For those that might have struggled with Ardour or were looking for something just a bit more professional on Linux, I recommend Reaper - it's a one time purchase and in my opinion about as good as it gets on Linux: https://www.reaper.fm/
It's very powerful, which means there is a bit of a learning curve, but it can do everything you want it to, and it has nice stuff like really solid scripting support (lua, python, and some DSL).
I record like 20-30 audio tracks at a time from my rackmount setup and reaper handles it no problem.
Very much worth the $60.
It also has a comprehensive API that can be manipulated with Lua.
I support reaper, here’s an opinion. My problem with reaper is that I think it was trying to be protools for people who couldn’t afford protools.
The thing is, most people aren’t recording 32 ADC channels and 1024 midi tracks on rackmount stuff. I think I have my dad’s last MIDI cables, and it makes me feel either ancient or hipster. Even pro studios are slimmer, cause it’s not 2003. Workflow is at a premium, and reaper… kinda feels like an expensive version of FOSS.
Still so great in the ecosystem, and aw, a DAW love of mine. A chisel for the days when the 3D printer just isn’t robust enough.
I use Logic Pro and bitwig. Bitwig fails the same test. I rarely say this, but this niche could inspire nerdy moments a bit less, and creative workflows a bit more to be attractive to a prosumer.
I've considered doing a crazy-simple version of Ardour (nominal name "arb" for "Ardour Recording Button"), but I'm still not convinced that writing a tool that will only be useful to most of its users for a couple of months makes sense.
The same could be accomplished also in software, and it would have a huge success, however packing it with features can only slow down the work; everything should be thought without the idea of turning it into a full DAW but just putting it there the minimum necessary to be productive without distractions. Think about a mini Linux distro (Alpine?) that boots in seconds on a small netbook to directly load the "music scratchpad" at full screen and no other software in the background. Plenty of devices are out there ready to be repurposed for that, and good external USB audio card can be found for cheap.
Years ago I used my old Samsung NC10 netbook to record my band. The internal mics were crap like with every laptop, but once I built a small stereo jfet preamp to connect two external dynamic mics, I got quite good results. It was a bit slow to operate, and more so managing the long files we created (~3 hours at 44.1KHz 16bit stereo .wav) but I used a full Debian plus Audacity without any optimization for speed and size.
2.
> The same could be accomplished also in software, and it would have a huge success
Odd how none of the proprietary DAW manufacturers believe this, isn't it?
I've already described the basic problem with this idea: it starts out as being precisely what someone wants, but every few months, their desires/expectations expand. What "productive without distractions" means looks very different after you've done a bit of computer audio production for a year than when you're just starting out.
2. Yes, that is odd (although I seem to recall Dr. T's did something like that ages ago). It doesn't bring money apparently, so they concentrate on much bigger overcomplicated software that does everything except simple things but shines when showed in ads. It seems to me this one could become the right niche in which FOSS can surpass commercial software: do 3 things and do them well.
sure. But we take your 3 things, then Ben over there's 3 things, then Maggie's 3 things, and then Olafur's 3 things and add in Vieux's 3 things and pretty soon we're talking about a real DAW!
Googling "reason vs X" just turned up ad-loaded drivel.
Anyone know of any good guides that lay out the land? Venn diagrams of where DAWs (digital audio workstation), Mixers, etc overlap or how they relate/compare with each other?
Not really qualified because I am not a musician and I was only using lmms to play around with a midi dials and buttons box, openbsd's sndio. and to see if I could get them to work togther. So in my case it was more of a systems integration exercise than making any music with it.
EDIT: Also, if you're a command line and text file weirdo like me:
Mixer4: http://www.acousticrefuge.com/mixer4.htm (From the homepage: "Mixer4 is an audio mixer and processor that can be controlled through simple text files. Over a dozen accessory programs complete what can be a very solid recording studio." I can confirm that it is extremely fast and very interesting to use. Nice, responsive and friendly solo developer, too.)
And Ecasound: https://ecasound.seul.org/ecasound/