got your attention. Hello everybody and welcome to my little lecture about switching to a Linux audio system. My name is George, I'm a member of the

open source audio meeting Cologne and in my demonstration you will get all the relevant information to start right away with recording on a Linux system. This demonstration addresses itself to Windows and Mac users who are

interested in doing audio on Linux as well as on Linux users who have never done audio production before. Well, you will find a lot of parallels between Windows, Mac and Linux concerning the workflows and the technologies but

there are also some particularities which I will going to show you right away. But first let me do a little introduction into all this theory and all the terminology and things like that. First of all, well, if you want to

start doing recording you need a computer of course and you need audio hardware. Well, nowadays most of the audio hardware is equipped with a USB interface and my little demonstration I'm using such a USB audio interface. It's

a well combination of audio interface and controller from Native Instruments. It comes with two inputs, two outputs and an integrated MIDI interface. And for

doing MIDI recording I'm using this little keyboard, it's the Korg NanoKey 2. Okay, normally the audio hardware is made for Windows and Mac OS. Windows users might ask themselves now is it necessary to

install a driver on Linux? That's not necessary because Linux comes with a hardware driver which is called ELSA. It's deeply integrated into the Linux system and recognizing and detecting this audio hardware is done

automatically. Well, okay, now we get this. The next thing of course you will work with digital audio workstations. On Linux there are a great number of different digital audio workstations all with their own concept, all with

their own layout and things like that. For my little demonstration I will use the Ardour digital audio workstation. It's, well, the most mature digital audio workstation on Linux and, well, it orientates itself on the worldwide

appreciated and known Pro Tools sequencer from Avid. And, well, when you are working with digital audio workstations of course you want to refine your recordings with sound processors and on Linux you can also

use plugins for that. And, well, in difference to Windows and Mac OS on Linux there are several plug-in formats. The most modern plug-in formats nowadays are called LV2 and LinuxVST. Well, Windows, Mac users, I think now

VST, well, that's very known and yes indeed. LinuxVST comes from the company Steinberg who has developed this interface format mainly for their Cubase and Nuendo digital audio workstation. But nowadays VST is, well,

let's say the most used plug-in format in the freeware world and, well, it's also existent in the Linux world. But beware, if you now think you can copy

your Windows or Mac OS plug-ins onto a Linux system unfortunately that won't work because LinuxVST plug-ins have to be specially compiled for a Linux system. So unfortunately this makes no sense. Well, and now I'm coming to a

particularity on the Linux in the Linux world and these are called sound servers. A sound server is a background application that manages all the in and out coming audio streams and in addition to that such a sound

server is also capable of distributing all these streams between several active applications. Okay, Windows and Mac users now think of the rewire

interface which was developed by Steinberg and Propellerhead but on Linux those sound servers are far more capable than this rewire interface. For working with the sound server for doing audio production there's one

sound server that's highly recommended for using and it's called Jack. Jack that's an acronym for Jack audio connection kit and the advantage of using Jack is its low latency behavior. So if you encounter delays or

blurry sounds, things like that, it will not come from the Jack server. There are other problems for example at the audio hardware or things like that. Okay, so now we get the picture, we got a hardware driver, we get the sound

server and we get the audio applications. So now let me show you a little audio scheme so that you can get an idea of how this is all working together. We get the audio hardware which is detected by the hardware driver Elsa. Then we get the audio applications which are started

from the Linux operating system. Those applications are capable of loading the plugins and then we get the Jack sound server which is well let's say some kind of layer between the hardware driver and the audio

applications. We can see him well as some kind of communication officer between the hardware and every active application. So you can connect everything to everything from everything. The possibilities are well

nearly endless. So that's this picture and as I have told you Jack is a background application. Then you might ask yourself now how can I manage and define parameters on the Jack server. Well nothing simpler than that. For this

purpose we got several front ends. What I'm showing you here is on a KX studio distribution and KX studio is coming with a front end that's called cadence and as you can see Jack status the server is already started

