The Transport menu handles how Ardour handles the playback and playhead.
| Start/Stop | Starts or stops the playhead, and recording if it is armed |
|---|---|
| Play | |
| Play Selection | Only plays the selected duration of the session, based on the current range or selected region(s) |
| Solo Selection | Only plays the selected regions of the session. Regions that are not selected, even on a track with selected regions, wont be played |
| Play w/Preroll | As the previous menu, except it starts the playback a few bars or seconds before the beginning of the selection (the amount of time can be set in the Preferences) |
| Start/Continue/Stop | Leaves loop play or range play mode but without stopping the transport |
| Play from Edit Point and Return | Starts the playback at the Edit point, and when stopped, goes back to the original location |
| Play Loop Range | If a Loop range is defined, play it and loop until stopped |
| Start Recording | This is a shortcut to trigger the global recording, and start playback at once |
| Stop and Forget Capture | Stops the recording, removes the newly created material, and goes back to the original position |
| Enable Record | Triggers the global recording. Next time "Play" is pressed, it will record on the track(s) that are armed for recording |
| Record w/Preroll | As the Start Recording menu, except it starts the recording a few bars or seconds before the playhead's position (the amount of time can be set in the Preferences) |
| Record w/Count-In | As the Start Recording menu, except it waits for 2 bars before the playhead's position. The Metronome will tick (even if disabled) during the count-in |
| Forward | Plays the audio forwards from the playhead on. If the audio is already playing forwards, increment its speed by 50%. |
| Rewind | Plays the audio backwards from the playhead on. If the audio is already playing backwards, increment its speed by 50%. |
| Transition to Roll | Plays the audio forwards, with a speed of 1 (real time) |
| Transition to Reverse | Plays the audio backwards, with a speed of 1 (real time) |
| Set Loop from Selection | Converts the selection into a Loop range by placing loop markers at the start and end of the selected range |
| Set Punch from Selection | Same thing, for Punch |
| Set Session Start/End from Selection | Same thing, for the start and end markers of the session, defining the session's length |
| Playhead | |
| Playhead to Mouse | Set the position of the playhead at the current position of the mouse cursor |
| Playhead to Active Mark | If a marker is selected, set the position of the playhead at the position of the marker |
| Center Playhead | Centers the view on the playhead without changing the zoom level (putting the playhead in the middle of the screen) |
| Nudge Playhead Forward | Shifts the position of the playhead to the right by the amount shown in the nudge timer |
| Nudge Playhead Backward | Same thing, to the left |
| Move to Next Transient | When transient have been set, moves the playhead to the next one to the right |
| Move to Previous Transient | Same, to the left |
| Playhead to Next Grid | Regardless of the state of the Grid Mode, goes to the next grid to the right, as set by the Snap/Grid unit |
| Playhead to Previous Grid | Same, to the left |
| Playhead to Next Region Boundary | Moves the playhead to the right to the next beginning or end of region on the selected track or, if no track is selected, on all tracks |
| Playhead to Previous Region Boundary | Same, to the left |
| Playhead to Next Region Boundary (No Track Selection) | Moves the playhead to next beginning or end of region, be it on the selected track or any other |
| Playhead to Previous Region Boundary (No Track Selection) | Same, to the left |
| Playhead to Next Region Sync | Moves the playhead to next Region Sync Point, that is by default the beginning of a region but can be moved |
| Playhead to Previous Region Sync | Same, to the left |
| Jump to Next Mark | moves the playhead to the next marker on the Ruler |
| Jump to Previous Mark | Same, to the left |
| Jump to Loop Start | moves the playhead to the loop start marker if a loop exists |
| Jump to Loop End | Same, for the loop end marker |
| Go to Zero | Sends the playhead to the 00:00:00:00 time, regardless of the sessions Start marker |
| Go to Start | Sends the playhead to the Start marker of the session |
| Go to End | Sends the playhead to the End marker of the session |
| Go to Wall Clock | Sends the playhead to the current value of system time, as shown on the top right of the Status bar |
| Active Mark | |
| To Next Region Boundary | Moves the currently selected marker to the next region beginning or end |
| To Previous Region Boundary | Same, to the left |
| To Next Region Sync | Moves the currently selected to the next region sync point (by default: beginning or end of the region) |
| To Previous Region Sync | Same, to the left |
| Markers | |
| Add Mark from Playhead | Creates a Marker at the position of the playhead |
| Remove Mark at Playhead | Removes any marker at the position of the playhead |
| Toggle Mark at Playhead | Combine the 2 previous: if a marker exists, deletes it, otherwise create it |
| Locate to Mark n | If it exists, goes to the n-th marker |
| Set Session Start from Playhead | Puts the Start of the session marker at the playhead's position |
| Set Session End from Playhead | Puts the End of the session marker at the playhead's position |
| Cues | |
| Trigger Cue A → H | Starts the playback and triggers the A → H line of the Cue grid |
| □ Time Master | Sets Ardour as the Time master, i.e. Ardour sends the time information to the audio system |
| □ Punch In/Out | Based on the Punch in and Punch out markers if they exist, tells Ardour to record only between those two points |
| □ Punch In | Based on the Punch in marker, only allow to record from this point on |
| □ Punch Out | Based on the Punch out marker, forbids recording before this point |
| □ Auto Input | If checked, automatically switch the monitor from input to playbackmode when playing |
| □ Follow Range | If checked, selecting a range moves the playhead to its beginning |
| □ Auto Play | If checked, moving the playhead in the ruler starts the playback |
| □ Auto Return | If checked, when the playback is stopped, go back to the previous position of the playhead. If not, the playhead stays where it is when the playback is stopped |
| □ Click | Activates/deactivates the click track (metronome) |
| □ Follow Playhead | If checked, while playing, when the playhead reaches the right of the screen, Ardour scrolls one screen to the right to keep the playhead visible at all times |
| □ Stationary Playhead | If checked and if Follow playhead is checked, on playback, the playhead stays at the center of the screen, and the session scrolls |
| □ Use External Positional Sync Source | If checked, allows Ardour to be controlled by external program |
| Panic (Send MIDI all-notes-off) | Immediately stops all MIDI playback (useful e.g. when a MIDI bug in encountered) |