There are plenty of reasons to consider free software tools as part of your toolchain for music making. They might fit your budget, give you needed flexibility, allow you to use a tool driven more by development needs than commercial ones, give you tools that would otherwise lack proprietary commercial niches, allow you to run (via Linux) on a wider variety of hardware or with greater low-latency performance, or allow you to contribute more directly to a project, from documentation to actual development. And increasingly, they don’t mandate some sort of philosophical choice, either – I routinely use free software tools on the proprietary Mac OS, and use commercial, proprietary projects (Renoise) on Linux or (Harrison Mixbus) to make free projects more powerful.

What usually holds people back from free software projects is, simply, not knowing where to begin. Software in general can overwhelm with choice; free software, often, doubly so.

Fortunately, some software gurus have jumped into the legwork so you don’t have to. I have some of my own thoughts on how to put this together, but first I wanted to share the input of these esteemed colleagues. These aren’t all Linux-only – many run on Windows and Mac, too – but if you are looking for a way to put together a robust studio on Linux, they’re a great start.

Webcast, Software Picks, Knowledge Databases

If you like real-time feedback, today, you can join Red Hat’s Adam Drew in a live webcast for “Open Your World,” entitled “Making Music with FOSS.” [Free and Open Source Software] It runs at 11:00a Pacific / 2:00p Eastern, and will be archived. (I’ll update that link here.)

Learn to make open source music–Register now for a webcast with Adam Drew

Warning: I just discovered that this thing pops up an annoying survey that assumes you use JBoss. (And, heck, CDM is indirectly a Red Hat customer – the whole site runs on RHEL.) Trying to tell it you don’t use JBoss makes the whole survey fail. I’m going to try to schedule something separately, as this is … more than a little ridiculous for a music-making survey, and sadly shows Red Hat’s blind spot in regards to end users.

Day job in tech, night job in music making – yup, that’s the M.O. of quite a few people around this community.

I asked Adam for his top picks, and he explained he would demo:

• JACK / qjackctl (the GUI for JACK), the tool for interconnecting audio, MIDI, and sync between applications
• Hydrogen Drum Machine
• Ardour, the terrific, all-free DAW
• Rakarrack, a free guitar effects tool set for Linux (one new to me, in fact!)
• ZynAddSubFX, probably the most capable free standalone soft synth – ugly, but very powerful, and a candidate for a “desert island” synth.

For additional resources, there’s a superb guide on the Fedora site (one that Ubuntu actually might mirror). It’s Fedora-focused, but the advice often applies to other distributions:
Fedora 14 Musician’s Guide

Adam himself operates the FOSS Audio KBase, full of articles on configuration and individual software programs. It’s about the most productive guide I’ve seen:
FOSS Audio KBase

Adam has some more philosophical thoughts:
Webcast preview: Free and open source software for music production [opensource.com]

And you can check out Adam’s music (CC-BY-NC-ND) and Linux-oriented personal blog. I tend to be more pragmatic about some of these issues, so I’m not endorsing all the opinions on Adam’s blog, but it’s a compelling read, and often comes with useful practical advice. (Mainly – I disagree with two points, one, I don’t think it’s entirely fair to say that proprietary DAWs lack interoperability, and two, I’m far more pragmatic about the future of Android as a platform, mainly because I think it’s currently the best bet for the distribution of free software on mobile. Oh, I don’t trust Google, either, though – that’d be silly.)

Picks from Dave Phillips of Linux Journal

Last weekend, I had the pleasure to meet Dave Phillips for the first time. Dave, an Ohio-based musician and teacher, is bar none the most invaluable writer when it comes to free software and music-making on Linux. His series for Linux Journal in particular is a must-read.

Dave and I joined Columbia’s Brad Garton at Virginia Tech to do a bit of teaching, a bit of playing, and to enjoy the hard work of the Linux Laptop Orchestra. I’ll cover more of that soon, but in the meantime, I took some notes as Dave walked through a current take on the software for Linux that most excited him.

