Ardour DAW - Linux/ OSX - and soon Windows OS

Started by Elantric, April 19, 2015, 05:10:23 AM

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Elantric

Ardour DAW - Linux/ OSX

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2015/04/18/ardour-4-0-now-available/
http://community.ardour.org/node/8725


The Ardour project has released Ardour 4.0 – the latest version of the open source DAW for Mac & Linux.  (No official release is available yet for Windows)

This release brings many technical improvements, as well as new features and over a thousand bug fixes.

The biggest changes in this release:

Better cross platform support. Ardour now runs on GNU/Linux, OS X and for the first time, Windows.
JACK is no longer required, making it easier than ever for new users to get Ardour up and running (though JACK is still usable with Ardour).
The user interface has seen a thorough overhaul, leading to a more modern and polished experience.
See the Ardour site for details.



Windows version info
http://ardour.org/windows.html

MusicOverGear

Very interesting. I used it years ago - around 2006 I think? I was writing a book that I never tried to publish - a music method for guitar, the research for which sent me down a rabbit hole, culminating in the realization that there is no reliable way to learn music outside of a social context in which music is integral - i.e. you really have to "live it".  Point being my vision was that I was going to crack this thing open, reaching the huge swaths of people shipwrecked in American Suburbia and help them find music again. In that populist spirit I thought, "Let me do everything on a Linux box - examples, writing, typesetting - everything."

I used Ardour a lot back then. At the time I used an external software MIDI sequencer - can't remember which one I used; none of them were really full-featured. I remember spending a lot of time with Rosegarden but I can't remember if that's what I settled on. The whole setup really functioned super old-school, with lots of outboard gear. Ardour at the time really functioned like a tape machine and mixer, with a sync track to run the sequencer. It was that familiar. Reminded me of college lab/studios in the 1990's.

At the time it was years behind other DAWs and it was a real challenge to use it. For synths all I had was an old Roland JV-1080, which wouldn't seem so bad now, but at the time I didn't grok how to do synth programming other than adjusting attack for pad vs lines LOL. So all I had were my 90's presets. Hmmm... as I recall it now I see that the real bottleneck in that process my skill, not the tools - why does that sound familiar?!

Anyway - here's the thought I'm trying to get to - years behind other DAWs might not be a big deal in 2015. I have no idea where Ardour is nowadays but I know where Logic was 5 years ago; I could probably use that for the rest of my life.

Now might be the time to start breaking ties with the big, icky corporations and go with people's software.

Elantric

#2
Great story MOG!
( explains why you were a duck in water with the Raspberry Pi MIDi I/O for GP-10 setup )



Quote
Now might be the time to start breaking ties with the big, icky corporations and go with people's software.


I agree - we are at the mercy of the big corps agenda, which can change our ability to use tools if we accidentally perform the wrong update.

Other cross platforms DAWs on Linux
http://www.instructables.com/id/Linux-Recording-Studio-Softwares/



Reaper DAW
www.reaper.fm
( For linux need Ubuntu)
https://alexanderstechcorner.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/install-reaper-on-ubuntu-linux/

Another cross platform DAW
N-Track Studio
http://en.ntrack.com/index.php

MusicOverGear

#3
+1 for Reaper. Kicks ass big time. Wants for nothing regarding audio IMHO. Best interface for audio routing of anything IMHO - not as exhaustive as Logic Environment but much much better interface IMHO. Reaper Midi was weak last time I used it* and comes with no integrated synths, so you pick your own plugins. When the whole 64 bit thing happened AFAIK Reaper was the only DAW to make the transition gracefully - supported both plugs in single DAW with no drama.

I went from ProTools to Reaper to Logic. Every step was a major upgrade IMHO. That was before the rewrote ProTools. OTOH I know exactly one guy in 2015 who is making a good, normal-hours living in audio production outside the epicenter of big commercial pop music, and he is still very frustrated with Pro Tools.

