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Creating Music Using Your PC?
onenil asks: "I'm a guy who has sort of fallen into IT from a young age, but was also quite heavily into music when I was younger. I now want to spark up my interest in music again as I want to broaden my horizons, and I figure the best way to do it is with my PC. I've started looking around for hardware and software, and have come to the conclusion that the best option is to buy a simple MIDI keyboard for music input (which just takes the keys you play and sends em off to the computer, with no in-built synthesizer) and a really kick-ass software package to do all the sound processing. Are there any musicians out there who can shed some light on this area?"
"I've been told by a shop clerk that with a simple Sound Blaster Live s/c, I'll need to buy a package like Reason as it processes all sounds with the CPU, and sends one track to the sound card. Reason retails for around AU$995 (roughly $500 US?). Is this the best way to go? Or should I perhaps look at a more hardware-based solution (some type of synthesizer built-in to a sound card, or perhaps a keyboard that does synth and output). As I'm just starting, out I want something that gives good sound (I don't like the MIDI that comes out of my SBLive), but also doesn't cost too much. It would be great to also build on it when my wants and desires aren't fulfilled by what I have."
Linux has the most mature sound drivers around. The OSS drivers in the kernel are very mature, and produce a full output with just the right amount of base. Also, all of the software is FREE. How can you beat that? While you may be able to receive support from vendors of Windows Sound Software, Linux has thousands of unsocial geeks with their only wish being to bring others to the cause. If you run into trouble getting your soundcard working, feel free to stop by #debian on irc.openprojects.net. They have always been very helpful to me, even when I wasn't running Debian.
There is a whole section on freshmeat.net devoted to Sound Synthesis. I've used Reason, and it's a nice package, but I guarantee you that it's more than you need (it's VERY resource intensive as well). It's like using Photoshop because you like to crop and resize images, when The GIMP works great for that purpose.
Do you know what a search engine is?
The price you quoted for Reason sounds rather expensive. I bought my copy for US$270 at my local music store (Guitar Center). I also got a MIDI keyboard and a cheap USB MIDI interface (Midiman Midisport 2x2) and a copy of Sound Forge. You should download the latest demo version of Reason and also listen to the example songs.
Forget using the built in sounds on your SoundBlaster. Reason, or any other software synth, is going to blow away those sounds. Plus they can play back samples as well. The synths are really synths, they're just in software instead of hardware. I personally don't see any reason to buy more hardware synths unless you are going to be performing live. One thing you will want to look at when choosing a sounds card is to make sure it has ASIO drivers. If not then the latency on the sound card will be too high. The bottom line on this is that there will be a delay between the time you press a key on your MIDI keyboard and when you hear the sound from the computer.
Prevent email address forgery. Publish SPF records for y
1) The most powerful PC or Mac you can afford. You are not going to be able to use Linux if you want to do anything serious as far as music production goes.
2) A pro audio soundcard. Again, depending upon how serious you are...if you just want to dabble until you find out exactly what your style is, your SBLive should be more than sufficient. I can't really recommend a particular unit to you though, because I don't have one myself.
3) Software. These days, the simplest and cheapest solution is to go all software. VST instruments simulate "real" electronic instruments (synths/samplers/etc) much more cheaply than outboard MIDI gear. I very rarely use any of my hardware synths. As for what you should get, it really depends upon what you intend to do. You can get demo versions of many popular packages. At the minimium, I would recommend a sound editor (Sound Forge is good, some people like Cool Edit or WaveLab) and a sequencer that supports audio such as Cubase or Sonar. If you plan to use a lot of samples/loops, I would highly recommend Acid 4, which includes VSTi support and basic MIDI. Softsynths that I like are the Pro-52 and FM7 (both by Native Instruments, I think) and the Junglist (Sonic Syndicate).
If you need more information or detail on anything mentioned above, let me know!
