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Open-Source Music Production Tools

midination.com

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Re: Open-Source Music Production Tools

#71

Post by ryan_midi »

racl101 wrote: post #25

Here's a chance for a content maker to make a YouTube channel to show people how to use these tools. I know that a lot of people's apprehension with these kinds of open source tools is they're afraid of investing their time into a tool that might not be widely supported because if they get stuck there will be little to no support in figuring out the software. And also, if the project is not popular enough then it won…

That's where I'm going towards next. I'm going to create a song from scratch using just Ardour and Zyn synth. I actually find Ardour's CPU usage to be more efficient than Ableton or Logic. And honestly, the learning curve isn't any steeper

Re: Open-Source Music Production Tools

#72

Post by ryan_midi »

exikyut wrote: post #50

Naive, under-researched :) question: what Linux-native program lets me import a bunch of audio tracks, arrange them in a timeline with subsample-level resolution, apply nondestructive edits such as crossfades... ...with a fast, simple UI? :) So far I've poked at Ardour, but a) I was pretty sure it was absolute overkill for my simple purposes, b) The program felt kinda clunky, like if I moved wrong it would crash, and…

If you're simply working with audio files, then I'd say Audacity is a really good option. A full-fledged DAW is useful if you're working with external plugins and MIDI files. But for basic audio work, Audacity will do well enough.

It's also one of the best supported and mature audio programs around, so stability won't be an issue at all

Re: Open-Source Music Production Tools

#73

Post by exikyut »

pcf wrote: post #63
exikyut wrote: post #50

Naive, under-researched :) question: what Linux-native program lets me import a bunch of audio tracks, arrange them in a timeline with subsample-level resolution, apply nondestructive edits such as crossfades... ...with a fast, simple UI? :) So far I've poked at Ardour, but a) I was pretty sure it was absolute overkill for my simple purposes, b) The program felt kinda clunky, like if I moved wrong it would crash, and…

"I've pretty much never pursued playing around with audio or music because all the software out there is either undiscoverably obscure, or firmly out of my price range (which is $0, since I a) have no idea if audio editing will even be interesting, and b) don't know what program would be the most appropriate)." Not to be a dick, but it doesn't sound like you have a need to play around with audio or music. People who…

I totally understand where you're coming from, and to an extent I agree.

I didn't adequately clarify the sentiment I was getting at.

There are a million things I want to do with technology: machine learning, advanced robotics, data science, UI/UX research, networking/homelab experimentation, music/drawing/animation, photography, programming.

Sometimes significant events happen in life that throw you very far away from the path that you'd logically gravitate towards. Sometimes those events make sense; sometimes they don't. One of those happened for me in 1998, when my family realized the only viable resolution to the concerns they'd raised regarding the public school I was attending, would be to home-school. (The school was quick to clarify that it was not legal to transfer between schools.)

In any world, if I did things over I would absolutely have ticked the "[x] sound education" box. I don't understand math. I don't understand electronics. I don't understand a lot of things. I feel very much undone. It took 15 years to finally learn I had high-functioning autism and ADHD, figure out why the public school I'd attended had been so oppressive and condemning, and make sense of why my poor mother's best efforts never seemed to make a dent in my understanding. I'm now trying my best to make up for lost time, albeit without adequate resources.

I've learned that under-resourcedness is generally counterbalanced by having connections, and that a social network - a real, functional, practical one, not the all-thumbs kind you see on interactive TV - is one of the critical components of success in life, especially when (multiple) circumstances beyond your control make you stick out like a sore thumb and make sustenance of equilibrium orders of magnitude harder than the statistical average. But when those very circumstances make socialization and communication difficult, things can become very depressing. I guess the GP was a bit of a rant.

TL;DR, I have a VERY long list of "hey that could be a thing I could be really good at". It's huge. I've carried it for 20 years. I have no idea what I'm concretely good at. And I currently have no way to find out. It's a bit of a catch-22.

(Yes, I really was using a machine with 320MB of RAM in 2014.)

Re: Open-Source Music Production Tools

#74

Post by zubspace »

ryan_midi wrote: post #8

Hello! I'm the author of this page. I realize that a few tools might be missing. Happy to hear all suggestions. In the meantime, if you want this list in Google sheet, you can make a copy of this one: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YfVyZHy83WHIiZmQJwHh...

