have you considered developing a ghost phone with your software to alow the dead to call the living with voice dialing, i’ve done a little bit of research into it and its acheiveable, thomas dolby discovered that there are certian places on the earth where the dead can be heard with a tape recorder and with modern psionics it is posible to recreate these energy feilds to alow cross dimensional communication dead to living, are you down for a little occult scientist network administration, like honestly i live in the same house as my dead grandpa and it would be great if he could call his living relatives up, maybe you could throw the ideal around the office or something maybe even come up with a skype plugin or something

Now, the only thing I really hope is that it’s nothing but a prank. Otherwise someone is bound to have his/her head examined.

Several days ago Harrison Consoles released new version of Mixbus — their Ardour-based digital audio workstation. The thread at Create Digital Music progressed quite a bit since I looked at it first, and I’ve just discovered that Paul Davis, Ardour’s lead developer, joined in and, probably not realizing it, provided the best explanation why software projects need design architects who listen to all opinions, but think about big picture first:

“Background: in the 10 years I’ve worked on Ardour, it has been my experience that listening too carefully to any one person’s experience with a given piece of technology always tends to be misleading. We have heard from people who tried Ardour and found it mostly unusable. We have others who have had years of experience with Logic or PT who find Ardour much more functional for them. Both these points of view are right, and its taken me a long time to realize that once a tool becomes even remotely complex (possibly at the point where there is any user choice at all), there’s no way to make that tool be the choice of all possible users. So these days, while I try to listen very carefully to the reports I get from people who have issues when using the software, I’ve learnt to not take anyone’s verdict (e.g. “its much harder to use than Logic”, “its ugly”, “its not mature yet”) as a comment about their specific working style and the way that Ardour fits into it rather than anything more general.”

If you take any big free software project, especially one that you bend your production workflow around, you’ll immediately stumble into X vs. Y battles. This is inevitable, but one needs to understand that any software developer who tries to please everyone usually ends up pleasing nobody, because complex software is always about vision, and visions are never shared by all of the human race, HIG or no HIG.

Now, the fun part is that Novation Bass Station actually uses a different way to register a license and it Just Works™: I got it registered, sound output works, presets work etc. As for Focusrite suite, the very nice people at Focusrite tech support replied that they were very sorry, but they couldn’t do anything about it, since Linux isn’t officially supported, be it hardware or software made by the company.

So, what does it tell us?

1. VST seems to allow arbitrary license registration mechanisms, some work on WINE, while others don’t.
2. WINE does not guarantee 100% working VST and VSTi. In fact some plugins will even crash your host.
3. Given p.2 it’s quite understandable that Paul Davis doesn’t want to make VST support in Ardour a priority and makes its support entirely optional.
4. Audio hardware vendors en masse are still not ready to embrace Linux community as much as they embrace Windows and Mac users, even though some of them provide specs and hardware for programming drivers.

Here comes reasoning for the last bit. When you run FFADO mixer for the first time, you get a dialog where FFADO fills some basic info on your Firewire audio interface and allows you to post some comments. This information is then sent to developers of FFADO, so they actually know how many devices were acquired and successfully run on Linux using FFADO. As of October 2010 Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 (the one I have) and 40 are used by just 30+ people on Linux. Obviously, it doesn’t justify the cost of production of native software.

(Well, actually recompiling VST(i) for Linux is not exactly rocket science, but then you don’t have many hosts that support native VSTs anyway.)

There also seems to be a problem with advanced features and devices. Focusrite hasn’t given information on DSP from the Pro 24DSP modification to FFADO developers saying that the amount of users isn’t large enough just yet. I’m guessing that this is because they have IP on that DSP they don’t want to give away so easily, even though it’s basically just a convolution reverb with a fancy software attached. More or less the same applies to TC Electronic.