It's true, Reason could keep you busy for a long time, but to be honest, depending on how much music theory you know, you might be able to get by without a ~US$99 MIDI keyboard for input if you needed to. I mean, ultimately, a MIDI keyboard will let you noodle around and expirment until you find a melody or progression that you like, but if you're not an expert player, you'll probably find yourself sequencing the playback. All a MIDI sequencer needs is note number, timing information and velocity (volume) of each note. That can be entered in a numerical format. A lot of sequencers also have a music staff so note entry or copying something from existing sheet music becomes even easier. So if you're not absolutely comfortable playing keys in real time to a metronome, step entry of the notes via another method is just as viable and a hundred bucks cheaper.
This sig intentionally left justified.
If all you're looking to do is some sound tracking and live playing, you'd probably be better off with something like FruityLoops. It's a $99 software package (without all the frills) that does a excellent job as a production tool and a decent job at MIDI.
My setup consists of a bunch of effects modules, some tone modules, a professional-grade sound card, Fruity Loops 3.56, ACID 4, Sound Forge and Cakewalk.
If you're really into the MIDI playing, an actual sequencing package will probably be better. Cakewalk can't be beat for the price. It's also getting better in the digital audio handling, though it's still not up to snuff with Cubase or ProTools for recording.
If you're curious to see the type of sound you can get using the lower-priced solutions like Acid or FruityLoops, check out the FruityLoops forums or Acid Planet
There's a demo version of FruityLoops available that you can use to play any FLP files from the forums.
Good luck!
There's so little difference between politics and jihad lately...
There's Stanton Final Scratch, which is a pretty tight looking dj kit for linux boxes.
Spinning Mp3s - doing some actual cutting and scratching... Cool stuff.
Keep your packets off my GNU/Girlfriend!
you can get all of teh goodness here!
it only runs under windows and anything over p2 should be fine. i just wish it was opensourced so i could run it on my g4 or under linux.
I want 2D games back.
Many people still keep using proprietary MP3 file format, which is unfortunate not because of its lower quality to size ratio, which is hard to hear for an average person, who doesn't even usually hear any difference between 192kbps and 256kbps constant bitrate MP3 files, but because of its legal issues. While Vorbis is technically similar to JPEG graphics format, i.e. it's a "lossy" compression, it is legally similar to PNG, while MP3 is in that analogy similar to GIF, using LZW compression patented by Unisys. See the MP3/MP3PRO Patent and Software Licensing Information website and search Google for "MP3 patent" to find more informations about this issue.
Also, I hope, and I'm sure most of the people here will agree with me, there will be a little "(O)" mark, next to your copyright statement! Good luck! We'll be looking for your links in the Open Music Registry!
(And please, don't post this old stupid joke that we should use double OAL logo, "because (o)(o) looks better," because it doesn't. It looks like an immature joke made by a 15-year-old child, while EFF's OAL should be taken seriously if we ever want it to successfully compete with the recording industry at large.)
~Christopher Doopov
If you want to do MIDI, then Reason is pretty good, though you should be able to get away with any program that has VST Instrument support (like Logic, Cubase, Nuendo). As far as I remember Reason doesn't have VST support. It's good to get a program that uses an open plugin standard, because then you aren't locked into one vendor to expand your sounds. There are lots of free VST instruments around, and plenty to buy.
If you get an SB Live! then you'll probably want to get the (free, but not open source) low-latency ASIO drivers from KX Project . I get 5ms latency from a $30 sound card, which is amazing.
Also, check out my collection of quality GPL VST plugins: destroyfx.org . (These are mostly plugins for modifying sound in-line, not generating it from midi keypresses.)
Reaktor by Native Instruments. It's got incredible analog synth support and a very extensible architecture. Since it does full sound modeling, you can create your own custom instruments from scratch. Not the cheapest around, but if you search Usenet, you'll find lots of user praise for it.
