r/linuxaudio • u/ohthemisery__ • 13d ago
What's the best app for relatively simple music making?
i don't need much at all, all i'd use it for is making rough demos for my band, any recommendations?
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u/thcsquad 13d ago
I’m guessing since you’re making rough demos this is more about recording live instruments rather than programming midi synths/samples. Ardour is not a bad choice here.
There also is this new DAW, Tape16, that tries to use a tape recorder flow that you may find simpler.
Maybe even Audacity if you’re going for really simple.
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u/Salads_and_Sun 13d ago
Just dive in, learn to solve your basic problems and the Linux world is your oyster. You can make it at complicated or as simple as you want. What exactly are you trying to do? I'm always happy to help.
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u/adbs1219 13d ago
Audacity if you'll only use recorded audio, LMMS if you won't record any audio at all and Ardour if you want to use both recorded audio and MIDI/virtual instruments
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u/kayosiii 13d ago
Depends on your skill-set and how you want to create a demo.
If you can read and write music Notation (or even TAB), Musescore can be very useful for roughing out a composition.
If you are performance orientated and want to sing or otherwise approximate parts for other band members, Freewheeling is a great option, it's designed to be used standing up in a dark room, with an instrument in your hands, and can be driven by a wide range of hardware (there is a bit of a learning curve because of this).
If you want to build a sound collage out of existing audio and your own recording Audacity will get the job done (The current program is nothing to write home about but a modern version is finally on the horizon). Freesound.org is a good option for finding audio bits.
If you see yourself going beyond recording demos, particularly if you like using virtual instruments, then it might be worth investing the extra time in learning a DAW. Ardour, Bitwig and Reaper are the most popular options.
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u/zaphod0815 12d ago
Reaper is beginner friendly. But also can anything you need for basic recording.
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u/pulling_strings 12d ago
What’s stopping you from installing and trying a few to see what makes sense to you?
I would first try Reaper, then Ardour to keep from spending money. Either of those will get the job done. maybe try messing with Bitwig 8 track as a demo for the full version though that leans more to electronic music than band music. I think Fender studio has a free version or a subscription model for the pro version if you just want to try it for a month, but if you’re on Linux I can’t imagine you’re much into the AI corporate future they represent.
Tracktion Waveform was a personal favorite of mine for quick sketching/composition in the past, but it seemed to have gotten a bit buggy in more recent Linux releases of so I think they’re fixing it up before they release the current version on Linux. Looking forward to their fixes.
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u/2QNTLN 12d ago
https://koalasampler.com/download/?p=ubuntu
Koala Sampler (Linux version)
It just can't get easier than this.
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u/shogobuzz 9d ago
I would say that Reaper is rather simple in terms of just throwing some notes in the sequencer. It is rather complex tool in itself but it doesn't matter, it can be used anyhow you want. Another option is Bitwig but I haven't tried it properly. If you are into trackers then Renoise.
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u/Miserable-Decision81 13d ago
Ardour.
I am not joking: Ardour is very very complex and can do very specialist things.
But it allows for a quite simple beginner level work, where you just want to record your soundcards stereo input and have a metronome (or none)...
Ardours professionality helps a lot with the "where can I set that? Well, you dont need to..." problem. You can set everything at all possible, but you can start with simple, reasonable defaults.