UNIX as DAW

the main idea is that instead of having one massive software that
does everything you want to do, you can utilize an ecosystem of
smaller programs, each of which
    - does what it does well
    - can interact with the others well

why? because it's a bad design choice for one thing to do everything, 
especially for a DAW.
you end up with 
    1. a bunch of random junk you'll never use that gets loaded up
        every time you want to do anything
    2. a bunch of random junk in your songs because you're adding
        things just because they're available
    3. a bunch of abstractions around what's actually going on that
        mostly are just confusing and make it harder to do anything
        interesting or novel

my main gripe is the abstraction around audio streams and 'tracks'.

whatever though, i used garageband for 4 years and logic for 1 and
still use it when i'm feeling lazy.

some programs:
    - sox
    - ecasound
    - vkeybd
    - sted2
    - fluidsynth
    - LADSPA*
    - jack*

*LADSPA is written like that because its a plugin spec, not a
program

*jack is written like that because it more facilitates the
connection between programs by routing audio streams in a more
flexible way. and also because jack functionality can be through
pipewire.

i like vkeybd more than vmpk because vmpk was way too bulky and i
couldn't route the midi anywhere but fluidsynth. i don't even like
vkeybd that much, though. what i really want is some headless
program that just transmit key presses as midi data.

email me if you have any other programs that fit the bill. if you
send me a DAW, no matter how open source, i will get mad.

---

note on sted2

installation is stupid. i'm trying to rewrite it so that it should
be easier to compile on anything modern. oh yeah, and also so you
don't have to download it through some buried internet archive
page.

if anyone does it on their own, just delete any `get_text` stuff 
in the make files and compile with `--std=gnu89 --f-common`.

the only reasons i like sted2 is that you can run it without X11 in
curses and you can control everything with your keyboard. 

---

i also use schismtracker, mostly for live stuff but i don't really
like it. not much else seems to exist for keyboard-controllable 
music trackers.