path: root/manual/xml/using_existing_audio.xml

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<chapter id="ch-using-existing-audio">
	<title>Using Existing Audio</title>
	<para>
		There are two primary ways to bring data into Ardour: recording it within a
		session from a live sound source or importing pre-existing audio files. This
		section covers the various ways to import audio into a session.
	</para>

	<section id="importing-and-embedding">
		<title>Importing and Embedding</title>
		<para>
			Importing and embedding are two different methods of using existing audio
			files on your computer (or network file system) within a session. They
			differ in one key respect:
		</para>

		<variablelist>
			<title></title>
			<varlistentry>
				<term>Importing</term>
				<listitem>
					<para>
						An existing audio file is copied to the session's sounds folder, and is
						converted into the session's native format (WAVE or Broadcast WAVE
						depending on your choice) and sample rate.
					</para>
				</listitem>
			</varlistentry>

			<varlistentry>
				<term>Embedding</term>
				<listitem>
					<para>
						An existing audio file is used as a the source for a region, but is not
						copied or modified in any way.
					</para>
				</listitem>
			</varlistentry>
		</variablelist>
	</section>

	<section id="supported-external-audio-file-formats">
		<title>Supported External Audio File Formats</title>
		<para>
			The list of audio file formats that Ardour can import/embed is quite long.
			It is based on the functionality offered by libsndfile, an excellent and
			widely used software library by Australian programmer Erik de Castro Lopo.
			As libsndfile's capabilities expand, so will Ardour's abilities to import
			(and export) new formats. Ogg/Vorbis (an excellent, unpatented and license
			free audio compression format similar to MP3) is planned for the near
			future. Currently, supported formats include:
		</para>

		<itemizedlist>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					Microsoft WAV
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					SGI/Apple AIFF/AIFC
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					Sun AU/Snd
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					Raw (headerless)
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					Paris Audio File (PAF)
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					Commodore IFF/SVX
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					Sphere/NIST WAV
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					IRCAM SF
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					Creative VOC
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					SoundForge W64
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					GNU Octave MAT4.4
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					Portable Voice Format
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					Fasttracker 2 XI
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					HMM Tool Kit HTK
				</para>
			</listitem>
		</itemizedlist>

		<para>
			Sample encodings supported include:
		</para>

		<itemizedlist>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					Unsigned and signed 8, 16, 24 and 32 bit PCM
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					IEEE 32 and 64 floating point
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					U-LAW
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					A-LAW
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					IMA ADPCM
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					MS ADPCM
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					GSM 6.10
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					G721/723 ADPCM
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					12/16/24 bit DWVW
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					OK Dialogic ADPCM
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					8/16 DPCM
				</para>
			</listitem>
		</itemizedlist>
	</section>

	<section id="using-audio-files">
		<title> Using audio files as tracks or regions? </title>
		<para>
			When you want to use existing audio files in an Ardour session, the first
			choice you need to make is whether you want to bring the files in as tracks
			or as new regions. Consider the two following scenarios:
		</para>

		<itemizedlist>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					you have an 8 track recording of existing material, with 1 audio file per
					track
				</para>
			</listitem>
			<listitem>
				<para>
					you have a sample library containing 500 small audio files
				</para>
			</listitem>
		</itemizedlist>

		<para>
			In the first case, your goal is probably to have 8 tracks (at least), with
			each track containing a single audio file. In the second case, its a lot
			more likely that you simply want to be able to use any of the samples
			easily, but do not want any tracks created as a direct result of the
			import/embed. It is very important that you understand this distinction:
			many new users think there should be a "simple" way to import existing
			audio without understanding that the goal of importing/embedding is not
			always the same.
		</para>

		<para>
			Ardour provides two different options when importing. You can import/embed
			audio files as new tracks, or you can import/embed them into the region
			list, where they will be available as regions to put into new or existing
			tracks. You can also insert import/embed audio files directly into an
			existing track.
		</para>
	</section>

	<section id="importing-an-audio-file-as-a-new-track">
		<title> How to import an audio file as a new track </title>
		<para>
			Click on the <guimenuitem>Edit</guimenuitem> item in the editor's menu bar.
			From the popup menu that appears, choose <menuchoice>
			<guimenu>Import</guimenu> <guisubmenu>...as new tracks</guisubmenu>
			</menuchoice>. The Audio Library/File Chooser window will appear. After you
			have made your selection of files to import, click the button at the bottom
			of that window (it will say something like "Import selected regions as new
			tracks").
		</para>
	</section>

