manual/include/isnt-this-a-really-complicated-program.html

  
<p>
There is no point in pretending that Ardour is a simple, easy to use
program. The development group has worked hard to try to make simple
things reasonably easy, common tasks quick, and hard and/or uncommon 
things possible. There is no doubt that we have more to do in this 
area, as well as polishing the user interface to improve its 
intuitiveness and work flow characteristics. 
</p>
<p>
At the same time, multi-track, multi-channel, non-linear, 
non-destructive audio editing is a far from simple process. Doing it 
right requires not only a good ear, but a solid appreciation of
basic audio concepts and a robust mental model/metaphor of what you
are doing. Ardour is not a simple "audio recorder"&mdash;you can
certainly use it to record stereo (or even mono) material in a
single track, but the program has been designed around much richer
capabilities than this.
</p>
<p>
Some people complain that Ardour is not "intuitive" to use&mdash;its
lead developer has 
<a href="https://community.ardour.org/node/3322">some thoughts on that</a>.
</p>