Ardour3

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Alex
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Ardour3

Post by Alex » Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:56 pm

I started out installing the latest version of Ardour (compiled from source 2.3.1) and am happy to report that it went ok, and is stable on my machine. And after spending a few solid days finding my way around it, i'm also happy to report that the programme seems to being going foward quite well. My last look at Ardour was a few years ago, and the difference between then and now shows quite a bit of work has been done, not only in new features (Rhythm Ferret, Rubberband, etc..), but i guess some tidying up too. It certainly sits well here, and that wasn't the case for me in the past.

Because i'm smart/foolish (pick one) enough to look ahead, i also noticed that A3 was being worked on, including midi (always of interest to me). So after a couple of adventures, i managed to get the latest svn version compiled on the box.
Although the appearance of Ardour will always be, well, Ardour.., 3 looks quite similar to 2.x. But there's also quite a bit going under the hood as well, and in my particular focus, i began looking carefully at the midi progress. I have to say here, that i'm quite impressed with the layout, design, and what seems intention of midi in Ardour. It's obvious that the devs have worked quite hard to match midi appearance, popup box layout, and commands as close to Audio as possible, maintaining the tape recorder feel of Ardour. (Imho.)
At the same time, the Ardour team have approached the midi from the perspective of inline editing, i guess with the intent to keep the regions paradigm that Ardour is now, probably, famous for. And that's the bit i'm watching with keen interest. Inline editing is almost a 'holy grail' for midi users, and for the A3 team to start with this speaks of an understanding of what users hope to find in the midicentric toolbox. Far from being a clumsy start to the integration of the audio worlds red headed step child (midi), the Ardour team have worked to integrate it from a functional POV, and it shows.
I have a couple of challenges with the bleeding edge build (no surprise for a work in progress) in respect to notes on/off, but i have to give a nod of respect to the Ardour team for the work so far. It's modern, forward thinking, and in my intial tests, lashed to Linuxsampler, performs ok within the framework of a new component build . Discussion is going on at the moment about the best way to handle multiple midi channels in tracks, and as this becomes a little clearer, i'll report back with progress.

It's objective and fair to say, that this progress represents a potentially big step forward in linux daw options, and i'm sure i'm not the only one who is waiting to see what happens next, with a feeling of light/tunnel, particularly those of us who use a lot of tracks, and resource.
Having inline editing and multi midi channel per track as options, with a full orchestra of a couple of hundred channels loaded in LS, is a tempting prospect, to say the least.
Ardour3 is still very much work in progress, but, it seems to me at least, so far so good.

More to come.

Alex.

lowkey
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Re: Ardour3

Post by lowkey » Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:39 pm

Hey Alex :)

Since Ive learned how to compile (thanks Cuse for your tutorial) Ive been practicing with everything I can lay my hands on because the diffrence between a standard install and a compiled one on my system is like night and day!
Ardour 2.3 compiled has to be seen to believed. It's hardware fast on my system. The routing needs some thinking about if your not used to it. It's almost like Linux in audio form ie "Here's a box of Lego...Go play" :)
I tried Ardour 3 too. Yep it wont win any beauty contest's but it does look impressive; especially the midi side off thing's.
Bang on the money when it comes to audio vs midi with most programs. I think that''s why Im enjoying ReNoise so much because it's the third option lol The midi side of Ardour 3 look's like it'll be ery powerfull.

Hmm Redheads :D

Alex
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Re: Ardour3

Post by Alex » Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:20 pm

Lowkey,
2.3.1 has been impressive here too. I finally got my head around it, and using qjackctl for the porting makes it easy.
Like anything i guess practise helps, and i've been giving ardour a fair shake this last week and a bit.

I have to agree emphatically with the potential for midi in A3. Inline editing. Hmmm. Lovely stuff.

Alex.

p.s. Have you had a notes off issue in A3?

lowkey
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Re: Ardour3

Post by lowkey » Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:55 pm

Yes the notes have stuck a couple of times. Is the time line scrunched up on yours?

Alex
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Re: Ardour3

Post by Alex » Wed Mar 05, 2008 3:20 pm

Lowkey, yes.
But its a quick matter to unscrunch the timeline.

I've posted a bug report on the ardour tracker for the notes off problem, so i guess we'll see what happens.
I am mindful at the moment though, of A3 being very much in ongoing development.
As hard as it is, i guess we'll need to continue to be patient!
:mrgreen:

Alex.

(Inline Editing. mmmmm.)

lowkey
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Re: Ardour3

Post by lowkey » Wed Mar 05, 2008 5:36 pm

The day's of people saying "Linux is almost there for audio" are almost numbered.

This year is going to be far from boring.

GO PENGUISTA!!! :D

Alex
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Re: Ardour3

Post by Alex » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:39 am

Ok, a quick update.

A3 is going fairly well, with the odd crash. Hardly surprising given the bleeding edge development, and all in all, progress is good.
And to add to a bit of enthusiasm here, i have now managed to drive LS from a midi track in A3, with the Audio playback coming back in from LS. Doesn't sound like much, but it's one step closer to midi/audio nirvana. I still face a challenge with being able to play midi, and record only audio, but i will mention this to the devs and see what happens. It also seems a firmer decision has been made on a port per track, but i will confirm this when it happens, so we could look forward to multiple midi channels per track after all. Fingers crossed.

There is still a midi notes off issue, but this has been forwarded to the ardour tracker, so hopefully, they'll fix this fairly soon.

That's all for now, but things are definitely looking up.

Alex.

More to come when it happens.

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dahnielson
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Re: Ardour3

Post by dahnielson » Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:42 am

I'm so jealous that you've got A3 up and running. Tried to build it once but didn't have the patience to get it built and working. :geek:
Anders Dahnielson

Ardour2, Qtractor, Linuxsampler, M-AUDIO Delta 1010, Axiom 61, Korg D12, AKAI S2000, E-MU Proteus 2k, Roland R-5, Roland HP 1300e, Zoom RFX-1000, 4GB RAM x86_64 Intel Pentium Dual 1.80GHz Gentoo Linux

Alex
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Re: Ardour3

Post by Alex » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:55 pm

Anders, it wasn't that hard, just finicky. :mrgreen:

I'm just waiting for them to sort out the notes off issue, and i can get one with giving it a more thorough workout. But with multiple midichannels per track, inline editing,etc.. it may well be a big answer to working with a lot of ports/channels/voices, and at the same time keep the track count down.

In the meantime, i'm flying with qtractor as a quick draft alternative, and i think it will stay that way. The A3 team are working on midi import as we speak.

Woohoo!!


Alex.
8-)

p.s. Now if someone would build a '28 hour per day' programme, i'd be happy, lol.

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dahnielson
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Re: Ardour3

Post by dahnielson » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:19 pm

Alex wrote:p.s. Now if someone would build a '28 hour per day' programme, i'd be happy, lol.
Well you can always use Chris Cannam's Rubber Band for some time stretching. :D
Anders Dahnielson

Ardour2, Qtractor, Linuxsampler, M-AUDIO Delta 1010, Axiom 61, Korg D12, AKAI S2000, E-MU Proteus 2k, Roland R-5, Roland HP 1300e, Zoom RFX-1000, 4GB RAM x86_64 Intel Pentium Dual 1.80GHz Gentoo Linux

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