I've been a Linux user for a while now. I still remember ordering a magazine from the US to get a copy of Redhat 7 after realizing it would arrive before the download would finish on my dialup connection... I ended up switching to Debian for a while, then Slackware, where I finally gave up XP and started using linux fulltime.
I stuck with Slackware for a few years, I think I finally switched away sometime during uni when I started using VMWare (which didn't like rc.d), but by this stage the distro didn't matter so much. Slackware was great for learning the linux subsystems and how things fit together.
Wait, this is an audio blog right? I guess it would help if I finally got around to explaining what we're here for.
Over the next few months I plan to move my windows production setup to BWS on Linux. I thought it would be worth documenting my ideas and experiences for anyone looking to do the same.
My next post will talk about PulseAudio, JACK, and how Linux handles my audio devices. For reference, JACK is started automatically and uses my audio interface for I/O in BWS, while Pulse manages my system audio and mic (so I could skype while still making tunes, for example).
Following that, I'll start to dig into the scripting API and start building scripts for my midi gear (VCM600, Quneo and APC40). In doing so, I aim to write some higher level components and useful bits that are generic enough for other controllers.
In the meantime if anyone has any questions or suggestions for future posts, leave me a comment and I'll see what I can do.
Friday 28 March 2014
Before we start...
I first heard of Bitwig Studio back in January 2012 while going through my daily list of blogs. Being a long time Ableton user (everything started with Live 7 and a PadKontrol), I was interested to see what it offered in comparison. Not halfway down the page I saw something I didn't expect, Linux Support.
From that moment I followed the updates near religiously, scouring every source I could find. daily.
The next update had me sold, an open javascript API (with documentation!) for control scripts.
At this stage I was running a modified version of a custom remote script for my APC40 in Live. I never really got my head around the object model and interfaces though, so I kept mainly to soft banks and some basic MIDI control. When Max4Live was announced I thought this might be what I wanted, but I never clicked with the data flow programming system.
So the two features I was most exited for weren't exactly music related...
I'm guessing I'm not the only one though. These are two game-changers for nerds like me. To be fair, BWS isn't the first or only Linux DAW with a serious API, but its familiarity to an existing Live user and the promising feature list definitely had my attention.
After an anxious wait (and some cursing about my timezone) the links finally appeared. I grabbed packages and installed first on Windows to make sure my hardware was all picked up ok, then on the clean Ubuntu 12.04 install I had waiting, with no issues on either.
In the short time I've spent with BWS so far, my initial impressions have been extremely positive. Though the forums over at KVR are a buzz with the usual release teething issues, the team seems responsive and genuine in trying to help people get up and running (shout out to Dom who I noticed has been busy since release). Especially considering this is a 1.0 release I think they should be hugely proud of what they've put out.
From that moment I followed the updates near religiously, scouring every source I could find. daily.
The next update had me sold, an open javascript API (with documentation!) for control scripts.
At this stage I was running a modified version of a custom remote script for my APC40 in Live. I never really got my head around the object model and interfaces though, so I kept mainly to soft banks and some basic MIDI control. When Max4Live was announced I thought this might be what I wanted, but I never clicked with the data flow programming system.
So the two features I was most exited for weren't exactly music related...
I'm guessing I'm not the only one though. These are two game-changers for nerds like me. To be fair, BWS isn't the first or only Linux DAW with a serious API, but its familiarity to an existing Live user and the promising feature list definitely had my attention.
After an anxious wait (and some cursing about my timezone) the links finally appeared. I grabbed packages and installed first on Windows to make sure my hardware was all picked up ok, then on the clean Ubuntu 12.04 install I had waiting, with no issues on either.
In the short time I've spent with BWS so far, my initial impressions have been extremely positive. Though the forums over at KVR are a buzz with the usual release teething issues, the team seems responsive and genuine in trying to help people get up and running (shout out to Dom who I noticed has been busy since release). Especially considering this is a 1.0 release I think they should be hugely proud of what they've put out.
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