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Please note that the condition of the software listed ranges from alpha-stage models to fully developed commercial packages. Some of it may not compile and/or run on your system without some determined hacking.

• *ster includes Pluckster, Hammster, Boxster, and other sample & IR generators from David Clark
• Blues Box a collection of blues and rock rhythm patterns for Hydrogen
• Bol Processor sources are now open, good news from Bernard Bel and Anthony Kozar
• Canorus a new music notation program from Reinhard Katzmann & Crew
• CLAM Music Annotator 0.3.1 visualise/check/modify music information extracted from audio, more cool software from the CLAM project
• Dino neat MIDI sequencer using the latest JACK (with MIDI capability), from Lars Luthman
• Frinika music workstation software for operating systems running Java 1.5
• Gnaural binaural-beat generator, from gnaural (who else?)
• Gsharp extensible Lisp-based music score editor from Christophe Rhodes and Robert Strandh
• HyperMammut software for processing sounds and images, something new from Paul Nasca
• Jesusonic "God's own effects processor", it must be good...
• Jokosher multi-track non-linear audio editor, requires Python
• Juce "cross-platform GUI + everything else library", from Julian Storer, developer of Tracktion
• Kaiku Juhana Sadeharju's as-yet-unfinished "GVerb + multitap" reverberator
• Khagan interface builder for OSC-based applications, from Loki Davison
• KarmaPod ultracool custom Linux audio workstation from David O'Toole
• Kontroll MIDI utility to generate controller messages from the mouse position, more software from Florian Schmidt
• LinuxMAO is "a French-speaking wiki for worldwide Linux audio users"
• LMMS it's the Linux MultiMedia Studio, "... a free alternative to popular programs like FruityLoops, Cubase and Logic"
• Modulor a "micro-utility" for the Cabel Csound instrument designer
• Mondrian music composition language from Peter Brinkmann
• Open Cubic Player popular module player now available for Linux
• Polish Linux Sound & Music excellent Web site (Polish only!)
• Rhythm Galaxy vol.1 percussion samples from sound designer Artemiy Pavlov
• Simple Sysexxer new MIDI sys-ex utility from Christoph Eckert
• Slag pattern-based audio sequencer/drum box from Alex Marandon
• Sonic Visualiser advanced waveform/spectrogram viewer and audio annotation editor, from Chris Cannam
• TwoLAME new MPEG-2 encoder from Nicholas Humfrey
• ace command-line MIDI splitter/processor, performance software from Atte André Jensen
• arcangel distortion effect, requires JACK, from James Shuttleworth
• b-tektracker MIDI step-sequencer based on TekTracker
• paulstretch high-quality time-stretching software from the industrious Paul Nasca
• rt-script finds and reorders audio process IRQs and IDs to increase priority, from Emanuel Rumpf
• sfubar-3 command-line SoundFont2/WAV/AIFF editor, from Ben Collver
• tkdnoise nice Tcl/Tk GUI for Csound's dnoise utility, from Hudson Lacerda
• Updated:
  • Aeolus version 0.6.6 is out at last
  • ALSA now at release level 1.0.11
  • AMB Plugins updated version available now
  • APODIO updated to version 4.2.23
  • Bristol version 0.9.4 now available for your listening pleasure
  • Csound version 5.01 has been released !
  • Ecmd version 0.82 now with JACK support
  • FreeCast release 20060515 is now on-line
  • Freecycle 0.6-alpha now on-line
  • Freewheeling motorvates to level 0.5.2
  • LASH release 0.5.1 now on-line
  • MMA (Musical MIDI Accompaniment) attains release level 0.21b
  • MusE climbs to version 0.8.1
  • Musix GNU+Linux new release 0.39 now available
  • NoteEdit beta-2.8.1 now available
  • OSS/Linux upgraded to version 3.99.4a, now available for free
  • QJackCtl version 0.2.20 released
  • QSynth reaches release level 0.2.5
  • Rivendell sails into release version 0.9.67
  • Shelljam ascends to level 0.0.4
  • Smack release version 0.3 is out and on-line
  • Snd moves to version 8.1
  • Snd-ls updated to v. 0.9.6.2 (really!)
  • WONDER sprints to version 2.1.0
  • aubio updated to version 0.3.0
  • dssi-vst version 0.4 now available
  • jackEQ updated to version 0.4.1
  • kluppe version 0.5.2 now available for download
  • liboggz races to release version 0.9.5
  • mjoo reaches level 0.0.5
  • netjack vaults to release 0.11
  • realtime_lsm advances to version 0.8.6

• General Synthesis Packages
  • *ster includes Pluckster, Hammster, Boxster, and other sample & IR generators from David Clark
  • Acouphenes small program to generate sounds from neural networks
  • Amber granular synthesis for Linux and MacOS
  • Audiality David Olofson's "audio engine... designed for playing music and sound effects..."
  • ChucK an audio programming language for realtime synthesis, composition, and performance, from Ge Wang and Perry Cook
  • CLAM is the C++ Library for Audio and Music from Xavier Serra and his talented crew at UPF (Note: This package effectively incorporates and replaces Prof. Serra's SMS)
  • Dissociated Studio takes an audio file, segments it, computes a segment similarity matrix, and plays the piece, skipping from segment to similar segment; very cool software from Aaron Lav
  • Fugue is by Roger Dannenberg at CMU
  • InSpect sound analysis/resynthesis/transformation from Sylvain Marchand
  • JASS the Java Audio Synthesis System, from Kees van den Doel
  • Loris sound modeling and morphing software from the CERL Sound Group
  • MARSYAS is the MusicAl Research SYstem for Analysis and Synthesis or the Manipulation Analysis and Retrieval SYstems for Audio and Signals, either way it's software from George Tzanetakis
  • The MusicKit is being ported from NeXTStep to Linux
  • OpenSoundWorld Amar Chaudhary's "...scalable, extensible programming environment that allows sound designers and musicians to process sound in response to expressive real-time control..."
  • SAOL
    • SAOL is the MPEG-4 Structured Audio Orchestra Language from Eric Scheirer
    • MPEG-4 Structured Audio: Developer Tools a page from John Lazzaro and John Wawrzynek, includes the indispensable sfront
    • SAOLsound Paul Winkler's project "... to provide resources for Csound users interested in exploring SAOL"
    • Sounds in SA some SAOL-encoded music
  • Sapphire an audio synthesis language by Jim Finnis
  • Scripts: Sound for Csound, PowerPV, and TrikTraks, from Drew Krause
  • SMS comes from Xavier Serra; a very cool on-line GUI is located here
  • Sonic is a digital audio programming language from Don Cross
  • Spectroscopic Toolkit "64-bit phase oscillators for nanotonal synthesis", from Pieter Suurmond
  • Spiral Synthesis materials from Tracy Lind Petersen
  • Squeak a Smalltalk-80 environment with built-in support for realtime sound synthesis; a description of Linux sound support for Squeak can be found here
  • STK Perry Cook's excellent Synthesis ToolKit; Tim Stilson has also prepared StkLinux, a Linux port of Perry's STK 1.0
  • SuperCollider3 a Linux port of the realtime audio server and object-oriented sound synthesis language
  • Tao physical modelling synthesis language and GUI, from Mark Pearson
  • Theo Verelst Additive Synthesis Program an additive synthesis program, from Theo Verelst
  • Varese synthesis/composition environment from Peter Hanappe
  • Virtual Sound audio synthesis tools from Christos Dimitrakakis
  • WONDER "Wave-field synthesis Of New Dimensions of Electronic music in Realtime", software from Marije Baalman and Daniel Plewe
  • gAlan the very cool graphical audio language, originally from Tony Garnock-Jones and now maintained by Torben Hohn
  • rt_lpc real-time LPC analysis/synthesis/visualization from the Princeton Soundlab
  • wigwamjam "... grows sounds using your decisions to drive the evolution of genetically programmed synth functions", from Dave Griffiths

