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Thread anyone TOTALLY new to this???

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Topic anyone TOTALLY new to this???
I am a songwriter who wants to start recording my
music from my computer,and I am a total beginner.
I know nothing! :D What equipment and software do
I need to get started?? Can I do any recording from
the Linux running system and where do I start?
Yeah,some info would be great.
Thanks ;)
2
Hey audienceof1,

Welcome to studioathome and thanks for joining us.
Everybody here will have pleasure to help you in starting with computer music.

I do not think that linux is the operating system to use, but it's my personal point of view. I do not blame Linux at all, but Windows or Mac Os are the way to go for music purposes.

Please describe a bit more your needs, the equipment you already have, and what budget you would allow to this new activity. How many and what type of instruments do you want to record ? There are so many solutions out there...

c u :)

Red
3

Quote: Hey audienceof1,

Welcome to studioathome and thanks for joining us.
Everybody here will have pleasure to help you in starting with computer music.

I do not think that linux is the operating system to use, but it's my personal point of view. I do not blame Linux at all, but Windows or Mac Os are the way to go for music purposes.

Please describe a bit more your needs, the equipment you already have, and what budget you would allow to this new activity. How many and what type of instruments do you want to record ? There are so many solutions out there...

c u :)

Red



What can you use for Macintosh?
4
Hello udienceof1,

We need to know what music style you compose because it's realy different depending the way you work. What are you looking for? Just a sequencer? An arranger? Or do you want to simulate different instruments?
5
i dont know anything either so maybe we can help each other out. im using reason 2.5 any programs you know of that are good for making computery music?
6
Linux can certainly be used for a recording studio, in fact there are man y professional studios that have switched to Linux for it's price, reliability, and performance. That aside, there is a lot of software available to do this on Linux.
Personally, I'd recommend you go buy a copy of SuSE Linux 9.0 Pro. It's easy to use and install, is easy to setup and administer, and you would get 3 months of tech support and 900+ pages of the best manuals to come with any OS, never mind a Linux distro. More importantly it comes with a wide variety of the audio and video tools you'd need, already included and ready to run. You can multitrack record, edit, mix, process, output, and CD-Master.
A sample list:
Audacity, Rosegarden, Broadcast 2000, Mainactor, Jack, Brahms, Soundtracker, Soundstudio, GLame, Gnome Wave Cleaner, Sweep, Kino, Swami, Jazz, Muse, Hydrogen, Soundtracker, etc.

Just make sure to go to the manual package selection on install and make sure all the audio/multimedia apps you need or want are installed.

As for softeware info, google the names I listed above and read through the info for the various applications on their respective websites.

Let
7
I agree with tachyon,

ther are lots of great new progs for do Music-Stuff on Linux.
I only think, that Mandrake is even better than SUSE to that purpose:
http://rpm.nyvalls.se/sound9.2.html

check it out ;-)
8
Zettberlin,

Thanks for the agreement. You're right.

At this time, there are certainly users out there that will not have the budget to buy all the commercial Windows (or Mac) audio software needed to do home studio work. While I'm sure many have no qualms about pirating the software, this still has it's problems.
First, as many of these programs require a hardware dongle (cubase for example), any pirate versions must be cracked and are often left unstable, or not fully functional.
Secondly, you don't get any technical support this way, and with software this complex, it's likely you'll need it.
Finally, it's illegal, and you don't need that hassle. Not to mention that the company that owns the softeware could sue you for a portion of the profits if your basement produced album goes multi-platinum! ;)
Not to mention the whole jail thing.


As for Mandrake...
While Mandrake is fine for Linux hacker types, it's not really a great choice for the type of users we're talking about. A large number of people doing music production aren't or don't want to be computer hackers. They want the computer to be just another tool in their studio.
Many have little in depth computer admin skills other than as a user. And most won't have linux/Unix experience.

Not to start a distro war, but Mandrake is not right for these types of users. Mandrake doesn't do in depth in house testing, they don't provide in depth manuals, and they don't have as wide a range of paid support options.
Mandrake counts on the fact that it's main user base tends to be hacker types that don't mind a few rough edges. They don't mind finding bugs, fixing them, and submitting patches.
Because of this they let users do the majority of their testing. As the cooker series is for. However, this is far from perfect.
As you may or may not know, their last release had a default configuration that destroyed certain LG CD-ROM drives by trashing their FLASH ROM. Sure it's easy to blame LG for using a buggy FLASH implementation, or blame the particular software package that did the damage, but the fact is that Mandrake was the only distro caught by this bug. It's the in depth testing not just of individual packages, but of their integration with the rest of the distribution that makes distros like SuSE or even RedHat more appropriate for professional or critical use.

Also, new users will greatly benefit from having the well written, extensive, 1000 or so pages of printed manuals that come with a retail version of SuSE PRO.

