THE UBUSTU FEED

Long time Ubuntu users may well be aware of the software packages that make up Ubuntu Studio, but our server logs indicate that 52% of you might not (either that or none of you are getting any work done at the office).

To help those of you who just got here, we’ve cooked up something of a highlight reel, a showcase for some of the major apps that will be included in the first release. Just to jazz things up, we’ve taken some mock screenshots of these apps running nicely in Ubuntu Feisty. First, let’s take a look at a few of the audio applications :

Ardour

Ardour is a magnificent digital audio workstation in the same vein as Cubase, Pro Tools, and Logic. Previous versions have not been on the user friendly side, but Ubuntu Studio will include the drastically improved Ardour2. Ardour2 (which utilizes GTK2) boasts a sleek interface upgrade, easy to use toolbars, and tabbed panels which are cleverly used to tuck away Ardour’s many capabilities.

Ardour relies on JACK, the impressive audio connection kit for Linux. If you’ve ever wanted to do something like take the audio output of one piece of software and send it to another, and then take the output of that same program and send it to two others, and then record the result in the first program, JACK is your man. We’ve tested several low-latency M-Audio and PreSonus sound cards with JACK without problem.

Features include : multichannel recording, non-destructive editing, unlimited undo/redo, unlimited tracks/busses/plugins, full automation support, timecode synchronization, and hardware control surface support.

Wired

If GarageBand’s parents were Reason and Cubase, his kid brother would be Wired. Although Wired is the new guy on the linux audio block, they’ve already received a significant amount of user interest and word-of-mouth buzz. With one look at its playful and inviting interface it’s not hard to see why.

Wired supports unlimited audio and MIDI tracks and quick on-the-spot editing features for both. You can add and arrange virtual instruments and effects to the upper level rack until your fingers bleed! Not only does Wired support LADSPA and DSSI plugins, but these effects can be applied to both audio and MIDI tracks!

Our advanced readers may like to know that Wired is one of the few programs that is not currently available in the Feisty Fawn repos. The first release of Ubuntu Studio will utilize a unique repository to store a few renegade applications, however. Starting with Gutsy Gibbon, all Ubuntu Studio packages will be available in the standard Ubuntu repos. This is a very good thing.

Hydrogen

Hyrdrogen is a killer advanced drum machine which can be used to trigger any sample you throw at it. We know how much people love proprietary comparisons, and even though we think Hydrogen stands on its own, you might say it is the linux-audio enthusiast’s FruityLoops. It supports JACK (just like Ardour) so its audio output can be routed into any other JACK compliant software. This is a really neat feature as you can use Hydrogen as a sort of ‘virtual instrument’ for Ardour!

The premise is simple, construct patterns in the Pattern editor and then sequence them together in the Sequencer window. To top it all off, Hydrogen also supports LADSPA plugins, meaning you can locally add a killer layer of grunge to those kick drums, or overlay an eerie phaser on top of some extra resonant cymbal crashes.

Other audio programs of note :

• Rosegarden - Advanced MIDI sequencer
• TerminatorX - Scratch audio files like a DJ does records
• BEAST - Modular synthesis and composition
• JACK - Audio connection kit for Linux

GIMP

We won’t go into too much detail about GIMP (as it is one of the most famous open source multimedia programs of all time) but for those of you who don’t know, GIMP is an image manipulation program similar to Photoshop. Now, before we get a hundred comments about how Photoshop rules and how GIMP’s mother is fat and ugly, we’ll go ahead and let you know that GIMP is not an exact Photoshop clone. GIMP is, however, highly functional, exceptionally capable, and incredibly stable.

We were long time users of Photoshop before making the switch to GIMP and open source. We must have cursed in disgust at least one hundred times. However, we soon found that the secret to GIMP is memorizing the shortcut keys for both the tools and the dialogs. We like to pretend like we are wizards who can quickly summon the exact parameter we need to change and then just as quickly make them disappear into the ether.

