My current software setup
October 2, 2010
Ok, Ubuntu it is. I was forced to do it, because my two-year-old Dell laptop refused start one evening. I had no backups of my work, so I started to panic, but then bought a 4G usbstick and tried Ubuntu. I have done linux for years, mostly on servers, so I wasn’t really scared. But with a concert in the main cathedral of Denmark (Vor Frue Kirke in Copenhagen) two weeks later, I wasnøt really happy.
I used mostly Pd, Audacity, Csound and some python/processing on my XP laptop. I figured out that I might be able to use almost the same software, and then some more. So that is what I do – use Pd, Audacity, Csound – and MusE. And Jack and the synth with the ugliest name in the universe: ZynAddSubFX.
Screendump
Except for Jack (and maybe MusE) I could have had the exact same setup on my XP laptop. But never so friendly adn beautiful – and rock solid. There is no real ALSA/Jack equivalent on Win, so you have to install small utilities, often resulting in a shaky system.
It has taken me some effort and some late nights to get this far. Ubuntu (or the entire Debian tree of distributions, actually) is not made for musicians; we have to work a little to get what we need. Some thing don’t really work yet, and I will share with you how I made them work (when it happens).
