Linux & free amp/dist plugins

[Zamnix]

Hey folks,

I am asking this on behalf of my workmate.
So he is linux guy and amateur guitarist, has 10 year old 2 core pc
and some basic soundsystem.

So he asked is there free software for him in linux
so he could play around with connecting his guitar to his comp,
amps dists plugins? etc? What is best free host possibly too for that use?
He is kinda linux guru but doenst know much of music software.

Ty

Sam

[Teksonik]

Google found:

https://guitarix.org/

[glokraw]

Three excellent, but very different approaches. But you can mix-and-match til your mouse bleeds and your ears ring Adding kxstudio repository to a debian/ubuntu setup will make them easy to install from synatic package manager, or from a terminal, command:

sudo apt-get install rakarrack

sudo apt-get install guitarix

sudo apt-get install calfjackhost

The pics show the basic qjackctl patchbay connections

rakarrack-recorded-timemachine.png

guitarix-to-rakarrack.png

calfjackhost.png

The calf collection is around 30 in number, created by a disgruntled pro-tools user. Rakarrack is a standalone multi-fx, ridiculously efficient and fun, and Guitarix is a very mature and full featured Amp-sim/plugin suite. I made a few rakarrack presets (it has 180) for jamming with netflix/hulu crime dramas. There are a bunch of other long-running collections as well if you snoop around

Add a modeling amp to the above and

Amplitube 4 and Guitar Rig 6 are also in working order, when wine is installed, and if funds allow, but each have nice demos to enjoy/test. The 'old' z3ta 1.5 effects plugin
is one of my favorites, great synth presets that translate very well to guitars It was a freebie on Beat Magazine, if you excell at cyber-scrounging

[glokraw]

Reaper DAW has an excellent linux version, $60 after the 60 day demo, and the windows version works very well in wine. Harrison Mixbus is often on sale for $40, with qtractor and ardour being poular freeware daws. Bitwig 16 Track is hard to find on sale, but it has nice drag-n-drop effects chaining for it's own, and third-party plugins.
Cheers

[Teksonik]

Adding kxstudio repository to a debian/ubuntu setup will make them easy to install from synatic package manager, or from a terminal, command:
sudo apt-get install rakarrack
sudo apt-get install guitarix
sudo apt-get install calfjackhost

That's the kind of talk that turns people off of Linux........

[Kott]

Hi,

What distro he uses?

Actually there a lot of such stuff, my favorite:

https://kpp-tubeamp.com/
https://github.com/resonantdsp/SwankyAmp
https://github.com/jerryuhoo/Fire
https://github.com/jatinchowdhury18/KlonCentaur

Binary packages can be obtained from geekos daw openSUSE repo https://geekosdaw.tuxfamily.org/en/

[.jon]

Adding kxstudio repository to a debian/ubuntu setup will make them easy to install from synatic package manager, or from a terminal, command:
sudo apt-get install rakarrack
sudo apt-get install guitarix
sudo apt-get install calfjackhost

That's the kind of talk that turns people off of Linux........

Actually apt is one of the few very awesome things Linux systems have. Instead of opening a browser, navigating to a website and download page, downloading the installer and running it, you just type the command in terminal.

[fese]

Adding kxstudio repository to a debian/ubuntu setup will make them easy to install from synatic package manager, or from a terminal, command:
sudo apt-get install rakarrack
sudo apt-get install guitarix
sudo apt-get install calfjackhost

That's the kind of talk that turns people off of Linux........

Wouldn’t turn me off (of course I’d use “apt install” instead of “apt-get”, less characters to type), but why oh why do open source developers have such a preference for shitty UIs that weren’t considered good even twenty years ago??? Seems to be the Unix legacy. “Unix is supposed to be for serious work, GUIs are for pussies anyway” . there’s some heritage, always been like that. Except maybe Irix, that looked pretty slick even in the early nineties.

(Granted, the Guitarix one looks actually quite good, i gotta admit. But that “rackarrak”... )

I actually find that really interesting, from my experience (which is definitely not conclusive) freeware/open source projects actually are influenced to a part by the fact on which OS/platform they are developed primarily...
MacOS: GUI is important, needs to at least favorably compare with the rest of the OS
Windows: GUI doesnt need to be superslick, but it should be relatively easy to use
Linux/Unix: I’m writing this primarily for me anyway, don’t bother with usability

It’s a bit exaggerated, but i think there’s some truth to it.

(Sorry for the off topic, carry on)

[glokraw]

I worry little about gui looks, as long as they gon't drive me crazy. My hammers are ugly, at this stage of the game. Rakarrack lets you swap out the background, but I've not investigated. I'd like to see Guitarix in blue instead of green, but no big deal. Most of these devs giving freeware have jobs and families, so I don't expect a GR7 or A5 at that price point.

I doubt 'skinable' crosses the minds of most linux devs. ArtVera, Grymmjack, and Limeflavour did quite a few nice skins for windows freeware, and U-he plugins are almost all skinable. Surge has a fine new dark skin, and more on the way, as does discoDSP version of Ob-XD. Art is great when it's in the time budget.
Cheers

[glokraw]

Adding kxstudio repository to a debian/ubuntu setup will make them easy to install from synatic package manager, or from a terminal, command:
sudo apt-get install rakarrack
sudo apt-get install guitarix
sudo apt-get install calfjackhost

That's the kind of talk that turns people off of Linux........

This is the kind of talk that turns on netflix:

/usr/bin/alsa_in -j HDA-intel "HDA Intel PCH" -q 1 2>&1 1> /dev/null

Got popcorn?

[RafaelMorgan]

Oh how I hate Jack Audio with all my strength...

[Teksonik]

Actually apt is one of the few very awesome things Linux systems have. Instead of opening a browser, navigating to a website and download page, downloading the installer and running it, you just type the command in terminal.

If you know the command. Windows people are used to simply downloading files and installing them.

Trusting the terminal to retrieve the proper file can feel unnatural.

I've been running various distros of Linux for quite some time but I am no means an expert. I am currently favoring Kubuntu and I don't think I've ever had to go to the terminal on that install yet but then I don't install anything outside of the repository.

But my point is having to deal with the terminal is one thing that turns people away from Linux. It can be intimidating at first.

[Teksonik]

why oh why do open source developers have such a preference for shitty UIs that weren’t considered good even twenty years ago???

That's another turn off for some people. GUIs that look like they came from the Win 98 era seem to make Linux appear outdated.

Some distros are also somewhat outdated in their default appearance.

Apps like Bitwig are helping to change that though as they look the same on Linux as they do on Windows.

[Teksonik]

This is the kind of talk that turns on netflix:

/usr/bin/alsa_in -j HDA-intel "HDA Intel PCH" -q 1 2>&1 1> /dev/null

Got popcorn?

That illustrates my point nicely. Linux has a reputation for being a "geek's" Operating System. If it is ever to gain acceptance from a larger user base it would be good for that reputation to be dispelled.

That's why I like Kubuntu so much. It looks modern out of the box and can be customized in so many ways to suite the user and like I said it's possible to have a full featured computer with all the standard apps without having to geek out in the Terminal.

[antic604]

I'm new to Linux so can't help from experience yet, but here's a good and up-to-date list of native VSTs (.so files):

http://linux-sound.org/linux-vst-plugins.html