Badtux the Snarky Penguin

In a time of chimpanzees, I was a penguin.

Religious fundamentalists are motivated by the sneaking suspicion that someone, somewhere, is having fun -- and that this must be stopped.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Ubuntu Studio rocks!

So I installed Ubuntu Studio after I installed my Ubuntu 7.04, but I didn't do anything with it because I was still setting up my system. I decided to install Skype, and tracked down a version for Ubuntu 7.04 and installed it along with the software upgrades needed to play DVD's (which I own, but which the MPAA says I can't play on my computer because, well, just because they're assholes and don't want me to). I plugged my little desktop microphone into the microphone jack on my console switch, and tried to make a sample call. Eh. Nothing. So I fired up my old favorite audacity (an Open Source hard drive audio recording program) to see whether it was a problem with the audio system or with Skype. Still nothing. Okay, so my Soundblaster USB is also plugged in, hooked up to my Behringer mixer which in turn is hooked up to a couple of recording mikes. So I swivel the boom with a Shure SM58C to in front of my face, turn on the mixer, and tell Audacity to look at the Soundblaster USB instead of the internal sound card. I successfully record my voice with Audacity, then switch to the Skype window, tell *it* to use the Soundblaster USB for recording, and successfully make my test call.

Then I switch back to Audacity, flip through the menus, and ... OMG! This thing already has over 500 plugins installed! Whoa, no need to go look for a tube amp simulator plugin, it's already there! No need to go look for a good compression plugin, a half-dozen compressors are already there!

Somehow, I think I'm no longer going to be hooking my Soundblaster USB to my Windows laptop for my sound recording purposes... although I need to go out and get more CPU and memory because my Linux box was my file server, not my recording workstation, thus has an emphasis upon fast disks, not upon lots of CPU power. Oh well. For a computer geek, any excuse to buy new hardware works :-). (To be fair, I need more memory to run Ubuntu Studio, and the kind of memory my old motherboard takes is no longer cheaply available, so might as well get a new motherboard and processor while I'm at it... one of those new Intel Core 2 Duos sounds like just the trick!).

- Badtux the Computer Penguin

Labels: music, technology

Posted by: BadTux / 5/18/2007 10:53:00 AM

Comments:

You sound as if you had a lot of fun and will have even more fun when you get the extra memory.
# posted by Share Cropper : 18/5/07 5:52 PM

Oh yes. And BTW, the problem with my desktop mike? The microphone plug on the back of the computer was plugged into the wrong hole. (Okay, so *WHY* did they give me four different holes to plug stuff into, none of which are labeled in any way? Curious penguins want to know!).

- Badtux the Audio Penguin
(Who looks a little funny Skyping with a big ole' SM56C hanging on a boom in front of his face, but hey, it works!).
# posted by BadTux : 18/5/07 6:30 PM

Err, SM58C. Dadburned flippers flipped on wrong number sigh!
# posted by BadTux : 18/5/07 6:31 PM

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"Keep fighting for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce." -- Molly Ivins, 1944-2007

"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."

-- Plato

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