LMN 3, an open source DAW in a box [video] | Hacker News Reader

LMN 3, an open source DAW in a box [video]

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195 pointsbrudgers27 comments

Kudos to the author, literally everything you need to build your own is nicely organized and documented on GitHub: https://github.com/FundamentalFrequency

This is a groovebox, not a DAW. Calling it a DAW understates how cool it is.

I mean it is running a daw so...

I think there are two valid reason to call some grooveboxes daw-in-boxes:

- if it has a song mode allowing one to do a complete composition without having to record his live performance

- if it allows the installation of audio plugins

For example the akai mpc series are basically computers running linux and the mpc software DAW preconfigured to make use of the physical knobs and pads. Same for the NI Maschine+. To me they are Daws in boxes.

However an elektron machine will be more a groovebox.

I was gonna say, I would never use it as a DAW, but it is darn cool!

As a hobbyist musician I'm bemused by the stickiness of the concept of a DAW. There are so many all-in-one devices that meet the definition of each letter in the acronym. But DAW is a proxy for something else, vaguely more professional or expensive.

Then you have the idea of DAWless. Oh well, every field has its vestigial jargon.

It's like you're accusing me of putting the DAW on a pedestal when I said calling this a DAW diminishes it. I must have misunderstood your comment.

Agreed. It is more akin to a “live performance DAW” like Ableton Live, without the PC middleman.

I've been holding off buying a Push since it's widely theorized Push 3 will include a groovebox like Maschine+. Ableton Live is good, but sometimes I want to work away from the computer.

This is like an open source OP-1

I love TE's stuff and I've always thought it was a huge miss that they don't opensource everything.

The new OP-1 looks great and so does the TX-6, but I'm not buying either knowing that I can't maintain/upgrade/contribute.

Will I pay $1200 for a 6-channel mixer with dsp effects? No.

Would I "sponsor" the same exact mixer if it was open hardware/software and hackable? Absolutely, because that should exist in the world.

Same with the M8 (which appears inspired by TE and LSDJ): https://dirtywave.com/products/m8-tracker

Glad to see more open source music hardware happening.

Maybe we're at the beginning of a new DIY wave.

No need for a new project. Performance mixers have been a thing for a long time and affordable models exist from roland, korg, pioneer and others.

TE just shrank the thing to an unusable size and slapped on their pricetag.

Name a performance mixer with effects per track and bus, at least 12 channels, all channels available through a USB interface and a backing track drum machine? Even if you consider some of the boutique DJ mixers, they are very large and extremely expensive compared to this.

My two gripes with it are the minimal MIDI implementation and the tiny knobs for my thick fingers.

Have you come across this: https://www.critterandguitari.com/organelle

Basically a raspberry pi optimised to run puredata with a small screen and a bunch of buttons and dials. I have one it's pretty cool. I like the look of the LMN3 too though.

I can't tell if I'm cut off or you got downvoted for this comment that also came across my mind. Either one is bad news!

I'm a hack, by ear, guitar player and have been totally bemused by how anyone makes electronic music. This video kind of explained the concepts along with showing off a cool machine. I actually fancy building one!

Related to this, are there any open source audio interfaces, something that can replace a Focusrite 2i2?

Basically, no.

But maybe this is interesting for people who would like to change that?

"Open Hardware Multichannel Sound Interface for Hearing Aid Research on BeagleBone Black with openMHA: Cape4all" - http://www.openmha.org/docs/LAC2018cape4all.pdf

This is great work! JUCE's licensing terms are a little confusing to me - do I correctly read that you can disregard the tier system as long as your usage complies with GPL3?

If you're looking to bring in more OSS and expand the sound synth pallet, you could bring in some of the Mutable Instruments code a la Arturia and the Microfreak. https://github.com/pichenettes/eurorack

Is there an open source version of the M8 around?

Coolest project I have seen this year.

This is a nice project but I don't see why they need both a rPi and a teensy - either of them are powerful enough and have enough pins to run the whole thing. The rPi is more convenient for running linux-ready software, but teensy-only would have been nice as it is a lot less powerhungry and can run a good while on battery.

So the screen on the Pi takes up all the pins. Thats one reason for using the Teensy (a different screen would be nice, but the Hyperpixel is the perfect form factor and just looks nice and is easy to install). Another is that using the teensy + MIDI over USB keeps things flexible if the project moves to something other than a Pi to run the DAW.

Teensy only would be nice, but it would have been much harder to write the DAW for the Teensy. using the Pi + Linux, I was able to use JUCE and the tracktion engine which simplifies a lot and does a ton of heavy lifting.

It would be nice in the future to possibly (not saying you would do this, truly excellent work btw) have forks of the DAW (with slight modifications) so that we would have alternatives for other rPi like boards. Not saying that there's anything wrong with the rPi, I have 7 of them myself, all from the very first UK release of the first board up to the most current. I just know that for many it's not the easiest board right now to find for a decent price, and it will increase in rarity due to supply still not meeting demand over a year after we started experiencing issues getting a board.

by design, it seems that the teensy+pcb are basically a stand-alone midi controller, while the raspberry instead provides all the "DAW" part of the machine

a nice project, even separated the two elements are reusable for other adventures!

Maybe for FX processing

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