd>move position 1° / 5° to the left</dd>
11945 <dt><kbd class="mouse">⇓</kbd> / <kbd class="mod1 mouse">⇓</kbd></dt>
11946 <dd>move position 1° / 5°to the right</dd>
11949 <h2><a name="caveat"></a>Stereo panning caveats</h2>
11951 <p class="warning">
11952 The stereo panner will introduce unwanted side effects on
11953 material that includes a time difference between the channels, such
11954 as A/B, ORTF or NOS microphone recordings, or delay-panned mixes.<br />
11955 When you reduce the width, you are effectively summing two highly
11956 correlated signals with a delay, which will cause <dfn>comb filtering</dfn>.
11960 Let's take a closer look at what happens when you record a source at 45° to the
11961 right side with an ORTF stereo microphone array and then manipulate the width.
11965 For testing, we apply a <dfn>pink noise</dfn> signal to both inputs of an Ardour stereo
11966 bus with the stereo panner, and feed the bus output to a two-channel analyser.
11967 Since pink noise contains equal energy per octave, the expected readout is a
11968 straight line, which would indicate that our signal chain does not color the
11972 <img src="/images/stereo-panner-with-ORTF-fullwidth.png" />
11975 To simulate an ORTF, we use Robin Gareus' stereo balance
11976 control LV2 to set the level difference and time delay. Ignore the Trim/Gain—its purpose is just to align the test signal with the 0dB line of the
11981 Recall that an <dfn>ORTF</dfn> microphone pair consists of two cardioids
11982 spaced 17 cm apart, with an opening angle of 110°. For a far source at
11983 45° to the right, the time difference between the capsules is 350 μs
11984 or approximately 15 samples at 44.1 kHz. The level difference due to the
11985 directivity of the microphones is about 7.5 dB (indicated by the
11986 distance between the blue and red lines in the analyser).
11990 Now for the interesting part: if we reduce the width of the signal to 50%,
11991 the time-delayed signals will be combined in the panner. Observe what
11992 happens to the frequency response of the left and right outputs:
11995 <img src="/images/stereo-panner-with-ORTF-halfwidth.png" />
11998 You may argue that all spaced microphone recordings will undergo comb
11999 filtering later, when the two channels recombine in the air between the speakers.
12000 Perceptually however, there is a huge of difference: our hearing system is
12001 very good at eliminating comb filters in the real world, where their component
12002 signals are spatially separated. But once you combine them
12003 inside your signal chain, this spatial separation is lost and the brain will
12004 no longer be able to sort out the timbral mess. As usual, you
12005 get to keep the pieces.
12009 Depending on your material and on how much you need to manipulate the width,
12010 some degree of comb filtering may be acceptable. Then again, it may not. Listen
12011 carefully for artefacts if you manipulate unknown stereo signals—many
12012 orchestra sample libraries for example do contain time-delay components.
12017 title: Plugin and Hardware Inserts
12023 title: Working With Plugins
12028 <dfn>Plugins</dfn> are bits of software that get loaded by Ardour in order to create various audio or MIDI effects, or generate audio by functioning as "software instruments".
12032 Ardour supports a variety of different plugin standards:
12035 <dl class="narrower-table">
12036 <dt><abbr title="Linux Audio Developers' Simple Plugin API">LADSPA</abbr></dt>
12037 <dd>An early, simple, lightweight plugin <abbr title="Application
12038 Programming Interface">API</abbr>, audio effects only,
12039 plugins have no editors/GUI of their own (Ardour provides one, however).</dd>
12040 <dt><abbr title="LADSPA Version 2">LV2</abbr></dt>
12041 <dd>An extensible, full-featured plugin API, audio and <abbr
12042 title="Musical Instrument Digital Interface">MIDI</abbr>, plugins can provide their
12043 own <abbr title="Graphical User Interface">GUI</abbr>s; the successor to LADSPA</dd>
12044 <dt><abbr title="Audio Unit">AU</abbr></dt>
12045 <dd>OS X only, full featured, audio and MIDI, plugins can provide their own GUI</dd>
12047 <dt><abbr title="Virtual Studio Technology">VST</abbr></dt>
12048 <dd>Plugins using Steinberg's VST plugin standard. Varies by platform:
12050 <dt>on Linux</dt><dd>(native) Linux VST plugins fully supported (VST2.4)</dd>
12051 <dt>on Windows</dt><dd>(native) Windows VST plugins fully supported (VST2.4)</dd>
12052 <dt>on OS X</dt><dd>Not supported, unless you use a VST-to-AU
12053 bridge plugin. Similar to Apple's Logic DAW.</dd>
12057 <dt>Windows VST Plugins on Linux</dt>
12058 <dd>VST plugins for Windows, but being used on Linux. <strong>Normally not supported.</strong> See <a href="/working-with-plugins/windows-vst-support">Windows VST Plugins on Linux</a> for details.
12063 title: Processor Box
12067 <p><img class="right" src="/images/processor-box.png" alt="the Processor Box" /></p>
12070 In Ardour terminology, a <dfn>processor</dfn> is anything which treats the signal in some way and gets plugged into a mixer strip. Ardour provides several builtin processors such as the fader or panners. Processors can also be <dfn>plugins</dfn> used for effects or as instruments, as well as sends or inserts which affect <a href="/signal-routing">signal routing</a>.
12074 The arrangement of processors is arbitrary, and there is no limit to how
12075 many there can be. The Processor Box will automagically add a scrollbar to
12076 itself if there are more processors in it than can be shown in the given space.
12080 The main box in the top half of a mixer strip shows the <dfn>processor
12081 box</dfn>. Processors are shown as colored rectangles, with a small "LED" beside
12082 them that lights up when the processor is enabled. The color of the
12083 processor depends on its location in the sequence; processors that are <dfn>pre-fader</dfn> are colored in red, and <dfn>post-fader</dfn> processors are colored green (in the default theme).
12087 The <dfn>processor box</dfn> will always contain a blue <dfn>Fader</dfn> processor. This indicates where in the processor chain the main channel fader is located; this is the fader shown in the lower half of the strip. It can be enabled and disabled like any other processor.
12090 <h2>Adding Processors</h2>
12092 Processors can be added to the chain by <kbd class="mouse">Right</kbd>-clicking in the processor list, This does three things:
12096 <li>A gap is opened up to indicate the location of the click. The gap shows where any new processors will be inserted.</li>
12097 <li>The processor under the click is selected.</li>
12098 <li>An options menu is presented.</li>
12102 From the menu, new processors can be inserted.
12106 Processors can also be dragged and dropped from the <a href="/working-with-plugins/plugin-sidebar/"><dfn>Favorite Plugins</dfn> window</a> to an appropriate spot in the Processor Box.
12110 The <dfn>Favorite Plugins</dfn> window can be populated via the <a href="/working-with-plugins/plugin-manager/">Plugin Manager</a>, or by dragging and dropping an existing processor from the <dfn>processor box</dfn> to the <dfn>Favorite Plugins</dfn> window.
12113 <h2>To Reorder (Move) Processors</h2>
12115 Processors can be re-ordered using drag & drop. Dragging a processor
12116 allows it to be moved around within the chain, or copied to another
12117 processor list on another track or bus.
12120 <h2>To Enable/Disable a Processor</h2>
12122 <p><img class="right" src="/images/processor.png" alt="a typical processor" /></p>
12125 To the left of the name of each processor is a small LED symbol; if this
12126 is lit-up, the processor is active. Clicking on it will deactivate the
12127 processor and effectively bypass it.
12131 Some processors have their own bypass controls that are independent of the one that Ardour provides; this can make it appear that the plugin is non-responsive when its independent bypass control is active.
12134 <h2>Selecting Processors</h2>
12136 A processor in the <dfn>processor box</dfn> can be selected with a <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd>-click on it; it will be highlighed in red. Other processors can be selected at the same time by <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd>-clicking on them while holding down the <kbd class="mod1">‌</kbd> key, and ranges can be selected by <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd>-clicking on them while holding down the <kbd>Shift</kbd> key
12139 <h2>Removing Processors</h2>
12141 Context-click on the processor to be removed, and select <kbd
12142 class="menu">Delete</kbd>; or <kbd class="mod3 mouse">Right</kbd>-click on it; or <kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd>-click on it and press the <kbd>Delete</kbd> key. If multiple processors are selected, they will all be deleted at the same time.
12146 title: Plugin Manager
12150 <p class="fixme">This needs updating; it was written for v3 or v4, and it's out of date</p>
12153 The <dfn>Plugin Manager</dfn> serves two purposes. Primarily it is used to control the display status of plugins. It can also be used to find and insert plugins into the <a href="/working-with-plugins/processor-box/">Processor Box</a>. It is displayed either by a double-click in the <dfn>Processor Box</dfn> or by choosing <kbd class="menu">New Plugin > Plugin Manager...</kbd> from the <dfn>Processor Box</dfn> context menu.
12156 <p class="center"><img src="/images/plugin-manager.png" alt="Plugin Manager window"/></p>
12159 Displayed for each plugin is the status (normal, favorite, hidden),
12160 name, type, category, creator (author), and the number of audio and MIDI
12161 connections. The plugins can be sorted by clicking on a column header.
12164 <h2>Plugin Display Status</h2>
12167 Click on a Fav(orite) or Hide radio button to change a plugin's display status. Clicking on an already selected radio button will cancel it, returning the plugin to the normal display status. Plugins marked as a favorite show up in the <dfn>Processor Box</dfn> context menu under <kbd class="menu">New Plugin > Favorites</kbd> and in <dfn>Favorite Plugins</dfn> pane in the Mixer window. Setting the hide radio button on a plugin will keep the plugin from showing in the <dfn>Processor Box</dfn> context menus <kbd class="menu">New Plugin > By Creator</kbd> or <kbd class="menu">New Plugin > By Category</kbd>.
12170 <h2>Filtering Listed Plugins</h2>
12173 The middle of the <dfn>Plugin Manager</dfn> is used to filter the listed plugins. Typing into the text-box will filter the plugins based on the filter mode selected by drop-down box. Clicking <kbd class="button">Clear</kbd> empties the text-box.
12176 <h2>Inserting Plugins in the Processor Box</h2>
12179 The bottom half of the plugin manager shows plugins that have been selected
12180 for insertion into the <dfn>Processor Box</dfn>. A plugin can be added by
12181 either double clicking the plugin entry in the top half, or, if already
12182 selected in top half, by clicking <kbd class="button">Add</kbd>.
12186 Plugins can be removed from the bottom half with a double click, or, if
12187 already selected, by clicking <kbd class="button">Remove</kbd>.
12192 title: Managing Plugin Presets
12196 <p class="fixme">Add images</p>
12199 All plugin control widgets, whether they are created by Ardour or
12200 by the plugin, have a common set of controls at the top of the window.
12201 These include 4 controls for managing <dfn>plugin presets</dfn>.
12204 <h2>What Is a Plugin Preset?</h2>
12207 A <dfn>preset</dfn> for a plugin is simply a saved set of values for
12208 all of a plugin's parameters. If you load a preset, you are restoring
12209 all the parameters of that plugin to the values stored in the preset.
12210 This is an easy, fast way to manage your preferred settings for
12211 particular plugins.
12214 <h2>The Preset Selector</h2>
12217 The <dfn>preset selector</dfn> is a regular selector that can be
12218 clicked to display a list of all known presets for this plugin. This
12219 will include presets that you have created yourself, and for some
12220 plugin formats, presets that come with the plugin itself.
12223 <h2>Load a New Preset</h2>
12226 Click on the preset selector to pop up a menu showing the names of
12227 all available presets. Click on the name of the preset you wish to load.
