NorioDS
Rakarrack - The new kid on the block. Haven't played with but Francis posted about it a while ago and I totally forgot about it!. Will play as soon as jackd + alsa + my virtual card are playing nicely together ?
http://rakarrack.sourceforge.net/
Renesongs
I hear the Micro$loth is going to stop selling XP this year - So I'm saving this threat for when I migrate to Ubuntu, because I sure as hell never going to use Vista to do music again.
glug
Renesongs wrote:
I hear the Micro$loth is going to stop selling XP this year - So I'm saving this threat for when I migrate to Ubuntu, because I sure as hell never going to use Vista to do music again.
It's difficuilt to get a copy of XP. Incredible corruption Don't supply them any more. Then If you can get a copy from another shop you will probably pay double $$$ for XP. Me to will never go for Vista. The other option is win 2000, very stable operation system and no activation required. the last time i used linux was about a year ago when i worked at tangent systems. At the moment i have mandrake, SuSe and fadora installed on virtual machine. this way is the best to check if every things compatible. So no rebooting your pc to switch operating systems.
AlanRatcliffe
2. Only supports 1 card at a time. Big problem. This SoundTech LightSnake acts as a soundcard. So, as things stand, I can only record from my cable, or playback something I've already recording. Definitely no monitoring! Huge pain in the ass.
I have used a few "virtual patch cables", and usually they are duplex (allowing traffic to and from the card). Is this a limitation with the card or the software? If it's the software, then can you run two instances of Jackd?
NorioDS
It's a limitation of the software, I'm afraid. Running 2 instances of jackd seems possible from what I've read but actually looks more difficult than setting up a virtual soundcard in Alsa.
I've posted on the UbuntuStudio mailing list to see if anyone can help me with the configuration of my .asoundrc file. Hey, for all I know, it's right and I just need to reboot. (Not something I do much of in Linux ?)
NorioDS
So it turns out that JACK has no such limitation at all. I was just being a monkey and making the wrong selections in the configuration screen.
So I've got it set up and I've tried Jack-Rack and Rakarrack. The results? Good sounds from both but the cable itself picks up a lot of noise (pickup switching, knobs, etc).
I found a way around this which kills 2 birds with one stone. I plug my guitar into my DS1 pedal and then my pedal into the recording cable. This fixes the extra noises that were being picked up, PLUS I get great tone from my DS1.
Now, using either Jack-Rack or Rakarrack, I can add delay, flanger, play around with EQs and all sorts until I get the sound I like.
With the right amount of tweaking, I'm sure I could get a great distortion (or overdrive, especially overdrive) sound direct from the PC but nothing seems to be killing those weird sounds I get when I plug in direct to my axe so I'd say, as a bare minimum, stick a pedal in the loop and all should be well. Haven't tried it yet but I'm sure running the pedal clean will be fine. (ie using software for ALL my sound, just using the pedal to make it more convenient)
Another note on sticking a pedal in between my axe and the PC is that it makes playing the guitar easier. The STUSBG10 is incredibly stiff and hard to work with so, this way, it stays far away from me and I can get on with playing guitar.
Coming soon: An 101 tutorial on recording a track in Linux.
By the way, I played with Guitar-Rig in Windows and it's great. I get huge latency, even with ASIO4All drivers but I'm sure that, with a few tweaks, all would be well.
Relevance of that is that I think it's EASIER to get a low amount of latency in Linux than it is in windows. Particularly using UbuntuStudio as it's geared towards music production so the realtime kernel, etc, really help!
AlanRatcliffe
The results?
Yes. Where are the results? This thread is worthless without clips ?
I plug my guitar into my DS1 pedal and then my pedal into the recording cable. This fixes the extra noises that were being picked up, PLUS I get great tone from my DS1.
See? For all the talk of true bypass, there
are times when a buffered bypass works better.
Sounds like the cable of the STUSBG is microphonic - sign of a bad cable. Using the output of the pedal feeds it with a buffered low impedance signal, which is not as susceptible to picking up noise.
NorioDS
Ya, I know, I need clips. My xruns are a bit high which will probably result in blips. Will get to the clips soon, I promise ?
Thanks for the explanation on the noise I'm getting from the cable! It definitely wouldn't be my FIRST choice but, on a low budget, it does OK. I'm thinking of naming my "final" tutorial, "Low-Budget Recording on Linux". Because, with a better budget, there are a few things I'd definitely change (better soundcard, high-end PC, etc)
AlanRatcliffe
BTW, you could also use a DI box to interface the guitar with the STUSBG.
NorioDS
What's a DI box?
I must admit, I started doing this because I wanted to record myself cheaply and learn how to write songs and improve my playing, etc, etc, etc...
