61 lines
2.8 KiB
HTML
61 lines
2.8 KiB
HTML
---
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layout: default
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title: Understanding Playlists
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---
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<p>
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A <dfn>playlist</dfn> is a list of regions ordered in time. It defines
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which parts of which source files should be played and when. Playlists
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are a fairly advanced topic, and can be safely ignored for many types
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of audio production. However, the use of playlists allows the audio
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engineer more flexibility for tasks like multiple takes of a single
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instrument, alternate edits of a given recording, parallel effects such
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as reverb or compression, and other tasks.
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</p>
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<p>
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Each audio <dfn>track</dfn> in Ardour is really just a mechanism for
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taking a playlist and generating the audio stream that it represents.
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As a result, editing a track really means modifying its playlist in
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some way. Since a playlist is a list of regions, most of the
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modifications involve manipulating regions: their position, length
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and so forth. This is covered in the chapter
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<a href="/working-with-regions/">Working With Regions</a>.<br />
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Here, we cover some of the things you can do with playlists as objects
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in their own right.
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</p>
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<h2>Tracks are not Playlists</h2>
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<p>
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It is important to understand that a track <em>is not</em> a playlist.
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A track <em>has</em> a playlist. A track is a mechanism for generating
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the audio stream represented by the playlist and passing it through a
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signal processing pathway. At any point in time, a track has a single
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playlist associated with it. When the track is used to record, that
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playlist will have one or more new regions added to it. When the track
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is used for playback, the contents of the playlist will be heard.
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You can change the playlist associated with a track at (almost) any
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time, and even share playlists between tracks.
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</p>
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<p>
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If you have some experience of other
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<abbr title="Digital Audio Workstation">DAW</abbr>s, then you might
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have come across the term <dfn>"virtual track"</dfn>, normally defined as a track
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that isn't actually playing or doing anything, but can be
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mapped/assigned to a real track. This concept is functionally
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identical to Ardour's playlists. We just like to be little more
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clear about what is actually happening rather than mixing old and
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new terminology ("virtual" and "track"), which might be confusing.</p>
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<h2>Playlists are Cheap</h2>
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<p>
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One thing you should be clear about is that playlists are cheap. They
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don't cost anything in terms of CPU consumption, and they have very
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minimal efforts on memory use. Don't be afraid of generating new
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playlists whenever you want to. They are not equivalent to tracks,
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which require extra CPU time and significant memory space, or audio
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files, which use disk space, or plugins that require extra CPU time.
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If a playlist is not in use, it occupies a small amount of memory, and
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nothing more.
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</p>
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