12228 The preset will be loaded—you may see various controls in the
12229 plugin editor change to reflect the new value of some or all parameters.
12232 <h2>Create a Preset</h2>
12235 To save the current plugin settings as a new preset, click on the
12236 <kbd class="menu">Add</kbd> button at the top of the window. A dialog
12237 will appear to ask for the name of the preset.
12240 <h2>Save a Preset</h2>
12243 If you wish to modify the settings in an existing preset, first use
12244 the preset selector to load the preset, then adjust the settings as
12245 you wish. When done, click the <kbd class="menu">Save</kbd> button
12246 and the new values will be stored, overwriting the previous version
12250 <h2>Delete a preset</h2>
12253 To delete an existing preset, use the preset selector to load the preset.
12254 Click the <kbd class="menu">Delete</kbd> button, and the preset will be
12255 removed. The preset selector turn blank, showing that no preset is
12256 currently loaded (although the settings will stay as they were).
12260 title: Working with Ardour-built Plugin Editors
12264 <p class="fixme">This section needs expansion, and at least one image</p>
12267 To view a plugin editor, double-click on the plugin within the
12268 <a href="/working-with-plugins/processor-box">processor box</a>.
12269 A new window will appear showing the editor/GUI for the plugin.
12273 If a plugin does not have its own GUI, Ardour will construct a
12274 <dfn>generic plugin editor</dfn> from a small set of common control
12275 elements. Ardour will do this even for plugins that have their
12276 own, if <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences >
12277 GUI > Use Plugins' own interface instead of Ardour's</kbd> is disabled.
12281 The generic UI can be temporarily switched to by context-clicking on
12282 a processor and selecting <kbd
12283 class="menu">Edit with generic controls</kbd>. This will be necessary to
12284 access the <a href="/automation">plugin automation controls</a>.
12288 In the generic UI, any controller can be reset to its default by
12289 <kbd class="mod3 mouse">Left</kbd>-clicking on it.
12293 title: Plugins Bundled With Ardour
12298 Ardour now comes with the following plugins as part of a standard installation:
12301 <dl class="narrower-table">
12302 <dt>a-Amplifier</dt>
12303 <dd>A versatile ±20dB multichannel amplifier</dd>
12304 <dt>a-Compressor</dt>
12305 <dd>A side-chain enabled compressor with the usual controls. Comes in stereo and mono versions</dd>
12307 <dd>A basic single-tap delay line, with tempo sync</dd>
12309 <dd>A nice sounding 4-band parametric EQ with shelves</dd>
12310 <dt>a-Fluid Synth</dt>
12311 <dd>Wraps the Fluidsynth SoundFont2 synthesis engine as a new sample player</dd>
12312 <dt>a-High/Low Pass Filter</dt>
12313 <dd>Independent high and low pass filters with steepness up to 48dB/octave</dd>
12314 <dt>a-Inline Scope</dt>
12315 <dd>A mixer strip inline waveform display</dd>
12316 <dt>a-Inline Spectrogram</dt>
12317 <dd>A mixer strip inline specturm display</dd>
12318 <dt>a-MIDI Monitor</dt>
12319 <dd>A mixer strip inline display to show recent <abbr title="Musical Instrument Digital Interface">MIDI</abbr> events</dd>
12321 <dd>A reverb that finds a balance between sounding good, using a lot of CPU and having too many controls</dd>
12325 title: Getting More Plugins
12330 The following list shows <dfn>plugin packages</dfn>. In some cases, a package contains just one or two plugins; in other cases, dozens.
12333 <h2>Plugins by Standard</h2>
12335 <h3 id="LADSPA">LADSPA</h3>
12338 <li>AMB <a href="http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/">http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/</a></li>
12339 <li>Blepvco <a href="http://smbolton.com/linux.html">http://smbolton.com/linux.html</a></li>
12340 <li>Blop <a href="http://blop.sourceforge.net">http://blop.sourceforge.net</a></li>
12341 <li>CAPS <a href="http://quitte.de/dsp/caps.html">http://quitte.de/dsp/caps.html</a></li>
12342 <li>CMT <a href="http://www.ladspa.org/cmt/">http://www.ladspa.org/cmt/</a></li>
12343 <li>FIL <a href="http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/">http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/</a></li>
12344 <li>FOO <a href="http://code.google.com/p/foo-plugins/">http://code.google.com/p/foo-plugins/</a></li>
12345 <li>MCP <a href="http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/">http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/</a></li>
12346 <li>NJL <a href="https://github.com/tialaramex/njl-plugins">https://github.com/tialaramex/njl-plugins</a></li>
12347 <li>Omins <a href="http://www.nongnu.org/om-synth/omins.html">http://www.nongnu.org/om-synth/omins.html</a></li>
12348 <li>REV <a href="http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/">http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/</a></li>
12349 <li>SWH <a href="http://plugin.org.uk/">http://plugin.org.uk/</a></li>
12350 <li>TAP <a href="http://tap-plugins.sourceforge.net/">http://tap-plugins.sourceforge.net/</a></li>
12351 <li>VCF <a href="http://users.suse.com/~mana/ladspa.html">http://users.suse.com/~mana/ladspa.html</a></li>
12352 <li>VCO <a href="http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/">http://kokkinizita.linuxaudio.org/linuxaudio/</a></li>
12353 <li>VLevel <a href="http://vlevel.sourceforge.net/about/">http://vlevel.sourceforge.net/about/</a></li>
12354 <li>Vocoder <a href="http://www.sirlab.de/linux/download_vocoder.html">http://www.sirlab.de/linux/download_vocoder.html</a></li>
12355 <li>WASP <a href="http://linux01.gwdg.de/~nlissne/wasp/index.html">http://linux01.gwdg.de/~nlissne/wasp/index.html</a> (mar wanted!)</li>
12356 <li>Nova <a href="http://klingt.org/~tim/nova-filters/">http://klingt.org/~tim/nova-filters/</a></li>
12357 <li>Calf <a href="http://calf.sourceforge.net/">http://calf.sourceforge.net/</a></li>
12358 <li>Socal’s LEET Plugins <a href="http://code.google.com/p/leetplugins/">http://code.google.com/p/leetplugins/</a></li>
12359 <!--<li>Holap synthesizer and DSP effects <a href="http://holap.berlios.de/">http://holap.berlios.de/</a></li>-->
12362 <h3 id="LV2">LV2</h3>
12365 <li>SWH <a href="http://plugin.org.uk/lv2/">http://plugin.org.uk/lv2/</a></li>
12366 <li>ll-plugins <a href="http://ll-plugins.nongnu.org/">http://ll-plugins.nongnu.org/</a></li>
12367 <li>zynadd <a href="http://home.gna.org/zyn/">http://home.gna.org/zyn/</a></li>
12368 <li>Calf <a href="http://calf.sourceforge.net/">http://calf.sourceforge.net/</a></li>
12369 <li>LinuxDSP <a href="http://www.overtonedsp.co.uk/download/linuxdsp-archive/">http://www.overtonedsp.co.uk/download/linuxdsp-archive/</a></li>
12370 <li>Invada Studio <a href="https://launchpad.net/invada-studio/">https://launchpad.net/invada-studio/</a></li>
12373 <h3 id="LinuxVST">Linux VST (LXVST)</h3>
12376 <li>Loomer <a href="http://www.loomer.co.uk/">http://www.loomer.co.uk/</a></li>
12377 <li>Distrho <a href="http://distrho.sourceforge.net/ports.php">http://distrho.sourceforge.net/ports.php</a></li>
12378 <li>Argotlunar <a href="http://argotlunar.info/">http://argotlunar.info/</a></li>
12381 <h2>How do I install plugins?</h2>
12386 <dfn>Installation</dfn> will vary a little depending on how you get plugins. If your repository has a particular plugin package, just install it using the normal software package management tool for your system. Most Linux distributions that are good for audio work will have most of the LADSPA and LV2 plugins mentioned above available in ready-to-use forms.
12390 Finding them will typically require <em>searching</em> your distribution's repository to find the name of the package. The tools for doing this vary from distribution to distribution. A good place to start searching is with the name of the package (e.g. "caps" or "calf"). There are no fixed rules about what different Linux distributions call their packages for a given set of plugins.
12394 If the package isn't available, then you can build the plugins from source (plugins are generally fairly easy to compile if you've ever done this sort of thing before).
12398 LADSPA plugins are shared library files. They need to be installed in either /usr/lib/ladspa, /usr/local/lib/ladspa or in a directory mentioned in your LADSPA_PATH environment variable.
12402 LV2 plugins are folders/directories. They need to installed in either /usr/lib/lv2, /usr/local/lib/lv2 or a directory mentioned in your LV2_PATH environment variable.
12406 Linux VST (LXVST) plugins are distributed as shared library files. They are typically installed in /usr/lib/lxvst, /usr/local/lib/lxvst or a directory mentioned in your LXVST_PATH environment variable.
12412 Unless you're a particularly technical computer user, building and installing plugins in the LV2 (or LADSPA) format is probably not something worth planning on.
12416 Most of the plugins you are likely to use on OS X will be in Apple's AudioUnit format. These have their own installation process that tends to just work.
12420 title: Using Windows VST Plugins on Linux
12425 Thanks to the combined work of Torben Hohn, Kjetil Mattheusen, Paul
12426 Davis and a few other developers, it is possible to use Windows
12427 <dfn><abbr title="Virtual Studio Technology">VST</abbr>
12428 plugins</dfn> (that is, plugins in VST format built and distributed
12429 for the Windows platforms) on Ardour running on Linux. (Note: there
12430 is no VST support of any kind on OS X).
12433 <p>However, doing so has three <em>substantial</em> downsides:</p>
12436 <li>It requires a special build of Ardour that is fundamentally
12437 very different from normal builds</li>
12438 <li>Support depends on <a href="http://winehq.org/">Wine</a>,
12439 a Windows "emulator"</li>
12440 <li>As usual with plugins, a crashing plugin will take Ardour down
12441 with it—and crashes in Windows VST plugins are more likely when
12442 used in this way</li>
12446 The dependence on Wine makes it almost impossible for the Ardour
12447 project to support this feature. Wine's functionality generally
12448 improves over time, but any given release of Wine may behave worse
12449 with some or all Windows VST plugins. It may even just crash Ardour
12454 Step back and think about what "using Windows VSTs" really means:
12455 taking bits of software written with only one idea in mind—running
12456 on the Windows platform—and then trying to use them on an entirely
12457 different platform. It is a bit of a miracle (largely thanks to the
12458 incredible work done by the Wine project) that it works at all. But is
12459 this the basis of a stable, reliable DAW for a non-Windows platform?
12460 Getting Ardour on Linux to pretend that its really a Windows
12461 application running on Windows?
12465 We understand that there are many outstanding plugins available as
12466 Windows VSTs and that in many cases, no equivalent is available for
12467 Ardour's Linux-based users. If your workflow is so dependent on those
12468 plugins, then remain on Windows (or potentially consider using an
12469 actual Windows VST host running inside of Wine). If you can make the
12470 effort, you will get a better environment by using a normal build of
12471 Ardour and exploring the world of plugins built to run on Linux
12472 natively. This covers LADSPA, LV2 and Linux VST formats, and even some
12473 outstanding proprietary plugins such as those
12474 from <a href="http://www.loomer.co.uk/">Loomer</a>.
12477 <h2>A Plea To Plugin Manufacturers</h2>
12480 Please consider porting your plugins so that users can enjoy them on
12481 Linux too. Several other commercial plugin developers have already
12482 done this. You can choose between using "Linux VST" (which is what
12483 Loomer and others have done)—you will find toolkits like JUCE that
12484 help to make this fairly easy—or using LV2 format which is
12485 ultimately more flexible but probably more work. We have users—thousands of users—on Linux who would like to use your plugins.
