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This is such a hilarious troll, normally I wouldn't feed but the parent post is so ridiculous that it's gone beyond trolling into some random fantasy land.

Go to hell, communists.

The GPL is not Communist in nature, in fact when I distribute software under the GPL it's all about me and my choice to share work with others. In a Communist scenario all the sofware would belong to the state, the choice of sharing would not be mine. Secondly, nowhere in the GPL does it say you cannot charge for your work, Studio to Go is a good example of this.

You democrats are trying to destroy the United States' only hold over China: They need Microsoft software. When they can get crappy free solutions to do the same, the United States will just continue to become indebted to China and other countries. And it will be all your fault, you Hillary fanboys.

Right, because Free software is all a conspiracy to ruin the US. Of course most of the people who answered the survey in this MIT study, when asked what their motivation is, said: 'I'm a Hillary fanboy and want to ruin the US!' Or could it be that FLOSS developers enjoy coding and want to share stuff they like? Which do you think is more likely?

I like FLOSS but am not a Hillary fanboy. In fact am not really interested in your elections, suprise: there are people who live outside the US!

For the sake of national security, free software efforts must become against the law.

This is the funniest thing I've read for a long time. It would be interesting to see this happen, my hypothesis is that this would ruin software development in the US. Am pretty certain your country would suffer rather badly if it outlawed FLOSS but the rest of the world continued developing it. Think of all those savings your corporations would be missing out on! What about the US corporations who're distributing FLOSS, e.g. IBM, Sun, HP, Dell, RedHat et al?

Besides, free software destroys our free market, creating monopolies, by selling at excessively low prices. Would Microsoft get away with giving away free products to take competitors' market share away? No. Neither should these ****ing tree-hugging, Prius-driving free software zealots. The captcha is appropriately "planking."

Oh dear, that's funny. Free software does not destroy the free market, but encourages it. With FLOSS there's much less possibility for vendor lock-in (since everything is out in the open and I can't imagine the many volunteers working on FLOSS projects being happy with creating proprietary file formats etc.). Theoretically Microsoft would not get away with giving away software for free, yet that's exactly how they gained their monopoly: by turning a blind eye to piracy. Your point is invalid in another respect: Microsoft is a company whereas Free software is an ecosystem/licensing model. If all proprietary software disappeared tomorrow there would still be plenty of competition, this is one of the things people complain about with GNU/Linux: there's too much choice!

I'd almost like to see your post modded up as 'Funny', just because it's so stupid and full of hilarious vitriol. Also I feel it's important to debunk rubbish like this sometimes, just in case someone else read your post and thinks that you've got a point (a scary prospect).

Rosegarden: Pretty good.

Ardour: The 2.0 release (just out last week) is AWESOME! Get it!

CSound: I like to leave my programming mind behind when I'm working on music.

Sooperlooper: very cool

Freewheeling: also cool

Music distros this summer ought to be pretty good - with new releases scheduled for many of the music distributions.

What bothers me the most these days is plugins and soft synths. There are not enough plugins, the ones we have (like swh-plugins, tap-plugins, caps-plugins, and cmt) aren't heavily optimized for modern architectures (I just spent a weekend working on that) and not enough people out there do dsp programming (myself included) to really gain critical mass for the "perfect EQ" or the "perfect reverb". Still, the plugin solutions are adaquate, just not generally something to rave about. If you know a dsp programmer bored in his day job, show him 64 studio or Studio to go and try to enlist his/her help!

Soft Synths are coming along. Linuxsampler is very nice. Bristol is coming along. There are quite a few more.

I think Linux music is on the brink of plausible promise. I've got 16 tracks of live audio working almost flawlessly right now.

Rosegarden: Pretty good.

Ardour: The 2.0 release (just out last week) is AWESOME! Get it!

CSound: I like to leave my programming mind behind when I'm working on music.

Sooperlooper: very cool

Freewheeling: also cool

Music distros this summer ought to be pretty good - with new releases scheduled for many of the music distributions.

