manual/include/creating-music-with-ardour.html

<p>
  Ardour can be used in many different ways, from extremely simple to
  extremely complex. Many projects will be handled using the following
  kind of <dfn>workflow</dfn>.
</p>

<h2>Stage 1: Creating Your Project</h2>
<p>
  The first step is to create a new <dfn>session</dfn>, or open an
  existing one. A session consists of a folder containing a session file
  that defines all the information about the session. All media files used
  by the session can be stored within the session folder.
</p>
<p>
  More details on sessions can be found in
<a href="@@sessions">Working With Sessions</a>.
</p>

<h2>Stage 2: Creating and Importing Audio and MIDI data</h2>
<p>
  Once you have a session, you will want to add some audio and/or MIDI
  material to it, which can be done in one of 3 ways:
</p>
<ul>
  <li><dfn>Record</dfn> incoming audio or MIDI data, either via audio or MIDI hardware
  connected to your computer, or from other applications.</li>
  <li><dfn>Create</dfn> new MIDI data using the mouse and/or various dialogs</li>
  <li><dfn>Import</dfn> existing media files into the session</li>
</ul>
<p>
  <dfn>MIDI recordings</dfn> consist of performance data ("play note X at 
  time T") rather than actual sound. As a result, they are more flexible 
  than actual audio, since the precise sound that they will generate when
  played depends on where you send the MIDI to.<br>
  Two different synthesizers may produce very different sound in response
  to the same incoming MIDI data.
</p>
<p>
  <dfn>Audio recordings</dfn> can be made from external instruments with
  electrical outputs (keyboards, guitars etc.) or via microphones from 
  acoustic instruments.
</p>
<p>
  Ardour uses the <dfn>JACK Audio Connection Kit</dfn> for all audio and
  MIDI I/O, which means that recording audio/MIDI from other applications
  is fundamentally identical to recording audio/MIDI from your audio/MIDI
  hardware.
</p>

<h2>Stage 3: Editing and Arranging</h2>
<p>
  Once you have some material within the session, you can start to arrange
  it in time. This is done in one of the two main windows of Ardour, the 
  <dfn>Editor</dfn> window.
</p>
<p>
  Your audio/MIDI data appears in chunks called <dfn>regions</dfn>, which
  are arranged into horizontal lanes called <dfn>tracks</dfn>. Tracks are 
  stacked vertically in the Editor window. You can copy, shorten, move, 
  and delete regions without changing the actual data stored in the session 
  at all&mdash;Ardour is a <dfn>non-destructive</dfn> editor. (Almost) 
  nothing that you do while editing will ever modify the files stored on 
  disk (except the session file itself). 
</p>
<p>
  You can also carry out many <dfn>transformations</dfn> to the contents 
  of regions, again without altering anything on disk. You can alter,
  move, and delete MIDI notes, and remove silence from audio regions, for 
  example.
</p>

<h2>Stage 4: Mixing and Adding Effects</h2>
<p>
  Once you have the arrangement of your session mostly complete, you will 
  typically move on to the <dfn>mixing</dfn> phase. Mixing is a broad term
  to cover the way the audio signals that your session generates during 
  playback and processed and added together into a final result that you 
  actually hear. It can involve altering the relative levels of various 
  parts of the session, adding effects that improve or transform certain 
  elements, and others that bring the sound of the whole session to a new 
  level.
</p>
<p>
  Ardour will allow you to <dfn>automate</dfn> changes to any mixing 
  parameters (such as volume, panning, and effects controls)&mdash;it will 
  record the changes you make over time, using a mouse or keyboard or some 
  external control device, and can play back those changes later. This is 
  very useful because often the settings you need will vary in one part of 
  a session compared to another&mdash;rather than using a single setting 
  for the volume, you may need increases followed by decreases (for example,
  to track the changing volume of a singer). Using automation can make all
  of this relatively simple.
</p>

<h2>Stage 5: Export</h2>
<p>
  Once you are really satisfied with the arrangement and mix of your
  session, you will typically want to produce a single audio file that
  contains a ready-to-listen to version of the work. Ardour will allow you to
  <dfn>export</dfn> audio files in a variety of formats (simultaneously in
  some cases). This exported file would typically be used in creating a CD, 
  or be the basis for digital distribution of the work.
</p>
<p>
  Of course sometimes you will want to do export material that isn't finished
  yet, for example to give a copy to someone else to try to mix on their own
  system. Ardour will allow you to export as much of a session as you want, at
  any time, in any supported format.
</p>