Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
copy-edit chapters 1+2. mostly NOOPs (whitespace), some minor fixes a…
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history 
…nd markup improvements. test case for new style guide.
  • Loading branch information
@nettings
nettings committed Feb 3, 2014
1 parent afb6b04 commit fdbd351
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Showing 8 changed files with 369 additions and 117 deletions.
3 changes: 3 additions & 0 deletions STYLE_GUIDE
View file
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -75,6 +75,9 @@ normal text flow, or asides. Currently rendered in a gray box.
use for potentially dangerous situations involving data loss, malfunction,
or sound quality issues. Currently rendered in a red box.

Check _manual/01_welcome-to-ardour/02_about-ardour-documentation.html, it
serves as a style and markup guide.


4. Element use
==============
Expand Down
28 changes: 23 additions & 5 deletions _manual/01_welcome-to-ardour/01_about-ardour/01_isnt-this-a-really-complicated-program.html
View file
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -2,10 +2,28 @@
layout: default
title: Isn't This A Really Complicated Program?
---




<p>There is no point in pretending that Ardour is a simple, easy to use program. The development group has worked hard to try to make simple things reasonably easy, common tasks quick, and hard and/or uncommon things possible. There is no doubt that we have more to do in this area, as well as polishing the user interface to improve its intuitiveness and work flow characteristics. At the same time, multi-track, multi-channel, non-linear, non-destructive audio editing is a far from simple process. Doing it right requires not only a good ear, but a solid appreciation for basic audio concepts and a robust mental model/metaphor of what you are doing. Ardour is not a simple "audio recorder" - you can certainly use it to record stereo (or even mono) material in a single track, but the program has been designed around much richer capabilities than this.</p>
<p>Some people complain that Ardour is not "intuitive" to use - its lead developer has <a href="http://ardour.org/node/3322">some thoughts on that</a>.</p>
<p>
There is no point in pretending that Ardour is a simple, easy to use
program. The development group has worked hard to try to make simple
things reasonably easy, common tasks quick, and hard and/or uncommon
things possible. There is no doubt that we have more to do in this
area, as well as polishing the user interface to improve its
intuitiveness and work flow characteristics.
</p>
<p>
At the same time, multi-track, multi-channel, non-linear,
non-destructive audio editing is a far from simple process. Doing it
right requires not only a good ear, but a solid appreciation of
basic audio concepts and a robust mental model/metaphor of what you
are doing. Ardour is not a simple "audio recorder" - you can
certainly use it to record stereo (or even mono) material in a
single track, but the program has been designed around much richer
capabilities than this.
</p>
<p>
Some people complain that Ardour is not "intuitive" to use - its
lead developer has
<a href="http://ardour.org/node/3322">some thoughts on that</a>.
</p>

67 changes: 41 additions & 26 deletions _manual/01_welcome-to-ardour/01_about-ardour/02_why-write-a-daw-for-linux.html
View file
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -3,34 +3,49 @@
title: Why Write a DAW for Linux?
---




<p>It is fairly understandable that existing proprietary DAWs do not run on Linux, given the rather small (but growing) share of the desktop market that Linux has. However, when surveying the landscape of "popular operating systems", we find:</p>
<p>
It is fairly understandable that existing proprietary DAWs do not run on
Linux, given the rather small (but growing) share of the desktop market
that Linux has. However, when surveying the landscape of "popular
operating systems", we find:
</p>
<ul>
<li>older versions of Windows: plagued by abysmal stability and appalling security
</li>
<li>newer versions of Windows seem stable but still suffer from security problems
</li>
<li>OS X: an amazing piece of engineering that is excellent for audio work but only runs on proprietary hardware and still lacks the flexibility and adaptability of Linux.
</li>
<li>older versions of Windows: plagued by abysmal stability and
appalling security</li>
<li>newer versions of Windows seem stable but still suffer from
security problems</li>
<li>OS X: an amazing piece of engineering that is excellent for
audio work but only runs on proprietary hardware and still lacks the
flexibility and adaptability of Linux.</li>
</ul>
<p>Security matters today, and will matter more in the future as more and more live or semi-live network based collaborations take place.</p>
<p>Let's contrast this with Linux, an operating system which:</p>
<p>
Security matters today, and will matter more in the future as more and
more live or semi-live network based collaborations take place.
</p>
<p>
Let's contrast this with Linux, an operating system which:
</p>
<ul>
<li>can stay up for months (or even years) without issues
</li>
<li>is endlessly configurable down to the tiniest detail
</li>
<li>is not owned by any single corporate entity, ensuring its life and direction are not intertwined with that of a company (for a contrary example, consider BeOS)
</li>
<li>is fast and efficient
</li>
<li>runs on almost any computing platform ever created, including old "slow" systems and new "tiny" systems (e.g. Raspberry Pi)
</li>
<li>is one of the most secure operating systems "out of the box"
</li>
<li>can stay up for months (or even years) without issues</li>
<li>is endlessly configurable down to the tiniest detail</li>
<li>is not owned by any single corporate entity, ensuring its life
and direction are not intertwined with that of a company (for a
contrary example, consider BeOS)</li>
<li>is fast and efficient</li>
<li>runs on almost any computing platform ever created, including
old "slow" systems and new "tiny" systems (e.g. Raspberry Pi)</li>
<li>is one of the most secure operating systems "out of the box"</li>
</ul>
<p>More than anything, however, Ardour's primary author uses Linux and wanted a DAW that ran there.</p>
<p>Having written a DAW for Linux, it turned out to be relatively easy to port Ardour to OS X, mostly because of the excellent work done by the JACK OS X group that ported JACK to OS X. Although OS X has a number of disadvantages compared to Linux, its ease of use and its presence in many studios already makes it a worthwhile platform.</p>
<p>
More than anything, however, Ardour's primary author uses Linux and
wanted a DAW that ran there.
</p>
<p>
Having written a DAW for Linux, it turned out to be relatively easy
to port Ardour to OS X, mostly because of the excellent work done by
the JACK OS X group that ported JACK to OS X.<br />
Although OS X has a number of disadvantages compared to Linux, its
ease of use and its presence in many studios already makes it a
worthwhile platform.
</p>

