[ardour-users] New to the list with some questions.

[Paul Davis]

> 1. I've seen that VST's are somewhat supported (saw a little blip about it
> on usenet). What VSTi's and FX are supported and how is it done?
> 

it relies on Wine and for the time being, i do not recommend that new
ardour users attempt to use it. if you insist, mark knecht and geoff
beasley will be your guides.

> 2. I don't see any mention of sequencing in Ardour, does it have one?

as it tries to state clearly  on ardour.org, it has no MIDI sequencing
capabilities at this time. it does have extensive MIDI control features
(MIDI Machine Control, MIDI CC control, MTC slave/master, MIDI feedback
to h/w control surfaces etc.) On Linux right now, Rosegarden would be
the equivalent of a pre-SX version of Cubase. MuSE has it strengths as
well. There are other kinds of sequencers, based more on pattern
sequencers and trackers, like seq24. You can run Rosegarden, seq24, MuSe
and Hydrogen (one of the best drum machines (on any platform) in sample-
sync with Ardour, although this does lack the convenience of it being
all in the same program. It has some benefits as well, so don't overlook
this possibility.

> 3. The machine I'm going to set this up on is a P3-550 w/512MB RAM and an
> SB128 PCI card. All of my music is done using virtual synths and no acoustic
> recording of any kind. The card should be ok to use for this, but I'd like
> to make sure latency doesn't go above 20ms.

the main issue with the SB128's is whether they can be used for
symmetrical duplex i/o (i.e. the same bit width for input and output).
many early SB's could not do this. if not, it will be usable, but not as
useful, even though i know you insist you never record any acoustic
signals. you would need to use the -P flag with JACK so that the card is
used for playback only (if it cannot do symmetrical duplex).

a P3-550 is a pretty underpowered machine for s/w synthesis these days.
i have a dual PII-400, and its useful for audio recording, mixing etc.,
but i can't run more than 1 or 2 powerhouse synths at a time. 

> 4. Any chance that anyone has Rewire working under Linux? I'd love to be
> able to use Reason or Rebirth with Ardour.

Rewire does not exist on Linux - it is a proprietary system. We have
something that is better in almost every way - JACK - which does the
same thing. You cannot use Reason or Rebirth with Ardour - these are
Windows programs and will not run on Linux even under Wine. There are
people working on making a JACK.udp VST plugin that would allow you to
route audio from a windows/mac machine running this kind of program back
to a Linux (or OS X) machine running JACK. Read more about JACK
at http://jackit.sf.net/ or for a simpler overview,
http://ardour.org/jack.php

> I make Detroit Techno, Minimal Techno, Electro, and Deep House. I use FM7,
> Absynth, Pro53, Lounge Lizard2, EVP73, EXSP24, Attack, Kontakt, and a few
> free VSTi's for the bulk of my synth duties if I'm working in Cubase or FL
> Studio. I use TC Native Reverb, Waves Power Pack, and a good number of other
> fx. I need to know that I'm still going to be able to use them in Ardour in
> order to be productive with it. 

you will not. you cannot use any plugins that use PACE iLock copy
protection on linux, which rules out all waves plugins unless you plan
to use cracked copies. i don't know for sure what TC is using. you
should not plan on using ardour if your basic plan is to continue using
a set of windows-based tools. this just isn't going to work. we have
done, and will continue to do some work on extending the possibilities
in this area, but we have some awesome tools available on linux, and in
the end there just isn't enough time in the day to deal with all the
hacks required to run win32 software on linux.

--p