A friend of mine decided he was going to approach the Buzz guys about porting Buzz to Linux, and I offered to help with the port. Apparently they acted interested, except there was one tiny problem... according to my friend, they "lost" the source code.
If you can get SpiralSynth working in Linux (it is an extreme pain... I had it working once; you have to have all the exact same libraries as the developer, and fix a few compilation errors), it's a pretty darn cool synthesizer, as is the Juno 6 from realitymasters.com(?). In Windows, RGC Audio has some cool softsynths.
A solution to the problem with music today
Professional applications often seem to have a quirky or unusual user interface and it can be hard to assess how easy it will be to use once you have got to grips with it.
As a musician and a software developer, I know intuitively what OSS and the internet community in general has to offer musicians. I recently downloaded Audacity, for example, and I was able to use it out-of-the-box with no problems -- something I can't quite say for some of its proprietary counterparts.
:) ...
But as a software developer, I'm missing the community websites, mailing lists, and general online discussion that I enjoy in other domains. Where do music software developers "hang out" online? (I'm specifically referring to those people developing software tools for musicians, as opposed to those developing file-trading and music-player applications.)
There are plenty of websites about music out there, but 99% appear to be fansites or e-business sites for music industry companies.
From time to time I toss around the idea of putting together a mailing list / website for music technology discussions (maybe slashcode is good for this?). If I did, would anyone use it? Or does something comparable already exist, and I am just missing it?
BTW, the musical community needs OSS badly. Leaving technology standards up to the music industry has left us with crappy, slowly evolving protocols with little innovation. With all due respect, MIDI was great in its day, but it really doesn't meet the tests of time, IMHO. Also, I know that musicXML is on the way, but I'm still skeptical
There are more options in this area than I can even begin to fully explain. I will tell you that you won't be happy with your SBLive for very long. It certainly didn't keep my happy for more than a month.
The question is, how involved do you want to get? You can get into the computer/music arena for anywhere from $100 to... really as much as you want to pay. If MIDI-based music is the way you would like to go, you may be able to get away with simple stereo audio i/o. However, you'll probubly eventually want more than one pair of MIDI ports, and you'll want MIDI ports with lower latency than what you'd find on your SB card.
The first choice you need to make is what platform you will run on. The only two real competitors are Mac and PC/Windows. As much as I like Linux, it's just not in the audio arena yet. Of those two, Mac is almost undisputedly more stable/powerful when it comes to audio processing. Unfortunately, Mac's are quite costly. I personally use a PC simply for the cost factor.
Once you've chosen your platform, you need to get the most powerful system you can afford. It really matters here. You get a weak system you'll be very limited. That said, I do quite well on a 1.2Ghz Athlon (overclocked to 1.4) and 768MB PC133 SDRAM. Hard drives are also of concern when it comes to recording (which I assume you'll get into). Basically you want to make sure you have plenty of space and at least 7200rpm. Uncompressed audio can really take up a lot of space. Also of note, unfortunately most PC software is moving towards being 2k/XP only. In the Mac arena things are just starting to shift to OS X. Within the next year all major packages should be available for it, but for now you have some that are, some that aren't.
After the platform and computer are chosen, you need to figure out which software you want. Your key audio package will be your sequencer. This is the program you'll use to make everything happen. You'll record with it, layout with it, and generally even just play through it. There are several that exist: Cubase, Nuendo, Logic Audio (recently bought by Mac, now Mac only), Digital Performer (always has been, always will be Mac only), Cakewalke, and Sonar, to name a few. I personally recommend Cubase (Cubasis, the stripped down version, may be a good way to get a start into things). Also, if you're wanting to go with computer based instruments (aka virtual instruments) you'll need some plugins. As far as synths go, Native Instruments makes arguably the best to be found anywhere. I'm particularly fond of their FM7, and for raw power (though a lot more work) Reaktor is amazing. Also of note is Rebirth by Propellerheads, which is particularly handy for breakbeats if that's you're thing. It models two classic analog synths, and two classic drum synths. Finally, if you want to make serious MIDI based music, there is nothing that compares to Gigastudio by Tascam. It is by far the most expensive of them all, but well worth it. Technically Gigastudio is a sampler, not a synth. It is capable of playing back complete, believable, symphonies of sound (literally). It also takes massive amounts of CPU/RAM and only runs on PC.
