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Making Music With Linux: We're Getting There ...
from the accidental-minor dept.
Comparing music-authoring software on Linux with that available for other platforms isn't exactly a fair match-up. Dave Phillips, maintainer of the Sound and MIDI Software for Linux website, says "Don't bother with the odious comparisons: 'Rosegarden is no Cakewalk,' 'Brahms is no Cubase,' and so forth. We know. We're working on it, but we're working on better things, too."
I asked Dave about his current music set-up, and how he uses it with Linux. "MIDI-wise, there's not much you couldn't use. I have a Yamaha DMP11 MIDI-controllable mixer, two Yamaha TX802 synthesizers, an Alesis MIDIverb, and various other pieces. MIDI is MIDI.
Digital audio is another can of worms. Professional cards have only begun to see Linux support. Notable advances have been made by ALSA, particularly in the work led by Paul Barton-Davis. Digital audio boards from RME and MIDIman are now supported by ALSA, and OSS/Linux will be adding some more proprietary cards to their list later this year, I hope."
Free solutions are attractive to many musicians, who consider their music a labor of love, but can't spend money on equipment as if their music were a money-making venture. So, without big cash as a catalyst for the development of professional tools, how will we make that happen? Alex Young, digital composer and occasional musician, answers the question:
"We need competition. If you think about when the Amiga demo scene was big, different demo groups really competed to get the slickest code and the best tunes. As a side effect, many useful tools were produced. If Linux had a greater drive in multimedia than is commonly interpreted by onlookers onto the open source community, music tools would benefit. Maybe the increasing interest in Linux games will drive this, or maybe individuals interested in programming and music will. There are many things that could be done, maybe projects could even be funded by sales of music produced with such tools!
I think people need to be attracted to Linux itself. Considering that I still like using an Atari ST with Cubase, and some electronic musicians wouldn't give up their Atari even now, people don't see it as a platform for writing music. For that Aphex Twin sound, we need very advanced midi software. And for the kind of MoWax-style sound we need very good sample editors. I believe open source music software can be as good or if not better than the commercial counterparts, for the same reason as any other applications."
To many Linux-friendly musicians, how they license their music can be just as important as the music itself. I spoke to Jeff Alami, Linux.com editor-in-chief and weekend composer about this issue. "I'm not trying to make any money with my music. I may have to add some sort of license in the future if only to maintain that the music was originally created by me." The Design Science License has been developed by Michael Stutz as a method by which copyleft can be applied to things other than software. Written with a little help from Wendy Seltzer, an attorney at the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School, the DSL is a way of copylefting any work that is recognized by copyright law, including music and art. This is one tool you won't have to wait for; it's been available for the past few years. "From what I see right now," Jeff says, "the DSL would serve my needs, mainly because it works to maintain the attribution integrity."
It's true that Linux has no professional audio suite at present, but after speaking to some of the people who work with Linux as a music tool, the message is clear. We're getting there. Small bits and pieces of quality software are already available, but heavy hitters like Cakewalk and Mark of the Unicorn haven't made the cross-platform leap to Linux the way several big names in the graphics field recently have. A high-quality, open source audio suite is definitely high on the 'wish list' of Linux enthusiasts, and the increasing quality and openness of Linux sound-related device drivers is paving the way for Linux-based music production as more than hobby.
If software development for Linux proceeds as fast as it has over the past year or so, it won't be long till the killer audio app appears. Until that time, we still have plenty to talk about. Next week, we dive once more into the creative process, and discuss high-end audio mastering, low-bandwidth sound transport and using Linux as a tool for good old-fashioned synthesis.See you then.
Music and Linux (Score:3)
The software side will be harder. The greatest strength of systems such as Cubase VST is the number of interlocking programs. You have your effects plug-ins (ranging from homebrewed compressors and flangers to expensive proprietary DSP wizardry), soft synths (including ReBirth and the new VST 2.0 plug-ins such as Neon and LM-4), sample loop/phrase editors (i.e. ReCycle) and the like. FX plug-ins, for one, are incredibly useful. A Linux-based digital recording/sequencing application that only has a few basic reverb and echo plug-ins will look pretty poorly compared to Cubase or Logic.
