6 ms·

Ardour 5.9 released

123 points by ristic 9y ago

pawadu 9y ago
If you are curious about Ardour (or creative software for Linux in general) I highly recommend back issues of the Linux Voice magazine (RIP) which often reviews and explains such software: https://www.linuxvoice.com/creative-commons-issues/ https://www.linuxvoice.com/creative-commons-issues/ For example issue 24 reviewed Ardour 4.6 and some plugins. (no affiliation. the issues are under CC BY-SA )
- badosu 9y ago
  Worth mentioning: http://libremusicproduction.com/ http://libremusicproduction.com/
cannam 9y ago
In time for the Linux Audio Conference in Saint-Etienne, which starts this Thursday. (http://musinf.univ-st-etienne.fr/lac2017GB.html http://musinf.univ-st-etienne.fr/lac2017GB.html)
- contingencies 9y ago
  For anyone going, I highly recommend checking out the printing museum in the wonderful twisted wooden building that is the old city hall of Lyon (50km away).
dvirsky 9y ago
Ardour is one of my favorite open source projects, and it's especially admirable considering that it's not a developer and/or server admin tool. It's rare to see people hack away for years on open source desktop software and constantly improving it.
- violinist 9y ago
  Blender is another excellent example of this.
  - pawadu 9y ago
    Add Inkscape to that list :)
    - thomastjeffery 9y ago
      And Krita
      - dvirsky 9y ago
        And Gimp
sharms 9y ago
I have been very pleased with Ardour - only took me a few minutes to have my XLR mic go through a compressor / limiter / expander virtual rack effects setup for better screencasting.
- darklajid 9y ago
  For people without any audio knowledge (potentially: Just me..), can you expand what you're trying to do with your microphone and how Ardour helps?
  - jstapels 9y ago
    He's trying to make his audio easier to listen to by using various effects provided by Ardour. The most significant of what he listed is the compressor, which is great for spoken podcasts. It will take any sound that is over a certain threshold and start to to reduce it's volume (eg. compress it), so if he's talking really quietly and then yells something really loud, the person listening isn't subjected to as large of a volume range in their ears. The limiter just limits the maximum volume, and I'm not sure why he's using an expander.
    - mmjaa 9y ago
      After comp/limit, a little expander can make the audio less dull sounding.
      - daledavies 9y ago
        I'm not sure I understand the point of using an expander after a compressor as one reduces the dynamic range but the other increases it again. What about a little eq cut/boost instead?
        mmjaa 9y ago
        There are all sorts of reasons to use an expander after compression/limiting: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/664825-what-practical-use-expander.html https://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/...
jpereira 9y ago
I just downloaded Ardour (after trying it out a while back and somewhat giving up) and it's a pretty fantastic application. What prompted me to get into it again was that I wanted to combine it with Hydrogen (http://hydrogen-music.org/hcms/ http://hydrogen-music.org/hcms/) using JACK (http://www.jackaudio.org/ http://www.jackaudio.org/). I can _immediately_ see the power of JACK, but I just can't get my immediate use to work, which is when I hit play/pause in one application, the other starts as well. In general though the potential in JACK just seems awesome, it's almost as intuitive as just routing patch cables in meatspace and I can't wait to get into it more. It also seems like something that'd be brilliant for a touch-screen. I'm considering setting up another partition just for audio work.
- karlgrz 9y ago
  I always used hydrogen as just a drum sampler, and did all the midi work in ardour. I have since switched back to cubase / superior drummer 2 for most stuff, but I still have a subscription for ardour.
- tchaffee 9y ago
  > which is when I hit play/pause in one application, the other starts as well. Is this the problem you are trying to avoid, or what you are trying to achieve? Assuming you want the play button in Hydrogen to start the other apps, you need to use the "J-TRANS" and "J-MASTER" buttons at the top of Hydrogen. In Ardour there is a toggle button for "Internal" or "JACK" and you need to set it to JACK.
- pawadu 9y ago
  > when I hit play/pause in one application, the other starts as well. This should work automatically. If not 50/50 chance you can blame it on Lennart Poettering: http://jackaudio.org/faq/pulseaudio_and_jack.html http://jackaudio.org/faq/pulseaudio_and_jack.html :)
rwmj 9y ago
I'd love an open source DAW that was easy to use and didn't slavishly follow the UI constraints of a physical mixer (which works great on a physical mixer, but not so great when you're trying to control it with a mouse). Is there one?
- joaomacp 9y ago
