Linux Fans?

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Duke of Stewed Prunes
Member Since: Jun 01, 2007

A pseudo follow-up to my last post...

Been contemplating a move to Linux as it's been billed to me as the end-all of personal computing, devoid of all of the crap that MS operating systems seem to be prone to dying over (including the need for a virus scanner).

Thoughts?

Also, if it IS regarded as a good platform, how about multi-track software or decent sequencers? My main concern in moving over is the loss of FL Studio, which I've used for years for backing tracks (drums specifically).

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Eat Spam before it eats YOU!!!
Member
Since: May 11, 2002


Nov 26, 2009 08:38 am

I use Ubuntu Studio with a couple additional pieces of software... haven't upgraded to the latest version yet though... probably this weekend...
ubuntustudio.org/


Once you learn how linux works it's very nice.... generally from a windows perspective linux is easier to learn than OSX... but OSX people find it extremely hard.

The main thing t keep in mind is that everything is modular ... so instead of something like SONAR where multitracking, MIDI sequencing, Mastering,etc are all self contained in one application... there's a variety of applications for each aspect and you pick your favorite for whatever you want to do and they all communicate with each other via a 'sound server' called JACK... which is sort of like ReWire.

Some of the popular applications are Ardour, Rosegarden, JAMin, Hydrogen.

The nice thing is that it's free so you can just install it and try it.


Prince CZAR-ming
Member
Since: Apr 08, 2004


Nov 26, 2009 08:41 am

Hoo-boy, is that a can of worms =)

I like Linux, for several reasons. Most of which don't relate nicely to the audio production world.

On the good side, it's usually more stable of OS, though that's slightly debatable. It is free, which is also nice. It offers you the ability to make your own kernal, so your OS can be even faster / stable / etc.

Ardour is a linux native app, for multitracking, which some people use, but others don't like (me included). I think it has a PT look and feel to it, trying to copy that program.

Wine runs pretty well in linux, which offers you the ability to run windows programs under linux.

There isn't any one linux. Many variants are out: Ubuntu is a large player for the general user market, and Fedora is quite big for business computing. OpenSUSE is popular, and many use that for an audio build. I've heard good things about AVLinux too, which has the RT (real time) kernal, i think. The RT kernal is usually wanted for audio work, though some working audio still use the normal kernal.

actually, here's a link distrowatch.com/ that you can see the distrobutions listed.

Not all audio interfaces are supported, as companies don't want to make / offer their drivers to an open source project. So some don't build drivers for their cards for linux, only windows / mac. So some developers have built their own drivers for X card. This is hit or miss, so you probably will have drivers available in Linux for your card, if it's a main-stream interface. My ESP1010 is supported, but I need to check for my US122, if I load my laptop with U.

I think there's a page with ALSA that shows what cards are supported.

Here's a good start: alsa.opensrc.org/index.php/Sound_cards

I'm playing with Ubuntu 9.10 right now, but I may not use it as an audio only platform. I have a laptop that I need to reload, so I may to X to get more in the flow of things. There is a Ubuntu-Studio build, geared more towards audio / video / graphics. I haven't looked at it in a while, but is certainly worth considering. I may use the US 9.10 build for my laptop, when I get to it.

Adding software is getting easier and easier, ubuntu now has software center, which proposes easy 'point and click' software installation. I haven't loaded a HD load of U yet, so i haven't checked it out.

Many on the reaper board run reaper in wine under linux. I hear it works well, so there's that angle. I know one guy in Russia that was having huge fits trying to orchestrate hundreds of instruments in Gigastudio, due to windows / Giga limitations with Ram. Once he converted to Linux / Linuxsampler (giga replacement, free) he could load over 200 instruments, and could use like 2.8g of ram for instruments without cracking. But, the process to make this happen was a long and ardous one. He had to tweak and recompile, ask developers for help, etc. But he got it to work, so there's that.


Another angle on the reap board, is that several people use Linux for all daily operations, internet, office stuff, etc., but use windows for audio work. There's been a ton of posts and chat about Linux (with reaper) over there. It's a 'back and forth' kind of thing, several are in support of linux / audio, others have backed away. It really depends on how much you like the OS philosophy, and how much you're willing to work at getting your rig to work like you want.

hth

Eat Spam before it eats YOU!!!
Member
Since: May 11, 2002


Nov 26, 2009 10:44 am

Quote:
But, the process to make this happen was a long and ardous one.


but it's probably a lot easier now because it's probably documented in an email list. :)

Thats probably the main difference for some people... if you want to do something bat-****-crazy it's atleast possible with linux... and if it isn't it's pretty easy to talk to the developers to ask to make it possible.



A small pie will soon be eaten
Member
Since: Aug 26, 2004


Nov 26, 2009 05:36 pm

If you want to have a go at Linux without re-building your current environment then you need to get onto virtual box

www.virtualbox.org/

This prgoram is a must have (and it's free)

Using this you can maintain your current Windows platform and test linux out to your hearts content.

The program effectively creates an image so you can transfer an entire OS from machine to machine with ease.

this way you can also install different Linux distributions to see what works best for you (although Ubuntu is the most likely)

Duke of Stewed Prunes
Member
Since: Jun 01, 2007


Nov 26, 2009 07:28 pm

Thanks to all of you for the feedback on this.

I'm going to have to pick through these links and try some of the virtual installs a lot of these distros offer to see if anything sticks.

Many thanks for the start and the viewpoints!

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