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copy-editing chapter 13, some fixes. split monitor page into 3 subchapters.

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Jörn Nettingsmeier 2014-02-05 22:20:20 +01:00
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2
_manual/12_adding-pre-existing-material.html
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@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ title: Adding Pre-existing Material
<dfn>Region List</dfn>, into the desired <dfn>track</dfn> or into empty
space in the editor track display.<br />
The file will be imported and copied
into your session, and placed at the position when the drag ended.
into your session, and placed at the position where the drag ended.
</p>
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_manual/12_adding-pre-existing-material/01_import-dialog.html
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@ -31,8 +31,9 @@ title: Import Dialog
</ul>
<p>
If the sample rate differs from the current session rate, it is displayed
in red, which indicates that the file must be resampled before importing,
which is controlled by the <kbd class="menu">Conversion quality</kbd>
in red, which indicates that the file must be resampled before
importing.<br />
Resampling is controlled by the <kbd class="menu">Conversion quality</kbd>
option described below.
</p>

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_manual/13_recording/01_monitoring.html
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@ -3,43 +3,12 @@ layout: default
title: Monitoring
---
<p>
When recording, it is important that performers hear themselves, and to
hear any pre-recorded tracks they are performing with.
Audio recorders typically let you <dfn>monitor</dfn> (i.e. listen to)
the input signal of all tracks that are armed for recording, and playing
back the unarmed tracks.
</p>
<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p>When recording, it is important to hear yourself, and to hear any pre-recorded tracks that you are performing with.</p>
<p>Audio recorders typically have the ability to "monitor" (i.e. listen to) the tracks that are armed for recording, while playing back the tracks that aren't. In the days of analog tape recording, this was performed with relays and other analog audio switching devices. Digital recorders have the same feature, but may impart some <a href="/synchronization/latency-and-latency-compensation/">latency</a> (delay) between the time you make a noise and the time that you hear it come back from the recorder.</p>
<p>The latency of <strong>any</strong> conversion from analog to digital and back to analog is about 1.5-2 milliseconds. Some musicians claim that even the basic <abbr title="Analog to Digital to Analog">A/D/A</abbr> conversion time is objectionable. However even acoustic instruments such as the piano can have approximately 3<abbr title="milliseconds">ms</abbr> of latency, due to the time it takes sound to travel from the instrument to the musician's ears. Latency below 5ms should be suitable for a professional recording setup. Because 2ms are already used in the A/D/A process, you must use extremely low "buffer sizes" in your workstation <abbr title="Input/Output">I/O</abbr> setup to keep the overall latency below 5ms. Not all <a href="/setting-up-your-system/the-right-computer-system-for-digital-audio">computer audio systems</a> are able to work reliably at such low buffer sizes.</p>
<p>For this reason it is sometimes best to use an external device to monitor yourself while recording to digital medium. Many professional studios use a mixing console for this feature. Many computer I/O devices have an "monitoring" function built-in (although this is typically only for 1 or 2 channels). In either case, the monitoring hardware may be digital or analog. And in the digital case you will still have the A-D-A conversion latency of 1-2ms.</p>
<h2>Different Ways of Monitoring</h2>
<p>There are three basic ways to approach monitoring: </p>
<h3>External Monitoring</h3>
<p>With this approach, Ardour plays no role in monitoring at all. Perhaps the recording set-up has an external mixer which can be used to set up monitor mixes, or perhaps the sound-card being used has some ‘listen to the input’-style feature. This approach often has the advantage of zero or near-zero latency. On the other hand it requires external hardware, and the monitoring settings are not saved with the session.</p>
<p><img src="/ardour/manual/html/diagrams/external-monitoring.png" /></p>
<h3>JACK-Based Hardware Monitoring</h3>
<p>Some sound cards have the ability to mix signals from their inputs to their outputs with zero- or low-latency. Furthermore, on some cards these features can be controlled by <a href="/signal-routing/role-of-jack/">JACK</a>. This is a nice arrangement, if the sound card supports it, as it combines the convenience of having the monitoring controlled by Ardour with the low latency operation of doing it externally. </p>
<p><img src="/ardour/manual/html/diagrams/jack-monitoring.png" /></p>
<h3>Software Monitoring</h3>
<p>With this approach all monitoring is performed by Ardour; it makes track inputs available at track outputs, under the influence of various controls. This approach will almost always have more routing flexibility than JACK-based monitoring. The disadvantage is that there will be a latency between the input and the output. The size of the latency depends largely on the JACK buffer size that is being used. </p>
