In the track header (editor window, left pane) is a button labelled p (for "Playlist"). A click on this button displays the following menu:
| (Local Playlists) | Shows all of the playlists associated with this track, and indicates the currently selected playlist |
|---|---|
| Rename… | Displays a dialog to rename the current playlist |
| New… | Creates a new empty playlist, and the track switches to the new playlist |
| New Copy… | Creates a new playlist that is a copy of the current playlist; the track switches to the new playlist |
| Clear Current | Removes all regions from the current playlist |
| Select From All… | Displays a playlist browser to manually choose which playlist this track should use. (from this track or another one) |
Playlists are created by default with the name of the active playlist, plus a version number, and the first playlist is named after the track with which it is associated. So, the first playlist for a track called "Cowbell" will be called "Cowbell.1", the next one "Cowbell.2", etc. This name can be changed at any time, to anything: Ardour does not require playlist names to be unique, although it will make the user's life easier if they are. Suggested examples of user-assigned names for a playlist might include Lead Guitar, 2nd take, vocals (quiet), and downbeat cuica. These might be different from the associated track names, which for these examples might be Lead Guitar, Vocals and Cuica. The playlist name provides more information because it is about a specific version of the material that may (or may not) end up in the final version of the track.
Using the fact that playlist names are based on the active one with an incremented version number, one can rename a playlist "Cowbell take.1" so that the next playlist created is automatically named "Cowbell take.2" etc. This allows for a quick way to label different takes.
It is entirely possible to share playlists between tracks. The only slightly unusual thing that should be noted when sharing is that edits to the playlist made in one track will magically appear in the other. It is an obvious consequence of sharing. One application of this attribute is parallel processing, described in Playlist Usecases.
To avoid this kind of behaviour, and nevertheless use the same (or substantially the same) playlist on two tracks, the desired playlist must be chosen in the second track, and then the New Copy… button clicked. This generates an independent copy of it for that track, which can then be edited without affecting the original.