The linux DAW thread

[glokraw]

Hi, I use rakarrack 6.1.1, and 6.1-4, and haven't had any problems.
The 6.1-4 was from debian sid, made into rpm using alien. These are
used in Studio1337, pclinuxOS, and Bodhi. The Studio1337 version is
likely the latest version found in Slackware, and custom compiled
by the distro developer, with his RT kernel.

Cheers

[glokraw]

It isn't easy to get a linux distribution a spot in the trades,
but the intrepid 'lowtech' now has a mention in Recording Magazine,
showing his fine RT linux bootable daw. Never say die

http://www.getstudio1337.com/recording-magazine/

I enjoyed a glitch-free session, with the latest version,
using the Mustang amp/usb interface, routed
to Guitarix, and four instances of Rakarrack multi-fx, using
about 16 fx modules, (10 possible in each rak) plus a
very busy Hydrogen drum pattern, also sent to fx, and with
a firefox open, to send a thankyou note to lowtech, while
the tubes were warm, and the toms still shaking.
On a dinosaur computer with failing cpu cache,
that most people would not bother to fetch
out of a low-priced garage sale...does one or

But either way, keep the keys and strings moving, in RT

Cheers

[briandc]

It isn't easy to get a linux distribution a spot in the trades,
but the intrepid 'lowtech' now has a mention in Recording Magazine,
showing his fine RT linux bootable daw. Never say die

http://www.getstudio1337.com/recording-magazine/

I enjoyed a glitch-free session, with the latest version,
using the Mustang amp/usb interface, routed
to Guitarix, and four instances of Rakarrack multi-fx, using
about 16 fx modules, (10 possible in each rak) plus a
very busy Hydrogen drum pattern, also sent to fx, and with
a firefox open, to send a thankyou note to lowtech, while
the tubes were warm, and the toms still shaking.
On a dinosaur computer with failing cpu cache,
that most people would not bother to fetch
out of a low-priced garage sale...does one or

But either way, keep the keys and strings moving, in RT

Cheers

That's the way!

I'm currently setting up a studio using antiX (debian) and compiling various synths. A laptop I inherited, only about 4 years old, and very fast indeed.

With the possibility of running multiple instances of any softsynth, it's amazing that hardware synths still make a sale!


brian

[glokraw]

news for Studio1337 bootable audio-centric linux distro

from the last post:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... c95afdfc0c

"Coming hot on the heels of the write-up in "Recording" magazine, a new version of Studio 13.37 with the following changes:

Updated to Ardour 3.3, Firefox 22, Pburn 4.0.3, Qsynth 0.3.7, Qtractor 0.5.10, and Rosegarden 13.06 "Imagination"
Added the Non DAW suite of applications, including Timeline, Sequencer, Mixer, and Session Manager
Edited /etc/eventmanager so that Studio 13.37 only saves at the end of a session, instead of every half hour after a save file is created
Made Aqualung the default music player, removed Pmusic from menu
Updated REAPER download/install script
Enabled tap-to-click and edge-scrolling on laptop touchpads by default
Added "shift-delete" and other keyboard shortcuts to file manager, more "Open With" options
Added gtk engines for new Slickness theme
Added file to system partition indicating whether version is 32 or 64 bit
And more!"

http://www.getstudio1337.com/

Cheers

[glokraw]

Tested the latest Amplitube 3.11 standalone, and it works fine,
using wine 1.4x, and an maudio pci soundcard, in most any linux
normally chosen in the wild, and the plugin version
works within Reaper 4.x, also in wine 1.4.

The Custom Shop connected as needed, and 'restore my gear' option brought
in the previous Amplitube versions gear models, and the output sounds great,
using guitars, and keyboard sources. At the price of used 'Twin Reverbs',
and SuperSonics, 'tis a steal!
Cheers

[camsr]

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/08/12 ... a-released
Elementary OS, based on Ubuntu 12 and using Gtk+

[glokraw]

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/08/12 ... a-released
Elementary OS, based on Ubuntu 12 and using Gtk+

Luna looks like an interesting project. I hope they include all the
recommended PPAs in sources.list, so a new user can simply uncomment the
ones they want to access. If not, a contributor could post one
in their forum territories.

If it works as advertised, it could be a nice distro for wine,
and KX audio/video repository apps.

The website could use a thorough screenshot gallery, that would
help distinguish Luna from the competition.