12494 <p class="fixme">Add content</p>
12504 title: Export Dialog
12509 When you have finished mixing your session, you probably want to export it to a sound file to burn to a CD, upload to the web, or whatever. <kbd class="menu">Session > Export > Export to Audio file(s)...</kbd> shows the Export Dialog to do this.
12513 You can also export the outputs of multiple tracks & busses all at once via
12514 <kbd class="menu">Session > Export > Stem Export...</kbd>.
12517 <h2>File Format</h2>
12519 <img src="/images/export-dialog-file-format.png" />
12522 This tab contains controls for the format of the exported audio file. You can enable more than one format here, in which case each will be exported in turn. Ardour is supplied with a list of export formats, including:
12524 <li>CD (Red Book)</li>
12526 <li>FLAC 24 bit </li>
12527 <li>FLAC 24 bit (tagged)</li>
12528 <li>Ogg_Vorbis</li>
12529 <li>Ogg_Vorbis (tagged)</li>
12532 You can edit these formats, or create your own, with the <a href="/exporting/edit-export-format-profile/">"Edit Export Format Profile"</a> dialog, which appears when you click the "Edit" or "New" button to the right of the drop-down list of formats.
12536 You can also create a 'Preset' consisting of one or more formats. Ardour provides some ready-made presets, too:
12538 <li>CD + DVD-A</li>
12540 <li>CD + FLAC (tagged)</li>
12541 <li>CD + Ogg_Vorbis + FLAC (tagged)</li>
12542 <li>CD + Ogg_Vorbis</li>
12543 <li>CD + Ogg_Vorbis (tagged)</li>
12545 <li>DVD-A only</li>
12547 <li>FLAC (tagged)</li>
12548 <li>Ogg_Vorbis + FLAC</li>
12549 <li>Ogg_Vorbis + FLAC (tagged)</li>
12550 <li>Ogg_Vorbis </li>
12551 <li>Ogg_Vorbis (tagged)</li>
12555 <h3>Soundcloud upload</h3>
12558 When 'Upload to Soundcloud' is ticked on in any format's tab, a pane containing fields to enter in Soundcloud account details (email and password), and what should happen to the uploaded files will become visible.
12561 <img src="/images/soundcloud-upload.png" />
12565 <dt>Make files public</dt><dd>Choose whether to make uploaded files available to anyone via the Soundcloud web site.</dd>
12566 <dt>Open uploaded files in browser</dt><dd>Open each file on soundcloud in your browser after upload. If you don't enable this, you can still see the URLs in the <a href="">Log window</a>.</dd>
12567 <dt>Make files downloadable</dt><dd>Choose whether to allow downloading of files uploaded to Soundcloud.</dd>
12573 <img src="/images/export-dialog-timespan.png" />
12576 This tab allows you to select the range (or ranges) of the timeline to export. By default, "session" is enabled—this will export the whole session from the start marker to the end marker.
12582 <img src="/images/export-dialog-channels.png" />
12585 Here you can choose which outputs (tracks or busses) should be sent to the exported file.
12588 <h2>Stem Export</h2>
12590 <img src="/images/export-dialog-stem-export.png" />
12593 If you chose 'Stem Export', the 'Channels' tab appears slightly differently:
12594 in this case each chosen channel (track or bus) is exported to its own file,
12595 instead of all channels being mixed together into a single file. You can
12596 choose to export either the region contents or the track output here in this
12601 title: Export Format Profiles
12605 <h2>Export Format Profiles</h2>
12608 An Export Format Profile specifies the file format in which Ardour will export
12609 audio files, and also other audio file export options.
12613 Export Format Profiles are edited via the 'Edit Export Format Profile' dialog.
12616 <img src="/images/edit-export-format-profile.png" />
12621 If enabled, peak levels of exported files will be normalized to the level chosen here.
12624 <h3>Trim/Add silence at start/end</h3>
12629 <h3>Compatibility/Quality/File format/Sample rate</h3>
12631 <h4>Compatibility</h4>
12634 Selecting an item in the 'Compatibility' column will display options in the
12635 other columns that are incompatible with that item in red.
12641 The appropriate item in the 'Quality' column will be highlighted when you
12642 choose a file format. Clicking on items in the 'Quality' column currently
12643 doesn't seem to do anything useful.
12646 <h4>File format</h4>
12649 This column contains a list of Ardour's supported export file types. Click on
12650 the format you want to use.
12653 <h4>Sample rate</h4>
12656 You can explicitly choose the sample rate of your exported files here, or
12657 choose 'Session rate' to export in the current session's sample rate, without
12658 sample rate conversion.
12661 <h4>Sample rate conversion quality</h4>
12664 If your chosen sample rate does not match the current session's sample rate,
12665 choose the sample rate conversion quality here. Better quality options are
12672 Options relevant to the chosen file format will appear here.
12673 Categories of audio file format are:
12675 <li>Linear encoding</li>
12676 <li>Broadcast Wave</li>
12677 <li>Ogg Vorbis</li>
12683 Available options include a selection of the following:
12686 <h4>Sample Format</h4>
12689 Choose the bit depth of exported files.
12695 If the exported files bit depth is less than Ardour's native bit depth,
12696 choose the dithering algorithm to use.
12699 <h4>Create CUE file/Create TOC file</h4>
12702 As well as exporting an audio file, create a file (in CUE or TOC format
12703 respectively) containg CD track information, as defined in the
12704 <a href="/working-with-markers/rangesmarks-list/">Ranges & Marks List</a>.
12707 <h4>Tag with session's metadata</h4>
12710 If the exported file format supports metadata, use data entered in the
12711 <a href="/working-with-sessions/metadata/">Session Metadata</a>
12712 window to tag the exported files.
12718 The 'Label' field lets you choose the name which will be shown for this format
12719 in the drop-down list of export formats in the 'File Formats' tab of the
12720 <a href="/exporting/export-dialog/">Export dialog</a>.
12723 <h3>Command to run post-export</h3>
12726 If this is not blank, it is considered as a command to be run after the export
12727 of each file. Either the command must exist in $PATH, or you can specify an
12728 absolute path to an executable file here.
12732 Certain sequences are allowed here to stand for the exported file name and the
12733 like. Currently these are:
12735 <dt><code>%f</code></dt>
12736 <dd>Full path & filename of the exported audio file</dd>
12737 <dt><code>%d</code></dt>
12738 <dd>Directory containing the exported audio file (including trailing directory separator)</dd>
12739 <dt><code>%b</code></dt>
12740 <dd>Basename of the exported audio file (without extension)</dd>
12741 <dt><code>%s</code></dt>
12742 <dd>Path to the current session file</dd>
12743 <dt><code>%n</code></dt>
12744 <dd>Name of the current session file</dd>
12745 <dt><code>%%</code></dt>
12746 <dd>A literal percent sign</dd>
12751 Any part of the command-line enclosed in double-quotes (") will be used as-is.
12765 title: Ardour Setup for Surround
12769 <p class="fixme">Add content</p>
12773 title: Multichannel Tracks and Signal Routing
12777 <p class="fixme">Add content</p>
12781 title: Surround Panning and Mixing
12791 <p class="warning">
12792 Ardour's VBAP panner is currently in development, and its semantics may
12793 change in the near future, possibly affecting your mixes. Please do not
12794 rely on it for important production work while the dust settles.
12798 <dfn><abbr title="Vector-base Amplitude Panning">VBAP</abbr></dfn>
12799 is a versatile and straightforward method to pan a source around over an
12800 arbitrary number of speakers on a horizontal polygon or a 3D surface,
12801 even if the speaker layout is highly irregular.
12804 <h2>Basic concepts</h2>
12807 VBAP was developed by Ville Pulkki at Aalto University, Helsinki, in 2001.
12808 It works by distributing the signal to the speakers nearest to the desired
12809 direction with appropriate weightings, aiming to create a maximally sharp
12810 phantom source by using as few speakers as possible:
12814 <li>one speaker, if the desired direction coincides with a speaker
12816 <li>two speakers, if the desired direction is on the line between two
12818 <li>and three speakers in the general 3D case.</li>
12822 Thus, if you move the panner onto a speaker, you can be sure that only
12823 this speaker will get any signal. This is handy when you need precise
12828 The drawback of VBAP is that a moving source will constantly change its
12829 apparent sharpness, as it transitions between the three states mentioned
12834 A <dfn>horizontal</dfn> VBAP panner has one parameter, the <dfn>azimuth
12835 angle</dfn>. A <dfn>full-sphere</dfn> panner offers an additional
12836 <dfn>elevation angle</dfn> control.
12840 More elaborate implementations of VBAP also include a
12841 <dfn>spread</dfn> parameter, which will distribute the signal over a
12842 greater number of speakers in order to maintain constant (but no longer
12843 maximal) sharpness, regardless of position. Ardour's VBAP panner does not
12844 currently include this feature.
12847 <h2>Speaker layout</h2>
12850 Each VBAP panner is specific to its <dfn>speaker layout</dfn>—the panner has to "know" about the precise location of all the speakers. A complete VBAP implementation must therefore include the possibility to define this layout.
12853 <img src="/images/VBAP-panner-5.png" class="small right" alt="The VBAP
12854 panner with 5 outputs"/>
12857 Ardour currently uses a simplified approach: if a track or bus has more
12858 than two output channels (which implies stereo), it assumes that you
12859 have N speakers distributed in a regular N-gon. That means that for
12860 irregular layouts such as 5.1 or 7.1, the direction you dial in will
12861 differ a bit from the actual auditory result, but you can still achieve
12862 any desired spatialisation.
12865 <h3>Experimental 3D VBAP</h3>
12867 <img src="/images/VBAP-panner-10.png" class="small right" alt="The VBAP
12868 panner with 10 outputs, in experimental 3D mode"/>
12871 For tracks with 10 outputs, Ardour will currently assume a 3-dimensional
12872 speaker layout corresponding to Auro-3D 10.1, which is a horizontal 5.1
12873 system, four elevated speakers above L, R, Ls, and Rs, and an additional
12874 "voice-of-god" speaker at the zenith.
12877 <h2>N:M panning</h2>
12879 <img src="/images/VBAP-panner-4in5.png" class="small right" alt="The VBAP
12880 panner in 4 in, 5 out mode"/>
12883 For tracks and busses with more than one input, Ardour will (for now) assume that
12884 you wish to distribute the inputs symmetrically along the latitude around
12885 the panner direction. The width parameter controls the opening angle of
12886 the distribution sector.
12894 title: Sync & Video
12900 title: Working with Synchronization
12906 title: On Clock and Time
12911 <dfn>Synchronization</dfn> in multimedia involves two concepts which are
12912 often confused: <dfn>clock</dfn> (or speed) and <dfn>time</dfn> (location
12917 A <dfn>clock</dfn> determines the speet at which one or more systems
12918 operate. In the audio world this is generally referred to as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_clock" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_clock">Word Clock</a>. It does not carry any absolute reference to a point in time: A clock is used to keep a system's sample rate regular and accurate. Word clock is usually at the frequency of the sample rate—at 48 kHz, its period is about 20 μs. Word Clock is the most common sample rate based clock but other clocks do exist such as Black and Burst, Tri-Level and DARS. Sample rates can be derived from these clocks as well.
12922 Time or <dfn>timecode</dfn> specifies an absolute position on a timeline,
12923 such as <code>01:02:03:04</code> (expressed as Hours:Mins:Secs:Frames). It is
12924 actual <em>data</em> and not a clock <em>signal</em> per se.
