O
ormm
New member
Is any one using linux for recording? I tried it last week and I think it is far better than comercial apps and costs nothing.
What do you think?
What do you think?
MichaelM
New member
I think the tools are getting there but it isn't there yet. Ardour is looking more promising. I generally prefer Windows as a desktop system anyway. Out of curiosity what exactly are you comparing? Saying linux is better than commercial apps doesn't really make sense..
P
prestomation
New member
I used to be a linux head myself, but Linux isn't quite there yet as a DAW. It didn't support my soundcard(SteinbergVSL2020), but I would probably try it if it was ever supported.
Fenderville
New member
linux still has a ways to go
giraffe
i love negative rep
it's a better, more solid system.
but the average lenix user has to be way more informed than most computer users.
and not that many people write for it.
but the average lenix user has to be way more informed than most computer users.
and not that many people write for it.
Chris Shaeffer
Peavey ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I touch in with Linux evey couple years- have been sice kernel version 1.0.23, I I recall correctly. I just set up a small Linux network at work for some less critical computers (dontaed hardware) to save the cash on MS products.
My current take:
- OK, its WAY better than it has ever been.
- Its a very useable home/home office/server/etc. kind of system. Kicks butt as a server, actually.
- Its audio interface support... sucks. Its been a long time since I tailored ly interface to my computer...these days its the other way around. Still, I believe it does have support for a range of popular interfaces (a lot of M-audio, at least.)
- Ardour doesn't hold a candle to most commercials apps, yet. Its good, it works... but its still clunky and unstable. n-track beats it, IMO.
It'll work, but as giraffe said you have to be *way* more computer adept to use it- and I'd *much* rather spend my time making music.
Chris
My current take:
- OK, its WAY better than it has ever been.
- Its a very useable home/home office/server/etc. kind of system. Kicks butt as a server, actually.
- Its audio interface support... sucks. Its been a long time since I tailored ly interface to my computer...these days its the other way around. Still, I believe it does have support for a range of popular interfaces (a lot of M-audio, at least.)
- Ardour doesn't hold a candle to most commercials apps, yet. Its good, it works... but its still clunky and unstable. n-track beats it, IMO.
It'll work, but as giraffe said you have to be *way* more computer adept to use it- and I'd *much* rather spend my time making music.
Chris
J
johngaltnh
New member
Linux for Audio
First, two disclaimers. I'm not a Windows guy - I work almost exclusively in Unix and Linux, so I can't compare stuff to Windows. Second, I'm not a professional recording engineer. So keeping this in mind, I'll share what I have learned.
For recording at home, I use the Agnula Linux distribution, which is a free Linux distribution that uses a kernel that is custom-designed with real-time features for low latency audio applications. It comes with all of the standard Linux audio applications and comes in two flavors - a Red Hat based distro and a Debian based distro. This can be downloaded for free from www.agnula.org.
Before setting up a Linux-based studio, I studied the soundcard support matrix at http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/ because good quality audio cards are expensive and making an unsupported audio card work in Linux requires a PhD in rocket-science. Looking at my budget and supported suitable cards, I use the M Audio Delta 44 (4 in/4 out breakout box), and it works fine. My computer is a 2Ghz AMD with 256M RAM and 2x40 gig hard drives.
The Agnula distribution comes with Ardour, a full-featured recording/mixing package; Ardour, a virtual multitrack recorder/editor; Hydrogen, a drum sequencer; Rosegarden, a multifeatured MIDI composer; and numerous other programs. Since these are the most likely to be used, I'll review them here.
ALL of these programs are GUI based, and ALL of them suffer from intermittent crashing problems. While I am not a professional recording engineer, I *AM* a professional Unix engineer, and these crashes are not a result of improper system configuration, but rather lie with bugs in the software. Sometimes you can use one of these programs for three days and not have a problem, and other times it'll crash (losing any unsaved data) by just using the mouse. I use all of these programs, and on average, I experience about one crash weekly between the four programs. I won't mention this problem when referring to each of the four packages below, but it IS there!
Audacity is a sort of multitrack recorder complete with sound effects plugins and the ability to cut/paste within tracks, etc. About the only problems I see with it are a bug with recording that only lets you record in stereo and a latency issue because it doesn't use the same technology (called "JACK") that the other programs here use. It has tools for correcting the latency issue by allowing you to time-shift tracks easily. Once you've recorded your mono track in stereo, you can split the track into two mono tracks and discard the one you don't want. Audacity is well-documented and extremely easy to use.
