This chapter covers basic management of tracks. Tracks are probably the most important objects in Ardour. They represent the fundamental way to playback and record audio, MIDI, and image data.

Tracks may be added to the session at any time. Choose Session Add Track/Bus add_track.ps Add Track Dialog In the Add Tracks dialog, choose whether you wish to add a new Track or a new Bus. Enter the number of new tracks/busses you want to add. Choose the I/O configuration of the tracks/busses you are adding using the clickbox.

Deleting a track is permanent operation that cannot be undone. However, since the audio, MIDI, automation and other data associated with the track will remain as part of the session, and the actual playlist(s) that were in use by the track are still available. for use by other tracks. As a result, although inadvertently deleting a track is inconvenient, it doesn't result in any significant loss of information.

Click on the name of the track you want to delete. From the menu that appears, select Remove. A confirmation dialog will appear to ensure that you really meant to remove the track.

The track list on the left edge of the Editor and Mixer can be used to hide or show specific tracks in either or both of those two windows. To hide a track, click to on the tracks name in the relevant track list. To show a track, click on its name in the track list. Visible tracks have their names shown in cyan, hidden ones in orange. You can also hide any track by clicking its hide button (images/hidebutton.ps). Hiding a track in the Editor has no effect on its visibility in the Mixer, and vice versa. Hiding a track in one or both windows does not affect the playback of that track's material.

Click on the titlebar of the track list of the Editor or Mixer. From the menu that appears, select "Show All"

Click on the titlebar of the track list of the Editor or Mixer. From the menu that appears, select "Hiding All".

Click on the titlebar of the track list of the Editor or Mixer. From the menu that appears, select "Show All Audio Tracks", or "Show all Busses" as appropriate.

Click on the titlebar of the track list of the Editor or Mixer. From the menu that appears, select "Hide All Audio Tracks", or "Hide all Busses" as appropriate.

Tracks may be reordered by clicking on their name in one of the track lists and dragging it to a new position in the list. Note that the order of tracks in the editor is totally independent of their order in the mixer.

"Soloing" a track refers to changing some aspect of the signal flow through Ardour that makes it possible to listen to one (or just a few) tracks at a time. It is often done during mixing and mastering to help an audio engineer listen carefully to parts of the mix. Tracks may be soloed at any time. When one or more tracks are soloed, all non-soloedntracks will no longer be audible. Soloing tracks does not affect the solo status of busses, nor vice versa. That is, soloing a track leaves all busses audible and soloing a track leaves all tracks "audible". You may not actually be able to hear the "audible" material if it is routed through a non-soloed bus. This design is intended to allow FX busses and master outs to be useful even when soloing. Soloing is made significantly more complex by the presence of control outs (see control_outs_soloing for more details on soloing with control outs).

Whenever one or more tracks are soloed, the "rude solo light" in the transport window will flash. You can cancel any current solos by clicking on the "rude solo light".

Ardour has two solo modes. solo latch soloing a track adds it to the set of soloed tracks, so you may have any number of soloed tracks. solo unlatch soloing a track unsolos any other soloed track, so you can have only one soloed track at a time.

To change the solo mode, goto the Options editor (options_editor) and view the Misc tab.

To toggle the solo state of a track, click on the solo button in either the mixer strip for the track or the track controls section in the editor. To toggle the solo state of all tracks in an edit or mix group, use Ctrl1 on the solo button of a track in the group. If you do this in the Editor, the edit group will be used; in the Mixer, the mix group will be used. To toggle the solo state of all tracks, use CtrlShiftButton1 on a track solo button.

To protect a track's current solo status, use Shift1 on that track's solo button. The color of the button will change to a pale blue to indicate "solo safe" status. No changes to the solo state for that track are possible until "solo safe" has been unset for the track.

Use 2 on a track's solo button to solo the track for as long as the mouse button is pressed.

In the editor window, tracks always extend across the full extent of the track display area, but they can have varying heights. In the mixer window, tracks always from the top to the bottom of the mixer (as strips), but they can have varying widths.