Tom's Definitive Linux Software Roundup: Audio Apps

[adamovera]

[citation][nom]mayne92[/nom]Nice Linux roundup! I love reading your Linux articles Adam.[/citation]
Thanks
[citation][nom]compton[/nom]One aspect of music playback is supp)ort for ASIO and WASAPI. While I have a couple of options for Windows (Foobar, J.River), I'm not sure what my options are for Linux. Any thoughts?[/citation]
Enable real-time processing or use a real-time kernel, and JACK. See the next article, Audio Production, for more on these.
[citation][nom]maxram[/nom]Nice article.However, I'm missing a section covering WEB-based audio managers...Hints: Ampache, Subsonic, Ampjuke, kPlaylist...[/citation]
I missed Subsonic, neat app, probably should have been in Internet Apps, assuming it qualified back then. Ampache, Ampjuke, and KPlaylist don't qualify - aren't in the repos and don't offer deb/rpm installers.
[citation][nom]barsanuphe[/nom]what, no mention of the glorious thing that is MPD?[/citation]
MPD is a server-side program, see page 2.
[citation][nom]w4rr10r[/nom]Thank you for great article. I've been really surprised that you've mentioned even not very popular apps like JuK (but haven't seen i.e. very interesting Bangarang). BTW great choice of music. ~_^Personally, I use Audacity for recording. Yeah, I know that it's rather an app for producers and it'll be probably mentioned in the next part...[/citation]
Bangarang will be in Video Apps. Thanks Yes, Audacity is in the next one: Audio Production.
[citation][nom]mamarok[/nom]I just wonder why you review Amarok's 2.2.0 version which came out in October 2009 while Kubuntu 10.10 ships version 2.3.2 (released in September 2010) by default?[/citation]
Image Apps, Audio Apps, Audio Production, and Video Apps were originally going to be one segment (Multimedia Apps), so the point in time that we looked at the apps in these segments jumps all over. If I recall correctly, Amarok and Rhythmbox, along with many of the video apps were actually looked at months ago, possibly before Image Apps published. We redo if a major change has occurred (e.g. a whole number version change, new features, removal of old features, interface overhaul). Any negatives we found are re-checked in the latest version to see if they are still present, and yes, unfortunately Amarok is still kinda slow Trying to get the latest version of so many applications in one article is totally infeasible, that's why we included the version numbers to begin with.

 

[WheelsOfConfusion]

I've been wondering why people (on Gnome at least) use Banshee over Rhythmbox, they seem to be almost identical in functionality that I've been able to see, except that Banshee burns CDs directly instead of using a Nautilus dialog or something. I've found Rhythmbox is pretty resource-light compared to other options like Amarok and Banshee, too.

 

[adamovera]

[citation][nom]WheelsOfConfusion[/nom]I've been wondering why people (on Gnome at least) use Banshee over Rhythmbox, they seem to be almost identical in functionality that I've been able to see, except that Banshee burns CDs directly instead of using a Nautilus dialog or something. I've found Rhythmbox is pretty resource-light compared to other options like Amarok and Banshee, too.[/citation]
Banshee rips and burns CDs, plays videos, and accesses Miro content - that's at least three extra apps it takes out (CD software, video player, and Miro). It's also for OSX and soon Windows too, and cross-platform apps are much preferred for anybody using multiple OSes (an increasing trend these days). It has duplicates for most of the best Rhythmbox extensions, and it can import from iTunes, Rhythmbox, and Amarok (making switching to it very easy). I have found Banshee to be fast, not any faster than Rhythmbox or WinAmp, but faster than Amarok, and certainly faster than iTunes.

Personally, I use Amarok since I much prefer KDE to GNOME and actually like the new Amarok. Banshee's video capabilities don't entice me because nothing is replacing VLC for my video needs - they'll have to pry VLC out of my cold dead hands. That, and I still hold a candle for WinAmp, making it hard for any media manager to live up to. Atypical personal choices aside, I can easily see why Banshee is rapidly becoming the community favorite: it is the most feature complete, available for multiple platforms, and is easy to switch to.

