i went though many linux oses until i started trying distros that are designed for music production. in the time, ive tried, ubuntu studio, and kx studio and since then have installed then many many times. ive been using linux only now for about 4 months and im very happy with how much i now understand even though what i do understand, is still at a beginner level.
so, after having many moments of frustration, i have finally gotten to the point where i am now. this thread is to make what was a very difficult journey for me into a a far easier journey for other linux users.
i will share with you what i have discovered and i will be making little adjustments here and there.
since this is about linux, maybe we can make this a sticky but no worries.
i hope some new kvr users find this guide helpful
Hi. This is a guide for 'true' beginners on how to get your linux music distro working and setup right. I hope this guide will help you a lot on your way to switching to linux audio production. Many guides cater to new linux audio users but unfortunately, these guides are always written 'after' the person has a fairly detailed understanding of linux audio. The person wants to help/share with new users, what they know with only the best intentions.
Because of this, these guides always leave out the most confusing stages of learning and very quickly jump into more advanced stages of learning leading into a very short, 'basic/valuable post, to mostly talking about more complex topics of personal interest that coincides with what the person currently knows.
So I wanted to write this guide while im still very new so im able to remember and address the knowledge I myself will soon take for granted. I find that its the simple knowledge that we take for granted, and have remembered to heart that is always the most valuable.
For this guide, we will be using a linux distro designed for music production called kx studio.
The first step you must overcome is getting your pc to even run a linux based os. microsoft uses a software coded into the bios called eufi which is designed for protecting the bios from a virus infection. Its a well known fact in linux circles that eufi was also designed to stop windows users from being able to install a linux based operating system. I don't know what kind of bios you have but i do base this guide on assuming that you have a similar bios like mine because if you had an older bios, eufi would not be part of your bios. If you do have an older bios/pc you can skip to part 2)
Getting the iso: download from: http://kxstudio.linuxaudio.org/Downloads
Chose either 32bit or 64bit. I would say that you should check the md5sum but its highly likely that you don't even know what an md5sum is so in this case, i'll say its not necessary. If you do want to check the md5sum integrity heres how: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... x?id=11533
Burn the dvd using your windows software of choice. (It should be noted that, you can use a usb thumbdrive for your iso, but i find this can be very problematic and cause errors if you don't know what your doing. The problem is that yes, the iso will burn to thumbdrive but after its burned, and you install your distro, if you try to wipe the thumbdrive it will get corrupted. I screwed up 4 thumbdrives myself and was able to repair two of them, after spending time watching youtube videos on how to repair a corrupt thumbdrive using linux g-parted. Not fun,
completely discouraging to new linux users, and a one stop trip back to windows.
1)
To get kx studio to boot, do the following steps:
In your bios, disable: fastboot/quickboot, intel smart response technology, and fast startup (if you use windows.
On the bios easy page, make sure that your dvd drive/hd in that order from left to right are before your eufi dvd/hd again from left to right. So it would be, dvdhd/eufi dvdhd
In your advanced bios page, under secure boot: chose 'other os' and make sure that when you restart for the boot, you save your bios setting first. (later down the road you may find that your linux dvd won't boot this is because lets say you want to reinstall kx studio, you will restart, and when you do, you will assume that the dvd will boot as before but it won't because you did not save your bios settings.
The problem being that because your bios tells you: you have not made any changes to your bios. new users will restart thinking they don't need to save there now empty/unchanged bios changes because of this, the dvd won't boot. So, make sure to always save your bios changes when you boot a linux dvd iso (even if you make no new changes) and your dvd will always boot.
Tip, don't try to cold boot (turn off pc, and turn on with dvd inside expecting to boot from dvd)I find that unlike windows disks, this only works the first time you boot from kx studio disc although it this may or may not work depending on which linux distro you use.
Tip, we can simplify this by using what some bios have called boot override. I say 'some' because im not sure if all eufi bios have an override button. If your computer does, simply click the non eufi dvd button and you will be able to avoid some or most of what I just said needed to be done.
