Hi Ico,
Regarding the VST licensing problem, I note a new version of the SDK,
for VST 3, is due out in the second quarter of 2007:
http://knowledgebase.steinberg.de/147_1.html
We don't want to get into a situation where only VST 2.4 is available
for free software developers to distribute, and the free software tools
go rapidly out of date after VST 3 is launched.
Cheers!
Daniel
Press Release - The Internet, 29th November 2006
64 Studio 1.0 'Olympic' released!
*********************************
Creative and native free software on AMD64 multi-core
-----------------------------------------------------
The 64 Studio project produces a distribution of native free software
for digital content creation on x86_64 hardware (AMD's 64-bit CPUs and
Intel's EM64T chips). After eighteen months of development, the project
has made its first stable release available for free download. It is
named in recognition of the work of Glyn Johns and Eddie Kramer at
Olympic Studios in London.
The distribution is based on the pure 64 port of Debian GNU/Linux,
testing branch, but with a specialised package selection and lots of
other customisations. The 64 Studio project also produces a 32-bit
edition for legacy PC hardware.
Download sites
--------------
Install CD images for version 1.0 (both 64-bit and 32-bit builds) are
available for download from the following sites...
Primary site:
ftp://download.64studio.com/
UK mirrors:
http://www.mirror.ac.uk/mirror/images.64studio.com/ftp://ftp.mirror.ac.uk/mirror/images.64studio.com/
US mirror:
http://download.linuxaudio.org/64studio/
Please use the mirror which is closest to you. The .iso image can be
burned to a 700MB CD-R using any popular CD burning software. There is
also a readme file featuring basic installation instructions, with
several translations available (Dutch, Finnish, French, Italian,
Norwegian, and Spanish).
Installation
------------
The CD image will install Debian with X.org, the Gnome 2.14 desktop,
Linux kernel 2.6.17 with realtime preemption patches (a realtime SMP
kernel for AMD64 dual core and multi-processor machines is available on
the 64-bit CD) and a selection of creative applications. These
applications cover audio and music, video, 2D and 3D graphics,
publishing for the web or print, and the internet and office tools a
creative user is likely to need for their daily work. Adding favourite
packages from Debian testing is as easy as apt-get, or a few clicks in
Synaptic.
Please note that these releases are free software, and come with no
warranty. However, the software does actually install and run on the
project's dual processor Opteron, dual core Athlon 64 and single core
Turion test hardware, and is already in daily use by many of the
project's testers. The 32-bit version has been tested on a variety of
older PC hardware, including a Via C3 and a dual Pentium Pro, but the
project suggests a faster processor and at least 512MB RAM to take full
advantage of the distribution's features.
If you would like to send feedback or make a suggestion for improvement,
please subscribe to the 64studio-devel mailing list:
http://lists.64studio.com/mailman/listinfo/64studio-devel
For other communication, please have a look at
http://64studio.com/wiki/ContactsPage or see the
http://64studio.com/wiki/FrequentlyAskedQuestions page.
Community and business model
----------------------------
Developers and users who are interested in getting involved with the 64
Studio project would be most welcome. The aim of the project is to
create a distribution with full (but completely optional) commercial
support, which will generate revenue to pay free software developers.
The 64 Studio Ltd. company, which supports the free software project, is
also producing custom distributions for commercial partners with
Linux-based audio products.
Press contacts
--------------
64 Studio project director Daniel James and lead developer Free
Ekanayaka are available for interview by email or phone. Please contact
daniel at 64studio dot com for any enquiries. A screenshot of the
distribution is available at http://64studio.com/
**ends
Hi Collin,
There is really no short answer to your concerns as you've touched upon many
facets, all of which require an individual attention. What I can try to do
is jumpstart discussion that may shed some light as to what can be done to
assist you in transition. Here are some pointers you may want to be aware
of:
1) Native VST on Linux is very much feasible (as a matter of fact there
were/are a number of projects which are designed to make transition of VST
plugins onto the Linux platform as seamless as possible). So, the problem is
not in Linux, but rather the viability of its market and subsequently
interest of VST makers to port their plugins over.
2) Apart from stuff stated in 1), we also have a somewhat dubious license
from Steinberg (something we are working on right now, but no particular
deadline and/or projected outcome can be given at this point in time) which
discourages its seamless implementation into GNU/GPL and/or LGPL
environment. So again, it is not necessarily that Linux audio platform is
not capable and/or community is not willing, but it is a matter of factors
outside our control.
3) There are a number of projects which utilize Wine engine to run Win32
code VSTs in Linux, but as you may guess, their success rate is difficult to
quantify as neither Wine project nor the way how some of the proprietary
VSTs utilize Win32 API are consistent. Hence, it is a hit'n'miss deal.
4) FWIW, Linux has now two frameworks for VST-like plugins (which are IMHO
superior to VST API). Apart from the older LADSPA format, we also now have
DSSI and L2. Alas, it is again a matter of the community (and more
importantly industry) adopting these frameworks in order to allow for
cross-pollination of plugins.
