I used an indamixx netbook which is a linux based build that came with a renoise demo and I eventually went from there and bought it.
Jack with the GUI “Jack’d” came with the netbook and it was fantastic. I could route audio from browser windows or anything else into renoise which was nice for sampling off the internet. Everything generally ran really well but eventually I started getting into complex feedback loops and delay textures and the thing didn’t have enough power to run them realtime.
There is a powerbook now though so look into it.
Allover it was a really nice purchase to get me into music production.
I make all my music on Linux and it works pretty well, but I think that after the release of windows 7 there aren’t any advantages any more besides the cost. But I must say that I really love Jack and always run Renoise through it, and if you’re into old trackers and software a lot of them run superb via emulators(dos, windows 3.11 - 2000, amiga, videogame consoles).
I have actually found that a few windows programs run better via wine than natively. I’ve used Ubuntu, Ubuntu Studio and openSUSE and gotten the realtime kernel to work on both of the ubuntus, however since it slows down casual use of the computer and doesn’t give any audible advantages unless you use a lot of plug-ins and virtual instruments (I use none) I disabled it again.
but yeah, the downpoints:
Not many audio plugins, the ones that exist are useless or of low quality
Doesn’t run other useful audio programs besides Renoise and Audacity
Sometimes things stop working after an update
No live play capabilities!
But honestly music production is one of Linux’s strong points. Professionally I’m a computer graphics artist and I have finally switched back to Windows a few months ago after years of struggling with Gimp, Blender and their ilk trying to do graphics on linux… it just doesn’t work. The best I could do was to get a 10 year old version of Photoshop 7.0 running over wine but it still lacked a few features. Some of autodesk’s 3D applications have linux builds and you can use Nuke of compositing, but there is no decent programs for 2D (this is the only one I actually need), vector, 3d sculpting, video editing, layout or motion graphics.
It used to be that the system itself was better on linux but Windows and Mac are just as good these days and Linux’s crippling weakpoint is that big commercial developers like Adobe don’t release their products for it so it can not be used for professional work, at least in my industry. I only know of one animation studio/FX that uses linux (they use openSUSE) as their main platform but even they have to use windows machines for certain tasks.
To me Linux is actually the most casual of the operating systems, good for home computers bad for workstations.
VizRT, one of the biggest names in graphics for television, use Linux (RedHat) on their graphics generating machines. Windows machines are often used for the user interface and database but I have always assumed this is done just because it will be a more familiar front end to most people.
Come across a few other Linux CG machines and they have always been running on RedHat, hence my recent (attempted) move to Fedora, rather than Ubuntu or other Debian-based ditribution.
Weta Digital, the company that did the graphics for Lord Of The Rings, Avatar and many other Hollywood blockbusters uses Linux machines on the whole. Although they do typically write their own software (EG Massive) and from I can tell it all seems to at least be ported to Windows as well.
I have found that GIMP, Inkscape and Blender run so much better in Linux while being quite buggy under Windows, so if you want to use free software it makes sense, but they are very lacking compared to the commercial alternatives such as those by Adobe.
Not really got into plugins so much but on the whole have found there are a few of high quality sound but very few which are also pretty to use.
Disagree. Although often use nothing but Renoise the likes of seq24, Rosegarden, AlsaModular and a fair few others are pretty good and useful. Not yet found a wave editor I am fully happy with though.
Disagreee again. Although not managed to set something up myself I can see good possibilities with something along the lines of a Renoise/SuperLooper/Seq24 combination!
Ardour, IanniX are some other examples of cool audio stuff on linux. and i’m sure there’s a whole bunch of stuff we are either forgetting or don’t know about.
Loomer, LinuxDSP, pianoteq, and Calf plugins are nice. There’s a few of the TAL plugins available natively for linux. Alsa Modular Synth sounds fantastic, then there’s zynaddsubfx/yoshimi, phasex, hydrogen drum sequencer, EnergyXT, ardour (ardour 3 will include midi support), Jamin, QMidiArp, QTractor… there’s plenty of stuff out there.
Certainly not the level of choice available to windows/mac users, but thanks to wine, linux users can run a wide range of windows VST plugins. I found that Reaper is the most stable environment for doing this. Connecting Reaper to Renoise via JACK isn’t a problem, so you could use Reaper as a windows VST host.
But really, linux audio has come a long way over the last couple of years and going down the wine/vst route isn’t the only option these days.
Was running Renoise exclusively in linux on the old laptop; works beautifully once you get set up, which will take about 15mins usually. Now have a dual boot setup ubuntu, LXDE and Win7. Still prefer Ubuntu when at home, Jack is an excellent tool.
Jack, Renoise, Ardour, Alsa modular synth (beast), puredata, supercollider, zyn add subfx, IanniX (which I have just discovered!!) many very nice free plugins and all your VSTs!! Great!
I only use windows when I’m on the train now!
