OS-1 | Open Source for Audio | R 3 | 2023-11-11 | 12:00 - 14:00
moderated by Jörn Nettingsmeier
The following list of contributions (2 of 3 in total) to this event is incomplete due to filtering.
Open-Source in Pro-Audio
OS-1-1 | Start 12:00 | Duration 30 min. | Klaus Scheuermann | Workshop (English)
Still hooked on Avid, Apple & Co?
Imagine you quit your Avid support plan, skipped the next WAVES update cycle, or simply rejected Dolby's ATMOS encoder.
Then what's the status on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in pro-audio?
FOSS is literally everywhere, and especially successful in professional environments: For example, an estimated 96% of all web servers are running Linux. FOSS is now being developed commercially and has long evolved from the nerd space to mass-market applications like the multimedia system in every BMW.
Efficiency, longevity, accessibility, and potential for open innovation: FOSS has many great advantages - and a few disadvantages.
This Talk
- explores the strengths and weaknesses of FOSS in pro-audio
- gives an overview of the FOSS status quo in different categories of audio production
- identifies bottlenecks in FOSS development
- makes the case for more open systems in pro-audio
Klaus Scheuermann was born 1976 into a Tonmeister-family. Over the last 20 years, he has recorded, mixed and mastered hundreds of albums, mostly in Jazz and electronic music, at his studio in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Klaus also develops the FOSS audio-plugin 'master_me', which optimizes sound quality in live streams. He has been a VDT member since 2004 and won the VDT's Golden Bobby in 2005.
Solving problems with open source tools: mixing a concert feature film in Ardour, online music collaboration with JackTrip, and automated stream mastering with master_me
OS-1-2 | Start 12:30 | Duration 60 min. | Jörn Nettingsmeier |
Sven Thielen, Klaus Scheuermann | Roundtable Discussion (English)
Abstract:
In this round-table / lighting talk / demo, we explore three weird but successful problem-solving journeys, addressing different angles of the same global challenge with open source.
Jörn kicks off with "TWOFIFTY - remembering Beethoven". He shows how to record, edit, design and mix a conceptual contemporary music performance and turn it into a surround feature film soundtrack after the originally planned concert series had gone, well, viral. Meeting the combined challenges of location recording, live music production, and film post-production is accomplished with the Ardour DAW and a selection of open-source plugins.
Sven then shows how to turn a research by-product into an art and enterprise: "JackTrip" is a ground-breaking low-latency audio streaming solution originating at CCRMA (Stanford University), which becomes a vital tool for online music collaboration in times when musicians cannot physically be together.
How does it work, and how can it be made easy enough to be adopted even by amateur ensembles who do not have dedicated tech support?
Klaus wraps up with his personal journey from mastering engineer to plugin developer with no prior coding knowledge: "When the pandemic hit, streaming events peaked - audio-wise, too, unfortunately: they sounded bad." Armed with a GUI-less prototype of a mastering chain for live streams and internet radio stations created in the arcane programming language FAUST, he gets a bunch of highly skilled developers curious enough to join the project. The power of open source collaboration unfolds, and "master_me" is born.