Ardour (audio processor)
Encyclopedia
Ardour is a hard disk recorder
and digital audio workstation
application. It runs on Linux
, Mac OS X and FreeBSD
. 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
(version two or any later version), Ardour is free software
although the downloader is asked to spend some money to proceed downloading the full version. Without paying, users can download either the full source code or a limited OSX binary without the ability to "load or save AU plugin settings".
compensation, positioning the recorded material where it was intended to be when recording it. Monitoring options include monitoring with external hardware (a feature supported by some sound cards), monitoring with Ardour and monitoring with JACK
. Monitoring with Ardour makes it possible to apply plugin effects to the signal while it is recorded in real time. Using the audio server JACK, Ardour can record both from the audio card and JACK-compatible Software concurrently.
New versions of JACK also support transporting audio over a generic IP
network. This makes it possible to run Ardour on hardware separate from the one that actually contains the audio interface.
. Ardour has unlimited undo/redo and a snapshot feature for storing the current state of a session to a file for future reference.
environment. Its integration with JACK
makes it possible to use mastering tools such as JAMin
to process the audio data. The output of Ardour's mixer can be sent to JAMin and/or any other JACK-aware audio-processing software, and the output processed by these programmes can be recorded using a recording-software. Ardour can also export TOC and CUE files, which allows for the creation of audio CD
s.
application anyone can read and modify the program's source code
. Ardour attempts to adhere to industry standards, such as SMPTE/MTC
, Broadcast WAVE, MIDI Machine Control
and XML
.
Ardour has been tested and runs on the GNU
/Linux
operating system, on the x86-64
, x86, PPC
architectures, Sun Solaris, Mac OS X
on Intel and PowerPC, and FreeBSD
. It takes advantage of multiprocessor and multicore SMP and realtime features of these operating systems. Support is limited on operating systems other than Linux and OS X, however.
Attempts have been made, and continue to be made, to port to Windows
, although Ardour's lead developer has expressed reluctance to encourage those efforts.
control. It 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 and FreeBSD is possible if Ardour is compiled by the user or packager/distributor to include VST support. As of version 2.8, VST support no longer requires use of the VST SDK from Steinberg.
provided corporate support for Ardour up until February 2009. The aim of the initiative was to provide a more integrated experience on Mac OS X and the development of a version tailored towards beginner students.
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.
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.
Hard disk recorder
A hard disk recorder is a type of direct to disk recording system that uses a high-capacity hard disk to record digital audio or digital video. Hard disk recording systems represent an alternative to more traditional reel-to-reel tape or cassette multitrack systems, and provide editing...
and digital audio workstation
Digital audio workstation
A digital audio workstation is an electronic system designed solely or primarily for recording, editing and playing back digital audio. DAWs were originally tape-less, microprocessor-based systems such as the Synclavier and Fairlight CMI...
application. It runs on Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, Mac OS X and FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
. Its primary author is Paul Davis
Paul Davis (programmer)
Paul Davis is a British software developer best known for his work on audio software for the Linux operating system, and for his role as one of the first two programmers at Amazon.com....
, who is also responsible for the JACK Audio Connection Kit
JACK Audio Connection Kit
JACK is a professional sound server daemon that provides real-time, low latency connections for both audio and MIDI data between applications that implement its API...
. Ardour's intention is to provide digital audio workstation software suitable for professional use.
Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
(version two or any later version), Ardour is free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
although the downloader is asked to spend some money to proceed downloading the full version. Without paying, users can download either the full source code or a limited OSX binary without the ability to "load or save AU plugin settings".
Features
The feature list below is an overview of Ardour's features including the most essential features. Covering all features is beyond 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 latencyLatency (audio)
Latency refers to a short period of delay between when an audio signal enters and when it emerges from a system...
compensation, positioning the recorded material where it was intended to be when recording it. Monitoring options include monitoring with external hardware (a feature supported by some sound cards), monitoring with Ardour and monitoring with JACK
JACK Audio Connection Kit
JACK is a professional sound server daemon that provides real-time, low latency connections for both audio and MIDI data between applications that implement its API...
. Monitoring with Ardour makes it possible to apply plugin effects to the signal while it is recorded in real time. Using the audio server JACK, Ardour can record both from the audio card and JACK-compatible Software concurrently.
New versions of JACK also support transporting audio over a generic IP
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
network. This makes it possible to run Ardour on hardware separate from the one that actually contains the audio interface.
Mixing
Ardour supports an arbitrary number of tracks and buses through an "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.Editing
Ardour supports dragging, trimming, splitting and timestretching recorded regions with sample-level resolution and has a possibility to layer regions. It includes a crossfade editor and a beat detectionBeat detection
In signal analysis, beat detection is using computer software or computer hardware to detect the beat of a musical score. There are many methods available and beat detection is always a tradeoff between accuracy and speed. Beat detectors are common in music visualization software such as some media...
. Ardour has unlimited undo/redo and a snapshot feature for storing the current state of a session to a file for future reference.
Mastering
Ardour can be used as an audio masteringAudio mastering
Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
environment. Its integration with JACK
JACK Audio Connection Kit
JACK is a professional sound server daemon that provides real-time, low latency connections for both audio and MIDI data between applications that implement its API...
makes it possible to use mastering tools such as JAMin
Jamin
-America:A term used to describe someone of great stature . The term originated with the great Ben LePere back in the early 2000's...
to process the audio data. The output of Ardour's mixer can be sent to JAMin and/or any other JACK-aware audio-processing software, and the output processed by these programmes can be recorded using a recording-software. Ardour can also export TOC and CUE files, which allows for the creation of audio CD
Red Book (audio CD standard)
Red Book is the standard for audio CDs . It is named after one of the Rainbow Books, a series of books that contain the technical specifications for all CD and CD-ROM formats.The first edition of the Red Book was released in 1980 by Philips and Sony; it was adopted by the Digital Audio Disc...
s.
