I have been using Linux for a while, but because it has been so hard to install and configure applications, I have used my windows box for any serious work I had to do. Well.. now I feel I understand the system well enough to do something other than checking email and browsing the web. I have a sound job coming up and I would like to do two things that I am currently able to do under windows:

First: I would like to have a MIDI sound generator app. For win, I had Aldo's Piantio, but I have been unable to find a suitable alternative under linux. Basically what it does it presents the user with a graphical keyboard (optional, I dont need that) and when you press a key on the keyboard it plays the sound of a piano (or whatever other device you have selected) using MIDI.

The other thing I would like to find is a mixer program, where I can bring multiple tracks together and blend them, and merge the effects that I have made in the program mentioned above.

Is there anything out there that will let me do this?

Have you seen Rosegarden apparently its like Cubase for Linux. Does MIDI etc, as well as proper notation.

Thanks for your help leonscape
I downloaded it and installed. It seems to be pretty good, but it keeps crashing and I am having a he*l of a time getting any support from the developers. My e-mails keep getting returned. If it comes down to it, I will spend a day or two to try and get rosegarden working, but if anyone has any alternatives that could save me that hassle I'd appreciate it.

You could also try MusE never used it myself though.

Theres heaps of sound apps at http://linux-sound.org

I am in a similar position as you LinuxBlackBox - I have just gotten my Linux box running smoothly after a few months of a pretty steep learning curve

Now Im starting to get my audio setup going, and I have to say - Its A LOT different to windows....

In windows I used to compose my tracks in Fruityloops and SOnic Foundary's ACID and mixed them all with Cubase.

Professional applications do not exist for linux.... THere are some wicked apps, but they havent got the polish of the windows counterparts. Ardour is a brilliant multitracker - but it doesnt really match up to Cubase SX2.

Thats the bad bit.

The good bit is that the linux audio apps are really wierd! Using apps like Rebirth and Fruityloops really had me trapped in with what I could do - the tools shaped my tracks. The tunes Im making now are sounding a lot different - a lot more interesting!

Even better is that you have the source code - so you can modify programs yourself - The knobs on Fruityloops go from 1 to 10... I want them to go to 9999 - no worries in linux!

Anyhoo, thats what I reckon! Good luck with the sound job!

Yeah the pro tools aren't around yet for music in Linux. Theres not really been the interest.

As linux as grown where now getting a lot more people into making music turning up. So things will only get better.

I really think that the importance of getting some decent music apps to linux is underated. These days every kid and his dog wants to be a dj, and one they are a dj they realise just playing other peoples tracks sucks, they wanna make some of their own.

I personally have gotten a bunch of people in to computers by just showing them Fruityloops. They make a lil' track and they are addicted...

Yeah, They are being worked on... they just need maturing. I think Rosegarden is looking very promising.

Ok, thanks for your help everybody. Apparently Rosegarden isnt working for me because I havent configured JACK properly. Once I do that, it should be able to do everything I need.

I'm nearly in the same boat, guys. I've been a MSFT user for the last couple of years, mostly because my dad did not know any better. Anyways, a friend of mine converted me to the open source idea. But as of yet, I don't even have my own computer. The one at my parents house, and the ones on campus, I have used up until now. At home I setup a little studio with the Maudio Delta 10/10 (which has linux support), and cubase SX. Its really great, I've gotten a good hold on it so far. But as of my desire to get my own pc, and bring it up in the linux environment, I 've not gotten much farther deciding what harware I'm buying.

While searching for "cubase for linux" I found Rosegarden and this thread. But my questions for any of you, who use it, is how much like cubase it is. And I'm talking really fine details: how many tracks, multitrack recording, plugins, VST plugins, aumation editors, and anything else I may have forgotten? Also, since I have been really setting my eyes on an athlon64, I looked around to see if cubase would have 64 but support. Though I reached no definitive answer, I am lead to belive that it will. So now it has me wondering, if Rosegarden is aiming to.

Just thought I'd ask some people who might be using it, and possibly are in contact