Ardour is a combination multitrack recorder (with infinite busses!) and mixer (complete with FX) that contains practically the entire kitchen sink. The biggest problem with Ardour is that, for such an extremely complex piece of software, it is very poorly documented. There is a very incomplete Wiki online. The authors keep promising to write a manual and make it available for a fee, but the unpaid pdf version of the manual I saw was not only very incomplete - it is only about 1/3rd done - but every sentence (literally) contains a scrambled word, usually a long one, making reading the manual a chore; especially for people unfamiliar with audio recording terminology. Beyond this, though, Ardour is a very well-endowed program, works with no discernible latency, and is a real joy to use once you get it figured out.
Hydrogen shares Ardour's problem with sparse documentation. Other than that, though, it is an incredible program that allows you to load up various drumkits and even make your own, apply up to four effect to each drum with individual settings, humanize the performance by varying velocity, etc. A person who understands drumming woould have an easier time with this than I did, but now that I've got the hang of it I sound like a pro! Hydrogen lets you export your performances as stereo *.wav files that can be imported directly into either Ardour or Audacity.
Rosegarden is described as a MIDI sequencer, but I think of it as a music composition program. Combined with soundfonts and a softsynth (such as Qsynth - included) you can drag and drop notes into measures on a standard 5-line staff (actually, a separate staff for each instrument) and compose anything you'd like while applying any number of effects, etc. You can export this as a MIDI file that you turn into an audio file through a command-line softsynth called "Timidity." Of course, Rosegarden also interfaces with Midi instruments, etc. Because of the versatility of this program and the ability to use it with self created soundfonts of yourself playing an instrument, you can create performances indistinguishable from human. This program is pretty complicated, but it's the sort of software that you can figure out the basics intuitively, then the rest comes as needed.
In spite of the poor documentation and crashing problems, since I am NOT a professional recording artist, I am quite satisfied with using the Agnula Linux distribution for doing my recording/mixing/composition/etc. I just make extra sure to hit the "save" icon regularly!
Hopefully, this helps.
First, two disclaimers. I'm not a Windows guy - I work almost exclusively in Unix and Linux, so I can't compare stuff to Windows. Second, I'm not a professional recording engineer. So keeping this in mind, I'll share what I have learned.
For recording at home, I use the Agnula Linux distribution, which is a free Linux distribution that uses a kernel that is custom-designed with real-time features for low latency audio applications. It comes with all of the standard Linux audio applications and comes in two flavors - a Red Hat based distro and a Debian based distro. This can be downloaded for free from www.agnula.org.
Before setting up a Linux-based studio, I studied the soundcard support matrix at http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/ because good quality audio cards are expensive and making an unsupported audio card work in Linux requires a PhD in rocket-science. Looking at my budget and supported suitable cards, I use the M Audio Delta 44 (4 in/4 out breakout box), and it works fine. My computer is a 2Ghz AMD with 256M RAM and 2x40 gig hard drives.
The Agnula distribution comes with Ardour, a full-featured recording/mixing package; Ardour, a virtual multitrack recorder/editor; Hydrogen, a drum sequencer; Rosegarden, a multifeatured MIDI composer; and numerous other programs. Since these are the most likely to be used, I'll review them here.
ALL of these programs are GUI based, and ALL of them suffer from intermittent crashing problems. While I am not a professional recording engineer, I *AM* a professional Unix engineer, and these crashes are not a result of improper system configuration, but rather lie with bugs in the software. Sometimes you can use one of these programs for three days and not have a problem, and other times it'll crash (losing any unsaved data) by just using the mouse. I use all of these programs, and on average, I experience about one crash weekly between the four programs. I won't mention this problem when referring to each of the four packages below, but it IS there!
Audacity is a sort of multitrack recorder complete with sound effects plugins and the ability to cut/paste within tracks, etc. About the only problems I see with it are a bug with recording that only lets you record in stereo and a latency issue because it doesn't use the same technology (called "JACK") that the other programs here use. It has tools for correcting the latency issue by allowing you to time-shift tracks easily. Once you've recorded your mono track in stereo, you can split the track into two mono tracks and discard the one you don't want. Audacity is well-documented and extremely easy to use.