Also Reaper is hella cheap. People make a big fuss about full-blown Logic going for $200 now. Reaper is $60 LOL. I know from TapeOp forums lots of commercial studios - indy alt-rock type joints - use Reaper nowadays.

*I should say that Reaper MIDI was weak compared with Logic, but everything is weak compared with Logic. If you just want to record MIDI and do normal editing, no problem. If you can actually play - and you don't need to print/share scores - you will never know the difference LOL.

Elantric

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2015/04/reasons-new-free-ardour-4-daw-good-news/

Here's Why the New Version of the Free Ardour 4 DAW is Great
BY PETER KIRN

It's easy to make an argument to any cash-strapped producer that a free DAW is good news. And it's easy to convince a free and open source software advocate that a free-as-in-freedom DAW is a good thing.
But that's not enough. If we're going to talk about software, let's make sure it's worth using.
Ardour, the free and open source DAW, has always been powerful. But it hasn't always been seamless to use – especially outside of Linux. Ardour 1 and Ardour 2 were incredible feats of engineering, and some people used them to make music, but let's be honest – outside developers and Linux nuts, you wouldn't find a whole lot of users. Then Ardour 3 came along and added MIDI – but it still wasn't quite ready for prime time.
Ardour 4 is something different. It looks better – maybe not pretty, exactly, but easier on the eyes and more comfortable to use. It works better – loads of new functionality changes make it a more well-rounded tool.
But most relevant to most people, you can now install it on Windows and OS X and have it behave like you'd expect a DAW to behave.
Let's go over the big differences:

It's got a new UI. A bunch of graphics stuff has been reworked from the ground-up. There are more vectors, and everything is more modern. (vectors!) It's also easier to switch color schemes.
It's now on Windows and OS X. It's now on both operating systems. On the Mac, it's moved from unofficial to official and supported status. It's also more in line with what you'd expect from a Mac app: Audio Units work more smoothly on the Mac, and it looks actually really slick on a Retina Display. On Windows, you can get unsupported nightly builds – in other words, Windows is where the Mac was until recently. But on both, more native plug-in support and more flexibility with audio engines means you don't have to feel like you're running a Linux app on your OS of choice.
You can use any audio engine. Yes, it works with the powerful JACK, but now also ALSA (Linux), ASIO (Windows), and Core Audio (OS X). Also, misbehaving plug-ins are less likely to cause crashes.
It does VSTs.. With Windows support, you also get native VST support – and VST support is better on both Linux and Windows (Linux also has some nice plug-ins that use the VST format).
It's powerful for MIDI editing now. MIDI bounce, mix MIDI and audio data flow (as you might for a soft synth), edit modelessly, and make transformations more easily, among lots of other details.
Ripple edits. (Move or delete and other stuff moves to fit – video editors know what I'm talking about.) Why don't all DAWs have this again?
More Control. QCon, original Mackie Control devices, AKAI MPK61, etc.
Less Memory. 80% memory consumption reduction headlines the other performance improvements here.

There are a lot of other tweaks and improvements, too, even down to SoundCloud export.
Editing in Ardour for traditional tasks can be blindingly fast. You can focus more easily under the mouse, for instance, or quickly split regions. (You can still use the 's' key for the latter, but now a mouse tool also accomplishes the task.) This menu sort of embodies what I mean:

You can easily shift the focus of while you're editing – hugely quick.
You probably have some sort of DAW at this point for some of your work. What you might not have is a DAW that works comfortably and reliably on any machine, including Linux, one that you can share with friends without worrying about who bought what, one go-to tool for quick editing and tracking when the others fail. And with these improvements, Ardour could be that DAW.
You can try it out for free – demos are free everywhere, and you can build from source. Or you can pay as little as US$1 to download a ready-to-run version.
In fact, the growing success of Ardour shows some vastly improved numbers for the voluntary subscription/payment model. For just a couple of bucks a month, you can really have some impact on Ardour's development and earn yourself access to support. It seems like a great means of funding the project – that is, now that Ardour is picking up some steam.
I think it's worth a few bucks and keeping around your drive, even if you have another DAW.
Also, the brilliant Harrison Mixbus 3 will in the next version use the Ardour 4 base.
Check out Ardour, download a free demo, or pay to get a pre-built version – starting at just a buck.
Ardour.org
What's New
Download/Buy
And for the specific situation on Windows (we'd love some feedback for people testing this):
http://ardour.org/windows.html

