I’m going to try the UbuntuStudio over trying Studio To Go, only because, if for some reason Studio To Go doesn’t work with my hardware, I don’t want to shell out $98 US for something that is unusable.

Does anybody know the exact release date for UbuntuStudio?

First, the idea of an open source version of Miroslav Philharmonik is actually not as far fetched as you might think. About 14 months ago I was involved in negotiating with a very big name in large scale sample libraries regarding the development of a new sampler that they wanted to create that would get around issues they had/have when forced to work with Kontakt etc. Open source was the goal, and even though I eventually didn’t participate in the effort, it did start up. I don’t know at this point whether its ever going to be finished. The important point here is that its the *data* you are really paying for with something like MP, not the sampling engine. The sampler is the only thing that needs to be “open source”.

Secondly, the biggest issue of all in these matters is, sadly, money. It takes manpower to do linux ports (or even write new stuff for linux), and manpower means salaries. Nobody that is rooted in digital (except Digidesign) is really making very much money at all (just look at market valuations of Steinberg & Mackie, two of the most successful brands), and as a result, the idea that these companies would have the ability to start supporting/developing on Linux as well is a really tough sell. What we actually need from companies is not that *they* do stuff, but they stop acting so negatively towards Linux support created by the community. MOTU is a case in point. Its likely that in the next month or three, we will see working support for MOTU firewire interfaces on linux, but this has been done without one millimeter of assistance (and actually, with some considerable negative energy) from MOTU themselves. If Linux audio developers could stop having to worry about h/w actually working on Linux, it wouldn’t be long before you’d see some amazingly cool software emerging from the unpaid open source sector, independently of what existing proprietary software developers are doing. Thankfully, both BridgeCo and TC (BeBob and DICE-II ieee1394 chipsets) seem intent on aiding Linux driver development as much as possible, and so its possible that this issue may slowly go away.

Finally, I would point out that the other related issue is the silly level of proprietary “standards”. The entire audio tech industry got boosted into outer space by the development of MIDI, but can you tell me of even *one* equivalently open standard that has been developed since then? Instead, we have a bunch of tiny companies fighting over the crumbs that Digi leaves on the table or floor, each convinced that their latest idea for (AudioOverIP | SampleLibraryFormat | NetworkSharing | LiveCollaborationViaIP | etc.) will be thing that will make them the Next Big Thing. Users get screwed big time, open source developers can’t collaborate, and we continue in the stagnant technology vein that Digi has created for us over the last 5 or 6 years.

In addition, users are balkanized by OS and preferred DAW, something which never had to be the case, and when something new and interesting comes along, people face huge hurdles in trying it if it clashes with their existing toolset. This is wrong, unnecessary and needs to change.

Sadly, I don’t think Linux will ever be able to catch up to the market for whom home digital studios are most necessary – those of us who need more than the digital equivalent of a four- or eight (or 64-) track tape machine. Where I live musicians are scarce and most of them have frighteningly disproportionate egos which means I get a better experience with, say, a drummer, out of Toontrack’s EZDrummer instrument. And with things like IK Multimedia’s Miroslav Philharmonik, I can have a very detailed, nuanced, and living orchestra part on a track in the time it takes me to play it on a MIDI controller.

Whether Linux, Mac, Windows, or hardware (even cheap Tascam/Fostex multitrackers) you’ll always get EQ and a few effects sends. Sadly, the motivation to go full digital now is the *good* extras – the channel-strip plugs that are supposed to sound like old Neve consoles, the orchestra and drum instruments, and even the licensed emulators of classics like the Korg Legacy Collection. The basics are there and I certainly, more than you know, appreciate the people working to make LiveDVDs so I can make music and not spend all my time tweaking and going through dependency hell. But the pressure needs to be put on the software companies – IK Multimedia, Toontrack, Waves, Antares, Tascam, Roland/Edirol, and the rest – to start developing Linux versions… you’re never going to get a free or open source version of Miroslav Philharmonik, for example… there’s just too much work and too many people who have to be paid for it… but I want a stable, solid platform onto which I can install new things that I don’t mind paying for if I find I need them.

Actually, perhaps the people who are involved with this stuff should contact the people at http://www.museresearch.com/ – the people responsible for the Receptor, which is a rackmount Linux-based hardware device that lets you load VSTi’s on it. You find a way to do the same thing on a Linux studio LiveDVD and the battle of operating systems is over.

Thanks for what you do here, and I hope to see enough progress made on the Linux side that digital audio companies will begin to take it very seriously. I can’t afford enough of a Mac for serious music production so that I can be granted permission to run OSX; I’ve got my XP machines solid *enough*, but Linux would still be the holy grail for these things.