The ardour editor window

After you have scanned for the files you want to work with you can add them to the region list by double clicking on each file. Once you have a list of files in the region list window (on the right hand side of the main window) you need to select the file you wish to add and then right click on the appropriate edit strip in the mixer window and select the edit -> insert region menu item.

A faster (but not recommended) way to do this is to simply right click in the appropriate edit strip and select the edit -> insert external sndfile menu item which will bring up the soundfile database browser window. Then just double click on the file you wish to work with and ardour will add a new region to the edit strip. The drawback of this method is that ardour will not create peakfiles for these regions.

Understanding the lingo.

track - a passageway for information stored on a disk.
bus - a passageway for information from internal or external sources.
playlist - a list of the regions which belong to a track.
region - a section of a file. Can be a whole file or part of a file.

session - A working set of all the above.

Taken from the FAQ

Busses are the basic element of signal processing and routing in Ardour. They take an input data stream, process it in some way (perhaps not at all), and feed it to some outputs (or perhaps none).

One of the input data streams they can use is a track, which is an object representing a stream of data going to and from various files on your disk drives. A track uses a playlist, to determine what disk data to be playing at any point in time.

Properties like solo/mute, and processing chains (plugins, sends, inserts) belong to a bus.

Properties like the current playlist and playback speed belong to the track.

So, you can have 2 busses taking input from the same track, but processing them in different ways, and muting/soloing them independently.

There are a few options available for playing playlists (a selection of regions in a track or bus - commonly refered to as a track in other audio editors) and regions. On the left hand side of each edit strip is a set of buttons with the letters r,m,s,L,g,e. They allow you to set record, mute, solo, loop, group name and view the edit history for each edit strip individually. For playing the ones you will probably use most are m,s,L.

To see a list of the available functions just right click in the appropriate edit strip or region and a menu will popup, with an extra item at the start if you click on a region. (Not surprisingly this menu item is called region so it is easy to tell where you clicked if you are working quickly). Accessing items in this menu can also be done with various hotkeys.

Working with a mouse.

While you are working in the editor window you will need to change the mouse controller often. You can do this by clicking on the relevant button in the mouse controls menu.

Select mode.

      - dbl-click positions edit cursor
      - click selects a region (view) 
      - click-drag defines selection
      - ctrl-click click aligns region start to edit cursor
      - ctrl-meta click aligns region end to edit cursor
      - clrl-shift click aligns region sync point to edit cursor

Note that the key bindings can be remapped so that a different key than meta can be used instead.

Move mode.

      - dbl-click positions playhead cursor
      - click selects a region (view)
      - click-drag moves a region
      - shift-click drags a region with fixed time position
      - alt-click copies and drags a region
      - alt-shift-click copies and drags a region with fixed time position
      - ctrl-click click aligns region start to selected region start
      - ctrl-meta  click aligns region end to selected region start
      - clrl-shift click aligns region sync point to selected region

Note that the key bindings can be remapped so that different keys can be used. This is helpful if your keyboard does not have a meta or alt key.

Zoom mode.

      button1 click: 	 zoom in
      button2 click:     zoom out
      ctrl-button2:  	 zoom to display entire session (subject
                     	 to current power-of-2 zoom restriction)
      button click+drag: select area, then zoom to display it,
                         also subject to current power-of-2
                         zoom restriction.    

Applying FX.

Next you will probably want to add some FX to the some or all of the regions. To get a full list of the available FX (Ladspa plugins or filters) click on the redirects button to the left of each edit strip and then the add button in the dsp chain window which will popup. Then double click on the filter you would like to use. It will now appear in the dsp chain window where you can adjust the parameters by clicking on the plugin then the edit button.

Ardour uses an EDL (Edit Decision List) to store all your editing decisions/actions. This is non destructive which means that your original file is never changed unless you explicitly save over that file. Apart from the massive reduction in RAM usage and the security of never changing an original recording, the EDL also means that ardour can restart in the same place you were at before your session was closed or if your machine or ardour has a systems crash. You can be safe in the knowledge that you will never have to start from the beginning again unless you choose to.

When you want to save a session the all you need to do is click on the file menu and choose from the save, save as or the export menu items. Hint: Use export when you want to save your final cut to cd, dat, dvd format and be sure you specify the correct file formats and extension before you save.

A cd quality track is 16bit, 44100hz, little endian, stereo, extension = .wav.
A dat quality track is 16bit, 48000hz, little endian, stereo, extension = .wav.
A dvd quality track is 24bit, 96000hz, little endian, stereo, extension = .wav.