[LAU] Going from window to linux

[Brett McCoy]

Hi, I use both Linux and Windows audio also. I mainly use Windows for
some VST plugins that don't quite work well under Linux (at least
didn't last time I tried it). I use Reaper on Windows... I'd tried
Sonar and hated it. I don't particularly care for Windows audio,
personally. I feel like I am more in control on Linux and find the
ALSA + JACK combination unbeatable. Also, inter-application MIDI
doesn't exist on Windows (unless you download and install MIDI Yoke,
which isn't terribly stable). On Linux, inter-application MIDI works
out of the box. And you get inter-application audio with JACK,
although you need a customized kernel for doing real-time scheduling
to get the most out of JACK (but not a problem if you install a distro
tweaked for audio, like Planet CCRMA).

Linux (and Unix in general) has never been about monolithic
applications that do everything, but instead connecting smaller
components together to lots of things in flexible and scalable ways.
It's a very different way from the Windows world and, IMHO, is far
superior.

On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 9:42 PM, Miguel <therevoltingx at gmail.com> wrote:

> I use both windows (Sonar & FL Studios) along with Linux for my audio
> creation.
> Linux doesn't yet have a stable DAW program that will do everything, i.e
> MIDI, Audio, Mastering, etc..  Ardour does audio extremely well, as for MIDI
> sequencing I just love Seq24.

Rosegarden is pretty close to doing most everything you need
(sequencing & recording), although I personally prefer to just use
Rosegarden for sequencing and use Ardour for recording & synching with
JACK. Ardour is on its way to getting MIDI sequencing also, which will
rock.

> JACK is the ASIO equivalent for Linux.  If you're talking about accessing
> the sound card with low latency.

Actually, JACK is more like ReWire. ALSA is closer to being analogous with ASIO.

-- Brett
------------------------------------------------------------
"In the rhythm of music a secret is hidden;
    If I were to divulge it, it would overturn the world."
               -- Jelaleddin Rumi