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7 <chapter id="ch-using-existing-audio">
8 <title>Using Existing Audio</title>
10 There are two primary ways to bring data into Ardour: recording it
11 within a session from a live sound source or importing pre-existing
12 audio files. This section covers the various ways to import audio into a
16 <section id="importing-and-embedding">
17 <title>Importing and Embedding</title>
19 Importing and embedding are two different methods of using existing
20 audio files on your computer (or network file system) within a
21 session. They differ in one key respect:
27 <term>Importing</term>
30 An existing audio file is copied to the session's sounds folder,
31 and is converted into the session's native format (WAVE or
32 Broadcast WAVE depending on your choice) and sample rate.
38 <term>Embedding</term>
41 An existing audio file is used as a the source for a region, but
42 is not copied or modified in any way.
49 <section id="supported-external-audio-file-formats">
50 <title>Supported External Audio File Formats</title>
52 The list of audio file formats that Ardour can import/embed is quite
53 long. It is based on the functionality offered by libsndfile, an
54 excellent and widely used software library by Australian programmer
55 Erik de Castro Lopo. As libsndfile's capabilities expand, so will
56 Ardour's abilities to import (and export) new formats. Ogg/Vorbis (an
57 excellent, unpatented and license free audio compression format
58 similar to MP3) is planned for the near future. Currently, supported
89 Paris Audio File (PAF)
131 Portable Voice Format
149 Sample encodings supported include:
155 Unsigned and signed 8, 16, 24 and 32 bit PCM
161 IEEE 32 and 64 floating point
221 <section id="using-audio-files">
222 <title> Using audio files as tracks or regions? </title>
224 When you want to use existing audio files in an Ardour session, the
225 first choice you need to make is whether you want to bring the files
226 in as tracks or as new regions. Consider the two following scenarios:
232 you have an 8 track recording of existing material, with 1 audio
239 you have a sample library containing 500 small audio files
245 In the first case, your goal is probably to have 8 tracks (at least),
246 with each track containing a single audio file. In the second case,
247 its a lot more likely that you simply want to be able to use any of
248 the samples easily, but do not want any tracks created as a direct
249 result of the import/embed. It is very important that you understand
250 this distinction: many new users think there should be a "simple" way
251 to import existing audio without understanding that the goal of
252 importing/embedding is not always the same.
256 Ardour provides two different options when importing. You can
257 import/embed audio files as new tracks, or you can import/embed them
258 into the region list, where they will be available as regions to put
259 into new or existing tracks. You can also insert import/embed audio
260 files directly into an existing track.
264 <section id="importing-an-audio-file-as-a-new-track">
265 <title> How to import an audio file as a new track </title>
267 Click on the <guimenuitem>Edit</guimenuitem> item in the editor's menu
268 bar. From the popup menu that appears, choose <menuchoice>
269 <guimenu>Import</guimenu> <guisubmenu>...as new tracks</guisubmenu>
270 </menuchoice>. The Audio Library/File Chooser window will appear.
271 After you have made your selection of files to import, click the
272 button at the bottom of that window (it will say something like
273 "Import selected regions as new tracks").
277 <section id="embedding-an-audio-file-as-a-new-track">
278 <title> How to embed an audio file as a new track </title>
279 <section id="embedding-an-audio-file-drag-and-drop">
280 <title> Drag-n-Drop </title>
282 If you use a file manager such as Nautilus or Konqueror ((basically,
283 any tool that uses standard "list-of-URL's" encoding for
284 drag-n-drop)), the simplest method to import files as tracks is to
285 drag-n-drop. Select the files you want to embed in the file manager,
286 drag the selection into Ardour and drop it over an area of the
287 editor's track/arrange display where there are no tracks. The files
288 will be embedded as 1 new track per file.
292 <section id="embedding-audio-file-using-edit-menu">
293 <title> Edit menu </title>
295 Click on the <guimenuitem>Edit</guimenuitem> item in the editor's
296 menu bar. From the popup menu that appears, choose <menuchoice>
297 <guimenu>Embed</guimenu> <guisubmenu>...as new tracks</guisubmenu>
298 </menuchoice>. The Audio Library/File Chooser window will appear.
299 After you have made your selection of files to embed, click the
300 button at the bottom of that window (it will say something like
301 "Embed selected regions as new tracks"). 1 new track will be created
307 <section id="importing-audio-as-a-new-region">
308 <title> Importing as a new region </title>
312 <section id="embedding-audio-as-a-new-region">
313 <title> Embedding as a new region </title>
316 <section id="embedding-audio-drag-and-drop">
317 <title> Drag-n-Drop </title>
321 <section id="embedding-audio-region-list-menu">
322 <title> Region List Menu </title>
327 <section id="how-to-import-embed">
328 <title>How to import/embed</title>
330 Begin by clicking on the titlebar of the region list in the editor
331 window. Select <guimenuitem>Import</guimenuitem> from the menu that
332 appears, and the Sound File Database will be displayed. See sfdb for
333 more details on using this dialog.
337 Once you have found and selected the files you want to import, click
338 the "Import Selected" button on the SFDB dialog. Each selected audio
339 file will be copied into the session's sounds folder, converted into
340 the session's native format and sample rate. One or more new regions
341 will be placed in the "External" section of the region list, either
342 one per channel of each file or, if "create multichannel regions" was
343 selected in the SFBD dialog, one per file.
347 If you use Nautilus as your file manager, you can easily import files
348 into your project by dragging them onto the desired track, then
349 releasing the mouse button. The file will then be
350 <link linkend="gt-embed">embedded</link> into your session.
354 At this time, no control over the conversion process is offered. If
355 sample rate conversion is required, it will be carried out at the
356 highest quality that Ardour can provide. This means that it can be
357 rather slow (many minutes to import an audio file lasting a few
362 <section id="how-to-embed-a-file">
363 <title> How to embed a file </title>
365 There are two pathways for embedding an audio file into a session. One
366 is initiated from the region list, and simply creates one or more new
367 regions. The other is initiated from a specific track, and not only
368 adds regions to the region list, but also inserts them into the
372 <section id="embedding-via-the-region-list">
373 <title>Embedding via the region list</title>
377 click with 1 on the region list title bar.
382 Select Import audio file from the menu that appears.
387 The SFDB dialog appears.
392 Select the files you want to import
397 then click on the <guibutton>Embed Selected</guibutton> button.
402 New regions are added to the External section of the region list.
406 <section id="embedding-from-a-track">
407 <title>Embedding from a track</title>
411 in the track you want to add the audiofile to.The track context
417 Select EditInsert external sndfile from this menu. The SFDB
423 Select the files you want to import
428 then click on the <guibutton>Embed Selected</guibutton> button.
433 New regions are added to the "External" section of the region list,
434 and one is inserted into the track from which the embed was started.
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