I have to confess that this has prompted me to stop lurking after many years in the background. While I don't use Ubuntu Studio as a main driver I still have both affection for it and a live venue machine running it, when the theatre can open again...
I fully endorse the suggestion that if you need to use Windows software then simply do it. I'm a classical music publisher in part of my job and have no option but to use a proprietary software, Sibelius with Finale in the background as that is the de facto standard in the business. Composers turn in manuscripts in that format, copyists produce masters in it and to convert the whole set up to Ubuntu Studio or any Linux system to be totally free software with Musescore would see them charging substantial fees for being different elsewhere. Then add mock ups being produced where needed and its a holy mess that is avoided by dual booting or dedicated workstations on different mediums, my preferred choice with network storage of shared materials. We do use open source software that I really got to grips with on Ubuntu Studio. Scribus is our preferred DAW for covers etc and has been used in providing music to at least 4 professional orchestras in the last 18 months for concert, broadcast and recording. Thunderbird is our email of choice. Personally I use AbiWord for lighter document work and Soft Musescore is used for works by a particular composers family and we have over 30 works by him, including big orchestral stuff coming to print that has been used by orchestras and soloists in the UK. A set is possibly going on a disc of string quartet music next year. Ubuntu Studio is more than mature enough to use in a professional context for all of this side of the business and Ardour would handle recording a professional disc or broadcast with ease. However you need to have the right gear for it and that can be a stumbling block. I also use a selection of software for my side gig as tech manager for local community theatre as mentioned. 16 channel desk handles all control and effects of live sound the Linux laptop runs sound cues, house music etc though I will admit its not totally flawless and we do have a redundancy rig as well. However any problems are nothing to do with Ubuntu Studio and are reported back to developers. Lighting is being remapped once it's open and will likely be windows solely as the Linux options don't play with the device driver. Again, nothing to do with Studio and we are pragmatic about options. The same machine runs Ardour for recording etc when we do such work and is great for real audio. But we do make clear to users what we have so they don't expect pro tools etc. Plug ins are fine and we have used various libre ones happily. Where I do agree is that the interfaces for many instrumental libraries don't run, but that is Linux full stop not Ubuntu Studio. And that is were again as a professional you have to exercise pragmatism. I can score a theatre track in Musescore as easily as in Sibelius but despite some solid soundfonts the playback is or anywhere near good enough for mock ups etc. Most developers say that they have no problem with the raw samples as its audio. The ayback engine is the issue and unless they have either large viable sales or a substantial financial donation they can't justify Linux development. I understand that entirely. One exception is Noteperformer by Wallander, who have discussed the possibity of a Linux version for use with Musescore. What we need to be is open to the possibilities and wonderful freedom provided by Ubuntu Studio but don't hold them up for shortcomings of either developers or the Linux platform itself. If you need Windows or Mac then you need it. 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Any views or opinions expressed may be personal to the sender and not necessarily reflect those of Victoria College of Music and Drama, London. ________________________________ From: ubuntu-studio-devel <ubuntu-studio-devel-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com> on behalf of Len Ovens <l...@ovenwerks.net> Sent: Saturday, August 15, 2020 4:53:54 PM To: Ubuntu Studio Development <ubuntu-studio-devel@lists.ubuntu.com> Subject: Re: [ubuntu-studio-devel] Virtual Instrument Gap On Sat, 15 Aug 2020, Peter Reppert wrote: > TLDR: The inability to run a wide spectrum of music software on Linux is > getting worse to the point many will throw in the towel. > > I know this is an old saw and may be the wrong forum to even mention it, Certainly. Ubuntu studio is a collection of software made by the Linux commumity. Ubuntu Studio does not make software. > but here goes. I am a keyboard player and I like virtual instruments (VST > plugins). As nice as all the other capabilities of a DAW are, the ability to virtual instruments does not equal VST plugins, there are other plugin formats > use VST synths is possibly the best feature. There are hundreds of free > ones, and while very few run natively, it's possible to use them via Wine. I > think you know where this is headed... very good. > The latest VSTs, both free and commercial ones from companies like > Spectrasonics and Arturia, do not run on the older versions of Windows > supported by Wine (Vista is the latest). I have encountered other problems I am sure wine goes beyond vista. > listed below, but the inability to run up-to-date plugins is getting to be a > show stopper for any keyboard player who wants to move beyond vintage sounds > and outdated sample libraries. This isn't just gear lust - the newer Actually sample libraries are os agnostic. It is true that some companies lock their sample libraries by packaging them in a format only their sample player will play. File a bug report with that company. > instruments are demonstrably better with richer sounds, better interfaces, the interface is not a part of the sample library, that is the sample player. > etc. Running Ubuntu Studio feels like being walled off from a cornucopia of > options, whether or not one takes the plunge with this or that product or > freebie. I have not found this to be true but then most of my recording is real sound made by real instruments... most likey on a stage in front of real people. I find music made with samples to be boring and unimaginative for the most part. However, one has to be careful when it comes to one's likes and dislikes. > Other issues > * Can't run the 64-bit version of (non-Linux) VST plugins. > * Using - even brushing against - the mod wheel or anything other than > volume on the controller crashes Carla.That did not used to happen. Not > to mention almost always having to configure MIDI CC mapping for each > new VST (and I've never had any luck storing these, so add "on every > session") Please file a bug report or issue with the author: https://github.com/falkTX/Carla/issues for both of the above complaints > * GuitariX hums like a cheap tube amp the second you plug in a guitar. Have you checked your audio interface? Have you checked the shieldiing in your guitar? This is obviously a problem outside of the digital world. Nothing to do with software of any kind. > * Numerous other annoyances, crashes, and general clunkiness, some degree > of which we can all put up with (and can of course happen in Windows or > MacOS). a very braod statement without any meat. It has no meaning. > Now I am looking to get an 88-key controller, and there again, any bundled > software won't run on my Ubuntu Studio laptop. MIDI controllers often map > onboard knobs, faders, and transport controls to a handful of popular DAWs - > never Ardour (luckily Reaper is supported). This sounds like FUD to me. Ardour allows taking which ever way the controller is mapped and creating a midi map that can be useful. Some controlers have surface support specific to the controler built in to Ardour as well. However, most players who want an 88key controller, play it like a piano and rarely (if ever) touch any other control save power. If the controller maker uses standard midi controls, most things will just work. > If I want to run any contemporary commercial music software, they are there are two words that probably don't belong together "commercial" and "music". > recommending 8 GHz, which means it's time for a hardware upgrade. I don't 8 Ghz what? I am not aware of any CPU that runs that fast... 4 Ghz is what I mostly find. So maybe you mean something else? > need to be on the cutting edge of everything, and appreciate all the work > that's gone into Ubuntu Studio, not to mention the seemingly limitless > free/shareware out there. But I am going to hold my nose and at least start > out running Windows. I suspect the same chain of reasoning is going to > happen for a lot of other keyboard players as they upgrade their systems. Quite honestly, if the software you wish to use comes in a windows format, you should probably run windows anyway. If you are a piano player, I do not know of any piano plugin that sounds better that pianoteq: https://www.modartt.com/ which does run on Linux. SetBfree has got to be one of the best B3 emulators. Samples are just a recording of someone else's playing. > Again my apologies if this is old news. I'm sure musicians have been Not news, just a rant. > just feels like Ubuntu Studio is going obsolete vis-a-vis current > not-terribly-expensive yet mind-blowing software, especially for keyboard > players and music producers. mind blowing? surely you jest. What you mean by "music producers" is companies that wish to spend almost no money by having one anonomous person create a midi track that their chosen singer of the month that sounds just like all the other singers of the month can sing karaoke to. The kind of music I would call a "channel changer". > Hobbyists and non-musicians can do a lot on their phones and you can even > run a DAW on a tablet. on an iOS based phone or tablet maybe... anything I have tried on any android tablet is so laggy as to be useless. > Pro and semi-pro musicians and engineers are going > with ProTools or similar without giving Linux a moment's consideration. If incorrect information. I can assure you that almost any movie you have seen in the past 10 years has used linux video software and linux audio software (Probably a version of Ardour in fact). Anyone who uses a digital mixer is using Linux too. There is a difference between PR (protools is the name someone spending money looks for so we have to use this junk to keep the money rolling in) and good software. I will note that Mixbus (Ardour inside) is seeing use by people who normally use reaper or protools as their mixdown software. > you can afford a computer, you can almost certainly afford a commercial DAW > without the need to change OS. Who is Ubuntu Studio for? There is a problem with that statement. you have mentioned windows many times... yet if you look at the computers on stage and in many studios they are not PCs but a Mac. There is a reason for this. While Mr. Jobs was alive, there was a focus at Apple of making the hardware work better for the art comunity that anythingn else. I can afford a computer, I cannot afford a mac. Nor can I afford to upgrade my audiop interface as often as windows makes the drivers for my audio inteface no longer work (my audio interface cost more than my computer). The "PC" (computer made for windows) is designed to be "low latency" which intel says is 30ms latency. For audio work less than 10 ms is a must which means running the computer beyond it's design spec. With windows, tweaking the OS is difficult at best, impossible in many cases. With Linux this is more straight forward though a degree of knowledge is still required. > Is there the remotest hope that more software will come out in three > flavors? > My guess is the software companies can't justify supporting Linux. Has > anyone approached them? Have you? > Is there anything on the horizon to solve the > problem of running recent Windows/Mac applications, maybe without a bridge? See comment above. If you want to run Mac/windows software, run the OS that it is made for. Do note that things like Ardour and Mixbus which are developed on Linux, come in both windows and Mac binaries as well. The reality is that the desktop computer is dying. The "Chromebook", Android, apple tablets, etc are the future. Apple has stated they are moving away from the intel CPU to an in house ARM based setup... a Chrome book like device with iOS on it. I am sure windows will follow. The cost of doing music on a computer is going to go up no matter the OS of choice, as the number of "computers" being sold goes down and becomes a niche market (is already in many ways). Linux may become the only OS still running on we we call a computer today. I have watched the quality of audio interfaces decline as they moved from PCI and firewire to USB. The harware available to run the software on has also delined... not a bright future. -- Len Ovens www.ovenwerks.net<http://www.ovenwerks.net>
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