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The leading free DAW (digital audio workstation) is Ardour. I am told it is modeled on the functionality of ProTools, which can’t be a bad thing. I have been playing around with it now for about a year. Here’s my take on it:

CONS

The first thing you’ll notice about Ardour is that it is NOT the easiest tool to use. Controls are a bit complicated and fiddley. It all tends to be quite glitchey: it freezes randomly and sometimes the track you just recording does not show a wave diagram (although it has in fact recorded something). It also requires a fairly high spec PC for it to really shine, but that is the case with most high end DAW’s.

PROS

That being said, the glitches should iron out as the Ardour developers progress, because there are professionals who are beginning to partner with Ardour to make it work for them. Also, although it is quite fiddley, all the functions a professional studio would need are there. So all it takes is a bit of getting used to. Now that I am accustomed to Ardour, the functionality blows me away. You can automate just about everything (volume controls, panning & plugins – and there’s probably more!). The availability of quality LADSPA plugins (linux plugin format) is getting better and better and the quality is really up there. With a good computer and gear, you would easily be able to come up with professional projects with Ardour. And on top of all that it’s free! Even if you donated $100 to the guys at Ardour, you’d still be saving hundreds on an equivalent commercial option like Protool.

To me, projects like Ardour are the way of the future. Coupled with Linux’s powerful JACK application, which allows you to get all your audio programmmes to speak to each other, there isn’t much reason for a Home Studio artist to go out and spend thousands on software. Rather spend your money on good gear. The road to excellent quality recording is getting easier and easier.