The final aspect to go for is the audio/MIDI hardware itself. The reason this comes last is quite simply because certain hardware works best with certain software. With that in mind it's hard to give recommendations. You will need two pieces of hardware: the audio interface, and the MIDI interface. Audio hardware is a bit less proprietary than MIDI hardware, and you'll probubly be fine if you choose something that has ASIO drivers. I use a MOTU 896 Firewire interface that has 8in/8out, 8 mic preamps, and operates at up to 24bit/96kHz. That's probubly a bit overkill for what you want to do. I've also had very good success with Echo cards. The Echo Mia may well be the way to go. It's a simple stereo in/out, but will do 24bit/96kHz and has balanced TRS connectors. The Mia usually runs just under $200. Other manufacturers of note are: DigiDesign (expensive, very proprietary, but good), RME, Aardvark, and M-Audio.
The MIDI interface gets a bit touchier. I had to try a couple before I got one that really worked for me. They tend to also be more proprietary towards your sequencing software. I use a Stienberg Midex 8, which works beautifully with Nuendo and Cubase because they're both made by Steinberg, however, I wouldn't recommend it if you're not running Nuendo, Cubase or one of the other Steinberg software packages. Basically everyone uses there own protocol for MIDI, and uses a protocol called LTC for a fallback. Almost everything can use LTC, but LTC doesn't perform nearly as well as whatever proprietary protocol your software might use. Most companies that make sequencers also sell MIDI interfaces, and generally you want the one that matches your software. If you simply want one that will kindof work for everything, but not work great with anything, Midiman of Maudio makes the Midisport series that are fairly decent all around, but only use the LTC protocol. Of course, there are all shapes and sizes of MIDI interfaces, I would recommend getting one that has at least 2 in/out ports. It may be worth it to even go up to 8. On a side note, STAY AWAY from Edirol MIDI interfaces. I've had three of them go through my hands, and none of them worked.
Ok, now we have our computer, our software, and our audio/midi hardware... time to get a MIDI controler of some sort. This is where you just need to go to a few music stores and find what you want. There are a few things you want to make sure you have, but beyond that it's just all about what you like. You want to make sure you have pitch/mod control of some sort. You also want to make sure that you have a velocity sensitive controller (i.e. It sends out MIDI signals saying how hard the keys were hit/let off). You also probubly want something that works as a sustain pedal (especially if you intend to do anything that is to sound like a piano). I personally recommend getting something that has a small subset of built-in sounds. Even though they're a bit more expensive, it just augments your possibilities that much more. Everything else in the MIDI controller is more or less up to what feels good to you.
I know this ran on a bit, and is kindof haphazardly thrown together, but hopefully it can give some starting points. If you'd like to see what I have, it can be found here, but it probubly won't stand up to too awfully many hits. As a final note, a great resource for information on audio in general (including computer audio) is Harmony Central.
For hardware, you don't need a very fast machine. A 600ish MHz PC will do fine. The sound card does most of the work. A pro sound card with ASIO drivers and a breakout box is important. I have experience with the Delta44 from M-Audio, a lower end option (about $250 US)for these features. The ASIO drivers allow the card to use it's DSP for sound synth, so the CPU can handle other tasks. The breakout box does the digital to analog conversion outside of the computers case, to lessen noise and interference. It also lets you use 1/4 inch phono jacks.
Software choices largly depend on what you want to create. I think Reason by PropellerHead Software is awesome for electronica, and very capable for more analog sounding stuff. It intergrates well with Cakewalk. Acid is great for loop/sample based stuff.
