Are you anxiously awaiting the upcoming release of Ubuntu Studio but crave a taste of the bleeding edge, today? We were inspired to create this tutorial after reading several complaints about the current state of Audacity 1.2.6
We will admit, in comparison to its closest proprietary counterpart, the classic Cool Edit Pro, the currently released version of Audacity doesn’t quite make the grade. Strangely, a vastly improved version has been in development for well over a year. To make a long story short, Audacity 1.3.2 greatly decreases the gap between Audacity and Cool Edit Pro.
Need some more convincing? Take a quick peek at the generous list of new features. Don’t worry, unlike many “new feature” lists in the Linux community, there are plenty of screenshots!
Getting down to the nitty gritty
You do not need to uninstall your current installation of Audacity. First things first, go ahead and download the Audacity 1.3.2 source code to your Desktop (right click > save as will not work) :
Continue reading ‘Compile Audacity 1.3.2 Beta with Feisty’
For those of you who have been following Ubuntu Studio religiously, this may be old news. However, at the beginning of the year, Oktyabr’s Notepad posted a lengthy interview with Ubuntu Studio project manager, Cory Kontros. The interview ranges from in-depth technical discussion to jovial commendments of the developing team’s spirit.
Everything we do comes right from the Ubuntu repos. That was a goal. There are other projects that live outside of their parents. We didn’t want to do that. We work to get apps into the repos that are geared toward our audience. Actually, at the moment, most of these tools already exist in Ubuntu. We’re just trying to put them in a package for people and shine a spotlight on some of the great apps out there that people might not know about.
Speaking of old news, if you really want to get glossy-eyed, you could always sift thru the Slashdot comments of the original unveiling of Ubuntu Studio. Yeesh!
We have just gotten word that the release period for Ubuntu Studio has changed from ‘the week of April 19th’ back to a hopeful release by the end of April. To read it straight from the horse’s mouth, here is the newly updated channel topic inside the developer chatroom:
Our first release will be out when it’s out. We’re aiming for April.
The developers are looking into a real time kernel which will significantly improve the latency between the included audio software and your audio hardware (most importantly lightning fast companionship with JACK). Remember, the lower the latency the better. We are hoping the proposed kernel is good for at least 2-3ms. If you’re at all excited by the audio capabilities of Ubuntu Studio, the inclusion of this kernel will be well worth the wait.
For our advanced readers, it should be noted that the Ingo Molnar kernel will not be used by Ubuntu Studio. But then again, anything is possible in Linux, and if this exclusion gets you worked up, we’re sure that somebody somewhere (maybe even you) will figure out how to include it.
Last but not least, we have uncovered yet another screenshot of Ubuntu Studio running the champion DAW, Ardour. What does this have to do with release dates and real time kernels? Check the text of the terminal window on the right side and find out.
For those clever enough to notice, the first released kernel will likely be 2.6.20-15 rather than 2.6.20-14.
The first screenshot is a clean view of the default Ubuntu Studio desktop. Unfortunately, it has been significantly resized from its original 1600×1200. The good news is that the mysterious elegance of the default theme is no less apparent.
There was some speculation that this theme was a permutation of the widely available Neutromium collection. However similar they may be, we have it confirmed by the developers that the Ubuntu Studio theme is brand new and custom built.
One element of style that can be confirmed is the use of the Tango-noir icon set. An extended set, we should say, as new icons are being tailor-made for certain programs. Interestingly, in order to keep everything consistent, the new icons are being created by one of the original authors of the Tango-noir set.
Back to the screenshots. The second capture we collected has not been resized! It is a very large screenshot of ‘UbuStu’ running a pre-release beta of the ever impressive Ardour. As far as we’re concerned, Ardour is hands-down the most essential DAW that Ubuntu Studio (or even Linux in general) has to offer. This particular screenshot all but shows off the unbelievably improved and extremely intuitive user-interface of the next release.
Enough gab, here are they are :
So, have you heard of Wired? No, not the magazine. We thought we’d seen ‘em all. Apparently the Linux Audio community has another trick up its sleeve:
Wired supports unlimited Audio/Midi tracks playback and recording, and introduces a Plugin system for instruments and effects. It handles live instruments (through sound card analog or midi inputs), virtual instruments and sound effects. It manages the most used plug-in types (LADSPA, DSSI). It is composed of racks, a sequencer and a mixer. Its intuitive graphical interface is user-friendly for amateurs whereas its abilities cover every needs of a semi-professional public.
Alright stop drooling already. We think Wired resembles a super clean, super fun hybrid of Cubase and Reason. No, really, you can close your mouth now.
To top things off, we have just confirmed that Wired will now be included in the first release of Ubuntu Studio! This is also great news to anyone who has tried to compile Wired themselves.
