Ardour Overview
Ardour is a professional digital audio workstation (DAW) designed for audio and MIDI production, catering to a diverse range of users including audio engineers, musicians, soundtrack editors, and composers.
Purpose and User Base
Ardour is tailored for individuals who require complete control over their audio and MIDI projects. It is particularly suited for audio engineers who need to record, edit, mix, and master audio and MIDI sessions with precision. Musicians benefit from Ardour’s focus on recording talented performers using actual instruments, while soundtrack editors appreciate its sample-accurate sync and shared transport control with video playback tools. Composers can arrange and edit audio and MIDI using the same tools and workflow, integrating external hardware synthesizers or software instruments seamlessly.
Key Features
Multi-Track Recording and Editing
Ardour supports unlimited audio tracks and buses, offering non-linear and non-destructive recording and editing capabilities. It can handle any bit depth and sample rate, and supports dozens of file formats including WAV, FLAC, Ogg/Vorbis, AIFF, and more.
Plugin Support and Automation
Ardour integrates with various plugin formats such as AudioUnit, LV2, LinuxVST, LADSPA, and VST3. Users can automate any mixing parameters, including volume, panning, and effects controls, using a mouse, keyboard, or external control devices. This automation allows for dynamic changes in mixing parameters over time, enhancing the flexibility of the mixing process.
Transport Sync and External Control
The software boasts best-in-industry sync capabilities with MIDI timecode, LTC, and MIDI Machine Control. It supports dedicated protocols like Mackie Control and dynamic MIDI learn for various MIDI controllers. Additionally, Ardour can sync with JACK transport and MIDI clock, and utilize OSC to drive operations.
Signal Routing
Ardour features a powerful “anything-to-anywhere” signal routing system, allowing complex signal flows to be set up elegantly. Users can connect inputs and outputs to hardware or other applications, using sends, inserts, and returns freely. This flexibility enables connections that are one-to-many, many-to-one, or many-to-many.
Video Integration
For soundtrack editors, Ardour offers a video timeline feature that allows importing a single video, extracting its soundtrack, and displaying a frame-by-frame timeline. The video can be synced with any available timecode source, and audio regions can be locked to the video for precise editing.
Mixing and Mastering
Ardour supports an arbitrary number of tracks and buses with full automation of gain, panning, and plugin parameters. It is also capable of serving as an audio mastering environment, integrating with tools like JAMin and allowing the mixer’s output to be sent to third-party processing software.
Editing Capabilities
The software includes advanced editing features such as dragging, trimming, splitting, and time-stretching recorded regions with sample-level resolution. It also supports layer regions, crossfade editing, beat detection, and unlimited undo/redo. A “snapshot” feature allows saving the current state of a session to a file.
Compatibility and Availability
Ardour is compatible with multiple operating systems, including Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, and Microsoft Windows. It leverages the multiprocessor, multicore SMP, and real-time features of these systems. Pre-built binaries are available for purchase, and users can also build Ardour from the freely available source code.
In summary, Ardour is a robust and versatile DAW that offers comprehensive tools for recording, editing, mixing, and mastering audio and MIDI projects, making it an indispensable tool for professionals in the audio production industry.