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<spanid=toc-menutitle="Table of Contents"><iclass="fas fa-list-alt fa-fw"></i></span><olclass=linksitemscopeitemtype=http://schema.org/BreadcrumbList><metaitemprop=itemListOrdercontent="Descending"><liitemscopeitemtype=https://schema.org/ListItemitemprop=itemListElement><metaitemprop=positioncontent="3"><aitemprop=itemhref=/ardour-tutorial/en/><spanitemprop=name>Home</span></a> ></li><liitemscopeitemtype=https://schema.org/ListItemitemprop=itemListElement><metaitemprop=positioncontent="2"><aitemprop=itemhref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/><spanitemprop=name>Getting started</span></a> ></li><liitemscopeitemtype=https://schema.org/ListItemitemprop=itemListElement><metaitemprop=positioncontent="1"><aitemprop=itemhref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/starting-ardour-on-ubuntu/aria-disabled=true><spanitemprop=name>Starting Ardour</span></a></li></ol></div><divclass="default-animation progress"><divclass=wrapper><navid=TableOfContents><ul><li><ahref=#first-launch-wizard>First-launch wizard</a></li><li><ahref=#create-new-session>Create new session</a></li><li><ahref=#choosing-an-audio-system-and-its-settings>Choosing an audio system and its settings</a></li><li><ahref=#continuing>Continuing</a></li></ul></nav></div></div></div></nav><mainid=body-innerclass=highlightable><divclass=flex-block-wrapper><divid=head-tags></div><article><h1>Starting Ardour</h1><p>Ardour supports both Linux, Windows, and macOS. There is very little
difference about how it works on all these operating systems. So while this
tutorial assumes using Ubuntu Linux, you should expect it to work the same
way on other operating systems and Linux flavors.</p><h2id=first-launch-wizard>First-launch wizard</h2><p>When you first start Ardour, it will ask you a few questions to make a
basic customization: user interface and font scale (if you have a HiDPI
display), default folder where new sessions would be created, preferred way
to monitor signal being recorded etc.</p><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-gui-and-font-scaling.pngalt="GUI and font scaling"></figure><p>This dialog will never be shown again, unless you wipe all settings. You
can change all the preferences you set there at any time later in the
<em>Preferences</em> dialog.</p><h2id=create-new-session>Create new session</h2><p>Once you get past the first-launch wizard, Ardour will suggest you create a
new <em>session</em> from one of a few available templates.</p><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-new-session-templates.pngalt="New session templates"></figure><p>A session encompasses all the material you have: tracks with audio and MIDI
data, effects associated with tracks and busses etc. Thus, a session is
essentially a project file from which you can render a mono or a stereo
audio file to deliver to a client, use in a video, or upload to a streaming
service.</p><p>For simplicity’s sake let’s go with an empty session as shown above.</p><p>Ardour will always automatically suggest storing a new session in the
default folder that you set at the previous step.</p><p>When giving a new session a name, please avoid using any characters other
than letters and numbers, like white spaces, accented letters, <code>!@#$%*()+</code>,
periods, commas, etc. Use dashes or underscores if you like. For example,
instead of “My Great Session!”, prefer “My_Great_Session”, or
“MyGreatSession”, or “my-great-session”. Instead of “Açaí”, write “Acai”
(without accented letters), etc.</p><p>Name your new project and click <strong>Open</strong> .</p><p>Once you have created your Ardour session, do <em>not</em> manually rename any
folders or files that belong to the session. Otherwise, Ardour will fail to
locate the files inside those folders and will ask you to point to them.</p><divclass="box notices tip"><divclass=box-label><iclass="fas fa-lightbulb fa-fw"></i> Tip</div><divclass=box-content><p>Once you saved at least one session, the <em>Session Setup</em> dialog will look
open an existing session that is not on that list.</p></div></div><h2id=choosing-an-audio-system-and-its-settings>Choosing an audio system and its settings</h2><p>At the next step, you will need to choose and configure the <em>audio system</em>.</p><p>On Linux, you have multiple audio systems (or <em>backends</em>) available. <em>ALSA</em>
is suggested by default. It is currently the recommended way to use Ardour
in production. With ALSA, there are no convenience wrappers or
abstractions. You connect to physical audio and MIDI ports directly. This
means Ardour will take over the audio interface of your choice and won’t
share it with any other applications. As long as Ardour is running, any
other desktop applications you are running too won’t be able to connect to
the audio interface and play any sound.</p><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-alsa-backend-settings.pngalt="Audio/MIDI setup"></figure><p>The <em>PulseAudio</em> backend currently only supports playback. This means you won’t
YouTube and be able to listen to the output from Ardour.</p><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-pulse-audio-settings.pngalt="PulseAudio settings"></figure><p>Finally, there’s JACK audio backend. It is designed following a client-server
architecture pattern. JACK captures all physical ports of an audio interface and