On one hand, there are a lot of free (though not quite open-source) DSP plug-ins for Cubase VST, and the SDK is available. The interface has a small C++ class library to wrap it; if a compatible API could be written, a lot of plug-ins could be ported. On the other hand, maybe (just maybe) it would be possible to run some Windows VST plug-ins (i.e., DLLs with functions for doing stuff to buffers) using part of WINE.
MPU-401and Linux Audio (Score:3)
When I downloaded Jazz++, I found that it came with a code patch to allow my MPU-401 to operate in Intelligent mode (external sync). Unfortunately, the patch did not compile on my system. A quick check of the code led me to believe that it was written for older libraries. I don't think anyone is maintaining it.
Sorry, but the vast majority of Linux "audio" software seems targeted at guys with semi-pro soundcards who want to goof around with sequencers and maybe a loop or two. FWIW, BeOS, with all it's "media OS" claims, is in the same boat. (Yes, I know Logic is "coming". Where is it now?)
The market for professional audio software is small enough without targeting an operating system that is still very much in the minority. This kind of software is very time-consuming and difficult to write (I *have* considered it). That's why even the Windows versions cost so much. There's also a culture barrier -- Linux users are accustomed to Free Software while Steinberg, Logic Audio, etc. are most definitely trying to get every dime they can from their products.
wanted: simple, high-quality 2-track recording (Score:3)
MIDI is cool, but I don't know much about nor use it. My musical gene is stunted;) What I
There are some audio-recording utilities for Linux (audiograb), but none that offer the functionality of a simple personal audio workstion like the Akai DPS12 [akaipro.com].
In fact, this could be a money maker for anyone who wants to sell it: I would really like to find a professional-quality card featuring two XLR inputs (perhaps on a breakout box) and GPLd software to access them, saving into a non-proprietary format. Better, make the interface to the computer a USB connection, and a decent laptop can become a much better tool than my DPS12.
timothy
Free Music Philosophy (Score:3)
Music notation based on a programming language (Score:3)
Haskore is a collection of Haskell modules designed for expressing musical structures in the high-level, declarative style of functional programming. In Haskore, musical objects consist of primitive notions such as notes and rests, operations to transform musical objects such as transpose and tempo-scaling, and operations to combine musical objects to form more complex ones, such as concurrent and sequential composition. From these simple roots, much richer musical ideas can easily be developed.
Haskore is a means for describing music---in particular Western Music---rather than sound. It is not a vehicle for synthesizing sound produced by musical instruments, for example, although it does capture the way certain (real or imagined) instruments permit control of dynamics and articulation.
Haskore also defines a notion of literal performance through which observationally equivalent musical objects can be determined. From this basis many useful properties can be proved, such as commutative, associative, and distributive properties of various operators. An algebra of music thus surfaces.
You would probable find that Haskore offers more ability to extend your musical ntation then AMPLE because flexable notation is one of the things functional langauges like Haskell are good at.
Best existing software for Linux? (Score:3)
I've been using Goldwave for recording. It's a great shareware program despite only being available for Windows. The problem, other than my aversion to Windows, is that when Windows crashes the entire segment I was recording is lost. This is a definately a problem when it's live performances that you are recording.
Gmurf [epita.fr] (open source) has a lot of potential but needs more development. The primary thing I'm looking for right now is software that allows me to record and does realtime visual analysis of the input. This is critical for adjusting the recording level to prevent clipping. The second thing I need is a nice open source mixer--one that allows me to adjust recording and playback levels at the same time. As far as the actual recording goes, SoX [sprynet.com] does an excellent job of recording and uses very little overhead.
My question is: What are the best open source packages for realtime visualization, the mixer, and wave editing?
numb
Check freshmeat (Score:3)
as encore, fix the bugs and open the source...
