manual/_manual/04_ardours-interface.html

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layout: default
title: Ardour's Interface
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<p>
  In Ardour, you work in two main windows: the <dfn>Editor</dfn> and the
  <dfn>Mixer</dfn>.
</p>
<img class="right" src="/diagrams/editor-summary.png" 
alt="Ardour's editor window" />
<p>
  The <dfn>Editor</dfn> window includes the editor track <dfn>canvas</dfn>
  where you can arrange audio and MIDI data along a timeline. This is the 
  window you will be in while editing and arranging a project. The window
  has a general "horizontal" sense to it: the timeline flows from left to 
  right, the playhead showing the current position in the session moves
  from left to right &mdash; the window really represents <dfn>time</dfn> 
  in a fairly literal way.
</p>
<img class="right" src="/diagrams/mixer-summary.png" 
alt="ardour's mixer window" />
<p>
  The <dfn>Mixer</dfn> window on the other hand represents signal flow and
  is the window you will probably be using most when mixing a session. It
  includes <dfn>channel strips</dfn> for each track and bus in your session. 
  It has a general "vertical" sense to it: signals flow from the top of each 
  channel strip through the processing elements in the strip to reach the 
  output listed at the bottom. 
</p>
<p>
  It is possible to show a single channel strip in the editor window, and
  some people find this enough to work on mixing without actually opening
  the mixer window. Most of the time though, you will want both of these
  windows at various stages of a session's lifetime &mdash; sometimes 
  you'll be focused on editing, sometimes on mixing and possibly some of
  the time on both.
</p>

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