Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] Poll about linux music audio app usability
From: Kevin Hremeviuc (khremeviuc_AT_yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Jun 10 2002 - 14:26:08 EEST
Hi All,
It's obvious that we don't have all the programs that
are available for windows. Nor do we have the same
level of ui design/sophistication.
On the subject of ui s. I think the most important
thing about making music is a fluid work flow. If you
don't have that then things just end up being awkward
and are classic passion killers. This definitely
applies to software ui s. So scripting is out as a
core activity. But is in as a flexibility giving
addition.
In reply to the 'not having the same sound as
everybody else', I think this is a question of how you
use software and not what you use. You can play a
million things/styles etc on a guitar. The same goes
for software synths etc.
In linux with open source it's all a question of
resources. Only so much can be done. But it definitely
looks like everything is heading in the write
direction. Certainly the core driver/ architecture
stuff, like alsa and jack is there.
Application wise we also have ardour, muse, jazz++
and a few other apps which are certainly heading
towards providing hard core user apps. Just look at
the amount of time that has gone into developing
these. Big jobs, very limited resources.
The truth is we will never have all the apps that are
available for windows ( unless commercial software
becomes a happening thing ). But if we are prudent we
can focus on the core type apps and frameworks.
When I say core, I really mean things like general
sequencing, and general hard disk recording and
mixing.
Luckily we already have these. They just have to
mature.
Kev
--- Paul Davis <pbd_AT_op.net> wrote: > >I think this
raises some questions.. My feeling is
> that most people
> >aiming to write music on this OS is expecting to
> have apps with super
> >easy and intuitive interfaces, where you only go
> trough displays,
> >knobs, sliders and paintabe areas.
> >Why we dont have apps such as Reason, Reaktor,
> Sonar, Sound Forge,
> >etc? I dont mean full apps, but at least projects
> aiming for that kind
> >of thing.
>
> Because they are really, really, really hard to
> write (well) and they
> take a long time either way. They are classic
> examples of the 80/20
> rule (also known as the 90/10 rule): 80% of the
> functionality takes
> 20% of the time, but the remaining 20% takes 80% of
> the time *and*
> covers 80% of the most visible and cool features :)
> Ardour could
> record 24 tracks of audio simultaneously more than 2
> years ago - what
> I originally thought was a major milestone turned
> out to be a tiny
> pebble on the beach.
>
> This is not like Apache, which though its ancestral
> line to httpd,
> actually *invented* HTTP service, and was in turn
> connected to the
> various FTP servers before it. We don't have *any*
> open source
> examples of these kinds of programs to study. We
> have to (re)invent it
> all as we go, and that takes time. Thats partly why
> MusE and Ardour
> are so important - even if they ultimately are not
> the best tools for
> Linux, they (and many other tools) start to provide
> large pools of
> code for other programmers to see "how its done (so
> far)". "it" is not
> the simplistic kind of playback offered by the many
> soundfile players,
> but the complex stuff done by non-linear, EDL-based
> engines used by
> the most desirable proprietary programs.
>
> >We do have very powerful tools, but i have to admit
> that for most of
> >them we have to learn some script programming.
>
> Some people think this is a good thing because the
> tools are
> ultimately more capable and less limiting. Others
> disagree.
>
> >Do we lack good APIs? Alsa MIDI api is the best I
> have seen for it's
> >kind. Also, sould linux apps really take this
> windows approach of
> >making huge bloated interfaces with lots of eye
> candy, or should we
> >try to improve on making our apps intercommunicate
> between eachother,
> >while still giving some importance to ease of use?
>
> Part of the point of JACK was not being forced to
> make this choice.
>
> --p
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