 

[vtpoet]

Although it's not the point of your article, it nevertheless glosses over the extreme hit or miss "Audio Recording" capabilities of any linux distro. For most users, using the built in mic jack is a roll of the dice. Either it will work or it won't. Linux devs simply haven't seen it as a priority. There's ample evidence to back up this assertion at the Ubuntu forums. Audio input is, for the time being, Linux's Achilles heel. If anyone is thinking seriously considering Linux as an audiophile, the best advice I can think of is to buy a computer through System76 or some other Linux retailer. Then you will get a system that is 100% Linux capable. USB mics, by the way, are also extremely hit or miss. Expect to do a good deal of googling and hacking.

 

[adamovera]

[citation][nom]vtpoet[/nom]Although it's not the point of your article, it nevertheless glosses over the extreme hit or miss "Audio Recording" capabilities of any linux distro. For most users, using the built in mic jack is a roll of the dice. Either it will work or it won't. Linux devs simply haven't seen it as a priority. There's ample evidence to back up this assertion at the Ubuntu forums. Audio input is, for the time being, Linux's Achilles heel. If anyone is thinking seriously considering Linux as an audiophile, the best advice I can think of is to buy a computer through System76 or some other Linux retailer. Then you will get a system that is 100% Linux capable. USB mics, by the way, are also extremely hit or miss. Expect to do a good deal of googling and hacking.[/citation]
I've never had a problem with the mic jack on any mobo, on any OS for that matter. Perhaps the issue is with the front jacks, sometimes they are not connected to the mobo properly. Sometimes the connector pins don't even fit the mobo without having to cut plastic or split the pins. Try the back ones to rule that out. USB mics on the other hand, I'll take your word for it.

 

[Guest]

This article didn't mention PyTone http://www.luga.de/pytone/ which has one great feature that I have been looking for in other music managers: "plays currently selected song on second player (if your computer has a second sound card or one card with more than one line out)". This feature means that you can use PyTone during a party. Even while the playlist is playing on the main output, you can use your headphones to preview other tracks as you add them to the playlist. Do any graphical music managers have this feature?

 

[Guest]

JACK is the approximate equivalent to ASIO/WASAPI. JACK allows predictable, low latency (e.g. below 10 ms) interconnections been audio/midi hardware and applications. Applications which are "JACK" aware can be inter-connected (both audio and midi) very easily (I think Rewire in Windows does something similar).

 

[dg6nee]

Hi, I am the current maintainer of "Kwave" and I must say that your article was really frustrating. From what you wrote I cannot believe that you have ever started that program. Of course you can import a large number of different file formats, not only wav, just MP3 support might disabled in your distribution, due to legal issues. You can also tear off the toolbars and rearrange them. Is the "missing" recording button really a handicap? - just press F2!
BTW: I released v0.8.6 today, maybe you give that a try...

 

[Guest]

Great article, but IMHO in terms of Tag Editors it completely missed the boat...puddletag is the last word in tagging audio in Linux: http://puddletag.sourceforge.net/

Anyone looking for the power and versatility of mp3tag in a Linux environment will be right at home using puddletag. It also contains a host of additional features designed to make tagging as painless as possible.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.webupd8.org%2F2011%2F01%2Fpuddletag-awesome-mp3tag-like-editor.html&rct=j&q=webupd8%20puddletag&ei=i8Z1TbSyLsfEsgbe9uDxBA&usg=AFQjCNF66S7T3wl6jXrqAuRIXIvvKn4-2A&cad=rja

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CBkQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.webupd8.org%2F2011%2F01%2Fpuddletag-audio-tag-editor-gets-ubuntu.html&rct=j&q=webupd8%20puddletag&ei=i8Z1TbSyLsfEsgbe9uDxBA&usg=AFQjCNFjXvfNfmNkqos57CNeaSl3BCLJ9Q&cad=rja