• General Music Composition/Analysis Packages
  • Amuc is the Amsterdam Music Composer, from Wouter Boeke
  • Common Music is maintained by Rick Taube at UIUC
    • Notes From The Metalevel Rick's excellent book on Common Music, a must-have for all students and users
    • Plotter Rick's handy tool for Common Music now available for Linux and GTK
    • Scripts: Music routines for Common Music, MIDI and music scripts in Perl, by Drew Krause
  • Haskore Computer Music System is a collection of Haskell modules designed for creating musical structures in a high-level style similar to functional programming languages
  • The Humdrum Toolkit software tools for music analysis and research
  • JFugue Dave Koelle's Java classes for music programming
  • JMSL the most excellent Java Music Specification Language, from Nick Didkovsky and Phil Burk
  • LMMS it's the Linux MultiMedia Studio, "... a free alternative to popular programs like FruityLoops, Cubase and Logic
  • LMUSeJ Lindenmayer fractal music software from David Sharp, requires JDK1.3
  • Metropro beat generator for "...the composition and interpretation of complex and non-linear tempo..."
  • Mondrian music composition language from Peter Brinkmann
  • Music Package various music-making tools (in Pascal) from Ulrich Bruchholz
  • Musica "... aims at the creation of a complete Mathematica package for the exploration of the interconnection between Mathematics and Music"
  • MusicScript "...an open-source music scripting language..."
  • OpenMusic the famous software from IRCAM now available in a version for Linux
  • ProteinMusic converts DNA sequences to music, requires Java
  • Radium unique graphic music-making environment with similarities to module trackers and MIDI sequencers
  • Randomposer an automatic-music composer from Stephan Beyer
  • Subvert Audio Niall Moody's "... music program designed to try and stimulate creativity in the user"
  • Turtle "... a tool/toy for experimenting with graphics and sound programming... hopefully useful as a vehicle for learning the Scheme programming language", from Michael W. Schaffer
  • XEMO is a "...vision of an integrated composition environment for the analysis, notation and composition of music"
  • compo is "a language allowing to describe in a natural way simple or complex musical structures"
  • mjoo Leonard "paniq" Ritter's "new kind of live composition software for the Linux operating system"
  • sieve makes music (?) from the Sieve of Eratosthenes
  • variations algorithmic composition system developed by Bruce Jacob
  • wx12Ton utility for composing and analysing 12-tone rows, requires wxWindows

• MAX-like Environments
  • Pd
    • Pd Pure Data, a language from Miller Puckette
    • GriPD a graphic interface builder for Pd, from Joseph A. Sarlo
    • Pd for Linux a version prepared by Günter Geiger
    • Pd-Page documentation, research, and patches from Thomas Grill and Marius Schebella
    • PDX7 an exploration of 6-operator FM synthesis via Pd, courtesy of Frank Barknecht
    • pure-data.info excellent resource site for Pd users
  • jMax
    • jMax MAX for Linux and Java, from François Déchelle's team at IRCAM
    • jMax-SDIF imports SDIF files into a track of matrices, exports a track to SDIF; from Diemo Schwartz
    • jMax Tutorial instructive documentation from Fabrice Medio
    • mamalala "...things related to electronic music and the famous jMax"
    • FFTease package of phase vocoder routines by Eric Lyon and Christopher Penrose, now available for jMax

• MusicV-based Languages
  • Cmix is from Paul Lansky and the Princeton Sound Kitchen
  • Common LISP Music comes from Bill Schottstaedt at CCRMA
    • ATS Juan C. Pampin's "library of Lisp functions for spectral Analysis, Transformation, and Synthesis", intended for use with CLM; ATSH is a graphic display/editing/resynthesis environment for analysis files created by ATS
  • Csound comes from Barry Vercoe at the MIT Media Lab
  • Music4C is from James Beauchamp at UIUC
  • Nyquist for Linux is a patch for the UNIX Nyquist source package by Roger Dannenberg
  • RTCmix is a version of Cmix maintained by Dave Topper, Luke DuBois, Brad Garton, and John Gibson; RTmix is Ivica Ico Bukvic's "performance tool geared towards persons interested in live and interactive electro-acoustic music", especially suited for use with RTCmix
  • cmusic is now available in Shahrokh Yadegari's port of the CARL software to Linux

  Please see the Csound & Cmix Helpers section for related software.

• Softsynths And Samplers Note: More softsynths can be found on the Audio Plugins page
  • 3MU a TB303 bassline emulator; tk3MU provides a useful GUI, thanks to Eric Brunel
  • Aeolus Fons Adriaensen's fabulous pipe organ synthesizer
  • ALSA Modular Synth outstanding softsynth fun from Dr. Matthias Nagorni
  • AUBE/Metadecks is "...a system for realtime sound generation and processing"
  • BEAST/BSE music composition and audio synthesis package with Gtk interface, from Tim Janik and Olaf Hoehmann
  • Beatrix excellent organ softsynth from Fredrik Kilander
  • Chionic Linux sampling software from Juan Linietsky
  • Cumulus real-time granular synthesis with MIDI control
  • Delfin a realtime software sampler
  • Didgeridoo "a voice controlled resonance instrument" from Stefan Nitschke, requires JACK and a microphone
  • Elara a very cool software synth from Steve Brookes
  • FluidSynth
    • FluidSynth an outstanding Soundfont synthesizer (formerly known as iiwusynth) from Peter Hanappe and many others
    • FluidGUI Ken Ellinwood adds a nice graphic interface to FluidSynth
    • QSynth Qt GUI Interface for FluidSynth
  • FMS is Daniel Gruen's Frequency Module Synthesizer
  • GENPO Stephen Merrony's neat "generic pipe organ"
  • Internet Synth Henry Lowengard's contribution to sound on the Web (source available by request)
  • Javasynth a "Java-based system for creating fully working modular audio systems, which are assembled with programmed functional components."
  • LegaSynth a new softsynth from Juan Linietsky
  • LinuxSampler
    • Linuxsampler it's *the* Linux sampler project, supports sample libraries in GIG, DLS, and Akai formats
    • JSampler a Java-based front-end for the Linuxsampler engine
    • Rui Nuno Capela's Qt-based GUI for LinuxSampler
  • LOS - Loop Offsetting Sequencer "a music sequencer specialized in offsetting sample positions within sound files"
  • Mathi's Music Magic real-time software synthesizer and audio processor; also available here (RPM only)
  • MFFM VectorBass a new software synthesizer from Matt Flax
  • Mono nice monophonic real-time synthesizer from Jarno Seppanen
  • MSS is Mats Olsson's very nice Modular Software Synth
  • Mx4 a new realtme software synthesizer from Jens M. Andreasen
  • Octavian software synthesizer pre-beta release now on-line
  • Om Dave Robillard's "... modular synthesizer that runs under JACK and uses LADSPA and/or DSSI plugins for processing"
  • PSIndustrializer neat physical modeling synth with OpenGL graphics
  • RTSynth an excellent realtime synthesizer for X
  • Slat "Sounds like a theremin", neat synth software from James Shuttlesworth
  • Specimen a MIDI-controllable audio sampler from Peter Bessman
  • SpiralSynth
    • Spiral Synth very cool realtime software synthesizer
    • Spiral Synth Modular modular software synth, roll your own synthesizer with its plugins
    • SpiralLoops a loop-based sampler with plugin support
  • Syncotron Bathysphere Sound Suite interesting sampler/sequencer
  • Ultramaster Juno-6 software emulation of the classic Roland analog synth
  • Xsynth MIDI-controlled analog-style realtime synthesizer from Steve Brookes
  • Zerius Synth software synthesizer with Java GUI
  • ZynAddSubFX an impressive new softsynth from Paul Nasca in Romania
  • amSynthe very cool analog synth modelling from Nick Dowell
  • aRts "simulates a complete modular analog synthesizer" but is also the well-known sound server for KDE
  • bristol synthesizer emulator new software from Nick Copeland, author of SLab
  • fastbreeder Dave Griffiths' neat "genetic progamming synth"
  • gsynth "...an extensible, modular synthesizer...the interface and current codebase present a simple Roland TB-303 emulator...programmed using fasttracker-style note entry"
  • horgand FM-synthesis organ, JACK-aware, with DSP effects and programmable accompaniment
  • jackMiniSynth a minimal subtractive synth (with Moog filter) for JACK
  • jackOrgan an ALSA sequencer/JACK client for David Bartold's LADSPA plugin
  • simsam Christian Henz's new "simple sampleplayer"
  • sloop.splitter "a realtime sound effect program...generates synthetic sounds from natural ones"
  • vOICe Sonification Applet Peter Meijer's very cool synthesizer, requires a Java-capable browser
  • wcnt the "WAV Composer Not Toilet" is a non-realtime modular synthesis program

