Tim Mayberry
b8a6f94325
Makefile Reformat the docs, I explained in a prior commit why this modifies every file git-svn-id: svn://localhost/ardour2/trunk@1463 d708f5d6-7413-0410-9779-e7cbd77b26cf
223 lines
7.9 KiB
XML
223 lines
7.9 KiB
XML
<?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-why-is-it-called-ardour">
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<title>Why is it called "Ardour" and other questions</title>
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<section id="why-ardour">
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<title>Why "Ardour" ?</title>
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<para>
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The name "Ardour" came from considerations of how to pronounce the
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acronym <glossterm linkend="gt-hdr">HDR</glossterm> (Hard Disk
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Recorder). The most obvious attempt sounds like a vowelless "harder"
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and it then was then a short step to an unrelated by slightly
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homophonic word:
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</para>
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<para>
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<emphasis>ardour</emphasis>
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<quote>
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n 1: a feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or
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cause); "they were imbued with a revolutionary ardor"; "he felt a
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kind of religious zeal" [syn: ardor, elan, zeal] 2: intense feeling
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of love [syn: ardor] 3: feelings of great warmth and intensity; "he
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spoke with great ardor" [syn: ardor, fervor, fervour, fervency,
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fire, fervidness]
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</quote>
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</para>
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<para>
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Given the work required to develop Ardour, and the personality of its
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primary author, the name seemed appropriate even without the vague
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relationship to <glossterm linkend="gt-hdr">HDR</glossterm> .
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</para>
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<para>
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Years later, another interpretation of "Ardour" appeared, this time
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based on listening to non-native English speakers attempt to pronounce
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the word. Rather than "Ardour", it became "Our DAW", which seemed
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poetically fitting for a <glossterm linkend="gt-daw">Digital Audio
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Workstation</glossterm> whose source code and design belongs to a
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group of collaborators.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="why-write-another-daw">
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<title>Why write another DAW?</title>
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<para>
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There are already a number of excellent digital audio workstations. To
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mention just a few: ProTools, Nuendo, Samplitude, Digital Performer,
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Logic, Cubase (SX), Sonar, along with several less well known systems
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such as SADIE, SAWStudio and others. Each of these programs has its
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strengths and weaknesses, although over the last few years most of
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them have converged on a very similar set of core features. However,
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each of them suffers from two problems when seen from the perspective
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of Ardour's development group:
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</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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they do not run on Linux
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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they are not available in source code form, making modifications,
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improvements, bugfixes by technically inclined users or their
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friends or consultants impossible.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</section>
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<section id="why-linux-and-osx">
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<title>Why Linux (and OS X) ?</title>
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<para>
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Not running on Linux is understandable, given the rather small (but
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growing) share of the desktop market that Linux has. However, when
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surveying the landscape of "popular operating systems", we find:
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</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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older versions of Windows: plagued by abysmal stability and
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appalling security
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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Windows XP: finally, a version of Windows that seems stable but
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still suffers from incredible security problems
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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OS X: an amazing piece of engineering that is excellent for audio
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work but only runs on proprietary hardware and still lacks the
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flexibility and adaptability of Linux.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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<para>
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Security matters today, and will matter more in the future as more and
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more live or semi-live network based collaborations take place.
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</para>
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<para>
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Let's contrast this with Linux, an operating system which:
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</para>
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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can stay up for months (or even years) without issues
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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is endlessly configurable down to the tiniest detail
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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is not owned by any single corporate entity, ensuring its life and
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direction are not intertwined with that of a company (for a
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contrary example, consider BeOS)
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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is fast and efficient
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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runs on almost any computing platform ever created, including old
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"slow" systems
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</para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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is one of the most secure operating systems "out of the box"
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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<para>
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More than anything, however, Ardour's primary author uses Linux and
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wanted a DAW that ran there.
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</para>
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<para>
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Having written a DAW for Linux, it turned out to be relatively easy to
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port Ardour to OS X, mostly because of the excellent work done by the
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JACK OS X group that ported JACK to OS X. Although OS X has a number
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of disadvantages compared to Linux, its ease of use and its presence
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in many studios already makes it a worthwhile platform.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="why-doesnt-ardour-run-on-windows">
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<title>Why doesn't Ardour run on Windows ?</title>
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<para>
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There have been several discussions about porting Ardour to Windows.
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The obstacles are relatively few in number, but rather substantial in
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significance. Ardour was written to run on operating systems that
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properly and efficiently support a portable operating system standard
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called <glossterm linkend="gt-posix">POSIX</glossterm> (endorsed by
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the US government and many other large organizations). Linux and OS X
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both do a good job of supporting POSIX, but Windows does not. In
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particular, the efficiency with which Windows handles certain aspects
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of the POSIX standard makes it very hard to port Ardour to that
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platform. It is not impossible that we will port Ardour at some point,
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but Windows continues to be a rather unsuitable platform for pro-audio
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work despite the improvements that have been made to it in the last
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few years.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="need-dsp-hardware">
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<title>Don't I need DSP hardware to run a good DAW?</title>
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<para>
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Please see XXX for a discussion of the merits of dedicated DSP
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hardware.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id="ardour-is-complicated">
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<title>Isn't this a really complicated program?</title>
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<para>
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There is no point in pretending that Ardour is a simple, easy to use
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program. The development group has worked hard to try to make simple
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things reasonably easy, common tasks quick, and hard and/or uncommon
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things possible. There is no doubt that we have more to do in this
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area, as well as polishing the user interface to improve its
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intuitiveness and work flow characteristics. At the same time,
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multi-track, multi-channel, non-linear, non-destructive audio editing
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is a far from simple process. Doing it right requires not only a good
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ear, but a solid appreciation for basic audio concepts and a robust
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mental model/metaphor of what you are doing. Ardour is not a simple
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"audio recorder" - you can certainly use it to record stereo (or even
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mono) material in a single track, but the program has been designed
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around much richer capabilities than this.
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</para>
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</section>
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<!--
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<xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
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href="Some_Subsection.xml" />
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-->
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</section>
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