autodidactic

#5
If anybody is interested in Linux audio, we shouldn't forget to mention the Harrison Mixbus addon for Ardour and Bitwig studio as well. Mixbus adds Harrison console software DSP mixer to Ardour. Really nice sounding effects and mix engine from what I've heard. Bitwig is a bunch of former Ableton developers that jumped ship and released their own DAW. Runs on linux and has some of the nice features of Ableton like session view and more. Think of it like Ableton and Logic had a love child and moved to Ubuntu.  ;D
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Elantric

#6
Ardour DAW - More details
http://ardour.org/whatsnew.html


Ardour 4.0 released

The Ardour project is pleased to announce the release of Ardour 4.0. This release brings many technical improvements, as well as new features and over a thousand bug fixes.

The biggest changes in this release:

Better cross platform support. Ardour now runs on GNU/Linux, OS X and for the first time, Windows.
JACK is no longer required, making it easier than ever for new users to get Ardour up and running (though JACK is still usable with Ardour).
The user interface has seen a thorough overhaul, leading to a more modern and polished experience.

Additions and Changes

Important Whole-Program Improvements
the operating system's upper limit on the number of open files is now correctly used, avoiding issues with saving large sessions
vastly reduced memory consumption. For an empty session Ardour now uses 80% less memory.

User Interface
The graphics technology used for the editing area of Ardour, and increasingly for many other parts of the user interface, has been completely reimplemented from scratch, using powerful, modern and cross-platform systems such as Cairo.
the entire theming process has been redesigned to make it easier to alter the color palette used by the program. Any existing customized themes for Ardour 3 are no longer usable, so you will see the new defaults when running Ardour 4
Most icons have been replaced with vector graphics and font-scaling has been overhauled
Error window popup has been replaced with indicator button

Audio and MIDI I/O
Ardour 4 has completely abstracted all audio and MIDI I/O, and is no longer reliant on JACK for this function
Ardour now comes with multiple "backends" that provide audio and MIDI I/O. These backends allow Ardour to use:
JACK (available on all platforms if JACK is installed)
ALSA (for use on Linux only)
ASIO (for use on Windows only)
CoreAudio (for use on OS X only)
For developers and testers, there is also a "Dummy" backend which can be used to generate test signals and does not require an actual audio interface.
Backends can be changed within a running instance of Ardour (e.g. from JACK to ALSA back to JACK)

MIDI
MIDI latency measurement
Many, many improvements to MIDI editing and data handling
Handle plugins with MIDI output
Allow mixed data flow (MIDI+Audio) through an entire track or bus
MIDI bounce is now functional
New modeless editing model, with specific mouse tools/modes for drawing note and controller data as well as editing existing material.
Transform dialog allows time-based transformation of note properies (like time, length, and velocity), such as velocity crescendos or chromatic scale runs
New note velocity when adding with the mouse is based on surrounding notes
Better handling of issues when importing various SMF (Standard MIDI Format) files
Sub-bar level grid lines reflect grid unit choice
14 bit MIDI controller values correctly handled

Editing
New option to control which region(s) are selected after a split operation
Axis limited dragging (Using the shift key during a region limits motion to initial direction (up/down or left/right) only
Automation line editing notably improved
Maximum zoom limited to 3 days @ 48kHz a 1600 pixel wide screen
Ripple mode: this new editing mode can dramatically speed up your edits. In Ripple mode, audio regions after a move or delete operation will move to accommodate the edit.
Cut (split) mouse tool (supplements the faster but more obscure use of the "s" (split) keybinding for users too stuck in the ways of legacy DAWs).
Zoom mode removed (Select ranges/objects, then zoom)
Drop zone: regions, selections and file drag-and-dropped to this area below all other tracks will create new tracks
Track + region selection now mutually exclusive
Remove all group active button (To operate on all tracks, use select-all-tracks (ctrl-t))
Region name highlights removed (available as user-controlled option)
Mute automation
Vertical scrolling moves in units of whole tracks
New "sequence regions" operation removes blank space between regions

