Ardour 2

Brett - K A L I S I A

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Feb 26, 2004
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www.towerstudio.net
http://ardour.org/

It's a Mac OSX and Linux DAW, accepting VST plugins. I'm downloading it right now and probably won't have much time to mess around with it, but if the promises are kept, it should be pretty amazing especially considering its price: it's free!!!

Anyone used it yet?

2.0 released for OS X and Linux

Submitted by paul on Mon, 2007-04-30 16:23. :: Articles
The developers of Ardour are happy to announce the release of version 2.0. This release is immediately available as an OS X (10.4) universal package and also as source code. Linux distributions will have prebuilt binaries available in the near future.
Nearly 2 years of work have gone into this new version. Along the way a huge number of bugs were fixed, performance and workflow were improved, and many new features were added. Highlights of version 2.0 compared to the last stable release (0.99) include:
  • new user interface featuring:
    • more accessible menus
    • improved overall GUI design
    • instant accelerator key rebinding direct from menus
  • destructive recording ("dubbing") capabilities (as used by the new Harrison Xdubber)
  • undo/redo across program startup/shutdown
  • redesigned and more stable support for VST
  • support for 24 bit integer native files in addition to 32 bit float as in 0.99
  • modular support for hardware control surfaces, including the Frontier Designs Tranzport and Mackie Control Protocol devices
In addition there are literally hundreds of minor fixes and smaller features that have accumulated during the work on 2.0. This new version is fully backward-compatible with older releases of Ardour, and can be installed in parallel with them. Please note that older versions cannot load sessions saved by Ardour 2.0.
With the release of 2.0, the project's development will accelerate as it returns to focusing on major features and workflow. We also look forward to the results of this summer's Google Summer of Code projects involving MIDI editing and surround panning. We expect to release version 2.1 within a few months, containing new features that have been under development but were not merged into this release.
Ardour is available for free download from the ardour.org website. We encourage users to support the development of the software through subscriptions and donations. The software itself is available free of charge.
ABOUT ARDOUR

Ardour capabilities include: multichannel recording, non-destructive editing with unlimited undo/redo, full automation support, a powerful mixer, unlimited tracks/busses/plugins, `persistent undo', multi-language support, destructive track punching modes, timecode synchronization, and hardware control from surfaces like the Mackie Control Universal. The program has a completely flexible "anything to anywhere" routing system, and will allow as many physical I/O ports as your system allows. Ardour supports a wide range of audio-for-video features such as video-synced playback and pullup/pulldown sample rates.
Started in 2000 by one of the founding programmers at Amazon.com, Ardour is developed by a worldwide group of programmers with testing and feedback from a widely distributed network of musicians and audio engineers. Running on Linux and OS X, it strives to meet the needs of professional users. Ardour has received commercial sponsorship from major console manufacturers, Google and others. Many of Ardour's developers have also participated in the development of JACK, the de facto standard for inter-application audio routing on OS X and Linux.
Ardour is released under the GNU Public License (GPL), providing its users the ability to freely modify, redistribute and learn.
 
Nope, but you have to install X11 and Jack in order to run it. It's not a true OSX native application. It looks interesting though. Let us know how it treats you.
 
I've experimented with it on Linux. It feels a bit Pro Toolish I guess and it works quite nice. Couldn't get VST support happening though. But all the audio must haves are there: recording, routing, crossfades, inserts and so on. If they make it easier (on Linux) to add VST support and get their MIDI stuff up it will be quite interesting!
 
VST does take some work, but considering the alternatives available and the power of a lot of freeware stuff out there for Linux, Ardour kicks ass. Work is still being done on VST, but some people in charge of it aren't being too friendly so there is of course a limit.

Jeff