Hydrogen

Hydrogen is a virtual drum machine that runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac. Whenever I need drums, and have no drummer to borrow (always), this is what I use.Programming drum beats is pattern-based, so it's generally easy to figure it out just by experimenting. But, if you need more direction, it also has a manual in several languages. It also has an easy-to-understand way to create custom drum kits using various recorded samples. For that reason, there's lots of different types of free drum kits available for it (see http://www.hydrogen-music.org/?p=drumkits).

While it's an integrated sequencer/sampler (for those of you who know what that means), it can also be controlled by an external sequencer via MIDI.

Hydrogen is also an excellent example of Free Software. About 2 1/2 years ago, the lead developer Alessandro Cominu (a.k.a. Comix) either got bored or frustrated with it, and stopped working on it. But, because the code is publicly available, other people were able to make their own fixes when needed.

One example, I wanted Hydrogen to have a new feature, support for something called JACK MIDI -- something that didn't exist 2 1/2 years ago. Using the source code, I was able to add the feature myself. Others had other features that they needed/wanted... and so development has started again.

One of the devs released a beta of the next version of Hydrogen, and I expect the new version to be ready in a month or two. It will include a tap tempo feature, lead/lag, advanced humanization, swing, some JACK features (but not MIDI, yet), and some bug fixes. JACK MIDI is slated for the version after this, but if you want to play with it right now, it's available in the jackMidi branch of the Subversion repository (http://www.hydrogen-music.org/svn/branches/jackMidi/).

BTW, I'll explain what JACK is in a future post. It's very similar to ReWire.

Linux

I'm killing my 'Bible Blog' on wordpress (not because I like Blogger better -- not at all), and I'm opening up the scope of this 'Rock Log' to incorporate more of the things that interest me: Including the Bible and Computers. In the odd event that someone is seriously tracking the blog... I'll try to maintain good tags so that you can filter out the things you do/don't care about.

So in our first, not-quite-rock'n'roll installment....

LINUX

Linux is a computer operating system. It's an alternative to Microsoft Windows and to Mac OS X. It's called a free operating system because (a) you don't have to pay for it, and (b) it gives you rights to the source code so that you can modify it to suit you. Further, most of the software that runs on Linux is free in the same way. Linux is very popular for servers, but it also a good OS for desktop computing (you know, using a mouse and windows and stuff). A good number of web sites that you visit run on Linux. So does your TiVo.

I'm a computer geek, and I love Linux. I came to Linux after the 2nd or 3rd or 4th time I had to re-install Windows ME on our computer (either because an update killed the modem, or a computer virus that the kids found, or whatever). Since I had to reinstall, I figured I would also try something new. I'd heard about Linux and figured I would try it out -- and hopefully I wouldn't have to reinstall because my kids clicked on some adware.

Since then, my house has a server, 2 PC's, and a DAW (digital audio workstation) -- all running Linux. Both of my mother-in-laws now run Linux (administered by me). My mom likes it, my Dad understands (and tolerates it), and the jury is still out for my mother-in-law (I just set her up this weekend -- she was using Win98). The fastest computer in the lot is a PIII 800 MHz with about 512MB of RAM (i.e. all computers are typical of those sold in Y2K). My kids don't like it because they can't run Microsoft games on it.

...but they're free to spend their own money to buy Windows Vista. Or a Mac.

Is Linux for everyone? No. It's best for geeks who like to tinker, and for people who hate computers (but have a Linux zealot who will admin. the computer for them).

Do I have to format my hard drive to try linux? No. There are Live CD's and DVD's that you can download and burn. The best one is Knoppix. You pop it in your CD-ROM drive and reboot. It will boot from the CD-ROM and then run the whole Linux OS from your CD-ROM drive. You'll boot to a windows-like desktop that looks like this:



If you need help, give me a shout. I'll say more later (including how this relates to the Synth thread).

(Props to Larry Ewing for the "official" Linux penguin logos http://www.isc.tamu.edu/~lewing/linux/)

Edit: I added the paragraph that briefly describes what Linux is - 2008-09-04 10:50 PM