Ardour is a combination multitrack recorder (with infinite busses!) and mixer (complete with FX) that contains practically the entire kitchen sink. The biggest problem with Ardour is that, for such an extremely complex piece of software, it is very poorly documented. There is a very incomplete Wiki online. The authors keep promising to write a manual and make it available for a fee, but the unpaid pdf version of the manual I saw was not only very incomplete - it is only about 1/3rd done - but every sentence (literally) contains a scrambled word, usually a long one, making reading the manual a chore; especially for people unfamiliar with audio recording terminology. Beyond this, though, Ardour is a very well-endowed program, works with no discernible latency, and is a real joy to use once you get it figured out.
Hydrogen shares Ardour's problem with sparse documentation. Other than that, though, it is an incredible program that allows you to load up various drumkits and even make your own, apply up to four effect to each drum with individual settings, humanize the performance by varying velocity, etc. A person who understands drumming woould have an easier time with this than I did, but now that I've got the hang of it I sound like a pro! Hydrogen lets you export your performances as stereo *.wav files that can be imported directly into either Ardour or Audacity.
Rosegarden is described as a MIDI sequencer, but I think of it as a music composition program. Combined with soundfonts and a softsynth (such as Qsynth - included) you can drag and drop notes into measures on a standard 5-line staff (actually, a separate staff for each instrument) and compose anything you'd like while applying any number of effects, etc. You can export this as a MIDI file that you turn into an audio file through a command-line softsynth called "Timidity." Of course, Rosegarden also interfaces with Midi instruments, etc. Because of the versatility of this program and the ability to use it with self created soundfonts of yourself playing an instrument, you can create performances indistinguishable from human. This program is pretty complicated, but it's the sort of software that you can figure out the basics intuitively, then the rest comes as needed.
In spite of the poor documentation and crashing problems, since I am NOT a professional recording artist, I am quite satisfied with using the Agnula Linux distribution for doing my recording/mixing/composition/etc. I just make extra sure to hit the "save" icon regularly!
Hopefully, this helps.
A
asulger
Member
I use Linux - fedora core 4 currently, and ecasound to record, audacity to edit.
Hint - run ecasound as root to get pre-emptive scheduling and latency or dropouts aren't a problem, even at 24/96.
I'm just recording / mixing 2 tracks of audio. Haven't used windows since 3.1. It feels good
Here's a good resource that has been kept up to date for years:
http://linux-sound.org/
Hint - run ecasound as root to get pre-emptive scheduling and latency or dropouts aren't a problem, even at 24/96.
I'm just recording / mixing 2 tracks of audio. Haven't used windows since 3.1. It feels good
Here's a good resource that has been kept up to date for years:
http://linux-sound.org/
Chris Shaeffer
Peavey ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Agnula is definately the way to go for Linux recording. I have it installed on my PC and play around with it every now and then when I get bored with Pro Tools. I really want it to work well, but to be honest I spend too much time fixing computers at work to have the patience to give it the attention it needs at home.
Thanks for the great info, John. And welcome aboard!
-C
Thanks for the great info, John. And welcome aboard!
-C
Alexbt
New member
I have too many problems with Windows PCs and Cakewalk especially to want to use them for recording.
To this day I can't understand why recording one track with a few other tracks playing on some multiple Ghz PC laptop should ever konk out when I've done things on different Macs with Deck or Cubase with far less processing power or RAM, and even 4200RPM drives.
[/rant]
In short, Windows and/or Cakewalk is far too bloated to be useful to me. I support the Mac OS and Linux.
To this day I can't understand why recording one track with a few other tracks playing on some multiple Ghz PC laptop should ever konk out when I've done things on different Macs with Deck or Cubase with far less processing power or RAM, and even 4200RPM drives.
[/rant]
In short, Windows and/or Cakewalk is far too bloated to be useful to me. I support the Mac OS and Linux.
MichaelM
New member
Thanks John. I think the problems you mention are common amoung most open source apps. It's just that writing documentation is a lot less exciting than building the program...
I also don't really like the usual windows systems (kde, gnome) on *ix but I like the power of the console. I use Solaris just about every day at uni, and have a Suse dual boot for if I really need some linux programs (not that often with cygwin). It just isn't the way I want to work with audio.
I also don't really like the usual windows systems (kde, gnome) on *ix but I like the power of the console. I use Solaris just about every day at uni, and have a Suse dual boot for if I really need some linux programs (not that often with cygwin). It just isn't the way I want to work with audio.