This page will try to describe the process of getting started with music production in Linux in a user-friendly way.

Hopefully this will be useful for people that have no or little experience in the area, or producers switching from a Mac/Windows environment.

Note: This guide is based on Ubuntu 8.04, not Ubuntu Studio. Please add comments where the two differs.

First step - Platform for production

Hardware support

Before everything (and especially if you plan to use Firewire hardware), you have to be sure your hardware is supported by Ubuntu Studio.

For Mac and Windows platforms, manufacturers usually provide ASIO-compliant drivers. Things are a bit different in the linux world. Before considering buying new hardware, please check https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio/HardwareOptimization to be sure your hardware is ok with ALSA and JACK.

This page will detail where to check if your hardware is compatible, depending on your audio setup.

Real-time kernel

The first vital step to a working environment is to have a real-time kernel. (Note that if you are using UbuntuStudio, you do not need to perform this step, as the real-time kernel is already in use).

This makes sure that the audio recorded gets the highest priority possible so the audio quality will be good without skips.

To install this kernel, open up a terminal and run:

sudo apt-get install linux-rt

Also, we need to give the audio-group the rights to set real-time priorities, lock a big amount of memory and prioritize processes in general.

In the terminal, issue these commands:

sudo su -c 'echo @audio - rtprio 99 >> /etc/security/limits.conf'
sudo su -c 'echo @audio - memlock 250000 >> /etc/security/limits.conf'
sudo su -c 'echo @audio - nice -10 >> /etc/security/limits.conf'

Note: Modifying /etc/security/limits.conf Should Not Be Required Anymore
Beginning with the Ubuntu package jack-audio-connection-kit-0.118+svn3796-1ubuntu2 editing of /etc/security/limits.conf should not be required. JACK will write the following during post-installation to /etc/security/limits.d/audio.conf:

# generated by jackd's postinst.
# Do not edit this file by hand, use
# dpkg-reconfigure -p high jack
# instead
@audio - rtprio 99
@audio - memlock unlimited
#@audio - nice -19

Please note that creating or modifying /etc/security/limits.conf may cause conflicts with the JACK written /etc/security/limits.d/audio.conf settings.

Email from Linux Audio Users mailing list: http://linuxaudio.org/mailarchive/lau/2010/3/5/166428
Debian Bug #507248: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=507248
-- Scott Lavender 4/25/10

Now, reboot the system and boot into your -rt kernel (should be default).

This kernel is the same as the standard kernel but with real-time support, so everything should be as normal and the kernel can be used even when the machine is not used for music production.

JACK

Note: You don't need to start JACK through Qjackctl in this step, it can be handled from within Ardour. But later on, when applications should be connected, it is needed - so we might as well get used to it right away.

What is JACK ?

When it comes to the audio hardware in Linux, the kernel and ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Interface) take care of getting it to work.

But this stack is unable to provide a transport channel for different audio applications to "talk" to eachother (audio sequencer and drum machine, for example). To accomplish this and to optimize the sound processing to lower latency, the JACK system is used.

Note: The easiest setup is to have a secondary soundcard with which JACK will be used. If only one soundcard is present, JACK will take control over it and it won't be possible to play any "regular" audio while JACK is running. When starting JACK through QJackCtl, be sure no other process is using the soundcard.

Installation

sudo apt-get install qjackctl

Alternative replacement software: Rosegarden

Function names: Digital Audio Workstation/Audio sequencer

Windows/Mac equivalent: Cubase, Logic, GarageBand

Ardour (http://ardour.org/) is a Digital Audio Workstation. You can use it to record, edit and mix multi-track audio. It is the central place for music production in Ubuntu Studio.

To install, enter that convenient terminal and issue:

sudo apt-get install ardour

Alternative replacement software:

Function names: Drum machine

Windows/Mac equivalent: EZ Drummer, Reason

Hydrogen is an easy drum machine to get started with, the downside is that it tends to crash when used with Ardour over JACK.

Install from terminal:

sudo apt-get install hydrogen

sudo apt-get install blop caps cmt fil-plugins ladspa-sdk mcp-plugins omins swh-plugins tap-plugins

wget http://homerecording.de/~4damind/hr/wineasio-x_0.3.deb
sudo dpkg -i wineasio-x_0.3.deb
regsvr32 wineasio.dll