Ardour 5.0 Released For Linux Audio Workstation

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Ardour 5.0 Released For Linux Audio Workstation

For fans of the Ardour digital audio workstation software, version 5.0 of this popular open-source audio software is now available...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Ardour-5.0-Released

[bregma]

Ardour is good software. Unfortunately, using Linux as a DAW [digital audio worstation] is still such a horridly wretched experience it's about the only thing I would recommend using Mac OS or Windows for instead.

[uid313]

Ardour is good software. Unfortunately, using Linux as a DAW [digital audio worstation] is still such a horridly wretched experience it's about the only thing I would recommend using Mac OS or Windows for instead.

Why is Linux a horridly wretched experience?

What problems do you have with it?
Have you tried the low-latency kernel?

I have never used Linux as a DAW.

[forgiver]

Ardour is good software. Unfortunately, using Linux as a DAW [digital audio worstation] is still such a horridly wretched experience it's about the only thing I would recommend using Mac OS or Windows for instead.

I'm also curious why you think to make such a generic statement about the Linux DAW experience.
There are a lot of limitations when it comes to plugins and VSTs for example - mostly because developers don't compile their VSTs for Linux, even if they fairly easisly could. THere are many ways to get them working with wine bridges, and many work well enough.
But to say that using Linux for your DAW sucks is just plain wrong.

Ardour is perfectly capable as acting as a Digital Audio Workstation.
So is Bitwig Studio, and Reaper is in a pretty decent state of beta on Linux.
Those DAWs have built-in tools that allow a LOT to be accomplished.
And when it comes to recording audio, low latency can be accomplished fairly easily if it's needed at all (some would argue it isn't these days). You don't even need to use JACK most of the time.
If you're making electronic music and are OK with what's available in the DAW and the working VSTs then you're laughing.

So please, leave your hyperbole at the door and at least explain YOU are having trouble.
Check the Bitwig forums on KVR and you'll see many users of Linux.

[bregma]

Hey guys, I've used Ardour, I've used Rosegarden, I've tried Reaper and Bitwig Studio. They're fine pieces of software, as far as standalone DAW applications go. Problem is that's where they stand: alone. I have spent hours trying to get sounds either into or out of them, and on the rare successful times, the next time I start them there's no output again and no clue where to start again with the debuggery.

Make no mistake: I'm a professional software developer used to all kinds of esoteric software and hardware, I'm not technically unsophisticated or naive about computer use. I'm also a musician with some decades of experience, back to before using MIDI meant having to learn to solder your own DIN-5 connectors and TR-808 seemed nothing short of a miracle, and DAWs and I go back to version 1 of Cubase on my Atari ST. I spent years in college in the recording studio, so I'm familiar with patch bays and control desks and processing pathways. I am not naive about how to play and record music or program and use computers.

I want to just plug in some mics, hook some MIDI controllers, and do music. I can do that with analog studios, I can do that with Windows-based DAWS, I can do it with Mac-based DAWS and even on iOS. Every time I try to use Linux as a DAW, I am forced to give up after several hours, with JACK crashing or refusing to start or saying it started but it didn't, inputs and outputs from sequencers or synths maybe there one day and gone the next, synths not talking to tracks or changing settings, and audio working as often as a third-generation welfare recipient, and upgrades breaking everything every time. My happy fun time is precious to me and I want to spend it making music, not debugging software connection problems and trolling forums for similar problems and reconfiguring software and poking at kernel modules and wondering what the hell happened this time. I haven't even gotten as far as trying any VSTs, since the basics are so forlorn. Nope, it's simply wretched.

[omer666]

I use Linux and Ardour for all my recordings, and I have to say, it pretty much depends on your hardware. In studio I run it with an M-Audio Delta 1010, and it's pretty much straight forward. I let Ardour configure and start Jack, and the server never crashes. I've got some crashes in Ardour but I suspect it comes from a bad memory bank, hopefully we'll be able to swap it very soon. It runs with 5ms of latency without xruns.

At home, not crashes, run really great. There are some interesting plugins out there for me to work with and I never get frustrated. On another hand, I used to have a rig on which it was pretty awful due to the soundcard being pretty much unusable on Linux, and a friend of mine has got an emu404 which is unusable too.

But it's nothing new as far as hardware is concerned, Linux users have to handpick every component they need.

[GraysonPeddie]

I'll have everyone take that "Linux is not a good solution for creating music" statement back by playing my two songs.

https://graysonpeddie.bandcamp.com/

And yes, the best plugins that you want can be had when you buy the hardware instead of a software plugin. Sure, the hardware versions of the popular software plugins such as Universal Audio 1176, but as long as you invest in hardware, it's cross-platform and you don't have to worry too much about copy-protection. And yes, the only hardware effects that I have are my TC Electronics M-One XL. For MIDI, I use MusE Sequencer. Once done, I then bounce MIDI into audio for processing in Harrison Mixbus, such as fixing the built-up in mid-frequencies and even record real instruments such as tambourine that I currently have and it's the only one I got, but I did not use it in two of my songs.

If people told you that Linux is not a good platform for music-making, even those from record labels, shove my two songs down to their throats.

Oh, and to prove my statement, I'm creating my third song as I write my post, but I'll be going on vacation for the next few days.

[GraysonPeddie]

Annnnnnnnd here's a video to strengthen my point:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0C43BOxMpU