Linux Audio Users: using Linux in performance
We wanted to know if we could find any musicians using Linux for their own performances. Just around clubs and venues it's hard to find them but we reasoned we might find some on an international mailing list like Linux Audio Users (a child, one might say, of the long running Linux Audio Dev list for developers) ... and we did find some from all over and doing all different kinds of music.
And below we have who they are and what they're using, and yes, there are many more out there - this is, as they say, a sample.
Lastly, before we pass over to them, there are some pretty decent reasons why you might, as a musician, try this. The first is that the cost of entry is low: it doesn't cost a fortune or anything at all (except perhaps for small donations to application developers where they ask for them). The code is open and so you will be the slave of proprietary systems no longer ... and you could change the code if you have the skills.
You can also, if you know a bit, resurrect old machinery that no longer copes with bloated Windows or Mac OS X ... which means you can use a fairly cheap out of date machine depending on what your needs are.
Thanks to all who took part.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- artist name: Brian Bergstrom, perform with band Chosen Robot website: www.myspace.com/chosenrobot Linux distro and addons: *64 Studio 2.1 on my live performance laptop, which gets amazing performance out of my old T22 Thinkpad. I use AMSynth as my synth program and Specimen for sound effects/samples. I am working on moving to LinuxSampler but I am still working on getting my samples setup without distortion in that program. Ubuntu Studio 8.04 on my home studio/production/recording laptop(a beefy 17" powerhouse) because UbuStu is a bit more well rounded and works better with my ATI card. I produce samples usually with Audacity but sometimes hydrogen and ardour. The free sound project definitely gets some credit, there are some people doing great work there and sharing it with the world. (www.freesound.org) gear setup: *My main interface for live performance is a M-Audio Ozone MIDI keyboard/controller and stereo audio interface all in one that connects through USB. I also use a Roland Edirol UA-4fx USB audio interface and Alesis ControlPad at home for production. All three work well and were easy to setup, though the UA-4fx only does 44.1 sample rate and no midi because the linux driver doesn't have the hight rates and MIDI feature yet. music genre (roughly): *Funk, punk rock, rock n roll, hip hop. types of venue played: *Bar/venues around Minneapolis/St. Paul Minnesota, USA. link to an example track: *Some on myspace page. comments on your setup (how happy you are with it; improvements you're thinking of etc.): *I would really like the ALSA driver for my Edirol UA-4fx to get the rest of the features in there. I may try to get that moving forward at some point by learning C/C++ as I am a programmer during the day in different languages. anything you think is important that hasn't been asked: *I used to use Abelton Live for live performance as it has a very neat and integrated enviroment for synth and samples. I did that when I lugged around my 17" to practice and shows, but I was unhappy because I didn't want my $2000 laptop in range of spilt beer and possible theft at a bar. So I picked up a $200 thinkpad, which is meager but has decent hardware(P3 900MHz 384MB ram, 60gb hd, onboard realtek sound, one USB) though I wish it had a second USB. I tried loading a minimal Windows XP setup on it with Abelton Live but it could bearly produce my sound effects, which i thought it could do, just play a wav file on key press. Needless to say the Synths were choppy and horrible sounding. I had already been trying Ubuntu Studio on my other laptop for a while now, so I decided to try that, it worked great for running Specimen for samples, but synths were still chopping and produced lots of xruns in Jack. I eventually decided to try 64 Studio as some on the forum noted its great performance. And boy were they right, I now run 64 Studio on my T22 and run AMSynth, Specimen all over Jack with my Ozone. All that at 12ms of latency! I was freaking amazed at how much great sound I could output out of that ancient laptop! On top of all that, I didn't need to buy any software, all of it was from the open source community. Once I get LinuxSampler setup I won't have any reason to use Abelon Live again, I have found the wide array of great music production software available in Linux amazing. I strongly urge anyone who hasn't looked into Linux ever or in a while to check it out, it has come leaps and bounds in recent years. Music focused Linux distros of note: Ubuntu Studio (debian based) ubuntustudio.org 64 Studio (debian based) www.64studio.com JAD (openSUSE based) jacklab.net CCRMA (RedHat based) ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/software ---------------------------------------------------------------------- artist name: Ivica Ico Bukvic website: ico.bukvic.net, www.music.vt.edu/faculty/bukvic Linux distro and addons: Ubuntu 8.10 vanilla (last one before this was UbuntuStudio 7.04) gear setup: MBP, MSI Wind, FA-101, various controllers and toys music genre (roughly): experimental types of venue played: conferences, festivals link to an example track: ico.bukvic.net/Audio/Lullaby.mp3 and www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?ucin98449401 comments on your setup (how happy you are with it; improvements you're thinking of etc.): after over 10 years of being with Linux audio, this last iteration on MSI Wind in terms of operability and user-friendliness has been a really pleasant surprise. Overall I am very happy with the setup. