European Commission Sponsors Linux Audio Distribution

krez writes: "Lately I've been looking for info on open-source audio recording & processing software. Not an easy task really: Suites like Brahms for KDE, and GLAME for Gnome are a good start, but I've yet to find a program - or a series of programs - that even approach something as comprehensive as Cubase or Cakewalk on those other platforms. Anyway, here's something that might just prove to be a good start. The European Commission is sponsoring a distribution called AGNULA (A GNU/Linux Audio distribution). The distribution will come in two flavours: Debian-based, and RedHat-based. You can read about the project and it's goals at http://www.agnula.org." The Debian side of this project is called DeMuDi, and it's been mentioned here before.

Didn't find any alternative

[ben_]

Well, call me a heretic (and some will!) but I've recently moved back to Windows XP from Mandrake for almost exactly this reason; I could find no way to run any sort of decent sequencing/audio recording package on Linux. And I tried them all, every single OSS program I could find via Google, via Freshmeat...
It seems that lots of people appreciate the basics of audio work, (I'd hate to give up sox, even under Windows) but when it comes to:
* support for a *decent* soundcard, with multiple channels and digital I/O.
* low-latency audio monitoring during record
* sync of MIDI and audio
* up to 24 tracks
* plug-in realtime effects
* automation
...etc, there's nothing that comes close to Logic Audio. So reluctantly, I now have a completely XP-based desktop.

Now, another possible response to me is; "don't send complaints, send source code!". First, I'm not complaining, just observing. Second, yes, I could probably write such a package BUT, I'd need to work around the myriad of Linux audio systems, to research low-level drivers for the specialist hardware that decent cards use... it would take me years. By the time I had something usable I would have forgotten how to play guitar!

ben

Re:Didn't find any alternative

[Yohahn]

Take a look at ALSA [alsa-project.org] and the project I mention below, Ardour [sf.net]

Re:Not Exactly A Win For Linux

[pfb]

I didn't realise that the European Commission was a "major corporate" entity...

from the EU website [eu.int]

European Commission The European Commission embodies and upholds the general interest of the Union. The President and Members of the Commission are appointed by the Member States after they have been approved by the European Parliament. The Commission is the driving force in the Union's institutional system: It has the right to initiate draft legislation and therefore presents legislative proposals to Parliament and the Council; As the Union's executive body, it is responsible for implementing the European legislation (directives, regulations, decisions), budget and programmes adopted by Parliament and the Council; It acts as guardian of the Treaties and, together with the Court of Justice, ensures that Community law is properly applied; It represents the Union on the international stage and negotiates international agreements, chiefly in the field of trade and cooperation.

Rosegarden-4

[root_42]

Apart from Brahms there is another nice Sequencer/Note editor for KDE -- Rosegarden: http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/rosegarden/index. html [all-day-breakfast.com] It is based upon the old (ugly, Xaw) Rosegarden 2.1, which is also available on the above site.

Re:Didn't find any alternative

[Paul Komarek]

I had no real problems with finding *decent* soundcards for a professional pianist two years ago. In the end, we chose the Midiman M-Audio Delta-66 (and had the machine custom built by Microway -- we'd probably build it ourselves this time). Other nice cards from RME (like the Hammerfall and Digi96 series) were also available. Between the cards supported by 4Front [opensound.com] and ALSA [alsa-project.org], there is really no shortage. This was less true two years ago, but we had no troubles. I guess the M-Audio isn't really high-end, but it is clearly *decent*. We were on a budget for the machine, so going over $600 for the soundcard wasn't really an option.

The M-Audio Delta series are pretty nice. The analog inputs and outputs are contained in a separate breakout box, which makes connections easier and helps reduce electrical noise. The pianist has found the noise levels acceptable for mastering with a good headphone amp and headphones. Ambiant fan noise, on the other hand, is something we never really solved (and hence the headphones), but at least that's not a linux problem. ;-)

The pianist had never used linux before, and by now is something of a zealot. =-) He's been using snd for waveform manipulation (but doesn't use any of the lisp extension capabilities, and I can't blame him for that ;-), and has expressed some frustration at the software available. That said, he hasn't updated his software for 2 years, and thus I have no good information about the current state of affairs.

-Paul Komarek

If Free as in beer is what you're looking for...

[haggar]

and you do need a kickass MIDI sequencer, I suggest BeOS + Sequitur. [angryredplanet.com] It does not have all the features of Cakewalk (I miss expecially the score) but it does have other special features of it's own, like for example processing filters and filter editing (for new filters), but there are many more.

There are many more good audio tools on BeOS. One more recommendation is XRS [lycos.it], a groove station, similar to FruityLoops. I composed this song [mp3s.com] completely in XRS, using just the built-in software synths.

Re:editor and console?

[Chris Cannam]

fdsa:

define a piece of music by defining what note to play at what time with what instrument, but also what sample to play where, and where what lyrics go.

jcn: So you didn't even have a look? This is actually what LilyPond does

No, surely fdsa is right -- Lilypond doesn't really begin to address anything performance-related, and "performance-related" covers a vast amount of instrument, audio and interpretational stuff that a quick reference to samples doesn't begin to cover.

Lilypond can describe most of the data that a classical composer or a non-electronic performer would be interested in, but it's not a performance tool, which seems to be what "defining what note to play at what time with what instrument" is asking for. Lilypond and Csound squished together would be more like it, but only if you were happy to be working entirely in Csound synthesis.