Ardour

System Requirements

Computer Any 64 bit x86 (Intel/AMD) or ARM compatible computer (other hardware can be used if you build Ardour yourself or have someone else build it for you). CPU speed limits the amount of signal processing you can do.
Operating System Linux builds are compatible with any GNU/Linux releases since circa 2016 (glibc ≥ 3.4.21, libstdc++ 6.0).
RAM 2GB is recommended, more is always better
Disk Space Minimum 380MB of free space on /opt to install Ardour. You will want lots more disk space for recording.

Although more or less any Linux system will run Ardour, the incredible variety of hardware used to build systems running Linux means that your own computer may not be able to run Ardour with the sort of performance you (and we) would like.

It is extremely difficult to provide specific guidance about this. It is worth noting that the same problems tend to affect Windows users too. Contrast this with Apple Mac computers, which are built to precise specifications by a single company that actually cares about audio software.

We have a slowly growing page in the manual about some of the hardware issues that can affect Ardour users (and ways to deal with them). You can also find much more information online.

Audio Interfaces

Ardour (and all advanced digital audio software) will work better if you use a professional or semi-professional audio interface that is capable of simultaneous playback and recording. The use of separate devices (e.g. USB microphones combined with your builtin audio) is generally discouraged, though it can be done.

USB devices

Almost all USB Audio Class 1 or 2 compliant devices (i.e. it comes without its own drivers for Windows, macOS or iOS) will work on Linux. Be aware that as of 2020, the audio latency for USB devices under Linux can change every time the device is re-used/restarted.

The ALSA soundcard matrix provides complete details on all USB, PCI and Firewire hardware support, covering devices from more than 120 manufacturers. Firewire users should be very careful not to configure their systems to use both FFADO and ALSA's own support for Firewire.

New Linux users must read the First Time User page before using Ardour.

Computer Any 64 bit Intel or ARM (Apple Silicon) system. CPU speed limits the amount of signal processing you can do.
Operating System macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) and later. ARM versions require at least 11.0 (BigSur).
RAM 2GB is recommended, more is always better
Disk Space Minimum 600MB of free space to install Ardour. You will want lots more diskspace for recording.

Audio Interfaces

Any device supported by CoreAudio can be used with Ardour, either directly or via JACK.

Ardour (and all advanced digital audio software) will work better if you use a professional or semi-professional audio interface that is capable of simultaneous playback and recording. The use of separate devices (e.g. USB microphones combined with your builtin audio) is generally discouraged, though it can be done.

If you only have a builtin audio interface and then you must take steps to create an aggregate device

New macOS users must read the First Time User page before using Ardour.

Computer Any 64 bit x86 (Intel/AMD) system. CPU speed limits the amount of signal processing you can do.
Operating System Windows 7 or later.
RAM 2GB is recommended, more is always better
Disk Space Minimum 600MB of free space to install Ardour. You will want lots more diskspace for recording.

Audio Interfaces

Any device supported by ASIO, ASIO4all or MME can be used with Ardour, either directly or via JACK.

Ardour (and all advanced digital audio software) will work better if you use a professional or semi-professional audio interface that is capable of simultaneous playback and recording. The use of separate devices (e.g. USB microphones combined with your builtin audio) is generally discouraged, though it can be done.

New Windows users must read the First Time User page before using Ardour.

Ardour can be built and run on any operating system that:

  • supports audio devices
  • can run JACK
  • provides most of the POSIX specification either directly or via glib

It is known to have run on FreeBSD and Solaris, for example.

To use Ardour on such systems, you will need to build it yourself, some information on which can be found here