Please share your gnu/linux music production setup

Discuss your workplace, instruments, amps, and any other gear.

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Linuxmusician01
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Re: Please share your gnu/linux music production setup

Post by Linuxmusician01 »

bulevardi wrote:[...]
My current linux setup:

Linux Mint (18.3 cinnamon) on a i3 processor, 6g ram
Reaper DAW (Linux version)
ModDuo (pedalboards)
U-He Hive (synths)
Focusrite solo usb interface.

Works like a charm !
Nice neat setup! Do you use Reaper for (virtual) Midi instruments like synthesizers too? Or do you mainly record guitar audio?
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Re: Please share your gnu/linux music production setup

Post by bluebell »

bulevardi wrote:
Michael Willis wrote: Nice cactus!
Thanks!
It's not a real one though, it's a ceramic one.
I first thought it was a dildo!
I thought it's a battery powered plastic cactus with a builtin microphone that wiggles/dances to music :)

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Re: Please share your gnu/linux music production setup

Post by mrz80 »

Mostly a guitarist, just launching into the whole "computer as studio" thing after successfully completing a rather involved arrangement for a Church program last Christmas. It was a bit of a steep learning curve, but it beat using a razor blade, scotch tape, and five billion photocopies of the sheet music! :D

Name: mrz80

Purpose: composing, arranging, learning, exasperating the wife :lol:

Main machine
hw: homebrew Phenom II X6, 12GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 1TB spinnydisk, MAudio sound card, Novation Launchkey 25, Akai LPD8
(I have a Macbook with a busted screen waiting in the wings for a screen repair and a RAM upgrade, if I ever get around to it)
(I don't have the space to set it up at present, but there's also my daughter's Casio Privia PX-310 up on edge in a closet)
Half a dozen guitars, and a MicroCube amp
audio: Cheap little Lepai amp, NHT SuperZero speakers at ear level
sw: Ubuntu Studio 18.04, Jack, Hydrogen, Rosegarden, Audacity, Qsynth, Padthv1, Amsynth, Synthv1, Bristol, VCV Rack (that last is an obsession all by itself!)
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Portable machine
hw: Acer Chromebook C720 snagged at a hamfest for $25, 2GB RAM, 128MB SSD
audio: whatever is handy where I am, usually either Sony MDR V150 'phones or the church's PA
sw: Same as above
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Re: Please share your gnu/linux music production setup

Post by Linuxmusician01 »

@mrz80: Welcome! :)

What DAW do you use to record your (guitar) audio with?
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Re: Please share your gnu/linux music production setup

Post by mrz80 »

Only time I've recorded myself was through the church's PA, pulling the house feed into Audacity with one of those little Behringer stereo USB bricks. Worked just fine.
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Re: Please share your gnu/linux music production setup

Post by thumbknuckle »

hey everyone, new poster but long time Linux audio user. I make my living as a live audio engineer and by playing bass in a couple steady bands and lots of freelance situations. I also compose and perform more esoteric music and do a lot of improvising gigs.

I have a modest project studio in my detached garage, here's what's out there:

The room is a freestanding 11'x17'structure with heavy, nearly soundproof, walls and extensive acoustical treatments.
The computer is a DIY system based around a quad core i5 processor.
The OS is Fedora 20 with the planetCCRMA packages and a lot of stuff built from source.
Audio input and output is by way of an M Audio Delta 1010LT wired to a Soundcraft Spirit LX7. I also have a Behringer XR18 but the Soundcraft/M Audio setup is what is always wired up and ready to go.
Monitors are KRK V8's with the matching V12 sub.
I record to Harrison Mixbus32C, still on version 4.
Charts are typeset with Lilypond.
I do a lot of stuff with Pure Data, prototyping on the studio machine and using a Raspberry Pi on gigs.
MIDI controllers are a M Audio Keystation and Behringer BCF2000.
I am an EMACS loyalist.
I program in Haskell with the ancient Hugs interpreter and in C with GCC.
I like Aqualung for listening to music, it's the only thing I've found on Linux that does gapless playback between songs.
Drums are a recent Sonor kit in bop sizes.
Guitar rig is a modded Traynor YBA-1 on an EVM12L.
My main bass is an early 90's Peavey Axcellerator V. Backup is a mid 2000's Peavey GV with a carbon fiber neck. I've got a few others but they don't get much use.
'Bass amp' is a Behringer XR12 or XR18 feeding either a power amp and a fearFul 15/6 or whatever powered speaker box is of an appropriate size for the gig. At the studio I'm usually direct in to the console and listening through the monitors.

Guess that's about it.

cheers!
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Re: Please share your gnu/linux music production setup

Post by GMaq »

Hi!

I'm a fan of your Thumbknuckle trio stuff you've posted on the Ardour forum in the past and I really liked your mixes!