As for midi keyboards, Roland makes a really cheap and capable unit, the PC-160, that is fine if you're a one finger player and just need a way to get notes into a sequencer. Keyboardists will want something bigger, though.
With the hardware mentioned above, you can throw around 20+ tracks, all with hardware DSP effects, and not see the CPU load go above about 20-30%. Lots of room.
To really get great results you'll need to spend more money, of course. Quality studio monitors are very usefull, but not cheap. Good microphones for input. Headphones. Good cables. A mixing board, etc. All of this stuff can wait untill you get some royalties.
Last but not least, I would recomend educating yourself about some of the tech aspects of digital music creation. Digital cross-talk, aliasing etc, are hard to pin down if you don't know what causes them.
"A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
The introdution of MIDI can largly be credited to Herbie Hancock, the jazz musician. He was the one who kept bugging manufatures to make synths connectable, and had input into technical design issues. A nice example of creativity pushing technology.
"A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
the first post telling linux is great because of sound drivers. sound drivers are great but how about apps your retard!
works fine for me. I have Cakewalk 9 Pro Audio a soundblaster and a regular desktop mic. If getting started is what you are doing then this is the best, cheapest and easiest by far. make a new track, enable record, put the mic up to the speaker and record. You dont need all that fancy midi stuff that will just lock you into a keyboard. I record with electric and acoustic guitars, basses, vocals, keyboards and even from drum programs on my computer. File format is not a concern for you.
Trust me. email if you have ?'s but itll take a few days for me to get back to you.
BadAndy www.wantedband.com
"I am a warrior, and information is my weapon..."
intune.org is a musician community site that deals with all kinds of issues affecting musicians.
I've heard good things about GigaSampler... From what I've heard it's the best for at least piano synth (when combined with GigaPiano).
Just a note, that patent runs out in a couple months, then GIF will be patent free!
U.S. Patent 4,558,302 encumbers LZW compression until late June 2003. On July 4, I will celebrate not only the independence of the United States from the United Kingdom but also the independence of LZW compression from those who are not willing to license its use in free software.
But we still can't count chickens yet. Congress could pass a Cherilyn Lapierre Patent Term Extension Act. If Sonny could get a copyright extension onto the books in the USA, certainly Cher could be a spokeswoman for the pharmaceutical industry to demand longer patent terms.
Will I retire or break 10K?
I now want to spark up my interest in music again as I want to broaden my horizons, and I figure the best way to do it is with my PC.
If you reproduce a copyrighted musical work on your computer without authorization, you commit the crime of copyright infringement.
If, when writing a song, you unconsciously copy from an existing copyrighted musical work, you commit copyright infringement.
If, when writing a song, you create a melody similar to that of an existing copyrighted musical work, even by coincidence, a music publisher with billions of dollars in the bank may take legal action against you. If you have no money with which to hire legal counsel to defend you against an allegation of copyright infringement, you're in deep doo-doo.
I'd suggest staying the heck away from music unless you plan only to cover classical pieces first published before January 1, 1923.
Will I retire or break 10K?
cat /dev/urandom > /dev/dsp
After all, it's better than most of the shit I hear on the radio every day.
While soft-synths sound cool in theory, they suck to work with. You can't actually "play" a soft-synth (at least not in my experience). With music coming out of the speakers half a second later than you pressed the corresponding key, it's impossible to keep in sync (or even play correctly).
A separate decent midi-keyboard and sound module/sound-card will often cost you 1 1/2 times as much as if the midi-keyboard came with sounds, but you may still prefer it, if you plan to add more gear later on (and never need to carry your gear to play somewhere else).
