Free audio software is free software that can be used to listen to, modify, create and/or author audio signals and music. There is free audio software available for Windows and Mac OS. Free software, as defined by the Free Software Foundation, is software which can be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed without restriction. ... Methods and media for sound recording are varied and have undergone significant changes between the first time sound was actually recorded for later playback until now. ... Music is an art, entertainment, or other human activity which involves organized and audible sound, though definitions vary. ... Microsoft Windows is a series of popular proprietary operating environments and operating systems created by Microsoft for use on personal computers and servers. ... Mac OS, which stands for Macintosh Operating System, is a range of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Computer for their Macintosh computers. ...

dyne:bolic, AGNULA and Musix are Linux distributions designed for musicians and/or audio engineers. Planet CCRMA is a set of RPM files for audio production work. AGNULA is A GNU Linux Audio distribution. ... Musix GNU+Linux is a LiveCD GNU/Linux distribution intended for musicians and all kind of users. ... A Linux distribution is a Unix-like operating system comprising the Linux kernel, the GNU operating system (or most of it), other assorted free software/open-source software, and possibly proprietary software. ... CCRMA (pronounced karma) is a collection of Red Hat packages ( RPMs ) to help optimize a Linux workstation for audio work. ... The RPM Logo RPM Package Manager (or RPM, originally called Red Hat Package Manager) is a package management system primarily intended for Linux. ...

Technologies

• ALSA is the sound card management system in the Linux kernel
• LADSPA is a plugin architecture for digital sound processing
• DSSI is a plugin architecture for software synthesizers and the like
• JACK is a daemon that provides low latency connections between JACKified applications. JACK runs on GNU/Linux and Mac OS X. It can use ALSA, OSS and PortAudio.

A screenshot of alsamixer ALSA (an acronym for Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) is a Linux kernel component intended to replace the original Open Sound System for providing drivers for sound cards. ... A sound card based on VIA Envy chip A sound card is a computer expansion card that can input and output sound under program control. ... The Linux mascot Tux created by Larry Ewing The Linux kernel is a free software Unix-like operating system kernel that was begun by Linus Torvalds in 1991 and subsequently improved with the assistance of developers around the world. ... LADSPA is an acronym for Linux Audio Developers Simple Plugin API. It is an LGPLed standard interface for handling filters, effects and the like in Linux-based operating systems. ... DSSI (a recursive acronym for DSSI Soft Synth Instrument) is a virtual instrument (software synthesizer) plugin architecture for music sequencer applications running under Linux. ... A software synthesizer or virtual instrument is a computer program for digital audio generation. ... The JACK Audio Connection Kit or JAC is a soundserver or daemon that provides low latency connections between so-called jackified applications. ... In Unix and other computer operating systems, a daemon is a particular class of computer program that runs in the background, rather than under the direct control of a user; they are usually instantiated as processes. ... Low latency allows human-unnoticeable delays between an input being processed and the corresponding output providing real time characteristics. ... Mac OS X is the operating system that is included with all currently shipping Apple Macintosh computers in the education, the consumer, and in the business markets. ... A screenshot of alsamixer ALSA (an acronym for Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) is a Linux kernel component intended to replace the original Open Sound System for providing drivers for sound cards. ... OSS may refer to any of the following: Office of Strategic Services, forerunner of the CIA Open Sound System Open-source software Operations Support System Operations Support Squadron Out of School Suspension Optimized Systems Software The Old Syriac Sinaiticus OSS was the name of an ITC Entertainment TV series which...

Audio Recording and Editing

• Ardour
• Audacity
• Ecasound
• Linux MultiMedia Studio [1]
• MusE (not to be confused with MuSE; see below.)
• Rosegarden
• Seq24
• SndBite [2] A specialized editor intended for cutting large recordings into small pieces with great efficiency.
• Sweep
• Mp3splt - splits mp3 and ogg files without decoding (see mp3splt-gtk and libmp3splt)
• OpenSebJ [3] An Open Source, real time audio DJ mixer

This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Audacity is a free digital audio editor that runs on the Linux/UNIX, Mac OS 9/Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows operating systems. ... Ecasound is a hard-disk recording and audio processing tool, running on GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD. Ecasound is free software, available under the GNU General Public License. ... In Greek mythology, the Muses (Greek Μουσαι, Mousai) are nine archaic goddesses who embody the right evocation of myth, inspired through remembered and improvised song and traditional music and dances. ... Rosegarden is an open source digital audio workstation program developed for Linux with ALSA and KDE. It acts as an audio and MIDI sequencer, scorewriter and musical composition and editing tool. ... Categories: Computer stubs | Free audio software ... Mp3splt is a free digital audio splitter that runs on GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows operating systems. ... Mp3splt-gtk is a free digital audio splitter that runs on GNU/Linux, and Microsoft Windows operating systems. ... Libmp3splt is a free digital audio splitter library that runs on GNU/Linux, and Microsoft Windows operating systems. ...