  Not sure if this fits the bill, but this was recently showed on HN: https://github.com/peterrudenko/helio-workstation https://github.com/peterrudenko/helio-workstation
- s_ngularity 9y ago
  What exactly would a mixer with a better ui look like?
urlwolf 9y ago
Ardour if fantastic. Its mixer is better and more usable than pretty much any other DAW I've tried. They are competing with software that costs hundreds of dollars and winning in many aspects. They should be an example.
- tchaffee 9y ago
  Another thing I like is the routing grid. So flexible. Along with Jack, this does add some complexity and sometimes extra manual configuration, but the expanded possibilities are worth it for me. I have yet to encounter a patching scenario I can't handle with Ardour and Jack. Including things like playing an Ardour session over Skype to a music teacher while doing real time effects processing on my guitar all while recording the audio of the Skype session. Ardour + Jack is a powerful combo.
  - rotexo 9y ago
    Absolutely. Another added bonus: it is really easy to use Ardour as a mixer and effects plugin host for experimental synthesis software like Supercollider or PureData
ronjouch 9y ago
If you like Ardour, consider a monthly donation! As other mentioned, it's a longtime work of Paul Davis and a close-knit community. Paul works full-time on Ardour thanks to these donations. See "Finance" sidebar at https://community.ardour.org/community https://community.ardour.org/community
- badosu 9y ago
  Another contributor that is even at least as active, in Ardour and the general Linux Audio community, is Robin Gareus (rgareus, x42) [0]. [0]: http://gareus.org/ http://gareus.org/
  - ronjouch 9y ago
    Yes! I wasn't trying to put Paul on a pedestal, only pointing out he hacks full-time on Ardour and the way donations (currently) work is that money goes to him for this.
    - badosu 9y ago
      I just thought worth mentioning, I am not aware how donations work today.
- jordigh 9y ago
  Didn't Ardour use to sell binaries? I was looking at it a while ago for inspiration on how to make money for Octave. Have they switched to a monthly subscription donation service?
  - dec0dedab0de 9y ago
    They still do. I've only ever used it within ubuntu studio though.
  - ristic 9y ago
    If you follow the "Ready-to-Run Program" prompts on the official download page[1] as an anonymous or unsubscribed user, you will reach a page that explains their method/philosophy. I'm sure Paul would be happy to speak to you on IRC (#ardour on Freenode) about successes/failures but of course I can't say this for sure. Also, I am awaiting a stream of Paul's upcoming talk (as I can't get to France for LAC2017[2]) "20 years of Open Source Audio: Success, Failure and The In-Between"[3]. I hope part of the talk will address the financial aspects that are of interest to you. [1] https://community.ardour.org/download https://community.ardour.org/download [2] http://musinf.univ-st-etienne.fr/lac2017GB.html http://musinf.univ-st-etienne.fr/lac2017GB.html [3] http://musinf.univ-st-etienne.fr/lac2017/lacProgramGB.html http://musinf.univ-st-etienne.fr/lac2017/lacProgramGB.html
tchaffee 9y ago
For those interested in learning Ardour, YouTube has a lot of tutorial videos that have helped me. Seeing someone do something is sometimes easier than RTFM, especially when it comes to workflow. You do need to use some caution because there are so many videos and some are outdated.
spacemanmatt 9y ago
I bought Ableton years ago after trying really hard to tame JACK, Ardour, Hydrogen, and a handful of associated utilities unsuccessfully. It makes me REALLY happy to see this community still going. I know it takes time but the results are usually well worth-it, to get open software ecosystems thriving.
- pmoriarty 9y ago
  There are some Linux distros, like AVLinux[1], which do all the heavy lifting for you. Just boot in to them and you've got Ardour, JACK, Hydrogen, and a whole ton of other music apps all ready to use. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVLinux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVLinux
  - spacemanmatt 9y ago
    That would have been really nice 9 years ago when I was trying to assemble a linux based DAW. I might check it out one of these days.
jongalloway2 9y ago
Now that the MP3 patents are expired, it'd be nice if Ardour added MP3 import / export. I understand why they didn't in the past, but it's been a showstopper for times when I wanted to recommend a FOSS audio editor to non-technical friends. Here's the latest discussion I saw on it: https://community.ardour.org/node/14616 https://community.ardour.org/node/14616
- badosu 9y ago
  Export works for me in 5.8.
j_s 9y ago
I'm here late but wanted to mention what I consider to be Ardour's "younger sibling" (functionality-wise): Audacity. It's usually enough to do what I need, clipping & cropping existing audio. http://www.audacityteam.org/ http://www.audacityteam.org/

