manual/include/audio-midi-setup.html

<h2 class="clear">Audio/MIDI Setup</h2>

<figure class="center">
  <img width="50%" src="/images/Audio-MIDI_Setup.png" alt="The Audio/MIDI Setup Dialog"/>
  <figcaption>
    The Audio/MIDI Setup Dialog
  </figcaption>
</figure>

<p>
  This window exposes the different audio options to be used by Ardour for the
  current work session, for hardware and software and is made of:
</p>

<table class="dl">
  <tr><th>Audio System</th>
  <td>
    Depending on the operating system, Ardour can possibly use different audio
    systems, e.g. on Linux, both <abbr title="Advanced Linux Sound Architecture">
    ALSA</abbr>, PulseAudio, and <abbr title="JACK Audio Connection Kit">JACK</abbr>
    are available. On Mac OS X this will typically be
    <kbd class="menu">CoreAudio</kbd>. Advanced users on all platforms may also
    use <kbd class="menu">NetJack</kbd> which provides network audio I/O.
  </td></tr>
  <tr><th>Input Device</th>
  <td>
    The selector should show all available interfaces provided by the
    audio system above and which are capable of capturing audio.
  </td></tr>
  <tr><th>Output Device</th>
  <td>
    The selector should show all available interfaces provided by the
    audio system above and which are capable of playing audio.
  </td></tr>
  <tr><th>Sample Rate</th>
  <td>
    The selector will allow to select from any sample rate supported by the device
    selected above it.
  </td></tr>
  <tr><th>Buffer Size</th>
  <td>
    The size of the buffer used by the audio interface can be adjusted
    to allow for either lower latency, or lower CPU usage and higher
    latency.
  </td></tr>
  <tr><th>Periods</th>
  <td>
    Number of frames between each hardware interrupt (analog-digital
    or digital-analog conversion).
  </td></tr>
  <tr><th>Hardware Monitoring</th>
  <td>
    This section allows choosing whether Ardour or auidio hardware should be
    handling recording monitoring.
  </td></tr>
  <tr><th>Advanced Settings</th>
  <td>
    This section contains several lower-level settings listed below.
  </td></tr>
  <tr><th>MIDI System</th>
  <td>
    This allows choosing a MIDI driver. On macOS, this will be
    <kbd class="menu">CoreMIDI</kbd>. On Linux, the choice will be between
    ALSA sequencer and ALSA raw devices. Choosing "None" will disable the
    connection to the external MIDI backend and prevent Ardour from being
    exposed to external MIDI ports while allowing to route MIDI events inside
    the program.
  </td></tr>
  <tr><th>Setup &amp; Calibration</th>
  <td>
    This button runs a semi-automated guided process to obtain precise
    hardware latency measurements for available MIDI ports.
  </td></tr>
  <tr><th>Hardware Input/Output Latency</th>
  <td>
    Specify the hardware delay in samples for precise latency compensation.
  </td></tr>
  <tr><th>Calibrate Audio</th>
  <td>
    This button runs a semi-automated guided process to obtain precise
    hardware latency measurements for available audio ports.
  </td></tr>
</table>