Conclusions:

1. Since some vendors are friendly enough to provide specs and hardware, we’ve got to keep working with them. Many of these vendors are well-known and respected: Echo Digital Audio, Edirol, Ego Systems Inc, Focusrite, Mackie, Terratec, BridgeCo and TC Electronic. Thanks guys. Being friendly towards Linux community was one of the reasons I chose Focusrite (for same reason I wouldn’t touch MOTU with a ten feet pole who are rather nasty towards us).
2. We need to work with indie-developers of VST effects and instruments. They can be very nice and supportive people (refer to news item from Nov 30, 2010).
3. We’ve got to keep improving LV2 as a complete native virtual effects and instruments SDK for Linux and support it fully in all major hosts.

Well, should there be some audio taskforce in WINE?

As a matter of fact, the whole product line of Native Instruments and Propellerhead already works on Linux without any hackarounds (as far as I can tell with demo versions), so does Ableton Live (I couldn’t register Lite 8 though) and of course Reaper works too. There also exists wineasio which is reported to work (um, I haven’t tested it yet, so use your own judgment). All in all, if you use an OS mostly for running sound/music apps, you already have familiar production tools available, minus official technical support.

On the other hand lately we see some nice native commercial products coming to Linux: Renoise, energyXT, Pianoteq, Guitar Pro. Chances are that we are going to see some more familiar names in the years to come. Unless everybody moves to Web, of course

And now the big question: is there a reason we should be hot about running proprietary music production tools on Linux, or have we already got there with free/libre tools? Stay tuned for another rant

Right now we have several Python scripts to parse .rx2 files and dump contents to stdout. There is also a stub of the spec that we intend to fill ASAP with what we already know. If you have a licensed copy of Propellerhead ReCycle (that is the primary authoring application for REX2) and you want REX2 supported by free audio tools, don’t hesitate to join.

The request for REX2 spec originally came from Paul Davis of Ardour fame, so we expect Ardour to be the first application to support REX2. All the work happens in Gitorious: http://gitorious.org/re-lab/audio.

You probably already heard about loudness war and definitely have experienced that yourself unless you are hearing impaired. If you haven’t, go check Wikipedia.

Lately someone noticed that Steinberg, developers of a very popular audio editor called Wavelab, say exactly this of loudness:

“One of the most important steps in the mastering process is to enhance the loudness of a track. Loudness is the listeners’ individual perception of sound levels caused by an audio signal. In commercial productions, high volume levels are an important factor. Unprocessed songs are likely to be too quiet, which is disappointing if songs are published on radio or TV, where louder songs might attract more attention.”

Okay, that’s marketing team talking really. Surely youth thinks along the same lines, eh? Young and clueless, eh? What do they know, right? Well, wrong. This is what Tutsplus wrote in their own take at loudness war just a couple of weeks ago:

“The only real solution is for everyone to turn the volume down. For everyone to co-operate. And that’s a big job. There are no worldwide Volume Police to enforce this. There are no fines for over-compression. There is just the love of music. We all need to agree that dynamics are worth fighting for.”

You nailed it, guys.

While answering a related question at ubuntuforums.org yesterday, I thought it would be unfair to make this list available to linuxsound.ru users only. So here is the English version, pure and unadorned, with few pictures.

Alchemist. Creates data for Korg Triton (Classic, Le, Rack и Studio). Converts Triton’s and Trinity’s PCG and SNG files to “classic” Triton data, and MIDI — to Triton sequences. Not updated since 2003.

AllianceHD. Sound files converter and organizer for Alesis Fusion 6HD/8HD workstations. A Java application with code available in SVN only.

E-SeXy. MIDI controller for KORG Electribe ESX-1 sampler. A Qt4 application with source code only in SVN (11 revisions). Compiles and runs.

Ensonitron. A Java application to read and write files and soundfonts on media formatted for Ensoniq.

ESMDI. A console tool to receive and send samples via SMDI protocol (used by e.g. E-Mu ESI4000), based on OpenSMDI library.

EWItool. Qt4 based patches editor for a popular breath MIDI controller Akai EWI4000s. Not updated since 2008, compiles and runs fine.