Mandrake doesn't provide any packages related to music production or editing that SuSE doesn't. In fact I believe that's true in general, not just about music packages.

Finally, users new to linux will be more comfortable with the ability to do all system settings and configuration from the easy to use, integrated administration interface that YaST2 provides.

I understand that there are a lot of things that Linux hacker types don't need or even want in a Linux, and that's why Mandrake appeals to them. But those are the same things that non-technical users DO need.

Because of these and other reasons, it's hard for me to recommend Mandrake over SuSE for most use other than experienced Linux users who like to hack around with their system. Though in that case I'd still recommend Debian, Slackware, Gentoo, or LFS instead.

Anyway, that aside, Linux in general has much to offer not just musicians on a budget, but professionals as well.
9

Quote:
As for Mandrake...
While Mandrake is fine for Linux hacker types, it's not really a great choice for the type of users we're talking about. A large number of people doing music production aren't or don't want to be computer hackers. They want the computer to be just another tool in their studio.
Many have little in depth computer admin skills other than as a user. And most won't have linux/Unix experience.



I switched to MDK from SUSE, bcause of this:
http://rpm.nyvalls.se/sound9.2.html

I only had to provide this Adress to MDKs packagemanager(witch was a piece of cake - 5 Klick Operation) and could easily install about 100 Packs (Ardour, Jackd Cinelerra etc), that SUSE did not manage to include at all or only in non-working Versions/shape.

Quote:
Mandrake doesn't do in depth in house testing, they don't provide in depth manuals, and they don't have as wide a range of paid support options.
Mandrake counts on the fact that it's main user base tends to be hacker types that don't mind a few rough edges. They don't mind finding bugs, fixing them, and submitting patches.
Because of this they let users do the majority of their testing. As the cooker series is for. However, this is far from perfect.
As you may or may not know, their last release had a default configuration that destroyed certain LG CD-ROM drives by trashing their FLASH ROM. Sure it's easy to blame LG for using a buggy FLASH implementation, or blame the particular software package that did the damage, but the fact is that Mandrake was the only distro caught by this bug.



Sad but true, MDKs Service/Support is a farce, you only can relay on the large Community to get Help.


Quote:
It's the in depth testing not just of individual packages, but of their integration with the rest of the distribution that makes distros like SuSE or even RedHat more appropriate for professional or critical use.



Yes - i would never recommend MDK for Business or Serveruse. Still MDK is best for getting good-working bleeding edge Audiostuff easily. And as long as you want just that and some simple Office/Graphics/Mail/Surf-Functionality, MDK is perfectly OK.

Quote:
Also, new users will greatly benefit from having the well written, extensive, 1000 or so pages of printed manuals that come with a retail version of SuSE PRO.



Nothing beats SUSEs printed Docus - thats true also.

Quote:
Finally, users new to linux will be more comfortable with the ability to do all system settings and configuration from the easy to use, integrated administration interface that YaST2 provides.



MDKs Drak-conf does nearly the same Job more comfortable and in most cases the same as good (expect the higher Netstuff/Firewall - if you need such - get SUSE/Debian or even RH)

Quote:
Though in that case I'd still recommend Debian, Slackware, Gentoo, or LFS instead.



These i would recommend for professional use, if someone wants a Server/development-Box get these, neither SUSE nor RH are better, and MDK of course is not either.

Quote:
Anyway, that aside, Linux in general has much to offer not just musicians on a budget, but professionals as well.



Absolutely - and we should not forget, that LINUX is not a particular Distro but a work of a community, that might come in different flavours but still is GNU. And so are the Apps.

best regards, see you :-)
10
Well, honestly, it's amazing to hear such a reasonable, unemotional response from a Mandrake user. I found that unfortunately, they are very often the very zealous type of user that not only makes MD look bad, but make LInux users in general look bad. The kind that call people name and hiss and spit if you dare to say anything about their chosen OS/Distro.
Glad to see you're the rational type. :)

It's funny though, you changed over from SuSE to MD because of the Thac's RPM's website ( http://rpm.nyvalls.se/sound9.2.html ) and there's several similar sites for SuSE. For example:

http://packman.links2linux.org/
Has lot's of the latest versions of many packages, compiled 686 and 586 optimized for the last few SuSE releases. Also the place to go to upgrade your SuSE with all the packages that they can't include with it when you buy it for legal reasons (like the DVD decoding stuff and the win32 codecs)

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/ - SuSE's own FTP site.
SuSE tends to place the latest stable releases of packages in their distros, but they make the latest bleeding edge versions available on their FTP site for those who want to experiment, most of which can be found at ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects
Also if you snoop through ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people you'll find the public directories of SuSE employees and whatever projects they are working on and making public.

Anyway, glad to hear you're a reasonable, open minded Linux user.
Watch for an upcoming article on LInux and music/multimedia here on th e Studio at Home website.

Later