I've been trying to use Ardour for the first time as part of my ongoing process of replacing all the proprietary software in my workflow to open source software. My hope is that Ardour can replace Audition and/or ProTools for me, but as of right now I've struggled a lot with how to even use the program. I probably just need to immerse myself in some tutorials haha

Lol spending hours and days is correct but for me it was spent on trying to get the signal from your interface to actually reach the program and then figure out why there's so much latency.

In Linux there are already much better options than Ardour that I highly suggest to try:

• REAPER as a standard DAW and Ardour equivalent.
• Bitwig Studio for more sequencer-like worflows (alternative to Ableton Live, FL)

These are not hobbyist products, we are talking about professional level software here, so they are both paid.

In any case REAPER is usable for free if you don't use it commercially and it's so cheap for the value it brings that there are no excuses for not buying it.