FB01 Sound Editor. Needless to say, this is Qt based patches editor for Yamaha FB01 synth. Rather active project, officially it’s Windows only, but in fact the app compiles and runs under Linux as well.

Fx FloorBoard. A set of Qt based patches editors for Boss GT sound processors — GT-6B and Gt-10B (bass guitar), and also GT-3,6,8, Pro and GT-10 (solo guitar). It’s a very active project whose developer, sadly, doesn’t number releases.

gdigi. Patches editor for footswitch controllers by DigiTech. The developer apparently attempts to create a substitution for X-Edit (native DigiTech software). Supported models: RP250, RP255, RP355, RP500, RP1000, GNX3000, GNX4K.

GR33 Librarian. A Java application to edit patches for Roland GR33. Abandoned in 2003.

Groovebox Manager 303. Controller for Roland MC303 sound module. Abandoned in 2002.

JVTool. A Qt2 based patches editor for Roland JV, abandoned in 2002.

korg-kontrol. A Ruby-based native mode Control for Korg’s Kontrol49 and MicroKontrol.

KurzFiler. A Java editor for Kurzweil files (.krz;.k25;.k26) from K2000 and K2500 models. Mysteriously this project was updated only last year (most Java apps here are long abandoned).

launchpad. A C library and app to interact with Novation Launchpad.

libpcg. A Qt/C++ library and demo application to handle PCG files used by Korg workstations.

libvs2. A library and console tool to work with disks created by Roland SP-808 Groove Sampler. Work wasn’t finished, there is some code in SVN.

MC09Edit. A Roland MC-09 Phraselab controller based on Jucetice framework.

ME-Edit. Patches editor for Boss ME-25 and Roland GR-20.

MPC Maid. A Java app to control Akai MPC 1000, MPC 2500 and MPC 500 samplers.

mtXcontrol. LED Matrix editor written in Processing to create multiple frames sequences easily. So far Novation Launchpad and the 8×8 RGB LED Rainbowduino Controller are supported. The guy also wrote a Processing library (based on this Ruby lib, apparently) to deal with the Novation Launchpad.

Nano Basket. A PyGTK configuration tool for the Korg nano MIDI controllers.

Nomad. Patches editor in Java for Clavia Nord Modular and Micro Modular synths.

NyMPH. Patches editor for Clavia Nord Modular synth. The code (C#) is only in SVN so far.

Open Electribe Editor. A Java tool to create and organize data for Korg ESX-1. So far contains a samples editor and there was some ongoing work on songs editor.

piemaker. A Ruby interface for the Novation Launchpad.

ppc. SysEx editor and controller for E-MU Planet Phatt, Orbit, Carnaval.

prodatum. Patches editor for E-MU Proteus 2000 family of synths. Supported rack modules: Vintage Pro, Audity 2000 (v2), Proteus 2000, Proteus 1000, B-3, XL-1, Virtuoso 2000, Mo’Phatt, B-3 Turbo, XL-1 Turbo, Mo’Phatt Turbo, Planet Earth, Planet Earth Turbo, Proteus 2500 and Orbit 3 Keyboards: Vintage Keys, PK-6, XK-6, MK-6 and Ensoniq Halo Command Stations: PX-7, XL-7 and MP-7. Supported keyboards: Vintage Keys, PK-6, XK-6, MK-6 and Ensoniq Halo. Supported control stations: PX-7, XL-7 and MP-7.

qtpod. A Qt based UI to control Line6 POD 2.0 and POD Pro sound processors. last updated in 2006, needs either older Qt or patching.

QXGEdit. A Qt4 based app for editing MIDI System Exclusive files for XG devices like Yamaha DB50XG.

QXvEdit. A Qt4 based configuration tool for Roland XV-2020 synth module.

rmc505. Patch editor for the Roland MC505, D2, and Alpha Juno written in Ruby with Qt based user interface.