Compatibility
As Ardour is a free and open source softwareFree and open source software
Free and open-source software or free/libre/open-source software is software that is liberally licensed to grant users the right to use, study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code...
application anyone can read and modify the program's source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
. Ardour attempts to adhere to industry standards, such as SMPTE/MTC
MIDI timecode
MIDI time code , or MIDI time division, embeds the same timing information as standard SMPTE timecode as a series of small 'quarter-frame' MIDI messages. There is no provision for the user bits in the standard MIDI time code messages, and SysEx messages are used to carry this information instead...
, Broadcast WAVE, MIDI Machine Control
MIDI Machine Control
MIDI Machine Control, or MMC, a subset of the MIDI specification, provides specific commands for controlling recording equipment such as multi-track recorders....
and XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
.
Ardour has been tested and runs on the GNU
GNU
GNU is a Unix-like computer operating system developed by the GNU project, ultimately aiming to be a "complete Unix-compatible software system"...
/Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
operating system, on the x86-64
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
, x86, PPC
PowerPC
PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
architectures, Sun Solaris, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
on Intel and PowerPC, and FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
. It takes advantage of multiprocessor and multicore SMP and realtime features of these operating systems. Support is limited on operating systems other than Linux and OS X, however.
Attempts have been made, and continue to be made, to port to Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, although Ardour's lead developer has expressed reluctance to encourage those efforts.
Plugins
Ardour relies on plugins to enable many features from audio effects processing to dynamicDynamics (music)
In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional . The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics...
control. It supports the LADSPA
LADSPA
LADSPA is an acronym for Linux Audio Developers Simple Plugin API. It is a standard for handling filters and effects, licensed under the GNU LGPL. It was originally designed for Linux through consensus on the Linux Audio Developers Mailing List, but works on a variety of other platforms...
and LV2
LV2
LV2 is an open standard for plugins and matching host applications, mainly targeted at audio processing and generation.LV2 is a simple but extensible successor of LADSPA, intended to address the limitations of LADSPA which many applications have outgrown.Currently there is support for LV2 in...
plugin architectures on Linux and additionally Audio Units
Audio Units
Audio Units are a system-level plug-in architecture provided by Core Audio in Mac OS X developed by Apple Computer. Audio Units are a set of application programming interface services provided by the operating system to generate, process, receive, or otherwise manipulate streams of audio in...
on OS X. Using Steinberg
Steinberg
Steinberg GmbH is a German musical software and equipment company based in Hamburg. It mainly produces music recording, arranging and editing software as used in digital audio workstations and VSTi software synthesizers.- History :...
's VST
Virtual Studio Technology
Steinberg's Virtual Studio Technology is an interface for integrating software audio synthesizer and effect plugins with audio editors and hard-disk recording systems. VST and similar technologies use digital signal processing to simulate traditional recording studio hardware with software...
plugins with Ardour on Linux and FreeBSD is possible if Ardour is compiled by the user or packager/distributor to include VST support. As of version 2.8, VST support no longer requires use of the VST SDK from Steinberg.
Import and Export
Ardour supports exporting whole sessions or parts of sessions, and importing audio clips into sessions from more than 30 different audio file formats. This can be done using Ardour's built-in audio file database manager or directly from an ordinary file browser.Supporting companies
SAE InstituteSAE Institute
The SAE Institute is a private college founded in 1976 by Sound Engineer, Record Producer and businessman Tom Misner. The first school was opened 1977 in Sydney,...
provided corporate support for Ardour up until February 2009. The aim of the initiative was to provide a more integrated experience on Mac OS X and the development of a version tailored towards beginner students.
Solid State Logic
Solid State Logic
Solid State Logic is a manufacturer of high-end mixing consoles and recording studio hardware headquartered in Begbroke, Oxfordshire, UK.- Company information :...
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.
Harrison Audio Consoles
Harrison Audio Consoles
Harrison Audio Consoles is an international company based in Nashville, Tennessee that manufactures mixing consoles and other audio technologies for the post-production, video production, broadcast, sound reinforcement and music recording industries...
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
Digital audio workstation
A digital audio workstation is an electronic system designed solely or primarily for recording, editing and playing back digital audio. DAWs were originally tape-less, microprocessor-based systems such as the Synclavier and Fairlight CMI...
users.
See also
- JACK Audio Connection KitJACK Audio Connection KitJACK is a professional sound server daemon that provides real-time, low latency connections for both audio and MIDI data between applications that implement its API...
, a real time low latency audio server. - List of free audio software
- Linux audio software
- Comparison of multitrack recording softwareComparison of multitrack recording softwareThe following tables compare general and technical information among a number of digital audio editors. Please see the individual products articles for further information.-General:Basic general information about the software: creator/company, license/price etc....
External links
- Project home page
- Introducing Ardour - Article in Linux JournalLinux JournalLinux Journal is a monthly technology magazine published by Belltown Media, Inc. of Houston, Texas. The magazine focuses specifically on Linux, allowing the content to be a highly specialized source of information for open source enthusiasts.-History:...
- FLOSS WeeklyFLOSS WeeklyFLOSS Weekly is a free software / open source themed podcast from the TWiT Network. The show premiered on April 7, 2006, and features prominent guests from the free software/open source community. It was originally hosted by Leo Laporte; his cohost for the first seventeen episodes was Chris DiBona...
- 86: Ardour podcast with Paul Davis for Ardour - Open Source Musician podcast interview with Paul Davis