His picks:

• Ardour, naturally
• Ardour 3, the next-generation update to Ardour that at last adds MIDI support (and beautifully executed). Dave noted that you can and should install Ardour 3 alongside the stable Ardour, so you can test both. There are even pre-built alpha binaries, so there’s really no excuse: you could be up and running in less than the time it took to read this. (See a much earlier story from Dave on testing 3.)
• Harrison Mixbus: It’s not free software, but it is now Linux-native and supports Linux plug-ins, and it’s built on Ardour (and, in turn, contributes back to Ardour). As Dave put it, Mixbus is a mind-boggling value “from a company that thinks of a budget console as costing $100,000.”
• IR: LV2 convolution reverb. The work of Tom Szilagyi, IR is a brilliant, no-nonsense plug-in for powerful convolution effects; LV2 support means it runs beautifully in hosts like Ardour 2.8.x and higher and Renoise. I’m really grateful to Dave for turning me on to this one. woo, tangent has a nice blog entry on the plug.
• LV2, generally. Dave credits the evolving state of LV2, and the work of its principle developer, David Robillard, for a lot of innovation in free software and Linux audio. I’m surprised LV2 hasn’t gained more attention, in fact – it might be the best bet yet to finally help plug-in developers escape the shadow of formats like VST. But that’s probably a topic for another article.
• RubberBand Audio Processor Powerful time stretching tool, now on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS. Available as a library, too, if you’re a developer – or just use it to mangle your audio files as an end user. Someone has already ported it to Renoise.

The focus of Dave’s presentation, though, was one tool so deep, it could easily be your only tool, for the rest of time. AVSynthesis couples visual output in OpenGL with the veritable Csound sound and composition engine. It includes built-in sequencing capabilities, basic sound generators (themselves written in Csound), envelopes and modulation, the powerful MatrixSynthMod instrument, MIDI control, and effects (phasers, choruses, filter, waveguide filter, and so on). There’s shader support on the graphics side, too. The result: based on built-in building blocks or, if you’re adventurous, your own code, you can produce 3D audiovisual musical-eye candy performances. I hope we’ll take more look at this soon; the one question that came up repeatedly – and that Dave couldn’t answer yet – was what the workflow might be for adding your own Csound creations. (The package itself is built in Java.)

More information:
http://www.avsynthesis.net/
AVSynthesis: Blending Light and Sound with OpenGL and Csound5 [Dave in Linux Journal]

AVSynthesis Tour 1

Composing With Csound In AVSynthesis [Dave in Csound Journal]

Lest you think we’re all a bunch of “neckbeard” Marxist free software revolutionaries, though, Dave – who’s had drinks with Stallman on occasion – was also full of questions about Mac OS and curious about it for his own music making. I think largely we’re all technologically curious; if anything, the only people I’ve met who have gotten really emotional are the people who mistrust free software, perhaps because they just need to loosen up and accept that something really can be free.

But as with proprietary software, I think the biggest danger with Linux and free software is that you can become overwhelmed with choices rather than focusing on music. That’s part of why I find these choices so appealing: deep, capable, well-designed, and rock-solid, I’ve found them to be eminently musical. Some of the best demonstrate that free software can provide choice – not, as many believe, only compromise. And I see absolutely no reason that they can’t coexist with other popular proprietary options in your studio. You may not be ready to leap into Linux, but especially given that by now you’ve likely accumulated either extra machines or machines that can easily dual-boot, there’s no reason not to add these free tools to your arsenal.

Got favorites of your own? Let us know; I’ll continue to feature this stuff in coming days.

The tricky thing about introducing a new feature is that you almost immediately hear from users about other features that would go well with that feature. (There’s a children’s story that goes this way.) The folks at Cakewalk have done what I think is a pretty amazing job of working through a big feature list, and throwing in additional goodies users get without even asking. They’ve also listened to users and been thorough in fixing issues – some quite particular – in 8.5. The result is that SONAR 8.5.2 brings a mature version of some significantly-changed features, and an unusually significant amount of stuff for a “point” release. If 8.5 was beginning to feel like 9.0, 8.5.2 definitely does.

Flash back for a moment to SONAR 8.5 and updates, which made enough of an impact among die-hard Cakewalk lovers that we started to see bizarre fan videos about it. As previewed back in September, 8.5′s banner features were a step sequencer, an arpeggiator, a Matrix View grid for triggering MIDI and audio clips (yes, reminiscent of a program that rhymes with Sable Bun Drive), a new sampled drum instrument, AudioSnap for tuning the timing of audio, and nice new effects strips.

