Figure 5.1: Add Track or Bus dialogue From here, you can select firstly the number of tracks or busses to add, and the type; audio track, MIDI track or bus. There are also some options, which vary depending on the type of thing you are creating. These options are: • Configuration (for audio tracks and busses) — this is the number of input and outputs the track is set up with. You can always change these counts later. • Track mode (for audio tracks) — this can be ‘normal’, ‘non-layered’ or ‘tape’. • Group — tracks and busses can be put into groups so that a selected range of operations are applied to all members of a group at the same time (selecting record enable, or editing, for example). This option allows you to specify an existing group to add the new track(s) or bus(ses) to, or to create a new group to put the new things in. • Instrument (for MIDI tracks) — this is a short-cut to allow you to create a MIDI track with an instrument plugin already added to it. You can achieve the same effect by creating a MIDI track with no plugins and adding it yourself; this option just makes things slightly quicker. Adding tracks will add them to both the editor and mixer windows; the editor window shows the timeline, with any recorded data, and the mixer shows just the processing elements of the track (its plugins, fader and so on). Tracks and busses can be removed by selecting them, right-clicking and choosing ‘Remove’ from the menu. A warning dialogue will pop up, as track removal cannot be undone; use this option with care!
5.2
Track and bus groups
Tracks and busses can be put into groups. The members of a group can be set to share various settings, which can be useful for managing tracks which are closely related to each other. Examples might include tracks that contain multiple-microphone recordings of a single source (an acoustic guitar, perhaps, or a drum-kit). You can put tracks and busses into groups in various ways. In the editor window, a track’s controls might look like those in Figure 5.2.