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- artist name: Aide Auditive (2 persons) website: aide-auditive.org Linux distro and addons: Debian+kernel RT + ratpoison / Gentoo + kernel RT + FVWM gear setup: 1 laptop Acer with debian + Focusrite saffire (debian) + Controller Korg NanoKontrol + Joystick 1 laptop Dell inspiron 9400 + Presonus Firebox (gentoo) + Controller Korg microKontrol We are using essentially Pure Data. music genre (roughly): improvised electronic music / ambient, down tempo, noise types of venue played: underground ... + festival of numeric Art. link to an example track: myspace.com/aideauditive comments on your setup (how happy you are with it; improvements you're thinking of etc.): Firewire sucks on linux ... too much problems. We are thinking about selling our Firewire soundcards, and buy USB ones. anything you think is important that hasn't been asked: 2 points : - There is no (or so few...) softwares that can act as Midi slave. It is very difficult to work with several computers synchronized together. - LASH should be more supported. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- artist name: Dave Phillips aka StudioDave aka DLP website: linux-sound.org/ardour-music.html Linux distro and addons: 64 Studio, JAD 1.0, Ubuntu 8.10 gear setup: M-Audio Delta 66 (2), Yamaha DMP11, Yamaha MJC8, guitars, basses, etc. music genre (roughly): Blues, "classical", rock, pop, anything. types of venue played: night clubs, coffee shops, concert halls link to an example track: linux-sound.org/audio/sonatina.ogg comments on your setup : It works for my purposes, I like it. anything you think is important that hasn't been asked: My system is rather hybrid: I use a DOS-based sequencer that runs under DOSemu, I occasionally use Atari MIDI programs on an Atari emulator, and I suspect I'm not the only mixed-software Linux-based musician. --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------- artist name: ken restivo website: www.restivo.org/blog Linux distro and addons: Debian Sid with a few customized packages. Details here: www.restivo.org/projects/asus/system-details gear setup: current setup is an Asus Z96F laptop, Novation Remote 61 controller, M-Audio FastTrack Pro interface, Peavy KB4 amp music genre (roughly): funk/fusion types of venue played: clubs, bars, beach, fairs, street link to an example track: oh, man, there are hundreds. how about this one, done 100% in linux: www.restivo.org/blog/podpress_trac/web/406/0/music-box-0.2.1.ogg at least 38 more featured tracks here: www.restivo.org/blog/archives/category/music/featured comments on your setup (how happy you are with it;... i love it! it's been rock-solid reliable and i've used it live since may 2007. ... improvements you're thinking of etc.): i'm building an intel amd64 mini-ITX headless box running 64studio. i'm using an asus EEE 1000 as a "head" for it, and also as my portable audio editing and synth patching (and websurfing and emailing) machine. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- artist name: robotbathing website: www.myspace.com/robotbathing Linux distro and add-ons: I've used Linux once in performance (so far!) and that was OpenSuse 10 something with no special kernel. gear setup: This was an emergency! I used a loan PC with the first distro that would go on it and I used a program called Loopdub which, because it doesn't try and do everything for you, can be quite entertaining while giving non-cookie-cutter results. music genre (roughly): that set was sort of noisy ambient. types of venue played: that was in a club. link to an example track: tracks at myspace comments on your setup: It was put together fast from what was available - pretty amazing I got anything together at all and a testimony to the breadth of Linux Audio. I did another thing using a Nokia 6600 (Symbian 60) and a Nokia 770 Internet tablet (Linux). I recorded a loop on the first and then used a badly implimented tuner for the 770 (which made it sound interesting) to tap out some noise over the top. Hmmm, fairly geeky, yes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- artist name: BrB Linux distro and addons: Gentoo/MAudio Delta 44 and Delta 2496/Ardour/Hydrogen/Jamin music genre (roughly): Not really sure ....... Experimental? link to an example track: www.archive.org/download/InnGrained_700/01-rnb-ig-splitStick.flac comments on your setup (how happy you are with it: Apart from occasional glitch (which happen on any platform) is very stable and reliable. improvements you're thinking of etc.): I need more channels so better sound card is a priority for me. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- artist name: UniSecs website: myspace.com/unisecs, creazone.ca/UniSecs.html Linux distro and addons: currently Ubuntu. Mostly Pure data for performance. gear setup: Microphones + guitar go into the mixer serving as a pre-amp and directly into the computer. Then, out of the computer to the PA. Lately I have been using an RME hammerfall card for I/O. music genre (roughly): spoken word, poetry with improvised soundtrack, electroacoustic songs. types of venue played: cafe, bar, art galleries, small venues link to an example track: above websites are loaded with tracks. comments on your setup (how happy you are with it; improvements you're thinking of etc.): I have been using this setup for about 8 years. It works fine and it has been very stable for me. The only improvement that I am thinking of is to get rid of the computer from in front of my eyes (but not from the processing chain!). That's what I am working on right now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks Everyone!
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