Dave, Great post. Not a word I disagree with. There really is a difference between when goes on here and what goes on in business. Native Instruments drives their business to produce what they believe is a real product, which they sell for real money. They look at whatever they think the market is and they address its needs. If they do, they make money. If they don't, someone else will and NI goes under. Darwin. (And very little concern for young musicians, kids really, who are trying to get started, have all the energy and no money. Too bad.) This Linux world is completely different. No one is going to *make* Paul, Taybin, Jesse, Steve, Chris, Guillaume or Rich do anything. (Or the 500 other people I haven't mentioned.) They get to create the vision they have, and then we users get to use it if we want to. It's a great model when it works, and I think it often does, but not always, and not so far in all areas. For me, my little project studio is now 2 Windows boxes and 1 Linux box. The Linux box is the only one that's on 100% of the time. Nothing gets done without it anymore. That's a lot more Linux than I used a year ago. In the last year I've probably spent $1K-$2K on software. It's all been Windows software. As a user, I'd buy Linux apps if they existed and did what I needed them to do. As a user I have very few options in this area. I see Linux and Windows coexisting in my studio forever, or at least until Windows becomes irrelevant. ;-) Cheers, Mark > -----Original Message----- > From: linux-audio-user-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > [mailto:linux-audio-user-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Dave > Phillips > Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003 9:06 AM > To: linux-audio-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: Re: [linux-audio-user] recording delay in Ardour... > > > Hi Mark: > > I think you raise some good points. They've been raised before, maybe > many times over the last few years, but they do indicate how far we > still have to go before the average *musician* will forsake his Win/Mac > tools for the Linux kit. As another "odd man out", I really don't worry > much about it, probably because most of my music-making is still done as > a live performer with tools like a guitar, a PA, and my voice, along > with other live players (the dead ones never make the gigs ;). I don't > use the computer on my jobs, nor do I plan to. > > However, obviously a lot of people would like to make Linux their > music-making platform of choice, but our current lack of GUI sex appeal > and the general attitude of "Linux is still a bit too difficult for me" > work against a swelling of the ranks in Linux audio *users*. It's > probably safe to say that at this time most of the active users _are_ > the developers. I like the visionary aspect of it all, but I know that > the majority of computer-based music-makers are utterly non-interested > in becoming developers (as you say, you'd rather develop music than > software). Linux audio developers might best be considered as the > architects of a foundation for a wonderful future, which is hardly > consolation for the average musical Joe who wants to turn on, tune in, > and rock *now*. > > All that being said, I am very impressed with the whole JACK > development strategy, the evolution of Ardour, Csound going LGPL, > Kjetil's vstserver, Steve Harris's LADSPA plugins, Miler's awesome PD, > PlanetCCRMA/AGNULA, and even some of the newer Linux softsynths. IMO > we're already far beyond the "toy" stage and we're moving forward at a > respectable rate. Much of the available Linux audio software is usable > right now, though there is indeed still a long path ahead before it > attains the transparency that Win/Mac users are accustomed to. > > Anyway, I'm rambling. Sinus infection, wrecked laptop, hard-disk > failure, bad tooth, WINE headaches... maybe I'll just switch back to > Win98 and end it all... ;) > > [OT] Btw, has anyone else noted that if Arnie becomes governor of CA, > that'll make two members of the original cast of "Predator" who have > become state governors ? Who knows, maybe Carl Weathers is next... :) > > Best, > > == dp > > > Mark Knecht wrote: > > >>>>I think we Linux soft synth users should try to make that happen. > >>>> > >>>> > >>Reaktor users == thousands > >> > >>Linux softsynth users == dozens > >> > >>Umm, maybe it's a numbers thing ?? > >> > >>== dp > >> > >> > >> > > > >I think you're probably right, although of the thousands I > wouldn't venture > >a guess as to how many of those are warez types. More than NI > might want to > >admit. > > > >That said, Reaktor Session comes with 35-40 prebuilt > instruments, and each > >instrument has many sounds ready to go. It comes with a large library of > >wave files built into the instruments, but they can be extracted > and reused > >elsewhere. I think the method to that madness is that NI creates enough > >usability out of the box to get users really turned on to create > more. Then > >the library comes, which benefits all the users again. > > > >I'd love to see that happen with one or more of the Linux tools. I simple > >don't have the time or interest to become a programmer. When I > turn on my PC > >and try to write music I need tools that get me there faster. I > don't want > >to spend an hour grabbing blocks and wiring them together. By > the time I get > >that done I've lost my inspiration for making music. > > > >I may be the odd man out around here. I'm not sure... > > > >- Mark > > > > > > > > > > > > >