5) As far as the streamlining of the UI/GUI eye-candy and/or UI friendliness
are concerned, I hope you'll agree that beyond the basic serviceability,
this is pretty much in the eye of a beholder. Personally, as an artist, I
would rather prefer to make a really cool piece with my laptop's screen
looking like bunch of ugly glyphs, than wasting precious cycles on eye-candy
whose UI merit is dubious at best (and more often than not serves to hinder
my real-time-oriented endeavors, i.e. can you imagine repatching Reason in a
live performance, using its pretty but otherwise in essence kludge
interface). That being said, there are genuine efforts at beautifying
audio-oriented UIs (see Hydrogen, Ardour, Jamin), but please also understand
that most of the LA contributions are labor of love and as such are designed
around very limited resources. That being said, since our efforts are freely
shared within the community, it would be nice to see everyone's involvement
in making the overall experience as enjoyable as possible. What this means
is that even if someone does not have the programming chops, they could
still contribute graphics and/or other things that would help us get there.
As for the rest, perhaps the community would like to comment more?
Best wishes,
Ivica Ico Bukvic, D.M.A.
Linuxaudio.org Director
Virginia Tech
Department of Music - 0240
Blacksburg, VA 24061
(540) 231-1137
(540) 231-5034 (fax)
ico(a)linuxaudio.org
http://www.music.vt.edu/people/faculty/bukvic
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Collin Donnell [mailto:collindonnell@gmail.com]
> Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 1:59 PM
> To: ico(a)linuxaudio.org
> Subject: Linux Audio
>
> Hi. You seemed like you might be the kind of person to answer a couple
> questions that have come up regarding myself trying to use Linux as a
> DAW. I'm not sending this as a challenge in any way - these are just
> some real obstacles I've come up against in trying to convert from a
> Windows based system.
>
> I love the flexibility and power of Jack, and after getting to a point
> of understanding the OS a little better have not had any problems with
> it. What I do have a problem with is that most of the software it
> interfaces with seems to be at best "alright". Ardour is the only one
> that I was able to more or less get up and running that had any of the
> capabilities that I need, but even then as far as overall flexibility
> and stability of the program itself I don't feel it's what I would need
> for a professional audio workstation. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
>
> The other major problem I'm having is the quality of plug-ins that are
> available through LADSPA. If there's any relatively easy/fast/stable way
> to make all my VST's work in Linux - that would be a big step for me.
>
> I think the biggest challenge has just been that, although the platform
> itself seems almost ideal for the kind of work I'm trying to do... and
> the sheer volume of free software is astounding... But it's not about
> money if none of it can truly replace it's OSX or Windows equivalent
> program by being just as powerful, easy to use, and stable.
>
> Like I said, none of this is meant as a challenge against anything - I'm
> just assuming that you've probably seen a lot people go through these
> same problems and there might be some good answers to them.
>
> Please check out the program Reaper(www.reaper.fm) as a small
> almost-free program that has been around I think only about a year and
> has great midi/audio recording and editing capabilities, full VST
> support, and is extremely intuitive(also attractive) and easy to use-
> It's only major flaw for me being that it runs only on Windows. Why
> can't something like this exist in Linux?
In this article I'm going to tell a bit about my past experience with
song formats (advantages and problems), how it influenced my choices
when extending the goals of Aldrin and what this will mean for the
future of Aldrin, and collaborative music composition on the internet in
general.
http://www.leonard-ritter.com/modules_collaboration_and_aldrin
--
Leonard Ritter
-- Freelance Art & Logic
-- http://www.leonard-ritter.com
Sorry for the repost, I forgot to update the subject ;)
Aldrin is an open source modular sequencer/tracker, designed to be 1:1 compatible to Jeskola Buzz.
We're proud to announce the release of Aldrin 0.7 (Vulture), featuring Automation, MIDI controller support, preliminary user help documents compiled by Phed (thank you a lot!), support for song info texts, preset editing, the all new M4wII synth, support for user interface extensions and the usual set of bugfixes.
http://www.leonard-ritter.com/announcement_aldrin_0_7_vulture
--
Leonard Ritter
-- Freelance Art & Logic
-- http://www.leonard-ritter.com
Aldrin is an open source modular sequencer/tracker, designed to be 1:1 compatible to Jeskola Buzz.
We're proud to announce the release of Aldrin 0.7 (Vulture), featuring Automation, MIDI controller support, preliminary user help documents compiled by Phed (thank you a lot!), support for song info texts, preset editing, the all new M4wII synth, support for user interface extensions and the usual set of bugfixes.
http://www.leonard-ritter.com/announcement_aldrin_0_7_vulture
--
Leonard Ritter
-- Freelance Art & Logic
-- http://www.leonard-ritter.com
Aldrin is an open source modular sequencer/tracker, designed to be 1:1 compatible to Jeskola Buzz.
We're proud to announce the release of Aldrin 0.6 (Raven), featuring
incremental saving, the Makk M4 Synth, ADSR envelopes, presets, various
new shortcuts and the usual set of bugfixes.
http://www.leonard-ritter.com/announcement_aldrin_0_6_raven
--
Leonard Ritter
-- Freelance Art & Logic
-- http://www.leonard-ritter.com
http://soc2006.linuxaudio.info/
I came across this recently. Will it effect the GNU/Linux version at
all? With SSL's hiring of Paul Davis would they be more inclined to use
the windows version of Ardour?
-Cory (ubuntustudio.org)