and at the same time in this front end application you can also define the parameters of your audio hardware. We can do this on clicking on the configure button and there you see Jack settings. On the left side the column you

see Elsa as the hardware driver for the USB hardware and in the device area you see that I have already hooked up the rig control free interface as an input and audio output device. You can also define the number of input and

output channels as well as the sampling rate and the sample buffer size. So doing settings in this dialogue is done within any seconds so that's not a problem. Okay the next thing I want to show you is this row

over here saying Elsa MIDI. You see Elsa MIDI bridge is running. This starts another background application which is called Elsa to Jack MIDI demon. Its purpose is that the USB MIDI hardware is visible in the sound server

environment of Jack. So if you want to do MIDI recording with it it's necessary to start this process. Okay and the next thing as I have said you can connect everything to everything with everything. There is another application

which is called Katja and as you can see over here it's some kind of graphical routing matrix. All those rectangles are representations of inputs

outputs and software. For example the rectangle saying system with the blue capture errors are the representations of my physical audio inputs of the audio interface. And on the other hand system playback are the physical outputs

of my audio interface. In the middle you see the representation of the Ardor digital audio workstation. We got two tracks. Sonoi arrangement final that's that's the stereo track where I have played the jingle at the beginning.

And you can see we have lines between the physical inputs outputs and Ardor. These are the connections and as you can see capture one and two are automatically routed to the stereo audio track for the jingle.

So you can disconnect it in choosing the right channel and doing new connections is simply done by clicking and dragging from the source

to the destination. Nothing simpler than that. So I think you get now the picture of it and I think we can start recording something so that I can show you the possibilities on a Linux system for doing recordings only in a

digital audio workstation as well as with the capabilities of the sound server. So my first recording will be a audio recording in using the internal plugins of a digital audio workstation. So let me create a track

and loading some plugins. As you can see over there type there are two types LV2 which I have mentioned already and Lutzpah. Lutzpah is well nowadays a

little bit outdated plug-in format but it's still existent and still in use. It depends on what kind of digital audio workstation you will use. Not every digital audio workstation is capable of loading every plug-in format.

It depends what you will use. Ardor for example is also capable of loading Linux VST plugins. But now for the moment let me choose some plugins for my first recording. It's the room simulator, a phaser and the red foot

pedal. So now you see over here in the channel strip I have loaded three plugins. You can open the user interface in a simple double-click and let me now tweak the parameters a bit. Okay the next thing I have to do is

arm the track for recording pushing the in button for getting the direct

monitoring. So I'm now I'm taking my guitar and let's see what happens. Do we have sound? Yeah we got sound. So I'm now ready for recording. Let me tuck in the

metronome and okay. Okay now deactivating. Yeah thank you. It's

it's just the beginning. So now we're turning over to disk so that we can hear what we have saved on the hard disk. And let's check the recording. Yeah okay

that's our first recording. This workflow is very known in the Windows and Mac world. And now for my next audio recording I will use an external application that I hook up with the capabilities of the jack server. So first

let me make another audio track and as external as an external application I'm using the Rekorak guitar effects suit. It's well let's say the

equivalent to Native Instruments, Guitar Rig or IK Multimedia AmpliTube. So I got the right preset in it so we can put it down. And now we are switching over to Katja. And you see I got now here the Rekorak application but there are

no connections between Ardo and Rekorak. So what is it what I want to do? I want to put this effects application between my physical audio input and the audio input of my newly created audio track. So for better

understanding I'm switching over to the second input channel. Let me deactivate all these routings now. And now it's like doing an effect chain

on a guitar pedal board for your guitar setup. So now I'm clicking Capture 2 to the input of Rekorak. And the output of Rekorak, well it's going to the input of my newly created audio track. So back again in

