My Letter to Syntrillium Software

[SoulSe]

emh, I don't think I am the one who needs to chill, but whatever. I never said my word was final, I was stating an opinion. Have you ever even used CEP? Firstly: Screw You and Secondly: Here are the things CEP has that Audacity does not WHICH I USE REGULARLY:

 

- Wet Graph Plotting

- db Graph plotting

- Pan Graph plotting

- per channel eq.

- hell, any good eq!

- Multi-sample channel loading

- quick single pain to multi-channel switching.

- Dir. structure for quick sampling

- Vocal Dynamic altering

- Proper hiss/pop reduction

- Lossy format loading support

 

There are others, but those are the ones I use regularly. I am a huge Linux fan, do you think I would have started this thread just for the hell of it?

 

Go and find out what all those things I mentioned above are first and then come back with some knowledge of what you are speaking about.

[emh]

Why do I even bother? I wasn't going to continue this, but, quite frankly, your attitude of superiority really stinks.

 

I never said my word was final, I was stating an opinion.

 

You made it sound like it was indisputable fact.

 

Have you ever even used CEP?

 

Never felt a need to. I've used Magix and Acoustica when I was in Windows, and now I use Broadcast 2000, Audacity, and Ecasound since I'm using Linux. My only point was that CEP is not the only program out there that is capable of easy professional sound recording. I'm not about to go out and spend $300 on a piece of software when I get everything I need through free and low-cost software. (I'd rather use that $300 to get things like a mixing board, compressor, and an effects module, which I think would give a much better track to begin with than any manipulation from a software program) Obviously, our needs are different, but one set of needs is not superior to the other.

 

Firstly: Screw You...

 

I'm not even going to dignify that with a response.

 

Secondly: Here are the things CEP has that Audacity does not WHICH I USE REGULARLY: 

 

- Wet Graph Plotting

- db Graph plotting

 

I don't know what those are.

 

- Pan Graph plotting 

 

Point taken here.

 

- per channel eq.

- hell, any good eq! 

 

Audacity does indeed have a graphical EQ, which I really like the way you use it. You can also boost and cut different frequencies in Ecasound quite easily.

 

- Multi-sample channel loading

- quick single pain to multi-channel switching.

- Dir. structure for quick sampling 

 

Three things I personally haven't had a use for, so I haven't noticed it missing in any of the programs I use.

 

- Vocal Dynamic altering 

 

I'm not quite sure what this is. But Audacity does allow you to adjust levels of areas of the track that you might have found to be too soft or too loud, (the technical term for this escapes me at the moment) which happens especially with vocals.

 

- Proper hiss/pop reduction 

 

You can also achieve this with a compressor/limiter and a mixing board (I just got both of these last week). You don't have to put all the processing on the software. That being said, you do have a point.

 

- Lossy format loading support 

 

I'm not sure what this is.

 

Go and find out what all those things I mentioned above are first and then come back with some knowledge of what you are speaking about.

 

And here your attitude of superiority really shines through. Your statement implying that I don't know what I'm talking about is pure bullshit. Granted, I'm still learning about a lot of the ins and outs of audio production, but I know quite a bit already, and, FROM MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, I still hold the belief that professional audio production is possible as well as seemless in Linux. What better teacher is there than experience? It's not like I just read somewhere that something was possible. I've actually used the tools available to me. Just because I don't know exactly what every little term you mentioned above is doesn't mean I'm not qualified to speak about audio production in Linux or Windows, or any other OS.

 

In conclusion, I think we can both agree that we have different wants and needs, and it seems your needs are only met by CEP, whereas my needs and wants are met by lower-cost software. Just please stop treating me like I'm somehow inferior to you, just because I choose to use something different.

[emh]

After sitting on my message for a day, I'm letting it stay, however, I don't want this to devolve into a flame war. I was never intending to offend you or piss you off. I was merely stating that CEP, as great and full-featured as it is, isn't for everybody. (Price is a huge factor) My needs are exceeded by the tools available to me in Linux, so I've never felt the need to use or try CEP. I'm sure there are others that feel the same way.

 

I'm sorry if I said anything that pissed you off in this discussion. That was never my intention.

 

Now, I'm curious about your studio setup. What kind of computer do you have, and what kind of equipment do you use? Since you've been doing this a bit longer than me, I could learn something from you.

[SoulSe]

I was never trying to sound superior, because I am not. I like to think I know my sound software though, because, as I said, I have used just about all of them. Flamewars are for infants and I think we are all adults here.

 

If you manage to get all your work done with native Linux solutions then well done to you, unfortunately I do not. I do use Audacity where I can and I think the software is great, but it lacks the features that CEP and Qbase have - which none of the Linux software has (unfortunately). I spent many weeks trying every package I could find for Linux and could not find these features in any of them, once again - unfortunately.

 

We have two main studios at my radio station. The main studio, besides for the Soundcraft desk, Denon CD players, Shure mics, etc. Has two computers, the one for mail and net access and the other one for broadcast. We run the Radiohost suite of software which was developed in Denmark and the Communicater, Heavy Rotation and Broadcast modules.

 

In our second studio, which is mostly used for Production, we have a similar but smaller setup, including a great Yamaha desk with some nice effects libraries and a computer running Cool Edit Pro 2.0. We do all our work in CEP, it's cheaper then Qbase and does just about everything Qbase can.

