The linux DAW thread

[glokraw]

More distros=more choice!!

Am I weird for thinking that your desktop environment matters much more than your distro?

Not weird, being happy with the gui ease-of-use is crucial to being
able to enjoy making music with computers, as with the individual softwares.

There are a few divergent streams of use that share the linux kernel,
but in general, the C libs, graphic toolkits, and video drivers will
be available in most distros, with alternatives for special cases,
and for the age of the hardware.

Bodhi Linux is a light ubuntu based distro, has been around for years,
and has the Moksha version of Enlghtenment as default, a good choice when repetitive-use pains start appearing And with wineHQ and KX Studio repositories added, a small drive or SSD can go a long way. With linux Bitwig, Reaper, and Mixbus daws, a wide range of plugins can be used, and daw output can be connected to or with, various standalone apps, so the whole OS becomes a daw mothership, so to speak. Good times!

[glokraw]

Found an interesting linux project, that among other things, aims to add features from Puppy Linux, like 'frugal installs', and use of .sfs files, to a custom Arch Linux system, and some other distros.
Requires registration, see the faq below.

https://weedoglinux.rockedge.org/app.php/help/faq

https://weedoglinux.rockedge.org/viewforum.php?f=4&i=1

There is a topic at one of the main Puppy Linux forums:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 666ae72706

Cheers

[glokraw]

Developer One Small Clue have released their nice Poise drum machine plugin for free. Lot's of useful features sans a lot of
clutter.

https://www.onesmallclue.com/

The drumkits/samples file is about 87 meg, so plenty of
categorized kits, to start with. Works fine in linux Reaper, wrapped by Linvst. I tested it's kits being played by the late great H G Fortune's Drumburst, which has midi-out, together with UGO's now free Dualism midi arpeggiator, which is the arp engine from his M-Theory plugin, a followup to his String-Theory plugin, both still worth having if not allergic to 32bit synthedit works. I think UGO is still part of the Camel-Audio team that integrated Alchemy into MacWorld. One of the goodguys from KVR, his many plugins including Rez II and Rez III are still hosted and free

https://www.ugoaudio.com/index.php/vst-plugins

Poise-Drumburst-Dualism.png

[glokraw]

The linux version of the excellent Xhip synth has been updated

https://www.kvraudio.com/product/xhip-s ... y-aciddose

xhip_new_1214.jpg

[glokraw]

While experimenting with the newish wine-staging 5.12 (5.13 is out now
I made my bi-annual attempt to run AIR's Hybrid3 synth in linux. It installed OK, as did the I-lok-Manager software. But running the manager failed with an error stating that it could not find qt5svg.dll, which was needed by a .dll that dealt with codecs. I snooped around in google, and someone mentioned that's a very old wine bug, and one easily fixed if there was interest. I signed up to the wine bug-report site, but have yet to receive
the confirmation e-mail.

I know some win componant installs a ton of QT .dlls, saw it a few years back when I had Hybrid 3 working for a couple days. *ironically, after enjoying Hybrid 3, I thought,
next I'll install AIR;s 'Boom' software. Let's just say the app was accurately titled

A side effect of I-lok Manager, is that it installs Apple Bonjour networking system. Might be handy for those with network printers, but still does not get along with some important audio apps, so a few strolls through the registry were needed to be rid of it. And, if you keep your eyes open while so doing, there is a lot to be learned regarding how not to program software, if you ponder the details of what is seen

...if you get my drift

[glokraw]

A linux stalwart has died. RIP, John de Murga
I noticed his busy forum, dating from 2005,
was offline for far too long, so a quick search turned up
messages from the Puppy Linux developer,
and a 'right-hand man' from the Puppy linux forums

http://blog.puppylinux.com/vale-john-de-murga

https://bkhome.org/news/202007/murga-li ... -down.html

In the interim, a new forum is now up and running:

https://puppylinux.rockedge.org/index.php

John De Murga leaves behind a young family,
for whom his presence and influences will be greatly missed.
Hopefully his work will inspire those who have benefitted
these many years.

