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Open-source DAW round-up

There's not a lot of extra money lying around here in my home studio (The Shack), so if I can find a cheap or free way to get the job done, I love it. GarageBand has been a great platform for podcasting, and the price was definitely right, since it was included for free on my MacBook Pro. (I did splurge when I bought my laptop a year ago, and bought Logic Express, which is working well for me.) But I'm loving the fact that there are some great open-source DAWs that are reaching maturity these days. Seems like everyone knows about Audacity, and it's a reliable workhorse that has been very popular with the podcasting community, but there are some other open-source digital audio workstation (DAW) applications out there, including Ardour, Koblo, Rosegarden and Traverso.

This won't be a comprehensive review of these applications--maybe when I get more time--but here's a quick run-down on each one:

Audacity

Audacity is available for Windows, MacOSX and Linux, and it's been around for a long time, now. The current stable version is 1.2.6 on Windows, Linux and MacOSX (PPC), and 1.2.5 on MacOSX (Intel); version 1.3.6 beta is also available for all three platforms (universal binary on MacOSX). With an optional VST Enabler, Audacity can load VST plug-ins for Windows and MacOSX, and it also can use LADSPA (Linux Audio Developer's Simple Plug-in API) plug-ins.

Ardour

Ardour is available for Linux and MacOSX, and the current version is 2.71. As of this writing, there is an Intel build for MacOSX, and a PPC build is coming "shortly." Source code is available for both Linux and MacOSX, as well. Ardour requires Jack, which has the benefit of making Ardour compatible with any audio interface that is supported by Jack. LADSPA plug-ins are supported, as well.

Koblo Studio

Koblo Studio is part of the Koblo project, which, according to the developers, is a bit like ProTools, Skype and eBay rolled into one--check out the Koblo main site for information about the Koblo community and collaboration tools (there's an interview with Michael Logue of Koblo.com that you might want to hear on the Inside Home Recording Podcast, #62). Koblo Studio is currently in beta, and does not support VST plug-ins or MIDI, but those features are planned. Beta version 0.9 is currently available for Windows and MacOSX. Koblo is looking for Linux developers to port the project to Linux, and the source code is available.

Rosegarden

Rosegarden is a Linux-based "general music composition and editing environment," with audio recording, MIDI sequencing, and and score editing capability; LADSPA plug-ins are supported, and DSSI synth plug-ins are supported, as well. The current release is 1.7.2. A variety of helpful tutorials are also available at the Rosegarden site.

Traverso

Traverso is a multi-track audio recording and editing application that purports to be "complete solution from recording to CD Mastering." The current stable release is 0.42.0, and Traverso is available for Windows, MacOSX and Linux. Like Ardour, Traverso appears to rely on Jack, and it uses LV2 plug-ins. CD burning tools are also integrated in the application.

If you try out any of these applications, I'd be interested in hearing about your experiences with them.

Where to find free track sheets to use in your recording projects

I suppose you could argue that the days of pencil-and-paper track sheets in project studios are gone, given that many people rely on their recording software itself to tell them what's going on in each track, etc. I'll accept that I might be a bit old-school on this one, but I still like to use track sheets. If you do, too, read on.

What follows is a list of places where you can download free track sheets of various types, typically in PDF format, and print your own track sheets when you need them. Some of these sheets are platform-specific (e.g., customized for use with Roland, Mackie or Tascam gear, etc.), but even if you don't find exactly what you're looking for, maybe one of these sheets will inspire you to create a track sheet design of your own. If you do, and if you're willing to share it, please let me know.

Roland VS-880 track sheets, PDF
Roland VS-880 track sheets, MS-Excel
Mackie track sheet, PDF
Mixing track sheet, PDF
Tascam track sheet, PDF
Simple track sheet, PDF
Elaborate track sheet with pull-down menus, PDF
Studio track sheet, PDF

Just in case you prefer to pay for a product (on the premise that you get what you pay for), here are a a few other resources that aren't free:

Silent Way's Ultimate Track Sheet for MS-Excel, $1.00 download
AnyTrac 8, Windows track sheet software, $49.90 download

If this has been helpful to you, I'd appreciate any Diggs and/or Stumbles; your comments are also welcome!

The New Notes from the Shack

If you've been reading Notes from the Shack for a while, you'll notice that the focus has shifted a bit. That's intentional--I had been writing in recent months about quitting my job and starting a new life working for myself in my home office, but that endeavor has taken on a life of its own in a new blog I've been writing since September 2008--Underpants Office. If you're still interested in that stuff, please head on over there and subscribe.

The focus of Notes from the Shack is shifting back to what I had originally hoped it would be when I started it--home recording and making music.

"The Shack" is the name I gave my little home studio/office/study/station a long time ago, when I became an amateur radio operator. Radio nerds usually refer to the place where they have their radios set up as their "radio shack" or just "the shack." My shack is a back bedroom that is home to my books, my radio gear, my home office workspace, my junk, and my home recording gear. If it sounds like a lot of stuff for one room, you're right--it gets a little crowded in here at times. That means I have to constantly be careful to keep things as simple and compact as possible, but that's a good thing.

So I'm eager to get back to writing about home studio recording and stuff. The recording world has changed a lot since I first got into it, and it's still changing all the time. This blog won't touch much on high-end tools, because my set-up is very low-end. Although there are some whose home recording setups rival those in professional studios, most of us get by on a lot less gear (or a lot worse gear), and we're always looking for ways to improve the quality of our recordings, even though we can't buy the best stuff. That's where I'm headed with this, so I hope you'll enjoy it and benefit from it. I also hope you'll subscribe, so you won't miss any of the content that is posted here.

Thanks!