SonicCellLibrarian. Roland SonicCell sound module controller. The code is only in SVN.

SysExxer. A tool for sending and receiving SysEx messages. Was updated about a year ago, v0.4 wasn’t released (planned for January 2010), SVN needs fixing before you can build it. Supports some Behringers, Korgs, M-Audios, Rolands and Waldorfs. Edit: a fix is applied to SVN now after pinging the developer.

totalKONTROL. A controller for for Korg padKONTROL. Uses Qt and RtMidi, but curiously looks for windows.h, when you try to build it. So you might like patching it first

Yamaha DX7-II synth manager. Self-explanatory An active Qt based app with UI that needs some love and a working English translation, because default language is French.

ZoeOS. A controller for EOS based E-MU samplers. I didn’t really check if it compiles on Linux.

As you can see, quite a bunch of both aging and modern audio/MIDI hardware is supported on Linux. Of course, if all you need is seeing your keyboard banks in your sequencer, just import a ready to use bank or create your own one. Rosegarden, for instance, comes with, ugh, 147 banks: the Korgs, the Novations, the Rolands, the Yamahas and so on.

After so many years of geeky interfaces native effects on Linux don’t look like complete crap anymore

The upcoming version will also feature several equalizers (already in git), and the very next thing I’m going to do is build it with –enable-experimental to enable “50 small LV2 plug-ins made specifically with modular hosts in mind”. Jeez, you free software developers just don’t seem to be able to stop making us excited recently

In late 90s Dr. Jörg Anders created a free/libre musical score editor called NoteEdit. For some reason it didn’t get much acknowledgement which (but not only this reason) subsequently led to departure of Mr. Anders from the project which actually left the project headless for several months. Then it was picked by several guys who maintained it until ca. 2006 when they started a new project called Canorus.

Now Jörg Anders is back with a GTK+/Cairo application called NtEd which has two most anticipated features implemented: brackets and page layout. Here is an obligatory screenshot

1. There is something deeply wrong with the way record labels do their business and the way music is promoted.
2. Why not have a CD of freely redistributable music as an addition to a Linux distribution?

The first idea came from EXIT project — a music band that doesn’t restrict itself to any particular music genre, playing a fusion of them, often doing jam sessions with musicians who play from jazz to folk to rock music. They were the first to release their tracks under terms of OpenMusic license that was further reevaluated and turned into Free!Music declaration.

The second idea came from ALT Linux — a russian Linux vendor who started as Mandrake and SuSE distributor, then soon quit that business and started it’s own apt-rpm based distribution, doing solutions based on it, being involved into russian e-government project etc.

We had some participants from ex-USSR countries before, but recently the project has become truly international. Yann Bennoist, guitar wizard of famous Space band, who did session work with Mireille Mathieu, Michel Legrand, Patricia Kaas and others has joined us and published four tracks under terms of Free!Music declaration:

Feel free to checkout them, read the interview with Yann and listen to other songs. Oh well, and we have Internet radio playing all published songs 24 hours/day

Nah, and for those socialized — we have a last.fm group

This is an event for people who are interested in free and open source creative software on Linux and other computer platforms. It features workshops, talks and performances from free software developers and artists. The 2006 event is taking place at Limehouse Town Hall in London, England on Saturday the 25th of November. Highlights this year include:

• Andy Farnell presents a workshop on synthetic audio in Pure Data
• Steve Harris gives a talk on LV2, the new plugin standard
• Mutant electronic punk from Jamka, over from Slovakia
• Conor O’Tuama, recording acoustic music in Ireland
• Biomusic from Simon Egan, featuring plants and animal organs
• Live coding from Dave Griffiths and Alex
• A demo of the 64 Studio distro from Daniel James
• Olivier Laruelle and Chun Lee play with Desiredata
• Rob Munro remixes TV with Pd, Gem and OSC
• Karsten Gebbert and Evan Raskob

http://www.fave.org.uk/