Ardour 7.2
It’s the most fully featured open source digital audio workstation (DAW) on Linux.
Ardour provides a complete music studio in the form of a Linux app. You can use it for all three of the main areas of music recording: getting music into the computer, mixing and editing it, then mastering and exporting it to an audio file.
You might have to jump through a few hoops to get Ardour on to your Linux box, as the developers request a payment (pay what you like) or a regular subscription. However, you can download and build the source code package from the site for free.
We’re looking at what version 7.2 has to offer. After a long period of waiting, the 6.x series reimplemented much of the internal workings of the program, but a lot of us were left underwhelmed as visible improvements were few and far between. So far, the 7.x series, the current branch, seems to be delivering on the promise of tangible features that build on those internal improvements.
MIDI editing (editing the notes that control instruments) is finally beginning to receive some new developments. There is now a toolbar enabling you to specify the attributes of a note, such as its length and velocity, giving a mouse note entry mechanism that is closer to what other music programs offer in this area.
Stacking clips on top of each other is now much easier. When programming drums, it’s common to want to add layer upon layer to build up the complexity. In previous versions of the program, you had to add separate tracks for each percussion layer, which was time-consuming and unwieldy.
It’s a relatively small addition, but you can now toggle the height of a track lane by double-clicking on it rather than having to stretch it manually. This is particularly welcome because tracks have to be expanded in order to edit MIDI.
Beyond improvements in MIDI editing, the other major headline feature introduced in the 7.x series is clip launching. Using this approach, small sequences of MIDI or audio data are launched at a specific point in the composition. It’s a feature that contributes to the popularity of DAWs such as Ableton Live and Bitwig.
The most obvious use for such a feature would be for drum and percussion loops. As well as facilitating this method of working, Ardour can now access online loop databases from services such as Looperman.com. As it stands, there are 4,800 royalty-free MIDI drum loops available from the get-go.
Overall, our take on the current version of Ardour is that it’s the most powerful open source DAW on Linux. It’s particularly powerful in the area of audio work, and we’d even consider using it for non-musical work, such as recording and editing a podcast. The MIDI features are still rudimentary compared to some other open source options, but there are promising developments ongoing in this respect. After a period of relative stagnation in the area of visible improvements, it looks like the 7.x series has the potential to deliver a lot.