Another suggestion: Orca [1], which is an experimental sequencer based upon an esoteric programming language and Pilot [2], which is a synth sometimes used together with Orca

[1] https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Orca

[2] https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Pilot

Re: Open-Source Music Production Tools

#75

Post by LargoLasskhyfv »

avhon1 wrote: post #41
amazing_stories wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, it's difficult to do music on Linux. I almost punched my computer last weekend because it's so hard. However, two things I can say for sure is that the Linux native of Reaper works great and Ubuntu Studio presents a pretty good OOBE with Ardour. Nothing running on Linux compares to Ableton, so if that's your preferred workflow, just stick with that. Now, if someone could just write a good audio editor that w…

As somebody who has only used Audacity and Pure Data, what's an example of a good audio editor?

Not that I've used it so far, just skimmed the list and seen Radium there, which I've been unaware of. Looked interesting.

Anyways, since you seem to know PD, which Radium has embedded as they write, maybe you want to try it?

[1] https://users.notam02.no/~kjetism/radium/index.php

Re: Open-Source Music Production Tools

#76

Post by LargoLasskhyfv »

ttctciyf wrote: post #28
ryan_midi wrote: post #8

Hello! I'm the author of this page. I realize that a few tools might be missing. Happy to hear all suggestions. In the meantime, if you want this list in Google sheet, you can make a copy of this one: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YfVyZHy83WHIiZmQJwHh...

It's a good list! If you haven't visited already, maybe you could take a look at https://github.com/nodiscc/awesome-linuxaudio

Hm. Last commit "remove REAPER (offensive naming)"

https://github.com/nodiscc/awesome-linuxaudio/commit/22f6075...

Y?

Re: Open-Source Music Production Tools

#77

Post by ttctciyf »

LargoLasskhyfv wrote: post #76
ttctciyf wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a good list! If you haven't visited already, maybe you could take a look at https://github.com/nodiscc/awesome-linuxaudio

Hm. Last commit "remove REAPER (offensive naming)" https://github.com/nodiscc/awesome-linuxaudio/commit/22f6075... Y?

No idea, but irrelevant here since Reaper isn't FOSS.

There is an issue about that very question! https://github.com/nodiscc/awesome-linuxaudio/issues/50

Re: Open-Source Music Production Tools

#78

Post by stallmanite »

klodolph wrote: post #52
trts wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like I have been infrequently using Audacity for close to 20 years now which is surprising to think about. I've used it to slice up tons of live recordings, mix multitrack audio, clean up, remove background noise, dub aging tape reels to digital, add some post-production effects to music tracks, and teach my dad how to use free software to do some of the same stuff. Some of the work was for broadcast and dig…

I have been using Audacity for about 20 years as well, or at least 15. I feel seething hatred for it. I use alternatives where possible, even if I have to pay for them. Audacity has the dubious distinction of being the only software that, to my knowledge, has directly caused me physical pain and harm. You see, unlike every other application on the planet, the volume slider in Audacity does not control Audacity’s play…

Amen. I want to love it and I’ve tried but the file format thing is a dealbreaker. I fantasize about a fork that fixes the “projects” vs wav files issue, and in my fantasy the keybindings match Sound Forge so it’s not jarring to switch back and forth.

Re: Open-Source Music Production Tools

#79

Post by lillesvin »

keeblers_n_bits wrote: post #13

One of the reasons I haven't been able to fully commit to Linux on the desktop is that I haven't been able to find quality music production tools. I always end up going back to macOS because I miss Logic Pro X and Ableton Live too much. Also the audio routing in macOS is so much easier than any other operating system I've encountered. I would love to hear about music studios using FOSS.

Reaper isn't Open Source but it runs on Linux and it's really good, IMO. And you can try the full version for free.

Re: Open-Source Music Production Tools

#80

Post by dr-smooth »

SyneRyder wrote: post #48
avhon1 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As somebody who has only used Audacity and Pure Data, what's an example of a good audio editor?

A long time ago Cool Edit Pro was the definitive choice on Windows. It became Adobe Audition and 'disappeared' into their Creative Cloud subscription bundle - it's still actively developed but I no longer hear of people using it. iZotope RX is meant more for audio restoration (and is the industry standard there), but you can also use it for many audio editing tasks. I've personally switched to Acustica by Acon Digita…

Cool Edit Pro. Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

I used to love that program for its simplicity. I will cast my vote for ocenaudio as the fastest, most intuitive audio editor for basic tasks (and it does a great job with batch jobs, too, like running the same noise reduction on 10 clips at the same time).

https://www.ocenaudio.com/

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