12925 The granularity of timecode is <dfn>Video Frames</dfn> and is an order of
12926 magnitude lower than, say, Word Clock which is counted in
12927 <dfn>samples</dfn>. A typical frame rate is 25 <abbr title="frames
12928 per second">fps</abbr> with a period of
12930 In the case of 48 kHz and 25 fps, there are 1,920 audio samples
12935 The concepts of clock and timecode are reflected in JACK and Ardour:
12939 JACK provides clock synchronization and is not concerned with time code
12940 (this is not entirely true, more on jack-transport later).
12941 On the software side, jackd provides sample-accurate synchronization
12942 between all JACK applications.
12943 On the hardware side, JACK uses the clock of the audio-interface.
12944 Synchronization of multiple interfaces requires hardware support to sync
12946 If two interfaces run at different clocks the only way to align the
12947 signals is via re-sampling (SRC—Sample Rate Conversion), which is
12948 expensive in terms of CPU usage and may decreases fidelity if done
12953 Timecode is used to align systems already synchronized by a clock to
12954 a common point in time, this is application specific and various
12955 standards and methods exist to do this.
12959 To make things confusing, there are possibilities to synchronize clocks
12960 using timecode. e.g. using mechanism called <dfn>jam-sync</dfn> and a
12961 <dfn>phase-locked loop</dfn>.
12965 An interesting point to note is that LTC (Linear Time Code) is a
12966 Manchester encoded, frequency modulated signal that carries both
12967 clock and time. It is possible to extract absolute position data
12972 title: Latency and Latency-Compensation
12973 menu_title: Latency
12979 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latency_%28audio%29"><dfn>Latency</dfn></a>
12980 is a system's reaction time to a given stimulus. There are many factors that
12981 contribute to the total latency of a system. In order to achieve exact time
12982 synchronization all sources of latency need to be taken into account and
12986 <h2>Sources of Latency</h2>
12988 <h3>Sound propagation through the air</h3>
12991 Since sound is a mechanical perturbation in a fluid, it travels at
12992 comparatively slow <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_sound">speed</a>
12993 of about 340 m/s. As a consequence, your acoustic guitar or piano has a
12994 latency of about 1–2 ms, due to the propagation time of the sound
12995 between your instrument and your ear.
12998 <h3>Digital-to-Analog and Analog-to-Digital conversion</h3>
13001 Electric signals travel quite fast (on the order of the speed of light),
13002 so their propagation time is negligible in this context. But the conversions
13003 between the analog and digital domain take a comparatively long time to perform,
13004 so their contribution to the total latency may be considerable on
13005 otherwise very low-latency systems. Conversion delay is usually below 1 ms.
13008 <h3>Digital Signal Processing</h3>
13011 Digital processors tend to process audio in chunks, and the size of that chunk
13012 depends on the needs of the algorithm and performance/cost considerations.
13013 This is usually the main cause of latency when you use a computer and one you
13014 can try to predict and optimize.
13017 <h3>Computer I/O Architecture</h3>
13020 A computer is a general purpose processor, not a digital audio processor.
13021 This means our audio data has to jump a lot of fences in its path from the
13022 outside to the CPU and back, contending in the process with some other parts
13023 of the system vying for the same resources (CPU time, bus bandwidth, etc.)
13026 <h2>The Latency chain</h2>
13028 <img src="/images/latency-chain.png" title="Latency chain" alt="Latency chain" />
13031 <em>Figure: Latency chain.</em>
13032 The numbers are an example for a typical PC. With professional gear and an
13033 optimized system the total roundtrip latency is usually lower. The important
13034 point is that latency is always additive and a sum of many independent factors.
13038 Processing latency is usually divided into <dfn>capture latency</dfn> (the time
13039 it takes for the digitized audio to be available for digital processing, usually
13040 one audio period), and <dfn>playback latency</dfn> (the time it takes for
13041 In practice, the combination of both matters. It is called <dfn>roundtrip
13042 latency</dfn>: the time necessary for a certain audio event to be captured,
13043 processed and played back.
13047 It is important to note that processing latency in a jackd is a matter of
13048 choice. It can be lowered within the limits imposed by the hardware (audio
13049 device, CPU and bus speed) and audio driver. Lower latencies increase the
13050 load on the system because it needs to process the audio in smaller chunks
13051 which arrive much more frequently. The lower the latency, the more likely
13052 the system will fail to meet its processing deadline and the dreaded
13053 <dfn>xrun</dfn> (short for buffer over- or under-run) will make its
13054 appearance more often, leaving its merry trail of clicks, pops and crackles.
13058 The digital I/O latency is usually negligible for integrated or
13059 <abbr title="Periphal Component Interface">PCI</abbr> audio devices, but
13060 for USB or FireWire interfaces the bus clocking and buffering can add some
13065 <h2>Low Latency usecases</h2>
13068 Low latency is <strong>not</strong> always a feature you want to have. It
13069 comes with a couple of drawbacks: the most prominent is increased power
13070 consumption because the CPU needs to process many small chunks of audio data,
13071 it is constantly active and can not enter power-saving mode (think fan-noise).
13072 Since each application that is part of the signal chain must run in every
13073 audio cycle, low-latency systems will undergo<dfn>context switches</dfn>
13074 between applications more often, which incur a significant overhead.
13075 This results in a much higher system load and an increased chance of xruns.
13079 For a few applications, low latency is critical:
13082 <h3>Playing virtual instruments</h3>
13085 A large delay between the pressing of the keys and the sound the instrument
13086 produces will throw-off the timing of most instrumentalists (save church
13087 organists, whom we believe to be awesome latency-compensation organic systems.)
13090 <h3>Software audio monitoring</h3>
13093 If a singer is hearing her own voice through two different paths, her head
13094 bones and headphones, even small latencies can be very disturbing and
13095 manifest as a tinny, irritating sound.
13098 <h3>Live effects</h3>
13101 Low latency is important when using the computer as an effect rack for
13102 inline effects such as compression or EQ. For reverbs, slightly higher
13103 latency might be tolerable, if the direct sound is not routed through the
13107 <h3>Live mixing</h3>
13110 Some sound engineers use a computer for mixing live performances.
13111 Basically that is a combination of the above: monitoring on stage,
13112 effects processing and EQ.
13116 In many other cases, such as playback, recording, overdubbing, mixing,
13117 mastering, etc. latency is not important, since it can easily be
13118 compensated for.<br />
13119 To explain that statement: During mixing or mastering you don't care
13120 if it takes 10ms or 100ms between the instant you press the play button
13121 and sound coming from the speaker. The same is true when recording with a count in.
13124 <h2>Latency compensation</h2>
13127 During tracking it is important that the sound that is currently being
13128 played back is internally aligned with the sound that is being recorded.
13132 This is where latency-compensation comes into play. There are two ways to
13133 compensate for latency in a DAW, <dfn>read-ahead</dfn> and
13134 <dfn>write-behind</dfn>. The DAW starts playing a bit early (relative to
13135 the playhead), so that when the sound arrives at the speakers a short time
13136 later, it is exactly aligned with the material that is being recorded.
13137 Since we know that play-back has latency, the incoming audio can be delayed
13138 by the same amount to line things up again.
13142 As you may see, the second approach is prone to various implementation
13143 issues regarding timecode and transport synchronization. Ardour uses read-ahead
13144 to compensate for latency. The time displayed in the Ardour clock corresponds
13145 to the audio-signal that you hear on the speakers (and is not where Ardour
13146 reads files from disk).
13150 As a side note, this is also one of the reasons why many projects start at
13151 timecode <samp>01:00:00:00</samp>. When compensating for output latency the
13152 DAW will need to read data from before the start of the session, so that the
13153 audio arrives in time at the output when the timecode hits <samp>01:00:00:00</samp>.
13154 Ardour3 does handle the case of <samp>00:00:00:00</samp> properly but not all
13155 systems/software/hardware that you may inter-operate with may behave the same.
13158 <h2>Latency Compensation And Clock Sync</h2>
13161 To achieve sample accurate timecode synchronization, the latency introduced
13162 by the audio setup needs to be known and compensated for.
13166 In order to compensate for latency, JACK or JACK applications need to know
13167 exactly how long a certain signal needs to be read-ahead or delayed:
13170 <img src="/images/jack-latency-excerpt.png" title="Jack Latency Compensation" alt="Jack Latency Compensation" />
13173 <em>Figure: Jack Latency Compensation.</em>
13177 In the figure above, clients A and B need to be able to answer the following
13183 How long has it been since the data read from port Ai or Bi arrived at the
13184 edge of the JACK graph (capture)?
13187 How long will it be until the data writen to port Ao or Bo arrives at the
13188 edge of the JACK graph (playback)?
13193 JACK features an <abbr title="Application Programming Interface">API</abbr>
13194 that allows applications to determine the answers to above questions.
13195 However JACK can not know about the additional latency that is introduced
13196 by the computer architecture, operating system and soundcard. These values
13197 can be specified by the JACK command line parameters <kbd class="input">-I</kbd>
13198 and <kbd class="input">-O</kbd> and vary from system
13199 to system but are constant on each. On a general purpose computer system
13200 the only way to accurately learn about the total (additional) latency is to
13204 <h2>Calibrating JACK Latency</h2>
13207 Linux DSP guru Fons Adriaensen wrote a tool called <dfn>jack_delay</dfn>
13208 to accurately measure the roundtrip latency of a closed loop audio chain,
13209 with sub-sample accuracy. JACK itself includes a variant of this tool
13210 called <dfn>jack_iodelay</dfn>.
13214 Jack_iodelay allows you to measure the total latency of the system,
13215 subtracts the known latency of JACK itself and suggests values for
13216 jackd's audio-backend parameters.
13220 jack_[io]delay works by emitting some rather annoying tones, capturing
13221 them again after a round trip through the whole chain, and measuring the
13222 difference in phase so it can estimate with great accuracy the time taken.
13226 You can close the loop in a number of ways:
13231 Putting a speaker close to a microphone. This is rarely done, as air
13232 propagation latency is well known so there is no need to measure it.
13235 Connecting the output of your audio interface to its input using a
13236 patch cable. This can be an analog or a digital loop, depending on
13237 the nature of the input/output you use. A digital loop will not factor
13238 in the <abbr title="Analog to Digital, Digital to Analog">AD/DA</abbr>
13244 Once you have closed the loop you have to:
13248 <li>Launch jackd with the configuration you want to test.</li>
13249 <li>Launch <kbd class="input">jack_delay</kbd> on the commandline.</li>
13250 <li>Make the appropriate connections between your jack ports so the loop is closed.</li>
13251 <li>Adjust the playback and capture levels in your mixer.</li>
13255 title: Timecode Generators and Slaves
13260 Ardour supports three common timecode formats:
13261 <abbr title="Linear/Longitudinal Time Code"><dfn>LTC</dfn></abbr>,
13262 <abbr title="MIDI Time Code"><dfn>MTC</dfn></abbr>, and
13263 <dfn>MIDI Clock</dfn>, as well as
13264 <dfn>JACK-transport</dfn>, a JACK-specific timecode implementation.
13268 Ardour can generate timecode and thus act as timecode <dfn>master</dfn>,
13269 providing timecode information to other applications. Ardour can also be
13270 <dfn>slaved</dfn> to some external source in which case the playhead
13271 follows the incoming timecode.
13275 Combining the timecode slave and generator modes, Ardour can also
13276 <dfn>translate</dfn> timecode. e.g create LTC timecode from incoming MTC.
13279 <h2>Ardour Timecode Configuration</h2>
13282 Each Ardour session has a specific timecode frames-per-second setting which
13283 is configured in <kbd class="menu">session > properties >
13284 timecode</kbd>. The selected timecode affects the timecoderuler in the main
13285 window as well as the clock itself.
13289 Note that some timecode formats do not support all of Ardour's available
13290 fps settings. MTC is limited to 24, 25, 29.97 and 30 fps.
