Hello world,

listening to the tunes that were made for Nexuiz so far I sort of got into the mood to make a tune by myself. Now if I go through all that trouble to become creative, I want to license the tune under the appropriate GPL so that my efforts do not go to waste simpy due to licensing issues.

Now I have all sorts of platforms available (WinXP/MacOS/Linux), but am not sure which software to use. I started to check out Garageband, but I could not find any legal information as to the licensing of its software instruments. Does anyone know if I can use Garageband software instruments for creating GPL music? Also are there any recommendations on which (free) software tools to use?

Thanks for any feedback!

I think there is http://lmms.sourceforge.net/ a couple of my friends use it. They both said its really easy to use, and you could make a basic beat within five minutes.

Thx for the hint, I will check that out.

Lmao, i was also going to suggest LMMS. Just uploaded an unfinished track to get others started: http://lsp.lmms.info/?action=show&file=648

There's also MadTracker: http://www.madtracker.org
(currently only Windows, but will eventually become opensource)

LMMS is nice! I used and i think its easy to use and have samples ready to use and plugins to reproduce instruments and a lot of presets.

Ardour: http://ardour.org/
Rosegarden: http://www.rosegardenmusic.com/


The JACK app list has many opensauce audio applications:
http://jackaudio.org/applications

You don't need an Opensource program to create GPL music. Anything you create with samples which can be obtained/supplied with your song could work for a GPL song. (Source, please.)

I personally recommend FL Studio, although it may be daunting for a new user. It's a very nice program, and simply providing the project file + any other samples you may have created (Ones built into FL Studio aren't needed to be supplied, iirc) and you can make a GPL song. (Some of the music in Nexuiz was made with FL Studio, iirc)

Although, it isn't free... And you can't make a GPL song with the trial (As you can't save the project file).

Thanks for all the hints - I took a look at LMMS but unfortunately am having some problems (tooltips are not displayed and the icons are not accessible via any menu, so I don't have a clue what they actually do). But I don't want to get technical anyway in this post.

Sooo, from the website rosegarden really looks promising. Anyhow I still have to figure out how all this midi stuff works, how to set up polyphonic midi recording and loads of rather basic questions. You know, I just start to dig into this stuff. Normally I'd just "play the piano" and there you are, but for a Nexuiz tune I'll need some additional background and rhythm stuff. I guess not many people would like to play Nexuiz while listening to some chill-out saloon style piano music. XoP

Most probably I'll have to mix midi and analogue recordings anyway, since some of the soundbanks on my keyboard are actually quite neat.

I'll have a look at rosegarden tonight. Thanks a lot for your hints, they are much appreciated!

Just to let you know, LMMS runs quite nice on XP, in case you have issues installing on Linux. There's also Musix, a Linux distro with all kinds of audio equipment (but no LMMS).

Oh good point, thx 4m. Somehow when I had the choice between Linux and XP platform then the idea of trying out the windows version didn't even occur to me. I'll try the XP version as soon as I find the time. Tonight however I'll be working late unfortunately, unexpected todo items jumped at me from around a corner on my way home.

Tell me about it! i know those mean todo items all too well! They sneak up on ya like evil ninja!

I use LMMS.

Wish I had seen this thread earlier. Currently learning it in depth for a uni project.

Just a short update, to make this thread more complete:

In the meantime I kicked my old ubuntu installation from my PC and installed UbuntuStudio Karmic. I know I could've upgraded but this ubuntu jaunty I had there was upgraded all the way from ubuntu 7.04 or something, so I just wanted to make sure everything works right.

I found LMMS to be very useful indeed (everything works right), still I have to discover how to add more software instruments to it - and where to get them from. In case anyone knows a free repository for software instruments, I'd be happy to know.

Otherwise I'll most probably be using LMMS for creating a nice bass line and then replaying the bass line while recording analog sound of my keyboard with ardour. So far this is working quite well, also thanks to the real time kernel. So if anyone else is interested, my first experiences with UbuntuStudio are surprisingly good.

I have started with some non Nexuiz style music though, to get acquainted with the software. But I seem to get along quite well, so I'll be putting down my ideas for Nexuiz soon. Damnit, I'd need an interface for my brain, it's all in there but it is so hard to get it out there XoP