Should I compose music on linux?

[Eino]

I work strictly from MIDI. The only issue I have is everything from the score editor sounds flat, lacking dynamics, and sounds mechanical once it's exported as a MIDI. But you do get an idea what it will sound like when a human plays the score. As to real listening quality music it's not there.
Gee, I think, I said this before.


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[frabato56]

Well after about a month of noodling around I see that I can't do the things I've been doing in windows on the gnu/linux operating systems. I've since swithed from cubase, to notion4 + reaper which I'm liking even more. The main problem for me is that I can't get orchestral samples anywhere near the quality of miroslav philharmonik or the vsl samples that come with kontakt to run on linux, not for free and not for money. So I'll keep doing what I'm doing on windows. The last piece I did can be heard here:
http://www.youngcomposers.com/music/lis ... el-graves/
However, that doesn't mean that I can't branch out and try some new things. For those of you who said, "don't bother", I think that you were right in that linux doesn't want to do what I'm used to doing and what I like doing. However, to those of you who were encouraging, I also thank you. I discovered tango linux which I'm using right now. I also have kontakt running under wine which keeps me from booting into windows every night just to have a decent piano sound while I play along with my Jamie Abersold cd's.

Linux sound and music software can do incredible things, but it is not a drop-in replacement for the Windows music apps stack

So the idea is not to try to do things with linux that are best left to some of the very nice apps that run on windows. But I checked the "original scores and recordings" section of this forum to see what what can be done on linux and it seems that there are a lot of interesting directions to go. For example:
https://soundcloud.com/davephillips69/c ... and-csound
So, while I won't be giving up my windows setup anytime soon. I will start trying to get my feet wet with things that work well in linux. I'll be starting another thread asking for recommendations for programs to get started with.

Thanks again for all of the replies and help!

[StudioDave]

Linux sound and music software can do incredible things, but it is not a drop-in replacement for the Windows music apps stack

So the idea is not to try to do things with linux that are best left to some of the very nice apps that run on windows. But I checked the "original scores and recordings" section of this forum to see what what can be done on linux and it seems that there are a lot of interesting directions to go. For example:
https://soundcloud.com/davephillips69/c ... and-csound

IMO the best things in Linux audio are the synthesis/composition environments, but that has most to do with the kind of music I write. Csound, SuperCollider, RtCmix, Pd, OpenMusic and others have rich software ecosystems with GUI front-ends, editors, external libraries, plugin support, and other amenities.

For track arrangement and acoustic recording I use Ardour3. For MIDI sequencing I use an ancient DOS sequencer that runs beautifully under DOSemu. The flute part in the Cadenze was composed in Sequencer Plus, the rest of the sounds were created with AVSynthesis (a Csound-based composition environment). Everything was finally arranged in Ardour. I used LilyPond with Frescobaldi to score the piece, btw, but the flute part needs edited for playability.

If you look through my SoundCloud stuff you'll notice that I write in a variety of genres, including blues, pop/rock, and modern classical styles. I use Linux exclusively for my work, and have done so for ~15 years. I've been composing with a computer since ~1985, starting with DOS, moving to Windows, and eventually Linux in 1995.

So, while I won't be giving up my windows setup anytime soon. I will start trying to get my feet wet with things that work well in linux. I'll be starting another thread asking for recommendations for programs to get started with.

Welcome to the world of Linux music and sound ! Feel free to ask any questions, the folks here are pretty good about assisting newcomers.

Thanks again for all of the replies and help!

Why we're all here.

Best,

dp

[StudioDave]

I work strictly from MIDI. The only issue I have is everything from the score editor sounds flat, lacking dynamics, and sounds mechanical once it's exported as a MIDI. But you do get an idea what it will sound like when a human plays the score. As to real listening quality music it's not there.

MIDI tracks must be heavily massaged with tempo changes and dynamic control to come close to a realistic performance. If your sequencer is capable enough you can achieve a decent approximation of a real performance, but you'll need tempo control at the 16th-note or even the 32nd-note level. For a piece with consistent tempo I write a small tempo loop, perhaps six or seven 16th-notes in length, with a tempo change per 16th. Thus, I make a sequence of bpm entries like this: 120-121-122-121-120-121, each value occurring on a single 16th-note. The loop acts to disturb the rigidity of the MIDI clocking, loosening the performance for a more realistic feel.

I also use similar methods for pieces with many tempo changes.

Dynamic changes can often be applied to groups of events, but for best results you'll need to go in and edit velocities by hand, note by note. A daunting task, true, and very effective.

Best,

dp

[Eino]

Dynamic changes can often be applied to groups of events, but for best results you'll need to go in and edit velocities by hand, note by note. A daunting task, true, and very effective.

Not really worth it to me, I just print out the music, and play it.

[nils]

Not really worth it to me, I just print out the music, and play it.

But you cannot play it if it is too hard for you. Composing music that is too hard to play for a human but still musically logical and pleasent-sounding is not a corner case. You want fine control for playback in these cases as well.

[mike4711]

I compose orchestral / crossover / neoclassical / cinematic music on Ubuntu 12.04 with no problems at all using a combination of commercial and free libraries.

Host software is Acoustica Mixcraft. Commercial. Runs perfectly on wine.
Garritan orchestra. Commercial VST. Runs perfectly on wine in Mixcraft. Fantastic sound.
Sonatino symphonic orchestra. Free soundfonts. Medium quality.
Plus some orchestral sounds which come with Mixcraft. Some are not bad at all.

I tried the demo of miroslav philharmonic which can be downloaded from their web page but it didnt work, such a shame as it seems great and has a good price tag. The plugin loads but only shows a tiny window with no controls. Has anyone got this library to work on wine?

Is anyone using the Spitfire libraries on wine? Expensive though. Which commercial libraries with a price tag under $150 work on wine? Embertone.com seem great but requires Kontakt(5?). Some of their stuff requires the full version and not just the player I think. Has anyone run kontakt on wine?

[Veerstryngh Thynner]

Hi Trabato and everyone else!

MuseScore is the composing tool I have learned to appreciate most, on Linux. But it still only accepts one note at a time - and that's really cumbersome, occasionally.

I have KDE on my laptop and Ubuntu 12.04 (in dual boot configuration with Windows) on my desktop.

tnob

[DepreTux]

Hi, I just came by this http://rosegardenmusic.com/tutorials/su ... index.html

It's a tutorial on how to handle multiple staffs properly with rosegarden. It may be useful for someone reading through the forum. Good luck!

[asbak]

Does anyone know of any decent orchestral samples in any of these formats? Free or commercial would both be fine with me.
Thanks!

Try find a copy of Vienna Symphonic Library. It's in .gig and should work with linuxsampler. It may also work with Carla which has support for .gig files.
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar04/a ... vienna.htm

Virtual synth / sampler / effects rack - Carla from KXStudio. DSSI instrument / effects plugins can also be run in Rosegarden.

For scoring, take a look at Denemo, they also supply a packaged version which contains lilypond (notation software output) and can easily be extracted and run on a Linux system.

Sequencing duties, perhaps Rosegarden?

A quick and dirty way to get a "reasonable" sounding Yamaha Grand Piano (this is by no means good enough for releases but more than adequate for home use, composing etc) is to download a copy of the Fluid R3 GM soundfont collection, to let Carla detect this and to use Carla to host Fluid R3 GM module whilst you can send MIDI to it from Rosegarden or a MIDI controller via a suitable jackd compatible soundcard.

http://www.synthfont.com/SoundFonts/FluidR3_GM.sfArk
http://www.synthfont.com/soundfonts.html