Most sound-sources are crap. You might as well live with it, and get a cheap one. Note that GM sucks most of all, but the price increase for getting decent stuff is much to high for the amateur like me (or you, I guess), and besides, it makes it simpler to use with standard software. $300 should be about the right price-range to start with (maybe less if it's a sound-card). Remember to go for quality (as in playability, realism) in sounds, and not quantity (you will never need those helicopter/gunshot/sitar/el-guitar patches anyway). Be aware of excessive reverb, which can often make something sound good at first, but sucks later on. If you like experimenting with the sounds themselves, buy a used old synth, such as a DX7 (which should be extremely cheap nowadays, and also has pretty decent keys:-), or confine your experiments to the soft-synths (but they are harder to work with, since the real-time use just sucks. There is definitely a big plus to have knobs you can actually touch instead of using a mouse).
In general, used stuff is good, you may find it in your local store (sometimes the store has a department for used stuff, sometimes they have a bulletin board), or in a magazine. But never buy used stuff unless you've seen it and tried it first (it might be very heavily used, and unless you know what to buy, it is a good idea to see if it fits your need)
Being a hacker type myself, I find it far to easy to be carried away by all the technology instead of making actual music. Electronic instruments often lack the same dynamics and expressitivity as a real one, and it's important to practice the real thing once in a while.
One of the great things about software, however, is the amount of educational software out there. I like using Band-In-A-Box as a great source of ideas. And also a decent air-training program, such as EarMaster Pro (there are lots of others). As for sequencers, any brand-name will do, they are much the same anyway (as with word-processors, etc...)
You can get ASIO drivers for emu10k1 and emu10k2 cards (SB Live, Audigy, EMU APS) from http://www.kxproject.com/. They work pretty well with Acid Pro 4, which I bought when first released for $250, but you can get it now from local music shops for around $170. The kx drivers also have a very cool interface for programming the various chips of the sound card, and a built in emu10k1 assembler/disassembler so you can write your own DSP modules if you like.
A solution to the problem with music today
If you're going to be using a software synth, make sure you have an external box for both note-playing (e.g. a keyboard controller), as well as something that you can use to twiddle knobs in real-time (e.g. a knob controller). Working with a mouse is pure headache. its much more fun when you can edit more than one parameter at a time while your sequence is blaring away.
This is assuming you're using software that can accept messages from the midi bus.
but your primary goal? buy something that you'd want to play. go to your local music hardware store, spend a few hours, and the synth that you keep going back to because its fun should be the one you should get.
you don't keep doing anything if its not fun.
What does ASIO have to do with audio?
/me ducks
Troll? I'm seriously concerned about this legal issue. If you have insight into the legal issues, please reply instead of knee-jerk downmodding.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Don't tell me that we need GIF for animated banners, they are useless and still we have MNG for that.
Because Microsoft Internet Explorer does not come with a MNG viewer, the vast majority of home users of the World Wide Web cannot see MNG images. And is there any way to convert XCF (GIMP's format) to MNG?
Will I retire or break 10K?
I use Cakewalk Home Studio 2002, which I think you can get for $89. It's amazing what you can do with this software -- see http://www.mp3.com/bill_majoros for some examples. I've recorded 3 CD's full of music over the past four months. Cakewalk does have a few bugs, but under XP with 512MB RAM it's stable enough to do what I want with it. I use a real (external) synth rather than the built-in software synths or sound-card sounds, because the sound quality is much better, and it involves fewer headaches. I tried a simple midi-controller, and it didn't work as well as the real synth. If you want quality sound, you should also buy a nice soundcard. My cheap soundcard makes a humming sound which is audible during quiet parts (such as drum intros). Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any Linux software that can do what Cakewalk/Reason/Acid/Sonar/etc. can do. That's the only reason I own a windows machine. BTW, I've read that much of the material on Joe Satriani's recent albums was recorded on his home computer using one of these types of programs (Pro Tools, or somesuch). There's a station on www.mp3.com (called Sonarity if I remember correctly) which showcases music created with the Sonar program, which is also made by Cakewalk. Have fun!