13294 The video pull-up modes change the effective samplerate of Ardour to allow
13295 for changing a film soundtrack from one frame rate to another. The concept is
13296 beyond the scope of this manual, but Wikipedia's entry on
13297 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecine">Telecine</a>
13298 may get you started.
13301 <h2>Ardour Timecode Generator Configuration</h2>
13304 This is pretty straightforward: simply turn it on. The MTC and MIDI-Clock
13305 generator do not have any options. The LTC generator has a configurable
13306 output level. JACK-transport cannot be <em>generated</em>. Jack itself is
13307 always synced to its own cycle and cannot do varispeed—it will
13308 always be synced to a hardware clock or another JACK master.
13312 The relevant settings for timecode generator can be found in
13313 <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > MIDI Preferences</kbd> (for MTC,
13315 <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Transport Preferences</kbd>
13320 The timecode is sent to jack-ports <code>ardour:MTC out</code>,
13321 <code>ardour:MIDI clock out</code> and <code>ardour:LTC-out</code>. Multiple
13322 generators can be active simultaneously.
13326 Note that, as of Jan 2014, only the LTC generator supports latency
13327 compensation. This is due to the fact the Ardour MIDI ports are not
13328 yet latency compensated.
13332 In <kbd class="menu">Session > Properties</kbd>, it is possible to
13333 define an offset between Ardour's internal time and the timecode sent.
13334 Currently only the LTC generator honors this offset.
13338 Both LTC and MTC are limited to 30 fps. Using frame rates larger
13339 than that will disable the generator. In both cases also only 24, 25,
13340 29.97df (drop-frame) and 30 fps are well defined by specifications (such as
13341 SMPTE-12M, EU and the MIDI standard).
13344 <h3>MTC Generator</h3>
13347 The <dfn>MTC generator</dfn> has no options. Ardour sends full MTC
13348 frames whenever the transport is relocated or changes state (start/stop).
13349 MTC <dfn>quarter frames</dfn> are sent when the transport is rolling and
13350 the transport speed is within 93% and 107%.
13353 <h3>LTC Generator</h3>
13356 The level of the <dfn>LTC generator</dfn> output signal can be configured
13357 in in the <kbd class="menu">Preferences > Transport</kbd> dialog. By
13358 default it is set to -18 dBFS, which corresponds to 0dBu in an EBU
13363 The LTC generator has an additional option to keep sending timecode even
13364 when the transport is stopped. This mode is intended to drive analog tape
13365 machines which unspool the tape if no LTC timecode is received.
13369 LTC is send regardless of Ardour's transport speed. It is accurately
13370 generated even for very slow speeds (<5%) and only limited by the
13371 soundcard's sampling-rate and filter (see
13373 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbs_phenomenon#Signal_processing_explanation">Gibbs phenomenon</a>)
13377 <h2>Ardour Slave Configuration</h2>
13380 The timecode source can be switched with the button just right of
13381 Ardour's main clock. By default it is set to <kbd
13382 class="menu">Internal</kbd> in which case Ardour will ignore any external
13383 timecode. The button allows to toggle between Internal and the configured
13384 timecode source which is chosen in <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences
13385 > Transport</kbd>.
13389 When Ardour is <dfn>chasing</dfn> (synchronizing to) an external timecode
13390 source, the following cases need to be distinguished:
13394 <li>the timecode source shares the clock</li>
13395 <li>the timecode source is independent (no wordclock sync)</li>
13401 <li>the timecode source uses the same FPS setting as Ardour</li>
13402 <li>the timecode source runs at different frames-per-second</li>
13406 In both cases the first option is preferred: clock sync + same FPS setting.
13409 <h3>Frames-per-second</h3>
13412 If the frames-per-second do not match, Ardour can either re-calculate
13413 and map the frames, or the configured FPS (<kbd class="menu">Session >
13414 Properties</kbd>) can be changed automatically while the slave is active.
13415 The behavior is configured with the checkbox <kbd class="option">Edit
13416 > Preferences > Transport > Match session video frame rate to
13417 external timecode</kbd>.
13421 When enabled, the session video frame rate will be changed to match that
13422 of the selected external timecode source. When disabled, the session video
13423 frame rate will not be changed to match that of the selected external
13424 timecode source. Instead the frame rate indication in the main clock will
13425 flash red, and Ardour will convert between the external timecode standard
13426 and the session standard.
13429 <p class="warning">
13430 29.97 drop-frame timecode is another corner case. While the SMPTE 12M-1999
13431 specifies 29.97df as 30000/1001 frames per second, not all hardware devices
13432 follow that standard. The checkbox
13433 <kbd class="option">Lock to 29.9700 fps instead of 30000/1001</kbd> allows
13434 to use a compatibility mode for those devices.
13438 When enabled, the external timecode source is assumed to use 29.970000 fps
13439 instead of 30000/1001. SMPTE 12M-1999 specifies 29.97df as 30000/1001. The
13440 <abbr title="specification">spec</abbr> further mentions that drop-frame
13441 timecode has an accumulated error of -86 ms over a 24-hour period.
13442 Drop-frame timecode would compensate exactly for a NTSC color frame rate
13443 of 30 * 0.9990 (ie 29.970000). That is <em>not</em> the actual rate. However,
13444 some vendors use that rate—despite it being against the specs—because the variant of using exactly 29.97 fps yields zero timecode
13448 <h3>Clock Sync Lock</h3>
13451 As described in the
13452 <a href="http://manual.ardour.org/synchronization/on-clock-and-time/">On Clock and Time</a>
13453 chapter, timecode and clock are independent. If the external timecode
13454 source is not in sample-sync with the audio hardware (and JACK), Ardour
13455 needs to run at varispeed to adjust for the discrepancy.
13459 The checkbox <kbd class="option">External timecode is sync locked</kbd>
13460 allows to select the behavior according to your setup. When enabled, it
13461 indicates that the selected external timecode source shares sync (Black
13462 & Burst, Wordclock, etc) with the audio interface.
13466 In other words: if enabled, Ardour will only perform initial
13467 synchronization and keep playing at speed 1.0 instead of vari-speed
13468 adjusting to compensate for drift.
13472 Note that vari-speed is unavailable when recording in Ardour, and all
13473 tracking happens at speed 1.0. So if you want to record in sync with
13474 external timecode it must be sample-locked or it will drift over time.
13477 <h3>MIDI Clock</h3>
13480 <dfn>MIDI Clock</dfn> is not a timecode format but tempo-based time. The
13481 absolute reference point is expressed as beats-per-minute and Bar, Beat
13482 and Tick. There is no concept of sample-locking for MIDI clock signals.
13483 Ardour will vari-speed if necessary to chase the incoming signal.
13487 Note that the MIDI Clock source must be connected to the
13488 <code>ardour:MIDI clock in</code> port.
13491 <h3>LTC—Linear Timecode</h3>
13494 The <dfn>LTC</dfn> slave decodes an incoming LTC signal on a JACK audio
13495 port. It will auto-detect the frame rate and start locking to the signal
13496 once two consecutive LTC frames have been received.
13500 The incoming timecode signal needs to arrive at the
13501 <code>ardour:LTC-in</code> port. Port-connections are restored for each
13502 session and the preference dialog offers an option to select it for all
13507 Ardour's transport is aligned to LTC-frame start/end positions according
13508 to the SMPTE 12M-1999 specification, which means that the first bit of an
13509 LTC-Frame is aligned to different Lines of a Video-Frame, depending on the
13510 TV standard used. Only for Film (24fps) does the LTC-Frame directly match
13511 the video Frame boundaries.
13514 <img src="/images/ltc-transport-alignment.png" title="LTC frame alignment" alt="LTC frame alignment"/>
13515 <p><em>Figure: LTC frame alignment for the 525/60 TV standard</em></p>
13518 Ardour supports vari-speed and backwards playback but will only follow
13519 speed changes if the <kbd class="optoff">sync locked</kbd> option is
13524 While Ardour is chasing LTC, the main transport clock will display the
13525 received Timecode as well as the delta between the incoming signal and
13526 Ardour's transport position.
13530 A global offset between incoming timecode and Ardour's transport can be
13531 configured in <kbd class="menu">Session > Properties</kbd>.
13535 The user-bits in the received LTC frame are ignored.
13538 <h3>MTC—MIDI Timecode</h3>
13541 Ardour's MTC slave parses <dfn>full timecode messages</dfn> as well as
13542 MTC <dfn>quarter-frame messages</dfn> arriving on the
13543 <code>ardour:MTC in</code> port. The transport will only start rolling
13544 once a complete sequence of 8 quarter frames has been received.
13548 Ardour supports vari-speed and backwards playback but will only follow
13549 MTC speed changes if the <kbd class="optoff">sync locked</kbd> option
13554 When Ardour is chasing MTC, the main transport clock will display the
13555 received Timecode as well as the delta between the incoming signal and
13556 Ardour's transport position.
13559 <h3>JACK Transport</h3>
13562 When slaved to jack, Ardour's transport will be identical to
13563 JACK-transport. As opposed to other slaves, Ardour can be used to control
13564 the JACK transport states (stopped/rolling). No port connections need to
13565 be made for jack-transport to work.
13569 JACK-transport does not support vari-speed, nor offsets. Ardour does not
13570 chase the timecode but is always in perfect sample-sync with it.
13574 JACK-transport also includes temp-based-time information in Bar:Beats:Ticks
13575 and beats-per-minute. However, only one JACK application can provide this
13576 information at a given time. The checkbox
13577 <kbd class="option">Session > Properties > JACK Time Master</kbd>
13578 configures Ardour to act as translator from timecode to BBT information.
13582 title: Overview of all Timecode related settings
13583 menu_title: Overview of Timecode settings
13588 Timecode settings are accessed from the menu in three places:
13592 <li><kbd class="menu">Session > Properties > Timecode</kbd></li>
13593 <li><kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Transport</kbd></li>
13594 <li><kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > MIDI</kbd></li>
13597 <h2>Timecode Settings</h2>
13599 <dt><kbd class="menu">Timecode frames-per-second</kbd></dt>
13601 Configure timecode frames-per-second (23.976, 24, 24.975, 25, 29.97,
13602 29.97 drop, 30, 30 drop, 59.94, 60). Note that all fractional
13603 framerates are actually fps*(1000.0/1001.0).
13605 <dt><kbd class="menu">Pull up/down</kbd></dt>
13607 Video pull-up modes change the effective samplerate of Ardour to
13608 allow for changing a film soundtrack from one frame rate to another.
13609 See <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecine">Telecine</a>
13611 <dt><kbd class="menu">Slave Timecode offset</kbd></dt>
13613 The specified offset is added to the received timecode (MTC or
13616 <dt><kbd class="menu">Timecode Generator offset</kbd></dt>
13618 Specify an offset which is added to the generated timecode (so far only LTC).
13620 <dt><kbd class="option">JACK Time Master</kbd></dt>
13622 Provide Bar|Beat|Tick and other information to JACK.
13625 <p>These settings are session specific.</p>
13628 <h2>Transport Preferences</h2>
13630 <dt><kbd class="menu">External timecode source</kbd></dt>
13632 Select timecode source: JACK, LTC, MTC, MIDI Clock
13634 <dt><kbd class="option">Match session video frame rate to external timecode</kbd></dt>
13636 This option controls the value of the video frame rate <em>while
13637 chasing</em> an external timecode source. When enabled, the
13638 session video frame rate will be changed to match that of the selected
13639 external timecode source. When disabled, the session video frame rate
13640 will not be changed to match that of the selected external timecode
13641 source. Instead the frame rate indication in the main clock will flash
13642 red and Ardour will convert between the external timecode standard and
13643 the session standard.
