Professional music production with Ardour
Conclusions
The code name for Ardour 4.4 is "Discreet Music," which is probably a reference to the record by Frank Zappa. It's also possible that Ardour's chief developer Paul Davis and his team wanted to make clear the kind of music production for which they optimized the software: classical recordings with live musicians at a professional level.
The suite absolutely meets this requirement. Particularly in terms of reliability, Ardour 4.4 has no weaknesses – in around 30 hours of testing there wasn't a single serious problem: not even crashes caused by random editing during operation. (However, please see "Better Safe than Sorry.")
Better Safe than Sorry
Ardour lets you control very complex operations with just a few milliseconds of delay. However, it is a pretty ambitious thing to attempt and doesn't always work perfectly. The program therefore creates backups in the background so that no more than a few minutes work is lost if the program crashes. You also need to take a few common precautions.
The principle of "Save often, save early" applies as always. So, always press Ctrl+S after making a big change to your project and before performing potentially tricky operations, or go to the menu and select Session | Save. In hundreds of hours of work using Ardour, I haven't had a single issue with reloading a saved session.
The delicate procedures in Ardour 4.4 also include the time-stretch function and inserting plugins or tracks during operation. Both are much safer when operation is stopped. The call for plugin interfaces and their settings was also sometimes problematic in older versions of Ardour; I had no problems in the test with the current version. Rule of thumb: If a plugin works smoothly after installation, the same will apply to when in operation.
In some situations, it is essential that absolutely nothing goes wrong, such as in recording sessions with musicians or when using Ardour as a mixer at concerts. It is worth taking the following precautions in such cases:
- Set up all the tracks and plugins before using them and test them thoroughly. Only add more elements when not in operation during breaks at concerts.
- Don't make any changes to plugins while a recording is running.
- Where possible, always use native mixer elements for adjusting effect signals in the mix (faders from broadcasting channels).
- Control effects that are difficult or impossible to implement with the mixer elements by using the automation functions or a MIDI/OSC remote control.
Ardour's mixer provides extensive options for the last two points. You can, for example, place special effects on a broadcasting bus and mix them using the fader without having to touch the interfaces of the plugins involved. From Ardour 4 onward, it is possible to automate discrete switches in the mixer so that you can also switch plugins on and off without using the mouse. Additionally, you can control each action in the mixer using MIDI and OSC signals (Figure 9).
The beautiful, new interface and the well-conceived, functional extensions are another good reason to download Ardour 4.4 from the Ardour website as soon as possible. The donation of at least $1 is certainly a good investment.
Infos
- Paul Davis on Ardour 4.4: https://community.ardour.org/node/10682
- Building Ardour yourself: http://ardour.org/building_linux.html
- Ardour error messages: http://tracker.ardour.org
- Free Dolby digital encoder Aften: http://aften.sourceforge.net
« Previous 1 2
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Gnome 47.1 Released with a Few Fixes
The latest release of the Gnome desktop is all about fixing a few nagging issues and not about bringing new features into the mix.
-
System76 Unveils an Ampere-Powered Thelio Desktop
If you're looking for a new desktop system for developing autonomous driving and software-defined vehicle solutions. System76 has you covered.
-
VirtualBox 7.1.4 Includes Initial Support for Linux kernel 6.12
The latest version of VirtualBox has arrived and it not only adds initial support for kernel 6.12 but another feature that will make using the virtual machine tool much easier.
-
New Slimbook EVO with Raw AMD Ryzen Power
If you're looking for serious power in a 14" ultrabook that is powered by Linux, Slimbook has just the thing for you.
-
The Gnome Foundation Struggling to Stay Afloat
The foundation behind the Gnome desktop environment is having to go through some serious belt-tightening due to continued financial problems.
-
Thousands of Linux Servers Infected with Stealth Malware Since 2021
Perfctl is capable of remaining undetected, which makes it dangerous and hard to mitigate.
-
Halcyon Creates Anti-Ransomware Protection for Linux
As more Linux systems are targeted by ransomware, Halcyon is stepping up its protection.
-
Valve and Arch Linux Announce Collaboration
Valve and Arch have come together for two projects that will have a serious impact on the Linux distribution.
-
Hacker Successfully Runs Linux on a CPU from the Early ‘70s
From the office of "Look what I can do," Dmitry Grinberg was able to get Linux running on a processor that was created in 1971.
-
OSI and LPI Form Strategic Alliance
With a goal of strengthening Linux and open source communities, this new alliance aims to nurture the growth of more highly skilled professionals.