Check on freshmeat [freshmeat.net] in the last few days/weeks. I was almost positive I found a package that did musical notation that you are describing there.
I just found Mup at:
http://www.freshmeat.net/appindex/1998/07/01/89
MuX2d is in the works:
http://www.freshmeat.net/appindex/2000/01/04/94
As well as the very interesting Rosegarden:
http://www.freshmeat.net/appindex/1998/05/06/89
Brahms:
http://www.freshmeat.net/appindex/1999/09/30/93
Those should get you started.
One area where linux is -not- competing with MS (Score:3)
(Mainly because my friends & I had such a hassle recording a few songs [metaphase.org] using windows)
It's what you want to do with it...... (Score:3)
The author mentions the Tracker music as used in the Amiga demo scene. The trackers were wonderful, in that they allowed people with talent and vision, but little musical expertise to produce tunes that sounded nigh-on professional at times, nad best of all, the software was generally free, or at the very worst, shareware. However, in the late '80s and early '90s, 8-bit 22Khz sampling was perfectly acceptable for release, as cassette was the primary means of distribution outside of the computer. What sounded professional 10 years ago would be laughed out of the studio now. There already exist several trackers in the public domain for most OS's, but they serve more as a doodling pad than anything else. So there are more complex options (Cubase, Cakewalk etc......)
It doesn't say a lot for Windows and MacOS that an awful lot of musicians would rather die than let go of their ST's, simply for stability reasons. TOS was admittedly crap, but it rarely needed patching, and there were no service pack. The TOS that came with your machine would be the one it stayed with until it died, for the most part. BSOD/GPF's are bad enough for coders, but imagine what it'd be like to have to reassemble the music if one crops up! You may never get that sound again, unless you made copious notes on the settings, and let's face it, one of the points of doing it on computer was to alleviate writing every little detail down. MacOS these days is almost as bad....and that's before we come to the astronomical prices charged for the latest versions of the software. I'm aware that the software is WAY more advanced than the ST/Amiga days, but the price shouldn't be hiked as high as it has been.
So we come to Linux. Stable? yes. Capable of performance? yes. Lots of developers around the world? YES! It is an acknowledged fact that many coders also have an affinity for music, so... Musicians, what do YOU want from a Linux-based music program? Musician/Coders, what do YOU want from a Linux based music program? Coders, what can we GIVE them in a Linux based music program?
Answers on a Post Form!
Electronic Musician article (Score:4)
Unfortunately, the 06/99 issue seems to be the only one that's not archived on EM's very kludgy website. I've pestered the parent company, Intertec [intertec.com], a couple of times about this, and they keep alleging they're going to fix it.
The article's aimed at musicians looking at Linux, not at Linux geeks looking to music, so the focus might seem a bit strange to some of the Slashdot crowd, but I'm really rather proud of it.
Unfortunately, if you'd like to see the final version of this article, you'll either have to buy the back issue or pester EM's parent company to get the 06/99 issue into the archives. Or maybe I'll post the draft version if Intertec's too clueless to post the final one.
--
Buzz (Score:4)
There is currently an effort to produce a Buzz-alike for *nix called Octal. It's in its extreme infancy (first code release last weekend), but we desperately need coders. Check the project out at http://www.gnu.org/software/octal/octa l.html [gnu.org] and contact the project maintainer or myself if you're interested in helping out.
What do I want from a Linux-based program? (Score:4)
I don't want to run a Linux-based program solely for the sake of running a Linux-based program.
I want to concentrate on the MUSIC.
I don't want to be sitting there thinking "I wish this program would do such-and-such, but that's OK because I'm running on a better OS."
Right now, believe it or not, Windows98 handles all my music needs flawlessly. The software I use (Cakewalk Pro Audio) isn't the highest-end software there is, but it's matured over 9 versions and I've used it since version 2.0 for DOS.
Can new software be designed from the ground up with the same functionality for Linux? Sure, if it's designed by people who know what musicians/composers actually need to do.
