Poor Man's Remixing Questions

[sonicbhoc]

Hey, for my birthday I got this sweet new laptop. Not going to elaborate - I don't want to sound like I'm bragging.

Like everything else I get, it was a gift. I unfortunately have no money. I do still have that Casio laying around and I want to get working with it again (we had it moved away from my computer to make space for guests for my birthday party and I got too lazy to move it back).

I also didn't have the money to afford Windows (then again, I didn't want to afford it anyway) so I put Gentoo Linux on this thing and, a little off topic, fast is an understatement. things that took about 3 hours to install on my old computer were done in 15-20 minutes on this thing. Also, power management works! Although I got lazy and never got sleeping and hibernating working.

Back on topic, though. I know I'll probably need a low-latency kernel, a separate user to not mess with the configs of my main user and keep as clean and lean an install as I can, and a lean, light desktop environment (or even just a window manager). All the eye-candy has to go unfortunately... no more wobbly windows T_T

Aside from all that, what I want to know is: with the following software and hardware (and, of course, some training), will I be able to make something at least marginally good?

I plan on using the Casio WK-3500 until I can get a better synth. I like it because it has some great piano sounds and piano, drums, violins and guitars are my 4 favorite types of instruments. 2 out of 4 ain't bad.

I have a drum machine software called "hydrogen" that I'm learning to use. I like it so far... it can emulate LOTS of different drum machines. TR-808 is awesome!

For a MIDI sequencer, the SVN version of Rosegarden. Supposedly SVN stuff is less stable but has more features. I haven't had it crash on me yet... although a few bugs have cropped up, I haven't seen anything major go down.

And then there's LMMS. It's like taking Cubase and LMMS and mashing them together. A great program if I might say so. It's similar to MODs (if I am understanding how MODs work properly) in that it doesn't use instruments, but sound files that it changes the pitch of.

I'm thinking of getting a MOD tracker, now that I say it. I've always wanted to try it but never figured what they were good for or what it has over MIDI, or how to use a MOD tracker (although I have played some music with one or two). I've heard some great MOD tracks and great chiptunes made in MOD software that got me thinking about it.

Never having used anything really pro, I don't know anything about the kind of development experts do or how these programs stack up or anything. Heck, I've never seen the Pro Tools interface once and only used Cakewalk at my school, and had a demo of FruityLoops on my Dad's computer that I fooled around with for about 30 minutes.

Actually, I haven't used any Windows programs in three or four months aside from the occasional game of Touhou on my dad's computer that usually gets cut short by my brother butting in and monopolizing the computer to go on Gamespot or something.

Totally off-topic: gkrellm is the most awesome program in the history of Linux.

Another thing: I can't afford a mac at all. Not going to happen. I can't even afford Windows, why would I be able to suddenly buy a Mac? Although it would be sweet to get one...

[OverCoat]

I know you're a Gentoo man, but Ubuntu 7 just came out, with the "Ubuntu Studio" package probably following shortly, "sometime this April." This version is supposed to come with "all you need" for media production, if you look at its software package you can probably get ideas about what you need personally, on your machine.

Look for ChibiTracker or CheeseTracker if you're wanting a MOD tracker for linux [both are made by a compo comrade of mine :3]. I think Linux finally has some DAW-type things you can work with, you might like one. Other than this stuff I wish I had more experience in the open-source arts that I could share.

[sonicbhoc]

Thanks for the response! I might actually try that on my test computer.

No clue what a DAW is (nevermind: Digital Audio Workstation), so looks like I'm going to have to do a little more research although I think I saw one on www.linux-sound.org called ardour... I heard from a very reliable source that it's not up to what professionals use... but then again I'm not a professional (and I still have no money to spend on software).

I still haven't looked through all the programs on that website yet...

Cheesetracker is in portage, so I'm installing that and ardour now.

I found this overlay for Gentoo called pro-audio. They got some nice stuff in there... like a midi-humanizer for alsa that I could never get working with my realtime kernel on my test box.