totally new

[islevegan]

Greetings,

I have used Linux at home since 2006 but never tried making music. I would like to try. I may be helping some young guys that have no experience as musicians. Initially, I would like to have the ability to record high quality vocals live into a computer via usb, for use in ardour or something similar. I would like to learn piano and therefore a midi interface might be a good idea, but I am not sure how / what that does exactly.

I have Ubuntu studio 13.04 on an i3 Intel NUC with 16gb or ram.

Thanks for the suggestions on computer interface, etc.

[TheSafePlaces]

Welcome to the forums, islevegan

I'm not at all up to date with audio interfaces but the Focusrite Scarlett (spelling?) series was popular at the cheap range AFAIR. The 2i2 and 2i4 might work for you if I understand your requirements right. If you have more cash I'm sure there's more but someone else will have to chime in on that.

Whether or not you require a MIDI interface depends on whether your keyboard of choice connects only by MIDI. If it uses USB then you don't need one, although some hardware synth based setups may also need a MIDI interface. Many audio interfaces have a MIDI interface with one or two ports, might cover your requirements.

By the way, decent RAM there, heh. I wish I had that much, it's quite handy and even essential for orchestral sampling

[Shadow_7]

Your computer should be sufficient for what you want to do. But you didn't list much of the other hardware you have or don't have. You can programmatically create music in linux with nyquist, csound, chuck, and other options. Otherwise you'll need some input devices to capture a performance. Such as audio input / output and midi input / output. If you're into things like youtube, you might also want video input and output capabilities.

I'm functioning on a computer from 2007 with various hardware that I've gotten off of craigslist. The only new things I've bought were cables, 2x higher end microphone preamps, and the camcorder. And various storage devices to host the content during and after recording. And a decent video card so I could watch videos on this vintage tech without having to downgrade their resolutions and bitrates by editing just to watch in realtime.

[islevegan]

Thanks Shadow_7 and TheSafePlaces. At this point, I have the Intel NUC and a 1080p ~24" lcd monitor connected to a Yamaha media controller aka receiver which is connected to the NUC, all via HDMI. The NUC has no other audio capabilities; all the sound output goes through the hdmi connection, of which it has two. I have a 60GB msata Intel SSD in the NUC as a boot / home drive.

I also have a three button logitech trackman and standard keyboard, both usb. I have a bluetooth 4 usb dongle, and a 1 to 4 port usb 2 hub.

I'd like to add video input capabilities and have been thinking about the Intensity Shuttle, allowing supposedly linux friendly audio and video input from one device, but requiring usb 3 which would have to wait till the next generation NUC coming out soon. Additionally, all inputs would need to come in via HDMI, I suspect, limiting hardware options.

http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/product ... /techspecs

The fewer unknowns / guesses and less wasted money - the better.

[islevegan]

Here are some interfaces that have exceptional specs but I am uncertain about Linux friendliness:

http://www.google.com/shopping/product/ ... c:overview

http://www.google.com/shopping/product/ ... c:overview

[Alwaysanewb]

Check and see if it runs on the standard usb 2.0 drivers ever usb 2.0 device runs on. I think linux supports all usb2.0/ Its when you get in to pci and firewire where you have to start worrying.

[islevegan]

I see some early 2011 references to successful use of the Creative Professional E-MU 0404 USB 2.0 Audio interface - 192 kHz - 24-bit on here:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-da ... dex12.html

This indicates ALSA "fully supports" the device:

http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index. ... ative_Labs (near the bottom of the page)

If it's supported by alsa, maybe it's supposed to work in Jack and other "pro" level software?

[lazyklimm]

http://ardour.org/requirements.html

[Shadow_7]

I record on dedicated devices and mostly edit in linux. Which requires storage space for the editing and a card reader for the import of the content. If you're over paranoid about hardware compatibility issues, that's one way to bypass it entirely. But I was in need of portability and battery life when I went that route.