Conclusion
Lets do a quick rundown of the Linux audio production applications we've showcased today. Ardour, LMMS, Rosegarden, and Traverso are all heavy-duty digital audio workstation packages capable of handling nearly any task. Audacity is a great audio editing application for non-musicians, while Sweep offers a DJ tool, and Jokosher is super noobie-friendly. Buzztard and BEAST are both awesome virtual music studios, though Buzztard is much more polished. AMS and gAlan make up the modular synthesis applications available for Linux. MusE, Jackbeat, qtractor, and seq24 are the sequencer options, with MusE taking the top spot.
There where a lot of choices for synthesizers. AmSynth and Qsynth are modelled after hardware synths, while mx44 is definitely a software inspiration. Freqtweak and terminatorX are geared towards live performance, with terminatorX sporting some DJ functions. ZynAddSubFX and spin-off Yoshimi are perfect for software compositions due to their virtual keyboards and friendly JACK connections, though ZynSubAddFX has the edge for the number of included presets.
Freewheeling, Kluppe, and SooperLooper are the Linux loopers. Kluppe is the only app that looks like an app, and although Freewheeling and SooperLooper aren't very pretty, SooperLooper gave us no problems with JACK or other applications. LiveMix is the only mixer option we found, and MilkyTracker is the available tracker.
For software instruments, we've got the keyboards Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard (VMPK) and Virtual MIDI Keyboard (VMK), with VMPK being the definite top pick. Aeolus provides a virtual organ and the Hydrogen drum machine is a fantastic easy-to-use application great for users of any skill level.
There is no lack of options for notation and score editors, either. MuseScore, Denemo, NtEd, NoteEdit are all WYSIWYG editors, though MuseScore is in a class above the rest. Frescobaldi and Songwrite are non-WYSIWYG editors, but both are justified in their alternative looks. For guitarists, there is nothing else like TuxGuitar. This app is not only a tablature editor, but contains many other essential tools for guitarists working with a PC.
Jack Rack is a great LADSPA effects plug-in manager that can make working on projects via JACK more organized. Rakarrack is a special software synthesizer styled after guitar distortion pedals and developed with the guitar in mind. Metronomes Gtick and gtklick provide simple and free software solutions to bulky real-world metronomes. FMIT and LINGOT are two software instrument tuners also perfectly capable of replacing their hardware counterparts.
Those under the impression that there are no good audio production choices in existence for Linux are dead wrong. Some of the options are top-notch, and comparable to pricey proprietary alternatives. On the other hand, making some of these apps work together can be a major pain. Understanding JACK, an open standard audio framework, goes a long way toward creating audio content in Linux, and is absolutely essential to musicians courting the free platform.
Since A/V production requires special packages, drivers, and tweaks, it may be better to use an operating system specifically designed for this type of work. We used Ubuntu Studio as the testbed operating system for the multimedia segments of Tom's Definitive Linux Software Roundup, and in this article we put the spotlight on the multimedia distro.
We're not audio geeks, nor do we claim to be. As always, trying the applications out for yourself is the best way to determine if you can use them. This especially holds true for audio production, since most of the applications featured today are tools for musicians. Use the links found within this article and get started; they won't cost you a thing.
Stay tuned for the next article in Tom's Definitive Linux Software Roundup: Video Apps, and Follow Adam Overa on Twitter.