• Sonic Environment Generators
  • Ambient Automat automatic ambience, synthesis, and more from Double Muffled Dolphin
  • Boodler Andrew Plotkin's "programmable soundscape tool"
  • Radio Hard Disk unique application from the MidiShare team
  • SoundGrid an interesting Java-based music application somewhat similar to Music Mouse
  • Soundweave cool looping mechanism to produce endlessly changing sound textures
  • jlooch drones courtesy Brad Garton and Java, requires Phil Burk's JSyn
  • phazor creates ambient textures by a very interesting use of the FFT
  • whitenoise utility to turn your computer into a random noise generator

• Waveform Generators
  • COW Cow Outputs Waves, "C++ classes handling graphs for amplitude and frequency and generating wavfiles out of these graphs"
  • TrikTraks/Wigout "two programs for composing waveforms", from Arun Chandra
  • makesound converts PNG graphics to WAV soundfiles
  • oa GUI for synthesizing and experimenting with waveforms, from Cedric Roux
  • soundmosaic "...constructs an approximation of one sound out of small pieces of other sounds", cool software from Steven Hazel

• Manuals And Other Documentation
  • CLMS Manuals useful on-line material for various SWSS languages, MIDI software and hardware, and synthesis methods
  • Digital Soundshapes: Einfuehrung in die Theorie und Praxis der Klangsynthese an excellent online introduction to the theory and practice of digital sound synthesis (mostly in German but with some sections in English)
  • The PLUM Page Tim Thompson's on-line list of programming languages used for music
  • Sound, Synthesis, and Audio Reproduction "an introduction to modern sound systems, human hearing, sound synthesis and processing and related topics" from Sampo Syreeni

• General Audio Editors
  • Audacity cross-platform soundfile editor with many nice features
  • AudioCutter Cinema "audio processing for the more sophisticated demandings"
  • DAP Richard Kent's digital audio editor/processor with XForms GUI
  • Eisenkraut audio editor with playback via SuperCollider3
  • GLAME audio processor and sound editor
  • GNoise a new soundfile editor, can handle very large files
  • GNUsound sound editor with support for multiple tracks and 8, 16, or 24/32-bit samples
  • JaWavedit WAV file editor written in Java
  • Jokosher multi-track non-linear audio editor, requires Python
  • KWave a very good soundfile editor for KDE by Martin Wilz
  • Lamp the Linux Audio Mangling Project soundfile editor
  • LAoE Olivier Gäumann's "Layer-based AudiO Editor", requires Java2
  • Marlin a sample editor for GNOME
  • MiXViews soundfile editor + analysis/synthesis engine
  • Nightingale a simple soundfile editor, especially useful for cutting up large WAV files
  • ReZound is a "... graphical audio file editor primarily for but not limited to the Linux operating system"
  • Snd
    • Snd one of the most powerful audio editors available for Linux
    • Snd Configuration Scheme code to customize Snd
    • Snd-ls a version of Snd for those of us who "don't know Scheme very well"
    • Snd-RT realtime audio extensions for Snd
  • SndBite is an "audio editor designed for breaking large recordings into smaller components"
  • Snuggles curses-based WAV/MP3 editor
  • Studio excellent editor, requires Tcl/Tk
  • Swami excellent new incarnation of the Smurf Soundfont editor
  • Sweep a new soundfile editor from Conrad Parker
  • TAON The Art Of Noise very nice soundfile editor
  • WaveMixer easy-to-use multitrack wave editor, from Raoul Hecky & Friends
  • WaveForge attempting a SoundForge clone for Linux
  • WaveSurfer a new soundfile editor, requires the Snack extensions
  • WaveTools a suite of small command-line programs for working with WAV-format soundfiles
  • Xforge a new soundfile editor project for X11 and Motif/LessTif
  • XS a soundfile editor using Tcl and the Snack extensions
  • XWave good basic editor, a patch to add looping can be found at the same site
  • aPcStudio soundfile editor/processor with FLTK GUI
  • ecawave soundfile editor from Kai Vehmanen, author of ecasound
  • mhWaveEdit soundfile editor from Magnus Hjorth
  • mpgedit MPEG audio file editor, processes constant bit rate (CBR) and variable bit rate (VBR) encoded files
  • quelcom command-line utilities for editing WAV/MP3 files
  • sfubar-3 command-line SoundFont2/WAV/AIFF editor, from Ben Collver
  • soniK soundfile editor/recorder for KDE
  • wavedit old, very basic and limited editor, console-mode only

• A/V Editors
  • Blender the premier open-source 3D animation renderer now supports audio tracks
  • Broadcast 2000 the only free non-linear realtime audio/video editing system for Linux; NB: Adam Williams has pulled this software from the SourceForge site, but it is still available from Eric Smith's Broadcast2000 Page
  • Cinelerra the impressive successor to Broadcast2000
  • Linux Audio/Video Tools a suite of programs to record/playback audio and video under Linux using the Iomega Buz
  • MainActor commercial non-linear video/multimedia editing suite
  • transcode very interesting audio/video stream processing utility, from Dr. Thomas Östreich

