#351

I wrote this tiny thing to make it easier to configure my laptop automatically on startup for playing music. It chomps lines either in a text file or piped in:

It’s dumb but sounded similar to what you described.
Nowadays I just script connections in bash.

1 Like
#352

Sorry, I must be slow.

You don’t have to click drag anything? You define your ins and outs, and then select which ones should automatically connect, and click connect at the bottom. This essentially becomes a rule-system for which ports should always automatically connect to what. You can save the whole she-bang in a xml file, and in this way switch rules-system, although I always run on one definition.

I promise I’ll leave you alone now :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#353

Oh sorry! I assumed when you said “patchbay” you were talking about the GUI with the ports. I had no idea there was a rule-system or method to autoconnect. I guess I just need to RTFM :slight_smile: Thanks!

1 Like
#354

:slight_smile:
Click “patchbay” button, define your ins and outs, connect as you like, press save, enjoy…

1 Like
#355

Not sure if anyone would find it useful but I’ve made a few notes (aiming to refine it into a guide) on creating a solid laptop environment for audio work with Linux:
https://www.hughesindustries.uk/guides/linux-audio-laptop-2020.html

The basic recipe is:

  • A thinkpad x270
  • Manjaro Linux
  • Jack
  • Renoise and Reaper
  • Airwindows plugins (and some via Wine)
  • Class compliant audio interface and various bits of outboard gear

You can skip the ramble and (assuming you have pacman run a setup script audio-setup.sh

7 Likes
#356

Thank you for sharing. I do most of my work in modular. However, I’ve never quite settled on a linux audio environment. That looks quite manageable. Now if only I could find the time…

#357

Tracktion Waveform 9 is now 'Waveform Free" Continuing Tracktions tradition of making their previous versions available for free. Although I find the workflow disorienting it is very full featured for a free linux DAW and I’d like to get used to using it.

2 Likes
#358

I need to get a desktop linux running on a windows laptop, and wondered on people thoughts on which distro…

requirements:

  • reasonably quick to install (I don’t have hours to do an arch linux install :wink:
  • probably debian based, I use Ubuntu quite a bit… though I do use Arch Linux.
  • not to install a ton of apps, I do most stuff from the command line, just using X for things like Supercollider
  • main use is Music and Development

Main target is
Lenovo yoga laptop, i7, 16gb mem, dual booted w/ win10, 50gb(?) partition, want to have touchscreen support.

Ideally, Id like to install the same distro ( * ) onto a dual booted iMac or MacBook Pro.
so support for these would be useful.

( * ) so that when i switch between them I don’t have to faff about with different setup!

Id also like the distro to be follow normal standards (deb or arch linux i guess) … really frustrates me when I use distros that decide to start configuring stuff in unusual ways, have their own package managers, or other weird tools.

Im linux savvy, hence the frustration when things are non-standard, but really dont have time/inclination to install arch linux or similar and spend hours trying to figure out how to get things like touchscreens, sound cards working :wink:

Ive seen talk of ElementaryOS , and Manjaro - are these fairly clean/standard distros?
also many seem to like Linux Mint… or should I just go Ubuntu again (though its a bit bloated …)

Im going to continue to dual boot the Windows laptop, as I do like Ableton/Max a lot - and use this on it occasionally.

But on the flip side I really dont like the windows UI, or its terminal/command line stuff… been spoilt by macOS… so hoping, I can flip over to linux when not using Ableton.
Ive also got Bitwig, so I guess I can give that a ‘test drive’ over on Linux see if i can ween myself off Ableton (at least on that laptop)

#359

I’m using Manjaro on a laptop now and I think it’s very nice. I find it’s very close to what I would end up having with Arch but wrapped in a “it mostly just works” Ubuntu-like experience.

For reference, before Manjaro I was on Arch for about 7 years, and before that Debian for about a decade. But these days I’m mostly running macOS on my main machines, I guess I got lazy :smiley:

2 Likes
#360

yeah macOS has spoilt me too :slight_smile:

I’m currently downloading Elementary OS at the moment… it looks quite ‘user focused’, which I’m intrigued to see how true that is, as ive always wondered if Linux could ever pull off what Apple/macOS did with its UX.

will try it initially on the windows laptop, if I like it will probably chuck it on a mac too.
if it doesn’t I’ll look at Manjaro :slight_smile:

#361

I switched to Manjaro a while back, and while I’ve got used to finding community packages to install those programmes which don’t appear in the default repos, I am mostly annoyed that (unlike my previous installation of Mint), I cannot for the life of me get Carla to run Windows VSTs at all now, despite trying every WINE bridge available and more. So this may yet take me back to Mint if I can ever fix a few other issue with it, mostly connected with swapping my emails in Thunderbird back and forth between distros.

1 Like
#362

I love elementary because every component (DE wise) is beautifully designed and really consistent. I love that it’s a distro made by designer-developers — not devs who add design as an afterthought… It may seem a bit restrictive coming from other distros, but I’ve really grown to love elementary.

1 Like
#363

I’m running Debian stable (have tried alot of distros including audio focused ones). It’s slim, just works and rock steady.

Edit:… with Liquorix realtime kernel…

3 Likes
#364

I’ve got a ThinkPad Yogi 11e and an Asus Zenbook something or other, both running Fedora 30 with KDE and the Fedora Jam audio packages and Stanford’s Planet CCRMA package manager installed.

I’m primarily a mac user and not a super knowledgable Linux person so I can’t say much more than I really like Fedora. :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#365

well my first hurdle… the lenovo had windows installed using intel RTS disk mode (in bios) which means, linux cannot see drive… so, have to switch it to AHCI mode, which means reinstall windows…
oh well, means i get a clean windows install, which is never a bad thing.
(but means i have to wait for windows to download :yawning_face:)

1 Like
#366

I picked up Archlabs and have been using it for a while, never had an issue. It’s very reminiscent of Crunchbang, just an OS, with Openbox, tint2, conky and a couple of default programs. It’s smooth, pretty, low resource.

#367

been using ElementaryOS a lot over last day or so, on my windows laptop (lenovo yogo 910)

I’m really enjoying it, I’m able to actually use it without constant being reminded its Linux :wink:
(I’ve also moved to using Chrome on all my other computers, so that’s helped make it feel more integrated)

I’ve also installed Bitwig on it, and it feels pretty good - I’ve had some minor dsp glitches, but i think that partly down to using an internal sound card - need to do some tests with a usb audio interface , but its also nice to know I can quite easily tweak the OS to get better performance.

so far so good, i suspect this I wont be booting in to windows very often… which is a good thing :slight_smile:

7 Likes
#368

Nice, did you go with Hera? Been running Freya for a few years, but need to update so I can get Bitwig going.

#369

anyone know a keyboard shortcut
in qjackctl to start/stop jack?
thanks :slightly_smiling_face:

#370

This will all depend on your desktop environment, I think. You should be able to control the program via a simple script that ties to keybindings no matter what you are running.

1 Like