What bothers me the most these days is plugins and soft synths. There are not enough plugins, the ones we have (like swh-plugins, tap-plugins, caps-plugins, and cmt) aren't heavily optimized for modern architectures (I just spent a weekend working on that) and not enough people out there do dsp programming (myself included) to really gain critical mass for the "perfect EQ" or the "perfect reverb". Still, the plugin solutions are adaquate, just not generally something to rave about. If you know a dsp programmer bored in his day job, show him 64 studio or Studio to go and try to enlist his/her help!

Soft Synths are coming along. Linuxsampler is very nice. Bristol is coming along. There are quite a few more.

I think Linux music is on the brink of plausible promise. I've got 16 tracks of live audio working almost flawlessly right now.

wget is patient... :)

Linux: It's Not Just For Computer Geeks Anymore

By Carl Lumma | May 2007

You might think there's no way a free operating system written by volunteers could compete when it comes to music production. But in the past couple of years, all the tools you need to make music have arrived on Linux.

For years, Linux has enjoyed market leadership as a server operating system -- Google's servers run it, for starters -- while struggling with the stigma that it isn't polished enough for desktop use. Those days are over, and word is getting out. Linux is quickly becoming the OS you'd set up for your grandmother, with no fuss over activation, software updates, or viruses. Unlike any version of Windows or Mac OS, Linux is open-source. What does this mean to musicians? For starters, there are no company secrets to keep or non-disclosure agreements to sign, so software developers and users alike can get on the same page very quickly, speeding the flow of bug fixes and feature additions.

Linux demands more nuts-and-bolts computer knowledge for pro audio than for web browsing, but if you've ever tried to troubleshoot a latency or driver issue on a store-bought laptop, you're probably still listening. If you upgrade your hard drive, you won't have to reactivate all your apps due to the hardware change, and when you discover a cool tool or workflow, you can share it with friends without them shelling out hundreds of dollars or resorting to piracy. With the exception of Linux versions that include commercial tech support, most everything in the Linux world is free for the asking, Many developers accept voluntary donations, which we encourage you to make.

HOW IS IT DONE?

Let's look over the shoulder of Aaron Krister-Johnson, the keyboardist and choir director at Temple Sholom in Chicago. He also composes incidental music for local theater, and is half of the electronica duo Divide by Pi, Keyboard's June '04 unsigned artist of the month. The core of his home studio is a PC running Linux (see Figure 1).

To obtain Linux, you download a particular distribution or "distro," which is a particular version of Linux someone put together, for free or a donation. Some distros are available boxed at very low cost. Ubuntu (www.ubuntu.com) is popular for home-computer tasks, but Aaron uses Zenwalk (www.zenwalk.org). Software compiled for a particular distro will only run on that distro, so most come with several free applications that you can install along with the basic OS. We recommend Fedora (www.fedoraproject.org), because you can then install the Planet CCRMA package (ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/software), which includes just about every Linux audio application in existence.

Speaking of music applications, the most popular DAW for Linux is Ardour, and Aaron also uses JACK (see "You Don't Know JACK?" below), a soft synth called ZynSubAddFx, and an arpeggiator he wrote called Pymidichaos. Some distros come with binaries -- apps that have been compiled, i.e. converted from the programming language the developers used to the ones and zeroes computers understand at their innermost level. Three such distros are meant to provide install-and-go solutions for Linux-curious musicians: Studio to Go (www.ferventsoftware.com), Musix (www.musix.org.ar/en) and 64Studio (www.64studio.com).

But sooner or later (most likely sooner), you're going to have to take some groovy, free program you've downloaded and compile it yourself. This is where musicians used to commercial software might get scared off. Fear not, and remember that all the actual pr

Happy to have provided the links.

This is one of the best places for linux related audio links:

http://linux-sound.org/

I use a delta 1010 sometimes and an alesis multimix8usb sometimes. Plus, more generic and onboard sound cards.

If you want to see if your sound card is supported, check this link:

http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/

Plus, with studio to go at the link I provided:

http://www.ferventsoftware.com/

it says this:

"The Studio to Go! Demo Disk is now available for immediate download!"

and

"You can use this demo to check your sound hardware for compatability and take an introductory tour, listen to demo songs as well as try composition to get a feel for how the package works. You're free to play with any of the included applications to your heart's content."