Got any links to your music? That stuff needs to be somewhere!!??

Oh yeah and the Traynor YBA-1... I know 2 people still using them for bass amps... just keep popping in new tubes every few years, great amps for guitar or bass. I actually have an original Traynor Studio Mate that I modded into a new cabinet with an EV12L so I'm loving your taste in amps and speakers! :)
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Re: Please share your gnu/linux music production setup

Post by thumbknuckle »

GMaq wrote:Hi!

I'm a fan of your Thumbknuckle trio stuff you've posted on the Ardour forum in the past and I really liked your mixes!

Got any links to your music? That stuff needs to be somewhere!!??
Thanks man!

I have a Bandcamp page with most of my more 'finished' releases available here: https://bidicz.bandcamp.com/

and a Youtube page which includes most of that stuff and a bunch more casual things here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAplK0 ... osP64inokQ

Both of the Thumbknuckle trio demos are up at both sites.

GMaq wrote: Oh yeah and the Traynor YBA-1... I know 2 people still using them for bass amps... just keep popping in new tubes every few years, great amps for guitar or bass. I actually have an original Traynor Studio Mate that I modded into a new cabinet with an EV12L so I'm loving your taste in amps and speakers! :)
Old Traynor stuff is great, super well built with quality components. The YBA-1 is essentially a 50 watt Marshall plexi with just a couple different value components and an overbuilt output transformer. People have finally started to catch on but for a long time you could buy them for almost nothing.
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Re: Please share your gnu/linux music production setup

Post by VennStone »

Don't make much in the way of music but have learned quite a bit reading over the forums. This is my little setup for our podcast studio.

Homebrew audio PC: This box records with ardour and handles the mix-minus for three additional computers using netjack.
Ryzen 1700
16 GB RAM
Ubuntu 18.04
10GB Mellanox Connectx-2 SFP+
FCA1616 Firewire interface
Behringer MDX4600
ART TPS II preamp
3X Peavey USB-P
Eurorack UB2442FX-Pro
Xtouch compact
Image

Ardour running on the streaming rig (Debian 10.1) over ssh -X using the 10GB connection. From there it's routed to OBS using jack.
Image

All of the systems connected using Netjack.
Image

That's about it. Solid little setup that allows us to record a 4-person podcast. Six track in all. There is a gang of Blackmagic encoders and video stuff used for the the show but that's a bit off topic.

Cheers,
Venn
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Re: Please share your gnu/linux music production setup

Post by mrthraz »

Image

Audio Hardware:

Boss SP-505. this is a sampler / efx box

Roland SP-606. this is a sampler / efx box /16 pad controller / my audio interface

Korg MicroSTATION. cool synth that i love. i also use it as a midi keyboard

A Music Hall Turntable with pitch control since my samplers kind of suck at pitching.

Behringer Xenyx X1204USB. helps bring it all together.

Presonus Eris E3.5. this is what i can afford for monitors right now but they do the job. still have to get them up to ear level.

MXL.001USB MIC. one of my work horses. thank god for jack and alsa_in or I'd never get vocals into my machines

Laptop. Toshiba Satellite P845-S4200, CPU 1.7-GHz Intel Core i5-3317U which i upgraded to with 16 GB of RAM.
my wife donated it to me because she had broken the keyboard and gotten a new more modern laptop.
my desktop is just too loud to record lyrics with. i bought a replacement keyboard and some new ram for it and
now it's my baby. mobile production, no windows needed.


Image

Desktop. custom built 16-core Opteron, Desktop with 24 Gigs of ram.

its a tank and just doesn't quit it just runs everything i throw at it.

i love the thing but its super noisy so i can't record vocals with it on, which is why i have the laptop.

Image

here i am using it to run FL studio in WINE with an Akai Fire.

I use it if I'm pushing the envelope of what the lappy can handle production wise,

Or DJing with Mixmeister and My Numark Mixmeister Control.

Image

or if I'm video editing.

or drawing with krita and my Wacom tablet.

or animating with Synfig.

or just experimenting like when i found out how to use Ardour as a source for quick chopping with my
Roland SP-606.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SrO1A_982k


Image

most of the time I'm just having fun with my free and open audio software.
mixing and matching the strengths of the different software through JACK.

Linux Audio Software:

Ardour 5.

LMMS.

SunVox.

The Ocenaudio Editor.

The Hydrogen Drum Machine.

The Shuriken Beat Slicer.

The ZynAddSubEFX Synth.

Mixxx

KX Studio Utilitys



Wine Audio Software:

FL Studio 20 & Akai Fire.

Mixmeister & Mixmeister Control



what's left to acquire:



Behringer BCD 3000

X2 Numark CDX/HDX's

Replacement Mixmeister Control

cheap laptop for this rig.


i paid for FL and Mixmeister before i went open source as a platform and that's why i still have them but i don't need them.