But my motive is now to get people smarter than myself (who might not be able to afford Windows, etc) to record on Linux because I believe THAT will catapult (and cement) Linux into the audio scene. Not just because I love Linux but because it has the potential to further SPLICE the costs of recording and get people who don't have money but have talent coming out of their ears to share what they have with the world.
So, looks like I finally have a mission in my life ?
AlanRatcliffe
A DI is a Direct Injection box - converts a high impedance signal into a low impedance one suitable for plugging things like basses directly into mixing desks, or into interfaces that only have low impedance inputs, etc. They are also commonly used to convert unbalanced jack signals into balanced XLR ones.
Yup. I think as the bugs are ironed out and more hardware developers write drivers for Linux, we should see more musos go for Linux - it's right in their price bracket.
I'd actually like to see an OS developed that is dedicated to music - Ubuntu Studio is the closest so far.
NorioDS
Thanks for the DI info ?
I'm going to contribute tutorials out into the world and do what I can to contribute towards UbuntuStudio. The coder/muso combo is very common, so it shouldn't take too long before we see some serious improvements.
I give it about 3 years before it becomes an acceptable platform for a not-so-technical muso to record on with decent results.
NorioDS
Deaan and I jammed last night with the help of my laptop, Hydrogen (drum machine) and rakarrack (guitar amp software).
We had a ball! Deaan used to be a drummer so he built us up a few decent beats and off we went.
I've come to the following conclusions:
- I wouldn't use Rakarrack for a gig. At least not until it's more stable. It died out about 5 times last night, while Hydrogen, Jack and everything else seemed to do just fine.
- I need a faster computer for the audio stuff ?
- Using computers for recording, effects, etc ROCKS! (Thanks Alan, Rene)
The most recent version of Rakarrack has a Harmonizer effect built-in which I just LOVE!
Anyhoo, I'm hoping to put together a 60 second song soon and show you guys how I did it. Probably will be something along these lines:
1. Fire up Jack Control.
2. Set it up right for your card(s).
3. Fire up Hydrogen.
4. Make a drum track.
5. Fire up Ardour
6. Arm a track and record the backing track.
7. Arm another track and play a basic rhythm.
8. Arm another track and play a basic melody / solo.
9. Arm yet another track and add a tiny bit of synth ?
The idea here is to record without ANY xruns (due to latency) so I'm recording one track at a time. The same thing can be achieved with Audacity, so if you don't want to learn Ardour (it can be tricky for a beginner), try the above using Audacity.
Now let's hold thumbs for a free Saturday for all the above to happen in ?
kayDUB
Hey Norio
You have interested me very much in recording in Linux. I have a box (P4 2.8 ) lying around screaming for attention, I just need a monitor.
So how do I go about getting all the software you have mentioned? I basically just want to be able to record guitar (i don't think i'll need to use PC based effects, i'll just use my pedals), create some drum loops and add plenty of synth etc... so:
Hydrogen, Jackd and Ardour? Plus of course Ubuntu Studio. Can I get this software on CD or do I have to download it?
Then I think the only thing I'll need to get is some sort of audio interface.
I'm a bit of a Linux noob, but i am in IT, so I should be able to figure it out!
p.s how the tutorials doing? ?
NorioDS
Hey man ?
I downloaded UbuntuStudio which comes with EVERYTHING you need! Check out
UbuntuStudio.org.
There's also a mailing list where you can ask some questions and then, of course, there's me ?
If you can find a
Freedom Toaster in your area, you might be able to get UbuntuStudio on CD there. If not, get Ubuntu and then I can give you instructions on how to upgrade to UbuntuStudio.
kayDUB
Fanks! ?
oh my word, how cool is a freedom toaster?? had no idea something like that existed! and oh look, just round the corner at MTN science centre in canal walk! ?
Thanks Norio!
I'LL BE BAK
NorioDS
Hehehehe ? Glad you found one!
Enjoy and get back soon with questions and recordings ?
I'm thinking of putting this all together into an eBook and then splitting it into articles once I'm done. Of course, biggest problem is time. So bear with me ?
kayDUB
So its 4 months later...
I installed ubuntu studio! Haven't played around to much yet, but I did manage to create a drum loop in Hydrogen and record it on a track in Ardour. My next step was adding some synth, which I battled with. I tried to use Rosegarden, but got no sound. Found out I have to load SoundFonts or something like that? And you need to have something like FluidSynth running while using Rosegarden as it generates the actual sound? ??? I'm hopefully gonna have another go tonight.
Then I'll try some accoustic guitar.
Interesting stuff, I can see myself using plenty of hours... ?
Gareth
Are you using JACK ?
Timidity is also a rather nice softsynth, but FluidSynth may be easier to use (at first ?) they both rely on sondfonts for their sounds.
HTH
if not let us know where you get stuck.
