Hello from ...?

[briandc]

Hi everyone!
I've been dropping in here at the AO forum for some time now, but finally getting a chance to get involved and explore ambient music a bit more in-depth.
I'm originally from Minnesota (USA), now happily living in Italy with my Italian wife!

So just a "hats off" to all who are making music here-- I really like what I've seen so far.

Thanks!

Ciao for now,

brian

PS: I also have a website (see link in my signature) showcasing some of the softsynths (I'm addicted to them) currently available for the linux platform. Lots of audio demos and a bit of my own "deeper" experimentation..

[synkrotron]

Hi Brian,

Welcome to the forum, even though you joined a couple of years before me :D

'Bout time you gave some music to listen too ;)


I was looking into Linux a week or so ago and there still didn't seem to be a robust and complete solution to entice me over to that platform. Hopefully, one day...

cheers

andy

[windspace]

Welcome to Ambient Online!! And congrats on the move and a happy marriage! :thumbsup:

I also want to learn more about running a Linux system and using it for making music. I browsed your synth site and, of course, found plug-ins that I want. (I'm pretty much an addict too...). I currently use a Mac predominantly and so I am very interested in being able to use a more friendly implementation of ZybAddSubFx. And all the u-he plug-ins have been ported to Linux, so u-he and ZASF alone would make a pretty good start

Cheers.

[GaryG]

Welcome!

That's weird, I was on your site a week or so ago while pondering giving linux another go. Sounds like Wine is coping well with Reaper and Reaktor now (the only two things that would be show stoppers for me) so am planning on sorting out a dual boot setup sometime soon.

[seismic1]

Welcome to the other side.

I tried the Linux platfom (I think it was Fedora 11) about 6 years ago), with EnergyXT, Ardour and a few softsynths, but it was a pain getting the thing to work in a stable manner. I remember having problems with Jack and building some of the components. Maybe Fedora wasn't the best distro for this, but it was the closest I could get to an environment I was used to (Redhat/Centos). I gave up after three or four months as it was too much like work. I know folderol and StudioDave over at KVR have managed to achieve some great things with Linux. Maybe I should revisit this sometime.

All the best, and I hope you find some inspiration here

[ablaut]

I've been a long time Linux user and volunteer developer for Gentoo Linux. But for producing music I've chosen to go with the easier to use MS Windows platform. I'd like to spend my tinkering time rather with the music itself than with the underlying OS. You could say my interests have shifted.

[briandc]

Hi everyone and thanks for the input! Yes, I've been enjoying the musical works here and I feel like it's a part of what music is all about for me, especially since the birth of synthesizers gives the musician not just control over the notes but over the sound itself as well. I really feel blessed to live in this era where we have such sonic power available. I'm kind of half into the ambient sound and half into the melodic, more traditional sound, so this forum/website seems like a good place to share and learn about the ambient side of things..

As for linux, I guess my personal view is, it's kind of a political choice as well. The number of synths for linux has grown noticeably since I first tried it, and to me, the gained freedom from proprietary operating systems is worth the extra effort. (Today, it's about as simple as burning and installing a CD. At least in my experience.) And, I can run many VST synths too (through Wine), so I feel like my plate is very full indeed. Just a few years back, things were, yes, a bit different. Choices were fewer, getting set up a bit harder.


brian

[GaryG]

I've been a long time Linux user and volunteer developer for Gentoo Linux. But for producing music I've chosen to go with the easier to use MS Windows platform. I'd like to spend my tinkering time rather with the music itself than with the underlying OS. You could say my interests have shifted.

So a Gentoo developer prefers windows to linux for music? Damning. :D

I just feel I'm drifting away from the MS vision of what an OS should be. Appreciate the freetime argument; I work in ICT and don't want to start troubleshooting stuff everytime I get time to make music. Though, that's exactly what's happened recently with Windows for me on more then one occasion as it's gone off to install an update without any discussion and tied up my laptop for an hour. Then failed. (yes, hopefully disabled the update service now... )

But if synths like uhes Ace are on linux without any hassle then I'm willing to give it another go, dual boot with Win7 or something in the interim.

[briandc]

Something I might recommend for all the curious: get an old PC (the newer the better, of course!) that you perhaps have lying around and not using. Buy some blank DVDs and go to distrowatch.com. Browse the (hundreds of) versions of linux, choose one, go and download the iso image to your PC, and burn to disk. Put it in the old PC and reboot, and try it out. If you like it, consider installing it (either to the whole HDD or to a partition if you have important data already on the PC that you don't want to lose). If you don't like it, power off and try another version.

You don't need to know much about computers at all to do that. (And anyway, since everyone here knows how to make music on a PC (which requires more knowledge than you probably remember!), burning a DVD and trying it out is a walk in the park. ;)

If you're happy with what you're using now, of course, then you can consider this post null and void..

brian

[synkrotron]

On the one hand, Brian, I am in a good place with my current set-up, but I do have an old music PC that I built myself a few years ago now.

It is still on Windows XP and takes an absolute age to boot up, when I can be bothered turning it on.

I'm not able to update to Windows 10 because there is something about the old motherboard that is not supported. Can't remember the details. I may have been able to update to Windows 7 but I think that it would make too many demands on the old system, whereas Windows 10 is better suited and lighter on resource, I believe.

If I did go for a Linux distro it would probably be Ubuntu. I used it for a time on an old HP laptop and gave the thing a new lease of life.

If I go ahead with this, I'll check out your website for further information.


cheers

andy