227 lines
9.0 KiB
XML
227 lines
9.0 KiB
XML
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<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?>
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<!DOCTYPE section PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
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]>
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<section id="sn-working-with-playlists">
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<title>Working with Playlists</title>
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<para>
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As described earlier <link linkend="gt-playlist">playlists</link> are one of
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the central objects in a digital audio workstation. A playlist is a list of
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<link linkend="gt-region">regions</link> ordered in time. It defines which
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parts of which source files should be played and when.
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</para>
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<para>
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Each track in Ardour is really just a mechanism for taking a playlist and
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generating the audio stream that it represents. As a result, editing a track
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really means modifying its playlist in some way. Since a playlist is a list
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of regions, most of the modifications involve manipulating regions: their
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position, length and so forth. This is covered in
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<xref linkend="sn-working-with-regions"/>. Here, we cover some of the things
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you can do with playlists as objects in their own right.
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</para>
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<section id="tracks-are-not-playlists">
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<title> Tracks are not Playlists </title>
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<para>
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It is important to understand that a track is <emphasis>not</emphasis> a
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playlist. A track is a mechanism for generating the audio stream
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represented by the playlist and passing it through a signal processing
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pathway. At any point in time, a track has a single playlist associated
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with it. When the track is used to record, that playlist will have one or
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more new regions added to it. When the track is used for playback, the
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contents of the playlist will be heard. Old tape operators will feel
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comfortable thinking of the playlist as the tape, and the track as the tape
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machine.
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</para>
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<para>
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However, you can change the playlist associated with a track at (almost)
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any time, and even share playlists between tracks. There is more on this
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<link linkend="playlist-operations">below</link>.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="playlists-are-cheap">
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<title> Playlists are cheap </title>
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<para>
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One thing you should be clear about is that playlists are cheap. They don't
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cost anything in terms of CPU consumption, and they have very minimal
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efforts on memory use. Don't be afraid of generating new playlists whenever
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you want to. They are not equivalent to tracks, which require extra CPU
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time and significant memory space, or audio files, which use disk space, or
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to plugins that require extra CPU time. If a playlist is not in use, it
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occupies a small amount of memory, and nothing more.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="playlists-as-takes">
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<title> Playlists as "Takes" or "Virtual Tracks" </title>
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<para>
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If you have a background in audio engineering, then it might be easiest for
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you to think of playlists as "takes". This isn't a particularly useful
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analogy by itself, and it can be misleading. But if you are working with
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music where most tracks feature single-pass recordings of a single
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instrument, then the idea of using one playlist per "take" can make life
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very convenient. Each time you need to record another take, create a new
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playlist list first. You will then end up with a simple way of switching
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back and forth between each version, or even listening to several at the
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same time.
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</para>
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<para>
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If you have some experience of other DAWs, then you might have come across
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the term "virtual track", normally defined as a track that isn't actually
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playing or doing anything, but can be mapped/assigned to a "real track".
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This concept is functionally identical to Ardour's playlists. We just like
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to be little more clear about what is actually happening rather than mixing
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old and new terminology ("virtual" and "track") into confusing terminology.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="playlist-operations">
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<title> Playlist Operations </title>
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<para>
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At this point, all operations on playlists start by clicking on the
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playlist button (labelled <guibutton>p</guibutton>) in the control area of a track in the
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editor. Clicking the button will popup a menu with the following choices:
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</para>
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<variablelist>
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<title></title>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Current</guilabel></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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shows the name of the current playlist used by this track
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Rename</guilabel></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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pops up a dialog that allows the current playlist to be renamed
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>New</guilabel></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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creates a new <emphasis>empty</emphasis> playlist, and switches this
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track to use it
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>New Copy</guilabel></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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creates a new playlist that is a copy of the current playlist, and
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switches this track to use it
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Clear Current</guilabel></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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removes all regions from the current playlist
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><guilabel>Select</guilabel></term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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pops up a playlist browser to manually choose which playlist this track
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should use
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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<section id="renaming-playlists">
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<title>Renaming Playlists</title>
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<para>
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Playlists are created with the name of the track of which they are
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associated, plus a version number. So, the first playlist for a track
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called "Cowbell" will be called "Cowbell.1". This name will be used to
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define the names of any regions added to the playlist by recording. You
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can change the name at any time, to anything you want. Ardour does not
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require that your playlist names are all unique, but it will make your
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life easier if they are. Suggested examples of user-assigned names for a
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playlist might include "Lead Guitar, 2nd take", "vocals (quiet)", and
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"downbeat cuica". Notice how these might be different from the associated
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track names, which for these examples might be "Lead Guitar", "Vocals" and
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"Cuica". The playlist name provides more information because it is about a
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specific version of the material that may (or may not) end up in the final
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version of the track.
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</para>
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<para>
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If you are going to rename your playlists, do so before recording new
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material to them.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="selecting-playlists">
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<title>Selecting Playlists</title>
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<para>
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If you click on the "Select" choice of the playlist button menu, a dialog
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will appear that displays all playlists in a tree-structure (many will be
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hidden). Playlists will be grouped by the track for which they were
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created, with all those created for the current track displayed. Other
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tracks are hidden in a collapsed tree that can be expanded as you wish to
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find other playlists.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="sharing-playlists">
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<title>Sharing Playlists</title>
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<para>
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It is entirely possible to share playlists between tracks. The only
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slightly unusual thing you may notice when sharing is that edits to the
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playlist made in one track will magically appear in the other. If you
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think about this for a moment, its an obvious consequence of sharing.
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</para>
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<para>
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You might not want this kind of behaviour, even though you still want two
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tracks to use the same (or substantially the same) playlist. To accomplish
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this, select the chosen playlist in the second track, and then use
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<guilabel>New Copy</guilabel> to generate an independent copy of it for
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that track. You can then edit this playlist without affecting the
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original.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="using-playlists-for-takes">
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<title>Using playlists for takes</title>
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<para>
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You have several choices here. You can obviously record new takes directly
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over an existing one, because of the non-destructive nature of digital
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audio editing. You can also use the <guilabel>Clear Current</guilabel>
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operation each time you want to start a new take. This is a
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non-destructive operation that removes all existing regions from the
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current playlist. Although you won't lose any information doing this, its
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probably not appropriate unless the last take was so awful that you want
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to discard it (although without the finality of <emphasis>Remove Last
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Capture</emphasis> ). Finally, and probably most useful, you can use the
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<guilabel>New</guilabel> operation in the playlist button menu to create a
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new empty playlist, ready for the next take. Later, you can
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<guilabel>Select</guilabel> your way back to previous or later takes as
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desired, either in this or some other track.
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</para>
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</section>
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</section>
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</section>
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