Ardo. Let me arm the track. And now we should hear a nice little distorted sound. Yeah okay that's it. So again we're ready for recording. So let us

check it again. Yeah nothing simpler than that. So and you might wonder yourself what I have shown you with audio is also valid for MIDI. So my next

recordings will be MIDI recordings. And my first track is a track where I will gonna use an internal virtual instrument. So and for that I'm choosing the very very famous synod sub effects synthesizer. It's well let's say it's

nearly the same as the very famous Korg M1 audio workstation. And well synod sub effects reflects this in the Linux world. And again we can open the user

interface with a simple double-click. Now let me choose a sound that's Super Saw 2. And now we can close it. So we're ready again for recording. So

and when I'm now typing in some keys we should hear some sound. Oops oops nothing's coming. Well then let's switch over to Katja again. And as you can see here this rectangle the output of my nanokey there is no connection. So we

only have to do a connection between the output of my nanokey keyboard to my newly created MIDI track. Oops done. So and when I'm now typing in some keys

well okay now we get sound. So again ready to record. Okay so let me tweak

this recording a little bit. MIDI MIDI quantize. Quantizing in quarters. Okay so

let's check this again. Okay and okay first a little bit sip of coffee. So and

now guess what's coming next. Yeah okay a MIDI recording while using another external application. And let me first create a track this time without any virtual instrument. And as an external application I will use I

will use come on the hydrogen drum machine. Normally that's a whole production system where you can program patterns. You can chain patterns to whole songs. It comes with an internal mixing desk and an effect

section and things like that. And well it's an external application. It has got no interfaces. And for my demonstration I will abuse hydrogen as a simple sound source. So we can close this. There's nothing else to do in it.

So and now let us think what is it what I want to do. I want to play on my keyboard. What I'm playing on the keyboard should be recorded on to other. And at the same time my playing should trigger the sounds in hydrogen.

And of course I also want to hear what hydrogen is making for sound. So let's switch back to Katja. And there you can see we got a MIDI rectangle and an

audio rectangle of hydrogen. As you can see over here the audio outputs are directly routed to the physical outputs of my audio interface. But that's not what I have in mind. So let me disconnect them. And instead of

this I'm routing the audio outputs directly to the main stereo booth of Ardor. This is done this way. Well you can also create another stereo audio track and route the audio outputs of hydrogen directly to this

stereo audio track for extra recording the audio. But for my demonstration routing it directly to the main stereo booth is sufficient. Well okay now let's recapitulate it. I want to play on my keyboard and my playing should be

recorded in Ardor. So the first thing is I'm making a connection to my newly created MIDI track. So Ardor is aware of what I'm playing. So and now the next thing is I have to connect the audio the MIDI track with the MIDI input of

hydrogen. We get the MIDI output of my track and I'm connecting it with the input of hydrogen. So let's get back to Ardor. Let's arm the track. When I'm

typing in some notes we should hear some drum sounds. Yeah okay that's it. Let me record it again. Okay again a little bit of tweaking. Again in

quarters. So there you have seen recording in the normal way that you

know from Windows Mac OS. It's just as simple as that and using the capabilities of the jack sound server while using this Katja front-end is also not so difficult. And well the next steps you can do you can refine your

mix. For example Ardor comes with a mixer where you can refine all those recordings. You can edit them in the same way copying, pasting, trimming, things

like that. And after that if you are finished with it you can bounce your project to a stereo file. These are also very common processes also in the Linux world. Well okay and when you're now finished with your project and

with all your active applications and all these complex routings when you finish it and when you close it all down and well let's say two days later you want to recall this project again. Well is it necessary that you have start every single application one by one and redo all these routings again? No

that's not necessary because Linux also comes with a very handy solution. There is a type of application which is called session

manager and here in my setup we got Claudia and Claudia is such a session manager. This application recognises and memorises every step you do for your audio setup. It memorises which applications you have started as well

as all the connections. You can see the graphical representation is a little bit different but it reflects every aspect that I have done in Katja. You see Recorec over here. There we have the hydrogen MIDI part, the hydrogen

