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'..e.g. LinuxSampler still defiantly claims to be Open Source a decade or so after after being dropped from major Linux distributions because it clearly isn't (and has a contradictory licence that doesn't make it properly non-free either).'

I refer you to here and here where there are links to the source code..the various components being covered by GPL, GPLv2, GPLv2, GPL, LGPL, GPL, and GPL with the following exception

'..[*] LinuxSampler is licensed under the GNU GPL with the exception that USAGE of the source code, libraries and applications FOR COMMERCIAL HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE PRODUCTS IS NOT ALLOWED without prior written permission by the LinuxSampler authors. If you have questions on the subject, that are not yet covered by the FAQ, please contact us.'

So, not open source, eh?

'..e.g. LinuxSampler still defiantly claims to be Open Source a decade or so after after being dropped from major Linux distributions because it clearly isn't (and has a contradictory licence that doesn't make it properly non-free either).'

I refer you to here and here where there are links to the source code..the various components being covered by GPL, GPLv2, GPLv2, GPL, LGPL, GPL, and GPL with the following exception

'..[*] LinuxSampler is licensed under the GNU GPL with the exception that USAGE of the source code, libraries and applications FOR COMMERCIAL HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE PRODUCTS IS NOT ALLOWED without prior written permission by the LinuxSampler authors. If you have questions on the subject, that are not yet covered by the FAQ, please contact us.'

So, not open source, eh?

The centerpiece of any hip hop studio is the sampler. There exists a very high quality open source sampler called linuxsampler but they are not included in any mainstream linux repos because of their bone-headed, legally invalid licence. So you have to build it from source, a painful process that I've never been able to do in under 2 hours. There is a lot of high quality foss studio software out there, but as long as developers keep dropping the ball like this we're going to see more reinventing of the wheel like this and not a lot of progress. An excellent foss program for beat-making I would recommend is qtractor, but it does not come with a sampler.

So the GPL software clause in this software is null and void

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.

I know, that nothing comes close to Ableton Live, but I like the combination of seq24, ZynAddSubFX and LinuxSampler. I haven't tried FreeWheeling so far, but it looks very interesting. Absolutely not comparable to Live, but a very interesting approach.

I never claimed that Ardour was a sampler; just that it was a DAW (digital audio workstation).

That being said, thank you for the link. Another up-and-coming project to watch is the Linux Sampler Project. They don't seem to have any major releases yet, but it looks promising (also built on Jack).

FYI: LinuxSampler is under heavy development and you can already stream multi Gigabyte .GIG samples (in GigaStudio/Gigasampler format) directly from disk (without evenveloping yet but that will be added soon).
If you can please join their mailinglist / development group.