First Linux DAW

[wjl]

My daughter (still 15, but soon 16) used to use UbuntuStudio on her old machine, now she's using plain Ubuntu (LTS version) plus KXStudio repos on a newer notebook (Dell with i5 and 8GB or RAM). She plays piano.

I myself use Debian stable with the KXStudio repos added (and repository means that you're still using the same package managers, you just have more sources from which they draw updates). I play bass (used to have a fretless only, now both fretless and upright).

If you're ok with the fact that falkTX decided - like UbuntuStudio did as well - to *not* upgrade the current stable systems with Ardour 6 (now 6.3) rather than 5.x (currently 5.12), and if you prefer making music to just constantly tinkering around with your system, then both approaches - UbuntuStudio as well as Debian/KXStudio - will turn your system in a very nice and usable audio workstation.

I've tried Ardour 6 on Windows, and Reaper on Debian, tho that is in no repositories. Both are good, both are useful, do I need them? I don't think so. But that's just me, ymmd as they say.

I've also tried other distros (like the Arch-based Manjaro) to try out things, well yes these are nice too, but I'm so used to 'apt' that for me Debian is - and will stay - the way to go.

Standard Gnome desktop btw, no XFCE or other 'smaller' one like UbuntuStudio is using. Works just fine. Sonarworks takes a bit of resources on my old Core i5 (4th gen), but ok it is what it is.

Hope that helps,
Wolfgang

[wjl]

P.S.: just as I was writing this post above, my RSS bookmarks got upgraded, and now http://planet.linuxaudio.org/ lists https://ubuntustudio.org/2020/10/ubuntu ... -released/ (using KDE Plasma) as the latest news...

P.P.S.: my latest recording using my setup as described above, with a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 2nd gen interface is on:
https://www.wikiloops.com/backingtrack-jam-200491.php

[grooveman]

You have all given me some things to mull over here... I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to share your input. Thank you.

I think for openers, I will probably just start with AV Linux, get my feet wet with all the solutions that it has to offer, then worry about building my own environment... There is much to learn, and this will allow me to focus on the musical solutions rather than tending to the OS. Once I get them down, I'll probably tear it all apart and rebuild. The suggestion to have a separate partition to store my projects is a good one. I have actually purchased a whole separate SSD for that purpose -- so hopefully, when the time comes, I can upgrade "around" it, and still keep most of my tweaks and settings (and of course, my projects).

Thanks again for your input.

G

[sysrqer]

:

• Figure out which distro you want to be your base. AV Linux and Debian are solid choices but I am sure KDE Neon can be one too. I think there is an user here that is doing just that. @sysrqer maybe?
• Boot it live and give it a test ride before installing. Try to install the software you need. Can you get the stuff you need at the version you want? Does it work alright? Any dodgy functionality in the system? If so, can you find how to fix it online?

Yeah i sure am and I think KDE Neon is a really good choice. KDE isn't really heavy these days and I recently did some tests with it against fluxbox and awesomewm, mainly related to CPU usage, and while there was a very slight difference, in reality it was really minimal. I find Neon to be very stable and light.

[grooveman]

Yeah i sure am and I think KDE Neon is a really good choice. KDE isn't really heavy these days and I recently did some tests with it against fluxbox and awesomewm, mainly related to CPU usage, and while there was a very slight difference, in reality it was really minimal. I find Neon to be very stable and light.

That is great news, as Neon is slowly becoming my favored distribution (for desktops, anyway). After I get a grip on all the goodies in AV linux, that is probably the base I'll work with.

[Gps]

I'm old school and think of a DAW -- a digital audio workstation -- as hardware. I wonder when exactly Cubase or Ableton started describing themselves as DAWs.

Although I also call LMMS a DAW, I fully agree with you.

Strickly, both LMMS and Cubase are not a DAW.


Maybe a pc with Cubase or an Atari ST with Cubase is a Daw?