Visit the following:
:)
www.prorec.com (good articles and great discussion area)
www.digifreq.com (good discussion boards and also ran by Scott Garrigus who has written some good audio/computer recording books)
Welcome to a new layer of hell
James
my set up is slightly complicated, but i've found it works wonders: i use "aldo's pianito and microstudio" or whatever(www.aldostools.com or something similar) for basic sequencing... windows recorder because my soundcard is etenerally screwed by windows, i think in that it will only record using this recorder... audacity to cut and paste all the sound segments together in a 'logical' fashion(sometimes not so logical)... and soundprobe to touch things up(add various effects, reduce the hiss, etc)
If you want a mixer for audio, check out pro-tools free version from digi design. Its limited in the number of tracks you can mix, but works really well. My old housemate mixed books on tape with it as well as his band. Came out really professional. Did his recording analog and dumped them into the computer.
There is one other device that is just fun. I don't know who makes it (steinberg?) but I have the demo at home. Its a roland drum machine emulator. The wierd thing is that they didn't make the interface intutive for computer users, they made it just like the actual device. Its interesting to try and use a knob with a mouse and see the effort required to program one of those drum machines. The sounds are 80's fat though.
This has to be the most stupidest comment ever made.
Then how else do you suggest that a songwriter avoid accidentally infringing the copyright on any of the millions of published musical works?
You must work for the Recording/Pulishing Industry.
No I don't. I'm just a would-be songwriter, but I stopped writing music after having done some research on music plagiarism cases. It turns out that if a song written by Alice is "substantially similar" to a song by Bob that Alice has heard even once, then Alice infringes Bob's copyright.
If you can help me figure out how to avoid musical plagiarism, please do so.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Of course each software project has its own web pages and mailing lists. In addition to that there's linux-sound.org, which is basically a directory of all sound and music related software for Linux (both free and non-free). Then there's Linux Audio Developers Mailing List. I'm sure there's more, but that's a start.
Please alter my pants as fashion dictates.
here is what have been doing, as i am building a recording studio for techno industrial to flamenco guitar music. i have found that in truth almost all computer based audio recording software is REALLY tricky. take for exmple protools DIGI 001. the work horse of the audio industry. unless you have the right scsi drive and the whole computer hardware tuned to the specks that is required buy the package you can forget useing it. i found that even though digi 001 works with some systems it wont work with all. and sometimes a computer based recording system can be a even more hindering system than a help. in other word in most cases you spend more time with the system crashing or being down than actualy recording. what i would do, is if you are REALLY serious about getting into digital recording, go and buy something like a triton studio keyboard. they are about $2700 but on www.americanmusical.com you can do a payment plan $500 a month. this key board will also do mulittrack recording with a guitar and microphone. they even come with a builtin cd burner. these synths are one of the best on the market right now, that or a motif keyboard (by yamaha i think) as for linux and audio, unfortanaly linux with audio is still in the stone age. i am seriously hoping that with in the next year we will see more programs ported over from commercial packages. i have spent alot of time researching this. remember that amount of money you put into equipment = the performace you will get back out of your music. if you want to check out more on the triton goto www.korg.com they have mp3 files of sample songs from the keyboard. the triton studio is alos VERY highly upgradeable.
Is everything you say anectdotal? Do you fucking know anything? You are such a fucking moron, I love paging though your history to see what crap you post, then consider flaming you for fun, only while getting paid many many times what you make if you even make anything at all.
YOU: Retarded, stupid, fat sexless unemployed subsidized by the public living at home supressed homosexual know nothing below average IDIOT.
Oskari literally did lose the source code to Buzz, it was on a hard disc that died.
Yes, I argued about open source/free software, and he didn't agree (indeed, the only commercial Buzz machine, Jeskola XS-1, is his). He hasn't tried very hard to get the source back; it doesn't really matter as the API isn't that hard, and one of these days, if we really need to, one of us will clone the core.
But even though the source is lost, Buzz is still updated - the core doesn't have much interesting stuff, it's all about the machines and the recent packs work well with this.