• Utilities
  • Beat Monkey calculates soundfile BPM and sample frames
  • Sample Calculators very useful on-line calculators for time-stretching, pitch-shifting, and transposing samples
  • Wavelength repairs erroneous data length entry in WAV file header
  • WavSplit a utility for (surprise!) splitting WAV files according to a list of time values
  • abrowse nice utility for reading and converting AKAI S1000/3000 sample CDs
  • basef utility for manipulating parameters found in AIFF soundfile header
  • jWave set of packages for Java to create and process RIFF (WAV) files
  • mirage-disk a utility for copying the samples from Ensoniq Mirage diskettes, from Jean Zundel
  • shntool multi-purpose WAV processing and reporting utility
  • wavbreaker/wavmerge GUI utilities to break or merge WAV file
  • wavcut is a "...short C program for cutting parts from WAV sound files", from Stefan Ondrejicka
  • Denoising
    • Gnome Wave Cleaner denoise, dehiss and amplify CD-quality WAV files
    • GramoFile a program to clean gramophone recordings for transfer to CD
    • GWC-lib the GNOME Wave Cleaner is now a library !
    • declick Joachim Schurig's "dynamic digital declicker for audio files"
    • dnr denoising utility from Matti Koskinen
    • tkdnoise nice Tcl/Tk GUI for the Csound dnoise utility, from Hudson Lacerda
  • Normalizing
    • Xpand nice Python/Glade GUI for dynamics compression/expansion, requires SoX and normalize
    • calcamp calculates what factor a sample needs for amplification to maximum volume (requires libsndfile)
    • normalize "a WAV file volume normalizer"
    • wavnorm utility to normalize 16-bit stereo WAV files

• ABC
  • ABC is "...a language designed to notate tunes in an ascii format" (This page is the main resource for abc-related packages)
  • ABC Plus Project many enhancements from Guido Gonzato, including his abcpp (abc preprocessor) and JedABC (abc file editor)
  • Jef's ABC page Jean-François Moine's wonderful extension software, includes abc2mps (abc files to Postscript) and tclabc (Tcl/Tk interface for abc files)
  • Skink nice front-end for abc, requires Java
  • abcMIDI renders abc score to MIDI file
• BoChord a chord typesetting utility
• Canorus a new music notation program from Reinhard Katzmann & Crew
• Common Music Notation creates and displays traditional Western music scores
• Gscore "a non-page-oriented notation program", from Sebastien Tricaud
• Gsharp extensible Lisp-based music score editor from Christophe Rhodes and Robert Strandh
• GUIDO a music notation formatting system and server
• LilyPond
  • LilyPond is the music typesetter for Linux, outputs TeX, PostScript, PDF, and MIDI files, with an awesome features set and beautiful notation
  • Denemo GTK front-end for Lilypond
  • Emacs MIDI Input an elisp mode for step-time entry from a MIDI keyboard, from Hans Lub
  • LilyComp a graphic note-entry utility for LilyPond, requires Python and Tkinter
  • LilyTool a plugin for jEdit, provides functions similar to Emacs modes
  • Rumor Vaclav Smilauer's Really Unintelligent Music transcriptOR, a "realtime monophonic (with chords) MIDI keyboard to Lilypond converter"
  • Tutorial de Lilypond A LilyPond tutorial in Spanish, from David Asorey Álvarez
  • LilyPond Guide For Beginners a set of introductory tutorials from Eugene Cormier
  • lyqi an Emacs major mode for quick insert of LilyPond score code
• Mup music publication shareware from Arkkra Enterprises
  • MUP Utilities more useful software from Bob van der Poel
• MuseScore the MusE WYSIWYG music typesetter, more great software from Werner Schweer
• MusicEdit music notation software with MIDI output, from Professor Herbert Walz
• MusicXML "... a universal translator for common Western musical notation... designed as an interchange format for notation, analysis, retrieval, and performance applications"
• MusiXTeX full-featured music typesetting via TeX (This page is also the main resource for other TeX-related notation packages)
• MuX2D graphic editor for MusiXTeX files, from Lukas Grützmacher
• NoteEdit an excellent Qt-based notation editor with output in LilyPond, MIDI, and MusicXML formats
• PMW Philip's Music Writer, an easy-to-use music typesetting program
• Rosegarden score creation from MIDI input and MIDI sequencer, also exports Csound score file
• TinyMOODS demo of a very interesting music notation medium
• XCircuit a drawing package for X which includes some very nice music typography and outputs Postscript files
• tab a lute tablature typesetting system, from Wayne Cripps

If you are looking for pro-audio interfaces that will work with Linux applications your choices are limited to certain cards from RME, M-Audio, and AudioScience. Common desktop sound & MIDI needs are well-served by the Audigy and SBLive! soundcards from Creative Labs. USB audio and MIDI interfaces known to work under Linux include devices from M-Audio, Edirol/Roland, and Tascam. Linux-compatible PCMCIA digital audio interfaces are available from CoreSound (also for some PDAs) and Digigram. If you need a serial port MIDI interface the MIDIator enjoys Linux support. Please consult the ALSA Supported Soundcards page for current information regarding drivers for specific devices. Readers are also well-advised to search the archives of the Linux Audio Users mail-list for reports and evaluations from the field.

• Continuum an interesting control surface from Hakenaudio
• Hartmann Neuron fascinating synthesizer running on a Linux core, from Stephen Bernsee and his team at Hartmann Music
• Iomega Buz
  • Iomega Buz making it work under Linux
  • Iomega Buz driver for DC10plus/LML33/Buz video capture boards
  • The Iomega Buz Under Linux information from Rainer Johanni
• KarmaPod ultracool custom Linux audio workstation from David O'Toole
• Mediastation the incredibly cool multimedia workstation from Domenico Colturato and his crew at Lionstracs
• OpenSynth eKo hardware synthesizer with Linux operating system (!)
• uCapps Thorsten Klose's great site dedicated to DIY MIDI hardware developed under Linux

• Freecycle Predrag Viceic's cool "beat slicer", very useful for defining and editing loops, also creates loop MIDI file
• FreeWheeling live looping instrument from JP Mercury
• SooperLooper excellent looping sampler from Jesse Chappell
• kluppe neat loop player for Linux, from d13b

• Sequencers
  • Anthem advanced MIDI sequencer from Pete Goodliffe
  • BINARS "an open-source sequencer for Linux, ALSA, and GNOME", from Michael Ashton
  • Brahms is "a fully-featured MIDI sequencer, notation system and music laboratory" from Jan Wuerthner
  • Dino neat MIDI sequencer using the latest JACK (development version with MIDI capability), from Lars Luthman
  • JAZZ++ old integrated MIDI/audio sequencer for Linux
  • KMidiTracker excellent tracker-style MIDI sequencer from David Moreno Montero
  • Melys MIDI sequencer for ALSA
  • MusE excellent Qt-based audio/MIDI sequencer from Werner Schweer
  • Rosegarden audio/MIDI sequencer, notation editor, Csound-score producer, and more...
  • Shake Tracker a MIDI sequencer with a tracker interface
  • SoftWerk a MIDI sequencer from Paul Davis, based on the design of the Doepfer Schaltwerk analog sequencer
  • TekTracker MIDI sequencer with tracker-style interface
  • TISM is the "Temporal Information Sequencing Machine", Samuel Dufour-Kowalski's realtime MIDI sequencer
  • Tutka a new MIDI tracker/sequencer from Vesa Halttunen
  • b-tektracker MIDI step-sequencer based on TekTracker
  • cantor MIDI sequencer/editor project
  • pystepseq a MIDI step-sequencer written in Python, from Aaron Johnson
  • seq24 excellent real-time MIDI sequencer with a simple interface for editing and playing MIDI loops

