[linux-audio-user] What purpose does this list serve?

[Ken Restivo]

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On Fri, Mar 02, 2007 at 03:09:53AM +0100, Hartmut Noack wrote:
> Greg Wilder schrieb:
> 
> > Livecoding with SuperCollider, Music Composition
> > through Spectral Modeling Synthesis and Pure Data, Interfacing Pure Data with 
> > Faust, Python for Sound Manipulation, Stereo, Multichannel and Binaural Sound 
> > Spatialization in Pure-Data, A Tetrahedral Microphone Processor for Ambisonic 
> > Recording, Visual prototyping of audio applications (CLAM), and the list goes 
> > on and on...
> 
> Well well - if this is not pure, unspoiled tech-head-machismo ;-]
> 
> All of this is of course imoprtant but it is just a (maybe most
> advanced) part of Linux Audio - Audio on Linux means recording so-called
> musicians playing Instruments made of wood and wire with Ardour also,
> writing tunes in a scoreeditor and playing it with Specimen and
> Zynaddsubfx and being on stage playing ams-patches with a Keyboard.
> This is so-called "usage" and this is linux-audio-*user* so anything
> that is related to such underdeveloped aproaches to audible arts is
> relevant here is it not?
> 
> 
> > "When will someone produce a chart-topping hit with Ardour" is _not_ a serious 
> > or productive topic and has _nothing_ to do with the reality of the industry.  
> > If you wanna learn how squeeze more "thump" outta your woofers or get 
> > more "pop" from your tweeters, why not visit a relevant forum - there are 
> > many to choose from...
> 
> Linux is not only about technology and industry - it is about freedom.
> And to be relevant at all it depends on usage. If people exercize
> freedom by playing music to their liking and using Linux to do so
> (beside their guitars, voices, amps, beatboxes etc.) then Linux will
> thrive and do the good that was intended as the 4 freedoms where
> declared in the first place.
> 
> 

Well-said.

I'm in it for (1) the music, (2) the freedom, and (3) the nerd-wankery. Due to my financial situation, I could not have been able to pursue (1) or (3) if others hadn't made (2) happen, and I am especially grateful to everyone who cares about (2). I also care about it for ideological and political reasons as well as practical reasons too.

I think of this list as kind of like the "Slashdot" of Linux Audio. Many of the flamewars and rants are very similar-- if not identical-- to those that have occured on general-purpose FOSS forums like /. et al., for nearly a decade, and that's OK with me. As someone else mentioned: this phenomenon is the nature of general-purpose lists which represent the intersection (collision?) of many different groups of people with different interests, biases, backgrounds, and perspectives. I used to live in Noo Yawk. It's noisy there too. I wouldn't want to live there anymore, but it is always stimulating to visit-- the noise certainly hasn't diminished its value.

The rants and flamewars are a distraction and often a waste of time, but sometimes the distraction is welcome. Sometimes I enjoy reading arguments and arguing. The real value of this list is that it is such a mixed bag. 

In order of value, this is what I get from this list:

	A) Announcements and "passing mention" of software that is either new or new to me. I never would have heard of the new l2dynparam version of zyn, or of jack_capture, or of jackdmp, or of tons of other stuff, without seeing it float by on this list.

	B) A place to discuss or ask about technologies/programs that either don't have their own mailing list, or transcend the narrow focus of any existing list. A good example is zyn above, or the recent discussion of AMS vs. OM/Ingen, or of the merits/limitations of Rosegarden vs. Muse, etc. These discussions need a general audience.

	C) I don't check lam.fugal.net often enough, so I very much enjoy the "Hey, I just wrote this, what do you guys think?" posts. Always fun to hear new music and be part of the cameraderie with fellow musician-composer-nerds. And to read the comments and feedback. I can't imagine that happening on any other list.

	D) The aforementioned distraction-value. I'm procrastinating right now by reading and responding to this thread. Sometimes the distraction is fun.

- -ken
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