Ardour (audio processor)

Infobox Software
name = Ardour



caption = Ardour running under Ubuntu Studio
developer = Linux Audio Systems
released = ?
frequently_updated = yes
programming language = C++
operating system = Cross-platform
language = ?
genre = Digital audio workstation
license = GNU General Public License
website = http://www.ardour.org/

Ardour is a hard disk recorder and digital audio workstation application. It runs on Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris and Mac OS X. Its primary author is Paul Davis, who is also responsible for the JACK Audio Connection Kit. Ardour's intention is to provide digital audio workstation software suitable for professional use.

Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, Ardour is free software.

Features

The feature list below is an overview of Ardour's features including the most essential features. Covering all features is out of the scope of this article.

Recording

Ardour's recording capabilities are limited only by the hardware it is run on. There are no built in limitations in the software. When recording on top of existing material Ardour can do latency compensation, positioning the recorded material where it was intended to be when recording it. Monitoring options include monitoring with external hardware, monitoring with Ardour and monitoring with JACK, which is a feature supported by some sound cards. Monitoring with Ardour makes it possible to apply plugin effects to the signal being recorded in real time.

New versions of JACK also support transporting audio over a generic IP network. [ cite web | title = NetJack - Jack Over The Net | url = http://netjack.sourceforge.net/ ] This makes it possible to run Ardour on hardware separate from the hardware that actually contains the audio interface.

Mixing

Ardour supports an arbitrary amount of tracks and busses. It also has a completely flexible "anything to anywhere" routing system. All gain, panning and plugin parameters can be automated. All sample data is mixed and maintained internally in 32-bit floating point format for maximum headroom and fidelity.

Editing

Ardour supports dragging, trimming, splitting and timestretching recorded regions with sample-level resolution and has a possibility to layer regions. A versatile crossfade editor and a beat detection tool are also included in Ardour. Ardour has unlimited undo/redo and a snapshot feature for storing the current state of a session to a file for future reference.

Mastering

Some use Ardour as an audio mastering environment. Its integration with JACK makes it possible to use mastering tools such as JAMin to process the audio data. Ardour can also export TOC and CUE files, which allows for the creation of audio CDs.

Compatibility

As Ardour is a free and open source software application; anyone can read and modify the source code of the program. This allowed the first port of Ardour to Mac OS X to be carried out by someone previously uninvolved with the Ardour project. Ardour attempts to adhere to industry standards to maximize functionality and ease portability. [cite web | url=http://ardour.org/key_features | title=Ardour Key Features | accessdate=2008-05-16]

Ardour has been tested and runs on the Linux operating system, on the X86 64, X86, PPC architectures, Sun Solaris, and Mac OS X on Intel and PowerPC. It takes advantage of multiprocessor and multicore SMP and realtime features of these operating systems.

Plugins

Ardour relies on plugins to enable many features from audio effects processing to dynamic control. Ardour supports the LADSPA and LV2 plugin architectures on Linux and additionally Audio Units on OS X. Using Steinberg's VST plugins with Ardour on Linux is possible if Ardour is compiled by the user to include VST support. VST support also requires installing Wine and acquiring the VST SDK from Steinberg. Ardour can not be distributed with VST support due to licensing issues.

Import and Export

Ardour supports exporting whole sessions or parts of sessions, and importing audio clips into session from more than 30 different audio file formats. This can be done using Ardour's builtin audio file database manager or directly from an ordinary file browser.

Supporting companies

SAE Institute is providing corporate support for Ardour. The aim of the initiative is to provide a more integrated experience on Mac OS X and the development of a version tailored towards beginner students. [ [http://ardour.org/node/976 SAE Institute Sponsors Ardour Open Source DAW Project] ]

Solid State Logic employed Paul Davis to work full time on Ardour during the development of the version 2. This support lasted through to the end of 2006. [ [http://ardour.org/sponsorship Ardour Seeks New Sponsorship] ]

Harrison Audio Consoles has been a supporter of the Ardour project since early 2005. Harrison's destructive film dubber, the Xdubber, is based on Ardour. The Xdubber also serves as a customizable platform for enterprise-class DAW users. [ cite web | title = Harrison Debuts Xrouter, Xdubber | url = http://livefromaes.com/articles/publish/article_248.shtml ]

See also

* List of free audio software
* Linux audio software

References

External links

* [http://www.ardour.org/ Project home page]
* [http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7796 Introducing Ardour] - Article in Linux Journal
* [http://www.out-of-order.ca/tutorials/ardour/ Ardour Tutorial] - Tutorial covering the 2.0-2.2 Series