Good morning!

[light-vessel-2]

Hello. I was here a few months ago, but lost my login details. My email address has changed and I'm not sure my old account still exists anyway. So this is a fresh start.

I've been recording music for my own entertainment for quite a few years on and off. I've been using Linux (mostly Lubuntu) for about 4 or 5 years.

Recently, things have picked up as I've built a big, shiny computer, worked out a decent enough audio setup, and successfully got jack working without any real problems.

I enjoy using Linux because I am a bit of a nerd who likes using the terminal and writing scripts. (Anyone here not a bit of a nerd?) Where I haven't stretched myself is that I still use Audacity for most of my work. Audacity is brilliant if you like losing all your work and resetting lots of jack connections when trying to be creative.

As a musician, I play guitar, banjo, various other things with strings on them, tenor sax, flute, harmonica, kalimba and keyboards. Some of these I can play pretty well, others require a fair bit of editing with software to get them into shape. I'm a terrible percussionist. The only instruments I have ever given up on are trumpet and violin. I'm not sure if I can mention my soundcloud account here.

I will probably be here to ask more questions than I can answer, judging by the level of expertise there is around here.

[apathity]

I'm still mostly working with Audacity too because I send demos to people who're using some Windows DAW. So I have simple WAV tracks for each instrument in Audacity. But when you add more than 15 tracks or so it will be quite unstable. Seeing how long Audacity is in development it will probably never become stable enough for "real" work it seems.

Although I have recently compiled the "Non" set of tools (http://non.tuxfamily.org/) and am playing around with it.

[sysrqer]

I don't think Audacity was ever meant for what you guys are using it for. Just spend a few hours learning the basics of Ardour, it's very easy and stable for audio recording. There are some great tutorials here http://libremusicproduction.com/tutoria ... i-ardour-3 I guess you'll only want the last one though.

[Veerstryngh Thynner]

Hello, light-vessel-2 - and welcome!

Here's one who's rather more muso than nerd.

I play guitar, banjo, various other things with strings on them

Any chance that this banjo of yours is a tenor banjo (short neck, four strings tuned CGDA)? I happen to be playing this type myself - and I may well be the only one here. Since LM appears to be US-based, the 5-string long-neck variety (bluegrass, C & W generally) seems more widespread. And would you also tell us a little more, maybe, about these 'various other things with strings on them'?

As to various remarks on Audacity: I'm a big Audacity fan.

On exploring Linux for the first time ever, I had a look at LMMS, to begin with - yet that was not for me. I also tried out Ardour, later on. Here, set-up alone felt rather daunting (and quite confusing, too; for a beginner - as I then was - especially): too much time wasted with frustrated tinkering and tweaking that could have gone into actual music making. A friend finally got Ardour working, at long last - but I never really got the hang of it.

In contrast, Audacity is operational right out of the box, so to speak. And I've done some amazing jobs with it. But most of all I'm chuffed with its editorial versatility. And, not to forget, the marvelous precision with which edits can be executed.

As a musician, I'm dyed in the wool. But an IT natural I'm most definitely not; and neither am I very likely to grow into one, during my lifetime. So in the end, preference comes down to personal taste and level of capability, I think.

And finally: of instability, with 15 tracks or more on the go, I haven't had any experience yet. But that might be because I have had no cause for more than 5 or 6 max at a time, so far.



tnob

[light-vessel-2]

Thanks for your welcoming responses.

It is handy that Audacity works almost straight away, and for some things it is very versatile. I tried Ardour a year or so ago, but found it too difficult at the time. It may have had a similar problem to one I've had with Audacity, which is that some of the controls aren't visible when the program says they are. This might be a problem with LXDE, GTK or whatever it uses, but I never bothered to find out. What really upset me with Audacity (and I can't remember if I mentioned this already), was that I set up a new system with a fresh operating system, and found that all my half-finished projects were gone. It seems that if you want to rename an Audacity project, or even move it from one location to another, you need to open it and save it to its new location, or it can't actually open it.

I'm happy to nerd around with the technical side of things, and this is quite enjoyable when I'm not feeling so creative, but

When I am musically inspired, I want to press a button and record.
When I'm not so musically inspired, I wast to mess about with computers, and if this messing about brings me back to musical creativity then
Everything is good!

As the conversation neatly moved to the topic of banjos, yes mine is a five-string one (or four and two thirds, which would be more precise). Four strings doesn't seem like enough, even though I'm happy for my ukelele to have only four, and for the mandolin to have four courses. I don't really play much in a bluegrass style, preferring to edge it into other directions. It is rather good for bluesy stuff and makes a fine alternative to having a lead guitar. The moment I picked up the banjo for the first time, I realised how much fingerpicking fun there was to be had. It helped me develop more as a guitarist and bass player.

Amongst the other stringed instruments, I have a bazouki, a one-stringed Yugoslavian bowed instrument called a guzle, an acoustic bass, a small lute-like instrument that looks like someone made it in their garage. I also collect kalimbas.