• Players
  • Musica MIDI player with GTK interface
  • TiMidity
    • TiMidity++ greatly extended and enhanced version of TiMidity from Masanao Izumo and many others
    • TiMidity++ (experimental version) excellent TiMidity resource page
  • Widi MIDI player for external MIDI devices only, from Isaku Yamahata
  • WildMidi MIDI player utilizing GUS-format patches
  • Xpmidi nice GUI for pmidi from Bob van der Poel, requires Python 2.2 and Tkinter
  • fmplay a program for playing a SoundBlaster16 with an external MIDI keyboard, from Antoine Lefebvre (It works with my PAS16 as well.)
  • playmidi
    • eplaymidi an enhanced version of playmidi from Satoshi Kuramochi
    • fXPlayMidi an Xforms front-end for playmidi
    • playmidi the original, a command-line MIDIfile player with optional X, Gtk, or ncurses interface
  • pmidi a MIDIfile player for ALSA
  • pymidiplay excellent command-line MIDI file player from Aaron Johnson
  • sparcOmatic renders a MIDIfile to /dev/audio
  • srgplay MIDI file player supporting a variety of formats, from K. Sakai

• Utilities
  • Alpha Juno editor/librarian for Roland Aplha Juno 1/2 and MKS50 synthesizers, from Chris Wareham
  • ALSA MIDI Kommander "a DCOP interface exposing many ALSA sequencer features for shell scripts, Kommander scripts, or KDE programs requiring MIDI sequencer services", from Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas
  • ALSA MIDI Patch Bay "a graphical patch bay for the ALSA sequencer API" (requires FLTK or GTKmm), from Bob Ham
  • AutoTrack is a "...tool for creating practizing and demo tracks from chord charts", creating MIDI files with bass and drum tracks
  • Div's MIDI Utilities for Unix excellent collection of command-line MIDI tools
  • FANR free audio note recognition (WAV to MIDI) software from Gilles Degottex
  • Folly a text-to-MIDI program written in Perl/Tk
  • GMidiMon a simple MIDI monitor, requires GTK
  • IMG is a MIDI music composition system with pre-defined "styles"
  • Impro generates a random MIDI melody from a group of chords
  • JSynthLib universal synth editor/librarian project, requires Java
  • KCompact/K25Strip Linux utilities for the Kurzweil K2x00 samplers
  • KMidimon MIDI data monitor from Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas
  • Kontroll MIDI utility to generate controller messages from the mouse position, more software from Florian Schmidt
  • MC303 Bulk Dump a new utility from Olivier Delhaye
  • Midge is a text-to-MIDI program from David Riley
  • MIDI Backup Utility Java-based system-exclusive send/receive utility
  • MIDI Controller GUI to connect sliders and spinbuttons to MIDI continuous controllers (CCs), from Lars Luthman
  • MIDI Plug-in for Netscape a control panel for AWE32/64 soundcards
  • MIDI Splitter neat Perl script to split MIDI files into separate tracks/channels
  • MidiChat send/receive MIDI in realtime over the Internet
  • MidiComp reads and writes Type 0/1 MIDI files in SMF and plain text format
  • MIDICreator on-line MIDIfile creation utility from Andre Muis
  • MidiMutator performs various cross-mutations on a pair of MIDI files
  • Midingsolo Gille Degottex's realtime audio-to-pitch recognition software for monophonic signals, with MIDI output
  • MidiShare is a "... real-time operating system for musical applications" from the great crew at GRAME
  • OplEdit interactive editor for Yamaha OPL2/3 soundchips, from John Meacham
  • QMidiArp very cool MIDI arpeggiator from Dr. Matthias Nagorni
  • QMidiControl very useful virtual MIDI controller box
  • QMidiRoute MIDI event filter/router from Matthias Nagorni
  • Random Phase Generator Reichian fun from Tak-Shing Chan
  • Ratón "... translates mouse movements into MIDI controller messages", thanks to programmer Doug Garmon
  • RawMIDI2SMF Ken Ellinwood's command-line utility for converting ALSA'a amidi to a standard MIDI file (requires Java)
  • Shelljam play softsynths and other MIDI instruments from the command shell
  • Simple Sysexxer new MIDI sys-ex utility from Christoph Eckert
  • Sinuso generates MIDI files with random pitch and rhythm
  • SMDITools a set of command-line utilities for exchanging samples with an SMDI-compatible sampler, from Olivier Doaré
  • SoundPanel "an application for the organization and playout of audio cuts...for use in busy broadcast and live performance environments"
  • SynthEd new project for creating a universal patch editor/librarian for MIDI synthesizers
  • SysExxer utility for receiving, saving, and sending raw sys-ex messages, from Christian Nitschkowski
  • UMP UNIX MIDI plug-in for Netscape
  • WaoN is a WAV-to-MID converter from Kengo Ichiki
  • X MIDI software a suite of programs utilizing the Direct MIDI interface of the 4Front commercial OSS driver
  • ace command-line MIDI splitter/processor, performance software from Atte André Jensen
  • aconnectgui Maarten de Boer's FLTK-based GUI for ALSA's aconnect utility
  • amidmap reads, processes, and transmits MIDI events
  • aseqjoy Alexander König's cool joystick-to-MIDI converter
  • clavier from Simon Kågedal, a software MIDI keyboard for controlling external synths (requires GTK)
  • dx7bag "a collection of utilities for the Yamaha DX7 and... the DX1, DX5, DX7s, DX7II, DX7IIFD, TX7, TX802 and TX816"
  • glib generic editor/librarian for synthesizer patches
  • icube an editor/controller for the ICubeX sensor/digitizer, from Paul Davis
  • mcontrol is an ALSA sequencer client that can assign up to twelve MIDI control messages for the controllers on your MIDI keyboard
  • midi-qnd prepares MIDI files for importing to Rosegarden
  • midi2gmn "...converts gmn (GUIDO Music Notation) files into MIDI files..."
  • midikb uses QWERTY keyboard for testing Csound instruments or for output to /dev/midi
  • midirgui simple MIDI router/channelizer with FLTK GUI, more fine software from Josep Andreu a.k.a. Holborn
  • multimidicast MIDI over a network, cool software from Dirk Jagdmann
  • sc88sysex command-line utility to send/receive data to & from the Roland SC88 sound module
  • sxpress Sampo Savolainen's software "... for controlling MMC compatible software & hardware with USB DAW controllers"
  • wave2mid audio to MIDI conversion from Pablo Busto
  • xphat user-configurable software MIDI fader box from Paul Davis

• Environments
  • Bol Processor sources are now open, good news from Bernard Bel and Anthony Kozar
  • CMT Carnegie-Mellon MIDI Toolkit (includes the adagio language)
  • Elody "...a music composition environment based on a visual functional language, a direct manipulation user interface and Internet facilities", requires Java and MidiShare
  • FrAid a fractal image generator with MIDI output
  • Grammidity "...uses a kind of genetic algorithm based on user feedback to generate 'music'...in the form of a MIDI file", requires Java
  • Improv "...a C++ environment for writing programs that enable musician/computer interaction using MIDI instruments", from Craig Stuart Sapp
  • KeyKit
    • KeyKit excellent experimental MIDI composition environment
    • GeoMaestro very cool extension to KeyKit
    • pmc is Steve Falco's polyrhythmic music compiler, which creates arbitrarily complex scores in Standard MIDI File and KeyKit formats, and Steve's pmc_music is a collection of scores for the compiler.
  • STed2 MIDI music composition environment from Daisuke Nagano
  • Super Groove Master a unique MIDI composition program for AWE32/64, OPL3 FM synth, or external devices
  • UltiMusE-LX music composition via standard notation and MIDI
  • gmc Guenther Sohler's GNU MIDI compiler translates text to a MIDIfile
  • tkmidichaos neat Tcl/Tk application for exploring "...chaotic dynamical properties mapped to music", from Aaron Johnson; be sure to look at Aaron's tkmidinum too
  • xgmc more than just a front-end for gmc, it's a "...simple hierarchical MIDI sequencer player and editor..." that can create MIDI files from MP3s

