One of my projects for this summer is to get my guitar (1995 Fender Standard Telecaster) and amplifier (1976 Fender Vibrolux Reverb) fixed and to do some home recording. I did a few recordings about 6 years ago on a Tascam 4 track tape recorder (you can find them on my UMD web page if you're interested, but bear in mind that I suck). However, audio production on Linux has progressed significantly in recent years---e.g., Ardour---so I figured I'd give it a whirl.
I despise compiling and configuring software by hand, so I was thrilled to discover the existence of Ubuntu Studio. The current release, 7.04, is essentially Feisty Fawn with a low-latency kernel and prebuilt binaries for all of the major audio/video/graphics applications, plus some cool new desktop themes. Through the magic of apt-get, it was a matter of three shell commands to upgrade my home machine to Ubuntu Studio. (Plus 400 MB of downloads through my DSL connection, of course.) The only hitch was breaking X because I didn't get the restricted binary kernel modules for the new kernel (nvidia drivers, alas). Once that was fixed I was in business. People talk about whether or not Linux is ready for the desktop. I think Ubuntu has not only answered this question with a resounding yes, but proven that it is a better desktop system than Windows many times over.
I haven't tried out Ardour yet, since I'm still waiting for my guitar and amp to come back from the shop, and also for the soundcard (M-Audio Delta 1010LT) I won on ebay to arrive. Thanks to Ubuntu and Ubuntu Studio, I'll be ready when they all arrive.
1 comment:
In reply to your comment about is Ubuntu ready for the Desktop, I believe the same as you. Also, for the laptop! Linux has come a far way in little time from what I've seen, and Ubuntu has been the easiest and friendliest OS to use on my laptop, both for use and resources. I can run Ubuntu on literally 1/4 of the resources I currently have without a problem. When it comes to desktop effects, I can run WAY more than Vista has and still stay under the requirements of resources that XP needs. I do love Ubuntu. The only issue is an iPod won't work in Ubuntu (at least not the newest ones, because I hear Apple has changed the MDsums to try to get rid of the OpenSource using them, or something to that matter), and Quicken. I've yet to find a program as full-featured (at least all the features I use) as Quicken. I'll keep searching though.
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