<scripttype=text/javascript>varbaseurl="https://prokoudine.github.io/ardour-tutorial/en"</script><scripttype=text/javascriptsrc=/ardour-tutorial/js/search.js?1647876230></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><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/><b>2. </b>Getting started</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/starting-jack/title="Starting JACK"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/starting-jack/>Starting JACK</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/starting-ardour-on-ubuntu/title="Starting Ardour"class=dd-item><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></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/title="Starting sessions"class="dd-item
parent"><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/><b>3. </b>Starting sessions</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/starting-a-session/title="Starting a session"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/starting-a-session/>Starting a session</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/setting-up-the-timeline/title="Setting up the timeline"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/setting-up-the-timeline/>Setting up the timeline</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/creating-a-track-or-bus/title="Creating a track or a bus"class="dd-item active"><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/creating-a-track-or-bus/>Creating a track or a bus</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/importing-audio/title="Importing audio"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/importing-audio/>Importing audio</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/recording-audio/title="Recording audio"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/recording-audio/>Recording audio</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/understanding-routing/title="Understanding routing"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/understanding-routing/>Understanding routing</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/routing-between-applications/title="Routing between applications"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/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/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-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/working-with-regions/>Working with regions</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/further-region-operations/title="Further region operations"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/further-region-operations/>Further region operations</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/changing-edit-modes/title="Changing edit modes"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/changing-edit-modes/>Changing edit modes</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/creating-looped-sections/title="Creating looped sections"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/creating-looped-sections/>Creating looped sections</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/stretching-shrinking-regions/title="Stretching & shrinking regions"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/editing-sessions/stretching-shrinking-regions/>Stretching & shrinking regions</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/mixing-sessions/title="Mixing sessions"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/mixing-sessions/><b>5. </b>Mixing sessions</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/mixing-sessions/the-mixer-strip/title="The mixer strip"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/mixing-sessions/the-mixer-strip/>The mixer strip</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/mixing-sessions/mixing-levels/title="Mixing levels"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/mixing-sessions/mixing-levels/>Mixing levels</a></l
<spanclass=links><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/>Home</a> > <ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/starting-sessions/>Starting sessions</a> > Creating a track or a bus</span></div><divclass=progress><divclass=wrapper><navid=TableOfContents><ul><li><ahref=#what-is-an-audio-track>What is an Audio Track?</a></li><li><ahref=#what-is-a-bus>What is a Bus?</a></li><li><ahref=#how-are-tracks-and-busses-used>How are Tracks and Busses Used?</a></li><li><ahref=#adding-tracks-and-busses>Adding Tracks and Busses</a></li><li><ahref=#continuing>Continuing</a></li></ul></nav></div></div></div></div><divid=head-tags></div><divid=body-inner><h1>Creating a track or a bus</h1><h2id=what-is-an-audio-track>What is an Audio Track?</h2><p>An <strong>Audio</strong><strong>Track</strong> is a place where you can drag a <strong>Region</strong>
from your <strong>Region List</strong> and where you can record sounds coming from an
outside source.</p><p>A Region represents an audio clip, i.e., one of your
sound files or just a portion of a sound file. In the image below, the
horizontal strip areas marked “<em>MyTrack</em>” and “<em>short-drone-mono</em>” are Tracks.
The rectangles containing audio information are called Regions (for example, the Region “<em>wheels-mono.1</em>” is contained within <em>MyTrack</em>).</p><p><imgsrc=en/Ardour6_Tracks.pngalt=Tracks></p><h2id=what-is-a-bus>What is a Bus?</h2><p>A <strong>Bus</strong> is similar to a track except that it does not contain its own
regions. You cannot record directly into a bus or drag regions into it.
The area marked “<em>Master</em>” in your session is an example of a Bus. Typically every
session has a <strong>Master Bus</strong>. All the audio to be <strong>Exported</strong> from
your Session will be sent to the Master Bus.</p><h2id=how-are-tracks-and-busses-used>How are Tracks and Busses Used?</h2><p>Audio-processing <strong>Plugins</strong> and <strong>Automation</strong> can be applied to both
Tracks and Busses.</p><p>Audio tracks can be routed to Busses. In fact, many Tracks can be
simultaneously routed to one Bus. Busses are traditionally used as a
convenient way to apply any kind of signal processing to many Tracks at
once. For instance, you might find it useful to route all Tracks that
contain drum sounds to a single Bus that you would call ‘<em>drum bus</em>’.
Then, if you decide that all your drum Tracks are too loud, you can
quickly adjust the level of the ‘<em>drum bus</em>’ rather than adjusting each
separate Track that feeds into it.</p><p>Another use of a Bus would be to have a common <strong>Reverberation</strong> Plugin,
so that any audio Track which requires the Reverb effect could be routed
to a single Bus.</p><h2id=adding-tracks-and-busses>Adding Tracks and Busses</h2><p>Right-Click in the empty area beneath any existing Tracks and Busses.
Alternatively, click on the menu <em>Track > Add Track, Bus, or VCA…</em> (shortcut
“<em>Ctrl</em>” + “<em>Shift</em>” + “<em>N</em>”). The following window will appear:</p><p><imgsrc=en/Ardour6_Add_Track_or_Bus.pngalt="Add Track"></p><p><strong>Add</strong> lets you specify how many Tracks (or Busses) you would to like
to create.</p><p>Choose <strong>Audio Tracks</strong> or <strong>Audio Busses</strong> to specify whether you want to
create Tracks or Busses. There are also other options such as <strong>MIDI Track</strong> and more. Ardour offers different track types depending on the type of data they contain. This tutorial will only
cover Audio Tracks and Busses. (see the <ahref=http://manual.ardour.org/working-with-tracks/track-types/>Ardour
Manual</a> for
details on all track types)</p><p>You can optionally give a <strong>Name</strong> to the Track or Bus being created.
The <strong>Configuration</strong> drop-down menu allows you to specify how many
channels of audio you’d like the new Track or Bus to handle. For
example, if you will be recording your voice on this track using a
single microphone, choose <strong>Mono</strong>. If you plan to import a clip from an
existing song and place it on this Track, choose <strong>Stereo</strong>. The choice
made here will also affect which Plugins you can use on the track (Mono
tracks cannot use Stereo Plugins and vice versa).</p><p>The <strong>Position</strong> menu lets you choose where you want the new track or bus to be placed: first, last, before or after the selection.</p><p>You can safely ignore the other options for now. To learn more about each of them, please check <ahref=http://manual.ardour.org/working-with-tracks/adding-tracks-and-busses/>this page of the complete Ardour
Manual</a>.</p><p>Click the <strong>Add and Close</strong> button to create the Tracks or Busses you
have just configured, and automatically close the Add Track window. The tracks you just created will appear as new rows in the <strong>Main Canvas</strong>. If you still wanted to add more tracks after this step, you could alternatively have chosen <strong>Add selected items (and leave dialog open)</strong> instead.</p><h2id=continuing>Continuing</h2><p>Once you’ve added one or more Tracks, you will want to put some audio
material into them to work with. Continue on to the <strong>Importing Audio</strong>
and <strong>Recording Audio</strong> chapters to learn how to do this.</p><p>Next: <ahref=../importing-audio>IMPORTING AUDIO</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?1647876230></script>
