Windows DAWs on Linux Mint?

[Mister Mint]

There's no standard wine, you just have an old version of it. The rt patched versions, as far as I remember from the patches, are not drastically different.
I think if you install the kxstudio version it should uninstall the mint version.

Forgot, I have wine set to Windows XP but I don't remember this being set for any particular reason.

Wine devs advice to leave it on XP unless the Windows program specifically require a higher Windows version.

Thanks. Yes the RT version replaced the Mint version, and now I've set it for XP, and indeed Podium seemed to work now. At least I could import and play a wave file, but when I made a change in the MIDI setup, it crashed. And wouldn't start again, crashes the moment I try. However, from what I saw I agree it appears very unintuitive, so mayby I'm not missing much anyway.

I don't use midi files in the way you describe but I just tried it out in ardour I can't reproduce your problem. If I import a midi file, I select a different instrument from the import box an that is what is used for all the tracks that midi file opens. If I import again then the instrument I chose is now selected as default. I don't really understand what you mean about setting the send/output of each midi track and a bus. If you import the midi tracks with none selected as the instrument then you can send them to all to a bus with a multichannel instrument very easily with the routing matrix. I'm not even sure if this is what you mean though, why do you need to send the midi to another bus to hear another instrument? I can't think how this would be any different is any daw, the daw can only use the instruments you tell it to use.

Well, just to reproduce my old problem I have installed the new Ardour 5.3.4 (before I had 4.7, so things may have changed /improved), but now I can't get any sound at all, neither midi or audio. In the Audio/MIDI Setup I have chosen JACK, as instrument in the import box Calf fluidsynth, and all the connections seem right, but no sound..

Daws are some of the most demanding and complex pieces of software you could use. Running that in an emulation/compatibility layer of another operating system which is maintained by volunteers is never going to be as smooth as the OS it is meant for. Wine has got pretty good in the last few years but it's asking a lot to do such a task. That said, people do run windows daws. I heard that the reaper developer actively works to ensure that reaper works well in wine. These days though there is little reason to need to run a windows daw, I can't really think of anything that can't be done natively in linux.

Thanks for the information. I did wonder how it would be so seamlessly to run a windows daw in linux, but I understand it isn't necessarily so.

[rghvdberg]

Did you load a soundfont in calf fluidsynth ?

[Mister Mint]

Yes I did that.

[rghvdberg]

Do you get sound from other Jack apps ?

Maybe it's a misconfiguration with Jack.

[Mister Mint]

Not that I'm aware of, but I just tried today, and now there's sound again Don't know what happened.

Ardour 5.3.4 has changed since version 4.7, and so has my old problem, because now when I import a midi file, then in the import box I can select another synth than "Reasonable synth" for the whole file (all its tracks), but even without now having to select this for each track I will still have to select a soundfont for each track. With other daws you can have a soundfont as default, so you don't have to select it for each track, each time you import a midi file, just to hear something. But apparantly with Ardour you can't do that.

Another thing with Ardour is that you can't apply an effect to an audio clip directly with processing so that the wave form changes in the track. You have to first "bounce with processing" and then find the bounced clip in a very confusing list and place it (the right place) in the track, which kills the workflow totally. And there are many other small irritating things in Ardour which all sum up, but it looks like they keep improving it, so I will certainly keep an eye on it

[sysrqer]

Another thing with Ardour is that you can't apply an effect to an audio clip directly with processing so that the wave form changes in the track. You have to first "bounce wuith processing" and then find the bounced clip in a very confusing list and place it (the right place) in the track, which kills the workflow totally. And there are many other small irritating things in Ardour which all sum up, but it looks like they keep improving it, so I will certainly keep an eye on it

Select the region with the cursor tool and right click, consolidate with processing.

[Pablo]

I will still have to select a soundfont for each track.

You can save a preset in the calf fluidsynth plugin (I guess you are using that) once you have loaded the soundfont and use that preset for the other instances of the plugin in the rest of the tracks. It seems to save some time although it is not the solution you want.

Another workaround is to simply remove the plugins from all the tracks except one. Configure the plugin for one track (load soundfont or use preset) and copy to the others. Removing plugins is very fast in the mixer window, just use "Shift + right click". To copy a plugin from a track to another one just drag it.

Another option is using a template with some MIDI tracks and the calf fluidsynth plugin with the soundfont already loaded in all of them. Before importing select the MIDI tracks (use shift or control for multiple selection) and use "import to selected tracks" but no plugin synth in the import dialog. I haven't tried this last option as I rarely need MIDI in ardour but it could be the solution for you.

it looks like they keep improving it

Yes, but note that users' comments are important to improve usability. However, here at LM they get lost. I suggest you should use the forums, IRC channel or user's mailing list where the developers and other users will take note and/or help you. There is also a public "bug tracker" where you could make a feature request. Ardour has a lot of cool things that are not obvious at first.

[Mister Mint]

Select the region with the cursor tool and right click, consolidate with processing.

Yes, but afterwards you have to find the processed region in a long confusing list and then replace the original region with it, which is hopelessly cumbersome to me.

You can save a preset in the calf fluidsynth plugin (I guess you are using that) once you have loaded the soundfont and use that preset for the other instances of the plugin in the rest of the tracks. It seems to save some time although it is not the solution you want.

Another workaround is to simply remove the plugins from all the tracks except one. Configure the plugin for one track (load soundfont or use preset) and copy to the others. Removing plugins is very fast in the mixer window, just use "Shift + right click". To copy a plugin from a track to another one just drag it.

Another option is using a template with some MIDI tracks and the calf fluidsynth plugin with the soundfont already loaded in all of them. Before importing select the MIDI tracks (use shift or control for multiple selection) and use "import to selected tracks" but no plugin synth in the import dialog. I haven't tried this last option as I rarely need MIDI in ardour but it could be the solution for you.

Thanks very much for these tips. They certainly make things easier, especially the second one (the third one doesn't work for me), I wasn't aware you could just copy-drag a plugin like that. But unfortunately, after 4-5 copies Ardour becomes extremely slow, and I can't continue In general Ardour seems very heavy /slow; just to start up takes about 8-10 seconds, and to switch between the editor and mixer window, which I have to frequently, takes 2-3 seconds. Maybe it's just my computer, but my old computer (with same cpu and only 2 gb ram) didn't have this problem at all with XP + Sonar. But perhaps Linux is just in general slower than Windows, I will soon try the daw Mixbus which also has a Linux version, then I can compare. And of course also Reaper, through Wine.

it looks like they keep improving it

Yes, but note that users' comments are important to improve usability. However, here at LM they get lost. I suggest you should use the forums, IRC channel or user's mailing list where the developers and other users will take note and/or help you. There is also a public "bug tracker" where you could make a feature request. Ardour has a lot of cool things that are not obvious at first.

Oh yes, I know the IRC channel / chat, you get excellent help there. I didn't know about the "bug tracker", which sounds like the perfect place for my little personal "complaints" and requests, - I didn't want to "spam" the IRC channel with that

[sysrqer]

Select the region with the cursor tool and right click, consolidate with processing.

Yes, but afterwards you have to find the processed region in a long confusing list and then replace the original region with it, which is hopelessly cumbersome to me.

Please try what I explained, do every step. It writes in place as you want it to do. You want consolidate not bounce.

[Mister Mint]

Oh I see. Thank you Never knew of this "consolidate" function, and I wasn't in the Range mode, so I had to google it first. Seems others have had the same problem earlier, eg. viewtopic.php?t=12476 but maybe it's a relatively new function. Anyway, - good to have it

[sysrqer]

It took me a while to find it as well and I used to feel exactly the same about finding it after bouncing.