DAWs, Linux, LV2

Hello Everyone! Jeramiah Ross here from New Zealand, hope your all well and doing ok through COVID.

During lockdown, I had time to go deep into this new world of micro-computers and linux and open source audio, It’s been a really exciting time for me! I have done lots with sound/creating since a young age, It is my life and more than likley will be to it is no longer.

So, Patchbox OS with the hardware is very very good…I have been telling and showing everyone here.

But, The first thing people are going to want to know is what DAW is best…Open source DAWs are great but Bitwig is very close to what most people are using (ie Ableton). Pure Data, SuperCollider, modep,Terminal, IP, Github, configs and loading in Module’s is or could be overwhelming for most .Actually building the Pi’s and getting them working. Flashing SSD drives ect… It’s a process.

Transitions into new operating systems (both, Linux, Pi’s & the human interaction/processes) needs some sort of explanation…a welcome mat of sorts…in a way in that makes sense to Musicians and Artists. otherwises its hours, days needed for Tutorials, Config, Deep Understanding…

Being a Musician/Composer myself and very lucky blessed with very deep understanding of Computer, Linux, Hardware, Synth , Signal, Modulation, Playing acoustic instruments world…I want to help in this process…

What would the community here, (including it’s creators) suggest or agree on is the best out of the box DAW, Ardour is the only thing I have seen that feels right on the Linux platform unless I am missing something, Audacity is fine as a wave editor with those sorts of "“functions”, But in terms of Protools, Cubase and Ableton Live users, https://ardour.org/ feels slightly familiar.

I have been looking deeply into LV2 as a new format to work with DAW’s, It’s very promising to make stuff with that’. And worth a investment I feel personally. It talks to itself nicely…and mostly put together with C but im sure there will be a Interpreter around…haven’t got that far yet! anyway before I go off topic…What are your thoughts around this?

Kind Regards
Jeramiah Ross AKA Module.

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Is this worth anything to anyone, It’s like reaper.fm which could also be a good option as a default DAW https://www.zrythm.org/en/index.html

Hi Jeremiah, welcome to the community. :slight_smile: It’s a good idea to put in a DAW or maybe a couple to be available by default on the OS.

I think it’d be best for the community to suggest which DAWs to include, based on experiences working with them on the platform.

We plan to update the image soon, so it’s a great time for suggestions. :slight_smile:

Regarding the on-boarding experience, as you’ve recently went through it, what were the sticking points that should be documented better?

Hey there! Great stuff, Yeah I do see Patchbox OS being super useful for many creative musicians and artists. So far reaper.fm or Ardour are leading the charge outside of Bitwig for Linux DAW based software. Lv2 plugins seem to have hit a bit of a wall but Ardour likes them. Harrison Mixbus which is pretty much Ardour remixed with analog hardware desk emulation is also great if using a Raspberry Pi for recording and mixing bands and doesn’t need externals such as plugins.

Reaper has more functions out of the box with time stretching, midi, notation, video editing ect…plus custom themes and key commands and great built in effects via js (a code based effects processor) I pretty much reckon it’s the way to go…they did some updates for the arm processors so it’s been pushed into that direction.

I think Patchbox OS is great! In regards to my thoughts about the experience…Just more understanding around the modules and how they function, Such as a overview of everything that comes installed with Pure Data patches, how to load things, flow ect…, It’s a fun bit of software that one, Pretty much a open source Max for Live, ORAC looks interesting but I need to get my head around how to jam with it ,and same with modep It’s browser based and not overly easy to just fire it up…, I use TouchOSC app on my phone and tablet for all studio and live midi control via a template I made…I noticed that’s included, is it just on by default? How hard would it be to quickly make a little control panel or something in debian? Just thinking out loud here…if it felt more user interfacey…less hidden?

Cool, will carry on testing out reaper.fm

Re: supercollider, did you get a chance to look at TX Modular ? That as a Module would be really interesting! http://www.palemoonrising.co.uk/ListOfAllModules.html

Ok, we’ll look into including one or a couple DAWs in the next generated OS image.

There’s a TouchOSC bridge server that translates TouchOSC messages into MIDI, for use in MIDI-based applications.

The TXModular looks good, it’d be great to get it running on RPi. :slight_smile: