123 lines
5.9 KiB
HTML
123 lines
5.9 KiB
HTML
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<p>
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Ardour offers three <dfn>track types</dfn> depending on the type of
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data they contain, and differentiates between three <dfn>track modes</dfn>,
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depending on their recording behaviour.
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</p>
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<h2>Track types</h2>
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<p>
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An Ardour track can be of type <dfn>audio</dfn> or <dfn>MIDI</dfn>,
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depending on the <dfn>data</dfn> that the track will primarily record
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and play back. <em>However, either type of track can pass either
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type of data.</em> Hence, for example, one might have a MIDI track that
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contains an instrument plugin; such a track would record and play back
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MIDI data from disk but would produce audio, since the instrument plugin
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would turn MIDI data into audio data.
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</p>
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<p>
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Nevertheless, when adding tracks to a session, you typically have an idea
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of what you need to use the new tracks for, and Ardour offers you three
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choices:
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</p>
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<table class="dl">
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<tr><th>Audio</th>
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<td>An <dfn>Audio Track</dfn> is created with a user-specified number of
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inputs. The number of outputs is defined by the master bus channel count
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(for details see <a href="#channelconfiguration">Channel Configuration</a>
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below). This is the type of track to use when planning to work with
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existing or newly recorded audio.</td></tr>
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<tr><th>MIDI</th>
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<td>A <dfn>MIDI track</dfn> is created with a single MIDI input, and a
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single MIDI output. This is the type of track to use when planning to
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record and play back MIDI. There are several methods to enable playback
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of a MIDI track: add an instrument plugin to the track, connect the
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track to a software synthesizer, or connect it to external MIDI hardware.
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<p class="note">
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If you add an instrument plugin, the MIDI track outputs audio alongside
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MIDI data.
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</p></td></tr>
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<tr><th>Audio/MIDI</th>
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<td>There are a few notable plugins that can usefully accept both <dfn>Audio
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and MIDI</dfn> data (Reaktor is one, and various "auto-tune" like plugins
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are another). It can be tricky to configure this type of track manually,
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so Ardour allows you to select this type specifically for use with such
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plugins. It is <em>not</em> generally the right choice when working normal
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MIDI tracks, and a dialog will warn you of this.</td></tr>
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</table>
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<h2 id="trackmodes">Track Modes</h2>
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<p>
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Audio tracks in Ardour have a <dfn>mode</dfn> which affects how they behave
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when recording:
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</p>
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<table class="dl">
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<tr><th>Normal</th>
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<td>Tracks in <dfn>normal mode</dfn> will record non-destructively—new
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data is written to new files, and when overdubbing, new regions will be
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layered on top of existing ones. This is the recommended mode for most
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workflows.
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</td></tr>
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<tr><th>Non-Layered</th>
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<td>Tracks using <dfn>non-layered mode</dfn> will record
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non-destructively—new data is written to new files, but when
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overdubbing, the existing regions are trimmed so that there are no overlaps.
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This does not affect the previously recorded audio data, and trimmed regions
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can be expanded again at will. Non-layered mode can be very useful for spoken
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word material, especially in combination with
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<a href="@@pushpull-trimming">push/pull trimming</a>.
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</td></tr>
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<tr><th>Tape</th>
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<td><dfn>Tape-mode</dfn> tracks do <strong>destructive</strong> recording:
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all data is recorded to a single file and if you overdub a section of
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existing data, the existing data is destroyed irrevocably—there is no
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undo. Fixed crossfades are added at every punch in and out point. This mode
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can be useful for certain kinds of re-recording workflows, but it not
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suggested for normal
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use.</td></tr>
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</table>
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<img class="right" src="/images/a3_nonlayered_example.png" alt="normal and non-layered overdubbing comparision"
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/>
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<p>
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The screenshot on the right shows the subtle difference between an overdub
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in <dfn>normal mode</dfn> (upper track) and one in <dfn>non-layered mode</dfn>
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(lower track). Both tracks were created using identical audio data. <br>
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The upper track shows a new region which has been <dfn>layered on
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top</dfn> of the the existing (longer) region. You can see this if you look
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carefully at the region name strips.<br>
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The lower track has split the existing region in two, trimmed each new
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region to create space for the new overdub, and inserted the overdub region
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in between.
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</p>
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<h2 id="channelconfiguration">Channel Configuration</h2>
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<p>
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Ardour tracks can have any number of inputs and any number of outputs, and the
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number of either can be changed at any time (subject to restrictions caused by
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any plugins in a track). However it is useful to not have to configure this sort
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of thing for the most common cases, and so the
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<a href="@@adding-tracks-busses-and-vcas">Add Tracks</a> dialog allows you to
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select "Mono", "Stereo" and few other typical multichannel presets<br>
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The name of the preset describes the number of <dfn>input channels</dfn>
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of the track or bus.
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</p>
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<p>
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If you have configured Ardour to automatically connect new tracks and
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busses for you, the number of outputs will be determined by the number of
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inputs of the <dfn>master <a
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href="@@understanding-basic-concepts-and-terminology#busses">bus</a></dfn>,
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to which the track outputs will be connected.<br>
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For example, if you have a two-channel master bus, then a Mono track has one
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input and two outputs; a Stereo track has two inputs and two outputs.
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</p>
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<p class="note">
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If you you set <kbd class="menu">Edit > Preferences > Audio
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> Connection of Tracks and Busses</kbd> to <kbd
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class="menu">manual</kbd>, then tracks will be left disconnected by default
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and there will be as many outputs as there are inputs. It is up to you to connect
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them as you wish. This is not a particularly useful way to work unless you are doing
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something fairly unusual with signal routing and processing. It is almost always
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preferable to leave Ardour to make connections automatically, even if you later
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change some of them manually.
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</p>
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