• MIDI Programming Resources
  • IEEE P1639 Phil Kerr's "... Ethernet based protocol wrapper allowing the transmission and reception of MIDI data within a LAN environment" (this project was formerly known as DMIDI)
  • Input Maps "... provides user-customizeable mappings for controlling realtime objects with event streams"
  • MIDI Eiffel Library from Mike Durian, a rewrite of his tclmidi library, for the Eiffel language
  • MIDI Modules for the Python programming language
  • MIDI Utilities C++ code for UNIX and DOS/Windows from Guenter Nagler
  • MIDI Wire Packetization Protocol brought to you by SAOL guru John Lazzaro
  • MIDI-Perl "...a suite of Perl modules that allows you to read, compose, modify, and write MIDI files"
  • MIDI::Music is "a PERL interface to /dev/music"
  • MidiIO more excellent C++ MIDI code from Craig Stuart Sapp
  • MidiShare
    • MidiShare now has an open-source initiative with CVS resources here
    • mAlsaSeq an ALSA driver for the Linux version of MidiShare, from Dr. Albert Graef
  • Midithing MIDI library in Python for an eventual sequencer from Tim Goetze
  • MMidi describes tools for MIDI over the MBONE multicast network
  • NetMIDI an interesting proposal from David Slomin for using TCP/IP as a basis for a MIDI network protocol
  • OpenSMDI a library for receiving and sending sound samples from/to an SMDI-compliant sampler
  • Q-Midi a MidiShare interface for the Q programming language
  • Tclmidi adds MIDI extensions to Tcl/Tk
  • TSE3 Library open-source MIDI sequencer engine in C++
  • UNIX MIDI libraries useful code from John Stone
  • jMusic is a Java class of functions for generating and manipulating MIDI musical data
  • mid2syx.py Python script to retrieve system-exclusive information from standard MIDI files

• Ardour professional-grade multitrack/multichannel hard-disk recording for Linux and OSX, from Paul Davis & Crew
• Cue Station software for programming the LCS Matrix3 series of modular digital mixers
• Frinika music workstation software for operating systems running Java 1.5
• GSMP the General Stream Manipulation Program from René Rebe and Valentin Ziegler
• Gungirl Sequencer nice simple soundfile sequencer from Richard Spindler
• KHdRecord Peter Jodda's handy direct-to-disk audio recorder
• MixMagic audio mixing program for GNOME, handles large soundfiles
• ProTux hard-disk recording and audio processing suite
• Rt
  • QRT Doug Scott's QT port of Paul Lansky's Rt realtime soundfile mixer
  • Rt Michael Peterson's ports of Paul Lansky's mixer for Motif or QT
• Simple Multitrack "a minimalistic command line audio recorder", from Kurt Rosenfeld
• SLab
  • SLab full-featured hard-disk recorder, will record up to 64 tracks
  • SLab Page an unofficial information page about SLab
  • SLabio "slabin and slabout are paired programs that provide command-line access to SLab data files", from Toby Shepard
• Wired audio/MIDI music production system, from Colin Laplace and crew
• XO Wave Java-based hard-disk recording/editing system
• ecasound
  • ecasound hard-disk recording and audio processing from the Linux console or X
  • EcaEnveloptor GUI to create envelopes for anything in ecasound, requires PyGTK
  • Ecmd Joel Roth's Perl/Tk-based front-end for ecasound
  • EMi the ecasound mastering interface, a Python-based GUI front-end from Felix Le Blanc
  • GAS Luke Tindall's GUI front-end for ecasound
  • TkEca Luis Gasparotto's handy Tcl/Tk interface for ecasound
  • Visecas a GTK-based front-end for ecasound, from Jan Weil
• mixbas "...a small realtime mixer program..." for the Linux console, from Reine Jonsson

• CVoiceControl speech recognition system for KDE and X from Daniel Kiecza (replaces his KVoiceControl)
• Emacspeak a speech output system for Emacs
• Emu "...a collection of software for the creation, manipulation and analysis of speech databases"
• Festival
  • Festival speech synthesis system
  • Festvox a suite of tools for building synthesized voices for Festival
  • Flinger a MIDI-to-speech synthesis system based on the Festival package
  • Flite a light-weight alternative to Festival for voices built using FestVoxi
  • TkFestival nice Tk GUI for Festival
• FreeTTS Java-based text to speech synthesis
• GVoice adds voice control to Gtk/GNOME applications
• IMPSKE GUI for Klatt formant synthesis algorithms
• ISIP Speech Recognition Toolkit lists many other interesting speech-to-text tools
• Kalman Filtering and Speech Enhancement software and a diploma thesis by Jan Kybic
• KPE80 Klatt speech synthesis GUI
• KTTS the excellent KDE text-to-speech synthesis system
• LiarLiar voice stress detection software
• MBROLA
  • MBROLA easy-to-use CLI speech synthesis project
  • MBRDICO talking dictionary using MBROLA for speech synthesizer
• Open Mind Speech speech recognition for Linux, formerly known as FreeSpeech
• Open-Source Speech Recognition Initiative (OSSRI) a new project that intends to "... develop continuous-speech recognition software with command-and-control functionality that runs on Open Source platforms such as Linux"
• Praat "...a comprehensive speech analysis, synthesis, and manipulation package" for phoneticians and other sound researchers
• Puh Editor "... a tool for collaborative annotation of multimodal spoken language resources", requires the SNACK audio toolkit
• Screader a software/hardware screen-reader for the visually impaired
• SFS Speech Filing System, excellent set of X-based and command-line tools (see FTP archive for UNIX/Linux versions)
• Speakup allows a blind user to hear all output directed to the console, currently supports only the Double Talk internal synthesizer
• Speech Links a formidable collection of speech-related WWW, ftp, and newsgroup links
• Speex patent-free codec designed especially for speech
• Sphinx open-source speech recognition from CMU
• Sprachsynthese unter Linux speech synthesis with Linux, an excellent article by Michael Renner (text in German)
• Transcriber "...a free tool for segmenting, labeling and transcribing speech", requires the Snack package
• VoiceApp "program to visualize sound waves via FFT"
• Voxpak is "a GUI for playing, editing, renaming etc. voice and fax messages"
• XVoice "..enables continuous speech to text dictation for many X applications"
• comp.speech very informative Web page with FAQ
• rsynth
  • rsynth the venerable speech synthesizer, required by many TTS readers
  • rsynth on SourceForge provides sources under the Artistic License and the GPL
• speechd-el Emacs speech output interface from Milan Zamazal
• spwave "a speech file editor supporting several sound formats"

