Since this was written a few weeks ago, I've done a few tweaks (as in installing two different OS after ubuntu studio) and think I've found a match for my quest, or at least the best candidate so far:
I'm running Puppy Studio 3.1: A total install of less then 700mb, running off an 8GB Micro SD card on my old P.O.S compaq laptop (2 ghz single core with 2GB ram)
Puppy Studio comes loaded with:
.... real-time audio kernel (huh? means it records audio really fast, I guess)
.... support for Reaper (using WINE to run windows programs and JACK AUDIO to marry the two - and yes RiffWorks is running and still being tested)
.... support for VST (minimal success so far)
.... support for video production - OneShot is installed, not tested yet
.... basic web browser, basic office-type software, stripped down and lightweight
.... powerful image editor - GIMP - freeware, open source, awesome power from what I've read
The secret is JACK AUDIO set up to use the external audio card in my case the LINE6 GUITARPORT (see screenshots)
SETUP JACK AUDIO SERVER: NOTICE "INTERFACE" IS SET TO hw:2 -- THIS MAY CHANGE EVERY RE-BOOT. SOMETIMES I HAVE TO SET IT AS 2, SOMETIMES 0, SOMETIMES 1 -- CHECK BY CLICKING THE " > " FOR INTERFACE, LIKE BELOW......
YOUR REAPER SHOULD BE SETUP WITH THE INPUT DEVICE SET TO "WINEASIO". JACK AUDIO SHOULD MAKE AN AUDIO DRIVER CALLED WINEASIO AND ROUTE THE INTERFACE YOU HAVE SELECTED TO THAT AUDIO DRIVER (see screenshot below)
Here's a sample of an audio clip recorded using Linux Puppy Studio 3.1 running Reaper. Very basic arrangement of "The Seeker" by The Who. I used the built in VST's that come with Reaper for Compression and Reverb. On the guitar track I added the BlueDevil Studio VST that installs with RiffWorks T4 for a guitar amp as I recorded the guitar (and vox) dry.
DOWNLOAD PUPPY STUDIO 3.1
-you can run your computer off the ISO you burn to CD or other ways without ever messing with your computer.
-You can install it directly to a USB Thumb Drive or an SD/Mini/MicroSD -- I am carrying my Puppy Studio 3.1 OS on an SD card!
-You CAN install it to your hard-drive by accident, so read you're screen, know what size hard drive you have (in KB, not GB!!) before you choose to install this to anything -- so don't use your main setup to install this, instead run off the live CD you burned from the download link silly! Then if you are brave enough, put this bad boy on an old computer or on a usb stick
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=60483
or
http://puppylinuxstuff.meownplanet.net/10wt3ch/
when prompted use:
Username: puppy
Password: linux
ORIGINAL POST:
Ever since I purchased a laptop loaded with Windows Vista "Home Premium", I've been aware of what an awful, bloated and frustrating product Microsoft can put out these days. (Don't even bother to ask why I didn't realize this after I purchased a Gateway desktop loaded with Windows ME back in 2001!) But in my own defense, I wasn't really doing any audio production at the time and I've never been an avid gamer, so browsing the internet and doing some web design was about as specialized as my computer use had been. My experience with Windows 2000 and Windows XP were both painless, but of course I wasn't doing any intensive computing on those operating systems.
As soon as I started using Windows Vista, I was jumping into Audio Production full throttle. Really, I have had very little trouble with recording audio on Vista and can't really complain about that aspect. What I do have a problem with is the overall slowness of the computer, requiring me to upgrade RAM and realizing that the 80GB hard drive suddenly seemed much smaller when Vista was taking up 20 gigs or so after all of my applications were installed!
For quite a few other reasons which I will not get into, a few years ago I set out to see if I could actually ditch Windows for Linux and still be able to produce high quality audio like I am currently doing using Windows.
Here is what I've found out so far: NO, YOU CAN'T, at least, not easily! -- let me explain.....
I jumped in on Ubuntu 7.xx a few years back. At the time, I couldn't get my Line6 GuitarPort to work. I abandoned my quest for a while because without being able to use my external sound card (guitarport), it wasn't really worth it to me to invest in some other equipment that might be compatible with Linux Ubuntu.
