Ardour3
Posted: 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.
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.