I'm really happy.

i showed my DAW's to a fellow hip-hop producer in town and he tried to insinuate that as soon as i could afford it I'd go Mac
and be on NI Maschine before to long, he wasn't being a jerk, he was trying to be supportive. it was like he thought "look at this
guy making due with garbage. one day he'll have the best equipment."

i couldn't get it across to him that if i had the money i wouldn't do anything but donate to the projects that give me this stuff.

i don't want to be in the Apple/Native Instruments ecosystem.

I'm happy being in the GNU/Linux & FLOSS Audio Software ecosystem.

it gave me everything i asked for.
Last edited by mrthraz on Sat Nov 02, 2019 6:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Proprietary DAWS

  • FLStudio 21*Wine

  • Renoise 3.4

  • Mixbus32C

Open-Source Linux DAWS

  • Ardour 7.5

  • LMMS 1.30

  • Zrythm 1.0.0

  • Rosegarden 22.12.1

  • MusE 4.1

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Re: Please share your gnu/linux music production setup

Post by Linuxmusician01 »

@mrthraz : Neat setup! And never ever go Apple.
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Re: Please share your gnu/linux music production setup

Post by mrthraz »

Linuxmusician01 wrote:@mrthraz : Neat setup! And never ever go Apple.
oh i won't.

I Actually Have a MAC desktop someone gave me as payment for production work.

Image

i never use it outside tinkering with OSX so i can be better at my day job.

everything I've done, every bit of software and hardware has a purpose.

I couldn't buy a mac with the spec i need for my project and if i could i couldn't buy it for the
price i got it by building it myself.



I've been teaching myself how to use a lot of different Opensource equipment.

i need the power of my desktop and the flexibility of the opensource software to make my dream come true.

Music today needs Visuals to catch an audience

my other Hardware tools include:

• Wacom tablet
• Nikon d3100

and the Software.
• Blender
Does everything, I’ll use it to composite and edit video
• Synfig
Open source animation software
• Krita
Open source drawing and painting tool
• Mypaint
Sketch painting software
• Papagayo
Lip syncing software
• Gimp
Open-source pixel pusher


The goal is to make an album with no more than 15 songs of no more than 4 min.



All the songs will have accompanying visuals done as a "motion comic."

Look at GodKiller (the motion comic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a40401e7p4s&t=317s) and Quickie’s (PHOENIX JONES music video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN6NnP2mi60) for examples of animation techniques I'll be trying to to emulate. (i won't be trying to make smut like godkiller but the simple animation techniques is what I'm after)

to buy the software i would need to do this project..the cost would be prohibitive... but with FLOSS, i only need to worry about is teaching myself the techniques needed to express myself artistically.

Hell. with open social platforms like PeerTube and Diaspora*, promoting the my work once its done can even be open.

this is a great time to be a GNU/Linux guy and I'm all in.

Proprietary DAWS

  • FLStudio 21*Wine

  • Renoise 3.4

  • Mixbus32C

Open-Source Linux DAWS

  • Ardour 7.5

  • LMMS 1.30

  • Zrythm 1.0.0

  • Rosegarden 22.12.1

  • MusE 4.1

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Re: Please share your gnu/linux music production setup

Post by GordonS »

Hmm, OK. I have a little home studio and we do a few gigs, mostly for charity.

The Linux setup is on an AMD FX-4100 CPU on a GigaByte mainboard in a mini-tower, mounded sideways on a 19" rack tray. That may soon change to a proper 19" case, but I've decided the processor is OK. SSD drive for speed, HD for bulk.

OS: AVLinux. It just works very well every time I get a copy. Respect to gMac!

Focusrite Saffire Pro-40 (the earlier one that works on Linux) as an analogue I/O, but I'm wondering whether to retire it because I also have...

Soundcraft Ui24R mixer. Since I've had this magic box I've virtually not used the Saffire. The Ui24R is, IMHO, absolutely brilliant. It will record to USB drive and also works as a 32-channel sound card, which I can also then feed into...

Harrison Mixbus for mastering if I want automation, otherwise the Ui24R again.

24" touch screen, which is usually homed on the Ui24R web control, but I can swap desktops to other applications, e.g. Pianoteq, sequences, mixbus, ffado-mixer.

Kawai MP6, Korg M50, Microphones mostly by AKG.

iRealPro for practice and occasionally for gigging.

Yamaha DXR10 speakers.

Very old AKG K240 "Sextet" headphones (they must be from about 1980).

For a final OK of sound, I use My HiFi system: Tannoy Golds, Naim, Arcam.
For "small" listening, one of those small Bose conical things ... I can't remember the name. (yes I can ... Revolve)

At the moment the rack arrangement is a bit of a mess, but if I change that PC case and retire that Saffire, then the PC and Ui24R will fit neatly into my little Gator rack, with the screen on top on its angled support.

