Recording - August 2010 - 32

For a long time, computer-based musicians have had only two realistic paths forward: the Microsoft way, and the Apple way. Linux has always had a lot of promise as a third alternative—it’s stable, powerful, runs on many Intel-based computers (generally the ones you’d normally buy or build to run Windows), relatively free from viruses and other malware, and perhaps most important, it’s open-source. That means it’s constantly being developed by a worldwide community of experts rather than a single company with its own agenda, it grows and responds to its users’ needs in ways that commercial operating systems can’t—and it’s free!

Where’s the software? The other major problem that usually stymies musicians looking to switch is software support. Linux comes with a huge number of programs that one can easily install with the click of a mouse, including some surprisingly good pro audio applications. Unfortunately, most of these music apps are unfamiliar to many musicians, so a musician looking to switch is faced with the unpalatable task of throwing away all of his or her current software and learning a bunch of new stuff from scratch, an option most folks are loath to attempt. Rather than accept this at

Running Your Studio Under Linux

A Windows-based audio computer—without Windows?

BY DARRELL BURGAN

In the past, Linux has earned the reputation of being overly technical, hard to use, and difficult to learn. But new Linux distributions (called “distros”) like Ubuntu and others are quickly closing the usability gap, and beg the question: can a musician who isn’t a software whiz be productive and comfortable in modern Linux? Has a third path forward finally opened up? Recently, I needed to rebuild my main music computer, and I took the opportunity to answer these questions for myself. I installed the latest version of Ubuntu available at the time (v9.10), and set out to see how productive I could be making music in such an environment. This article summarizes my experience, and hopefully helps draw some useful conclusions for others who might be considering a similar move. Getting started: not just for geeks any more First, I am happy to report that the usability obstacle is almost a non-issue nowadays. Modern distributions of Linux, including the Ubuntu distro I prefer, have really come a long way in making Linux accessible even to folks who are completely non-technical, with a familiar and easy-to-learn graphical interface rather than the infamous command-line typing of the old days. My kids use the Xubuntu desktop software on their computer upstairs all the time, and I’m even switching my wife over to using Ubuntu on her computer. They all immediately were able to figure out how to get around in the environment and use the computer to get things done. Before I forget: you can get Ubuntu for free at ubuntu.com, a great website which can teach you a lot about not only Ubuntu itself but open-source software in general (“How can something this good be free?”). A few things are still harder to do than they are on Windows or Mac OS X, but a lot of things are strikingly easy. For example, driver support, previously the bane of Linux distributions, is now so strong in Linux that it is usually simpler to get typical devices working in Linux than in Windows! Linux really has reached the point where typical computer users can install and run Linux with little or no problem.
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face value, I decided to try to migrate as many of my favorite Windows applications over to Ubuntu as possible, on the hope that at least a few of them could run without modification. How is it possible to run Windows software in Ubuntu at all? Well, nearly all Linux distros include a subsystem called Wine, which at its root is a collection of libraries and programs that are able to fool many Windows apps into thinking they are running under Windows XP, not Ubuntu. In the past, I have been a skeptic of the Wine approach, figuring it to be useful only for tinkering and experimentation. However, the latest versions of Wine have become surprisingly good at enabling some of the most persnickety and Windowsreliant software to run, perhaps even better under Ubuntu than under their native Windows. Count me as a convinced former skeptic! Windows without Windows Installing Windows programs under Ubuntu was trivial. I double-clicked SETUP.EXE, and Ubuntu ran the installer inside of Wine just as if it were running any other Ubuntu app. After installation, I launched the programs just as easily. A few programs were a bit ticklish about the change in window management, but overall I was delighted at how much of my music toolkit migrated into Ubuntu this way with no problem. Here’s just a sampling of things I was able to do, without resorting to the command-line interface a single time: • Install Cockos REAPER, my primary DAW, with no noticeable change in performance • Install Steinberg WaveLab, which seemed to run even faster than under Windows • Install AudioMulch 2, another plug-in host and music construction platform (shown in the screenshot above) • Run nearly all of my favorite VST and VSTi plug-ins inside REAPER and WaveLab

http://www.ubuntu.com

Recording - August 2010

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