VST Plugin Support
VST plugins (native Windows VST plugins on Windows, Linux VST plugins on Linux) are no longer automatically scanned at first application startup (this avoids plugins causing crashes when using Ardour for the first time on systems with misbehaving plugins already installed)
An external scanning tool is used to identify and test VST plugins at user request from within Ardour
Plugins which fail testing are placed on a blacklist so that they will not be loaded by Ardour unless manually overridden by the user

OS X Platform Support
Unlike Ardour 3.x, Ardour 4.x is being officially released for OS X. Expect to see continued improvements to our OS X support in upcoming releases.

Splash and dialog windows don't interrupt work flow
MIDNAM files now included
Screen positioning of AudioUnit GUIs is more rational and consistent
Many more AudioUnit instrument ("soft synth") plugins can now be loaded successfully
Prefer stereo variants of AudioUnit instrument plugins if one is available
Fix AudioUnit Carbon GUI focus issues
AudioUnit plugins are no longer automatically scanned at first application startup (this avoids plugins causing crashes when using Ardour for the first time on systems with misbehaving plugins already installed)
Plugins which fail testing are placed on a blacklist so that they will not be loaded by Ardour unless manually overridden by the user

Transport and Control
Loop can now be a mode instead of an operation; if Loop Mode is engaged, then pressing Play (or space) will initiate the loop
Tap tempo
Q and W jump between markers
Update clocks and video frames at the session video frame rate
Big clock window now scales smoothly and correctly on all platforms

Mackie Control
QCon controller support
Original Mackie Control device support
Enable correct transmission of UTF-8 text to Mackie Control devices

Miscellaneous
Soundcloud Export
Fix recording of files where the sample count exceeds the 32 bit limit
Key bindings moved into Preferences
Theme editor moved into Preferences
Key binding rationalization
Build system now works correctly with python3
Improved support for LV2 controls and presets
Remove several libraries previously maintained as part of the Ardour source tree

New MIDI binding maps
Akai MPK61

New MIDNAM Support
E-Mu XL-1


Developers
The work on the new graphics engine was started by Carl Hetherington, and then later continued by Paul Davis, Robin Gareus, Ben Loftis, Nick Mainsbridge, David Robillard
Abstracting the audio I/O was initially funded by Waves Audio who also provided the ASIO and the initial version of CoreAudio backends. Robin Gareus implemented the ALSA, current CoreAudio and Dummy backends.
Improvements to MIDI editing were done primarily by David Robillard with input from Robin Gareus and Paul Davis
The Windows port was originally funded by Google as part of a Summer of Code project carried out by Tim Mayberry, and was further developed by John Emmas to launch Harrison's Mixbus. Subsequent work on the Windows port and cross-platform portability in general has continued in the hands of Tim, Robin Gareus, John Emmas, Paul Davis, Grygorii Zharun and Valeriy Khaminsky
Other contributors, in addition to those named above: Colin Fletcher, Ygvgeny Primakov, Jeremy Carter, George Krause, Todd Naugle, Devin Pohly, Guido Aulisi, Julien de Kozak, Michael Fisher, Sakari Bergen, Adrian Knoth, Hans Baier, Thomas Brand
Paul Davis thanks Waves Audio for financial support during the development of Ardour 4, and their use of Ardour as the basis for Tracks Live.
The ongoing open-source development of Ardour's Windows and OS X releases, UI improvements, and plugin hosting were largely funded by Harrison Consoles. Ardour 4 will serve as the platform for Harrison's upcoming release of Mixbus v3.