The room is basically rectangular with dormers, secondary glazed as partially isolated by a partition. Acoustics control is mostly carpeting, curtains and the odd hung-up duvet.
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Re: Please share your gnu/linux music production setup

Post by WforWoollyMammoth »

I've finally managed to put together a system that I'm (fairly) happy about. Took me, uhm, almost a year to put it together.

Computer hardware:
AMD Ryzen 7 2700, MSI B450-A Pro, 16gb RAM, Noctua coolers (had to mention the coolers - silent, effective - highly recommended!), NVIDIA GT710 (pretty horrible, but I like passive cooling on the GPU and having no additional fan noise)
-> I actually use only six of the cores on the Ryzen as that's perfectly enough and I'm hoping that I won't be having temperature issues either (none so far, but that might change with dust piling up inside the chassis etc.)

Audio:
RME HDSPe AIO as my main interface, RME Babyface Pro as the secondary
-> This might raise some eyebrows, but here's the explanation: I first got the Babyface Pro, but wasn't happy with its terrible monitoring configuration in the USB class compliant mode (and the I/O latencies aren't that great with the generic USB driver either). I got the HDSPe AIO 2nd hand and I far prefer it over the Babyface Pro. I've used the HDSPe AIO for some three months now and it seems to work well, despite it not even having an entry in the ALSA soundcard matrix and there having been conflicting reports on it in newsgroups and forums (I also got the AI4S expansion board and it works without problems as well). I'm planning to sell the Babyface Pro, but for the moment being I'm still using it as a mic pre and headphone amp.

MIDI controllers:
CME UF5, CME xKey
-> both work with Linux. I use the xKey really just for tinkering, but it's nice to have. I should replace the UF5 though, it hurts my hands to play it. There's something wrong with it's "semi-weighted" design, I think.

OS:
Ubuntu 18.x, Liquorix 4.19 kernel, LXDE / Openbox
-> I chose Ubuntu because of the vast amount of packages it has available. Previously, I was using Debian, but had to fight way too much when trying to install kernels or compiling software. Ubuntu seems to be the only supported distro with many plugin vendors as well.
-> the RME HDSPe AIO + Liquorix kernel combo works well, as the HDSPe AIO allows me to have lower latencies than any USB interface and, eh, it's nice to actually have the NVIDIA drivers work with the Liquorix kernel (I've heard the more recent Liquorix releases have had some problems though)
-> I love how configurable Openbox is. I use keyboard shortcuts for running scripts that handle JACK connections etc. Great for workflow!

"Paid software":
Bitwig Studio, Harrison Mixbus, bunch of Harrison plugins, LinuxDSP / OvertoneDSP stuff, U-he Presswerk / Colour Copy, some Venomode / Audio Assault stuff...
-> I'm probably forgetting something, but I try to support some of the companies anyway. I've also paid for some Windows VSTs and have used them with WINE, but I've been moving away from that due to the constant crashes when hitting higher CPU usage rates on DAWs. Regardless, WINE should be fine for mastering purposes etc.

A lot of the free stuff out there is good too. I just think that compressors and reverbs, in particular, should be "pro level" and allow you to get good results without having to spend hours trying to find just the right settings. The U-he Presswerk is awesome and I can definitely recommend it for anybody. The amount of controls it has is vast, but it's easy to get good results with Presswerk. The reverbs available for Linux aren't that great though and I've used WINE for the reverbs so far =/

+ Piles of hardware. Some of it I actually use, some of it is stashed in the closets. A lot of it is vintage (yeah, old and not in that great a condition :wink: )
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Re: Please share your gnu/linux music production setup

Post by Openmastering »

Nice setup @WforWoollyMammoth

I also have a Babyface Pro (among other RME soundcards) and I'm quite happy with it. Software monitoring works fine for me if I ever need to overdub.

I don't agree with you about free audio software being subpar. Setting up the a-compressor from ardour is as easy as setting up my hardware compressors. Calf plugins give you enough visuals. LSP plugins enough flexibility if you need to ask yourself if you need a linear phase filter or not. I use impulse response for my reverbs and it's not lacking anything. I can't say about algorithmic reverbs as I hardly use them. Except some plates for vocals but they never sound "real" anyway.

I bought all the DAWs and plugins you listed, (except Presswerk which is a dream compressor, I agree) and I went back to using exclusively free software (and diy hardware) for mastering. It's enough to get the job done.

Sorry if I come aggressive, it's definitely not meant this way. There are good reasons to use commercial softwares, I just went the route from free software because it's free(beer) to commercial software because I wanted to support the credibility of Linux as an audio platform, and back to free software because they are good enough to get a pro job done while being ethically on par with my beliefs.
Audio mastering for open minds: https://openmastering.studio
I master music using only free/libre softwares and DIY hardware.
Contact me for a free mastering sample.
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