I think the problem has to do with what kind of "production" work are we talking about.<br>
<br>
If we were talking about recording a band, mixing it and mastering it,
then I'd say we are pretty much ready: Ardour + ladspa + jamin and off
you go.<br>
Of course, an equivalent project to Durain should help improving a lot
of the software (and even there is still room for improvement, let's be honest). The "Open Movie Project" of the Blender Foundation is
designed with that in mind: they tackle specific production problems
they KNOW are in blender, and use a real production (with a high
quality standard and real deadlines, that it's going to be distributed
"in the real world") to work them out and test the solutions.<br>
<br>
And even though I thnk Free Software is ready for a "professional
recording, mixing and mastering", the situation is far behind from
Blender.<br>
I work a little in 3D and, in that Field, Blender is not just about the
enthusiastic, or the "open source advocates": it's a tool people
consider alongside any other. Everybody knows about it. They complain a
little bit about the interface but it doesn't seem to be a major
problem. OK, it's not the most widley used, but everyone knows it and a
lot of people had at least played around with it. And some people is actually using it for the day jobs.<br>
If I talk about Ardour, Ladspa, Rosegarden, LV2 or Jamin in the
"professional audio world", then 99% of the people I'd talk with
wouldn't have any idea what I was talking about.<br>
It'd be a good idea to see what's the difference between the free audio software and Blender AND
between the audio and the 3D community that leads to this two scenarios.<br>
<br>
The other thing to consider is what I said earlier, the kind of job we are talking about:<br>
The Blender Open Movie projects require this ridiculous Hollywood type of score:<br>
- Fake but HUGE orchestral sound (may I remark HUGE?).<br>
- A lot of mood and tempo changes.<br>
- Perfect Sync wiht video.<br>
- The possibility to mix down the same work to stereo AND different multichannel outputs (5.1, 7.1, etc).<br>
<br>
I'm really no expert and never intended to make THAT kind of work, but
I think we'll encounter some technical issues if we try to do that with
free audio software under linux.<br>
For starters, it should require a lot of Library Stacking. Do we have a
LOT of different great quality orchestral free sample libraries?<br>
Do we have software that would allow, in a comfortable workflow, to
work wiht this different stacks of sample material. Could we sequence
that by midi in a way we can have tempo and mood swings all around the
place while syncing it in video?<br>
<br>
And that's just the things I can think of, not ever being even nearly
interested with that kind of job. I'm pretty sure someone that's more
"in the know" would find a lot more things to consider.<br>
<br>
<br>
If we were thinking of another kind of score (wiht a more synthetic
sound, for starters) then form some reason I have the feeling we can
pull it off. We wouldn't be 100%, but we could pull it off and improve
the software while at it.<br>
<br>
But are we in the same situation that Blender is in the 3d field?<br>
I don't think so.<br>
<br>
But hey, that's not exactly a bad thing. Actually, is what makes me so
excited about free audio software in the first place: there's a lot to
be done, I feel like I grow WITH the tools.<br>
<br>
There's a great future, but I think it's a good thing we start to think seriously about this stuff...<br>
<br>
<br>
-francisco