Matrix View, an ambitious new feature, was admittedly not entirely baked when it shipped, and saw a set of performance and functionality fixes with 8.5.1. But with 8.5.2, nearly all of those banner features get improved, with additional bonuses, to boot. Some of my favorites:

• 70+ new impulses for the lovely Perfect Space convolution reverb
• Swing individual arpeggiators
• Combine Matrix View cells with probabilistic Step Sequencer patterns for some generative music-making
• Drag cells from Matrix View into Track View – a bit like going from Ableton Live’s Session View to Arrange View, but in a more conventional DAW workflow

The full list of enhancements, tweaks, and fixes is utterly enormous. Now, of course, it would have been nice to see 8.5 ship with some of these issues, but I will say Cakewalk has shown some attention to detail and gotten quite a lot right. I’m finishing up a review of 8.5x based on the 8.5.2 version now. So, as I polish that off – any remaining questions you’d like answered?

Rather than just review the tool, as well, I’ve been working in my own material and with the folks at Cakewalk to share some tips, so stay tuned.

SONAR 8.5.2 Update Changelog
SONAR 8.5.1 Matrix View Update
8.5.2 Update on the Cakewalk Blog

DP6 is here (or will be here soon, say commenters), with a badly-needed UI update and a number of new features. The results still look like DP – in the way that should appeal to current users, that is – but enhancements demonstrate that the ongoing DAW battles carry on.

DP6 New Features

In the usability category:

• Updated UI with vertical track resizing (about time, jeez!) and better zooming and resizing
• Window tabs, which are a pretty cool way of switching between windows and tabbing views a la Firefox, Safari, et al (I’m surprised we haven’t seen more tabs in music software, given their popularity in browsing)
• Inspector palettes
• Build comps by selecting from different takes, which would be exciting if we hadn’t just seen similar features elsewhere

New Effects

As welcome as these features will be, most of the buzz I’ve heard from DP users centers around the new effects plug-ins. The MasterWorks Leveler models the “Teletronix LA-2A optical leveling amplifier.” Translated into plain English, it’s an automatic gain adjustment that can have some of the dynamic-smoothing qualities of compression without their soul-sucking quality – it’s an arguably better way of adjusting dynamics. I know at least one very prominent Ableton Live and Logic lover who wants DP6 just to run this plug-in. See the full description on MOTU’s site.

The ProVerb convolution reverb joins convolution reverbs in various other DAWs, with a few twists. It claims to be more CPU-efficient, which is generally not something you associate with convolution. There’s drag-and-drop convolution support, which allows you to drag audio right into the reverb for convolution use. It’s not the first reverb to support using your own audio files, but drag-and-drop is very hot. And MOTU adds automatic ducking features, called Dynamic Mix. And there are surround features, including the ability to use the convolution reverb to upsample to surround.

Combined, these features should allow you to get cleaner, higher-fidelity mixes th…

Um, excuse me. I need a moment. I feel my Jekyl-like alterego coming on here. Let me put on my mad scientist outfit.

[evil murmuring cackle, growing into loud evil laugh] So, MOTU thinks we’ll use these sound features for good, do they? Drag and drop convolution, to destroy my sounds! Let the world cower in the shadow of the new–

Ahem. Okay, moving on. Other features.

Still-Improved Film Scoring Support

While Apple customers complain that there aren’t more extensive integration features between Final Cut and Logic, MOTU has gone and created their own, with a dynamic link system for translating edits in Final Cut to scores assembled in DP. DP already has a surprisingly-strong corner on the film scoring niche, and this is yet another reason. You can even output visual cues over FireWire. Logic doesn’t come anywhere close to DP’s capabilities here. There’s just no competition. For composers doing actual scores, DP will remain king. It’s not a very big niche, but it’s DP’s domain, period.

There’s also improved Pro Tools front-end support, which I expect may be important to this market, as well.

Plug-In Features

You might think that Apple would lead the industry with AU support in Logic given that it’s all in the same building in Cupertino, but don’t count out MOTU – after a rough start in the early Mac OS X days, they’ve been really close to the Audio Unit spec and development tools. In this version:

• AU side-chaining support (‘bout time)
• Sample-accurate timing
• Cocoa graphics support (I’m not actually sure which plug-ins are using Cocoa – anyone know?)
• Ramp automation
• Prioritized MIDI for support for plug-ins like Access Virus TI

Not terribly exciting, but good to have. The one feature I think people will find exciting is the new, integrated plug-in manager. Boy, would I like this in some other hosts.