[glokraw]

https://superflydsp.com/

Didn't know Superfly had linux versions...just call me Schultz
Extracted the .zips to .vst3, made sure .vst3 was in Reaper's path,
and am enjoying nicely modulated guitar strings,

[glokraw]

http://www.soft-amp.com/softamp-psa

Part of the 2016 KVR Developers Challenge

Mentioned in the 'effects roundups':

viewforum.php?f=6

It's another nice guitar preamp/amp setup, with lots of extras, not a linux-native, but wrapped with LinVst is working fine, and added the previous Superfly modulators and a Dragonfly room reverb, for a nice clean-to-crunch guitar setup. Spoiled for riches

SoftAmp-PSA.png

[farlukar]

Didn't know Superfly had linux versions...

Neither did I. Thanks, Shultz!

[kvotchin]

Huh, imagine my surprise upon discovering that the next major Linux kernel version will include support for my interface!

Might have to experiment with Reaper (which I have a license for) in Linux!

Unless there are better (free!) options, that is, for that OS...

[Kott]

next major Linux kernel version will include support for my interface!

hm, which one?

[glokraw]

Huh, imagine my surprise upon discovering that the next major Linux kernel version will include support for my interface!

Might have to experiment with Reaper (which I have a license for) in Linux!

Unless there are better (free!) options, that is, for that OS...

Qtractor and Ardour are actively developed daws over many years,
Qtractor has a suite of instruments and utilities if desired, and
Ardour has some sort of give/take relationship with commercial
Harrison Mixbus. Carla is a different type of daw, but very popular
due to versatility and perhaps gui appearance. It's creator, falkTX,
also developed and maintains the KX-Studio software repository,

https://kx.studio/Repositories

to keep a range of audio software available and current, in linux package managers like synaptic. And in his spare time, maintains jackd and wineasio, so works at the very core of linux audio.

This link below covers a lot of details to make your first day with linux audio
a happy one:

https://libremusicproduction.com/articl ... arted-jack

About halfway down the page, the qjackctl audio/midi/hardware connections gui is
given a thorough walk through. Reaper with wine-staging 'stable', and linvst plugin wrapper, has the best windows-plugin 'success rate', although some staunch Bitwig users might think otherwise

There are some very productive linux users who use Bitwig or Reaper etc with just alsa as the sound engine, no jackd at all. That option being in daw setup preferences. If someone works nearly exclusively within their daws, this could and does make sense, but that's not for me. I view all of linux as 'the daw', and daws are just standalone sound sources filled with delightfully moving parts

AVLinux is a long-running popular debian based audio distro, with live versions that run off dvd or usb for testing, and is the opposite of a barebones setup

http://www.bandshed.net/ ...AVL has a pdf manual well worth utilizing.

I've been happy with the last two versions of Ubuntu Studio,

https://ubuntustudio.org/

adding the wineHQ repository, kx-studio repository, and LinVst plugin wrapper, a vast array of commercial and freeware plugins are working fine in recent Reaper releases hosted in Ubuntu setups.

And linux is bootable from computers early-boot menu, so a used SSD or spinner drive in a usb docking case makes a nice way to dive in, without bothering any working productive systems, or futzing with dual boot, which usually kicks people in the ass twice

[glokraw]

If you can get line-in to your motherboard sound, or usb midi,
Ubuntu Studio iso can be burned to dvd, or use windows app Rufus
to get an early start.

https://rufus.ie/

On a usbstick, make sure the bootable flag is set on the stick,
32 gig or up, or 16gig in a pinch.
Cheers

[kvotchin]

next major Linux kernel version will include support for my interface!

hm, which one?

RME Babyface Pro. Entirely random luck that I stumbled across that piece of tech news. Must be a sign!


And thanks glokraw! That’s a heap of useful info, cheers.

[Kott]

Good to know. Another important thing - is the mixer for PRO Audio boards. Author of that driver made a simple one: https://github.com/MrBollie/bbfpromix - ALSA Mixer Frontend for RME Babyface Pro (FS)