Taking a fresh look...15 years later

[srserl]

Hi, I looked at computer recording back in the '90s, and it just wasn't ready yet for home recording. I'm back to take another look, and WOW! I can't believe what is available at a price that any musician can afford.
I became aware of the new home recording playing field after building myself a new computer. I have been using Linux since last November, and I decided to build a computer where I could have all of the OSs that I wanted loaded and just run them in virtual machines. So I configured an 8GB ram, 1tb disk system. I then read a Linux magazine article about different distros and there was one called 64Studio which had a bunch of recording software and decided to try it. Couldn't get it installed (know how now), so I loaded Ubuntu Studio 64 bit (loaded right up) and have been messing with it for about a week.
I have an audio interface ordered, but it has not yet arrived, but just playing with the Hydrogen drum machine and recording into Ardour has been awesome. Home recording is definitely on a higher level than last time I looked.
I know there is not much here about the Linux recording software, but there seems to be a great community experience from which to learn the basic audio engineering techniques.

Scott

[Vulconizer]

Welcome aboard.

Have fun with it.

[brandondrury]

Ubuntu Studio 64 bit (loaded right up) and have been messing with it for about a week.

How are you liking it?

Brandon

[srserl]

I am loving it so far. Hydrogen (drum machine) is so easy to work with, and Ardour (daw) is very flexible for tracking and mixing. My interface (Echo Gina 3G) only has 2 input channels, so I am not taxing my machine very much yet...have to try out more plug-ins to flex the cpu. You can apply plug-ins (as many as your cpu can support) directly to mono or stereo tracks (pre and/or post fader), or group more tracks into buses before applying plug-ins.
I have to admit that it wasn't that easy to get working properly, but once you get the different layers of the Linux sound system properly configured, everything just seems to work. The coolest part of the whole system is how you can chain together different audio programs for recording. You use a system called Jack, and I can tell Hydrogen and Ardour to sync to Jack, then send the audio output from Hydrogen to input tracks on Ardour. When you press play in one program, the 2 programs start simultaneously, synchronised via Jack.
I have a lot more to learn, but I know enough about the software to get some basics done and I can start getting some acoustic treatment up in my room (too much echo in here).

Scott

[fortyseven]

hey scott. i've also been a long time linux user; welcome to the forums.