QTRACTOR
Set up a music studio using Qtractor
Feeling creative? Michael Reed looks into how to build a Linux-based home studio using free software that can be applied to any type of music.
Part One!
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OUR EXPERT
Michael Reed once created a MIDI loop that was funky with a capital ‘F’.
This issue we’re going to build a software-based studio using Qtractor (www.qtractor.org), a powerful open source DAW (digital audio workstation). Qtractor is particularly strong when used as a MIDI sequencer.
If the term MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) doesn’t mean anything to you, don’t worry. Essentially, MIDI enables you to record every note that makes up a piece of music as a series of numbers. These numbers represent the exact time that the note was struck, it’s velocity (volume) and the duration of the note. MIDI also specifies the cables and signals needed to connect computers to instruments. Next month, we’ll delve further into Qtractor’s audio recording and manipulation facilities, which are fairly decent as well.
DISCOVER THE QTRACTOR INTERFACE
1 The Transport bar.
Move the position cursor around the arrangement, and start and stop playback and recording with these tape machine-style controls. Further along are the current tempo and time signature.
2 The Tracks area
Track name and other information is shown here. Double-click this to edit.
3 Files area.
A list of all the ‘clips’ used in the current arrangement. There’s a tab to switch between digital audio and MIDI clips.
4 The Arrangement area.
Move clips around and cut and paste them in this area to define your arrangement. Double-click a clip to edit it.
5 The Navigation window.
This gives you an overview of your current arrangement, and you can use it to move around.
6 The Messages window.
Reminding us that this is a native Linux application we’re dealing with! This keeps us abreast of any errors that crop up and is useful for diagnosing problems.
MIDI became popular upon its introduction in the early 1980s because computers at that time weren’t powerful enough to generate high-quality sounds, but they could reliably send MIDI notes to synthesisers. These days, most musicians have moved over to software synthesisers (‘soft synths’), available in the form of plugins. If you look at old footage of electronic bands in an 1980s studio, you can often spot dozens of keyboards lining the walls. However, these days, it’s not uncommon to see an electronic musician producing hits with just a laptop, a MIDI keyboard and some monitor speakers.
That sums up what we’re going for in this case. We’re going to set up a system with a MIDI sequencer that can control software synths. It’ll be useful if you’ve got a MIDI keyboard to plug into the setup, but you don’t need one to start having a play around with the software. These examples will assume that you’re using the builtin sound facilities of your desktop or laptop computer, but it’s worth considering getting hold of a dedicated USB audio interface for improved quality, particularly if you’re recording instruments and vocals and for critical listening. If you’re only creating music using software synths, then the quality of your audio interface has no effect on the sound quality of the final piece of music because everything is mixed in the digital realm.