The good old days ? were Cubase only had an Atari and a Mac version.
No pc / dos version, probably because the pc of that time could not handle it

The Motorola 68000 chip in de Atari and Mac, is a 32 bit processor internally, with 16 bit communication to the world outside.
Pc cpu were 8 bit at that time if I recall right.

Then Intel came along, Motorola could not stay ahead or even keep up.

[grooveman]

But when I looked over the packages at included in KX studio (https://kx.studio/Repositories:Applications), I was surprised to see that Hydrogen was not among them.

I am not sure that page actually lists all available packages. I would browse the repos directly:

https://launchpad.net/~kxstudio-debian

Seems like hydrogen is there: https://launchpad.net/~kxstudio-debian/ ... buntu/apps, but seems to be version 0.9.7 (current is 1.0.1). I am not too sure how to properly browse the packages one the web as it is not evident to what package your apt query might resolve to.

First, let me state, I appreciate your input. I played with AV linux a bit, and it is great, but I'm now trying KXstudio on KDE Neon.

I do see it listed on the web page you are talking about, but when I look at the listed packages in the repositories in /var/lib/apt/lists, I do not see it anywhere but the main ubuntu repositories. I have grepped through all the sources there, and it is only listed as a dependency in a couple of the KX repos: There isn't a build for hydrogen. So I either did something wrong, or I don't think that page is what you think it is..., and I'm leaning toward the latter Just to be thorough, I searched (grep and vi) for carla and cadence, and I did find them in the appropriate kx repos. No sign of hydrogen (other than the ubuntu main).

Just FYI.

[CrocoDuck]

There isn't a build for hydrogen. So I either did something wrong, or I don't think that page is what you think it is..., and I'm leaning toward the latter

It might just be that apt resolves to the hydrogen in the Ubuntu repos. That would happen if the package in the Ubuntu repos has higher version number than that in KXStudio repos. As far as I can tell Ubuntu main seems to have version 1.0.0, while KXStudio seems to have 0.9.7.

Or, the KX Studio hydrogen package is not available for your Ubuntu version. But I am not a debian apt expert.

The page is the home of the KXStudio repositories on launchpad, as you probably have guess by its url being in the commands you use to add KXStudio repos to your system, at least according to the documentation, assuming that it is up to date.

[uns4ph3]

I use Manjaro KDE and love it for audio production. Every LV2 plugin I want is there, most current version - I pay for ardour and zrythm so I always get their precompiled binaries. Only lv2 plugins I have downloaded were EQ10Q (because to get it to work in ardour you need the version from the site) and Vital.

[Baggypants]

Maybe a pc with Cubase or an Atari ST with Cubase is a Daw?

I remember we called them sequencers, DAW came with the Atari Falcon that could record audio to a Hard Disk with Cubase Audio

If you worked with audio clips you used a tracker.

[folderol]

Maybe a pc with Cubase or an Atari ST with Cubase is a Daw?

I remember we called them sequencers, DAW came with the Atari Falcon that could record audio to a Hard Disk with Cubase Audio

If you worked with audio clips you used a tracker.

Shhh! Don't let the kids hear you say that. They'll think we are cheating them out of what they are entitled to

[Gps]

Maybe a pc with Cubase or an Atari ST with Cubase is a Daw?

I remember we called them sequencers, DAW came with the Atari Falcon that could record audio to a Hard Disk with Cubase Audio

If you worked with audio clips you used a tracker.

You are totally right

I have been thinking for a while about what the AtariST with Cubase was called, it was called a sequencer.


It's what I love about LMMS and such. The money I did not spend on hardware synth(s) , a drum computer and a midi box.
I remember looking for second hand synths to connect to my Atari, but those prices.

Ones borrowed a Yamaha DX7 and hooked it up to my AtariST with Cubase.
To become rather disappointed to find out the dx7 is not polyphonic ?

I could only play back one instrument at a time.

Edit:
Small correction.
The Yamaha DX7 is polyphonic, but its not multitimbral.

[Baggypants]

My Dad picked up a Roland D110, it was magnificently multitimbrel!