manual/_manual/07_working-with-sessions/01_new-session-dialog.html

---
layout: default
title: New/Open Session Dialog
---                        

<p>
  The initial <dfn>Session</dfn> dialog consists of several consecutive pages:
</p>  

<h2>Open Session Page</h2>
<p>
  On this page, you can open an <dfn>existing session</dfn>.  You can also 
  open any <a href="/working-with-sessions/snapshots/">snapshot</a> of a 
  particular session by clicking on the arrow next to the session name to 
  display all snapshots, and then selecting one.  If your session is 
  not displayed in the Recent Sessions list, the <kbd class="menu">Other
  Sessions</kbd> button will bring up a file selection dialog to navigate 
  your hard drive.<br />
  Alternatively, you can opt to create a <kbd class="menu">New
  Session</kbd>.
</p>

<h2>New Session page</h2>
<p>
  Here you can type in the name of a session, select a folder to save in, and 
  optionally use an existing <a href="/working-with-sessions/session-templates/">template</a>.
</p>
<p>
  Under <dfn>Advanced Options</dfn>, you can select whether you wish to create 
  a Master Bus, or a Control Bus, and how many channels you wish either to have.
  You can also decide whether you want Ardour to automatically connect all inputs 
  to the physical ports of your hardware. Ardour will do so 
  sequentially and in round-robin fashion, connecting the first track's
  input to the first input of your hardware and so on. When Ardour has used
  all available hardware inputs, it will begin again with the first physical
  input. 
  You can limit the number of channels on your physical hardware that Ardour
  uses. 
</p>
<p>
  By default Ardour will connect all tracks and busses to the Master Bus if 
  there is one. However you can also tell it to automatically connect each 
  output to the physical outputs of your interface or sound card, and limit
  the number of physical outputs used, as above.
</p>

<h3>Audio/MIDI Setup</h3>

<img class="right" src="/images/Audio-MIDI_Setup.png" alt="The Audio+MIDI
Setup Dialog"/>

<p>
  This page is not displayed if <abbr title="JACK Audio Connection
  Kit">JACK</abbr> is already running when you start
  Ardour. It provides a simple interface to configure JACK, which
  will then be started by Ardour. For more control and options regarding
  JACK, it is recommended that you start JACK before using Ardour, via a
  JACK control application such as QJackCtl (sometimes called "Jack
  Control"), JackPilot, etc.
</p>
<dl>
  <dt>Audio System</dt>
  <dd>Currently, the only option here is <kbd class="menu">JACK</kbd>. In the future, native
  hardware access may be supported.</dd>
  <dt>Driver</dt>
  <dd>
    On Mac OS X this will typically be <kbd class="menu">CoreAudio</kbd>. On Linux usually
    this will be either <kbd class="menu"><abbr title="Free Firewire Audio Driver fOr
    linux">FFADO</abbr></kbd>
    or <kbd class="menu"><abbr title="Advanced Linux Sound
    Architecture">ALSA</abbr></kbd>, depending on whether or not you are
    utilizing a firewire device. Advanced users on all platforms may also
    use <kbd class="menu">NetJack</kbd> which provides network audio I/O.
  </dd>
  <dt>Device</dt>
  <dd>The selector should show all availiable interfaces provided by the
  driver above and which are capable of duplex operation.
  <p class="warning">
    If you are using an Intel Mac running OS X and the builtin audio
    interface, you must
    first <a href="setting-up-your-system/using_more_than_one_audio_device/">merge
    its separate input and output devices into a single "aggregate
    device"</a> before Ardour will be able to use it.
   </p>
  </dd>
  <dt>Sample Rate</dt>
  <dd>
    The selector will allow you to select from any sample rate
    supported by the device selected above it.
  </dd>
  <dt>Buffer Size</dt>
  <dd>
    You can adjust the size of the buffer used by your audio interface
    to allow for either lower latency, or lower CPU usage and higher
    latency.
  </dd>
  <dt>Input/Output Channels</dt>
  <dd>
    Here you can specify the number of hardware channels to use. The
    default is <kbd class="menu">all available channels</kbd>.</dd>
  <dt>Hardware Input/Output Latency</dt>
  <dd>Specify the hardware delay in samples for precise latency compensation.</dd>
  <dt>Calibrate</dt>
  <dd>
    This button guides you through a semi-automated process to obtain
    precise hardware latency measurements for the above option.</dd>
  <dt>MIDI System</dt>
  <dd>
    Select the MIDI driver to use. On Mac OS X, this will be <kbd
    class="menu">CoreMIDI</kbd>. On Linux, you can change between two legacy
    ALSA drivers or the (preferred) new JACK+ALSA implementation.</dd>
</dl>

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