<p><img src="/ardour/manual/html/diagrams/ardour-monitoring.png" /></p>
<h2>Set up Monitoring</h2>
<p>There are three main settings which affect how monitoring is performed. The first is <code>Edit &gt; Preferences &gt; Audio &gt; Record monitoring handled by</code>. There are two or three options here, depending on the capabilities of your hardware: </p>
<p> The other two settings are more complex. One is ‘Tape machine mode’, in the same dialog, and the other is ‘Monitoring automatically follows transport state (‘auto-input’)’ setting in Session Properties.</p>
<p>Monitoring is also somewhat dependent on the state of the track's record-enable button, the session record-enable button, and whether or not the transport is rolling. </p>
<h2>Software or Hardware Monitoring Modes</h2>
<p>If Ardour is set to ‘external monitoring’, the explanation of Ardour's monitoring behaviour is simple: it does not do any. In the other two modes, things are more complex. </p>
<h2>Monitoring in Non-Tape-Machine Mode</h2>
<p>This section describes what happens when Ardour is not set to tape-machine mode.</p>
<p>Consider first the case where a track is record-enabled. In this situation, Ardour always monitors the live input unless the session is not record-enabled, auto-input is enabled, and the transport is rolling.</p>
<p>When a track is not record-enabled, the track will play back its contents from disc unless the transport is stopped and auto-input is enabled. In this case, the track monitors its live input. </p>
<h2>Monitoring in Tape-Machine Mode</h2>
<p>In tape-machine mode, things are slightly simpler; when a track is record-enabled, its behaviour is the same as in non-tape-machine mode: it always monitors the live input unless the session is not record-enabled, auto-input is enabled, and the transport is rolling.</p>
<p>When a track is not record-enabled, however, the track will always just play back its contents from disk; the live input will never be monitored. </p>
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_manual/13_recording/01_monitoring/01_latency-considerations.html Normal file
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---
layout: default
title: Latency Considerations
menu-title: Latency
---
<p>
In the days of analog tape recording, the routing of monitor signals was
performed with relays and other analog audio switching devices. Digital
recorders have the same feature, but may impart some
<a
href="/synchronization/latency-and-latency-compensation/"><dfn>latency</dfn></a>
(delay) between the time you make a noise and the time that you hear it
come back from the recorder.
</p>
<p>
The latency of <em>any</em> conversion from analog to digital and back to
analog is about 1.5&ndash;2&nbsp;ms. Some musicians claim that even the
basic <abbr title="Analog to Digital to Analog">A/D/A</abbr> conversion
time is objectionable. However even acoustic instruments such as the piano
can have approximately 3&nbsp;ms of latency, due to the time the sound
takes to travel from the instrument to the musician's ears. Latency below
5&nbsp;ms should be suitable for a professional recording setup. Because
2&nbsp;ms are already used in the A/D/A process, you must use extremely low
<dfn>buffer sizes</dfn> in your workstation <abbr title="Input/Output">I/O</abbr>
setup to keep the overall latency below 5ms. Not all
<a href="/setting-up-your-system/the-right-computer-system-for-digital-audio">computer audio systems</a>
are able to work reliably at such low buffer sizes.
</p>
<p>
For this reason it is sometimes best to route the monitor signal
through an external mixing console while recording, an approach taken by
most if not all professional recording studios. Many computer I/O devices
have a hardware mixer built in which can route the monitor signal "around"
the computer, avoiding the systemlatency.<br />
In either case, the monitoring hardware may be digital or analog. And in
the digital case you will still have the A-D-A conversion latency of
1&ndash;2&nbsp;ms.
</p>
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_manual/13_recording/01_monitoring/02_monitor-signal-flow.html Normal file
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---
layout: default
title: Monitor Signal Flow
menu-title: Signal Flow
---
<p>There are three basic ways to approach monitoring: </p>
<h3>External Monitoring</h3>
<img class="right"
src="/ardour/manual/html/diagrams/external-monitoring.png" />
<p>When using <dfn>external monitoring</dfn>, Ardour plays no role in
monitoring at all. Perhaps the recording set-up has an external mixer which
can be used to set up monitor mixes, or perhaps the sound-card being used
has a "listen to the input" feature. This approach yields zero or near-zero
latency. On the other hand it requires external hardware, and the monitoring
settings are less flexible and not saved with the session.</p>
<h3>JACK-Based Hardware Monitoring</h3>
<img class="right" src="/ardour/manual/html/diagrams/jack-monitoring.png" />
<p>Some sound cards have the ability
to mix signals from their inputs to their outputs with very low or even zero
latency, a feature called <dfn>hardware monitoring</dfn>.
