Is LUBUNTU a suitable option for audio-recording tasks?

[joaquinotero]

Hi, My PC is a little bit old, and I was thinking to install Lubuntu and then packages, kernels, etc for a suitable configuration for audio-recording, live guitar playing (ampsims, IR Cabs, etc).
The standard distributions (kxstudio, tangostudio, ubuntustudio) are quite heavy for my PC.

Any advice is welcome.

[autostatic]

Yes.
I'm currently migrating my homestudio to Lubuntu 12.04. It's fast, flexible and low on resources.
I don't install a complete Lubuntu desktop though. I begin with a minimal installation (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Insta ... /MinimalCD) and then I install the lubuntu-core package. After that I install the rest, like abogani's real-time kernel and the lowlatency kernel. The real-time kernel still has some flaws though, I do get a kernel panic every now and then so I'd stick with the lowlatency one for the moment.

[slowpick]

Hi, My PC is a little bit old, and I was thinking to install Lubuntu and then packages, kernels, etc for a suitable configuration for audio-recording, live guitar playing (ampsims, IR Cabs, etc).
The standard distributions (kxstudio, tangostudio, ubuntustudio) are quite heavy for my PC.

Any advice is welcome.

I use Puppy Studio, which runs in ram, boots off a usbstick, with realtime kernel,
so it gets maximum performance from older gear like mine.
It's great for guitar/ampsims, easy to integrate Reaper if you
have a windows ampsim collection at hand. It has a nice array of
linux audio apps ready to go, and its very portable.

http://www.getstudio1337.com/

[angelsguitar]

I use LXDE and XFCE as my desktops when setting up an audio/MIDI recording system. They are both very light on resources, specially LXDE which feels to me a little lighter than XFCE. I believe Lubuntu should do just well for that purpose, although AutoStatic's advice about using a Minimal Installation should work even better because you have better control of what gets installed.

Another thing I find very helpful in avoiding xruns and performance problems is to disable cpu scaling or at least run in performance mode when recording, if your old computer supports it. This has made a huge difference on my "older" machines.

[joaquinotero]

Thanks to everyone for your replies.
Yesterday I installed Lubuntu 12.04 LTS; I did it offline so I think some upgrades were not installed. Ive found some issues so far:
1. Theres a lot of simple tasks where Im getting error messages, reporting this errors gives me another message stating that the program is not an official ubuntu software and the report arent going to be sent.
2. Today Im going to install from a minimal CD, so I hope to get less HD load; The off line installation is around 3GB.

3. Would you help me stating a step by step list of programs/kernels/drivers to download in order to run Windows Vst and DAW (I think ardour is fine after some tweaks), I have a Lexicon Omega USB interface.
As Slowpick stated, I have a collection of free Vst ampsims and IR Cabs (Im into guitarampmodeling.com too!!!)

Thanks again for your help.

[joaquinotero]

@AutoStatic: Mate, your webpage has answered what I asked in my previous post. Chromium auto-translation helps me a lot because of my lack of dutch-speaking abilities.

[i2productions]

My recomendation if you're dead set on LXDE is to try Peppermint OS with the KXStudio repos. Running it only takes 100MB's(give or take a few) of RAM to run, it's solid and the best LXDE distro I've found by far. I also use a Lexicon Omega, and everything ran wonderful when I tested it!

[joaquinotero]

@Autostatic:
Ive followed the installation process for 12.04, the basic information seems to be installed correctly, then i typed
sudo apt-get install lubuntu-core
but I got that the package lubuntu-core couldnt be found.

Then I changed "lubuntu-core" by "ubuntu-desktop" (just to make a test), and installation began; obviously, I interrupted the process because I dont want that heavy desktop.

THen I re-read the tutorial at ubuntu web and typed sudo tasksel.
It showed me to a menu where I chose Lubuntu Desktop; right now this installation is running, but i guess that is the same installation that I could got through the standard Lubuntu CD.

@i2productions:
Thanks for your reply mate, sure, if minimal installation of lubuntu leads me to a dead end, I will try Peppermint OS; by the way, is there a live CD for this distro?

[slowpick]

I have a collection of free Vst ampsims and IR Cabs (Im into guitarampmodeling.com too!!!)

Thanks again for your help.

Just an installed wine, and wineasio, after installing wineasio,
run the command

regsvr32 wineasio.dll

it will report success, then run winecfg config utility from command line,
and choose alsa, not jackd, for audio.

if needed, a simple registry edit to select alsa, is in this link, scroll down to
'Configuring Sound'

Then install and run a vst host, usually reaper, and configure wineasio
as the asio as the audio device, and wineasio as the driver.

There is a new Puppy audio distro release, with Zynewave Podium DAW installed
and working, in a gigantic 220 meg iso.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=75046

ps a cheap Mustang usb amp includes a Fender Amplitube LE, with
Metal 500, SuperSonic, and Twin Reverb models, which are gladly
welcomed in the current Amplitube Custom Shop release, using its
'add legacy gear' option.

Good to see more of the motley GAM crew out in the wild

[joaquinotero]

Thanks a lot Slowpick, Ive seen your posts mainly on the Rusk's GAM thread. Sure, I will try Puppy too!!.
Lets see what distro fits better to me.

[joaquinotero]

By the way, Im running Pepermint installed on a linux partition of my HD.
Web states that this distro is 512MB installed on HD. My partition is 30.5GB and after installing I have only 27.9 GB free.

[autostatic]

@Autostatic:
Ive followed the installation process for 12.04, the basic information seems to be installed correctly, then i typed
sudo apt-get install lubuntu-core
but I got that the package lubuntu-core couldnt be found.

That's weird:

Code: Select all

music@studiopc:~$ aptitude show lubuntu-core
Package: lubuntu-core                    
State: installed

Did you try doing a sudo apt-get update first?

It showed me to a menu where I chose Lubuntu Desktop; right now this installation is running, but i guess that is the same installation that I could got through the standard Lubuntu CD.

That's correct. Performance-wise it shouldn't make a big difference though, it's just that lubuntu-desktop installs a lot of things you might not need or that you'll probably replace.

[joaquinotero]

@AutoStatic: No mate, I didnt run the update previous to attempt installing lubuntu-core package. Im a kind of a newbie in the linux world. I've been reading the peppermint forum and I found the post that I2productions stated. Now I know that everytime a new repository is added, an update and then upgrade is needed.
So far I realized that a Lubuntu-Core installation would take around 1.5GB in my HD, isnt it?

[joaquinotero]

There is a new Puppy audio distro release, with Zynewave Podium DAW installed
and working, in a gigantic 220 meg iso.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=75046

I dowloaded and run this distro in live Cd mode. I use Audacity to record some riffs through my Lexicon Omega Interface, sadly I had a lot of xruns and decided not to install Puppy.

[joaquinotero]

Wow, 2h35m just to download kxtudio metapackage!!!!. Still unpacking and installing downloaded packages.