I realised I have not written on this site about Ubuntu Studio, even though I used it myself for quite a while. And for creative professionals, it is a great Linux music production distribution with lots of Audio, Video and Graphics applications installed by default. The main advantage I got from it, is that it enabled me to get my ADAT card working. Something other distributions could not do by default. This means there is some great hardware detection in Ubuntu Studio. And although the title of this article might suggest otherwise, it is a thriving distribution. So what's with the help then? Here is what they are looking for:

Although it has been quite a while since I posted on this blog, that doesn't mean I have abandoned Linux Music Production. Far from it: I experimented quite a bit with various distributions and applications but was severely pressed for time to write about it because of many other things going on in my life. However, as a result of my experimentation, I decided to rebuild my project studio entirely around Linux. To begin with, there is a new computer to serve as the hub of my Linux project studio. In this post I will describe the setup process I went through to get it up and running. So let's get started....:

I have used LilyPond for a few projects now while learning it's syntax and semantics and I have to say that I really like it. This article is therefore a review of LilyPond from a practical perspective. I must admit that I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to computers, so tinkering with source code is right up my alley. Because I am still learning how to use LilyPond, most of the projects I did were fairly simple, but I am very satisfied with the results so far.

I recently discovered a fairly new project that has an interesting take on Linux music production: the Open Octave Project. The goal of Open Octave is to provide an environment for audio and MIDI production specifically for orchestral music and film scoring. What is different about this project - compared to other Linux audio / MIDI solutions - is that the developers don't build a new application from scratch. Instead, the team chose to combine and adapt existing projects into an unified framework. This actually works two ways: in using existing applications, the team doesn't have to reinvent the wheel and can use existing quality tools, and by contributing their efforts back to the original projects, these benefit as well. So what's in store with the Open Octave Project? Let's delve a little deeper:

After working with the Ubuntu Long Term Service release for a while I have decided that this approach is not working for me. While Ubuntu is a great Linux distribution, there are two major issues that made me change my strategy. My main problem was with the versions of the applications that are supplied through the repositories. On Ubuntu, these are never cutting edge. Usually their focus is on stability. The versions for the L.T.S. releases are generally even older. From the perspective of the average user, this makes perfect sense. Most users want a stable system instead of being on the cutting edge. As a matter of fact that was one of my primary criteria at first as well. But using Linux for music production turned out to be a different beast: many music applications are still in heavy development. So you need to install the latest version to keep up with bug fixes and new features. And there is more. Find this out 'after the break'

In an earlier post I wrote that I selected Denemo to try out music notation on Linux. I played around with it a bit (admittedly not overly long), but I found it lacking for my needs. Not that I dislike the software, it is just not far enough along to be of everyday use. A lot of the features I need are not yet implemented and some are still buggy. I think the Denemo project shows great promise, but it will take some time before I could see myself using it on a daily basis. So for now I am looking for a new notation solution. Care to follow me along?...

If you want to use Linux for music production, you'll obviously have to know some important things about Linux as well. One of the most helpful things to keep in mind when using Linux is that there are almost always choices how to go about things. And this includes installing software. I realised that in my article about selecting Linux music production software I didn't mention how to actually install the software. And here you have lots of choices as well. As always, with choices come responsibilities, and the main responsibility here is understanding what's happening. Different distributions use different tools for this process, so I will use the Ubuntu tools as an example (but even in Ubuntu there are more ways than described here). Let's get started:

Today, in a message on the Ardour site, Paul Davis announced that within a few weeks (he mentions 2) Ardour will have native open source support for VST plug-ins. Getting VST plug-in support was a technical and involved process up until now, but with the new version you can host the VST plug-ins right in Ardour. This is very good news that can significantly enlarge the Ardour user base, which in turn will help the development of Ardour. Getting all this goodness requires a bit of patience until the new release is out, but I don't mind...

In Selecting Linux music production software I outlined several ways in which you can contribute to the software you use, and thus help Linux for music forward. But I forgot about one way that was brought to my attention a few days ago. Let me provide you with some background first: most open source initiatives are projects done by dedicated people with a passion for their project and who work on the projects whenever time permits. Quite a few projects are backed by universities and corporations, providing talents, resources and often money. Why do I bring this up? Read on to find out:

I discovered a handy guide for Ubuntu: the "Ubuntu pocket guide & reference". It's a nice little book (170 pages in pdf format), written by Keir Thomas who wrote several Ubuntu and Linux books. For musicians contemplating the transition to Linux for music it could be a very valuable download (especially since it is free!). Read on for a little review of this book:

One of the important steps in setting up a system for music production is selecting the software. This is of course no different when using Linux for music. And since almost all of the software for Linux is open source, there are some huge advantages, but they do come at a small cost. But if you know what you are looking for this is no big deal. So here are a number of things to take into account while selecting your software for Linux music production:

The installation of Ubuntu (a while ago) went flawless, or so it seemed at first. But when I wanted to do some recording test, I found out that things didn't go so well after all. As I stated before, my recording needs are fairly modest. Most of the time a stereo in- and output will do just fine. But occasionally I need to record a few extra tracks simultaneously. That's why I bought a Fostex VC-8 AD/DA converter (quite a while ago..) that I connected to my sound card using an optical ADAT cable. The sound card is not really state of the art either, being an OEM RME card bundled by Steinberg with Cubase (ST24/96). Nothing particularly fancy, but it delivers professional results, with the optical ADAT connections. So I was hoping I could use this set up when using Linux for music production. But it seems like I'm out of luck with this one, even though I haven't given up completely yet...:

(This post is geared towards musicians who are not yet familiar with using Linux for music production - or Linux in general for that matter.)
If you want to start working with Linux, it is important to realise that in most cases you don't install Linux itself. Instead you install a Linux distribution. A distribution is a 'package' containing a Linux kernel (the core of the system), device drivers, an installation utility, a graphical user interface, resources for installing applications, etc. Basically the creators of the distribution have made a lot of choices for you to make your life easier. And there are quite a few different distributions, hence the title of the article, which you can now read as: "Linux? Which distribution?" Here's how to go about selecting a distribution...

"Is it feasible to use Linux for Music?" That is the question I will try to answer on this site. And I don't mean using Linux for playing back music, but as the sole operating system for professional musicians: Linux Music Production (hence the domain name). Music production on the Mac and Windows platforms is already well established. You only have to think of the "world dominance" of ProTools for an example. Or Cubase, Logic, Finale and Sibelius, to name a few. And Linux on the other hand has a strong foothold in other parts of the computer world. The Apache server is a very good example of this. The mainstream applications in the Open Source community are as good as their commercial counterparts for most users (OpenOffice, Gimp), so Linux has become a viable alternative to Windows and Mac in many parts of the computer landscape. So is the time now right to see if Linux is ready for professional music production? ...