Is it possible to use Ardour for a live performance? I’m new to trying to figure this out. A web search didn’t turn up anything that directly answered this question, so I’m hoping someone here knows something. If this is possible, what are the steps I need to take to make this happen?
For example, I’d like to have a mic connected to my console, which is connected to my DAW/Ardour, and when the session plays, I’d like to hear that mic live, along with any effects that are added to the Ardour track the mic is connected to.
To answer the question of why not have an external effects processor, there are some effects I’d like to use that only exist in plugin form. In addition, I would need Ardour to play any pre-recorded parts, so I’d be using Ardour anyway.
So you want to process your vocals in a live, real-time setting? That’s possible but you will need hardware that can run at lower latencies to avoid the delay between what comes in through your mic and what comes out from Ardour.
Certainly, and some have already done that both live on stage, and as FOH mixer.
Yet as @autostatic mentioned you do want a reliable (realtime) low latency setup for that.
While many musicians don’t mind some latency (10ms is like being 10 feet / ~3m in front of a speaker, common for guitarists), vocals can be tricky due to bone conduction. One trick there is to add a bit of reverb.
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Most modern Apple devices can reliably provide sub 5ms round-trip latency out-of-the-box with decent soundcards.
On Linux you need to do some tweaking or start with a pro-audio distro. Hardware plays a significant role there too (USB port with a dedicated hardware IRQ etc - see The Ardour Manual - The Right Computer System for Digital Audio), likewise on Windows.
With how to make this happen you mean being able to run your computer at such a low latency that you can use Ardour with a connected mic in a live setting? You could take a look at Millisecond¹ for that or the underlying application that Millisecond uses, rtcqs². Those two apps could give you pointers at what can be improved to achieve lower latencies.
But what latencies can you achieve now with which you still have clean audio?
If you’re looking for advice on how to set up an Ardour session that can be used with live vocals, that should be a matter of adding a track to a session that already has the music or sounds you want to to use together with your vocals. Make sure your microphone is connected to the right input in Ardour and enable the In button of that track, this way you should hear the output of the track directly. Now add the plugins you want to the vocal track and tweak them to your liking.
Do you want to record the vocals at the same time or simply add effects and forward the audio back to your mixing desk ?
If the latter, use an audio bus (not a track which is linked to the disk where the audio can be written to). The soundcard you use is very important as it will influence whether you can go low latency without glitches or not. FX put on the bus will also influence the performance as some might be more demanding in terms DSP or CPU. And the lower the latency, the higher the chance to miss the deadline and trigger audio glitches.
As a proof of concept, you should just start getting familiar with the routing arrangement between the soundcard / ardour / mixing desk without caring about the latency too much. Once you have the routing in place, try to tune down the latency as low as possible without triggering glitches.