What sucks about linux audio? Well first what doesn't suck: We have choise, we have customizability (in all senses of the word), endless possibilities (routing, effects). Good!
What sucks: the workflow does not feel organic! Can you say that bringing down an idea alone with multiple instruments (sequentially recording all instruments, including synths) to disk is as easy as recording it with a band on an 8track machine? No! And just saying that it is not possible with other OS's is no excuse. The linux audio experience has to feel like just picking up an instrument (complex synths included) and a band to jam in the idea. And I don't mean a good experience with each individual program, but an excellent experience with the whole ecosystem of programs in conjunction. The whole ecosystem of audio programs has to feel as one unit while at the same time each program stands out.  I think all programs
 a) have to be easily understood as aspects of the whole, and also
b) stand out individually.
Session management and JACK aid to point a) and different GUI's/looks and lv2 aid to point b) for instance.
But, and this a big but: as I don't need nor want documentation to get a tone out of my guitar/ my voice, I don't want documentation to handle linux audio! The whole ecosystem has to be integrated and simple to be operated at the ease of a few clicks with no prior knowledge! To the same extent as it is open to all. That is clearly not the case on linux. And again, its not the case anywhere else. This can be done only with linux audio as it is open.
Gerald



-- Sent from my HP TouchPad

On 09.02.2013 21:26, hermann meyer <brummer-@web.de> wrote:
Am 09.02.2013 18:14, schrieb Jörn Nettingsmeier:
On 02/06/2013 06:44 PM, Al Thompson wrote:
On 02/06/2013 11:19 AM, hermann meyer wrote:
Am 06.02.2013 16:49, schrieb Al Thompson:
I had to laugh at this.  Every once in a while, I will search to see if
there are any new LADSPA or LV2 plugins.  I often see plugins described
by their mathematical function, with NO hint of what it actually does.

i guess the perpetrator is tim goetze of CAPS, he has a few distortion plugins that go by names like "atan" and friends. while i don't use CAPS daily because the types of music i work on rarely need it, i consider his suite and its documentation just excellent, for those users who want to gain some basic understanding of what they are doing. users that don't can just buy guitar rig or a set of colorful stomp boxes and be done with it.



I guess that the CAPS plugins together with the TAP plugs are the most known plugs in any OS`s together. They didn't need a famous announcement which declare in amusing words what they do.   
Well, the CAPS documentations are excellent.

hat up Tim