Re: [microsound] linux newbie stuff [WAS:puff 'n stuff]

[ag@xxxxxxxxxxx]

On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 11:10:33 +0200, derek@xxxxxxx wrote:

Thank you for the well-balanced and inforative post.  Again, it is
great to see Linux sound progressing as it is.  For those with a natural 
tendency toward a diy approach this fits nicely.  Good stuff....

> Hi all,
> 
> Quoting ag@xxxxxxxxxxx:
> 
> >  could you share some of your ideas about linux vs. Cubase and
> > Logic,
> > or vs. Mac and Windows setups, and the future of linux sound?  How does
> > Ardour stack
> > up at this point? 
> 
> One of the real strong points of the Unix/Linux philosophy is that apps work
> together in the same way that a community of programmers works together. There
> is no single monolithic app which does everything, but lots of interrelated
> programs and shared libraries which cooperate to get the job done. There is a
> certain philosophy behind this that appeals to me, as someone who is very
> interested in collaborative art.
> 
> As Alex mentioned, it is hard to compare Ardour with the big comercial apps
> because they have more programmers, more time and more money to produce
> something like CuBase or ProTools. On the other hand, a small, unpaid group of
> people, with support from a good user community, has put out a great start to
> what could be one of the gems in the Linux crown.
> 
> Rather than a checklist comparison of features, maybe I could describe a
> "typical" user setup for someone who otherwise might make music with CuBase or
> some other sequencer/VST environment.
> 
> You might start with some MIDI input, generated by external controllers or from
> a softsequencer like Muse or Rosegarden. This MIDI cold be sent to any number
> of softsynths, such as AlsaModularSynth, Zynsubfx, SpiralSynthModular or [of
> course!] Pure Data, or to a sampler like Fluidsynth. Alternately, you could use
> a pattern generator/drum machine like Hydrogen, or, like me, you might build a
> self-standing instrument or environment in PD which takes care of all sound
> generation for you.
> 
> Using Jack, you could route the audio from your softsynth directly to Ardour for
> recording [maybe while monitoring another channel via Jack again...], or you
> could route it to Jack-Rack, which is a plugin rack for the LADSPA plugins
> [there are hundreds of plugins avaiable in this protocol]. Another option would
> be to use the Vsti and VSTserver applications to run VST plugins or instruments
> under Linux [I haven't tried this myself, as VSTs are generally closed-source
> applications even if they are freeware, but I have heard it can work quite
> well.] 
> 
> Once you have a multitrack session laid down in Ardour, you can arrange the
> chunks of audio there, or perhaps edit some new chunks in an app like Rezound,
> which looks and feels quite like Sound Forge. Need to batch-process a bunch of
> audio? Use the command-line application Ecasound, along with a short shell
> script, to convert 60 mono files to stero, compress them, chop them into 30 sec
> chunks, change bit depth, or any other repetitive function that otherwise would
> take hours of mousing around in a GUI sound editor.
> 
> Once you have something you are ready to take to stereo, you would use Jack
> again to send the mixdown channels through Jamin, which is a fantastic
> mastering tool, with multiband EQs and compressor/limiter functions. Just about
> all of this can be done in 32 bit floating point, so you have a lot of bit
> depth to play with. Burn it to a CD with Xcdroast, encode it to MP3 with LAME
> or use Ogg Vorbis for better encoding with no proprietary licenses, and set it
> free on the internet or out into the world.
> 
> Hope this inspires,
> d.
> 
> http://www.umatic.nl
> 
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