manual/_manual/11_working-with-tracks/09_track-and-bus-groups.html

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layout: default
title: Track and Bus Groups
---

<p>
  Tracks and busses can be put into <dfn>groups</dfn>. Members of a group
  can share various settings &mdash; useful for managing tracks that are closely
  related to each other. Examples might include tracks that contain
  multiple-microphone recordings of a single source (an acoustic guitar,
  perhaps, or a drum-kit).
</p>
<p>
  You can group tracks and busses in various ways. In the editor window,
  a track's controls might look like these:
</p>
<img class="left" src="/images/track-in-group.png" alt="track headers for a group" />
<p>
  The green tab to the left of the track header indicates that this track
  is in a group called <samp>Fred</samp>. You can drag these tabs to add
  adjacent tracks to a group.
</p>

<h2>Create New Groups</h2>
<p>
  There are several ways to <dfn>create groups</dfn> for tracks and bussess:
</p>
<ul>
  <li>Context-click on the group tab and use one of the <kbd
  class="menu">Create...</kbd> options there. You can create a group with
  no members, or one that starts with the currently selected tracks, or
  record-enabled tracks, or soloed tracks.</li>
  <li>Alternatively, click the ‘g’ button on a track header to open the
  Group menu. The menu lists the available groups. Selecting one of these
  groups will add the track or bus to that group. The menu also lets you
  create a new group.</li>
  <li>Finally, the <a href="/ardours-interface/the-mixer/the-groups-list/">Groups list</a>
  has a <kbd class="menu">plus (+)</kbd> button at the
  bottom of the list. Click on the plus sign to create a new group.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Remove Groups</h2>
<p>
  Context-click on a <dfn>group tab</dfn> and select <kbd class="menu">Remove
  Group</kbd> from the menu. Removing a group does <em>not</em> remove
  the members of a group.
</p>
<p>
  You can also remove groups by selecting them in the <a href="/ardours-interface/the-mixer/the-groups-list/">Groups list</a>
  and then pressing the <kbd class="menu">minus (-)</kbd> button at the bottom of the list.
</p>

<h2>Add/Remove Tracks and Busses From a Group</h2>
<p>
  Click the <kbd class="menu">g</kbd> button to display a menu with a list
  of the available groups. Select one of these groups to add the track or bus
  to that group. Select <kbd class="menu">No Group</kbd> to remove it.
</p>
<p>
  Alternatively, you can also drag a group tab to add or remove tracks from
  the group.
</p>

<h2>Activate/Deactivate Groups via the Group Tab</h2>
<p>
  Clicking on a group tab toggles the group between being active and inactive.
  An inactive group has no effect when editing its members. An active group
  will share its configured properties across its members. Tabs for disabled
  groups are coloured grey.</p>

<h2>Modify Group Properties</h2>
<p>
  To edit the properties of a group, context-click on its tab and choose
  <kbd class="menu">Edit Group…</kbd>. This opens the track/bus group dialog,
  which is also used when creating new groups:
</p>

<img class="right" src="/images/route-group-dialogue.png" alt="the track/bus group dialog" />

<h3>Group Color</h3>
<p>
  Click on the color selector button to change a group's colour. This affects
  the colour of the group's tab in the editor and mixer windows. The color does
  <em>not</em> affect the color of the group members unless you also enable the
  shared <kbd class="menu">Color</kbd> property.
</p>

<h3>Shared Properties</h3>
<p>
  <kbd class="option">Gain</kbd> means that the track faders will be synced to
  always have the same value; <kbd class="option">Relative</kbd> means that the
  gain changes are applied relative to each member's current value. If, for
  example, there are two tracks in a group with relative gain sharing, and their
  faders are set to -3&nbsp;dB and -1&nbsp;dB, a change of the first track to a
  gain of -6&nbsp;dB will result in the second track having a gain of
  -4&nbsp;dB (the <em>difference</em> of the gains remains the same).
</p>
<p>
  <a href="/working-with-tracks/bus-controls/#mute"><kbd class="option">Muting</kbd></a>,
  <a href="/working-with-tracks/bus-controls/#solo"><kbd class="option">Soloing</kbd></a>,
  <a href="/working-with-tracks/audio-track-controls/#record"><kbd class="option">record enable</kbd></a>,
  <a href="/ardours-interface/the-editor/the-editor_s-lists/tracks-and-busses-list/"><kbd class="option">active state</kbd></a>,
  <a href="/working-with-tracks/controlling-track-appearance/track-coloring/"><kbd class="option">colour</kbd></a> and
  <a href="/recording/monitoring/"><kbd class="option">monitoring</kbd></a>
  are all straightforward. They simply mean that all member tracks or busses will
  share the same settings in these respects.
</p>
<p>
  <kbd class="option">Selection</kbd> means that if a region is selected or
  deselected on one member track, <a
  href="/working-with-regions/corresponding-regions-selection/">corresponding
  regions</a> on other member tracks
  will be similarly selected. Since region editing operations are applied to all
  currently selected regions, this is the way to make edits apply across all tracks
  in the group.
</p>

<h3>Group Tab Context Menu</h3>
<p>Context-clicking on the group tab offers a further menu of group-related actions. </p>
<dl class="wide-table">
<dt>Create a New Group</dt>
<dd>create a new group</dd>
<dt>Create New Group from...</dt>
<dd> create a new group and automatically add ...
<dl class="narrower-table">
<dt>Selected</dt>
<dd>all currently selected tracks and busses</dd>
<dt>Rec-enabled</dt>
<dd>all currently record-enabled tracks</dd>
<dt>Soloed</dt>
<dd>all currently soloed tracks and busses</dd>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt>Collect Group</dt>
<dd>moves all the member tracks so that they are together in the editor window</dd>
<dt>Remove Group</dt>
<dd>removes the group (and only the group, not its members).</dd>
<dt>Add New Subgroup Bus</dt>
<dd> creates a bus (giving it the name of the group) and connects the output of each member to the new bus.
</dd>
<dt>Add New Aux Bus</dt>
<dd>adds a bus and gives each member a send to that bus. There are two options for this, specifying whether the sends should be placed pre- or post-fader.</dd>
<dt>Fit to Window</dt>
<dd> will zoom the member tracks so that they fill the editor window.</dd>
<dt>Enable All Groups</dt>
<dd>makes all group active, including any hidden groups.</dd>
<dt>Disable All Groups</dt>
<dd>makes all groups inactive, including any hidden groups.</dd>
</dl>