ardour/manual/xml/creating_a_new_session.xml
Tim Mayberry b8a6f94325 Add a help target(the default target) and format target to the manual
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Reformat the docs, I explained in a prior commit why this modifies 
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<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE section PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
]>
<section id="sn-creating-a-new-session">
<title>Creating a new Session</title>
<para>
The first step in starting a new project with Ardour is to create a new
session. When you do this, Ardour creates a new folder named after your
session, and stores differents kinds of files and subfolders within it.
The two most important subfolders are <filename>sounds</filename> which
contains all the audio recorded or imported for the session and
<filename>automation</filename> which contains automation data for
various parts of the session.
</para>
<para>
When you start ardour without specifying an existing session, it
automatically brings up the new session dialog. If you want to create a
new session at other times, choose <menuchoice>
<guimenu>Session</guimenu> <guisubmenu>New Session</guisubmenu>
</menuchoice>.
</para>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="images/session_control.png"/>
</imageobject>
</mediaobject>
<para>
Enter a name for the new session. You can use any characters you like as
part of the name, but you should know that more or less anything other
than alphabetic and numeric characters will be converted to underscores
to form the name of the session folder.
</para>
<para>
Next, choose where you want to store the new session folder. If its not
in your current working folder, click on the browse button to expand the
file selector, and then navigate to your desired location.
</para>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="images/new_session_select_directory.png"/>
</imageobject>
</mediaobject>
<section id="new-session-io">
<title>Input and Output Configuration</title>
<para>
Next, configure the basic IO setup for the session. You have several
choices here, and doing nothing is one of them. This will give you a
session that includes:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
a stereo master bus with its outputs connected to the first two
outputs of your audio interface
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
all new track will have their outputs sent to the master bus
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
all new track inputs will be connected to Ardours best guess at
the relevant input of your audio interface.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
However, if you want more control over this, click on the expander
next to <guilabel>Advanced options</guilabel> label to show the full
set of options:
</para>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="images/new_session_advanced_tab.png"/>
</imageobject>
</mediaobject>
<para>
There are two options available for track input configuration:
autoconnect or manual. If you select autoconnect (the default) then
new tracks will be connected to an input of your audio interface. If
you select manual, it will be up to you to configure the input for
each track.
</para>
<para>
For output, the first two choices are whether to have control and
master outs. Most DAWs assume the presence of master outs, and few (if
any) offer control outs.
</para>
<section id="new-session-master-outs">
<title>Master Outputs</title>
<para>
A Master out is a bus to which all (or most) tracks and other busses
send their output. It provides a convenient single point of control
for the output of ardour, and is a typical location for global
effects. Because of this, using master outs is enabled by default,
and the master out bus is setup to be stereo (2 inputs, 2 outputs).
However, if you are feeding Ardours output through a hardware
mixing console, you may not want master outs. In such cases, disable
them by clicking on the radio button next to “Use master outs”.
Alternatively, you may want some other channel configuration for the
master output (for example, 8 channel surround sound). Select this
by using the clickbox (see clickboxes) next to the radio button.
</para>
</section>
<section id="new-session-control-outs">
<title>Control Outputs</title>
<para>
Control outs are unusual for DAWs, but because Ardour is designed to
be as flexible as possible, and in particular is intended to be
useful as a live mixer, they are included here. Using control outs
provides you with a dedicated bus to which all tracks have an
additional output connection. As well as feeding their regular
outputs, they send data to the control outs as well. In an
unadjusted session, this means that the control outs carry the same
signal as the master outs. However, once you start soloing tracks,
the control outs will carry only soloed tracks while the master outs
continue to carry the entire mix. A typical use of control outs is
when doing live stage work. The mix engineer will be listening to
the control outs, and can therefore solo tracks without affecting
the signal being sent to the master outs (the main speakers).
</para>
</section>
</section>
</section>