271 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
271 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
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! title The Non DAW
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! author Jonathan Moore Liles #(email,male@tuxfamily.org)
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! date March 1, 2008
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! extra #(image,logo,logo.png)
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-- Table Of Contents
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: Overview
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:: Description
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The Non DAW is a powerful, reliable and fast modular Digital Audio
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Workstation system, released under the GNU General Public License
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(GPL). It utilizes the JACK Audio Connection Kit for
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inter-application audio I\/O and the FLTK GUI toolkit for a fast and
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lightweight user interface.
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Please see the #(url,MANUAL.html,Manual) for more information.
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:: What it is not
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Non-DAW is *not* a wave editor. It is not a beat slicer. It is not a
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granular synthesis engine. It is *not* a clone of some proprietary DAW. It
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is not an /insert name of proprietary audio thing here/ killer. It is *not*
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limiting and restricting. It is *not* a monolithic DAW with internal mixing
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or EQ DSP. Non-DAW is intended to be one tool among many in your Linux audio
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toolbox.
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:: What is a DAW?
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The acronym DAW stands for Digital Audio Workstation. Of course, Non is
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software, so when we say DAW we imply a purely software based system. A DAW
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is used by modern studio engineers to record and arrange multitrack sessions
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of different musicians into a single song. Perhaps a more noble use of a
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DAW, and the one for which Non-DAW was specifically written, is to provide
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the mutli-instrumentalist individual with all the software necessary to
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quickly and conveniently record and arrange his compositions and produce a
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professional quality result.
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In this author's opinion, a DAW comprises the following functionality:
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* Non-linear, non-destructive arrangement of portions of audio clips.
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* Tempo and time signature mapping, with editing operations being closely aligned to this map.
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Since Non uses JACK for IO, some things traditionally considered to be within
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the scope of a monolithic DAW can be pared out into JACK and Non Mixer:
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* Signal routing
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* Audio mixing
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* Hosting of plugins
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:: Why write another one?
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First and foremost, we can disregard all non-free DAWs because we do not
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waste our precious time and spirit on non-free and\/or proprietary software.
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This excludes virtually every other DAW in existence. Secondly, we require a
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DAW that runs on the GNU\/Linux operating system in conjunction with other
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free software, such as the JACK Audio Connection Kit, in a modular and
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cooperative and manner. Finally, we require a program that is powerful,
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fast, and reliable. No other software meets these requirements.
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The design of the Non DAW differs substantially from others. This is a good
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thing; for a clone of a bad design is doomed from the start.
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There is only one other DAW that is capable and free software, and its name
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is Ardour. Suffice it to say that the architecture of Ardour is incompatible
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with the requirements of speed and reliability. Other DAW-like free software
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programs, including Traverso and QTractor, are similarly limited (being of
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similar design), but suffer the additional burden of cumbersome legacy ALSA
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support and very a limited feature set.
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Given these options, we had no choice but to start from scratch, this time on
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a solid foundation, rather than attempting (in vain) to shoehorn good design
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into an existing code base.
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:: Features
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Non-DAW shares many features in common with other, similar projects. However,
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Non-DAW's unique architecture permits surprising new functionality.
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::: Journaled Projects
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Unlike legacy DAWs, which keep project state in huge, memory wasting, hard
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to manage XML (or binary equivalent) trees, Non-DAW has the unique ability
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to store project state in a compact continuous journal of bidirectional
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delta messages--similar to the journal part of journaling filesystems--in
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plain ASCII.
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The Non-DAW disk format takes the form of a journal of delta messages. Each
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project file contains the complete history of that project since the last
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(optional) compaction operation. These journals are so terse that it is
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practical to keep the complete history of a project from the time it was
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first opened. No XML or other bloated, buggy, resource hungry format is
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employed. (Anyone suggesting the use of XML for anything related to this
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project will be shot on sight with incendiary rounds.)
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This has a number of highly desirable consequences. Among them:
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+ Zero time spent 'saving' projects.
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+ No need to 'save' projects manualy.
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+ No need for CPU and RAM wasting 'autosave' function.
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+ In the (unlikely) event of a crash, at most *one* transaction (user action) may be lost, and the project will *not* be invalidated.
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+ Unlimited undo--potentially going back to the very moment the project was created (state of the template it was based on).
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+ Undo history requires no additional RAM.
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+ Project format is insanely simple and easy to manipulate with sed or awk scripts, should the need arise (see the included `remove-unused-sources` script for an example).
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Non-DAW's journalling capability can drastically change your workflow. No
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longer will you fear a system failure. No longer will your pinky finger
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become sore from hitting Control-S after every important change. No longer
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will you have to attempt, in vain, to manually edit a completely
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incomprehensible XML 'document', because Ardour has corrupted its memory and
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therefore the project you 'saved'.
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::: Non-destructive editing
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Sound sources (audio files) are represented by /regions/. Any number of
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regions may represent different parts of the same source. All editing is
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performed on these region structures--the sound sources themselves are
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considered read-only (except for captures in-progress).
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::: Unlimited tracks
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Tracks in a DAW are unlike tracks on tape in that a single track can
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contain more than one channel of audio. Each audio track has its own
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record, mute, solo, and gain, as well an active take and any number
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of inactive takes. A track may also have any number of annotation
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and control sequences associated with it.
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::: Unlimited takes
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A /take/ is a sequence of regions. Each track has /current take/, implied by
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'the track', as well as any number of other, inactive takes. A track may be
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set to display all takes simultaneously, to ease the process of reviewing
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past takes or stitching together a new take from parts of previous takes.
