Ardour is audio hardware independant since it uses jack and therefore supports a wide variety of hardware. Also this means that Ardour will run with any hardware supported by JACK, or even with no audio interface at alli It also is a great architecture to use in audio render farms where modern networks are used to move audio instead of audio cables. The complete list of supported hardware is quite extensive.
AudioIn conjunction with its support for a wide range of audio hardware, Ardour offers you sample rate neutral facilities (ie. any sample rate is supported to the extent of your hardware's capabilities). All sample data is maintained internally in 32 bit floating point format for maximum headroom and fidelity. Native file format is industry standard IEEE 32 bit floating point Broadcast WAVE or WAVE. Play or record any number of tracks with bit-perfect quality (what comes in is what goes out). Import from (or export to) more than 30 different audio file formats, using Ardour's builtin audio file database manager with free-form fields or directly from an ordinary file browser.
Audio
Providing seamless operation with any supported hardware, Ardour's 32 bit floating point mixer offers endless headroom and guaranteed bit-for-bit fidelity for 24 bit samples. There are no hidden filters anywhere in Ardour's mixer - what you record is what you hear, unless you choose otherwise. Within ardour's two primary windows, you have a superb system for audio production, including the most flexible mixer architecture in the industry, total automation and a large selection of plugins. Ardour doesn't come with any builtin EQ or dynamics, leaving you free to use your choice of any of the numerous available plugins without having to bypass the builtin system. You can mix any number of tracks that your hardware can handle, and you can use both MMC and generic MIDI control surfaces to manage the mix without developing wrist injuries or despising your laptop touchpad. And of course, all your settings are saved between work session, so all automation, mixer, routing, and effects settings return to precisely where you left them.
Editing
At the present, most DAWs are converging on a fairly common set of editing features, and Ardour is no different in this respect. Even so, we believe that in time, Ardour's editing capabilities will become the new standard for DAWs. Within the edit window, you can adjust everything about your session and its timeline layout, all with sample-level resolution. Trim regions, crossfade by dragging, timestretch useful samples, split and regroup audio, move non-contiguous selections around, identify and use song chunks as you wish. Edit automation data in their own tracks. Unlimited undo/redo should encourage you to try out your ideas without fear, especially with a snapshot facility to store interesting or useful versions of the session.
Plugins
Ardour relies on plugins to enable many features from FX processing to dynamics control. At this time, Ardour supports the LADSPA plugin API, developed by the Linux Audio Developers community. To use a plugin, just add it to the track (pre- or post-fader, of course), and then open its editor with a single mouse click. Edit the settings, store/load presets, and automate any of its parameters. LADSPA currently offers more than 100 plugins, all of them open source software, ranging from simple filters to vinyl degradation simulators, analog flangers and multiband EQs.
Compatibility
Unlike every other DAW available, Ardour is open source. This means that anyone can read the "source code" to the program to find out exactly how, when and why it does certain things. It's this openness that allowed the first port of Ardour to Mac OS X to be carried out by someone previously uninvolved with the Ardour project. It's also this openness that ensures that Ardour's existence does not depend upon the continued involvement or solvency of its creators. It's this openness that allows Ardour to be built to run on many different computer platforms, and that will ensure that support for it is available from many sources.
At the same time, Ardour adheres to as many standards as possible in its operations and capabilities. Whether its SMPTE/MTC for timecode, Broadcast WAVE or WAVE as a native file format, MMC for remote control of its transport system, or XML as the data format for its session files, Ardour doesn't try to hide its technology or design as part of an attempt to earn more money.
Mastering
I built this using RedHat and Slackware. Most current distributions include most of the required libraries, but if yours does not, just follow the instructions for your particular requirement. I mainly use Guardian Angel Linux- for any versions before G.A.L. 3.4, the following packages are needed:
fftw-3.2alpha3.tar.gz
jack-audio-connection-kit-0.109.2.tar.gz
liblo-0.24.tar.gz
liblrdf-0.4.0.tar.gz
raptor-1.4.16.tar.gz
For a complete listing of the dependencies read: http://ardour.org/building
Building Ardour's Dependencies
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/
mkdir /tmp/ardour
cd /tmp/ardour
wget http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/scons/scons-0.96.1.tar.gz
tar zxf scons-0.96.1.tar.gz
cd scons-0.96.1
paco -lp scons-0.96.1 "python setup.py install"
paco -lp scons-0.96.1 "python setup.py install --standard-lib"
ldconfig
cd /tmp/ardour
wget http://pkgconfig.freedesktop.org/releases/pkg-config-0.20.tar.gz
tar zxf pkg-config-0.20.tar.gz
cd pkg-config-0.20
./configure --prefix=/usr
make
paco -lp pkg-config-0.20 "make install"
ldconfig
cd /tmp/ardour
wget http://download.librdf.org/source/raptor-1.4.9.tar.gz
tar zxf raptor-1.4.9.tar.gz
cd raptor-1.4.9
./configure --prefix=/usr
make
paco -lp raptor-1.4.9 "make install"
ldconfig
cd /tmp/ardour
wget ftp://xmlsoft.org/libxml2/libxml2-2.6.24.tar.gz
tar zxf libxml2-2.6.24.tar.gz
cd libxml2-2.6.24
./configure --prefix=/usr
make
paco -lp libxml2-2.6.24 "make install"
ldconfig
cd /tmp/ardour
wget http://www.mega-nerd.com/SRC/libsamplerate-0.1.2.tar.gz
tar zxf libsamplerate-0.1.2.tar.gz
cd libsamplerate-0.1.2
./configure --prefix=/usr
make
paco -lp libsamplerate-0.1.2 "make install"
ldconfig
cd /tmp/ardour
wget http://www.ladspa.org/download/ladspa_sdk.tgz
tar zxf ladspa_sdk.tgz
cd ladspa_sdk
cd src
make
paco -lp ladspa_sdk_1.12 "make install"
ldconfig
cd /tmp/ardour
