Is Linux finally a viable alternative for electronic musicians?

[TrancedelicBlues]

Oh, dear. It is April Fools' Day.

 

Perhaps I should post this tomorrow?

 

Well, whatever. I happen to be perfectly serious about this.

 

I have thought for a long time that if somebody would just put together a Linux Sequencing/Audio package that worked without any hassles there would be a whole lot of people interested in jumping on the Linux train.

 

Planet CCRMA didn't cut it. Agnula didn't cut it. Those are useful resources, to be sure, but what was really needed was a turnkey solution for the average joe.

 

I thought long and hard about transforming myself into a Linux Geek and seeing if I could design such a package--but it appears that i have been beaten to the punch.

 

THIS is what I was thinking of. It includes the Rosegarden MIDI/audio sequencer with the capability to run VST plug-ins, the Ardour DAW recording software and... well... a bunch of other stuff...

 

Has anybody used this thing???

 

It appears that you could either run it from the CD-ROM on your existing computer or install it on a new custom-built computer.

 

Speaking just for myself, it looks like the answer to several prayers.

 

But what do I know???

 

I repeat--has anybody used this thing???

[Dak Lander]

Hmmmm. Not a bad price either. At today's exchange rate, about $95.00 US.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to keep an eye on this. If it indeed works, I'll be switching over.

[Franknputer]

dyne:bolic is basically the same thing, for free. Tested it the other day - worked fine, but I didn't get real deep into it.

 

Linux is steadily gaining ground - and believe me, I've been watching it for years. Early versions of jack, for instance, required my finding the correct flags for my card - but not lately, it starts right up with no intervention from me.