[PlanetCCRMA] good news for softsynth fans

[Martin Tarenskeen]

Hi,

Not so very long ago things didn't look promising for softsynth lovers 
using Linux:

- amSynth wouldn't compile anymore on newer gcc versions 
- the Phasex website was taken over by the porno industry 
- the DSSI standard was called "deprecated" by certain people 
- Development of other softsynth projects was going slow, 
projects were sleeping, or dead.
- Using VST plugins via DSSI was possible but complicated, needing 
  propietary drivers from Steinberg. 

But it looks like there is new life coming up:

+ amSynth new version 1.2.1 is said to compile with gcc-4.3.2. On my 
system it still failed however. But using a patch that someone posted in 
amsynthe mailinglist, I managed to compile it and it now runs happily on 
my Fedora 10 / PlanetCCRMA desktop. 
+ The phasex website is back again. On http://www.sysex.net/phasex/beta 
you will even find source code and fedora rpm packages for an 
interesting new 0.12.0-beta2 version. 
+ Some DSSI related packages have been updated and are now in the Fedora 
10/11 repos. 
+ A problem with LOCALE dependent patchloading/saving for Whysynth was 
fixed by the author. I have tested whysynth-20090531 and it works fine. 
( Not yet available on the website, I got it directly from the author 
for testing. )
+ The dssi-vst package works nicely now with many (not all) VST 
instruments, and can be installed just like any other Fedora package. No 
propietary Steinberg stuff needed anymore. 
+ New versions of Bristol also appear from time to time. The current 
version is 0.40.3.
+ A native linux version of Pianoteq version 3.03 was recently made 
available. It is not free software, but it is a very very good Piano 
sofware based on fysical modelling. You should at least download and try 
the demo from www.pianoteq.com.

Life is beautiful :-)

-- 

Martin