Thanks for the fix! I downloaded Ardour 8.10 and all seems to be working correctly thus far.
So I decided to do a comparison between Ardour, Studio One, and Cubase.
Please note that my understanding is the only DAW in this comparison that is available for free is Ardour, so I would not judge Ardour harshly for poor performance in comparisons with paid (rather expensive) DAWs.
I wanted to know which DAW would handle large audio track count projects better on my system.
I took 20 Wav files from a project I worked on (the drums were on a single stereo track, otherwise this project would have been about 28 tracks).
I loaded those 20 WAV files into each DAW and began organizing and duplicating those 20 tracks until I could find the limits of each system.
Here are my observations
Time to load 44.1kHz files into the 48kHz project I created
Ardour: 2 minutes and 20 seconds (converted files to 48kHz)
Cubase: 13 seconds (converted files to 48kHz)
Studio One: 1 second? It was instant, but I don’t think it converted the files to 48kHz.
Duplicating tracks:
Ardour: Can create multiple duplicates at one time, but when I selected all 20 files and specified duplicate 19 times Ardour crashed.
I backed off to duplicating 20 files at 2 times each time.
When I reached 180 tracks Ardour would crash if I tried to duplicate all 20 tracks even a single time, so I began duplicating 4 tracks at a time. I reached 204 tracks total with successful playback and navigation, but when I opened the mixer during playback Ardour crashed. This crash was repeated. So I decided I had reached a workable limit and should back off on track count to be able to use Ardour. This was all without Plugins or FX. Just simple WAV files with fader adjustments on the mixer.
Cubase: Can only create one set of duplicates at one time, but the newly created duplicates remain selected each time and it is quick and easy to create another set with the already selected tracks. Reached 600 tracks without any issues duplicating all 20 tracks each time. Playback and navigation were snappy and perfect. Not a problem. Mixer opened during playback very quickly and without a hitch. I decided to stop at 600 tracks.
Studio One: Can only create one set of duplicates at one time, and the newly created duplicates do not remain selected each time so it takes a little more time to create another set of duplicates. Reached 600 tracks without any issues duplicating all 20 tracks each time. Playback and navigation were decent enough. Some slight delays now and then when navigating through song during playback. Sometimes a few of the tracks would begin playing before the rest joined in. Mixer would open during playback, but it did take a moment. It all worked fine, but not as snappy and smooth as Cubase. I decided to stop at 600 tracks.
Organization of tracks and mixer
Ardour: No folders on the edit screen (I love being able to organize tracks into folders when working with large track counts.)
Mixer view allows me hide or make visible whole track groups with a single click (which is handy). So long as I have set up track groups well this is workable. I did find that of the 3 DAWs Ardour was the most difficult and tedious when trying to organize the tracks. Also, only two options for mixer track width. And these must be adjusted one by one per track.
Cubase: Organizing tracks in Cubase is easy because of folders in the editor and groups or VCA’s in the mixer. Channel search capabilities make it easy to find and select a channel you are looking for. And the track visibility options make it quick and easy to find what you are looking for in the mixer. Quick and easy mixer channel width resizing for all channels at once, and multiple widths are available. I think Cubase is my favorite mixer of the 3 DAWs.
Studio One: I think I like Studio One best for really quick organization of large projects.
Channel search options allow quick visibility of only the name you type into the search bar, which made my job easy since I had multiples of 30 tracks that started with the same name. I could very quickly select a group of tracks and pack them into a folder, then I could select “add VCA to folder” and my mixer was organized very quickly.
The mixer has two channel width options that effect all channels at once with a single click. One setting is super skinny with good metering, which is great for getting fader levels quickly and maximizing how many channels are in view. The other setting is good for seeing everything going on on each channel.
Project Startup times
After creating and organizing these huge projects I was curious how much time it would take to launch each program and load the project.
Ardour: Track count: 204 tracks.
Time to launch software and load project: 39 seconds.
Cubase: Track count: 600 tracks. (Not counting Folders and VCA’s)
Time to launch software and load project: 21 seconds.
Studio One: Track count: 600 tracks. (Not counting Folders and VCA’s)
Time to launch software and load project: 25 seconds.
Conclusion:
In this experiment my choice would be Cubase, followed closely by Studio One. I would not use Ardour for large projects if I don’t have to.
I have consistently found Ardour to be less capable on my system for handling large projects. This experiment is just one (extreme) example that used no plugins nor effects of any kind in order to level the playing field. I do however feel that Ardour is a very capable DAW and commend the developers for their hard work.
Purpose:
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To inform the friendly team at Ardour of my findings in case they find this kind of information useful.
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To inform other consumers like myself who may be researching this topic.
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To follow up on what I am finding since I opened this discussion in the first place.
Input and advice is much appreciated!
