[LAD] [LAU] Linux Audio 2012: Is Linux Audio moving forward?

[Patrick Shirkey]

On Thu, October 11, 2012 10:00 am, Jörn Nettingsmeier wrote:
> On 10/10/2012 11:00 PM, Patrick Shirkey wrote:
>>
>> On Thu, October 11, 2012 7:25 am, Louigi Verona wrote:
>>> @Patrick:
>>>
>>> "The problem with that approach is that it tends to feed the negative
>>> attitude towards Linux and that is exactly what the "competition"
>>> want."
>>>
>>> There is no competition, Patrick. Windows Audio does not compete with
>>> Linux Audio. Only if in our minds. And thus they do not want anything.
>>>
>>
>> There are plenty of competitors to Linux Audio as a platform. AVID is
>> the
>> most obvious competitor.
>
> that's a bit like saying NASA is competing with the RC model helicopter
> community. i'm pretty sure the whole professional *non-embedded* linux
> audio market is a fraction of the size of AVID's _marketing_ budget.
>

That is simply because the majority of the businesses are not supporting
the Linux platform. It has nothing to do with the viability of Linux audio
as a platform for serious multimedia production.  It's more like comparing
NASA with CNSA. One is a bloated organisation that is on it;s last legs
that relies on marketing and propaganda to sell it's agenda and the other
is a dynamic and productive organisation that is quickly achieving
significant results surpassing the technological achievements of the other
with very little reliance on marketing or propaganda.


> now under the hood, things look quite different, but that doesn't have
> much impact on the public opinion towards or perception of linux.
>
>>> There is no Windows Audio community, there is a Linux Audio community.
>>> We try to compete with them. They do not compete with us.
>>>
>>
>> Look at things from a professional business point of view and try again
>> please. I'm not talking about Linux Multimedia for amateur users or even
>> necessarily for artists/producers. I'm talking about businesses that use
>> Linux as their revenue generating platform.
>
> i'm one such business, and despite my healthy illusions of grandeur i
> don't consider myself part of a relevant market for any major equipment
> or software manufacturer.
>
> besides the obvious technical benefits of using linux (for my particular
> kind of workflow), the main advantage to me is to be able to _ignore_
> the rat race of the mainstream pro audio software market.
>
>> Don't you mean that because "insert favorite application/plugin" is not
>> ported they will have to learn how to do something differently and that
>> is
>> too much to ask?
>
> that's not how marketing works, and that's not how the market works. the
> goal is to get kids to buy dsp cards with emulations of old UREIs that
> are great for snares and female vocals, and another emulation of an old
> fairchild which is great for male voices and kick drums, and the way to
> do it is to get fat old mixing gurus to advertise that kind of gear on
> youtube.
>
> the linux community doesn't have those dsp cards to sell, our plugins
> don't have the kind of bling, and people who give their stuff away are
> less inclined to bullshit kids out of their money. we have a few
> limiters with a bunch of parameters that give useful results on all
> kinds of program material, all they lack is the instant rocknroll
> credibility thing of a fat bearded guy with a metallica t-shirt at a
> 96-channel ssl who compares them to his obsolete analog treasures and
> praises them to high heaven.
>
> hence, in my view, the absence of a "market" like this is a good thing.
>

We can certainly find fat bearded guys with black T-Shirts and a lot of
equipment if anyone feels like making those kind of ads.

> the only time it hurts is when i cannot get hardware support for gear
> that i need. but these days, i can get linux drivers for everything from
> 2 to 128 channels of i/o (more if i'm prepared to gang cards), so what's
> the problem?
>

It's not a problem for you or me personally but  for business people who
are seeking to make a living out of the Linux Audio and multimedia
platform getting access to a larger customer base of people who don't have
the supported cards is a good thing.


> intel and amd thankfully make dsp cards that will also deal with my
> email and run my browser (word processing on a sharc, anyone?), and they
> are well-supported by linux :)
>
>>> I like it and I am
>>> doing it,
>>> but I would not advertise Linux Audio as comparable to Windows Audio
>>> since
>>> it is
>>> simply not true.
>>>
>> And it's a good thing too.
>
> here i whole-heartedly agree!
>
>
>
> --
> Jörn Nettingsmeier
> Lortzingstr. 11, 45128 Essen, Tel. +49 177 7937487
>
> Meister für Veranstaltungstechnik (Bühne/Studio)
> Tonmeister VDT
>
> http://stackingdwarves.net
>
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--
Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd