Re: [microsound] Mac vs PC (linux information)

[Michal Seta <mis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Tjeerd Sietsma" <tsietsma@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> Too bad there is no professional audio tool for linux yet, afaik.

What is a professional audio tool?  Are you talking about sound
quality?  Or eye candy?  Or the aboundance of ready made solutions?

> Rezound looks
> pretty neat, just like Audacity, but it just doesn't provide the needs
> of pro's.

About 10 years ago I started using Sound Designer.  It was caonsidered
a professional level sample editor.  I think the 2 above mentioned
apps provide more functionnality.  I don't think, however, that the
notion of professionalism changed radically in the past 10 years.

> E.g. you don't want to use it in a studio. 

I have been in studios running Windoes.  You don't want to you use it
in the studio.  I could never understand how people were able to keep
PCs with windoes in the studio for other purposes than running
WordPerfect.  I know only one Windows user who claims to have a stable
system and is able to manage an audio latency at around 10ms.
However, he lives much to far for me to actually go and check it out
because I find it hard to believe.  My own experience with windows (I
tried the free version of ProTools and cakewalk 9.1, I believe) was
very disappointing.

> Just like lovable PD it can
> do a lot
> but it isn't ready yet, PD's documentation is incomplete just like it's
> functio-
> nality. Developers spend most of the time getting it just to work. 

Please, get in touch with reality.  The developers are constantly
working on improving it.  Yes, pd has flaws.  So does commercial
software.  The only difference is that if you find a bug or a flaw in
an open source software there is a very strong chance that there will
be a fix within days.  In case of commercial sofwtare you usually have
to wait to the next update or upgrade and sometimes you have to pay
extra just to have a vital bug squished (or a few plus a new feature
thrown in to soap your eyes).  But there are herds of musicians/artists using pd in
production.

BTW, what do you mean by incomplete functionnality in PD?

> In
> contrast
> to commercial applications like Max/MSP. 

I started usig Max/MSP in the MacOS8.x days.  But the time of MacOS9
but well before MacOSX I found MaxMSP rather unstable for live
performance.  Everyone at my school was using it and everyone was
struggling to make the thing survive a performance.  Everyone had the
unpleasant experience of MaxMSP hanging the whole system during a
performance.  Perhaps that is what you think is related to
professionalism but I quickly found that I could run an audio patch on
my linux box with pd for _days_ without shutting off the audio and I'd
have no crash, no glitch.  For me, the choice was obvious.

I am not saying that pd is perfect.  It in fact needs a major overhaul
of some code but none of the developers claims it to be a professional
grade sofwtare, either.  It's still in alpha, experimental release.
But it costs you nothing.

> This is why serious musicians
> and audio-
> philes still use Windows and/or MacOS.

Because those have been around for a long time and spend a lot of
money for marketing campaigns.  And one of those comes pre-installed
when you buy a computer at your favorite store.  And you are not given
a choice!  If you want linux, you have to install it yourself or ask
specifically for linux at the retail store (and not all of them
provide linux systems).

It is true that serious sofwtare
companies provide well packaged products with aboundant
documentation.  They have the cash for it.  Those musicians who just
want to plug and p[l][r]ay will naturally choose the mainstream OS
with mainstream applications.  But that does not make them any more
serious than those who want to venture into the OS and apps that give
them freedom and a DIY environment for setting up their virtual gear
the way they want.

> Another reason is that most hardware manufacturers provide drivers for
> Windows
> and Macintosh only. 
> This means that with only linux you can't program
> e.g. your
> Roland synth or Nord Modular.

derek covered that in his post.

> In this perspecive linux is like a decennium behind commercial
> alternatives.

Not linux.  Linux is in fact a very stable and efficient OS.  Some
audio applications are behind.  Rosegarden is what Cubase was about 5-6 years
ago.  Ardour has a feature-set more attractive than Nuendo (minus the
MIDI sequencing) and soon it will be stable enough to actually use it
in production.  Lilypond beats the socks off any notation package
currently available if you can stand the text based input (although
Rosegarden and NoteEdit are good frontends).  And is well documented,
too.  There are many other examples.  When you say that this or that
sofwtare is so&so many years behind the commercial alternative keep in
mind that usually it's only a handful of developers working on it who
don't have the budget.  I think this is impressive and merits some
kind of user support.

> 
> I myself am thinking of switching from Windows to linux permanently now

Good luck!

> but this
> is a choice everyone should make him/herself.

That is correct.

-- 
	      _
      __  __ (_)___   Michal Seta
     / 	\/  \ _/^ _|
    /  	     V |_  \ @creazone.32k.org
   (___/V\___|_|___/
http://www.[creazone]|[noonereceiving].32k.org


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