33 changes: 26 additions & 7 deletions _manual/01_welcome-to-ardour/01_about-ardour/03_why-is-it-called-ardour.html
View file
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -2,12 +2,31 @@
layout: default
title: Why is it called Ardour?
---




<p>The name "Ardour" came from considerations of how to pronounce the acronym HDR(Hard Disk Recorder). The most obvious attempt sounds like a vowelless "harder" and it then was then a short step to an unrelated by slightly homophonic word:</p>
<p><em>ardour &ldquo; n 1: a feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause); "they were imbued with a revolutionary ardor"; "he felt a kind of religious zeal" [syn: ardor, elan, zeal] 2: intense feeling of love [syn: ardor] 3: feelings of great warmth and intensity; "he spoke with great ardor" [syn: ardor, fervor, fervour, fervency, fire, fervidness] &rdquo;</em></p>
<p>Given the work required to develop Ardour, and the personality of its primary author, the name seemed appropriate even without the vague relationship to HDR.</p>
<p>Years later, another interpretation of "Ardour" appeared, this time based on listening to non-native English speakers attempt to pronounce the word. Rather than "Ardour", it became "Our DAW", which seemed poetically fitting for a Digital Audio Workstation whose source code and design belongs to a group of collaborators.</p>
<p>
The name "Ardour" came from considerations of how to pronounce the acronym
<abbr title="Hard Disk Recorder">HDR</abbr>. The most obvious attempt sounds
like a vowelless "harder" and it then was then a short step to an unrelated
but slightly homophonic word:
</p>
<blockquote>
<dfn>ardour</dfn> n 1: a feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of
a person or cause); "they were imbued with a revolutionary ardor"; "he
felt a kind of religious zeal" [syn: ardor, elan, zeal]<br />
2: intense feeling of love [syn: ardor]<br />
3: feelings of great warmth and intensity; "he spoke with great ardor"
[syn: ardor, fervor, fervour, fervency, fire, fervidness]
</blockquote>
<p>
Given the work required to develop Ardour, and the personality of its
primary author, the name seemed appropriate even without the vague
relationship to HDR.
</p>
<p>
Years later, another interpretation of "Ardour" appeared, this time based
on listening to non-native English speakers attempt to pronounce the word.
Rather than "Ardour", it became "Our DAW", which seemed poetically fitting
for a Digital Audio Workstation whose source code and design belongs to a
group of collaborators.
</p>

20 changes: 14 additions & 6 deletions _manual/01_welcome-to-ardour/01_about-ardour/04_why-write-another-daw.html
View file
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -3,11 +3,19 @@
title: Why write another DAW?
---




<p>There are already a number of excellent digital audio workstations. To mention just a few: ProTools, Nuendo, Samplitude, Digital Performer, Logic, Cubase (SX), Sonar, along with several less well known systems such as SADIE, SAWStudio and others. Each of these programs has its strengths and weaknesses, although over the last few years most of them have converged on a very similar set of core features. However, each of them suffers from two problems when seen from the perspective of Ardour's development group:</p>
<p>
There are already a number of excellent digital audio workstations. To
mention just a few: ProTools, Nuendo, Samplitude, Digital Performer, Logic,
Cubase (SX), Sonar, along with several less well known systems such as
SADIE, SAWStudio and others.<br />
Each of these programs has its strengths and weaknesses, although over the
last few years most of them have converged on a very similar set of core
features. However, each of them suffers from two problems when seen from the
perspective of Ardour's development group:
</p>
<ul>
<li> they do not run natively on Linux</li>
<li>they are not available in source code form, making modifications, improvements, bugfixes by technically inclined users or their friends or consultants impossible.</li>
<li>they do not run natively on Linux</li>
<li>they are not available in source code form, making modifications,
improvements, bugfixes by technically inclined users or their friends
or consultants impossible.</li>
</ul>
27 changes: 18 additions & 9 deletions _manual/01_welcome-to-ardour/03_additional-resources.html
View file
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -3,12 +3,21 @@
title: Additional Resources
---




<p>In addition to this documentation, you may to check a variety of other resources.</p>
<h3>Release Notes</h3>
<h3>The Ardour Forums</h3>
<h3>Information about Ardour Support</h3>
<h3>The Ardour Users Mailing List</h3>

<p>In addition to this documentation, you may check a variety of other
resources:</p>
<ul>
<li>the <a href="https://ardour.org/whatsnew.html">Ardour release
notes</a></li>
<li>the <a href="https://community.ardour.org/forums">Ardour
Forums</a></li>
<li>information about <a href="https://community.ardour.org/community">Ardour
Support</a> via mailing lists and IRC (chat)</li>
</ul>
<p>
The IRC channels in particular are where most of the day-to-day
development and debugging is done, and there are plenty of experienced
users to help you if you run into problems.<br />
Please be prepared to hang around for a few hours, the chat is usually
busiest from 19:00UTC to 04:00UTC. If you can, keep your chat window open,
so that you don't miss a belated answer.
</p>
Loading

0 comments on commit fdbd351

Please sign in to comment.