ChipMusic.org - Best Linux Distro For Music

Re: Best Linux Distro For Music

2011-07-01T03:19:49Z

I'll PM you with details later on

Re: Best Linux Distro For Music

2011-06-30T22:24:12Z

Frostbyte, care to elaborate?

(sound cards specs, computer, you know the drill )

i can help, i was in the same place than you guys don't getting the Souncard to work.

Re: Best Linux Distro For Music

2011-06-30T20:11:43Z

I just run renoise on ubuntu (And milkytracker and goattracker work perfectly)

Re: Best Linux Distro For Music

2011-06-30T15:18:54Z

Analog: I just can't get it to recognize my line in inputs

Re: Best Linux Distro For Music

2011-06-30T14:08:55Z

a general tip if you are new to linux and have problems setting up your audio software: try to stay away from jack and pulseaudio. they are wonderful tools if you can get them to work. but most of the time they are just causing problems.

btw my opinion: linux+music=awesome

Re: Best Linux Distro For Music

2011-06-30T13:57:56Z

I would save myself a load of trouble and not go that route. Most plugins and professional DAWs are developed for either Windows or OS X Platforms, specially the plugins.

Re: Best Linux Distro For Music

2011-06-30T13:18:41Z

I use Ubuntu which is fine with a little tweaking. The only issue I've had, and it's a major one, is that I couldn't get my firewire audio interface to work under Linux.

Re: Best Linux Distro For Music

2011-06-30T10:35:09Z

My home machine runs Fedora (7? It's outdated...) and it's been okay with music. It handles Famitracker with a bug or two I can work around and LMMS is a decent system if that's your thing. I was able to make do with a cheap Soundblaster Audigy card that plays nice with ALSA and record with Audacity. Not beautiful but it treats me well enough, I'm no professional.

Re: Best Linux Distro For Music

2011-06-30T08:45:21Z

got my saffire Le firewire soundcard configured and that was the most difficult part. (with the ffado drivers). but once you got it working, it will never fail. at least that's my experience.

with LGPT, renoise, puredata and ardour i got all my needs covered.

i've tried raster music tracker with WINE and works perfect. Not so sure about famitracker.

there is also Neil, an interesting buzz clone.

this computer i'm using for production is not new, it have four years so it's not that amazing in proccesor and hard disk access departament. So linux have really helped me to get the most out of my machine.

Right now i got a problem with choosing a distribution, i have installed debian but the wifi drivers are a pain to install, can't invest that time figuring that out. Pure: dyne is something i really want to try, and MUSIX is also a great distro, tried it before with good results.

Currently i'm using ubuntu 10.4 running the rt-kernel with the old firewire stack. two months ago i was in 8.4; it fucking rocks, but got a lot of dependencies problem using new versions of the programs.

In my humble opinion ubuntu isn't really mature with the new releases (two major updates a year, sometimes dependencies are broken and what works in a previous version don't work in a new one.) the best is to try a Long term support version (LTS).

Frostbyte, what's your problem with your card? which one is it?

Re: Best Linux Distro For Music

2011-06-30T05:34:50Z

http://ardour.org/node/1162

Looks like it's mad soon!

Re: Best Linux Distro For Music

2011-06-30T05:25:41Z

Has ardour added midi yet? I know it is due very soon.

Re: Best Linux Distro For Music

2011-06-30T05:17:56Z

Absolutley! I'd totally use Linux for music too if I could, I just can't get audio input to work right on my laptop. Sucks!

Theta, I strongly suggest checking out LMMS. It's a free DAW that's treated me well for quite a while. I did all the drums on my first EP with it and they came out awesome!

Re: Best Linux Distro For Music

2011-06-30T03:53:04Z

Thanks for all the input! As a Linux user I've been using Ubuntu, but my knowledge of the inner workings is limited at best, so that's why I'd like to get a system running pre-configured for smooth, optimum sailing. I'll take a closer look at Ubuntu Studio and Puredyne. For apps, I'll mainly be using Renoise, Ardour, various trackers, Supercollider, Csound, Mixxx, and Wine for stuff like VGM Music Maker. I'm aware it might not be as convenient as Windows or OSX, but I doubt that is the reason most people would use Linux anyways. I'm glad this could spark this kind of discussion though, it's certainly fascinating as far as computer music goes!

Re: Best Linux Distro For Music

2011-06-30T03:14:49Z

Analog wrote:

i'l stick on linux because of puredata, it works not so great in windows,
And using audio in real time with a dedicated kernel is really great. and the JACK audio software will let you "rewire" any aplications that spits audio, and do crazy stuff imposible in windows, never tried mac OS but i'm very tempted to buy me a machine.

Puredata works a dream on osx and i agree about how windows handles it.
jack is available on osx as well.

As far as linux music, i've only tried pure:dyne on my eeepc and it worked fine.
The only issue i had as mentioned by others, is the whole setting up audio part.

Re: Best Linux Distro For Music

2011-06-30T02:44:42Z

i'll recommend linux. you can run renoise greatly on it, LGPT, and another amazing well known software. but not everything. the VST's can't run natively on it, but you have options.

the weak point is that you need to deal with the configurations, and get used to other software (or way of seeing it).

for example a nice DAW is ardour, but in the plugins departament you'll find a lot of options, and the result may not be as great as you could want. I recommend invada, CALF and several LV2 plugins. i'l stick on linux because of puredata, it works not so great in windows,

And using audio in real time with a dedicated kernel is really great. and the JACK audio software will let you "rewire" any aplications that spits audio, and do crazy stuff imposible in windows, never tried mac OS but i'm very tempted to buy me a machine.