When comparing Ardour vs Harrison Consoles Mixbus, the Slant community recommends Ardour for most people. In the question“What are the best DAWs for UNIX-like systems?” Ardour is ranked 1st while Harrison Consoles Mixbus is ranked 10th. The most important reason people chose Ardour is:
Ardour is cross-platform and works on Windows & macOS.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Compatible with Linux, Windows 7/8.1/10 and macOS
Ardour is cross-platform and works on Windows & macOS.
Pro Open source
Ardour is open source, so it can be downloaded and modified without restriction.
Pro Free version with minimal limitations
Unlike some other DAW's which often limit saving, exporting, or advanced features, Ardour permits you to try all the features for free, with the only limitation being ten minutes of project length maximum.
Demo.
Pro Multi-display support
Pro Linux version has JACK support
On Linux, you can use JACK to freely route audio and MIDI to and from other software as hardware.
Pro Clean linear interface
Pro Inline mixing console
You can view and edit plugins directly from the console's mixing channels.
Pro LADSPA plugins support
Pro LV2 plugins support
Pro VST3 Support in version 6+
Pro Powerful routing
Thanks to JACK support, and the inclusion of built in tools, the routing options of Ardour are limitless.
Pro Excellent support community
Pro Easy to learn
This DAW has an intuitive layout that is quite easy to grasp and learn.
Pro Great mixer
works great as a mixer for stems exported from another DAW; this is arguably one of it's best uses. Otherwise, the general UI is a vast improvement over vanilla Ardour.
Pro Based on Ardour
All of the best parts of Ardour, with the great included plugins, plus improved UI for track routing and EQ, along with built in analog summing. This does add some proprietary code to the otherwise open-source foundation, though.
Pro Great customer support
Their customers support is fast and personal, absolutely unmatched in the industry. They also listne to their customers, take feature suggestions which really make it into one of the next versions (if feasible).
Pro Detailed manuals including video links
Pro Emulation of their award winning physical, analog consoles in software
Great built in summing on mixbusses and final output bus. Use with an actual console for the double whammy, if you can afford it.
Pro Sound
Pro Supports plugin AU
Cons
Con Too many plugins
It is hard to find good useful plugins. It looks like every developer's plugin has ended up in the list.
Con No support for VST plugins for OS X
Plugins can be used on OS X only if they are downloaded in AU format, which is supported.
Con Builds are paid
Pre-built releases are paid and the only way to get the program for free is to build it yourself.
Con Quirky UI and navigation
Con Not user friendly
Ardour can be difficult and unconventional to use.
Con Relies on JACK
The Linux version relies on JACK to function correctly, and JACK is extremely difficult to install and configure. Ardour should have JACK support, but it should also connect directly and play audio on its own by default.
Con No 'scenes'
Ardour doesn't have 'scenes' like Ableton does (would be very handy for live-preformances).
Con Not free
Not free, and not open source.
Con Can be a bit resource heavy
Adding more tracks and plugins is surprisingly easy on the RAM, but the base system usage is a tad high. 8 GB of RAM as a minimum is a very stern recommendation.
Con Crashed system
