<scripttype=text/javascript>varbaseurl="https://prokoudine.github.io/ardour-tutorial/en"</script><scripttype=text/javascriptsrc=/ardour-tutorial/js/search.js?1648299044></script></div><sectionid=homelinks><ul><li><aclass=paddinghref=/ardour-tutorial/en/><iclass="fas fa-home"></i> Home</a></li></ul></section><divclass=highlightable><ulclass=topics><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/title=Introductionclass=dd-item><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"><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><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><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=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/understanding-routing/>Understanding routing</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/routing-between-applications/title="Routing between applications"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/routing-between-applications/>Routing between applications</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/title="Editing sessions"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/><b>4. </b>Editing sessions</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/non-destructive-editing/title="Non-destructive editing"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/non-destructive-editing/>Non-destructive editing</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/arranging-tracks/title="Arranging tracks"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/arranging-tracks/>Arranging tracks</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/setting-up-the-meter/title="Setting up the meter"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/setting-up-the-meter/>Setting up the meter</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/using-ranges/title="Using ranges"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/using-ranges/>Using ranges</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/working-with-regions/title="Working with regions"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutor
<spanclass=links><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/>Home</a> > <ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/>Getting started</a> > Starting Ardour</span></div><divclass=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></div><divid=head-tags></div><divid=body-inner><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/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/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="notices info"><p>Once you saved at least one session, the <em>Session Setup</em> 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.</p></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/alsa-backend-settings.pngalt="Audio/MIDI setup"></figure><p>The <em>PulseAudio</em> backend currently only supports playback. This means you won’t
be able to record any audio as long as you use PulseAudio, but you can edit,
mix, and export in e.g. Bluetooth headphones on the go. It’s also the most
convenient option when you want to follow a mixing or mastering tutorial on e.g.
YouTube and be able to listen to the output from Ardour.</p><figure><imgsrc=en/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 best to use 2 for a built-in sound card and 3 for an external
USB audio interface.</li></ul><p>Once you’ve chosen, configured, and started the audio/MIDI backend, Ardour will
try to discover any new plugins, and then you will be greeted with Ardour’s main
window:</p><figure><imgsrc=en/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 interface and its main windows: Editor, Mixer, Recorder, and Cue.</p><p>Next: <ahref=../overview-of-the-interface>Overview of the interface</a></p><footerclass=footline></footer></div></div><divid=navigation></div></section><divstyle=left:-1000px;overflow:scroll;position:absolute;top:-1000px;border:none;box-sizing:content-box;height:200px;margin:0;padding:0;width:200px><divstyle=border:none;box-sizing:content-box;height:200px;margin:0;padding:0;width:200px></div></div><scriptsrc=/ardour-tutorial/js/clipboard.min.js?1648299044></script>
