---
title: The Master Bus Strip
---

<img class="right" src="/images/master-strip.png" alt="The Master strip in the mixer">

<p>
  The <dfn>Master strip</dfn> in Ardour is very similar to the other busses mixer strips.
  The list of differences is (from top to bottom):
</p>

<ul>
  <li>There is no color affected to the master strip</li>
  <li>The master strip cannot be hidden, so there is not <kbd class="menu">X</kbd> in the top right</li>
  <li>It is by definition always solo, so no <kbd class="menu">Solo</kbd>, <kbd class="menu">Iso</kbd> or <kbd class="menu">Lock</kbd> buttons. It is replaced by a button to show the Monitoring section if <a href="/preferences-and-session-properties/session-properties-dialog/monitoring/">the session has one</a></li>
  <li>It cannot belong to a mix group, so the button is removed.</li>
</ul>