Cheers

[glokraw]

Back from vacation, and a new version of a favorite OS is out,
Macpup 550, an E17 based Puppy linux, using 'ubuntu precise'
repositories.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WTT17ZMd5k

Also, a new version of Guitarix is out,

http://guitarix.sourceforge.net/index.p ... p_type=one

but far to new for the 'stable' precise repository, new versions/releases often
appear first in debian Sid (unstable), then go to 'testing, and
finally, when the dust has settled a bit, to stable.

http://packages.debian.org/unstable/sound/

http://packages.debian.org/testing/sound/

so I had to install Guitarix pseudo manually. Clicking a .deb package in Macpup's
Rox filemanager, allows the package to be installed, no questions asked (danger!!!,
Will Robinson...) So I installed all the dependencies listed in sid,
that I had never heard of, then started Guitarix from a terminal,
so each 'failure' would reveal the next missing dependency.
After three more needed packages were discovered,
and installed, a florious Guitarix 0.28.2-3 finally appeared,
and the next hour was spent turning
yoshimi synth plucked instrument presets, into growling resonating waves
that reminded of ancient smokey Filmore clones, and long Quicksilver sets.
Guitarix is quite easy to use, clicking a module from the list of fx, opens
the module, with a waiting power switch. Racks can be stereo or mono, various
tubes can be selected, and it's quite a realistic presentation, and easy to
get a useful result. I used a stereo echo, tremolo, and tube-screamer,
and Macpup offered no resistance. Burn the now 200 meg Macpup iso to a CD,
make some basic settings, and shutdown, where you will be prompted to have
a save file created, placed in the root of your C-drive, usbstick,
external hard-drive etc. This can be up to 4 gig, and also resized later,
as desired.

A guitarist, reeling from the win-eight-my-sanity-blues, could do far
worse than a guitarix, rakarrack, and calf-plugins setup, and portable to
travel to Grandmas at Thanksgiving and Christmas, here before you know it!

Cheers

[glokraw]

And before vacation, I set up a new Bodhi linux 2.3, a 570 meg iso,
which uses E17, and Ubuntu repositories, and has the synaptic package manager
gui, so installing apps, and adding specialty repositories, is quite easy.
Here is a Virtual Box Bodhi install video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YjvjV3HO5k

A very enjoyable computing environment (despite the epic fail in the video,
which was down to the reviewer not using a fully standard Bodhi environ,
and a liightweight default web-browser) Pretty painful, funny,
yet honest reviewer. But I don't get why reviewers don't simply edit things,
to show the more typical end results. Whats the big rush?

212 forum pages of user-created desktops:

http://forums.bodhilinux.com/index.php? ... __st__4220

Cheers

[glokraw]

Then, creme de la creme, Studio1337

http://www.getstudio1337.com/features-2/

continues to add features, kernel updates,
and new software choices. Scroll down at this link, for recent update news:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 8c90ad050d

For the core-hard musician, this is a gold ingut. Set the bar high,
and keep it moving up. Gonna buy an SSD just for this, to see if it will be
slower than running in ram

Balmer: 'Better to retire from office level, than from the rooftop'

I wonder how much ram would the old gray Dell need,
to run some windoze version in memory I can just hear the installer holler,
THIS DOES NOT COMPUTE'

[glokraw]

I was actually hoping to snag the #150,000 page view,
and win the prize

But the music of gulls and ocean waves lulled me
in to a deep deep sleep.
Maybe I'll get a shot at #200,000...





























!!!INCOMING!!!

[glokraw]

Back on solid ground, I'm not an Ardour user, but do try it
out sometimes, and saw a new 3.4 release, and installed it
from synaptic package manager, though sometimes that is not
the recommended way, as compiling, or obtaining the latest
binary may be of benefit to some users. I started a simple session
for guitar, using delayorama, and zita-reverb plugins, taking input
from the guitar run through a vintage fx rack.

I really like that in Reaper, one right-click in the track gui
lets you insert a track, with an open plugin browser.
In Ardour, you first open the mixer panel, and then click an area to open
the browser, so it's easy, while perhaps not obvious to a first time user.

Some linux plugins don't offer a gui, and the one provided
in Ardour, was a nice size, with easy to grab sliders. I was very happy
with the overall color scheme, and there was a nice online manual, a work in
progress, and the basics are broken down into useful subsets. You can
drag/drop the titles in the plugin list, to re-order the chain, very handy,
when trying to craft a unique sound from a dry signal. There are boatloads of
menu options, features, and routings, for those with complex projects.
Well worth a trial. Also, Ardour team cooperation with Harrison Mixbus,
is an ambitious, and promising note for the future.