Why Windows when travelling? One of the things that has kept on pulling me to it is I haven’t managed to get full-screen video without video-tearing in Linux, thus if I want to watch something I boot WinXP. That and yet to find a wave editor that will have me happily ditch Sound Forge.
I have been a linux user for more than 10 years, but I use Windows 7 for music making. I will really love to work in linux, Jack is cool, but I need some vsts… I dont use a lot, but I want the few I use.
Whats the best option to run vsts? (I dont want to sync with Reaper, I dont like that workflow)
Yeah, I have been using Linux for a couple of years now. I run Renoise native, with Reaper running in WINE. Works fine. As other people said, the key is to use JACK to route everything together. Takes a while to get your head around it, but the whole thing is a learning process and you will be better off for going through it.
Love it. I don’t use VSTs at all when I make music (purely sample work), so I don’t miss them. I can imagine that if you were very into using VST instruments and stuff, you would feel restricted. I don’t imagine it will be long before we start seeing some VST stuff (or equivalent) appearing on Linux, especially with Google Android being so popular now.
It is possible to run the Windows version of Renoise using Wine, and have access to Windows VSTs that way. However in my experience this tends to be prone to crashing, even though the same VSTs work fine using REAPER under Wine. I would not attempt to produce an entire track like this, but you can use the plugin grabber to get some samples of a particular VST’s output and then use the samples back in the Linux-native Renoise.
Renoise runs as smooth and stable as it does in windows.
If you lack plugins for it, as sji said, theres a guy named falkTX that does the kxstudio. falktx must be som kind of genius! Very helpful stuff - you’ll find more effect plugins that youll ever need there, and it has some really nice synths. the plugins will autmoatcily appear in renoise. go to “help” on the site to see how to do it. It’s not easy for a linux beginner, i think thats why ppl mistake it for another distro and is afraid to install it.
Well… if you’re a computer graphics artist, I would refrain from keeping this opinion worn on your sleve, cause you’re just dead wrong.
Flint, Flame, Smoke, all autodesk products, all industry standards (for top tear production houses) all up until not very long ago were Linux only. Why? it’s more stable than OS X and windows and allows for more easy implementation of proprietary in-house software.
People use linux for audio because they want to squeeze more power out of their systems with less latency and overhead.
Similar to high-end production houses people also use linux for audio also because it is completely open ended allowing for custom kernel tunings and software implementations.
for low latency audio/midi use Jack… .as mentioned a few times here KXstudio is worth a look for those who want to run pulse and jack successfully. KX is not a distro, but the software is available via the repos… check out KXstudio’s site for all the info you need.
got Renoise running properly on Linux today. i essentially followed this write-up: http://www.64studio.com/manual/audio/jack in order to set up my Jack Settings correctly. i’m not sure what was initially wrong, but i’m sure the Framerate-setting was wrong for my soundcard. the way i figured out what my correct setting was, was like this (got this trick from somewhere other on the internet):
[22:33:22]$ arecord -f dat -r 60000 -D hw:0,0 -d 5 test.wav
Recording WAVE 'test.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 60000 Hz, Stereo
Warning: rate is not accurate (requested = 60000Hz, got = 96000Hz)
please, try the plug plugin
test.wav: Permission denied
the ‘got 96000Hz’ part is what is important, as it tells you the framerate for your soundcard, for which i could not find another way to do it.
right now i’m running without xruns and with lower CPU-usage than on Win7. that alone is a good reason for me to do Linux audio instead of on Windows.
I switched back to windows when I realised the only thing I like in linux is the variety of Window Managers. Everything else was a pain in the ass. The only downside of my choice is I am bonded to aero.
all you have to do now if you are using some sort of distribution in linux (definatly ubuntu) is find a program called cadence (its in ubuntus software repos)… it will start jack on login, plus pulseaudio and alsa bridges, also has programs for setting up your routings and or lash. its a million times better than qjackctl. if you have also installed the realtime kernel from the kxstudio ppas, it checks to see if your realtime kernel is enabled.
Also another heads up on the program called “dssi-to-vst” has improved somewhat. once its installed, any windows “.dll”(vsti) plugin you copy to you $home/.vst folder WILL be loaded as a dssi in renoise. “dssi-to-vst” installs a dssi plugin that scans your .vst folder for win plugins,and creates a “.so” plugin for renoise to detect. I havnt found many plugins that work this way, but i have found a couple…maybe should start a list of which one can be problematic?
I was running Renoise on Linux (Debian unstable > sidux > aptosid) for 2 years. And it was really pleasure learning to use it and love it. But then I decided to buy some really cool and expensive VST/VSTi plugins. So I must switch to another Unix like OS but I am still using Renoise as my main production DAW, because Renoise rules. It is really fine that Renoise is supported under Linux.
I don`t remember even one problem with Renoise on Linux. So my ranking for Renoise is 10/10.
But then I decided to buy some really cool and expensive VST/VSTi plugins. So I must switch to another Unix like OS