There’s also improved soft synth hosting for more efficient CPU use. One trick here is really interesting: DP now pre-renders instrument tracks so that already-recorded soft synths are rendered in advance instead of playing live. Update: See comments; readers are divided about just how useful this will be, and there are still some complaints about the way DP routes instrument tracks. I think we’ll have to see it in practice.

The combination of the pre-rendering with some of the other features here means that DP may be your best choice on older hardware, not to mention a very strong choice for people who want to load up on lots of plug-ins and experiment with sound design.

Bottom Line (Preview)

DP may be a niche player at this point, but boy, does it rock out in its niche. For film scoring, it remains dominant. And I think that the combination of a better UI, CPU-efficient features, a plug-in manager, and the reverb and dynamics additions here could actually increase its appeal to people who want a host for doing creative sound design and scoring, too – as well as continuing to make it a favorite for backing tracks in live performance. I’m still personally happier in some other hosts for various reasons when it comes to creating stuff, but you have to give some props to the things DP does differently. And it’s a relief that DAW competition continues to remain heated-up, even in 2008. If you wonder why Logic hasn’t become the one and only DAW on Mac, look closely at some of the details here. Composers and producers are very picky about the finer points, and as long as that remains true, we’ll have more than one DAW.

The original Altiverb was infamous for its creation not only of soaring churches and halls, but the back of a Ford Transit van and a toilet. Ah, you say, but I don’t want a Ford Transit van. I want a Ford Ka — no, wait, make that a Peugot Partner. And I don’t want the sound of the toilet while I’m in the loo — I want to hear that same sound as though I were listening from the living room. Wait, forget the toilet entirely: I want the sound inside an old factory tank north of the Netherlands. But I want to run that through a spring reverb — no, wait, make that a cheap plastic echo toy.

All this and more can be yours, thanks to the extensive boutique of impulse response recordings over at AudioEase.

They’re free, but only to registered Altiverb users. Then again, how else can you recreate the sound of music playing in your downstairs living roo– oh, yeah, actually, I guess you could easily record that. But I bet you don’t own a Ford Ka (and if you do, you probably can’t squeeze your whole band into it).

This isn't just a reverb plug-in. This is a hugely tricked-out ultimate convolution reverb with all the stops pulled.

Altiverb first popularized the use of sampled spaces for software reverbs via a digital technique called convolution. As I reported here, Altiverb 5
brings plenty of new features, including new controls for where your
audio is 'heard onstage,' four band reverb EQ for controlling separate
frequencies of your sound, and CPU controls so you don't max out your
processor.

• Mac OS X Only with support for every format: HTDM / RTS / AudioSuite (Digidesign), MAS (MOTU), and, of course, VST and Audio Units
• Reverse reverb mode because there's nothing quite as sweet as hearing reflections first
• Explore reverb visually with three-dimensional waveform views, pictures of sampled spaces, and even VR movies

And lots more. Copy protection evidently lets you choose between iLok and challenge/response.

Now here comes the sticker shock:
US$595 buys you first-class convolution luxury. (US$895 for Pro Tools
users.) If you're an AltiVerb vet, though, you can upgrade for $169-269.

Just want the sampled impulse responses? US$39.95 buys you the impulses
for loading into reverbs like Logic Pro's Space Designer. But no VR
movies, of course.

Sure, it's fun playing around with convolution reverbs like
Apple Logic's Space Designer, but if you really want ultimate
flexibility and realistic space modeling, you need Altiverb. It was the
first software plugin to feature convolution, and with upcoming version
5, there's no question it's the Rolls Royce of reverb.

Check it out:

• Multichannel IRs and waveform preview, with 3D time/frequency plot
• Preview sounds
• Triple band damping and absurd number of gains and delay controls plus 2-band parametric EQ
• Virtual placement of sound source
• Altiverb site still features lots of great IR samples for real-world spaces; huge included library
• CPU optimization controls

Oh yeah, and it looks really gorgeous: photos of the actual spaces as
in previous versions, plus useful, gorgeous new 3D views. Pricing and
availability TBA — I'll let you know, okay?