Ask Slashdot: Linux and the Home Recording Studio?

wjcofkc writes: Somewhere between IT jobs I found myself spending 2 1/2 years employed pretty deeply in the local music industry. It was a fantastic experience. Left and right I saw people using very expensive proprietary software. I never saw anything that a similar Linux counterpart, or a suite of Open Source counterparts could not do. Needless to say, I preached the good word. Unfortunately, I never exploited any opportunities to provide a demo. One thing concerned me. If you have a full DAW setup, it's not just software; there is always some sort of hardware interface of varying complexity involved and playing through an amp into a microphone connected to a computer is not an acceptable way to record. I recently purchased a Lexicon Alpha 2-Channel Desktop Recording Studio interface based on vague mentions that it might work with Linux. After plugging it in for the first time, I fired up Audacity and Ardour. The device was available to select as an interface with zero configuration and it works perfectly. My question to the music geeks among us: what is your take on the state of Open Source pro audio software? And what successes and failures have you had with studio hardware?

Comments

Re:What you're really saying...

[wjcofkc]

To feed the troll or not to feed the troll...? Okay, here's some kibbles and bits. In fact I was most certainly employed in the music industry, however local. No less, I paid taxes and everything. Yes, I even got paid!!! It was decent too. I would rattle off everything I handed which was substantial, but that is not the point of my submission. Look, I am sorry your presumably tech resume didn't cut it during that time. Many of ours did not. I am also sorry you did not look outside the box like I did resulting in one of the most enriching and exciting employment stretches I will probably ever have. I have missed it so much, I am ditching tech outside of economic reasons to get back in.