Surge isn't a replacement for Serum, but the original developer cofounded BitWig. It's probably the best sound you'll get out of a Linux-native synth. You can even use Serum wavetables with it.
Reaper and Live have spoiled me. I tried to like Ardour, and it would be great if it's all I had, but it has too many rough edges.
LMMS is good though. I must have made 200+ songs in it before switching to Reaper. I could get by with LMMS and the included synths if I had to. It makes me wish Reaper supported LV2.
I would agree, re: rough edges, if we were talking about Ardour 2 or 3, which both missed some important features and weren't as stable as I'd like. But in the last few years, ardour has improved. I do most of my work in it now. Would recommend it to anyone who wants a FLOSS DAW and isn't too dependent on mental models from other audio software.
If anything, LMMS has the rough edges. The interface lacks polish and consistency. There are some awkward things about using it (why do I have to make a blank bar before I copy and paste a bar into it?). And I've noticed some glitchy behavior - for instance, I just made a ZynAddSubFX patch that sounded different as a plugin in LMMS than when I used it in Zyn's own application. Strange behavior like that, but fortunately it's rare.
But all that considered, LMMS is still great, and I appreciate the work it's authors put into it. I don't think of it as a daw; more of a sequencer. But if your music is 100% digital synths and samples, it serves all your needs.
Right now I'm using: LMMS (sequencer), Ardour (daw), JAMin (mastering suite), and Audacity (swiss army knife). I like Reaper. I've used ableton live many times, and I still don't get it - I guess the workflow is optimized for live mixing? I found it less than ideal for recording in a studio.
>> "Would recommend it to anyone who wants a FLOSS DAW and isn't too dependent on mental models from other audio software."
I recommend against this kind of framing. It comes off as judgmental. My mental models form based on my needs and experience. They're just as valid as your mental models, needs, and experience. Your way of seeing my perspective leads to faulty assumptions about my experience and models.
For example...
>> "I would agree, re: rough edges, if we were talking about Ardour 2 or 3, which both missed some important features and weren't as stable as I'd like. But in the last few years, ardour has improved. I do most of my work in it now."
I tried 5 from Mint's repos. Yesterday. I try every version to see if it'll work for me. Ardour continues to be critically lacking for me, based on my needs. Take a step back any time you want to assume someone's view is based on not knowing something you know. It's much more likely you don't know what they know.
I think we agree, and you should heed your own advice not to assume what someone else thinks.
What I mean by mental models: Some producers rely on their favorite DAW's workflow. I'd never tell someone to ditch the DAW they're more productive in.
This is not a judgement. I'm not implying you don't "get" Ardour. On the contrary, I'm endorsing your approach: choose the DAW that meets your needs.
I said Ardour had improved a lot for me. I never said it would work for you. My comment was for the benefit of other people here. Giving a counterexample to your experience. No DAW is good for everyone. Ardour doesn't work for you. It does work for me. And if someone's looking for a DAW, I think Ardour is worth trying. I wouldn't tell you to try it.
And you already know it doesn't work for you, so you don't need to try again. I support you in sticking to the tools that you're most productive in. Nothing is more annoying than someone dictating what tools you use to do your job.
> My mental models form based on my needs and experience
Except that the workflow for e.g. Live or FL Studio or Bitwig is entirely different from the workflow for e.g. ProTools or Logic or Ardour.
So the extent that your needs and experience dictate a Live-style workflow, then sure, you're right. But if you don't actually know what you're doing or alternatively actually need the linear-timeline recording model of PT/Ardour, then there's no judgement here, just a correct observation.
I love LMMS cause it's like FL Studio. I used to use FL Studio (pirated when I was a teenager) to make rap beats and even once a dubstep beat, though it crashed and I lost all my progress.... LMMS is awesome cause it's free so I can just experiment with it. I havent found the time to make some serious tracks though.
Also where do you get audio samples for LMMS? This is mostly my dilemma.
Also keep an eye out for SFX packs around GDC (Game Developers Conference). Sonniss publishes one every year. You can probably find the (legit, official) torrents for past years.
That's how it starts. One day you're rolling your own kernel, the next you're knee deep in Docker writing goroutines to keep one step ahead of the police.
A good quote I don't have a source on: you do not rise to the level of your ambitions, you fall to the level of your systems. Willpower is finite, but you can maximize it with systems like this.
No one trusts their landlord or the software vendors they choose with a direct connection to their bank account. That's just asking for a cascade of overdraft fees.
It's not a "direct connection" in the sense that the other end has any control. The typical way to set this up is that you create a repeating payment to (say) pay your rent electronically on the same day every month, and you can stop or alter the payment at any time.
I thought it was great until I watched someone get buried in fees by it. They forgot about the automatic payment while dealing with the crisis that used up all their money.
They sorted through the fees and got things turned back on by explaining the situation, but it was a nightmare. Precarity is hard to understand if you've never been in or near it, or if it's a distant memory for you. It's overwhelming on a good day.
It seems VERY unlikely they forgot that they didn't have to pay rent all of a sudden?
The way it works fore me here in the EU is that bills land in my bank account and I log in on mobile, select the ones I want to confirm, and sign the transfer.
We also have bank to bank instant transfers for free (useful for paying back 1/2 pizza etc) without external private middlemen. US banking feels so legacy, much more so than the COBOL I work on.
U.S. banking is not as bad as some make it out to be. Every bank I've delt with offers the same things you describe. Here, it is less dependent on the bank and more dependent on the biller. All my credit cards (even those from other banks) offer ebilling, and bills are visible in my online banking each month. Utilities like electric and internet, medical providers, etc., generally don't. But I can pay them all through the bank anyway, and I don't have to worry how it happens; the bank chooses ACH or they mail a bank check. Either way, I know exactly when it will clear, and exactly how much it will cost me: $0. I can also use the bank's mobile app to send money from person to person, instantly and with no fee.
Well, there certainly are banks in the US that don't, and why are apps like Venmo a thing over there if the same thing can be done already? =/
I guess it's because of the bank you chose, since the one my relatives use don't have any of that, and are those apps bank-specific? Do people not having your bank also receive the money instantly?
Most of the medium to large banks have that option. Many partner with Zelle because it is not bank specific, though I once had a credit union account that let me do ACH transfers to other accounts. But as you point out, there's also PayPal and Venmo. My Amex lets me split purchases by calculating the portion and sending PayPal or Venmo requests on my behalf. I think the largest difference may be that there's no one way to do a thing, while at least to me as an outsider, it feels like Europe has One True Way.
It happens like this: you can pay rent without penalty up to say, the fifth of the month. Auto pay is set to come out of your account on the first. Sometimes you need the extra few days to get everything in line, but because everything is so tight and hectic, you forget that you won't actually get to flex those few days, and the payment comes out earlier than you expected.
The timing of payments can be a real burden when you're on the edge. I wrote about a time something similar happened to me a few years back https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6424493 This is about overdraft fees, specifically, but it's the same principle.
You’re always going to have trouble if you forget about any aspect of your money. I use automatic payments to pay my cell phone bill and yet I have a monthly reminder on my calendar to make sure the payment went through without a problem. Yeah, it’s more work than just forgetting about it but now I know I won’t be buried in fees either for overdraft or for not paying my bill.
Anyone who knows your ABA and account number has a direct connection to your bank account. This is why I never write checks unless I absolutely have to. Everything a would-be thief needs is right there in the clear.
I didn't mean to suggest a landlord might do it on purpose. Everyone can go in with the best of intentions and still find themselves on one side of this scenario.