To make a long story short, unless you are getting paid to use Photoshop (web design excluded), GIMP will do everything you need and do it with style. The only effort you’ll have to put forth is learning to think like the GIMP does. Luckily, we’ll be here to help you with that.

Blender

Blender is a 3D animation software package which can be used for modelling, uv unwrapping, texturing, rigging, skinning, animating, rendering, particle simulation, non-linear editing, compositing, and creating interactive 3D applications. It also boasts one of most active and tutorial heavy communities in the open source multimedia world.

We would love to list off feature after feature with ear-to-ear grins on our faces. However, it would never do justice to the most awesomely presented feature list that is hosted at the official Blender page.

Inkscape

Inkscape is a downright sexy vector graphics editor. It is similar to Ilustrator, Freehand, and Corel Draw. The most startling feature that Inkscape offers is that its actually easier to learn than any of its proprietary counterparts. But don’t let that fool you into thinking that its intelligent user interface merely makes up for a lack of essential features. Everything you need is here.

Inkscape is a fully functional vector package supporting shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, meta-data, node editing, layers, complex path operations, bitmap tracing, text-on-path, flowed text, direct XML editing, and more. Within half an hour we felt we had mastered the basics, and the ensuing hours of use only revealed the hidden depths of such a simple exterior.

Other graphics programs of note :

• Agave - Intuitive color schemer
• Scribus - Desktop publishing and page layout
• Synfig - Film-quality 2D vector animation
• FontForge - Postscript font editor

Kino

Kino is an easy to use non-linear video editor more in line with Movie Maker and iMovie than Premiere or Final Cut Pro. You can import video files or even download straight from your digital video camera. Once you have gathered the clips required for your project you can further refine them by trimming their size or by adding transitions, audio filters, and effects. It doesn’t have the top-heavy rendering filters of the proprietary editors, but anyone with even a small trace of creativity can bring Kino to its fullest potential.

Other video programs of note :

• Cinepaint - Frame by frame retouching tool
• Pitivi - Linear video editor
• Stopmotion - Create stop motion videos

Wait a minute! Why not Cinerella or LiVES?

Unfortunately, Cinerella, although it is arguably the most impressive non-linear video editor available for free download, does not meet the open source standards required to be distributed under Ubuntu’s license. Here’s the official explanation from the Ubuntu Studio team :

We are looking heavily into Cinelerra and into packaging it. There are a couple of problems though : the main one is A LOT of the source does not state its license. We need to go through the source manually and confirm the license for each file. This really needs to be a community effort. Here is our method.

Another issue are sources being licensed incorrectly. Security updates are issue as well as Cinelerra uses a modified version of ffmpeg, amongst other libraries (Quicktime etc) and using the Ubuntu versions would probably hinder some of the functionality.

We would really like the community to help us. It would really make a difference. People helping would really motivate upstream. If you want to help out, you come chat in #ubuntustudio (chat.freenode.net) and read the spec.

Although it wont be included in future releases until the above problem is solved, nothing is stopping you from downloading, installing, and using any number of programs not bundled in the first release of Ubuntu Studio. Anything you can install or compile in Ubuntu you can install or compile in Ubuntu Studio. You will even be able to “add” Ubuntu Studio to an existing Feisty install!

Another video program that is in the Ubuntu repos and somehow not included in the initial packaging of Ubuntu Studio, is the powerful Avidemux. If you’ve ever used VirtualDubMod for Windows you’ll love Avidemux. Again, nothing is stopping you from installing any of these programs. In fact, we love them so much we will likely feature tutorials for both Cinerella and Avidemux before they are officially bundled.

That’s all for now! We hope your excitement levels are soaring! Although there is currently no set release date for Ubuntu Studio, we have a good feeling it will be out before the end of May. Most likely in the first half. Don’t kill us if we’re wrong though. Be sure to check out our cleaned up session logs from the recent Q&A workshop with the developers.