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>