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+<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE section PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
+
+]>
+
+<section id="sn-creating-a-new-session">
+ <title>Creating a new Session</title>
+ <para>
+ The first step in starting a new project with Ardour is to create a new
+ session. When you do this, Ardour creates a new folder named after your
+ session, and stores differents kinds of files and subfolders within it.
+ The two most important subfolders are <filename>sounds</filename> which
+ contains all the audio recorded or imported for the session and
+ <filename>automation</filename> which contains automation data for
+ various parts of the session.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ When you start ardour without specifying an existing session, it
+ automatically brings up the new session dialog. If you want to create a
+ new session at other times, choose <menuchoice>
+ <guimenu>Session</guimenu> <guisubmenu>New Session</guisubmenu>
+ </menuchoice>.
+ </para>
+ <mediaobject>
+ <imageobject>
+ <imagedata fileref="images/session_control.png"/>
+ </imageobject>
+ </mediaobject>
+ <para>
+ Enter a name for the new session. You can use any characters you like as
+ part of the name, but you should know that more or less anything other
+ than alphabetic and numeric characters will be converted to underscores
+ to form the name of the session folder.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ Next, choose where you want to store the new session folder. If its not
+ in your current working folder, click on the browse button to expand the
+ file selector, and then navigate to your desired location.
+ </para>
+ <mediaobject>
+ <imageobject>
+ <imagedata fileref="images/new_session_select_directory.png"/>
+ </imageobject>
+ </mediaobject>
+ <section id="new-session-io">
+ <title>Input and Output Configuration</title>
+ <para>
+ Next, configure the basic IO setup for the session. You have several
+ choices here, and doing nothing is one of them. This will give you a
+ session that includes:
+ </para>
+
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ a stereo master bus with its outputs connected to the first two
+ outputs of your audio interface
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ all new track will have their outputs sent to the master bus
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ all new track inputs will be connected to Ardour’s best guess at
+ the relevant input of your audio interface.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+
+ <para>
+ However, if you want more control over this, click on the expander
+ next to <guilabel>Advanced options</guilabel> label to show the full
+ set of options:
+ </para>
+ <mediaobject>
+ <imageobject>
+ <imagedata fileref="images/new_session_advanced_tab.png"/>
+ </imageobject>
+ </mediaobject>
+ <para>
+ There are two options available for track input configuration:
+ autoconnect or manual. If you select autoconnect (the default) then
+ new tracks will be connected to an input of your audio interface. If
+ you select manual, it will be up to you to configure the input for
+ each track.
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ For output, the first two choices are whether to have control and
+ master outs. Most DAWs assume the presence of master outs, and few (if
+ any) offer control outs.
+ </para>
+
+ <section id="new-session-master-outs">
+ <title>Master Outputs</title>
+ <para>
+ A Master out is a bus to which all (or most) tracks and other busses
+ send their output. It provides a convenient single point of control
+ for the output of ardour, and is a typical location for global
+ effects. Because of this, using master outs is enabled by default,
+ and the master out bus is setup to be stereo (2 inputs, 2 outputs).
+ However, if you are feeding Ardour’s output through a hardware
+ mixing console, you may not want master outs. In such cases, disable
+ them by clicking on the radio button next to “Use master outs”.
+ Alternatively, you may want some other channel configuration for the
+ master output (for example, 8 channel surround sound). Select this
+ by using the clickbox (see clickboxes) next to the radio button.
+ </para>
+ </section>
+
+ <section id="new-session-control-outs">
+ <title>Control Outputs</title>
+ <para>
+ Control outs are unusual for DAWs, but because Ardour is designed to
+ be as flexible as possible, and in particular is intended to be
+ useful as a live mixer, they are included here. Using control outs
+ provides you with a dedicated bus to which all tracks have an
+ additional output connection. As well as feeding their regular
+ outputs, they send data to the control outs as well. In an
+ unadjusted session, this means that the control outs carry the same
+ signal as the master outs. However, once you start soloing tracks,
+ the control outs will carry only soloed tracks while the master outs
+ continue to carry the entire mix. A typical use of control outs is
+ when doing live stage work. The mix engineer will be listening to
+ the control outs, and can therefore solo tracks without affecting
+ the signal being sent to the master outs (the main speakers).
+ </para>
+ </section>
+ </section>
+</section>