OT: ubuntustudio icons/working applications

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Sat, 2012-12-15 at 13:29 -0800, Len Ovens wrote:
> There is work on both, But because it is part time and some of us (me for
> example) don't have great coding knowledge, we only can do what we can.
> (no offence taken by the way)

And your effort is very good. You work for Ubuntu Studio and you help
other users. I only have time to help other users and myself. I did very
serious test Qtractor for a long time and if I should ever solve the
issues I've got, I'll help with Qtractor (translation and testing) and
Ubuntu Studio too.

> One of the problems we face in audio is that the apps are debug enabled
> which adds extra code, cpu use etc. Thats the way debian does things.

:D I noticed very verbose output, when I used Qtractor from packages.
Earlier I always build Qtractor from SVN.

Here we all could help. I could build packages for Qtractor. If
everybody would build a package by using the Debian source, regarding to
dependency entries, policy etc. of Debian, such as perhaps no Steinberg
VST support, but with other compiler options, e.g. without debug info,
we could get rid of this problem.

> In my case I am replacing icons that are borrowed from places they
> shouldn't be. I am not trying to make them fancy, but functional.

And the MIDI icon is perfect. Simple and still not ugly.

>  I am not
> a great artist, but no one else is taking on the task, so I am doing it.

I for sure won't help with icons. I've got enough from vector graphics
and even my ardently loved GIMP become hard to use for me. The current
version is borderline. I still can use it, but I already get that
annoyed, that I'll search for a replacement. I don't use GIMP to make
distinguished art, usually I'll make a lightscribe layout or something
simple on the quick.

> There is a problem, do we keep ardour 2.* forever?

Assumed I should gain world domination, than yes :p.

I seldom use Ardour, but I like Ardour 2. I tested Ardour 3 and until
now I don't like it. I guess Paul will include backwards compatibility
if he ever should drop Ardour 2.

> I still use an older release just for GCDMaster, because there is
> nothing that replaces it.

I'll buy external HDDs ASAP, but I already have tons of Linux installs.
This only can solve some issues. I could keep an outdated GIMP, but
rebooting from Linux to Linux isn't that good and there's no way to use
old installs as soon as it comes to new hardware.

> While it is easy to say it is all upstream... and that is true. It is also
> helpful to understand that we are mostly just putting together a set of
> packages as we find them. We are distro compilers. We don't have the
> talent or the time to maintain software. We can only let people know what
> doesn't work. I don't think we are going for flashy though. We want the
> new user to be able to easily figure out how to use the applications we
> have. We want the audio infrastructure to work well and to make it
> possible for the user to adjust system settings without having to edit
> system files.
> 
> Are we winning? Sometimes it feels that Linux/debian/ubuntu are making
> things hard for us faster than we can fix them. Audio (especially low
> latency) is at odds with the generally server mindset of the linux kernel
> team for example. Servers like lots of "throughput" and one of the tricks
> to get that is large size packets which is the same thing as saying high
> latency.

The "drama" is, that Linux pro-audio became pro-audio, regarding to the
applications, regarding to real-time, but at the same time we get
showstoppers caused by the environment. It's not only GTK related.

> The SM58 is the standard stage mic. I think most people would be using our
> software for recording... and would like something that visually says so.

I guess the SM58 and all it's forgeries are the most used microphones on
this planet. Btw. the Realistic version I own is less good, than the
original. It does sound less good, while the original already doesn't
sound good and it does include an on/off switch in the handle, a
complete no-go for a professional microphone.
But the original and even fakes as the Realistic are robust and the
limited responding qualities are perfect for stage and rehearsal room.
Regarding to the sound quality it's to expensive, but regarding to
durability the price is very good and everybody knows the silhouette and
associate "microphone", so it's the perfect icon.
The original Kermit pill, resp. the original RCA 77 is also known by
everybody, still today, because Kermit did use it that often.
There is just the Shure 520 DX and some Electro Voice with silhouette
everybody knows. Neumann, Telefunken, Sennheiser and other have some
visuell unique mics too, but some e.g. the Sennheiser MD 421 is visually
known by averaged people > 40 years old, children usually never have
seen this thing and perhaps even the Shure 520 DX by some averaged
people would associate "bicycle lamp", not "microphone".

Regards,
Ralf