Beast

Support & discussion regarding DAWs and MIDI sequencers.

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jonetsu
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Beast

Post by jonetsu »

I would like to share information about Beast.

Beast is a Free Software (LGPLv2+) music synthesizer, composer and DAW.
It has a MIDI sequencer, unlimited undo, real-time synthesis, support for Linux
Audio Plugins (LADSPAv1), Soundfont 2, WAV, AIFF, Vorbis, Gus Patch, FLAC and
MP3 files, 32bit audio rendering, full duplex support, multi-core audio
rendering, SIMD utilisation and precise sample timing.

The source code is available via Git or tarball and pre-built binary packages
are provided for #Linux.

The demo video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0oh6x5xkvY

The website:

https://beast.testbit.org/
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loxstep
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Re: Beast

Post by loxstep »

Thank you for sharing. The demo video was intriguing.

Out of curiosity:
How does Beast differ from similar programs (LMMS, for instance)? Is it more lightweight?
Does it have support for JACK, or are there plans to support it?
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chaocrator
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Re: Beast

Post by chaocrator »

loxstep wrote:How does Beast differ from similar programs (LMMS, for instance)?
beast began as a modular synth environment, and its internal gears that actually generate and process are completely modular.
the demo video above focuses more on its newer DAW-like capabilities.
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milkii
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Re: Beast

Post by milkii »

Rewriting large parts of Beast and Bse - from Nov 8th, re the Beast 0.15.0 release, which now supports JACK audio

they/them ta / libreav.org / wiki.thingsandstuff.org/Audio and related pages / gh

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AlexTheBassist
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Re: Beast

Post by AlexTheBassist »

I wouldn't trust a developer who chooses HTML + CSS + Javascript for UI design, especially in applications that require to be responsive to the point of being actually real time. Dig it 6 feet under along with all the dev team.
Being creative does not imply being lazy, stupid, or illiterate.

Working in Harrison Mixbus and Ardour on KDE Neon + KXStudio.
tramp
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Re: Beast

Post by tramp »

AlexTheBassist wrote:I wouldn't trust a developer who chooses HTML + CSS + Javascript for UI design, especially in applications that require to be responsive to the point of being actually real time
Oh, the MOD does it, and it's a wonderful peace of hard and software.
On the road again.
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funkmuscle
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Re: Beast

Post by funkmuscle »

milk wrote:Rewriting large parts of Beast and Bse - from Nov 8th, re the Beast 0.15.0 release, which now supports JACK audio
hey milk, is it possible to add Beast to your repo?
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milkii
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Re: Beast

Post by milkii »

Good point, have added beast-git.

they/them ta / libreav.org / wiki.thingsandstuff.org/Audio and related pages / gh

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funkmuscle
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Re: Beast

Post by funkmuscle »

milk wrote:Good point, have added beast-git.
thanks.
EDIT: I guess it takes a while to be uploaded to the repo?
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milkii
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Re: Beast

Post by milkii »

I've added more than just beast, some teething problems, I'll ping the other thread once resolved.

they/them ta / libreav.org / wiki.thingsandstuff.org/Audio and related pages / gh

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milkii
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Re: Beast

Post by milkii »

ah, beast-git fails to build on Arch atm.

they/them ta / libreav.org / wiki.thingsandstuff.org/Audio and related pages / gh

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funkmuscle
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Re: Beast

Post by funkmuscle »

milk wrote:ah, beast-git fails to build on Arch atm.
Okay that's good to know because I thought it was my system. I couldn't build it either that's why I also requested and addition to your repo.
Paree
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Re: Beast

Post by Paree »

Edit: Got it working, promising stuff.
franlopez
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Re: Beast

Post by franlopez »

Just tried it out for a bit, played around with the new UI, looks very promising!

On the other hand:
AlexTheBassist wrote:I wouldn't trust a developer who chooses HTML + CSS + Javascript for UI design, especially in applications that require to be responsive to the point of being actually real time. Dig it 6 feet under along with all the dev team.
The sound processing is what needs to be "real time", none of the sound applications I ever looked into had "real time" UI...
I really can't see how the very (very) relative performance differences between modern JS environments (like electron, which is what I understand Beast is using for for their UI) and native frameworks would be in any way noticeable for something like the user interface of a DAW or synth. I would actually question any developer putting time and resources into trying to make the UI be "real time" (and I'm not really sure that's even possible in a normal desktop environment setup).
Paree
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Re: Beast

Post by Paree »

Aren’t most Qt guis written in python? Python is really slow but it doesn’t make a difference.
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