Buzz, by the way, works under Linux using Wine, though you may want to try WineX for DirectSound.
There is an open source project called Psycle as well, spawned from ex-Buzz machine developers who left in disgust after the source code loss. It isn't as good, IMHO, as Buzz, but is worthy of a mention.
It's not entirely anecdotal. I have heard it in action on several occasions and it sounded flawless to me. However, I am not an expert on music, so I defer to the opinion of the owner of the particular copy of GigaSampler, who is quite a bit more experienced with such things than I.
You sir, who are too corwardly to post your brainless flames from your account and instead hide behind the veil of anonymity, should put up or shut up.
I fear your reprise, your zealot jihad against me. You have levied attacking crusades on others, in this forum and many others. Bodies lay strewn about in the wake of your tantric fits.
I am so fearful of you, your attacks, your conjecture being seen as truth, and the STEAMROLLING over those who would oppose you. I feel cornered, defensive and the need to assert and protect. This will all be done in the shadows as this is the best way to subjugate the evil tyrants, you must exploit weakness and zealous obsession to machinate the ends which will result in the great evil that your are being vanquished and you returned to the primordial weakened existence from whence you came!
In closing I say this;
Red alert. Go to red alert. Fag alarm. This fucking vidiot sexless fat poor health bad physical condition racist fat ultra left wing nationalist asshole idiot is speakingGO TO RED ALERT. Space and Time are grinding to a halt.
Fucking idiot SHITSTAIN McGuspaz is speaking.
Fat man living off of government or with parents with no sex jerking off to pedophile porn and trolling Slashdot is speaking. WOOP WOOP.
Captain, people cant take much more of this shit. I'm giving it all shez got.
The alien Guspaz, with his corpulent fat face and fronds of flash drooping over belly into cheap assed keyboard try is coming. He farted on the left nacelle!
NO!!!!! That will massage his prostate, GUSPAZ likes anal pleasure, we must go to warp 69!
FAT SEXLESS GUSPAZ pursues the captain in a long brown skidmarking journey through space.
Fat fucking pig. Fat stupid. All Your Base Are Belong To Us was meant to be funny, its not the 11th commandment you dumb motherfucker.
FUCKING ASSHOLE ALARM.
A lot of interesting comments, but some of them are simply not accurate.
///Leif
First of all, ASIO will not enable you to use any DSP on the sound card. ASIO will simply allow you to get very low latency, by using small buffer sizes.
The smaller the buffer size, the bigger the overhead. Thus, you will actually need MORE processing power with ASIO, not less. Of course, ASIO is still essential - you can't do realtime processing with WaveOut, and DirectSound although faster than WaveOut isn't fast enough.
M Audio's Delta 44 is an excellent audio interface, but it has NO synthesis, DSP effects or anything of the sort. It's basically just an A/D and D/a converter, and a really good one too. (I have one in this machine, listening to it right now.)
As for processing power, the more the better. A 600mhz processor will not get you very far - a few realtime effects and you're at full load.
Also, for low latencies, it really helps having a dual processor system - will make skips/stutters a lot less likely when you're working on multiple programs. ASIO with small buffers is much more sensitive to this problem than WaveOut is.
I personally recommend Dual Athlon MP - plenty of power to spare for most things.
I've used all the big music applications - cubase, logic, cakewalk, etc. and hated them all, but the most interesting thing I've seen for years is a new sequencer called Tracktion - it's got a fantastic, simple functional interface - no menus or dialogue boxes - and after the first minute of thinking "huh??" you're flying!
The best bit is that it's all written and designed by this one guy on his own (in his spare time!) - an awesome bit of coding! He's written the whole thing on top of his own GUI library(!)and judging by the activity on its support forum it's evolving at an amazing rate! It's missing a couple of features, but this is a sizzling bit of software and worth checking out for anyone who likes good UI design!
oh - and the demo tunes are hilarious, too!