13645 <dt><kbd class="option">External timecode is sync locked</kbd></dt>
13647 Indicates that the selected external timecode source shares sync (Black
13648 & Burst, Wordclock, etc) with the audio interface.
13650 <dt><kbd class="option">Lock to 29.9700 fps instead of 30000/1001</kbd></dt>
13652 The external timecode source is assumed to use 29.97 fps instead of
13653 30000/1001. SMPTE 12M-1999 specifies 29.97df as 30000/1001. The spec
13654 further mentions that drop-frame timecode has an accumulated error of -86ms
13655 over a 24-hour period. Drop-frame timecode would compensate exactly for a
13656 NTSC color frame rate of 30 * 0.9990 (ie 29.970000). That is not the actual
13657 rate. However, some vendors use that rate—despite it being against
13658 the specs—because the variant of using exactly 29.97 fps has zero
13661 <dt><kbd class="menu">LTC incoming port</kbd></dt>
13663 Offers a session agnostic way to retain the LTC port connection.
13665 <dt><kbd class="option">Enable LTC generator</kbd></dt>
13666 <dd>Does just what it says.</dd>
13667 <dt><kbd class="option">Send LTC while stopped</kbd></dt>
13669 Enable to continue to send LTC information even when the transport
13670 (playhead) is not moving. This mode is intended to drive analog tape
13671 machines which unspool the tape if no LTC timecode is received.
13673 <dt><kbd class="menu">LTC generator level</kbd></dt>
13675 Specify the Peak Volume of the generated LTC signal in dbFS. A good value
13676 is 0 dBu (which is -18 dbFS in an EBU calibrated system).
13679 <p>These settings are common to all sessions.</p>
13682 <h2>MIDI Preferences</h2>
13684 <dt><kbd class="option">Send MIDI Timecode</kbd></dt><dd>Enable MTC generator</dd>
13685 <dt><kbd class="option">Send MIDI Clock</kbd></dt><dd>Enable MIDI Clock generator</dd>
13687 <p>These settings are also common to all sessions.</p>
13691 title: Working with Field Recorders in Ardour
13697 title: Working with Video in Ardour
13703 title: Video Timeline and Monitoring
13708 Ardour offers a <dfn>video timeline</dfn> and <dfn>video monitoring</dfn>
13709 for convenient audio mixing and editing to video, in order to produce
13710 film soundtracks and music videos, or perform TV postproduction tasks.
13714 The video capabilities are:
13718 <li>Import a single video and optionally extract the soundtrack from it.</li>
13719 <li>Provide a video monitor window, or full-screen display, of the
13720 imported video in sync with any of the available Ardour timecode
13722 <li>Display a frame-by-frame (thumbnail) timeline of the video.</li>
13723 <li>Allow for a configurable timecode offset.</li>
13724 <li><em>Lock</em> audio regions to the video.</li>
13725 <li>Move audio regions with the video at video-frame granularity.</li>
13726 <li>Export the video, trim start and end, add blank frames and/or
13727 multiplex it with the soundtrack of the current session.</li>
13731 The setup of the video subsystem is modular and can be configured
13732 in different ways, including:
13736 <li>One machine for all video decoding, video monitoring and audio editing
13738 <li>Two machines, one for video monitoring, one for Ardour</li>
13739 <li>Three machines, separate video server (for timeline decoding
13740 and file archive), dedicated video monitor, and Ardour</li>
13744 Ardour does <em>not</em>:
13748 <li>allow for more than one video to be loaded at a time.</li>
13749 <li>provide video editing capabilities</li>
13753 title: Video Timeline Setup
13758 No configuration is required if you intend to run everything on a single
13759 machine, and if you acquired Ardour from
13760 <a href="http://www.ardour.org"
13761 title="http://www.ardour.org">http://www.ardour.org</a>.
13762 Everything is pre-configured and included with the download/install.
13765 <h2>Single Machine</h2>
13768 If you compile Ardour from source, or have installed it from a 3rd party
13769 repository, three additional tools will need to be installed manually,
13770 which are used by Ardour to provide video features:
13774 <li>xjadeo (the video monitor application): <a href="http://xjadeo.sf.net"
13775 title="http://xjadeo.sf.net" rel="nofollow">http://xjadeo.sf.net</a></li>
13776 <li>harvid (a video decoder used for the thumbnail timeline): <a
13777 href="http://x42.github.com/harvid/" title="http://x42.github.com/harvid/"
13778 rel="nofollow">http://x42.github.com/harvid/</a></li>
13779 <li>ffmpeg, ffprobe (used to import/export video, extract soundtracks and
13780 query video information): <a href="http://ffmpeg.org" title="http://ffmpeg.org"
13781 rel="nofollow">http://ffmpeg.org</a></li>
13785 Ardour requires xjadeo ≥ version 0.6.4, harvid ≥ version 0.7.0 and ffmpeg (known to work versions: 1.2, 2.8.2)
13789 The Ardour development team is in control of the first two applications. ffmpeg however can be a bit of a problem. To avoid conflicts with distribution packages, Ardour looks for <code>ffmpeg_harvid</code> and <code>ffprobe_harvid</code>.
13793 All four applications need to be found in <code>$PATH</code> (e.g.
13794 <code>$HOME/bin</code> or <code>/usr/local/bin</code>). For convenience the
13795 binary releases of harvid include ffmpeg_harvid and ffprobe_harvid, but if
13796 your distribution provides suitable ffmpeg commands you can also just create
13800 <kbd class="cmd lin">sudo ln -s /usr/bin/ffmpeg /usr/bin/ffmpeg_harvid</kbd>
13801 <kbd class="cmd lin">sudo ln -s /usr/bin/ffprobe /usr/bin/ffprobe_harvid</kbd>
13804 Binary releases are available from ardour.org as well as an installer script:
13805 <a href="https://github.com/Ardour/ardour/blob/master/tools/videotimeline/install_video_tools.sh"
13806 title="https://github.com/Ardour/ardour/blob/master/tools/videotimeline/install_video_tools.sh"
13807 rel="nofollow">install_video_tools.sh</a>.
13811 The easiest way to install the video-utilities is by running the following
13812 line in a terminal:
13815 <kbd class="cmd lin">sh -c "$(curl -s -L http://git.io/tVUCkw)"</kbd>
13817 <h2>Studio Setup</h2>
13820 Please read the info in the previous section to familiarize yourself with
13821 the tools involved first. Setting up a proper A/V post-production studio
13822 can be a complicated task. As much as we streamline and simplify the
13823 <em>single machine</em> setup, the <dfn>studio setup</dfn> is focused on modularity.
13828 <li>Synchronization ardour → video-display-box should be accomplished by external
13829 means jack-transport(netjack), MTC, LTC
13830 (<abbr title="Open Sound Control—"postmodern MIDI"">OSC</abbr> and/or
13831 ssh-pipe work but introduce additional latency + jitter)</li>
13832 <li>Ardour launches <code>XJREMOTE</code> (environment variable, default 'xjremote' which comes with xjadeo).</li>
13833 <li>Either use a custom shell script that ssh'es into the remote box and launches/controls xjadeo there, selects the sync-source and passes though communication between ardour ⇔ xjadeo via ssh (xjadeo is launched stopped with the session).</li>
13834 <li>..or override xjremote's behavior – instead of IPC with a local running xjadeo-process, using <abbr title="Open Sound Control—"postmodern MIDI"">OSC</abbr> for example. xjadeo would run permanently and Ardour will just tell it to load files and set offsets via <acronym title="Open Sound Control—"postmodern MIDI"">OSC</acronym>. see <a href="http://xjadeo.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=xjadeo/xjadeo;a=blob_plain;f=contrib/xjremote-osc" title="http://xjadeo.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=xjadeo/xjadeo;a=blob_plain;f=contrib/xjremote-osc" rel="nofollow">xjremote-osc</a> example script.</li>
13835 <li>If the video server runs remotely, Ardour needs to be configured in Ardour > Preference > Video (hostname of the video-server).</li>
13836 <li> Ideally the machines have a common shared folder (NFS or similar). Ardour's import (audio-extract) and export (mux) functionality depends on having access to the video file. Also Ardour's video-import transcodes the file into a suitable proxy-format that allows reliable seeking to any frame…</li>
13840 title: Transcoding, Formats & Codecs
13845 This chapter provides a short primer on video files, formats and
13846 codecs – because it is often cause for confusion:
13850 A video file is a <dfn>container</dfn>. It usually contains one
13851 <dfn>video track</dfn> and one or more <dfn>audio tracks</dfn>.
13852 How these tracks are stored in the file is defined by the
13853 <dfn>file format</dfn>. Common formats are
13854 avi, mov, ogg, mkv, mpeg, mpeg-ts, mp4, flv, or vob.
13858 Each of the tracks by itself is encoded using a <abbr
13859 title="Coder-Decoder"><dfn>Codec</dfn></abbr>. Common video codecs
13860 are h264, mpeg2, mpeg4, theora, mjpeg, wmv3. Common audio codecs are
13861 mp2, mp3, dts, aac, wav/pcm.
13865 Not all codecs can be packed into a given format. For example the
13866 mpeg format is limited to mpeg2, mpeg4 and mp3 codecs (not entirely true).
13867 DVDs do have stringent limitations as well. The opposite would be .avi;
13868 pretty much every audio/video codec combination can be contained in an avi
13873 To make things worse, naming conventions for video codecs and formats are
13874 often identical (especially MPEG ones) which leads to confusion.
13875 All in all it is a very wide and deep field. Suffice there are different
13876 uses for different codecs and formats.
13879 <h2>Ardour specific issues</h2>
13882 Ardour supports a wide variety of video file formats codecs. More specifically, Ardour itself actually does not support any video at all but delegates handling of video files to <a href="http://ffmpeg.org">ffmpeg</a>, which supports over 350 different video codecs and more than 250 file formats.
13886 When importing a video into Ardour, it will be <dfn>transcoded</dfn> (changed from one format and codec to another) to avi/mjpeg for internal use (this allows reliable seeking to frames at low CPU cost—the file size will increase, but hard disks are large and fast).
13890 The export dialog includes presets for common format and codec combinations (such as DVD, web-video,..). If in doubt use one of the presets.
13894 As last note: every time a video is transcoded, the quality can only get worse. Hence for the final mastering/<abbr title="Multiplexing Audio and Video">muxing</abbr> process, one should always to back and use the original source of the video.
13898 title: Workflow & Operations
13902 <h2>Overview of Operations</h2>
13904 <dl class="wide-table">
13905 <dt><kbd class="menu">Session > Open Video</kbd></dt>
13906 <dd>Add/replace a video to/on the timeline</dd>
13907 <dt><kbd class="menu">Window > View Monitor</kbd></dt>
13908 <dd>Open/close external video monitor window</dd>
13909 <dt><kbd class="menu">View > Video Monitor > …</kbd></dt>
13910 <dd>Various settings of the video monitor</dd>
13911 <dt><kbd class="menu">Session > Export > Video</kbd></dt>
13912 <dd>Export session and multiplex with video-file</dd>
13913 <dt><kbd class="mouse">Left</kbd>-drag the video in the timeline</dt>
13914 <dd>Re-align video and move 'locked' audio-regions along</dd>
13915 <dt>Context-menu on the video-timeline: <kbd class="menu"> 'lock'</kbd></dt>
13916 <dd>Prevent accidental drags</dd>
13917 <dt>Audio region context menu: <kbd class="menu">Position > Lock to video</kbd></dt>
13918 <dd>Mark audio region(s) to be moved along with the video.</dd>
13921 <h2>Adding Video</h2>
13924 Adding video is a two-step process: select a video file, and choose
13925 import mode and optionally select an audio track to extract.