• General Analysis/Processing
  • Aglaophone "...a system of interconnectable modules for the recording, processing, and playback of real-time audio"
  • ATSH very cool analysis/resynthesis program from Prof. Oscar Pablo Di Liscia
  • CLAM Music Annotator 0.3.1 visualise/check/modify music information extracted from audio, more cool software from the CLAM project
  • ComParser "computer software that recognizes realtime audio fragments", developed by The Schreck Ensemble
  • Dataplore "a software tool designed for the analysis of signals and time series data of any kind"
  • FScape "audio rendering software for time domain and spectral signal processing...similar to SoundHack", requires Java
  • Guimauve "...is a graphical user interface to compute matching pursuit decomposition on a signal", from Fabien Brachere
  • HASAS is the HydroAcoustic Signal Analysis System from Jussi Laako
  • InSpect sound analysis/resynthesis/transformation from Sylvain Marchand
  • JAAA the JACK & ALSA Audio Analyser, an audio signal generator and spectrum analyser from Fons Adriaensen
  • KSFX is "... a kernel module that filters the outgoing audio stream and adds sound effects like low-pass, high-pass, echos...", from Anthony Lenton
  • LastWave wavelet DSP software from Emmanuel Bacry
  • Maaate an analysis toolkit for MPEG audio files; Bewdy is a visualization GUI for Maaate
  • Mustajuuri audio signal processing software with GUI and support for plug-ins
  • ObjectProDSP an X11 GUI for DSP design and implementation
  • Overflow interesting visual "data-flow" environment for building audio and signal processing applications
  • PipeWave DSP and "auditory modelling" programs using UNIX pipes
  • Ptolemy homepage for the Ptolemy Project of the DSP Design Group at UCB
  • Scilab a large package of mathematics & signal processing functions with excellent graphic displays
  • Signal Applications To Audio Networks (SATAN) "a program that is used for various audio related signal processing tasks"
  • SNDAN signal analysis, graphics, modification, and synthesis
  • Sonic Flow designs/simulates audio signal processing networks
  • Sonic Visualiser advanced waveform/spectrogram viewer and audio annotation editor, from Chris Cannam
  • Sound Ruler acoustic analysis software from Marcos Gridi Papp
  • SSPLab AudioAnalyser (SAA) is "... a tool for analyzing audio signals in terms of its content"
  • Yorick another mathematics package with signal processing and data visualization tools
  • dsplab XForms-based DSP visualization and manipulation software
  • jein a Java version of Ein, DSP learning software from Paul Lansky and Ken Steiglitz

• Beat-tracking
  • BeatRoot "an interactive beat tracking and visualisation system", from Simon Dixon

• Binaural/Brainwave
  • AutoZen brainwave modification software
  • Gnaural binaural-beat generator, from gnaural (who else?)
  • SBaGen a "BinAural Brain Wave Experimenter's Lab" from Jim Peters

• Channel Vocoder
  • Vocoder a channel vocoder from Achim Settelmeier
  • XVOX realtime vocoder using LPC synthesis
  • Zerius Vocoder C and Java source code for software channel vocoder

• Convolution
  • Almus VCU "... makes a computer equipped with a multi-channel sound card into a real-time versatile convolver unit"
  • JACE JACK-based convolution engine from Fons Adriaensen

• FFT/Phase Vocoder
  • Enveloper draw FFT components and amplitude waveforms with this Java-based software from Abram Hindle
  • FreqTweak Jesse Chappell's very neat "tool for FFT-based realtime audio spectral manipulation and display"
  • GWave Analyzer visualizes/analyzes WAV files via FFT, also extracts melody to MIDI file
  • Kiss FFT very small FFT library, can use either fixed or floating point data types
  • NoTAM FFT/phase vocoder packages with X11 GUI now available for Linux:
    • Ceres
      • Ceres a greatly updated version from Kjetil S. Matheussen
      • Ceres3 a superb version from Stanko Juzbasic
    • NoTAMProgs the famous Institute has prepared its own sources for Linux
  • POWERpv spectral manipulation package
  • PVC an extensive set of phase vocoder tools and utilities from Paul Koonce, with a Linux version from John Gibson
  • PVNation Christopher Penrose's phase vocoder apotheosis
  • pV older phase vocoder processors from Christopher Penrose
  • Sculptor a very nice suite of realtime FFT tools
  • SculptTool is a "utility which can import, modify, convert, export and synthesize audio analysis files saved in text format", from Stanko Juzbasic; available for Linux and LinuxPPC
  • XMANA a data display program with FFT and other transforms, uses XMAD data acquisition files
  • pvoc "... a collection of LADSPA units and a command line tool for time compression/expansion of sound data making use of the phase-vocoding technique", from Tim Goetze

• Filters
  • BruteFIR "...software for applying long FIR filters to multi-channel digital audio...offline or in realtime"
  • DRC "generates digital room correction FIR filers to be used within HiFi systems in conjunction with real-time convolution engines like BruteFIR"
  • Fiview Jim Peters' software for filter design and viewing
  • Poles and Zeros a demonstration applet, requires a Java-enabled browser
  • libfilth digital/analog filter design library from Anders Johansson
  • nwfiir audio tools software equalizer and other tools for high resolution digital audio

• Graphic I/O
  • Quickplot is an interactive 2D plotter with support for libsndfile
  • Spectromatic generates PNG spectrograms from audio files
  • Waveform draws and exports function graphs for use with audio programs and exports WAV files
  • rmsps analyzes sound files and creates Encapsulated Postscript graphics of the rms (loudness) curve

• Hardware-specific Packages

  • Analog Devices
    • AD g21xx Compiler another compiler
    • GNU C Compiler for Analog Devices DSPs version 3.3.1 from Egil Kvaleberg
    • Whygee's SHARCPAGE "The purpose of this page is to host or point to FREE SHARC resources, like assemblers, useful information, project descriptions or applications and their sources."
  • Hunt Engineering
    • Kernel Driver for Hunt DSP HEPC3, HEPC4 and HECPCI1 TIM-40 motherboards
  • Motorola
    • 56K Algorithm Development a DSP software development kit for the Turtle Beach Fiji/Pinnacle cards, from Robert Bristow-Johnson
    • Linux For 680x0-based VME Boards supports Motorola MVME162, 166, and 167 boards
    • Macroassembler AS "a portable macro cross assembler for a variety of microprocessors and controllers", supports DSP processors from Motorola and Texas Instruments
    • Motorola DSP56301ADM Linux Kernel Module development tools for the Motorola DSP board, includes XForms interface
    • Multisound DSP Programming all about getting into the 56001...
  • Texas Instruments
    • DSP simulator for the TMS320C50 digital signal processor
    • DSP/Veclib commercial DSP libraries for the TMS320C3/4x, available for Linux
    • GNU Assembler for TI TMS320C30 a port of GNU Binutils 2.8.1 for the popular Texas Instruments DSP
    • Macroassembler AS "a portable macro cross assembler for a variety of microprocessors and controllers", supports DSP processors from Motorola and Texas Instruments
    • TI C3x DSK for Linux/FreeBSD and TMS320ASM useful code from Rafael Peregrino de Silva
    • TMS320C30 Assembler from Ted Rossin
    • TMS320C30 Compiler a C compiler from Dave Walker and Ivo Oesch
    • TMS320C30 Compiler a port of GCC (and the binary utilities gas, ar, ld, nm, size, objdump, etc.) for the Texas Instrument TMS320C[34]x DSP family (This material is being relocated here.)
    • TMS320C3x DSK kernel driver from Jesus Arias

• Image To Sound
  • HyperMammut software for processing sounds and images, something new from Paul Nasca

• Libraries And Other Sources
  • AFsp audio-file signal processing from TSP Labs, includes LPC analysis/synthesis package
  • AIFF_DSP a framework for user-defined DSP plugins to process AIFF soundfiles
  • FFTW C subroutine library for the "Fastest Fourier Transform in the West"
  • LADSPA Plugins a set from Steve Harris
  • LibDSP Jussi Laako's library of common DSP functions
  • Music-DSP Source Code Archive code for synthesis, filters, analysis, effects, and other DSP functions
  • Sig++ "music signal processing in C++", from Craig Stuart Sapp
  • Signalgo Vadim Schetinkin's DSP library for Java
  • Sound Processing Kit C++ class library for audio signal processing
  • TSP Lab general DSP and filtering packages
  • Utility Functions For DSP a collection at GA Tech

