FOSS stack for MIDI composition
FOSS stack for MIDI composition
I want to put together a stack for hobbyist midi music composition. I understand there are a few more components to it than one might expect, but I think VMPK and Qtracer are going to be part of it?
Any tutorial links or suggestions appreciated!
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Here is my software set up for open source music making (I often use midi and audio input):
Core software:
- Ardour as my DAW.
- Liquid SFZ as my SFZ player.
- SurgeXT as my soft synth.
For SFZ instruments:
- Virtual Playing Orchesta (free full orchestra)
- Versilion freeware instruments (mostly orchestra)
- Blonde Bop drumkit
Raw samples:
- samples.kb6.de for drum machine samples
For effects:
- LSP plugins for my basics (eq, compression, etc)
- Airwindows Plugins for fun effects (and some basics)
Ardour is supposed to have a midi related update for its next big release, so stay tuned.
From my perspective, the simplest set up would be Ardour and SFZ instruments. Mainly because I'm quite used to those two.
For set up you'd just open Ardour, make a new midi track, place liquidsfz as the first plugin on the track, then open liquidsfz and browse to the SFZ file you want to use.
Then you just draw in the midi notes you want using either the edit or draw tool.
I come from fl studio prod but I want to use ardour since I am trying to keep everything within linux now. What are the best synth instruments for ardour?
Surge XT can do 98% of everything I need. It has a ton of waveforms, filter types, and modulation options. It's a great synth.
In the rare case that SurgeXT can't do what I want, I turn to zynaddsubfx. It is complicated, but really one of the wildest synths out there.
Last resort is this open source fork of VCV rack I found. So at the end of the day if you need to you can just build the synth you need.