13929 The first step is rather straight-forward. The panel on the right side
13930 allows to seek through the video and displays basic file information.
13931 It is also useful to check if the video format/codec is supported:
13934 <img src="/images/a3_video_open.png" alt="video-open-dialog" width="300" />
13937 The second step analyzes the video file in more detail and offers import options:
13941 <dt><kbd class="menu">Import/Transcode to Session</kbd></dt>
13942 <dd>This is the default. The video will be imported in a suitable
13943 video format/codec for the timeline and video monitor and saved inside the
13944 session folder. A location other than the session folder can also be
13945 chosen (external disk, or network storage of the video server on a different
13947 <dt><kbd class="menu">Reference from Current Location</kbd></dt>
13948 <dd>Only useful for opening files that were previously encoded (are already
13949 in a good format/codec). Use with care.</dd>
13950 <dt><kbd class="menu">Do not Import Video</kbd></dt>
13951 <dd>Useful for extracting audio only.</dd>
13954 <img src="/images/a3_video_import.png" alt="Video Import Dialog" width="300" />
13957 By default the video is imported using the original width/height.
13958 If it is a large video (e.g. full-HD) it makes sense to scale it down
13959 to decrease the CPU load and disk I/O required to decode and play the
13961 A small, low-quality representation of the image is usually sufficient
13962 for editing soundtracks. The default bitrate in kbit/sec is set to use
13963 0.7 bits per pixel. (Compare: the average DVD medium uses 5000 kbit/s;
13964 at PAL resolution this is about 0.5 bits per pixel. But the DVD is
13965 using the <dfn>mpeg2</dfn>—a denser compression algorithm than the
13966 <dfn>mjpeg</dfn> codec used by Ardour.)
13969 <h2>Working with A/V</h2>
13975 <img src="/images/a3_videotimeline.png" alt="Video Timeline" width="600" />
13977 <h2 id="export">Exporting Video</h2>
13980 The video export will take audio from the current Ardour session and
13981 multiplex it with a video file. The soundtrack of the video is taken from
13982 an audio export of Ardour's master bus.
13986 An arbitrary video file can be chosen. For high quality exports, the
13987 original file (before it was imported into the timeline) should be used.
13988 This is the default behaviour if that file can be found. If not, Ardour
13989 will fall back to the imported proxy-video which is currently in use
13990 on the timeline. Any existing audio tracks on this video file are stripped.
13994 The range selection allows to cut or extend the video. If the session is
13995 longer than the video duration, black frames are prefixed or appended to
13996 the video. (Note: this process may fail with non-standard pixel aspect
13997 ratios). If Ardour's session range is shorter, the video will be cut accordingly.
14001 Audio samplerate and normalization are options for Ardour's audio exporter.
14002 The remaining settings are options that are directly passed on to ffmpeg.
14006 The file format is determined by the extension that you choose for it
14007 (.avi, .mov, .flv, .ogv, .webm,...)
14008 Note: not all combinations of format, codec, and settings produce files
14009 which are according to specifications. For example, flv files require
14010 sample rates of 22.1 kHz or 44.1 kHz, mpeg containers can not
14011 be used with ac3 audio-codec, etc. If in doubt, use one of the built-in
14015 <img src="/images/a3_video_export.png" alt="Video Export Dialog" width="300" />
14018 Ardour video export is not recommended for mastering! While ffmpeg (which is used by Ardour) can produce high-quality files, this export lacks the possibility to tweak many settings. We recommend to use winff, devede or dvdauthor to mux & master. Nevertheless this video-export comes in handy to do quick snapshots, intermediates, dailies or online videos.
14024 title: Control Surfaces
14030 title: Controlling Ardour with OSC
14031 include: controlling-ardour-with-osc.html
14037 title: OSC: Controlling Ardour with OSC
14038 include: osc-control.html
14044 title: OSC: Using the Setup Dialog
14045 include: osc-setup-dialog.html
14051 title: OSC: Querying Ardour
14052 include: querying-ardour-with-osc.html
14058 title: OSC: Feedback
14059 include: feedback-in-osc.html
14065 title: OSC: Feedback and Strip-types Values
14066 include: calculating-feedback-and-strip-types-values.html
14072 title: OSC: Personal Monitoring Control
14073 include: osc-personal-monitoring.html
14079 title: OSC: Parameter Types
14080 include: parameter-types-in-osc.html
14086 title: OSC: Selection and Expansion Considerations
14087 include: selection-considerations-in-osc.html
14093 title: OSC control for Ardour 4.7 and Prior
14094 include: osc-control-in-ardour-4.7-and-prior.html
14100 title: Devices using Mackie/Logic Control Protocol
14101 include: devices-using-mackielogic-control-protocol.html
14107 title: Behringer devices in Mackie/Logic Control Mode
14108 menu_title: Behringer devices
14109 include: behringer-devices-in-mackielogic-control-mode.html
14116 include: ssl-nucleus.html
14122 title: Mackie Control Setup on Linux
14123 include: mackie-control-setup-on-linux.html
14129 title: What to do if your Device is not Listed
14130 menu_title: Unlisted devices
14131 include: devices-not-listed.html
14137 title: Working With Extenders
14138 menu_title: Working With Extenders
14139 include: working-with-extenders.html
14145 title: Generic MIDI
14151 title: MIDI Binding Maps
14152 include: midi-binding-maps.html
14159 include: midi-learn.html
14165 title: Working With Encoders in Ardour
14166 menu_title: Working With Encoders
14167 include: working-with-encoders.html
14173 title: Using the Presonus Faderport
14174 menu_title: Presonus Faderport
14175 include: presonus-faderport.html
14181 title: Using the Ableton Push 2
14182 menu_title: Ableton Push 2
14183 include: ableton-push2.html
14196 title: Lua Scripting in Ardour
14202 title: Lua Scripting
14207 Starting with version 4.7.213, Ardour supports Lua scripts.
14210 <p class="warning">
14211 Lua Integration is Work in Progress and far from complete.
14215 title: Scripting Documentation
14219 <p class="warning">
14220 This Documentation is Work in Progress and far from complete. Also the documented API may be subject to change.
14226 There are cases that a Ardour cannot reasonably cater for with core functionality by itself, either because they're session specific or user specific edge cases.
14230 Examples for these include voice-activate (record-arm specific tracks and roll transport depending on signal levels), rename all regions after a specific timecode, launch an external application when a certain track is soloed, generate automation curves or simply provide a quick shortcut for a custom batch operation.
14234 Cases like this call for means to extend the DAW without actually changing the DAW itself. This is where scripting comes in.
14238 "Scripting" refers to tasks that could alternatively be executed step-by-step by a human operator.
14242 Lua is a tiny and simple language which is easy to learn, yet allows for comprehensive solutions. Lua is also a glue language it allows to tie existing component in Ardour together in unprecedented ways, and most importantly Lua is one of the few scripting-languages which can be safely used in a real-time environment.
14246 A good introduction to Lua is the book <a href="http://www.lua.org/pil/">Programming in Lua</a>. The first edition is available online, but if you have the means buy a copy of the book, it not only helps to support the Lua project, but provides for a much nicer reading and learning experience.
14252 The core of ardour is a real-time audio engine that runs and processes audio. One interfaces with than engine by sending it commands. Scripting can be used to interact with or modify active Ardour session. Just like a user uses the Editor/Mixer GUI to modify the state or parameters of the session.
14256 Doing this programmatically requires some knowledge about the objects used internally. Most Ardour C++ objects and their methods are directly exposed to Lua and one can call functions or modify variables:
14259 <div style="width:80%; margin:.5em auto;">
14260 <div style="width:45%; float:left;">
14263 session->set_transport_speed (1.0);
14266 <div style="width:45%; float:right;">
14269 Session:set_transport_speed (1.0)
14274 <div style="clear:both;"></div>
14277 You may notice that there is only a small syntactic difference, in this case. While C++ requires recompiling the application for every change, Lua script can be loaded, written or modified while the application is running. Lua also abstracts away many of the C++ complexities such as object lifetime, type conversion and null-pointer checks.
14281 Close ties with the underlying C++ components is where the power of scripting comes from. A script can orchestrate interaction of lower-level components which take the bulk of the CPU time of the final program.
14285 At the time of writing Ardour integrates Lua 5.3.2: <a href="http://www.lua.org/manual/5.3/manual.html">Lua 5.3 reference manual</a>.
14288 <h2>Integration</h2>
14291 Like Control surfaces and the GUI, Lua Scripts are confined to certain aspects of the program. Ardour provides the framework and runs Lua (not the other way around).
14296 In Ardour's case Lua is available:
14300 <dt>Editor Action Scripts</dt><dd>User initiated actions (menu, shortcuts) for batch processing</dd>
14301 <dt>Editor Hooks/Callbacks</dt><dd>Event triggered actions for the Editor/Mixer GUI</dd>
14302 <dt>Session Scripts</dt><dd>Scripts called at the start of every audio cycle (session, real-time)</dd>
14303 <dt>DSP Scripts</dt><dd>Audio/Midi processor—plugins with access to the Ardour session (per track/bus, real-time)</dd>
14304 <dt>Script Console</dt><dd>Action Script commandline</dd>
14308 There are is also a special mode:
14312 <dt>Commandline Tool</dt><dd>Replaces the complete Editor GUI, direct access to libardour (no GUI) from the commandline.<br/>
14313 <em>Be aware that the vast majority of complex functionality is provided by the Editor UI.</em></dd>
14316 <h2>Managing Scripts</h2>
14319 Ardour searches for Lua scripts in the <code>scripts</code> folder in <code>$ARDOUR_DATA_PATH</code>, Apart from scripts included directly with Ardour, this includes
14323 <tr><th>GNU/Linux</th><td><code>$HOME/.config/ardour5/scripts</code></td></tr>
14324 <tr><th>Mac OS X</th><td><code>$HOME/Library/Preferences/Ardour5/scripts</code></td></tr>
14325 <tr><th>Windows</th><td><code>%localappdata%\ardour5\scripts</code></td></tr>
14328 <p>Files must end with <code>.lua</code> file extension.</p>
14330 <p>Scripts are managed via the GUI</p>
14333 <dt>Editor Action Scripts</dt><dd>Menu → Edit → Scripted Actions → Manage</dd>
14334 <dt>Editor Hooks/Callbacks</dt><dd>Menu → Edit → Scripted Actions → Manage</dd>
14335 <dt>Session Scripts</dt><dd>Menu → Session → Scripting → Add/Remove Script</dd>
14336 <dt>DSP Scripts</dt><dd>Mixer-strip → context menu (right click) → New Lua Proc</dd>
14337 <dt>Script Console</dt><dd>Menu → Window → Scripting</dd>
14340 <h2>Script Layout</h2>
14343 <li>Every script must include an <code>ardour</code> descriptor table. Required fields are "Name" and "Type".</li>
14344 <li>A script must provide a <em>Factory method</em>: A function with optional instantiation parameters which returns the actual script.</li>
14345 <li>[optional]: list of parameters for the "factory".</li>
14346 <li>in case of DSP scripts, an optional list of automatable parameters and possible audio/midi port configurations, and a <code>dsp_run</code> function, more on that later.</li>
14349 <p>A minimal example script looks like:</p>
14352 <pre><code class="lua">
14354 ["type"] = "EditorAction",
14358 function factory (unused_params)
14360 Session:goto_start() -- rewind the transport
14367 The common part for all scripts is the "Descriptor". It's a Lua function which returns a table (key/values) with the following keys (the keys are case-sensitive):
14371 <dt>type [required]</dt><dd>one of "<code>DSP</code>", "<code>Session</code>", "<code>EditorHook</code>", "<code>EditorAction</code>" (the type is not case-sensitive)</dd>
14372 <dt>name [required]</dt><dd>Name/Title of the script</dd>
14373 <dt>author</dt><dd>Your Name</dd>
14374 <dt>license</dt><dd>The license of the script (e.g. "GPL" or "MIT")</dd>
14375 <dt>description</dt><dd>A longer text explaining to the user what the script does</dd>
14379 Scripts that come with Ardour (currently mostly examples) can be found in the <a href="https://github.com/Ardour/ardour/tree/master/scripts">Source Tree</a>.
