Trying out the latest programs...

On Arch Linux, which is a "rolling release" Linux distribution, you'll always have the latest and greatest versions of programs, more or less automagically, and without much drama. So I tried out Ardour 8.1:

[youtube]cVNID-YeTrA[/youtube]

and also Reaper 7.01:

[youtube]j80kv2VRw4o[/youtube]

These videos aren't public on YT, the first one is still a draft on Adu's #245785 , sampling ideas only, and on the second one I added nothing so far, it's just Tony's #266906 and Shi's #272569 - just playing around with these programs, nothing else...

I still like Ardour, although I paid for Reaper in version 6, so I also have it licensed until the end of 7.x. Just wanted to let you know that you can have a lot for free if needed, hope that is helpful for some.

In case you want all that, see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Professional_audio or let me quote from there:

"Tip: However, if you are new to Arch Linux, just finished the Installation guide and cannot wait to actually start making music, install the pro-audio package group as well as realtime-generic-setupAUR and reboot. Refer to the #PipeWire-only section for a quick setup and find your #Applications for music and sound production."

Cheers,
Wolfgang

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Probably a deadly sin, but after getting a new laptop I switched from Arch Linux to EndeavourOS and haven't looked back. Basically it's the same as Arch, and uses the same repositories (in addition to some EndeavourOS specific ones), but it installs and decently configures itself in just a few seconds (on a fast SSD at least).

There are so many great free softsynths and effects to use with Linux - I haven't felt the need for something else really.

Have you tried using the new generative sequencer scripts in Ardour 8.x? I'm curious about them but haven't tried them.

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Oh I saw that once, and liked it a lot. I think it's a bit closer to Arch than Manjaro, but these are all good.

My main system is Debian tho, I only use Arch to look at new stuff (like Pipewire which Debian integrated with their version 12 aka "Bookworm", of course Arch had it much earlier).



Yeah, those softsynths and other plugins are great, I also don't think I'd need more for my amateur usage.

But no, I haven't looked at those sequencer scripts yet, I'm mostly an audio guy, meaning I normally play and record real instruments like my fretless and double basses - the one above was played with MIDI, that Karoryfer Meatbass is a free sampled Rubner, see https://shop.karoryfer.com/pages/free-meatbass

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