[ubuntu-studio-devel] Virtual Instrument Gap

[Len Ovens]

On Sat, 15 Aug 2020, Peter Reppert wrote:

> TLDR: The inability to run a wide spectrum of music software on Linux is
> getting worse to the point many will throw in the towel. 
> 
>   I know this is an old saw and may be the wrong forum to even mention it,

Certainly. Ubuntu studio is a collection of software made by the Linux 
commumity. Ubuntu Studio does not make software.


> but here goes.  I am a keyboard player and I like virtual instruments (VST
> plugins). As nice as all the other capabilities of a DAW are, the ability to

virtual instruments does not equal VST plugins, there are other plugin 
formats

> use VST synths is possibly the best feature.  There are hundreds of free
> ones, and while very few run natively, it's possible to use them via Wine. I
> think you know where this is headed...

very good.

>   The latest VSTs, both free and commercial ones from companies like
> Spectrasonics and Arturia, do not run on the older versions of Windows
> supported by Wine (Vista is the latest).  I have encountered other problems

I am sure wine goes beyond vista.

> listed below, but the inability to run up-to-date plugins is getting to be a
> show stopper for any keyboard player who wants to move beyond vintage sounds
> and outdated sample libraries. This isn't just gear lust - the newer

Actually sample libraries are os agnostic. It is true that some companies 
lock their sample libraries by packaging them in a format only their 
sample player will play. File a bug report with that company.

> instruments are demonstrably better with richer sounds, better interfaces,

the interface is not a part of the sample library, that is the sample 
player.

> etc.  Running Ubuntu Studio feels like being walled off from a cornucopia of
> options, whether or not one takes the plunge with this or that product or
> freebie.  

I have not found this to be true but then most of my recording is real 
sound made by real instruments... most likey on a stage in front of real 
people. I find music made with samples to be boring and unimaginative for 
the most part. However, one has to be careful when it comes to one's likes 
and dislikes.

> Other issues
>  *  Can't run the 64-bit version of (non-Linux) VST plugins. 
>  *  Using - even brushing against - the mod wheel or anything other than
>     volume on the controller crashes Carla.That did not used to happen.  Not
>     to mention almost always having to configure MIDI CC mapping for each
>     new VST (and I've never had any luck storing these, so add "on every
>     session") 

Please file a bug report or issue with the author:
https://github.com/falkTX/Carla/issues
for both of the above complaints

>  *  GuitariX hums like a cheap tube amp the second you plug in a guitar.

Have you checked your audio interface? Have you checked the shieldiing in 
your guitar? This is obviously a problem outside of the digital world. 
Nothing to do with software of any kind.

>  *  Numerous other annoyances, crashes, and general clunkiness, some degree
>     of which we can all put up with (and can of course happen in Windows or
>     MacOS). 

a very braod statement without any meat. It has no meaning.

> Now I am looking to get an 88-key controller, and there again, any bundled
> software won't run on my Ubuntu Studio laptop.  MIDI controllers often map
> onboard knobs, faders, and transport controls to a handful of popular DAWs -
> never Ardour (luckily Reaper is supported).  

This sounds like FUD to me. Ardour allows taking which ever way the 
controller is mapped and creating a midi map that can be useful. Some 
controlers have surface support specific to the controler built in to 
Ardour as well. However, most players who want an 88key controller, play 
it like a piano and rarely (if ever) touch any other control save power. 
If the controller maker uses standard midi controls, most things will just 
work.

>     If I want to run any contemporary commercial music software, they are

there are two words that probably don't belong together "commercial" and 
"music".

> recommending 8 GHz, which means it's time for a hardware upgrade. I don't

8 Ghz what? I am not aware of any CPU that runs that fast... 4 Ghz is what 
I mostly find. So maybe you mean something else?

> need to be on the cutting edge of everything, and appreciate all the work
> that's gone into Ubuntu Studio, not to mention the seemingly limitless
> free/shareware out there. But I am going to hold my nose and at least start
> out running Windows. I suspect the same chain of reasoning is going to
> happen for a lot of other keyboard players as they upgrade their systems.  

Quite honestly, if the software you wish to use comes in a windows format, 
you should probably run windows anyway. If you are a piano player, I do 
not know of any piano plugin that sounds better that pianoteq: 
https://www.modartt.com/ which does run on Linux. SetBfree has got to be 
one of the best B3 emulators. Samples are just a recording of someone 
else's playing.

>    Again my apologies if this is old news. I'm sure musicians have been

Not news, just a rant.

> just feels like Ubuntu Studio is going obsolete vis-a-vis current
> not-terribly-expensive yet mind-blowing software, especially for keyboard
> players and music producers.  

mind blowing? surely you jest. What you mean by "music producers" is 
companies that wish to spend almost no money by having one anonomous 
person create a midi track that their chosen singer of the month that 
sounds just like all the other singers of the month can sing karaoke to. 
The kind of music I would call a "channel changer".

>   Hobbyists and non-musicians can do a lot on their phones and you can even
> run a DAW on a tablet.

on an iOS based phone or tablet maybe... anything I have tried on any 
android tablet is so laggy as to be useless.

> Pro and semi-pro musicians and engineers are going
> with ProTools or similar without giving Linux a moment's consideration. If

incorrect information. I can assure you that almost any movie you have 
seen in the past 10 years has used linux video software and linux audio 
software (Probably a version of Ardour in fact). Anyone who uses a digital 
mixer is using Linux too. There is a difference between PR (protools is 
the name someone spending money looks for so we have to use this junk to 
keep the money rolling in) and good software. I will note that Mixbus 
(Ardour inside) is seeing use by people who normally use reaper or 
protools as their mixdown software.

> you can afford a computer, you can almost certainly afford a commercial DAW
> without the need to change OS.  Who is Ubuntu Studio for?  

There is a problem with that statement. you have mentioned windows many 
times... yet if you look at the computers on stage and in many studios 
they are not PCs but a Mac. There is a reason for this. While Mr. Jobs was 
alive, there was a focus at Apple of making the hardware work better for 
the art comunity that anythingn else. I can afford a computer, I cannot 
afford a mac. Nor can I afford to upgrade my audiop interface as often as 
windows makes the drivers for my audio inteface no longer work (my audio 
interface cost more than my computer). The "PC" (computer made for 
windows) is designed to be "low latency" which intel says is 30ms latency. 
For audio work less than 10 ms is a must which means running the computer 
beyond it's design spec. With windows, tweaking the OS is difficult at 
best, impossible in many cases. With Linux this is more straight forward 
though a degree of knowledge is still required.

> Is there the remotest hope that more software will come out in three
> flavors?  
>   My guess is the software companies can't justify supporting Linux.  Has
> anyone approached them?

Have you?

>  Is there anything on the horizon to solve the
> problem of running recent Windows/Mac applications, maybe without a bridge?

See comment above. If you want to run Mac/windows software, run the OS 
that it is made for. Do note that things like Ardour and Mixbus which are 
developed on Linux, come in both windows and Mac binaries as well.

The reality is that the desktop computer is dying. The "Chromebook", 
Android, apple tablets, etc are the future. Apple has stated they are 
moving away from the intel CPU to an in house ARM based setup... a Chrome 
book like device with iOS on it. I am sure windows will follow. The cost 
of doing music on a computer is going to go up no matter the OS of choice, 
as the number of "computers" being sold goes down and becomes a niche 
market (is already in many ways). Linux may become the only OS still 
running on we we call a computer today.

I have watched the quality of audio interfaces decline as they moved from 
PCI and firewire to USB. The harware available to run the software on has 
also delined... not a bright future.


--
Len Ovens
www.ovenwerks.net