[PlanetCCRMA] More NEWBIE stuff: soundfonts, ardour, rosegarden, etc.

[Richard K. Ingalls]

I have an old Dell XPS 1000b (Pentium 3, 1Ghz, 256 RAM, 40 Gb HDD 
@7200rpm) as my audio box.  Currently, I run Windows ME, Audacity and 
Sonar 2.2XL.  BUT, I really would rather run all OpenSource software...  
I use Sonar for it's soundfont support (I have a SoundBlaster Live!).  I 
use Audacity to "tweak" my .wav files before burning to CD.  I have 
ProTools (free version), but find that Sonar and Audacity work just fine 
for me.

My needs are to work with:
- soundfonts on my SB Live! card (I have close to 1Gb of .sf2 files)
- USB MIDI interface from Edirol 
(http://www.edirol.com/products/info/archive/um1s.html)
- Kurzweil SP88 MIDI keyboard
- line & mic in/outs via Delta 66 (w/Omni studio box)
- line & mic in/outs via SoundBlaster USB box

I use soundfonts for most of the music.  I record some guitars and 
vocals.  But most everything is MIDI and soundfonts...

I've tried using CCRMA on Red Hat 8.0, but setting up the applications 
got me dazed and confused really quickly.  I just want to make music and 
I don't want to be anchored to Microsoft.  Where are the "hold my hand" 
HOW-TO's?  What applications do I really need to accomplish my goals?

Thanks for any help you may provide to me.  Otherwise, I'm still 
anchored to M$ (which is a big deal since I'm such a proponent of OSS at 
my work!).

-- 
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"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep
 for that which he cannot lose."
 -- Jim Elliott

RICHARD K. INGALLS
Director of Information Technology
Glenwood R-8 School District
West Plains, MO

email..ringalls (at) glenwood.k12.mo.us
web....http://glenwood.k12.mo.us
ph.....417.256.4849
fax....417.257.2567

"Miracles are a retelling in small letters
 of the very same story which is written across
 the whole world in letters too large
 for some of us to see."
 -- C. S. Lewis
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