14382 <h3>Action Scripts</h3>
14385 Action scripts are the simplest form. An anonymous Lua function is called whenever the action is triggered. A simple action script is shown above.
14388 There are 10 action script slots available, each of which is a standard GUI action available from the menu and hence can be bound to a keyboard shortcut.
14391 <h3>Session Scripts</h3>
14394 Session scripts similar to Actions Scripts, except the anonymous function is called periodically every process cycle. The function receives a single parameter—the number of audio samples which are processed in the given cycle
14398 <pre><code class="lua">
14400 ["type"] = "session",
14401 name = "Example Session Script",
14403 An Example Ardour Session Script.
14404 This example stops the transport after rolling for a specific time.]]
14407 -- instantiation options, these are passed to the "factory" method below
14408 function sess_params ()
14411 ["print"] = { title = "Debug Print (yes/no)", default = "no", optional = true },
14412 ["time"] = { title = "Timeout (sec)", default = "90", optional = false },
14416 function factory (params)
14417 return function (n_samples)
14418 local p = params["print"] or "no"
14419 local timeout = params["time"] or 90
14421 if p ~= "no" then print (a, n_samples, Session:frame_rate (), Session:transport_rolling ()) end -- debug output (not rt safe)
14422 if (not Session:transport_rolling()) then
14427 if (a > timeout * Session:frame_rate()) then
14428 Session:request_transport_speed(0.0, true)
14435 <h3>Action Hooks</h3>
14438 Action hook scripts must define an additional function which returns a <em>Set</em> of Signal that which trigger the callback (documenting available slots and their parameters remains to be done).
14442 <pre><code class="lua">
14444 ["type"] = "EditorHook",
14445 name = "Hook Example",
14446 description = "Rewind On Solo Change, Write a file when regions are moved.",
14449 function signals ()
14450 s = LuaSignal.Set()
14453 [LuaSignal.SoloActive] = true,
14454 [LuaSignal.RegionPropertyChanged] = true
14460 function factory (params)
14461 return function (signal, ref, ...)
14462 -- print (signal, ref, ...)
14464 if (signal == LuaSignal.SoloActive) then
14465 Session:goto_start()
14468 if (signal == LuaSignal.RegionPropertyChanged) then
14470 file = io.open ("/tmp/test" ,"a")
14472 io.write (string.format ("Region: '%s' pos-changed: %s, length-changed: %s\n",
14474 tostring (pch:containsFramePos (ARDOUR.Properties.Start)),
14475 tostring (pch:containsFramePos (ARDOUR.Properties.Length))
14484 <h3>DSP Scripts</h3>
14486 <p>See the scripts folder for examples for now.</p>
14488 <p>Some notes for further doc:</p>
14491 <li>required function: <code>dsp_ioconfig ()</code>: return a list of possible audio I/O configurations—follows Audio Unit conventions.</li>
14492 <li>optional function: <code>dsp_dsp_midi_input ()</code>: return true if the plugin can receive midi input</li>
14493 <li>optional function: <code>dsp_params ()</code>: return a table of possible parameters (automatable)</li>
14494 <li>optional function: <code>dsp_init (samplerate)</code>: called when instantiation the plugin with given samplerate.</li>
14495 <li>optional function: <code>dsp_configure (in, out)</code>: called after instantiation with configured plugin i/o.</li>
14496 <li>required function: <code>dsp_run (ins, outs, n_samples)</code> OR <code>dsp_runmap (bufs, in_map, out_map, n_samples, offset)</code>: DSP process callback. The former is a convenient abstraction that passes mapped buffers (as table). The latter is a direct pass-through matching Ardour's internal <code>::connect_and_run()</code> API, which requires the caller to map and offset raw buffers.</li>
14497 <li>plugin parameters are handled via the global variable <code>CtrlPorts</code>.</li>
14498 <li>midi data is passed via the global variable <code>mididata</code> which is valid during <code>dsp_run</code> only. (dsp_runmap requires the script to pass raw data from the buffers according to in_map)</li>
14499 <li>The script has access to the current session via the global variable Session, but access to the session methods are limited to realtime safe functions</li>
14502 <h2>Accessing Ardour Objects</h2>
14505 The top most object in Ardour is the <code>ARDOUR::Session</code>. Fundamentally, a Session is just a collection of other things: Routes (tracks, busses), Sources (Audio/Midi), Regions, Playlists, Locations, Tempo map, Undo/Redo history, Ports, Transport state & controls, etc.
14509 Every Lua interpreter can access it via the global variable <code>Session</code>.
14513 GUI context interpreters also have an additional object in the global environment: The Ardour <code>Editor</code>. The Editor provides access to high level functionality which is otherwise triggered via GUI interaction such as undo/redo, open/close windows, select objects, drag/move regions. It also holds the current UI state: snap-mode, zoom-range, etc. The Editor also provides complex operations such as "import audio" which under the hood, creates a new Track, adds a new Source Objects (for every channel) with optional resampling, creates both playlist and regions and loads the region onto the Track all the while displaying a progress information to the user.
14517 Documenting the bound C++ methods and class hierarchy is somewhere on the ToDo list. Meanwhile <a href="https://github.com/Ardour/ardour/blob/master/libs/ardour/luabindings.cc">luabindings.cc</a> is the best we can offer.
14523 <li>There are no bound constructors: Lua asks Ardour to create objects (e.g. add a new track), then receives a reference to the object to modify it.</li>
14524 <li>Scripts, once loaded, are saved with the Session (no reference to external files). This provides for portable Sessions.</li>
14525 <li>Lua Scripts are never executed directly. They provide a "factory" method which can have optional instantiation parameters, which returns a lua closure.</li>
14526 <li>No external lua modules/libraries can be used, scripts need to be self contained (portable across different systems (libs written in Lua can be used, and important c-libs/functions can be included with ardour if needed).</li>
14530 Ardour is a highly multithreaded application and interaction between the different threads, particularly real-time threads, needs to to be done with care. This part has been abstracted away by providing separate Lua interpreters in different contexts and restricting available interaction:
14534 <li>Editor Actions run in a single instance interpreter in the GUI thread.</li>
14535 <li>Editor Hooks connect to libardour signals. Every Callback uses a dedicated lua interpreter which is in the GUI thread context.</li>
14536 <li>All Session scripts run in a single instance in the main real-time thread (audio callback)</li>
14537 <li>DSP scripts have a separate instance per script and run in one of the DSP threads.</li>
14541 The available interfaces differ between contexts. e.g. it is not possible to create new tracks or import audio from real-time context; while it is not possible to modify audio buffers from the GUI thread.
14544 <h2>Current State</h2>
14546 <p>Fully functional, yet still in a prototyping stage:</p>
14549 <li>The GUI to add/configure scripts is rather minimalistic.</li>
14550 <li>The interfaces may change (particularly DSP, and Session script <code>run()</code>.</li>
14551 <li>Further planned work includes:
14553 <li>Built-in Script editor (customize/modify Scripts in-place)</li>
14554 <li>convenience methods (wrap more complex Ardour actions into a library). e.g set plugin parameters, write automation lists from a lua table</li>
14555 <li>Add some useful scripts and more examples</li>
14556 <li>Documentation (Ardour API), also usable for tab-exansion, syntax highlighting</li>
14557 <li>bindings for GUI Widgets (plugin UIs, message boxes, etc)</li>
14565 Apart from the <a href="https://github.com/Ardour/ardour/tree/master/scripts">scripts included with the source-code</a> here are a few examples without further comments...
14568 <h3>Editor Console Examples</h3>
14571 <pre><code class="lua">
14572 print (Session:route_by_remote_id(1):name())
14574 a = Session:route_by_remote_id(1);
14577 print(Session:get_tracks():size())
14579 for i, v in ipairs(Session:unknown_processors():table()) do print(v) end
14580 for i, v in ipairs(Session:get_tracks():table()) do print(v:name()) end
14582 for t in Session:get_tracks():iter() do print(t:name()) end
14583 for r in Session:get_routes():iter() do print(r:name()) end
14586 Session:tempo_map():add_tempo(ARDOUR.Tempo(100,4), Timecode.BBT_TIME(4,1,0))
14589 Editor:set_zoom_focus(Editing.ZoomFocusRight)
14590 print(Editing.ZoomFocusRight);
14591 Editor:set_zoom_focus(1)
14594 files = C.StringVector();
14595 files:push_back("/home/rgareus/data/coding/ltc-tools/smpte.wav")
14597 Editor:do_import(files, Editing.ImportDistinctFiles, Editing.ImportAsTrack, ARDOUR.SrcQuality.SrcBest, pos, ARDOUR.PluginInfo())
14600 Editor:do_import(C.StringVector():add({"/path/to/file.wav"}), Editing.ImportDistinctFiles, Editing.ImportAsTrack, ARDOUR.SrcQuality.SrcBest, -1, ARDOUR.PluginInfo())
14602 # called when a new session is loaded:
14603 function new_session (name) print("NEW SESSION:", name) end
14606 # read/set/describe a plugin parameter
14607 route = Session:route_by_remote_id(1)
14608 processor = route:nth_plugin(0)
14609 plugininsert = processor:to_insert()
14611 plugin = plugininsert:plugin(0)
14612 print (plugin:label())
14613 print (plugin:parameter_count())
14615 x = ARDOUR.ParameterDescriptor ()
14616 _, t = plugin:get_parameter_descriptor(2, x) -- port #2
14618 print (paramdesc.lower)
14620 ctrl = Evoral.Parameter(ARDOUR.AutomationType.PluginAutomation, 0, 2)
14621 ac = plugininsert:automation_control(ctrl, false)
14622 print (ac:get_value ())
14623 ac:set_value(1.0, PBD.GroupControlDisposition.NoGroup)
14625 # the same using a convenience wrapper:
14626 route = Session:route_by_remote_id(1)
14627 proc = t:nth_plugin (i)
14628 ARDOUR.LuaAPI.set_processor_param (proc, 2, 1.0)
14633 <h3>Commandline Session</h3>
14636 The standalone tool <code>luasession</code> allows one to access an Ardour session directly from the commandline. Interaction is limited by the fact that most actions in Ardour are provided by the Editor GUI.
14640 <code>luasession</code> provides only two special functions <code>load_session</code> and <code>close_session</code> and exposes the <code>AudioEngine</code> instance as global variable.
14644 <pre><code class="lua">
14645 for i,_ in AudioEngine:available_backends():iter() do print (i.name) end
14647 backend = AudioEngine:set_backend("ALSA", "", "")
14648 print (AudioEngine:current_backend_name())
14650 for i,_ in backend:enumerate_devices():iter() do print (i.name) end
14652 backend:set_input_device_name("HDA Intel PCH")
14653 backend:set_output_device_name("HDA Intel PCH")
14655 print (backend:buffer_size())
14656 print (AudioEngine:get_last_backend_error())
14658 s = load_session ("/home/rgareus/Documents/ArdourSessions/lua2/", "lua2")
14659 s:request_transport_speed (1.0)
14660 print (s:transport_rolling())
14668 title: Class Reference
14669 include: class_reference.html
14682 title: List of Menu Actions
14683 include: menu-actions-list.html