routes signal between its clients (e.g. a digital audio workstation, a software
synthesizer, a drum sequencer etc.) and various ports. It is available on both
Linux, Windows, and macOS.</p><p>Today, the use of JACK audio server is discouraged by Ardour developers except
for particular use cases like sophisticated signal routing. For simple
multichannel recording your user experience will be vastly better when relying
on native audio engine available in your operating system, like ALSA on Linux
and CoreAudio on macOS. If you absolutely need JACK, it’s best to start and
control it from a separate program like
<ahref=https://qjackctl.sourceforge.io/>Qjackctl</a> or
<ahref=https://kx.studio/Applications:Cadence>Cadence</a>.</p><p>Most supported audio systems have a few common settings:</p><ul><li><em>Device</em> — it’s either your built-in sound card, or an external sound card if
you have one (such as a USB interface).</li><li><em>Sample Rate</em> — 48K or 44.1K are common choices.</li><li><em>Buffer Size</em> — especially for external USB audio, try picking an option that
results in a latency that is a multiple of 1ms (4ms, 6ms etc.) to produce less glitches.</li><li><em>Periods</em> — it’s often suggested to use 3 for an external USB audio interface,
but you should see if you can get a multiple of 1ms with 3 or if you should dial
back to 2.</li></ul><p>Once you’ve chosen, configured, and started the audio/MIDI backend, Ardour will
window:</p><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-ardour-empty-session.pngalt="Main Ardour window, empty session"></figure><h2id=continuing>Continuing</h2><p>In the next chapter you’ll familiarize yourself with Ardour’s user
<scriptsrc=/ardour-tutorial/js/search.js?1651364615></script></div><divid=homelinksclass=default-animation><ul><li><aclass=paddinghref=/ardour-tutorial/en/><iclass="fas fa-home"></i> Home</a></li></ul></div><divid=content-wrapperclass=highlightable><ulclass=topics><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/title=Introductionclass=dd-item><inputtype=checkboxid=section-9278c07c1c4f7473c66529d5a0c6e688class=toggle><labelfor=section-9278c07c1c4f7473c66529d5a0c6e688></label><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/><b>1. </b>Introduction</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/conventions/title=Conventionsclass=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/conventions/>Conventions</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/what-is-digital-audio/title="What is digital audio?"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/what-is-digital-audio/>What is digital audio?</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/title="Getting started"class="dd-item parent"><inputtype=checkboxid=section-6ba418844f4e8ce868bfa62d1bf5b9b1class=togglechecked><labelfor=section-6ba418844f4e8ce868bfa62d1bf5b9b1></label><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/><b>2. </b>Getting started</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/starting-ardour-on-ubuntu/title="Starting Ardour"class="dd-item active"><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/starting-ardour-on-ubuntu/>Starting Ardour</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/title="Overview of the Interface"class="dd-item alwaysopen"><inputtype=checkboxid=section-65fa48091b8ede8e5c409cc42ad6af14class=togglechecked><labelfor=section-65fa48091b8ede8e5c409cc42ad6af14></label><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/>Overview of the Interface</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/editor-window/title="Editor window"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/editor-window/>Editor window</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/mixer-window/title="Mixer window"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/mixer-window/>Mixer window</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/recorder-window/title="Recorder window"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/recorder-window/>Recorder window</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/cue-window/title="Cue window"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/cue-window/>Cue window</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/creating-tracks-and-busses/title="Creating tracks and busses"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/creating-tracks-and-busses/>Creating tracks and busses</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/importing-audio/title="Importing audio"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/importing-audio/>Importing audio</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/setting-up-the-timeline/title="Setting up the timeline"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/setting-up-the-timeline/>Setting up the timeline</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/title=Recordingclass=dd-item><inputtype=checkboxid=section-f34c0a5099ecaf52ba2ddf859ecf8564class=toggle><labelfor=section-f34c0a5099ecaf52ba2ddf859ecf8564></label><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/><b>3. </b>Recording</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/recording-audio/title="Recording audio"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/recording-audio/>Recording audio</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/understanding-routing/title="Understanding routing"class