123 points by ristic 9y ago

If you are curious about Ardour (or creative software for Linux in general) I highly recommend back issues of the Linux Voice magazine (RIP) which often reviews and explains such software: https://www.linuxvoice.com/creative-commons-issues/ https://www.linuxvoice.com/creative-commons-issues/ For example issue 24 reviewed Ardour 4.6 and some plugins. (no affiliation. the issues are under CC BY-SA )

badosu 9y ago
Worth mentioning: http://libremusicproduction.com/ http://libremusicproduction.com/

cannam 9y ago

In time for the Linux Audio Conference in Saint-Etienne, which starts this Thursday. (http://musinf.univ-st-etienne.fr/lac2017GB.html http://musinf.univ-st-etienne.fr/lac2017GB.html)

contingencies 9y ago
For anyone going, I highly recommend checking out the printing museum in the wonderful twisted wooden building that is the old city hall of Lyon (50km away).

dvirsky 9y ago

Ardour is one of my favorite open source projects, and it's especially admirable considering that it's not a developer and/or server admin tool. It's rare to see people hack away for years on open source desktop software and constantly improving it.

violinist 9y ago
Blender is another excellent example of this.
- pawadu 9y ago
  Add Inkscape to that list :)
  - thomastjeffery 9y ago
    And Krita
    - dvirsky 9y ago
      And Gimp

sharms 9y ago

I have been very pleased with Ardour - only took me a few minutes to have my XLR mic go through a compressor / limiter / expander virtual rack effects setup for better screencasting.

darklajid 9y ago
For people without any audio knowledge (potentially: Just me..), can you expand what you're trying to do with your microphone and how Ardour helps?
- jstapels 9y ago
  He's trying to make his audio easier to listen to by using various effects provided by Ardour. The most significant of what he listed is the compressor, which is great for spoken podcasts. It will take any sound that is over a certain threshold and start to to reduce it's volume (eg. compress it), so if he's talking really quietly and then yells something really loud, the person listening isn't subjected to as large of a volume range in their ears. The limiter just limits the maximum volume, and I'm not sure why he's using an expander.
  - mmjaa 9y ago
    After comp/limit, a little expander can make the audio less dull sounding.
    - daledavies 9y ago
      I'm not sure I understand the point of using an expander after a compressor as one reduces the dynamic range but the other increases it again. What about a little eq cut/boost instead?
      - mmjaa 9y ago
        There are all sorts of reasons to use an expander after compression/limiting: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/664825-what-practical-use-expander.html https://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/...

jpereira 9y ago

I just downloaded Ardour (after trying it out a while back and somewhat giving up) and it's a pretty fantastic application. What prompted me to get into it again was that I wanted to combine it with Hydrogen (http://hydrogen-music.org/hcms/ http://hydrogen-music.org/hcms/) using JACK (http://www.jackaudio.org/ http://www.jackaudio.org/). I can _immediately_ see the power of JACK, but I just can't get my immediate use to work, which is when I hit play/pause in one application, the other starts as well. In general though the potential in JACK just seems awesome, it's almost as intuitive as just routing patch cables in meatspace and I can't wait to get into it more. It also seems like something that'd be brilliant for a touch-screen. I'm considering setting up another partition just for audio work.

karlgrz 9y ago
I always used hydrogen as just a drum sampler, and did all the midi work in ardour. I have since switched back to cubase / superior drummer 2 for most stuff, but I still have a subscription for ardour.
tchaffee 9y ago
> which is when I hit play/pause in one application, the other starts as well. Is this the problem you are trying to avoid, or what you are trying to achieve? Assuming you want the play button in Hydrogen to start the other apps, you need to use the "J-TRANS" and "J-MASTER" buttons at the top of Hydrogen. In Ardour there is a toggle button for "Internal" or "JACK" and you need to set it to JACK.
pawadu 9y ago
> when I hit play/pause in one application, the other starts as well. This should work automatically. If not 50/50 chance you can blame it on Lennart Poettering: http://jackaudio.org/faq/pulseaudio_and_jack.html http://jackaudio.org/faq/pulseaudio_and_jack.html :)

rwmj 9y ago

I'd love an open source DAW that was easy to use and didn't slavishly follow the UI constraints of a physical mixer (which works great on a physical mixer, but not so great when you're trying to control it with a mouse). Is there one?

