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.
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.
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 _Preferences_ dialog.
## Create new session
Once you get past the first-launch wizard, Ardour will suggest you create a new _session_ from one of a few available templates.
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.
For simplicity's sake let's go with an empty session as shown above.
Ardour will always automatically suggest storing a new session in the default folder that you set at the previous step.
When giving a new session a name, please avoid using any characters other than letters and numbers, like white spaces, accented letters, `!@#$%*()+`, 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.
Once you have created your Ardour session, do _not_ 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.
Once you saved at least one session, the _Session Setup_ dialog will look differently: there will be a list of recently opened sessions and a way to open an existing session that is not on that list.
