[LAU] Linux programs for creatiing/manipulating sound effects

[Philipp Überbacher]

Excerpts from david's message of 2011-02-09 11:28:10 +0100:
> Folderol wrote:
> > On Tue, 08 Feb 2011 06:33:03 -1000
> > david <gnome at hawaii.rr.com> wrote:
> > 
> >> Hartmut Noack wrote:
> >>> Am 08.02.2011 09:15, schrieb david:
> >>>> Hartmut Noack wrote:
> >>>>> Am 08.02.2011 08:35, schrieb david:
> >>>>>> Robin Gareus wrote:
> >>>>>>> Hi Mike,
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> On 02/07/2011 04:40 PM, Mike Cookson wrote:
> >>>>>>>> For non-realtime (including non-linear, like montage) processing you
> >>>>>>>> need only plugins (ladspa, lv2, vamp) and some editor like Audacity,
> >>>>>>>> mhWaveEdit or something other.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> For realtime (also called
> >>>>>>>> non-destructive editing... hm, probably, they are right :) you need
> >>>>>>>> set of various software, that could be used at one time and be
> >>>>>>>> connected each to other).
> >>>>>>> real-time effects processing and non-destructive editing often go hand
> >>>>>>> in hand, but note that
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> "non-destructive" means that the original [audio] data will never be
> >>>>>>> modified. Any edit/effect/modifications are saved as new files (or
> >>>>>>> remebered as application-settings operating on the original data).
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> audio-editors (rezound, audacity, sweep, etc) are usually destructive:
> >>>>>>> load file, apply effect, save file -> original file is gone.
> >>>>>> Audacity is import audio file, apply effect, save project (optional),
> >>>>>> export in chosen format. It never replaces the original file.
> >>>>> So there is a major dfference between audiofiles, you have imported
> >>>>> and audiofiles, you have recorded with audacity -- correct?
> >>>> No, I never have. I usually use JACK, and have never been able to make
> >>>> Audacity work with JACK. I've only done the following things with 
> >>>> Audacity:
> >>>>
> >>>> 1. Import 16 tracks of 32-bit WAV files (recorded on another machine
> >>>> from my church band's Firewire interface using some Windows software)
> >>>> and do basic mixing.
> >>>>
> >>>> 2. Trim and cleanup voice audio recordings made on my PDA.
> >>>>
> >>>> 3. Trim and convert wave files recorded using jack_capture.
> >>>>
> >>>> 4. Pitch shift prerecorded MP3s if needed for band members who play
> >>>> solely by ear (if the recording's in Eb and we're playing it in D,
> >>>> they're lost).
> >>>>
> >>>> If you have the time and brains needed to learn Ardour, go for it!
> >>>>
> >>> I think it is a myth, that Ardour is too complicated to learn for a 
> >>> beginner.
> >> Perhaps it's a myth for others. I responded only from my own experience.
> >>
> >> There are plenty of folk here who use Ardour and do wonderful things 
> >> with it. Advanced features? I couldn't tell an advanced feature from a 
> >> basic feature. I couldn't even figure out to simply record anything with 
> >> it, and Ardour's "automagic" setup didn't seem to include that connection.
> >>
> >> No insult to Ardour, I'm no audio techno whiz. I figured I'd wait til 
> >> Ardour 3 is released and I have the time to learn it.
> > 
> > I had exactly the same experience. Twice over a two year period!
> > 
> > These days I either record with timemachine, then process later in audacity, or
> > record directly into Rosegarden, where I usually have associated MIDI tracks.
> 
> I'm starting to record directly into Rosegarden more now.
> 
> Sometimes I just start up jack_capture, then clean up and such in Audacity.

For recording I'm also a fan of timemachine because of its simplicity.
You push the big button or press space and it records. You want another
take, press space twice. A simple peak meter is built in, the 'record
the past' feature is nice but I don't really need it. Most importantly
it simply works, jack_capture gives me problems with jack connections
and jack_capture_gui2 has some benefits but seems to have some problems
as well. If you use a vastly more complex program such as ardour or
rosegarden the potential for problems is much larger as well. I'm not
only talking about fatal errors but about all those tiny annoyances as
well. If there are fatal problems you use another program until those
are resolved, but those tiny annoyances are what distract you, ruin your
creativity and productivity. Most of us are the musicians and recording
engineers at the same time, so the process of recording must not be
distracting, it has to just work so you can keep on your muso-hat and be
creative.