There is an article by StudioDave Phillips about using Ardour3,
with details about several types of sessions, and the results,
lurking over here:

http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/Fe ... th-Ardour3

(Dave, you must toot your own horn a bit louder, for my old ears to hear.
How did I miss this? So many fine articles worthy of study!)
Cheers

[glokraw]

The IK group-buy has done gone and rode off into the sunset, with a sizeable
bag of cash to invest in new products, versions and sounds,
and a couple thousand new users who are faced with a staggering
number of sounds.

At the 11th hour, I decided that since Amplitube3 works so well in linux,
I should trust that the Sampletank virtual instruments would also.
The confidence was quickly rewarded, as the Authorization manager
performed flawlessly, the various sounds all obeyed
symbolic links to the main sounds folder, and when pressed into service,
used very little cpu, and sounded great with the Rakarrack and Calf-Plugins
tacked on. Let the downloads begin

The 16 part Sampletank multi-timbral engine, and large collection of fx,
make the end result much like a sample-based zynaddsubfx/yoshimi,
and they will no doubt be used together on a regular basis.

There are five effects slots for each part,
the first is reserved for compression/EQ, the other four you can choose
from among 33 fx. The fx controls appear in the bottom left portion of the GUI,
with nice size knobs to dial in parameters. And on the master output,
you can choose 5 more fx so let your imagination run with it.

The upper left section of the Sampletank interface has 16 horizontal
rows, one for each sound slot, and 10 vertical rows, for selecting
the mundanities, like volume, midi channel, polyphony etc
As with zynaddsubfx, choose midi channel 1 for each sound you want
to hear, in multi-timbral setups.

The alpha-numeric widgets, are quite small, so aim well, click, and drag
each number or letter up or down, to edit the value. There are controls
for color, contrast and hue, so the default Ferarri red,
is always in jeopardy.

The free version of Sampletank is still available, and has some fine sounds,
a nice Piano among them, that really can benefit from careful use of fx
and timbres. You can layer acoustic bass and guitar at
barely audible levels, with subtle chorus effect, to make different pianos.
(...and more )

There are both a standalone, and a plugin, in the install, and wine
is required for linux users, but Reaper or other windows vst host,
is not required, as the plugin can be launched by the fst command
(or the festige gui) and has it's own preset management.

fst /home/you-da-man/.wine/drive_c/"Program Files/Steinberg/VstPlugins/SampleTank2.x.dll"

or run the standalone:

wine /home/you-da-man/.wine/drive_c/"Program Files/IK Multimedia/SampleTank 2.5/SampleTank 2.5.exe"

(note the use of quotes, which get by the blank spaces in the windoze path!)

Hope linux/mac/win users will all take good advantage of this
excellent instrument and product line, more music is always needed,
in these dark times!
Cheers

[StudioDave]

... more music is always needed, in these dark times!

Indeed. I find most solace on YouTube, where I've been listening to works by post-1945 Italian modernists (Dallapiccola, Nono, Bussotti) and to some amazing pieces by Jean Barraque.

Also going back to reconsider some early influential pieces. At one point I thought Wuorinen's Time's Encomium was the bee's knees but now it sounds dated and unexciting. Not really his best work, I think, though historically very important. By comparison, Barraque's piano music is intensely alive even today. Well, to my ears, anyway.

Some of Babbitt's music is just wonderful, some doesn't survive so well. In general, the pieces made with the RCA Synthesizer suffer from relatively uninteresting sound, it doesn't do the music any favors now. But Philomel is still beautiful, ditto for his conventional instrumental works.

So much to hear and study, with so little time.

Btw, thanks for the shout-out on my A3 article.

Best,

dp

[glokraw]

Your mention of luminaries from a generation not far passed,
reminds me that I find myself being constantly drawn towards becoming
more of a 'button pusher', than a composer, where one practices utilizing
various software and hardware tools, more than developing musicianship,
or composition skills.

The tools are wonderful, and I wouldn't want anyone to miss out
on the productivity/creativity they enable, but I also feel the need to
be real, in the sense of pounding the hollow log with accuracy,
and experiencing the satisfaction that rides with it. There is
almost a thieves delight in discovering some new software trick,
or feature, when actually composing/playing a complex/rewarding part
with the relative ease and confidence achieved by diligent practice,
would be a much sweeter serving.

Sure, there are marvelous sequences, arpeggios, and layers of drones,
just begging to be unleashed, but I am leary of a hidden cost to them,
a devil on the shoulder, quoting a fine print that reads,
'Practice is optional, go ahead, just press the blue button,
you know you want to!'

Well, yes, lazy devil, I will indeed press that button, but later,
I am busy now convincing my left hand to respond promptly to
electronic impulses, and actually generating the impulses myself

Cheers