Linux DAW ???

[evanhouseman]

I notice that no one has mentioned LMMS. I've been thinking about recommending it to a friend who runs Kubuntu. Has anyone here had any experience with it? The spec looks good, but how does it compare to any of the commercial DAWs?

Worked with LMMS for about a year on windows xp. For the big fat price tag of $0.00 you get an introduction to midi music creation. Search out a few free sf2 files and you're in business. The only negative side is there is no live recording capabilities – at least in the version I had, (maybe they added that, I don't know.) You have to export your tracks as .wav files to audacity if you want to add guitars or vocals. Or the other way around, import the .wav files from audacity; but I found that was a little trickier to sync everything up and edit.
If you listen to the recordings in the LMMS groups, you'll notice it has a very distinctive sound you can spot a mile away.

 

[garryknight]

OK, thanks, evanhouseman. Useful information. I think I'll recommend that she invests in Reaper. I'm not sure how (or if) Reaper in Linux works with VST files, since I've only used the Windows version, but I look forward to finding out.

Edit: Just found out that there isn't a version of Reaper for Linux.

 

[YanKleber]

It does seem to be developing pretty fast and the open source software available is incredible.
Take a look at GIMP (cross platform) and compare it to photoshop, for example.
Same with OpenOffice.

I use Libre Office for Windows since some time ago. About GIMP, well... I have tried it and trust me, it is not a Photoshop replacement. It only would if it could open flawlessley Photoshop native files and it doesn't. So it is useless for me. Unfortunatelly I have TONS of complicated layered Photoshop files that I have to revisit every now and then so...

Similar stuff happens to Visual Studio and its proprietary development tools souch as Visual Basic and Silverlight. There is not open source compilers to them. The case is... while I do depend on Windows to run at least ONE critical tool that puts the food on my plate I am doomed to stay leashed to M$. The company I work for since 10 years ago is completely MSished so I don't see a perspective of change for the next few years.

Of course I am talking about professional use. Anyone else that uses computer as a casual tool to do the bread-and-butter stuff, browse Internet, remove red eyes from pictures, watch movies and such would be fine with Linux or even a small tablet fueled by Android.

 

[Steenamaroo]

I use Libre Office for Windows since some time ago. About GIMP, well... I have tried it and trust me, it is not a Photoshop replacement. It only would if it could open flawlessley Photoshop native files and it doesn't. So it is useless for me.

I use open office on mac, myself.

If GIMP was a replacement then surely it wouldn't matter if you could open photoshop native files?
Out of interest, is it a potential replacement in terms of capabilities?

 

[bulevardi]

About GIMP, well... I have tried it and trust me, it is not a Photoshop replacement. It only would if it could open flawlessley Photoshop native files and it doesn't. So it is useless for me. Unfortunatelly I have TONS of complicated layered Photoshop files that I have to revisit every now and then so...

Of course you can't open native photoshop files in Gimp.
Same as you can't open Gimp's native .xcf in photoshop.
In this way you can degrade PS the same way: Photoshop is not a Gimp replacement, it's useless.

I used to use Photoshop for years, but the last 2-3 years I've been using Gimp with most of the same features and I'm still enthusiastic about it.
If you learn to use it decently, you can do the same with it.
I even programmed a few macro's with it in scheme language. In PS, you can record these actions more easily, I admit.


As for photography, I still haven found a good RAW converter in Linux.
Still balancing between RawTherapee and DarkTable, but a lot of perspective corrections I do in ACDSee aren't as good as in the Linux Raw converters.

 

[bulevardi]

However, about music recording in Linux.

I have a backup pc with Ubuntu Studio installed and can't get the recording working...
Used a Behringer link cable and a Sonuus i2m cable.
The problem with my configuration is the JackD settings and the connection in Ardour where you have to plug all the ins and outs right. Why can't it just work plug n play like in windows? Why all these settings?

I once got a setting where it worked to record in Audacity, but don't know anymore what I did to get it working.
In the future, when I have more time puzzling with this system... I hope to get my Linux system work for recording. Until now I still rely on Windows :s

 

[DM60]

However, about music recording in Linux.

I have a backup pc with Ubuntu Studio installed and can't get the recording working...
Used a Behringer link cable and a Sonuus i2m cable.
The problem with my configuration is the JackD settings and the connection in Ardour where you have to plug all the ins and outs right. Why can't it just work plug n play like in windows? Why all these settings?

I once got a setting where it worked to record in Audacity, but don't know anymore what I did to get it working.
In the future, when I have more time puzzling with this system... I hope to get my Linux system work for recording. Until now I still rely on Windows :s

You will find not all interfaces are true USB 2.0 compliant. I have a Presonus, it works, Tascam, is doesn't. Using Linux for recording really comes down to the interface. Even in Windows and Apple, I think most have to have some type of driver to get all of the features and performance. Too few people for manufacturers to worry about Linux.