manual/include/working-with-regions.html

<h2>Working With Regions</h2>
<p>
  <dfn>Regions</dfn> are the basic elements of editing and composing in 
  Ardour. In most cases, a region represents a single contiguous section 
  of one or more media files. Regions are defined by a fixed set of attributes:
</p>
<ul>
  <li>the audio or 
  <abbr title="Musical Instrument Digital Interface">MIDI</abbr>
  <dfn>source file(s)</dfn> they represent,</li>
  <li>an <dfn>offset</dfn> (the "start point") in the audio or MIDI file(s), and</li>
  <li>a <dfn>length</dfn>.</li>
</ul>
<p>
  When placed into a playlist, they gain additional attributes:
</p>
<ul>
  <li>a <dfn>position</dfn> along the timeline, and</li>
  <li>a <dfn>layer</dfn>.</li>
</ul>
<p>
  There are other attributes as well, but they do not <em>define</em> the 
  region. Things you should know about regions:
</p>

<h3>Regions Are Cheap</h3>
<p>
  By themselves, regions consume very little of your computer's resources.
  Each region requires a small amount of memory, and represents a rather 
  small amount of CPU work if placed into an active track. So, don't worry 
  about creating regions whenever you need to.
</p>

<h3>Regions Are Not Files</h3>
<p>
  Although a region can represent an entire audio file, they are never 
  equivalent to an audio file. Most regions represent just parts of an audio 
  file(s) on disk, and removing a region from a track has nothing to do with 
  removing the audio file(s) from the disk (the <kbd
  class="menu">Destroy</kbd> operation, one of Ardour's few destructive
  operations, can affect this). Changing the length of a region has no effect 
  on the audio file(s) on disk. Splitting and copying regions does not alter 
  the audio file in anyway, nor does it create new audio files (only
  <dfn>recording</dfn>, 
  and the <kbd class="menu">Export</kbd>, <kbd class="menu">Bounce</kbd> and 
  <kbd class="menu">Reverse</kbd> operations create new audio files).</p>

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