Now its time to install kx studio. The installer is very easy to use, but make sure you really want to switch to linux because once you start the install, chances are you will do so using the default setting. Doing so will erase your hd including, as far as I know, your recovery partition. Sometimes it erases it, and sometimes it does not. (This is course entirely controllable by how much you know about the installer, which is of course, nothing. (Some linux distros design the os so that it won't overwrite/erase your recovery partition) You still with me? Ok good.
Install kx studio... you may see a bunch of weird words this is just the way linux works so unless kx studio 'tells' you that you have an error, install with no worry. I admit that I always watch the installer to make sure I get no errors but ive done it so many times, I know exactly what the installer says. You may find that you do the same. This is perfectly normal when your unsure of yourself and your lack of understanding linux. Linux can be, and is, scary to new users.
After the installer is done, remove the dvd like it states, and restart. kx studio will load. Do you see how much I wrote about just how to 'boot and install' the distro? Yeah, this is why people go back to windows.
Once you understand this first part, you are on your way. I wish somebody wrote this guide for me when I was starting to learn linux because all the problems that I listed happened to me not once but many many time over a long 4 month period its only after doing this so many times that I have a basic understanding of what to do right.
2)
Now ill give you some quick tips that will help you (after you know the basics of using the terminal.
First, we need to install muon update manager, muon discover, and muon package manager.
I would not usually mention this, but the reason I do is: 'all linux operating systems unless its a command based os like arch/slackware', have a way to update the software and download security updates (kx studio used to include muon but the latest version assumes you know to install these three packages yourself and for new linux users, they would not even know to do this) not updating/using outdated software at minimal, leaves you using older software and at maximum, puts you at risk for security threats. (Its very very difficult to get malware on linux but if you do the wrong thing like installing an unknown ppa/package its not impossible.
Thats why muon is necessary.
So, lets install muon first which will install two things, security updates and a software called 'update manager' and 'package manager' how to install: click on the start menu and search synaptic package manager. Open it, and type your password.
(unlike windows, linux always requires a password when you want to install updates/software. This gives you a very secure operating system.
In the search box, type 'muon' right click, mark for installation. Press apply button. This will install the muon update manager and package manager. Since this is not a 'how' to use linux, bur rather a 'how' to use linux for audio/music production, well stop here. Simply remember you need to install the following: muon update manager/package manager, and discover. Or you will not get security and software updates. (discover is optional, but it gives you an easy/secure way to install software)
3)
why do I have no sound?
This is a very common problem but very easy to fix if you know how to fix it and confusing as heck if you don't. Heres where it get tricky, I admit that it took me a long time to figure out how this works. Before, like you would do, I would first right/left click the volume button settings in lower panel and adjust a bunch of very confusing settings, often to the point of messing my audio up so bad I had to reinstall. After a long time I discovered that kx studio already has every thing set up to work. So, unlike windows, you don't need to mess with any of those settings.
How to get sound:
Left click the start menu launcher (the little bottom left corner symbol)
and search for cadence. Click the configure button, select hwusb audio.*
now go to youtube and see how the audio is working. Oh wait, its not you say? This one got me for a long time. In order to fix this, do not start messing with volume panel/cadence settings. Or you will screw up your audio settings.
Simply click the 'force restart' button. Now, you will have sound. Go to youtube and test to make sure you do.
If not, then I don't know. im not an expert. I myself use a focusrite 2i2 usb interface.
Now that we have sound it time to open ardour4. Open a project in ardour.
“could not connect to audio engine.” What the heck! I have sound why wont it connect???
Maybe I need to configure some settings... cmon man what am I doing wrong! Same error. Starts messing with more cadence settings, now it will work. Same error! Linux sucks!
Goes back to windows.
Don't worry, this is easy to setup. It just that new users make it far more difficult and then they mess up there settings I should know. Ugh.
To set this up properly, don't touch any of the audio system/input output settings, simply change audio system to 'jack' press apply. now your project will open.
Let test to see if every thing is working. Close ardour and reopen your recent session. If you did things correct, ardour will now open every time without that setup message.
You have your computer audio working and your usb/soundcard interface setup. Its time to start your linux music production journey. The hardest part is out of the way and now its simply a matter of learning as you go. Have fun
