Anybody recording on a Linux based PC?

N

NRS

New member
I've finally decided to take the plunge and give Linux a whirl. Just orderd "Freespire" and "Ubuntu" off ebay (as I'm on dial up and cant DL anything that large). I mainly just wanted it to go online with cause I'm tired of dealing with Microsofts endless security issues and any alternative that keeps Windows offline forever is a godsend. (Music programs are resource hogs enough without some Widows virus running in the background).

Anyways, I plan on setting up Linux to dual boot with Windows from the same PC but will probably still be depedant on Windows for some time to come due to all the specialty software I already have invested in it such as audio, video, graphics, and gaming titles. I really dont yet know exactly what Linux is already capable of in these departments though.

So....anybody Multi Tracking on Linux?
If so, what Linux version?
What hardware/software are you running with it?
How does it compare?
 
I'm nowhere near the heavy hitting studio guys that hang around here, I'm just recording solo guitar...but I've been using Linux forever with zero problems. I use Audacity which is more than sufficient for laying stereo tracks (it will do up to 16 at once). I installed Ardour just to look it over, but it is way more than I need. I wouldn't know what to 'punch-in' :) I also played with Jamin which is Ardour's mastering app - nice multiband compressor, 200+ band equalizer, limiter and other stuff. Jack is very cool - it lets you graphically connect ins and outs of most audio apps together.

The best way to start out is to snag one of the distros built for music. You can boot them from CD. If you have enough memory than running from CD until you make the leap to full install will work with little latency.
Distro list is here
 
  • Like
Reactions: NRS
Cool deal, Thanks!
Looks like a better situation than I'd hoped. I suspect it's going to run some of these programs even faster than what Windows would too since Microsofts OS's just keep getting ever more bloated. It can probably even run some of it on a bit less than the usual minimum hardware specs too. Cant wait to try.
 
Well expect 0 support for software, and 0 support for drivers. I evaluated dynbolic which is supposed to be the "audio/visual" build and it was crude at best. The only good device driver that came with it was for my midi controller. 3rd party drivers for the Delta soundcard that I was testing with required hours of patching and reading documentation to get working. Beyond all the hardware issues, there were no plugins of any real use and the whole exercise was a waste of time since I was looking for a mixed audio and midi rig and the linux offering didn't even come close in either department. Linux looks promising as a DAW platform but as it stands, it has a long way to go. Jack is in it's infancy and there is still no standard driver format comparable to ASIO.

Without a fast Internet connection for hunting down documentation and software updates, you are probably wasting your time and money.
 
I've been messing around with Linux seriously for the first time recently, and there is a pretty steep learning curve. I have worked in the IT field as a PC/Network technician, network analyst and server administrator for the last 10 years and there is still a learning curve!

There is cool Linux toy out there called Knoppix. It is a completely self contained bootable CD that will boot your PC into Linux with internet support without touching your hard drive. Anyone thinking of swithing to linux should take that on a test run. It really is pretty cool, but there things that are simple to do and set up on the PC can be a hassle. That was my only gripe with Linux.
Amra
 
I use Linux quite a lot at home and in my day job, but I would never advocate it to anyone for home recording. The wide array of hardware available to you for home recording may take hours and days to get working if you're lucky enough to get it working at all.

I think you'd be better off fixing your Windows issues, although I don't understand why you're having problems with 'security'. Lock down your system properly and you won't have issues.

//edit : I just noticed you're on dial-up. If so, seriously, forget it.
 
I spent a week trying to get Ardour on Linux to work for me. It was the most frustrating week of my life! I had almost unlimited access to the main guy at Ardour and the guy that wrote the device driver for my Lynx One card. It never did quite work right, and I could only record at 16/44.1, and couldn't use the digital I/O or the midi I/O.

I downloaded so many patches and fixes, and new versions of drivers and updates, etc...

Let me tell you what, I run stable as hell on XP. I don't have spyware/viruses running in the background, and I don't even run a damn anti-virus app!

Windows is dangerous if you are FOOL and open any file sent to you by people you don't know. If you can remember to do and/or not do a few SIMPLE things, your Windows experience will be much nicer:

1 - Don't open attachments without running them through a virus check. You do NOT have to run a full time virus check app. You can just fire it up and have that app check your attachment only.

2 - Update Windows. Complain all you want about doing this. The fact is that a lot of problems get fixed later, and if you aren't keeping Windows up to date, then indeed you are vulnerable to problems arising. It should be noted that Microsoft is NOT always the culprit of problems too! MANY software developers do not design their software to run properly on Windows.

3 - You can free up CPU cycles by simply turning off the eye candy crap on Windows, and your computing experience will be much more enjoyable if you do. Turn off all the auto this and that crap, and you will find a VERY smooth running OS.

4 - Anybody still dealing with dial-up and complaining about anything computer should be shot! ;)
 
I messed around with it for a while, but ultimately got nowhere. The Knoppix idea is a really good one for those who want to get a taste of what Linux is like. If you have high speed internet you can download it. You could also buy a copy of one of the Linux magazines that feature a different Linux distro every month (they come with a CD or DVD).

I had a hell of a time trying to configure a Firewire audio interface and never resolved that problem even with step-by-step instructions I found online. And I'm not bad with computers, having built several, fixed many problems, etc.

The other thing was that I tried to do a dual boot system. Windows did NOT seem to like having Linux around and caused me no small amount of headaches.

I plan to try again at some point but with a computer dedicated to Linux or at least a way of switching out my Windows hard drive completely and switching in the Linux hard drive just before boot up.

And I might buy a book on Linux too, but I doubt that will help much for audio interface configuration.
 