 

Now, I often work on Production at home, but I run solo Linux on my machine, which is where the problem comes in.

 

I'm sorry if I offended you or pissed you off, that was not my intention. I am not speaking off the top of my head, I have really spent a lot of time on this - Of course, this does not make me superior in any way and I am fully open to suggestions and recomendations.

[emh]

No problem, bro. I'm glad we can move on. Friends? :wink:

 

What kind of setup do you have at home? Here's what I have, currently:

 

Not sure of the type of motherboard, but I use an AMD K6-2 processor at 500 MHz, 192 MB of PC100 SDRAM. 40 GB hard drive at 7200 RPM. I have a Soundblaster Live sound card, which is probably the best type of consumer-grade sound card you can get for audio production. (although I have been looking around at mult-channel professional sound cards, but I'm a bit reluctant to invest in one of these unless I know it will work in Linux)

 

With this setup, I was able to play back 16 tracks at a time when I was still using Windows. (Most songs I record only use 6-10 tracks) The song I was recording only needed that many, so I don't know how many more I still had room for. Although with that many, the GUI for Magix was more sluggish, but the audio never even blinked, at least not until I started adding lots of software real-time effects.

 

Therefore, what I've been wanting to do is get a mixing board, a compressor/limiter/gate, and an effects module to try my best to make the recorded signal the best it can possibly be before it ever even reaches my hard drive. Then I can use the available effects in my software merely to touch up the tracks, rather than make major changes.

 

Anyway, that's my rather confusing thought process on building my recording studio. I just got a mixing board and a compressor/limiter/gate last week, although I didn't have time to hook them up until Sunday evening. So far, so good, but I haven't had a chance to really put them to the test. I'll keep you posted.

 

I'll also eventually be getting a faster computer, but that's less of an issue right now.

 

So what kind of setup do you have at home? Computer, sound card, any kind of mixer or effect module? And do you have any suggestions for me?

[zero0w]

aRTee: Again I think Kernel 2.6 will be very instrumental to Linux Audio development, Linux Journal May issue will have more report on that, perhaps we will really see vendors porting software to the platform:

 

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6683

[SoulSe]

No problem, bro.  I'm glad we can move on.  Friends?

I am friends with anyone who uses (and not misuses) this board.

With this setup, I was able to play back 16 tracks at a time when I was still using Windows.  (Most songs I record only use 6-10 tracks) The song I was recording only needed that many, so I don't know how many more I still had room for.  Although with that many, the GUI for Magix was more sluggish, but the audio never even blinked, at least not until I started adding lots of software real-time effects.

 

Therefore, what I've been wanting to do is get a mixing board, a compressor/limiter/gate, and an effects module to try my best to make the recorded signal the best it can possibly be before it ever even reaches my hard drive.  Then I can use the available effects in my software merely to touch up the tracks, rather than make major changes.

It is always best to get the sound as good as possible before reording it. Although, it might save you time and money if you just applied the effects to a sound singularily and then save it before slotting it into the multi channel, might not help a lot though. You can get a good compressor/limiter for around 1800 Rand (about $200) I like the behringer, does a good job. As for mixing desks, all you really need to look at is sound quality if you are only going to record through it. Rather get a small desk with good quality sound then a big one with bad quality.

I have a Soundblaster Live sound card, which is probably the best type of consumer-grade sound card you can get for audio production. (although I have been looking around at mult-channel professional sound cards, but I'm a bit reluctant to invest in one of these unless I know it will work in Linux)

You are right about the soundcard, multi-channels are sweet but come with their own set of problems. My favourite multi-channel studio sound card are the Echo-Gina cards which we use at the radio stations, 4 channels a piece. I'm not sure if they work under Linux though. The biggest problem I have had with multi-channel soundcards is DMA. The Gina does not have this problem though.

Anyway, that's my rather confusing thought process on building my recording studio.  I just got a mixing board and a compressor/limiter/gate last week, although I didn't have time to hook them up until Sunday evening.  So far, so good, but I haven't had a chance to really put them to the test.  I'll keep you posted.

Oh, well then ignore my last piece about those pieces of equipment :roll:

 

I'll also eventually be getting a faster computer, but that's less of an issue right now.

 

So what kind of setup do you have at home?  Computer, sound card, any kind of mixer or effect module?  And do you have any suggestions for me?

We have a lot of those things at the radio station. At home, all I need are few things like my computer: Athlon 500, 128MB RAM, a 10GB & 40GB hard drive, CD-Burner, old Soundblaster card (need to get a Live soon) and my onboard card, which I only use for playback sometimes.

 

I also have two Technics SL1200 turntables, a Behringer vmx100 desk and, my babys - a set of HD 280 pro headphones - customised and uped to 64 ohm. You can hear ANYTHING with them :o , an old Marantz amp (great sound) and that's about it. My brother and sister have guitars and drums and a piano lying around here as well.

 

I am also considering an upgrade of my motherboard, CPU and RAM. Of course, it will only make a difference to how quickly I can apply effects and save (which, as you know, can be a bitch).

 

I'm not a musician, but I love DJing on vinyl, it makes a nice change from Radio. What kind of music are you making?