audio part, things like that. Well and now you can save this setting onto a file and the next time you want to start your project the first thing you do is to start the session manager. You look up for the file, you load the file

and everything will come up automatically. It's pure magic including every audio routing. So this is this and I hope you have seen now that's neither difficult nor is it rocket science. Okay now let us recapitulate

what you have seen and learned so far and let's start again with this Linux audio scheme. As I've told you audio hardware detected by the hardware driver, we got our audio applications and Jack as the communication officer

between the hardware as well as between every active application. Okay now let me step a little bit more back and let's start again with the audio hardware. There is really a vast amount of different audio hardware out

there in the market but nowadays merely every modern audio hardware is equipped with a USB interface. So as I have said it several times, recognition of USB hardware is done via the Elsa driver but could it be that there are

any restrictions? The answer is well very simple. There are no restrictions. Nearly every modern hardware as well as an older hardware. For example this little interface now is about 10 or 11 years old and it works without any

problem. I have to admit there are some restrictions and there are pages on the internet listing what kind of hardware will work and will not work but for USB the number is really really really low for this. So starting

right away with USB hardware there will be no problem. Okay the next thing let me step a little bit more back. That's for the newbies who

want to install a Linux system. You might ask yourself now hmm what kind of Linux should I use for audio production? And that's a really good question because out there in the Linux world there are endless

distributions all with their own look, all with their own combination of applications and things like that. But I get some recommendations and again some solutions. There are free multimedia audio distributions out there

and those distributions do have several advantages. For example there are also coming with nearly the same amount of audio applications. For example audio is included in every one of them as well as jack and for example the

hydrogen drum machine, things like that. The other advantage of choosing one of those three is AV Linux is based on Debian and the other two distributions are based on Ubuntu and those two distributions are well let's

say the mainstream in the Linux world. So if you encounter any problems with your distributions you can be sure that there is a giant help base out there for getting solutions for your problems. I'm coming to the next

advantages in choosing one of those distributions. Well no, it's valid for every Linux distribution. You can download a Linux distribution, you can put it on a DVD or a USB stick and then you can load your Linux

distribution without installing anything on your computer. So you can evaluate and test Linux without doing any harm to your computer. For example my demonstration is done with such a live installation and nothing was

installed and afterwards if you have made your choice then there are some more choices. If you want to install Linux you can install it as a single

operating system, for example on an older computer or you can install Linux in parallel besides your other operating system which is also valid for Windows and Mac OS. So these are very comfortable and convenient solutions. So

this is this and the next thing let's summarize the most important terminology. Again hardware driver Elsa, the sound server first choice for doing audio production the Jack server and well the well okay popular but the most

modern plug-in formats nowadays LV2 and Linux VST and well okay you have seen it in the plugin manager of Ardo, Lutzpah as well as DSSI are the well predecessors they are a little bit outdated but they are still in use. And

the last thing I want to show you is this. I have shown you the capabilities of the Jack server with the Cadence, Katja, Claudia applications.

These applications are coming together with the KX studio distribution. You can install these applications manually to the Linux distribution of your choice but there is also another front-end which is called QJack control and you

can be sure that every Linux distribution is coming with QJack control as a front-end but it depends on to your own likings and to your own taste what kind of front-end you will gonna use. Me, myself, QJack control I

find it a little bit well old and not very comprehensible with its Windows 95 touch and things like that but you have to you have to try it for yourself. That's the last hint that I want to give you and maybe you are

coming you can deal better with QJack control than with Cadence, Katja, Claudia things like that but I think doing this on Katja, Claudia and Cadence was much more comprehensible than this. So in the end if there are

no questions I would like to thank you for your attention and I want to wish you a nice and wonderful day here at the Sonic Convention and with all the other interesting and exciting lectures. Thank you.

