Tuesday, March 13, 2007
JAD Alpha2 Released
From the Jacklab webpage:
"Yes, we're late, but finaly, here is the second public alpha-release of the JackLab Audio Distribution (JAD). The alpha2 mainly contains bugfixes (eg the entrance login fix), but no new features, but maybe new bugs ;)"
Thursday, March 08, 2007
LAC2007
The Linux Audio Conference is coming up,
here is a list of all of the presentations.
Wish I were going!
New Linux Audio WIKI
Linux-Sound Application Index
From the page, "The site is intended as public host and collaboration platform, collecting resources for the Linux-Sound community from newbie to old-hat developer. - Think of this website as prototype to bootstrap *.linuxaudio.org services."
This is a new WIKI with some good listings of Linux Audio Software.
Hexter 0.60
[linux-audio-user] [ANN] hexter 0.6.0
Announcing a new release of the hexter DSSI plugin.
Download at Sourceforge
hexter is a software synthesizer that models the sound generation of
a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer. It can easily load most DX7 patch bank
files, accept patch editing commands via MIDI sys-ex messages, and
recreate the sound of the DX7 with greater accuracy than any other
open-source emulation (that the author is aware of...) hexter
operates as a plugin for the Disposable Soft Synth Interface (DSSI).
New features in version 0.6.0 include:
* Implemented the LFO, amplitude modulation and pitch modulation
(many thanks to Jamie Bullock)!
* Added TX7-style performance parameters, allowing configuration
from the GUI of pitch bend range, portamento time, and
sensitivity and assignment of the modulation wheel, foot
controller, pressure (both channel and key), and breath
controller.
* Added DX7 patchbank loading code from Martin Tarenskeen, allowing
hexter to load a number of additional patch file formats.
* Partially implemented portamento. For now, the curves and times
are wrong, but the plumbing is there.
More information about hexter and DSSI can be found at:
http://dssi.sourceforge.net/hexter.html
hexter is written by Sean Bolton, and copyright (c)2007 under
the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Free Linux Rock Star Keychain!
As you can tell, Linux Rock Star has been very quiet lately. I'm trying to finish up my last semester of college so it's been too busy lately to get much done...
So! I'm having a special deal! If anyone would like to write an article for Linux Rock Star, I will send them a free Linux Rock Star key chain and publish it on the site!
Submissions should be at least 300 words and may be a review of a program or distro, an examination of a linux audio issue, or any other number of topics. Please send submissions to downerczx_AT_yahoo.com. Screenshots are appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you! All submissions are accepted at my discretion. This will go on for as long as I decide.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Impressions: JAD alpha1
JAD alpha1 is an early version of the Jacklab Audio Distribution project. This SuSE 10.2 based distribution weighs in at over a gig, so you'll need a blank DVD to burn this one.
Installing was initially fairly easy with the SuSE installer, however, there are some serious bugs yet with the Enlightenment login that prevented me from logging in. I had to reinstall it picking KDE as the default window manager and then I installed Enlightenment from the desktop later.
The KDE version was clean and easy to use. The real fun is with Enlightenment, however, which is a totally different window manager.
There is a good selection of including applications, including the standards: Ardour, Hydrogen, Zynaddsubfx and a lot more, Bristol, AMS and too many more to mention. I'll try to do a proper review sometime soon in the future. Some of the programs did not start properly, at least with JACK, with the default shortcuts. Bristol didn't work at all.
Overall, this distro is very very promising, especially for an early Alpha. Check it out!
JAD Alpha1
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Interview with Unbuntu Studio Project Manager
Over at Oktyabr's notepad, there's an interview with Cory Kontros about Ubuntu Studio. Check it out here!
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Impressions: Studio 64
Lately, I have been using the Studio 64 Distro for making music on my aging Athlon XP 1900+ based system. Here are some quick impressions:
This distribution uses the Gnome Windows manager, which is clean and efficient. There are not a lot of excess packages here, but the basics are well covered, including internet, office apps, etc. The included music packages are solid, if slightly limited. The essentials are here: JACK, Ardour, Hydrogen and Zynaddsubfx. They all work perfectly out of the box. I've had a lot of good recording sessions in Ardour.
While the limited number of music programs might be slightly frustrating, installing new ones are only a few clicks away. This is a solid, friendly and stable music production environment. The installer is an older text based one, and is not especially friendly, but works well. The advantage of having the packages compiled for either 32 bit or 64 bit systems is a big one though, and if you run a 64 bit system, the optimizations might make this distro worthwhile. Not that it isn't already. I highly recommend it.
Updates: Jacklab Distro Released
From Distrowatch.com:
JackLab Audio Distribution is a new Linux project based on openSUSE and featuring a real-time kernel, Jack Audio Connection Kit and the Enlightenment desktop. The first public alpha build was released earlier today: "The JackLab Team is proud to present the first public alpha release of the JackLab Audio Distribution (JAD). JAD is fully compatible with the recently released openSUSE 10.2. It contains a full production environment for media production, primarily music. For this, the JackLab team added a real-time kernel version 2.6.19 to have fast audio processing with a latency up to 1.5ms. The default audio system is based on the Jack Audio Connection Kit (JACK) which is designed for the needs of musicians and producers and gives a professional audio/midi controlling interface." Visit the project's home page to read the full release announcement.
Also, Create Digital Music has an update on Ubuntu Studio. More updates on the Jacklab Alpha as I get to try it.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Update: Musix 0.79 Released
The Musix Linux Distro rolls ahead to 0.79! More updates on this later...
Live-CD download
More info