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Old takes may be deleted, either one by one or all at once, when they are no
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longer required. Takes may not be transferred between tracks (there's no
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technical reason why they can't, but allowing this would be bad design).
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::: Cross-fades
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Where regions overlap, a cross-fade exists. This means that the transition
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from region A to region B will be gradual rather than abrupt. The shape of
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the gain curve may be selected separately for region A and B of the
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cross-fade. Available curves include: Linear, Sigmoid, Logarithmic, and
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Parabolic.
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::: Automation
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Each track can have associated with it any number of /control sequences/, a
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subset of which may be visible at any one time. Each control sequence
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comprises a series of /control points/, which collectively represent a graph
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of changes to a single controllable value over time. Anything may be
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controlled by a control track, including external software supporting OSC or
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MIDI control, although the most common application is mixer gain automation,
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where the value controlled is the fader level in the mixer.
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::: Time/tempo mapping
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The time and tempo maps (rulers) affect where and how many bar\/beat lines
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are drawn. During playback they affect the time\/tempo of the JACK transport
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so that other programs, like the Non-Sequencer, can follow along in sync.
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:: Components
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The Mixer and the Timeline are separate programs, connected through JACK.
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::: Timeline
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All operations on the timeline are journaled, and therefore reversible.
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The following data belong to the timeline:
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= Tracks and Takes
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= Each Track has a number of input and output ports, a name, and
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= any number of attached sequences. All sequences but the current
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= (topmost) are inactive and do not generate sound or accept
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= captures. These sequences are referred to as /Takes/. Previous
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= takes may be swapped with the current sequence and all takes
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= may be shown on screen at once for easy splicing. Each track
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= can also have any number of Control Sequences attached to it,
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= in which case all control sequences generate control output
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= unless disconnected. The height of a track may be adjusted
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= and a track can be muted, soloed, or record-enabled.
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= Regions
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= Regions are the most common object on the timeline. Each region
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= represents a segment of some particular audio file. Waveforms
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= of all regions belonging to the same source are displayed in
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= the same hue. Each region has a normalization value and regions
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= can be selected individually or operated on in groups. Each
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= region has a fade-in and fade-out curve, and when two regions
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= overlap, this constitutes a cross-fade.
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= Control Points
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= Control points are arbitrarily placed points on a curve (or
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= line) from which continuous control values are interpolated
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= and sent out a JACK port (like a control voltage).
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= Time and Tempo Points
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= Time and Tempo points control the tempo and meter throughout
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= time. This information is used for drawing the measure lines
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= and snapping to the grid, as well as informing other JACK
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= clients of tempo changes throughout a song.
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= Annotation Points
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= Cue points are textual markers on the timeline. Common names
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= for cue points include "Verse 1", "Bridge", etc.
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= Annotation Regions
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= Annotation Regions are annotations with a definite duration.
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= These are useful for representing lyrics or other notes of a
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= timely nature. Each track may have any number of annotation
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= sequences associated with it, and these sequences can contain
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= a free mix of annotation points and annotation regions.
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; What does freedom have to do with this software?
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Non is /free software/. This means, briefly, that you are free use it as
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*you* wish, free to examine and adapt the source code, free to share it with
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your friends, and free to publish your changes to the source code.
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Furthermore, Non is /copyleft/, which means that you are free from the
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threat of some other entity taking over and denying you the above freedoms.
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The /free/ part of /free software/ doesn't refer to price any more than the
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/free/ in /free speech/ does.
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To learn why free software is so important to us (and why it should be
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important to you), please see the Free Software Foundation's website:
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#(url,http:\/\/www.fsf.org\/licensing\/essays\/free-sw.html,What is Free Software?)
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#(url,http:\/\/www.fsf.org\/licensing\/essays\/copyleft.html,What is Copyleft?)
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; Donations
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Donations can take many forms. You can donate your time in code, either by
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sending it to me for review or cloning the git repository and publishing one
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containing your changes. You can donate your time in testing, documentation,
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artwork, indexing, etc. Or, if you don't feel that you possess the time or
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skills required for the above forms of donation, you can donate money
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instead. Money donated will help to ensure that I have the free time, good
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nutrition and enthusiasm required to implement new features. It can also be
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a more palpable way of saying "Thanks for caring." or "Job well done!"
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If you don't love this software, don't feel guilty about not contributing.
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If you do love it, then please help me improve it--in whatever manner you
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think is appropriate.
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#(url,http:\/\/non.tuxfamily.org\/donation.html,Make a donation)
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; Distribution
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Development of the Non-DAW and Non-Mixer can be followed with Git:
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> git clone git://git.tuxfamily.org/gitroot/non/daw.git
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There are no pre-compiled binaries available.
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; Requirements
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The following libraries are required to build Non DAW and Non Mixer
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* FLTK >= 1.1.7 (with `fluid`)
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* JACK >= 0.103.0
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* libsndfile >= 0.18.0
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; Community
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Feel free to drop by the `#non` channel on irc.freenode.net.
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There is a mailing list `non-daw@lists.tuxfamily.org`.
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To subscribe, send a message with the subject 'subscribe' to
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#(email,non-daw-request@lists.tuxfamily.org).
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You can also browse the #(url,http:\/\/listengine.tuxfamily.org\/lists.tuxfamily.org\/non-daw\/,archive).
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