But the hardware support has to be there first. So there are some obstacles to overcome here, and eventually, I'll bet that there will be linux ports of the most popular professional packages. I'm in no hurry though... there was a time when Windows sucked at anything multimedia.
Does anyone remember AMPLE? Anyone? (Score:4)
Every now and then you stumble across something which is an interesting fusion of several interests. One such find was around the late 80's, I bought a Music 500 system (like a Hybrid Music 5000) for my BBC B microcomputer. Basically this was an RM, FM synth linked into the system via a 1MHz port with 16 voices. What was interesting about this system was the method of driving it - it came with it's own Forth-like language - AMPLE (Advanced Music Programming Language Environment) for writing music, building sound sets (by combining voices together, using ring-modulation), controling volume and stereo position, and of course it also came with programming control structures such as loops, conditional execution and other such wonders.
While today's technology far outstrips the equipment that I used then, the AMPLE language provided a interesting (to a programmer who plays keyboard and oboe, anyway) method of creating and playing music, and not necessarly just playing music using conventional tools. The letters A-G represented notes, with capital letters implying go up and lowercase mean go down the scale, note lengths were easily specified (48, implies a crotchet, 24, implies a quaver and so forth), ties and slurs could be implemented and chords could be played on. As an example, a bar of music for one voice including chords might look like
24,C(48,ge)b~48,a(fc)96,C(ac)
which equates to quavers playing notes C down to B while G and E below are played and held, with the B quaver tied to a crotchet chord AFC and semibreve CAC to end the bar.
Several times I saw suggestions that the language should be revived and tied in to some modern MIDI or sample-based system, but to my knowledge nobody has ever taken up the challenge. If anyone knows differently, I like to hear from them!
Cheers,
Toby Haynes
Professionality (Score:5)
Shit, this is one of the problems with all the shareware apps on the Win side. All the little bedroom 'musicians' grab a free groovebox type application and think they are a real musician. It's the whole DJ philosophy, let someone else do my work for me. Grab a few musicians aside, and ask what is the most important thing to them. Get real people involved and go at it.
You know what would just rock my world as a musican...a good free multitrack recorder. The software timing and latency issues would be practically nothing within Linux. Give me something that I can configure under X and then run simply using a serialported LCD, with Midi controls for most of the functions. Get support for a few of the multitrack cards (unfortunately the Echo line has stated they will never open their drivers to the public to maintain quality). Build this, get support for even one card, so that if someone wants to build a DAW cheaply and easily they can. Someone could add features and functions and make a killing off of this simply for the Hardware...
If you are interested in the stuff as a musician, please visit Sonikmatter.com [slashdot.org]. We are a group of forward thinking professional musicians. We have represenatives from several major corporations, both hardware and software and my co-admins are consultants for many of these companies. Heck, we'd even think about setting up a dedicated Linux forum if their was enough call for it.
Enough shameless selfpromotion, anyways, if ya want musicians to use your software, ya need to work with them, not just say I got this and now use it (hmmm...that seems to be my way of programming as well...doh!). If ya want to know what the non-tech challenged musician os thinking visit us and out forums.
thanks
clif
my ball and chain to MS.... (Score:5)
Quake3 is out for linux, Pine's great for e-mail, Communicator is acceptable as a browser, but there is an emtpy void where the multi-media apps come in. I haven't been able to find anything for wav file editting like Sound Forge [sonicfoundry.com], or a sequencing program as good as VST [com.com], or a multitracker as good as SAW [iqsoft.com].
(all of these are personal preference I'm sure).
Plus, from my understanding, there's no plug-in architecture like MS's DirectX that allows for effects plugins to be compatible with virtually all of these programs (well, except for SAW)...
When these apps are carried over to Linux like Photoshop was (Gimp), MS will be a distant memory...the likeliness of this however is a sign that I'll be using MS stuff for a while to come
-lev
What's really going on (Score:5)