FOSS Audio

It seems like it was only a couple years ago Redhat Linux 7.0 hit the net. It appeared to be the perfect toy for an old AMD 350 MHz computer with 192 mb of ram and an old 10 gig hard drive. At this point in the development of Linux things were not so easy to get going. For instance it took me a month to get the X-Windows configured correctly. Finally "Generic" was pointed out to me by a post I had found on the Internet. During this month of no graphical interface, I took the opportunity to get acquainted with the command line. For most part I had the network card working. Surfing the net with Lynx. I eventually figured out how to play wav files from the command line ($ play /home/me/file.wav). After a little while of poking around the system I found that I could record wav files too. ($rec file.wav ) At the time I thought this was pretty cool. With a few more searches on the web I had discovered there were options for recording with flanger, reverb, in reverse, etc. (e.g. $rec file.wav flanger) At that time I was thinking this would be cool if it was more orientated for torwards pro recording. Of course the gui would be nice too. After a few years of trying different Linux distributions I started to see new audio projects coming out of the wood works. Most were crude, but some seemed really useful. During this same time I was still dependent on my other computer for my recording. This system had a Delta 66 PCI card with the breakout box, Acid 1.0, Cubase and Fruity Loops. Need I mention what I was running OS-wise. I remember putting so much money into that system it made me sick. Not to mention the many tracks I lost due to crashes. In retrospect, I had a lot of fun with it. Although, the crashes were unbearable. For a while I stopped recording all together. I had kept my focus on learning more about Linux. When the second release of Ubuntu Linux came out I had totally switched over to Ubuntu Linux. With all the new advancements in drivers I was overwhelmed by all the devices I was able to get working. wireless, video, sound. etc. I had seen Linux go from a "Hobby" for most,to becoming a viable replacement for my "Blue Screen". Once the dust settled and the excitement died down I thought about my Delta 66 card still in my old machine. I thought "I wonder if that will work now"? Well after taking it out of the old box and putting it into my Ubuntu box, I was greatly disappointed. Then, after a few releases later I went to check the card after an update. Surprise! It was functional. From there I was on my journey to find some good audio software. I figured if it was getting this good with Linux, I knew they had to have some great apps out there I could use with the card. So here we are and here is my list. I hope some find this information useful.

FOSS Audio

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