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Ardour is a different tool to Audacity, it's meant to be used as a full on DAW, rather than just recording/editing audio.

by _joel 5y ago

tialaramex 5y ago
Right, this is a right-tool-for-the-job thing. Ardour is a chainsaw, and Audacity is a penknife. Can you cut down a tree with a penknife? Maybe, but that's clearly a terrible idea and will take ages. Can you remove the tape sealing closed your Amazon shipment with a chainsaw? Maybe, but you'd better be amazingly skilled with that chainsaw or it'll be very frustrating. Tools like Ardour are intended to have users who are mostly experts. It's OK if this is slightly harder to understand so long as it's also just better once you do understand. In contrast Audacity has a lot of users who've no intention (for now) of using it after today, they just want to fix one small thing about an audio file and they heard Audacity can do that. Once upon a time, a lot of tools in the space Audacity occupies had significant technical misunderstandings baked into them. So by exposure to those tools, people learn things that aren't true about digital audio, and that causes ongoing pain. But Audacity is much better about this, and so today I don't think you're more likely to actually understand what's going on with digital audio in Ardour than in Audacity. As with the penknife, if your experience with Audacity is "this wasn't powerful enough, I'll be here all week" then it is time to try a DAW (such as Ardour) but unlike the old days I don't think you'll spend the first week unlearning myths about digital audio that your editor taught you and the DAW now has to dispell.
- bbarnett 5y ago
  Can you remove the tape sealing closed your Amazon shipment with a chainsaw? Maybe, but you'd better be amazingly skilled with that chainsaw or it'll be very frustrating. Youtube video coming soon...
- carlhjerpe 5y ago
  There is a guy on YouTube that reviews the durability of tools, he usually opens the boxes in some convoluted way, like with an electric chainsaw. https://youtu.be/ztpWsuUItrA https://youtu.be/ztpWsuUItrA
- Rodeoclash 5y ago
  Funnily enough the musician Burial used a "pen knife" to craft entire albums: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burial_(musician)#Style_and_composition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burial_(musician)#Style_and_co...
- mike_hock 5y ago
  > Ardour is a chainsaw, and Audacity is a penknife. Can you cut down a tree with a penknife? Maybe, but that's clearly a terrible idea and will take ages. Does "DAW vs. sound editor" really require an analogy?
  - seba_dos1 5y ago
    Yes. Not for you or me, but outside of the audio niche one may not even know what "DAW" means, let alone how it differs from a sound editor.
arthurcolle 5y ago
What does DAW mean? EDIT: Digital Audio Workstation?
- phaer 5y ago
  Yes, Digital Audio Workstation

Ardour is a different tool to Audacity, it's meant to be used as a full on DAW, rather than just recording/editing audio.

by _joel 5y ago

Ardour is a different tool to Audacity, it's meant to be used as a full on DAW, rather than just recording/editing audio.

tialaramex 5y ago

Right, this is a right-tool-for-the-job thing. Ardour is a chainsaw, and Audacity is a penknife. Can you cut down a tree with a penknife? Maybe, but that's clearly a terrible idea and will take ages. Can you remove the tape sealing closed your Amazon shipment with a chainsaw? Maybe, but you'd better be amazingly skilled with that chainsaw or it'll be very frustrating. Tools like Ardour are intended to have users who are mostly experts. It's OK if this is slightly harder to understand so long as it's also just better once you do understand. In contrast Audacity has a lot of users who've no intention (for now) of using it after today, they just want to fix one small thing about an audio file and they heard Audacity can do that. Once upon a time, a lot of tools in the space Audacity occupies had significant technical misunderstandings baked into them. So by exposure to those tools, people learn things that aren't true about digital audio, and that causes ongoing pain. But Audacity is much better about this, and so today I don't think you're more likely to actually understand what's going on with digital audio in Ardour than in Audacity. As with the penknife, if your experience with Audacity is "this wasn't powerful enough, I'll be here all week" then it is time to try a DAW (such as Ardour) but unlike the old days I don't think you'll spend the first week unlearning myths about digital audio that your editor taught you and the DAW now has to dispell.

bbarnett 5y ago
Can you remove the tape sealing closed your Amazon shipment with a chainsaw? Maybe, but you'd better be amazingly skilled with that chainsaw or it'll be very frustrating. Youtube video coming soon...
carlhjerpe 5y ago
There is a guy on YouTube that reviews the durability of tools, he usually opens the boxes in some convoluted way, like with an electric chainsaw. https://youtu.be/ztpWsuUItrA https://youtu.be/ztpWsuUItrA
Rodeoclash 5y ago
Funnily enough the musician Burial used a "pen knife" to craft entire albums: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burial_(musician)#Style_and_composition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burial_(musician)#Style_and_co...
mike_hock 5y ago
> Ardour is a chainsaw, and Audacity is a penknife. Can you cut down a tree with a penknife? Maybe, but that's clearly a terrible idea and will take ages. Does "DAW vs. sound editor" really require an analogy?
- seba_dos1 5y ago
  Yes. Not for you or me, but outside of the audio niche one may not even know what "DAW" means, let alone how it differs from a sound editor.

arthurcolle 5y ago

What does DAW mean? EDIT: Digital Audio Workstation?

phaer 5y ago
Yes, Digital Audio Workstation