Furthermore, on some cards this function can be controlled by <a
href="/signal-routing/role-of-jack/">JACK</a>. This is a nice arrangement,
if the sound card supports it, as it combines the convenience of having the
monitoring controlled by Ardour with the low latency operation of doing it
externally.
</p>
<h3>Software Monitoring</h3>
<img class="right" src="/ardour/manual/html/diagrams/ardour-monitoring.png" />
<p>With the <dfn>software monitoring</dfn> approach, all monitoring is
performed by Ardour &mdash; it makes track inputs available at track
outputs, governed by various controls. This approach will almost always have
more routing flexibility than JACK-based monitoring. The disadvantage is
that there will be some latency between the input and the output, which
depends for the most part on the JACK buffer size that is being used.
</p>
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_manual/13_recording/01_monitoring/03_monitor-setup-in-ardour.html Normal file
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---
layout: default
title: Monitor Setup in Ardour
menu-title: Setup in Ardour
---
<p>Ardour has three main settings which affect how
monitoring is performed. The first is
<kbd class="menu">Edit &gt; Preferences &gt; Audio &gt;
Record monitoring handled by</kbd>. There are two or three
options here, depending on the capabilities of your hardware.
</p>
<p> The other two settings are more complex. One is
<kbd class="menu">Tape machine mode</kbd>, found in the
same dialog, and the other is the
<kbd class="option">Session &gt; Properties &gt; Monitoring
automatically follows transport state</kbd> setting.
</p>
<p>
Monitoring also depends on the state of the track's record-enable button,
the session record-enable button, and on whether or not the transport is
rolling.
</p>
<h3>Software or Hardware Monitoring Modes</h3>
<p>
If Ardour is set to <dfn>external monitoring</dfn>, the explanation of
Ardour's monitoring behaviour is simple: it does not do any.
</p>
<h2>Monitoring in Non-Tape-Machine Mode</h2>
<p>
When <dfn>Tape-Machine mode is off</dfn>, and a track is armed,
Ardour <em>always</em> monitors the live input, except in one case:
the transport is rolling, the session is not recording, and
<dfn>auto-input</dfn>
is active. In this case only, you will hear playback from an armed track.
</p>
<p>
Unarmed tracks will play back their contents from disc, unless the
transport is stopped <em>and</em> <dfn>auto-input</dfn> is enabled.
In this case, the track monitors its live input.
</p>
<h2>Monitoring in Tape-Machine Mode</h2>
<p>
In <dfn>Tape-Machine mode</dfn>, things are slightly simpler: when a
track is armed, its behaviour is the same as in non-tape-machine mode.
</p>
<p>
Unarmed tracks however will always just play back their contents from
disk; the live input will never be monitored.
</p>
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_manual/13_recording/02_track-recording-modes.html
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@ -3,22 +3,14 @@ layout: default
title: Track Recording Modes
---
<p>
The <dfn>Recording mode</dfn> is a per-track property (applies to audio
tracks only) that affects the way that recording new material on top of
existing material ("overdubbing") operates <em>in that track</em>.
</p>
<p>
See <a href="/working-with-tracks/track-types/#trackmodes">Track modes</a>
for a detailed explanation.
</p>
<p>"Recording mode" is a per-track property (audio tracks only) that affects the way that recording new material on top of existing material ("overdubbing") operates <em>in that track</em>. Ardour offers 3 different recording modes:</p>
<dl class="wide-table">
<dt>Normal</dt>
<dd>overdubs write to new files, new regions are layered on top of existing regions (with or without crossfades)</dd>
<dt>Tape mode</dt>
<dd>overdubs destructively write to an existing file, single region per track (fixed crossfades at every punch)</dd>
<dt>Non-Layered mode</dt>
<dd>overdubs write to new audio files, new regions are created but if they overlap with existing regions, the existing regions are trimmed so that there no overlaps</dd>
</dl>
<p>To change the recording mode of a track, right click on its track header to get the context menu:</p>
<p><img src="/files/a3/a3_nonlayered_mode_menu.png" alt="track header context menu" /></p>
<p>Below is a screenshot that shows the subtly different results of an overdub in normal and non-layered mode. Both tracks were created using identical audio data. </p>
<p>The upper track is in normal mode, and the overdub (the middle shorter region, selected) has created a new region which if you look carefully has been layered on top of the the existing (longer) region. </p>
<p>The lower track is in non-layered mode, and rather than overlay the overdub region, it split the existing region and inserted the new one in between.</p>
<p><img src="/files/a3/a3_nonlayered_example.png" alt="different results from normal and non-layered recording" /></p>
<p>Non-layered mode is extremely useful when combined with <a href="/editing-and-arranging/changing-region-lengths/pushpull-trimming">push/pull trimming</a>.</p>
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