Hello thank you for the talk. Sorry my English is not very good. I try. So you said that nearly all hardware is supported but often the

hardware comes with a configuration software like this where you can shoot the buffer size and something like this. Yeah you come a little bit late huh okay let me show you this. We got here the Cadence dialog and when you

dial in the jack settings you can see over here you can dial in the sampling rate the sample buffer and much more. So this is all included in there. You

are right if there are some extra applications for programming well let's say exotic parameters on audio hardware well that's that's not as easy

but the main functions like for example controllers on a USB keyboard that you will use for tweaking for example the cutoff frequency on a synthesizer this is done by using the capabilities of the digital audio workstation. You don't

have to use a special editor for it. Thank you. Yeah in my experience really nearly every modern hardware is recognized. I have used it with the Mackie Onyx USB interfaces which were released half year ago and it

works without any problem even with a Raspberry Pi computer and the same goes with the iRic iO keyboard from IK Multimedia. There were the only problem I had was working with a line 6 audio interface but that has to do with

licensing the audio hardware to the server of line 6. That's really an exception but most of the audio hardware should work without any problem. Do you also have any experience with recent multi-channel audio hardware like Focusrite

board, Sapphire etc. Any experience if these also work as flawless as you think for USB devices? On the USB in the USB sector no I don't have any

experience but I can assure you working with a firewire audio interface that's really no problem because you can define the number of input and output channels and for example if you choose an 8 channel audio interface and

you only dial in two input channels, Katja will only show you two input channels but if you want to have more input channels you can change the number of input channels and Katja will show you your newly defined input

channels. I also have a question about the session management. You said that it will store everything and restore everything. It

doesn't also mean that when you make some changes inside a rack-a-rack or hydrogen for example? No no no no no that's for sure. If you do any editing in the applications you have to save those editings

firstly onto your application. So when I'm creating a new guitar effects chain on rack-a-rack that's for sure. I have to save it onto rack-a-rack and the session manager will not cover this. No that's clear I hope. But is

it possible for the session manager to know which file on the disk is associated with the session like oh we need to open hydrogen with this and this file for this? No that you will do in the saving. Yes yes yes

normal normal yeah maybe maybe Niels can answer this a little bit more Baron. Yeah it depends on the session manager. He said earlier it's a

type of software session manager so for example the non session manager which is the name non session manager that that saves the settings and knows where the files are but so there's a general approach which just starts your program and makes connections and this works with every software but if

you support if the program supports the non session manager protocol directly then everything is saved so you don't you can't even save manually anymore it's just automatically saved. So that's maybe we will see that during

the day or tomorrow. Let's see. Hey thanks great talk I wish I'd been told this when I was starting out but but I think we're all in and well

computationally have been we know how how a lot of this stuff works but I have a lot of friends who who haven't even used a command line before and I just wonder if you have any tips for people who want to try this out who have absolutely no idea even about how to create a bootable USB you know

really basic. No when you're when you're looking on the internet for a Linux audio distribution there are always a very detailed information of how you can put it onto a DVD or a bootable USB media for example for doing a

Linux distribution on a USB stick you have to use a little application for example unit boot you can get this application for Windows Mac as well as Linux and while using this little application then the ESOL file of the

Linux distribution will be well decompressed and being written be written on the USB disk but it's always always explained on the on the internet pages of the Linux distributions so that's this should not

be a problem right so it's like so it's read the freaking manual kind of yeah yeah reading the fucking manual well if you if you want to get some knowledge you have to do this unfortunately okay any other questions

or any comments anything you would like to act at yeah um in relation to your booting and multi things if you if you are used to using the Mac it's

easier to use something like virtual box and then run your Linux inside the Mac without fanning around the hard drive and it's life but easier yeah and life distributions you can make life it doesn't it doesn't matter you don't care just that because once you start fixing your grub partitions you can

be in a world of pain even if you know okay then we have some time to prepare the next talk thank you again Georg for the talk and from now on if

anybody asks you how do I do it it's just tell them we have a recording yeah okay yeah thank you thank you