manual/include/layering-display.html

<img class="right" style="clear:both" src="/images/track-layer-dialog.png"
alt="Track layering menu" />
<p>
  Ardour allows arbitrary <dfn>layering</dfn> of regions&mdash;you can
  have as many regions you wish at a given position. By default, the regions are
  <dfn>overlaid</dfn> in the editor window, to save vertical space.
</p>
<p>
  However, this display mode can be confusing for tracks with many overdubs,
  because its not obvious in which order the overdubs are layered. Although
  there are other methods of moving particular regions to the top of an
  overlapping set, and although Ardour also has playlists to let you manage
  <a href="@@playlist-usecases">takes</a> a bit more
  efficiently than just continually layering,
  there are times when being able to clearly see all regions in a track without
  any overlaps is reassuring and useful.
</p>
<p>
  Here is an image of a track with a rather drastic overdub situation,
  viewed in normal <dfn>overlaid mode</dfn>:
</p>
<img src="/images/a3_overlaps_layered.png" alt="overlapping regions in overlaid mode" />
<p>
  To change this display, right click on the track header, and you'll see
  the menu displayed above. There are two choices for layers. <kbd
  class="menu">overlaid</kbd> is currently selected. Click on <kbd
  class="menu">stacked</kbd> and the track display changes to this:
</p>
<img src="/images/a3_layers_stacked.png" alt="overlapping regions in stacked mode" />
<p>
  You can still move regions around as usual, and in fact you can
  even drag them so that they overlay each again, but when you
  release the mouse button, things will flip back to them all being
  stacked cleanly. The number of <dfn>lanes</dfn> for the track is determined by
  the maximum number of regions existing in any one spot throughout
  the track, so if you have really stacked up 10 overdubs in one spot,
  you'll end up with 10 lanes. Obviously, using a large track height
  works much better for this than a small one.
</p>