Jump forward a year or so and version 9.xx of Ubuntu.... I can now get Ubuntu to "see" the GuitarPort as an external soundcard and can route system sounds through it and hear them on the headphones. But getting the input signal into a program like Ardour is hit or miss and I found the software to be cumbersome to what I was using on Windows, namely RiffWorks by Sonoma Wire Works and Reaper by Cockos. At that point I started looking into WINE on Ubuntu which is a Windows Emulation layer which allows many Windows applications to run under Ubuntu. I was able to successfully install RiffWorks and Reaper on Ubuntu using WINE, but I'm still not able to route the input of my Guitarport into either application using Ubuntu, so I abandoned the project for the time....
Jump forward to 2010... I was dual booting my laptop with Windows Vista and Ubuntu 9.xx. I found myself doing all of my surfing and non-intensive computing on Ubuntu and loving it, but all of my audio production is still being done on Windows Vista. At this time, my wife started going back to college and her older Compaq laptop running Windows XP is overheating, rebooting and she's not able to use it to do any of her school work. If it did stay on it was slow as hell! We had already maxed out the RAM but it still just was so sluggish and prone to BlueScreens and other problems, she NEEDED a new laptop. Instead of forking over a minimum of $400 to $500 dollars, I sacrificed my laptop as I could use our much more powerful desktop to do all of my audio production. I did a clean install of Vista for her (reclaiming the Ubuntu partition) and handed over my laptop to her. Although I didn't really want to be without it, I figured I could take apart her old Compaq and clean out all the dust that had accumulated (and there was a ton of it) and wipe XP off of it and install the latest Ubuntu 10.04 (lucid). It was very easy to do! After installing Ubuntu 10.04, the old Compaq laptop was ROCKIN' FAST! I couldn't believe how much better this old p.o.s was running with Ubuntu compared to XP. It was night and day as far as performance! My wife was happy and I was able to reclaim a laptop that would've been unused or even donated or thrown out eventually.
Jump forward to late 2010. I am full throttle into writing and producing music on my Vista desktop. I've been accomplishing things on Windows relating to audio production that I never dreamed I would be able to do with any computer 10 years ago! Although I am using the Compaq with Ubuntu 10.04, I really am disappointed that I can't use it for recording music, so I resume my quest to get my GuitarPort external sound card working in Linux again. You see, I work in a network operations center 60 miles from my home. During the winter, my company often puts us up in hotel room's during snow storms so they can ensure we will be able to cover our next shifts. It's during these times that I made the most use of my laptop with Vista, recording many songs while bored out of my skull in a hotel room waiting for my next shift. I really don't like the idea of not being able to do that this winter, so I've once again resumed my quest for "Sound on Linux".
So over the last couple weeks, I've been trying to get RiffWorks and Reaper working with my Line6 GuitarPort on the old crusty Compaq laptop. Since I had limited success with Ubuntu thus far, I looked for other options. The best fit I found was actually a customized version of Ubuntu called Ubuntu Studio 10.04. I upgraded my laptop a few days ago with no issues and again installed Riffworks and Reaper with no issues using WINE.
Now for the good news. Although it took some time, I was able to configure "JACK AUDIO" under Ubuntu to see the GuitarPort as an external sound card, routing that signal to "Alsa". Under WINE, I set the audio to point to "JACK AUDIO" and it worked! I'll make a more detailed post on this in the near future with some screen shots and such to help others if they want to try to do this same setup for themselves.
Now for the bad news. Although it did "work" in that I could get the input of my GuitarPort to actually be heard AND track into both Reaper and RiffWorks on separate attempts, I am only able to get a clean signal. I cannot use my Windows based VST's like Amplitube, PodFarm, or T-Racks3, yet......
So to sum it all up: Can you use Linux for high quality audio production? I guess it's possible, using supported hardware and native Linux applications. However, can one just simply jump ship from Windows to Linux without reinvesting in equipment and software? No. At least not yet! But as you can see, over the last few years, things have been looking up for me on my quest to ditch windows forever. But for now, my music is married to Windows.
As far as everything else besides my audio production? FUCK WINDOWS!
Chris
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