So you can test your hardware and mess around some without having to install anything, it is a "liveCD" dealia. There may be others, demudi or dynebolic from memory, don't trust my remembered spellings...

all the best,

drew

"Hmm. Of course...who's working on that free music again?

www.anvilstudio.com"

I am, for one:

http://musicians.opensrc.org/DrewRoberts

May I suggest considering a copyleft type license for your Free music?

Oh and as to programs, people might check:

http://lmms.sourceforge.net/
http://ardour.org/
http://www.rosegardenmusic.com/
http://www.ferventsoftware.com/

Maybe there could be different flavours of Linux distributions - media, or development - that are more suited to each task.

There are media-tailored Linux distributions - StudioToGo and 64Studio. Also there are things like PlanetCCRMA, AudioSlack and the Gentoo Pro-Audio overlay that can tailor a vanilla distribution to the needs of an audio workstation.

The Sound & MIDI Software For Linux site is a useful reference for all things Linux/Audio. (Yes the site is ugly but there is a lot of good info available there.) Here's their link to several audio-centric distros. One that I have not used but would love to try is Studio To Go! by Fervent Software. An installable LiveCD that is supposed to be end-all of Linux audio solutions. It's a pay-to-play disc, so you'll have to shell out some cash to give it a go. Sight unseen, I'm betting this distro is probably the most refined option available...

fervent software

Offers a Linux distribution based on Debian designed for audio work.

http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/software/

Offers packages to be installed over Fedora for audio.

"I know how to make my own distribution. I agree it's not that hard."

Don't bluff liar.
Of course it is hard,
talk about damn-nasty-hard
i was being coy and you fell for it.

after LFS there is BLFS where you compile shit-loads of extras and break your head with the most thorough configurations.

The point is this: you are thick.
Thick does not mean you can't compile an application from source-code.
Thick means you have had no personality, common sense and wisdom to search the best strategic solution that suits your very needs.

You have a brain, but don't exercise it.

Consider this a priviledge.
To be spoon fed:

1. "Installing apps sucks on Linux"

WTF are you talking about?
Most distros have a Package Manager and a repository of some 2000+ apps. You search, you click, you install, all you need is a broadband internet connection.

2. "I want to make music"

http://www.ferventsoftware.com/

3. "Too many distributions, no unity blah blah"

And Microsoft provides unity? Man I can't even get one hardware to work ever again after SP2! Problems with versions in Microsoft Office, Visual Studio, no support for Windows 2000, ...

OK still you want to criticize Linux - let's forget Windows miseries for a second.

Distributions are a blessing in disguise.
They are interdependant and evolutionary.
They divide, conquer and fuse back again.
They are more compatible with each other, than say Windows 98, Windows 2000, XP or Vista will ever be.

Lastly, most of them are pretty self-sustained.
With their massive repository of software and drivers. Specialization is often the key.

4.

You should reboot less often with Linux than Windows unless you have a laptop.
Yeah granted boot-up takes longer.
Granted some distros don't automatically configure the bootloader for you.
Simple - go for a distro that does!
(or in your words "don't bother")

5. "I have better things to do"
Sure. You shouldn't have even tried this in the first place. Not for you. Not because its beyond your capacity. But simply because you are the biatch, you credit no respect for the free work of thousands of hard-working developers.

Had you bothered to research more (but your brain and persona is letargic) you would be over-blown .. there are incredible utterly powerful apps out there. What these apps needs is exposure and advertising. I won't bother giving you more links this time.

Microsoft can make some crashing Messenger and put an add on prime time TV.
Linux doesn't have the same marketting force to influence the mind of simpletons like yourself.

6. "Why bother"

Exactly don't.
It's just not "catching on" with the dopey-heads.
The type that shouts back at tech-support:
"What closing all windows has anything to do with all this????"

Question: Are you equally mediocre when it comes to music?