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Part
1: Making Music With Open Source Software
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I'll
be documenting what I learn about working with audio on Linux
as I learn about it.
I'll mainly be referring to creating audio with Ubuntu (or
Ubuntu-studio) and the many applications that are available for these
systems.
At the simplest level I will begin with the operating system,
Ubuntu-Studio.
Ubuntu Studio
Ubuntu-Studio has "realtime-kernel support" enabled by
default and standard Ubuntu does not. This allows me, when working with
audio, highly responsive processing power that is as close to zero
latency as possible. What this means is,
it possible for me to plug a guitar or keyboard or other musical
instrument into my computer and have my computer process it's signal in
realtime so when I jam, I can play in time with the correct bpm and
hear
what I'm playing at the same time.
Realtime Kernel support is important for making music. However during
Ubuntu 9.04 and 9.10 their realtime kernel support did not function
quite as
well as in the past, and although I had to make my music with the
standard Ubuntu kernel (non-realtime kernel) the results were still
acceptable. That is to
say that I did not notice any latency issues. Bearing this in mind it
is recommended that when making music, and when possible, you should
use an operating system with realtime kernel support, however not
having this support might not hinder your music production as was the
case when I was using Ubuntu 9.04. In other words, you might be told
that you should not bother trying to make music unless you have
realtime kernel support, however I feel, this is a conclusion you
should make for yourself after experimenting with your chosen software.
When you install Ubuntu Studio, a whole new suite of Audio and Video
Production software gets installed at the same time.
There are a bunch of useful music creation applications in this
package, which I have been able to avoid building from source
or hunting down on the Internet as they are automatically installed
when Ubuntu Studio is installed. This has been a major time saver by
keeping things simple.
Amongst the applications I'll be
discussing, are some that are installed with Ubuntu Studio some that
are
not. I've listed the applications' respective websites from which
installation files can be downloaded if the package is not available
through your package manager (please see this section if you are unfamiliar
with installing new software on Ubuntu).
JACK
(Jack Audio Connection Kit)
JACK is an important audio tool for making music on Linux, in terms of
being able to visualize where you are sending a signal to or getting
that signal from. It's main
purpose is to link audio and midi signals between various sound
processing software and hardware tools.
All the Software that I will be discussing here will be software that
works in conjunction with JACK (this just keeps things simple and
easier to manage). I will explain how the software I use connects to
JACK and how to modify these connections.
Another very useful feature of JACK is that it allows you to connect
all applications written to use it's capabilities to a single time line
and sync each applications bpm. What this means Is that when you use
multiple applications to make a track (as is the recommended work flow
for making music on Linux) and you click "play" on (for example) your
midi sequencer you do not need to quickly try to switch to your drum
machine or DAW to click their respective "play" buttons. JACK will
unify all of their transport controls so that they all play in time
with each other, scrub to the appropriate locations and still allow you
to use marker locations set by each individual application.
I generally start JACK up before any other audio tools. This is mainy
because JACK is able to detect other
audio software written to take advantage of it's capabilities and
make the appropriate connections between those applications, the system
output and
other music software. All these default connections can also be
modified by clicking on the "Connect" button.
more to come...
Make
a suggestion
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Brand New Music Tutorial: How to
Setup an Open Source Digital Audio Workstation
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