joaomacp 9y ago
Not sure if this fits the bill, but this was recently showed on HN: https://github.com/peterrudenko/helio-workstation https://github.com/peterrudenko/helio-workstation
s_ngularity 9y ago
What exactly would a mixer with a better ui look like?

urlwolf 9y ago

Ardour if fantastic. Its mixer is better and more usable than pretty much any other DAW I've tried. They are competing with software that costs hundreds of dollars and winning in many aspects. They should be an example.

tchaffee 9y ago
Another thing I like is the routing grid. So flexible. Along with Jack, this does add some complexity and sometimes extra manual configuration, but the expanded possibilities are worth it for me. I have yet to encounter a patching scenario I can't handle with Ardour and Jack. Including things like playing an Ardour session over Skype to a music teacher while doing real time effects processing on my guitar all while recording the audio of the Skype session. Ardour + Jack is a powerful combo.
- rotexo 9y ago
  Absolutely. Another added bonus: it is really easy to use Ardour as a mixer and effects plugin host for experimental synthesis software like Supercollider or PureData

ronjouch 9y ago

If you like Ardour, consider a monthly donation! As other mentioned, it's a longtime work of Paul Davis and a close-knit community. Paul works full-time on Ardour thanks to these donations. See "Finance" sidebar at https://community.ardour.org/community https://community.ardour.org/community

badosu 9y ago
Another contributor that is even at least as active, in Ardour and the general Linux Audio community, is Robin Gareus (rgareus, x42) [0]. [0]: http://gareus.org/ http://gareus.org/
- ronjouch 9y ago
  Yes! I wasn't trying to put Paul on a pedestal, only pointing out he hacks full-time on Ardour and the way donations (currently) work is that money goes to him for this.
  - badosu 9y ago
    I just thought worth mentioning, I am not aware how donations work today.
jordigh 9y ago
Didn't Ardour use to sell binaries? I was looking at it a while ago for inspiration on how to make money for Octave. Have they switched to a monthly subscription donation service?
- dec0dedab0de 9y ago
  They still do. I've only ever used it within ubuntu studio though.
- ristic 9y ago
  If you follow the "Ready-to-Run Program" prompts on the official download page[1] as an anonymous or unsubscribed user, you will reach a page that explains their method/philosophy. I'm sure Paul would be happy to speak to you on IRC (#ardour on Freenode) about successes/failures but of course I can't say this for sure. Also, I am awaiting a stream of Paul's upcoming talk (as I can't get to France for LAC2017[2]) "20 years of Open Source Audio: Success, Failure and The In-Between"[3]. I hope part of the talk will address the financial aspects that are of interest to you. [1] https://community.ardour.org/download https://community.ardour.org/download [2] http://musinf.univ-st-etienne.fr/lac2017GB.html http://musinf.univ-st-etienne.fr/lac2017GB.html [3] http://musinf.univ-st-etienne.fr/lac2017/lacProgramGB.html http://musinf.univ-st-etienne.fr/lac2017/lacProgramGB.html

tchaffee 9y ago

For those interested in learning Ardour, YouTube has a lot of tutorial videos that have helped me. Seeing someone do something is sometimes easier than RTFM, especially when it comes to workflow. You do need to use some caution because there are so many videos and some are outdated.

spacemanmatt 9y ago

I bought Ableton years ago after trying really hard to tame JACK, Ardour, Hydrogen, and a handful of associated utilities unsuccessfully. It makes me REALLY happy to see this community still going. I know it takes time but the results are usually well worth-it, to get open software ecosystems thriving.

pmoriarty 9y ago
There are some Linux distros, like AVLinux[1], which do all the heavy lifting for you. Just boot in to them and you've got Ardour, JACK, Hydrogen, and a whole ton of other music apps all ready to use. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVLinux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVLinux
- spacemanmatt 9y ago
  That would have been really nice 9 years ago when I was trying to assemble a linux based DAW. I might check it out one of these days.

jongalloway2 9y ago

Now that the MP3 patents are expired, it'd be nice if Ardour added MP3 import / export. I understand why they didn't in the past, but it's been a showstopper for times when I wanted to recommend a FOSS audio editor to non-technical friends. Here's the latest discussion I saw on it: https://community.ardour.org/node/14616 https://community.ardour.org/node/14616

badosu 9y ago
Export works for me in 5.8.

j_s 9y ago

I'm here late but wanted to mention what I consider to be Ardour's "younger sibling" (functionality-wise): Audacity. It's usually enough to do what I need, clipping & cropping existing audio. http://www.audacityteam.org/ http://www.audacityteam.org/