Trackers

• Cheesetracker is an Impulse Tracker clone
• Schism Tracker is another Impulse Tracker clone, and also has the classic interface
• Soundtracker [4]
• ModPlug Tracker was released as free software in 2004

Tracker is the generic term for a class of software music sequencers which, in their purest form, allow the user to arrange sound samples stepwise on a timeline across several monophonic channels. ... CheeseTracker is an Impulse Tracker clone created by Juan Linietsky (who is also known as Reduz). ... Impulse Tracker 2. ... Schism Tracker is a free software music sequencer that can run on Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, MorphOS or Windows, for example. ... Modplug Tracker ModPlug Tracker is a tracker for Windows developed by Olivier Lapicque. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Programming languages

• Csound has been released under the LGPL.
• SuperCollider
• ChucK is a concurrent, on-the-fly audio programming language

See computer music programming languages Csound is a computer programming language for dealing with sound. ... GNU logo The GNU Lesser General Public License (formerly the GNU Library General Public License) is an FSF approved Free Software license designed as a compromise between the GNU General Public License and simple permissive licenses such as the BSD license and the MIT License. ... SuperCollider is a real time audio synthesis programming language. ... The ChucK Operator ChucK is a concurrent, strongly-timed audio programming language for real-time synthesis, composition, and performance, which runs on Mac OS X, Linux, and Microsoft Windows. ... Parallel programming is a computer programming technique that provides for the execution of operations in parallel, either within a single computer, or across a number of systems. ... In relation to computer technology, on the fly describes activities that develop or occur dynamically rather than as the result of something that is statically predefined. ... Computer music programming languages are audio domain-specific programming languages or systems used to write computer music and music software. ...

Modular systems

• SpiralSynthModular
• Pure data
• jMax
• SynFactory
• aRts
• Psycle is a Jeskola Buzz clone

pure data program Pure Data (or Pd) is a graphical programming language developed by Miller Puckette in the 1990s for the creation of interactive computer music and multimedia works. ... jMax is a highly-modular visual programming environment for interactive real-time music. ... SynFactory is an open source software synthesizer for Windows. ... A precise definition of the arts can be contentious, but the following areas of activity are usually included: Art / Visual arts Architecture Crafts Dance Drawing Film Literature Music Painting Photography Pottery Sculpture Theater Unlike art, design focuses less on the aesthetics of a thing and more on the functionality of... Psycle is a free software music studio originally designed to clone Jeskola Buzz, although its pattern editing interface is more like that of a classical tracker. ... Jeskola Buzz is a proprietary modular software studio environment centered around a modular plugin-based machine view and a multiple pattern sequencer tracker (as opposed to a single pattern sequencer tracker). ...

Streaming

• MuSE is for mixing, encoding, and streaming of encoded audio, not to be confused with MusE; see above.
• Icecast is a broadcast server to serve audio signals to clients over http.
• PeerCast is an open source peercasting tool.

In Greek mythology, the Muses (Greek Μουσαι, Mousai) are nine archaic goddesses who embody the right evocation of myth, inspired through remembered and improvised song and traditional music and dances. ... Icecast is a FOSS streaming media project maintained by the Xiph. ... HTTP (for HyperText Transfer Protocol) is the primary method used to convey information on the World Wide Web. ... PeerCast is an open source streaming media multicast tool. ... Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ... Peercasting is a method of multicasting streams, usually audio and/or video, to the internet via peer-to-peer technology. ...

Radio broadcasting

• Rivendell [5] is a complete radio broadcast automation solution.

Softsynths

• ZynAddSubFX
• Crystal

Contents // Categories: Stub ... ZynAddSubFX is an open source software synthesizer for Linux and Windows. ... Crystal is a freeware software synthesizer, running on Windows, Mac and Linux in the VST environment. ...

Audio analysis

See spectrum analyzer A spectrum analyzer is a device used to examine the spectral composition of some electrical, acoustic, or optical waveform. ...

• WaveSurfer [6]
• Praat [7]

Others

• abc notation
• Hydrogen.
• SoX The Swiss Army knife of audio. Converts among file and data formats, sampling rates, etc. and can also add effects.

abc is a language designed to notate music - tunes and lyrics - in an ascii format. ... Hydrogen is an advanced drum machine originally developed for GNU/Linux but later ported to Windows and Mac OS X. Its main goal is to bring professional yet simple and intuitive pattern-based drum programming. ... Sound eXchange, abbreviated SoX, is a free digital audio editor which is licensed under the GPL and distributed by Chris Bagwell through Sourceforge. ...

External links

• Dave Phillips' Sound & MIDI Software For Linux