ELK - The Music Operating System

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CrocoDuck
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ELK - The Music Operating System

Post by CrocoDuck »

Hi guys!

I just found that, apparently, a commercial music oriented Linux based OS just surfaced:

https://www.mindmusiclabs.com/elk/

Here some more info: http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2018/01/ ... ng-system/

I don't know much more about it, but I though to drop it here in case someone finds this intriguing.

(Now let's see whether they are releasing the source code...)
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funkmuscle
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Re: ELK - The Music Operating System

Post by funkmuscle »

CrocoDuck wrote:Hi guys!

I just found that, apparently, a commercial music oriented Linux based OS just surfaced:

https://www.mindmusiclabs.com/elk/

Here some more info: http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2018/01/ ... ng-system/

I don't know much more about it, but I though to drop it here in case someone finds this intriguing.

(Now let's see whether they are releasing the source code...)
is this the one on FB you commented on? I never looked into the FB post.
CrocoDuck
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Re: ELK - The Music Operating System

Post by CrocoDuck »

funkmuscle wrote:is this the one on FB you commented on? I never looked into the FB post.
Yes. I actually have to look deeper into this project. Not even sure about what it actually is.
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funkmuscle
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Re: ELK - The Music Operating System

Post by funkmuscle »

CrocoDuck wrote:
funkmuscle wrote:is this the one on FB you commented on? I never looked into the FB post.
Yes. I actually have to look deeper into this project. Not even sure about what it actually is.
I just followed the link that you posted here and took a quick look at things. If they have all these companies back in them that could mean a lot more audio software even though being commercial but made available for our platform.
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ufug
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Re: ELK - The Music Operating System

Post by ufug »

CrocoDuck wrote:Not even sure about what it actually is.
I read the entire website and press release and have no clue what the product actually is or why it would be interesting.

Not a promising start, although the website was very exciting feeling.
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j_e_f_f_g
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Re: ELK - The Music Operating System

Post by j_e_f_f_g »

ufug wrote:what the product actually is
It's a linux distro optimized for audio. (I suspect it's one of the existing audio distros like AVLinux. There's nothing these guys can do that hasn't been already done in so far as configuring the kernel for audio. So why reinvent the wheel?).

All of the non-essential software has been stripped out of the distro.

Then these guys have a written a JUCE-based host (no doubt licensed juce for commercial use) that loads VST and AU plugins and has some developer "graphical toolkit" that tries to address the "big problem" with running VST and AU plugins on Linux -- namely how can a plugin present a user interface on linux without needing to deal with the complexities of Gnome/KDE. I haven't looked into the details of the "graphical toolkit", but frankly I see the entire success of the product hinging upon how easy that toolkit is for developers to use, and probably how similiar it is to Windows and MacOS windowing Api. (I wouldn't be surprised if the toolkit is tightly wrapped around WINE for the latter selling point). Because other than that toolkit, there's nothing offered here that a developer couldn't obtain on his own by grabbing AVLinux, stripping away all the bundled apps, and using juce and WINE to get his VST/AU plugins running on Linux, albeit without a user interface, or a barely functional one.

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Re: ELK - The Music Operating System

Post by rghvdberg »

Seems more like an os for hardware instruments.

It's confusing.
CrocoDuck
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Re: ELK - The Music Operating System

Post by CrocoDuck »

falkTX wrote:Seems they want it to be a backend OS, for which you connect something else remotely to it.
Weird that they plan to use VST2 and VST3 (specially VST3 since only u-he plugins support this, and it's not even in Juce/linux yet).
The remote interface for linux was already done as part of the LV2 spec, but they had to go and implement yet another plugin format...

Maybe I'm mistaken, but their target doesn't seem to be general purpose desktop OS.
Also targeted at companies instead of costumers? I guess it's meant for IoT companies doing realtime audio devices.
Sorta like the custom OS found on the MOD Duo devices, but generic enough to be sold to companies.
I got pretty much the same impression out of it.
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Re: ELK - The Music Operating System

Post by gimmeapill »

That thing may use a tweaked Linux kernel but it doesn't look open or free at all (the kind that you can download and modify).
A quick search on github doesn't bring much either, no mention of the source code anywhere.

To clear up any doubt where this is aiming at, just check the pedigree of the last guy from the team:
https://www.mindmusiclabs.com/team/

The list of advisors is also quite explicit.

So I bet that complying with the GPL won't be at the top of their todo list...
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Re: ELK - The Music Operating System

Post by gimmeapill »

Actually this reminds a bit of the old Muse Research Receptor: http://www.museresearch.com/products/index.php
Let's see if it is equally well overpriced - this seems to be an important key to success in the music industry ;-)
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Re: ELK - The Music Operating System

Post by tux99 »

gimmeapill wrote:So I bet that complying with the GPL won't be at the top of their todo list...
Before starting to throw around random GPL violation accusations maybe you should re-read and truly understand the GPL licensing terms. The GPL only obliges them to provide the source code to whom they provide the binaries, not to the general public.
So unless you bought their product you have no right to ask for the source.
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Re: ELK - The Music Operating System

Post by gimmeapill »

tux99 wrote:
gimmeapill wrote:So I bet that complying with the GPL won't be at the top of their todo list...
Before starting to throw around random GPL violation accusations maybe you should re-read and truly understand the GPL licensing terms. The GPL only obliges them to provide the source code to whom they provide the binaries, not to the general public.
So unless you bought their product you have no right to ask for the source.
Cool down tuxy, we're not at the trial stage. Just playing guesses and extrapolating out of incomplete information to find out what's behind the marketing pitch.
As a paying customer, if I can get access to the source of the kernel used for my Android phone, I'd expect to do the same for another Linux based appliance (up to the headers?). I don't see what's different here.
But yeah, you're right I'm not going to re-read the GPL tonight - good try though ;-)
d.igital
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Re: ELK - The Music Operating System

Post by d.igital »

If anyone cares, they are currently not making it available to independent developers, I asked. Steinberg is showing a product based on it at Superbooth.
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