Hmmmm, well I guess it wont be such a walk in the park then. Thanks for all the feedback guys. Just having Linux to surf the internet and keep Windows offline will be good enough for me though. I didnt really expect to replace it. I do hear the learning curve is much easier on some distro's of Linux vs others. The Freespire one I'm getting is supposed to be one of the most Windows like.

As of now for security measures I usually install Windows XP twice in the same HD (one goes online and one does not) which pretty much accomplishes the same thing, but even then, the online XP one always gets corrupted at some point even with security software installed and rather than fight it or restrict what I do on the internet, I just prefer to do a complete reinstall every now and again when things get too sluggish. Primative, but it works.
 
I've used Linux on and off for years, I think the first time I tried it was in 4th grade (hey I had some friends, just no interest in sports), It's neat. I guess.

I still can't see it ever, ever, being used in widespread enviorment and in the way of recording, well I don't know, it's a small niche but there is a lot of hardware out there to support and small groups of people can't create support for all of that equipment fast enough to make it be up to date.

Don't get me wrong, I like Linux (hell im doing a report on Linus Torvalds (as I do every year) currently in school), but really only for servers. (and actualy I always felt (Free/Open)BSD is the way to go)


As long as you pay attention to what you do, use a good virus software (Mcafee Enterprise, without all those stupid GUI's that slow everything down and try to sell you updates) thats configured to update, and don't install anything stupid there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON why windows should preform poorly. Computeres ARE logical and do not suddenly/magicaly/on their own mess up. People complain about it because of their own mistakes. Granted my recording machine does sometimes have errors, but that's becuase it's got a bunch of other shit installed on it since I like using it day to day.


And no I'm not a Microsoft fan boy by any means.


-jeffrey
 
I'm using it for everything but a couple games.

I'm setting up a website as sort of a "Linux for Artists" at http://www.track100.com - bear in mind that it is off line at the moment (hardware problems and I'm on vacation) and currently has no real content besides a message forum.

I'm running slackware 11 with an Edirol FA66 using the freebob (soon to be renamed) drivers.

It's no SONAR 6 or whatever but it kicks the crap out of SONAR 3

Dyne is privative because it's 'Rasta-Soft' and meant to run on junk PCs. Ubuntu Studio is slated for april...and I think there will be huge swing to that.

The 'hard part' is real time processing. I use set_rlimits but most use a preemptive kernel with low security.

Driver wise if it's listed on ALSA it should be plug and play... actually pointing audio to it without JACK could be tricky :) But the extreme flexibility of Linux does tend to get in th way for new people... a lot of newbs are looking for SONAR replacements which don't exist... because everything is modular.... Ardour/Audacity for audio, rosegarden for midi... and whatever JACK compliant app for whatever else.

Another problem is that it's a different OS. I bought XP when it came out and it took me a good couple weeks to get it reliable (not solid) with my Q10. Linux has the same setup issues...it's just faster for me. ...plus I don't spend three hours a week on maintenance.

As far as support goes, it's generally better in linux because you don't dick around with some level 1 highskol dropout... Linuxquestions.org is very good for 'linux questions' and most other projects have a forum or mailing list that the developers frequent. I'm no coder myself but I've never had a problem with getting answers and fixes...

Of course you do have o research your equipment beforehand but most of the top stuff is supported. If skeptical ask around for known good systems.
 
that's a lot negative about linux

Just so there is some positive - as I said, I just use a few apps. Ardour seems to work but I know diddly about daws. Here is a screenshot of my computer taken a few weeks ago - runs fedora core 4, 2 gigs of ram. m-audio 2496 soundcard (you can see the mixer in the background). Here is a description of what's going on in this screen:
Upper center (GTick) is a metronome app,
down at the bottom is a Jack control,
upper right are the jack connections:
mytune is an audio file being played by eca
the output is going to the jamin mastering app.
The outs of the mastering app are going into the soundcard (alsa_pcm).
Hooking apps to each other in the Jack window is all drag and drop programming.

There is an terminal window at the bottom, I think it is probably running the eca program. I usually hook a couple of reverb plugins into eca. I could also play 'mytune' in eca, hook it to jamin and then have the output of jamin go to another instance of eca and put plugins there, then hook the second eca to the soundcard. This second instance of eca would show up automatically on the jack control screen and I would make the new connections by dragging lines around, just like patch cables (anyone still use those?).

This is one of four windows - I switch using the vertical toolbar on the left. Other windows are running browsers and email stull.

Windows whatever is probably great for this stuff and a musician should do whatever is easiest. However, anyone who has a spare computer shouldn't have much trouble. The main thing is to make sure your soundcard (actually the chip inside the card) is supported. A detailed list is here.

OS comments are always fraught with danger - but there were so many negative comments, and I know of several people, including full studios, that use nothing but linux (for example, here) , I just thought you should know :)
 
Last edited:
Nobody has mentioned Studio To Go! - maybe because it's a commercial linux distro? Tried the demo and everything worked out of the box - I got three sound boards in my PC: Audigy 2, SB Live! and integrated crap board. Every one of them was recognized, and the software were working like a charm. Version 2 coming up, planning to buy it. http://www.ferventsoftware.com/

But I suggest try make your PC dual-boot, use Windows and learn to use Linux. I took the hard way and threw my Windows install CD away four years ago. No regrets. Now I have everything that I want to make music, I haven't paid a single euro (though I will donate to Ardour) and I've learned more from the operating systems, software and hardware.

The songs "She's not a human being" and "Marshall" recorded with Linux and software made for Linux: http://www.myspace.com/esalinna
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top