[Ardour-Users] financial ideas commentary

[Geoff Beasley]

On Fri, 2009-01-16 at 08:20 +0100, Paul Davis wrote:

> . It is, however, my
> responsibility, and I thank everyone for both their existing financial
> support and their ideas and enthusiasm.

your comments resonate with me also Paul. I had the studio kicked out
from under me in 2008 after 7 years ( nearly 6 of those on or around
ardour/linux)  and after 21 years of recording/performing/composing full
time i'm now skidding out of control towards the brick wall of fiscal
oblivion. i get exactly what you mean. i wish there was a way of
assisting you directly and moreover assisting all of my open source
friends/colleagues around the globe. 

with me, it's been hard enough when there was infrastructure in place
that meant i could at least keep the doors open, but at 53 and with 7
kids at home there's not a lot of prospects for me either.  

the point i would make is that as with all endeavours, the road to
commercial success always seems to 'cost' more than it 'makes' for a
very long time. there are some amazing and unique features in ardour,
some (mtc sync) are far and away the best example i've seen of their
type. there are weaknesses as well of course, but none too serious as to
make the overall product any less useful than many others on the DAW
horizon. I think the biggest issue with ardour is the commitment a new
user has to make to get started. then there is the ongoing performance
issues as systems expand. WE know linux is by far the best OS for
everything computer, but trying to convince the world is another matter
all together. 

it is well overdue for a 'live-ardour-cd'...from the dev's themselves. a
lean, 'ideal' environment for maximizing ardour's system requirements
and nothing else. that's how you could tell the world about it;
pro-actively. use ARCH linux as the base;it's incredibly lite,fast and
flexible.also there are scripts to help make live cd's. the cd , maybe
in conjunction with a usb drive, would create a great "test rig" for
interested parties to try before commiting and get the setup WE want
them to have without having to decide which windowmanager or what gui
thing goes where. send them to every recording studio in the world and
see what happens.

because the commercial imperative hasn't been the driving force behind
it's core development, ardour is stable in many ways other daw's are
not. it is heartening to see so many passionate and dedicated supporters
here. i continue to be one myself, and hope to be  back makin' music
asap....

please don't lose the faith Paul. what you have achieved with jack &
ardour are truly great soft's that sound magnificent and work elegantly
and robustly. it's a pleasure to use them and i for one hail you as the
greatest power for good the computer music industry has today. 

i hope that one day you and your fabulous creations will receive the
recognition and the rewards you deserve. the thought of pro-sound &linux
without you is unthinkable. 


what say you everyone... how about a "real" solely ardour live-cd  and
perhaps a tutorial video on board?  let ardour speak for itself.
i don't have a lot of experience in this, but i'll help as much as i
can... perhaps i could make the video for eg

it's what i can give atm. 


best,

g.

Geoff Beasley
Composer,Performer,Producer
Laughing Boy Records
www.laughingboyrecords.com