Linux for Professional Audio Recording and Editing

Who say the applications and systems for audio recording and editing just only can doing within Microsoft Windows or Macintosh? Bullshit! We can do that in Linux with some special Linux distros. One of them is Musix GNU+Linux, and it's opensource and absolutely free! Musix GNU+Linux is a Free Operating system intended for musicians and users in general. Musix GNU+Linux also contains an enormous collection of free programs. The system will boot from your CD/DVD drive, with no need to install anything on your hard disk. The programs currently support the Spanish and English languages.

It is based upon the Knoppix distribution. The underlying system has been enhanced with the usual optimizations, but Musix is the only system I encountered that specifically offers the user a choice between a normal kernel (2.6.16) and one optimized for realtime multimedia performance (2.6.15-rt). That's a nice touch. Here are some key features of Musix GNU Linux:

• Master for CD
• Publish musical scores
• Print musical scores
• Create MIDI Instruments
• Record and reproduce Audio and MIDI
• Edit and mix Audio and MIDI tracks with Multitrack Sequencers/Editors
• Perform noise-reduction to recover recordings
• Use effects in real time with any device (microphone, line, etc.)
• Connect a keyboard or another MIDI device and control the available software synthesizers

... and many more things, but Musix GNU+Linux contains applications for many other activities besides music or audio... like for example: file management, graphics design, Internet, programming, office (spreadsheet, text processor), data retrieval, multimedia, etc. You can see the complete menu of programs available by clicking in "Musix", located in the taskbar.

The IceWM window manager is the default desktop, but you can switch it to KDE if you have sufficient resources. By the way, note the row of boxes at the bottom of the screenshot in Figure 1. Each icon represents a group of applications, including a General group and others for audio/MIDI apps, Internet-related programs and utilities, tools for administrative tasks, office-oriented software, etc. Click on an icon, and the screen changes with a new background image and a new set of program icons and folders. I liked this method of organizing the system, it invited experimentation and play.

Musix does offer Fluxbox as a desktop alternative, but selecting it killed the X server. Oh well, I was quite happy with IceWM.

Okay, about soundcards and network connection. The Musix Controls dialog (in the Admin group) includes an option for installing dual cards.The M-Audio and SBLive cards were perfectly configured and ready for use. By the way, Musix's default settings for JACK were good.

Performance was excellent. Connections were easily made, recording in Rosegarden and Ardour was simple and direct, and no xruns were reported during my recording and playback tests. Every program I tried worked, and lots of example files are provided for checking out the variety of included sound and music applications. I would definitely recommend Studio To Go for a newbie's introduction to Linux and its audio/MIDI software, but experienced users should also enjoy Studio To Go's many virtues. The Fervent Software team includes some of the most talented and experienced members of the Linux audio development world, and they are devoted to improving their products. Studio To Go 2.0 is on the horizon, and Rosegarden 1.4 is available now.

It's a 100% free multimedia operating system intended for music production, graphic design, audio and video edition, and all kind of tasks. It contains an enormous collection of free (as in freedom) programs that can replace Windows.
You can download it here.