	<section id="embedding-an-audio-file-as-a-new-track">
		<title> How to embed an audio file as a new track </title>
		<section id="embedding-an-audio-file-drag-and-drop">
			<title> Drag-n-Drop </title>
			<para>
				If you use a file manager such as Nautilus or Konqueror ((basically, any
				tool that uses standard "list-of-URL's" encoding for drag-n-drop)), the
				simplest method to import files as tracks is to drag-n-drop. Select the
				files you want to embed in the file manager, drag the selection into
				Ardour and drop it over an area of the editor's track/arrange display
				where there are no tracks. The files will be embedded as 1 new track per
				file.
			</para>
		</section>

		<section id="embedding-audio-file-using-edit-menu">
			<title> Edit menu </title>
			<para>
				Click on the <guimenuitem>Edit</guimenuitem> item in the editor's menu
				bar. From the popup menu that appears, choose <menuchoice>
				<guimenu>Embed</guimenu> <guisubmenu>...as new tracks</guisubmenu>
				</menuchoice>. The Audio Library/File Chooser window will appear. After
				you have made your selection of files to embed, click the button at the
				bottom of that window (it will say something like "Embed selected regions
				as new tracks"). 1 new track will be created for each file.
			</para>
		</section>
	</section>

	<section id="importing-audio-as-a-new-region">
		<title> Importing as a new region </title>
		<para></para>
	</section>

	<section id="embedding-audio-as-a-new-region">
		<title> Embedding as a new region </title>
		<para></para>

		<section id="embedding-audio-drag-and-drop">
			<title> Drag-n-Drop </title>
			<para></para>
		</section>

		<section id="embedding-audio-region-list-menu">
			<title> Region List Menu </title>
			<para></para>
		</section>
	</section>

	<section id="how-to-import-embed">
		<title>How to import/embed</title>
		<para>
			Begin by clicking on the titlebar of the region list in the editor window.
			Select <guimenuitem>Import</guimenuitem> from the menu that appears, and
			the Sound File Database will be displayed. See sfdb for more details on
			using this dialog.
		</para>

		<para>
			Once you have found and selected the files you want to import, click the
			"Import Selected" button on the SFDB dialog. Each selected audio file will
			be copied into the session's sounds folder, converted into the session's
			native format and sample rate. One or more new regions will be placed in
			the "External" section of the region list, either one per channel of each
			file or, if "create multichannel regions" was selected in the SFBD dialog,
			one per file.
		</para>

		<para>
			If you use Nautilus as your file manager, you can easily import files into
			your project by dragging them onto the desired track, then releasing the
			mouse button. The file will then be
			<link linkend="gt-embed">embedded</link>
			into your session.
		</para>

		<para>
			At this time, no control over the conversion process is offered. If sample
			rate conversion is required, it will be carried out at the highest quality
			that Ardour can provide. This means that it can be rather slow (many
			minutes to import an audio file lasting a few minutes).
		</para>
	</section>

	<section id="how-to-embed-a-file">
		<title> How to embed a file </title>
		<para>
			There are two pathways for embedding an audio file into a session. One is
			initiated from the region list, and simply creates one or more new regions.
			The other is initiated from a specific track, and not only adds regions to
			the region list, but also inserts them into the track's playlist.
		</para>

		<section id="embedding-via-the-region-list">
			<title>Embedding via the region list</title>
			<orderedlist>
				<listitem>
					<para>
						click with 1 on the region list title bar.
					</para>
				</listitem>
				<listitem>
					<para>
						Select Import audio file from the menu that appears.
					</para>
				</listitem>
				<listitem>
					<para>
						The SFDB dialog appears.
					</para>
				</listitem>
				<listitem>
					<para>
						Select the files you want to import
					</para>
				</listitem>
				<listitem>
					<para>
						then click on the <guibutton>Embed Selected</guibutton> button.
					</para>
				</listitem>
			</orderedlist>
			<para>
				New regions are added to the External section of the region list.
			</para>
		</section>

		<section id="embedding-from-a-track">
			<title>Embedding from a track</title>
			<orderedlist>
				<listitem>
					<para>
						in the track you want to add the audiofile to.The track context menu
						will appear.
					</para>
				</listitem>
				<listitem>
					<para>
						Select EditInsert external sndfile from this menu. The SFDB dialog
						appears.
					</para>
				</listitem>
				<listitem>
					<para>
						Select the files you want to import
					</para>
				</listitem>
				<listitem>
					<para>
						then click on the <guibutton>Embed Selected</guibutton> button.
					</para>
				</listitem>
			</orderedlist>
			<para>
				New regions are added to the "External" section of the region list, and
				one is inserted into the track from which the embed was started.
			</para>
		</section>
	</section>
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</chapter>