• Psychoacoustics
  • Guinea Pig psychoacoustics research software

• Reverb Code
  • Freeverb source code for Jezar's famous digital reverb
  • Kaiku Juhana Sadeharju's as-yet-unfinished "GVerb + multitap" reverberator
  • lprev low-pass reverberator from the cmusic package
  • sverb Cedric Roux's "simple order-15 CFDN reverb"

• Sample-rate Conversion
  • RATECONV high-quality sample rate converter
  • resample console application for sample rate conversion and soundfile playback

• Signal Generators
  • GtkSigGen signal generator with Gtk interface
  • Tempest for Eliza "...uses your computer monitor to send out AM radio signals...[to] hear computer generated music in your radio"
  • siggen signal generation package for generating accurate waveforms via /dev/dsp
  • sinus program to generate/play/write sinus tones
  • tonegen produces tones on /dev/dsp or stdout

• Spatialization
  • 2D Spatialization: A Linux Implementation "Linux/X11 port of the 3D spatializer library from the CRC"
  • 2-Dimensional Spatialization Of Sound takes monaural sound signal and processes it to create a binaural signal
  • Ambidec an Ambisonic decoder from Richard W. E. Furse
  • Space spatializes soundfiles
  • Surround Utilities tools from Greg Lee for working with 6-channel soundfiles, requires libsndfile
  • VSpace spatial sound processing tools from Richard Furse

• Speaker Design
  • GSpeakers "... a Gnome-based loudspeaker design program", from Daniel Sundberg
  • KFilter neat GUI for designing speakers

• Web Pages About DSP
  • An Analysis of Sample Rate Conversion in SoX digging into SoX internals
  • Audio Codecs Compared David Weekly's comparison report on MP3, RealAudio, and Micro$oft's MSA4
  • Audio DSP Pages excellent tutorial material from Stephan Sprenger
  • A Cellular Approach for Modeling Room Acoustics a paper from Navdeep S. Dhillon
  • Computer Sound Transformation musings on the history and use of the phase vocoder, from composer Trevor Wishart
  • DAFx99 Papers various interesting articles on digital audio effects
  • Dave Clark's Linux Audio User Files papers and projects on 3D sound, Green's functions, and more
  • Digital Waveguide Modeling of Musical Instruments excellent material from Julius O. Smith III
  • DSP Genereation of Pink Noise an on-line paper from Robin Whittle
  • Efficient Audio Signal Processing in ANSI C a paper from Adrian Freed
  • Encoder Analysis and Visualization good informative pages from Chris Johnson
  • FFT Tutorial exposition and code by Don Cross
  • Filters, Delays, Modulations and Demodulations a tutorial by Pierre Dutilleux at ZKM
  • FIR Digital Filtering a lesson from Billy Donahue
  • Formant Correction In Pitch Shifting from Stephan Sprenger at Prosoniq
  • Introduction to DSP an on-line tutorial from BORES Signal Processing
  • Life, Lansky, and LPC a fascinating essay on the use of linear predictive coding in the work of Paul Lansky
  • LPC Tutorial from Will Howitt at Otolith
  • Performance Hints for Signal Processing Applications helpful information from Doug Scott for programming MIPS processors
  • Room Acoustics Modeling a paper from Philip Edelbrock
  • SBC Tutorial an on-line tutorial on sub-band coding (MPEG), also from Otolith
  • Time/Pitch Scaling FAQ also from Prosoniq
  • Yehar's DSP Tutorial For The Braindead excellent introductory text
  • dspGuru excellent site for anything related to music and DSP

• Alsa-Nyser cool scope from Raphael Francois
• Bomb an interactive a-life "visual-musical" instrument
• Cthugha "an oscilloscope on acid..."
• DireShow frequency analyzer with a nice SVGA interface
• Freq51 realtime spectrum analyzer, and a patch which indicates frequencies as musical note-names
• JAAA the JACK & ALSA Audio Analyser, an audio signal generator and spectrum analyser from Fons Adriaensen
• JXSpectrum and XSpectrum two more frequency analyzers
• Oscilloscope a DSSI plugin from Lars Luthman
• QoscC QT-based software oscilloscope
• RS421 audio spectrogram software that "takes the audio data from a SIGINT/COMINT receiver and performs a real time FFT", from NetworkFab
• ScopeShapes oscilloscope that uses soundcard output to produce 2D/3D vector graphics
• SonaSound realtime music/sound visualization program from Niklas Werner
• Sonogram very nice audio visualization package from Christoph Lauer, requires Java2
• SoundMan another excellent audio visualization app
• Spectrogram samples data from soundcard, displays FFT spectrogram in realtime
• Synaesthesia is a lightshow calculated from FFT and stereo positioning information
• Waterfall realtime spectrum analyzer for XMMS
• WMscope audio display applet for Window Maker or Afterstep
• XPortShot RT a Gtk-based oscilloscope simulator for Linux
• baudline excellent realtime frequency analyzer with varied displays
• eXtace a much-improved version of this scope/visualizer
• fluxus is "... a small realtime render engine for Linux that generates animation from sound", from Dave Griffiths of SpiralSynth fame
• kanalyzer KDE applet to display the spectrum or the time-domain signal from a soundcard
• sndpeek "... performs feature extraction on audio files or live audio input with real-time display of waveform, spectrum, and features", from the crew at the Princeton Soundlab
• xanalyser realtime frequency spectrum analyser for X, from Arvin Schnell
• xsr oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer, output to root window

• *2raw C code for Ben Collver's utilities to convert PAT-format soundfiles, IT samples, and XI instruments to RAW-format soundfiles
• AudioMove is a "... GUI-based batch audio file copy-and-conversion program" from Jeremy Friesner
• SoX Chris Bagwell's home page for the soundfile format converter
  • Xsox Xforms front-end
  • An Analysis of Sample Rate Conversion in Sox on-line technical paper
• aifc2wav converts AIFC (IMA4 or SOWT) files to WAV
• audio convert neat script for script that converts WAV, Ogg, MP3, MPC, FLAC, APE, AAC, and WMA file formats

• Abram's Table Editor graphic table editing for Csound
• ACCCI John Gather's Amsterdam Catalog of Csound Computer Instruments
• Ambisonics an implementation for Csound
• AthenaCL "...an object-oriented, Python-scriptable algorithmic front-end to Csound"
• Bol Processor sources are now open, good news from Bernard Bel and Anthony Kozar
• Cabel a Python-based GUI for creating Csound processing networks; see also Modulor a "micro-utility" for the Cabel Csound instrument designer
• Cecilia
  • Cecilia powerful GUI and composition environment
  • Cecilia Tutorials great stuff from UC Davis (not to be confused with Ossie Davis)
  • Module Building In Cecilia Bill Beck reveals the secrets in Electronic Musician
• Ceres will create a Csound score from granulation of soundfile
• CSFE a Tcl/Tk Csound front-end from Maurizio Umberto Puxeddu
• Csound Syntax for Vi very cool set of definitions for Vi/Vim, from Luis Jure
• Drumachine a score generator for percussion tracks
• FJenie graphic editor for Csound function tables, requires Java
• Houdini/Csound Mark Story makes the connection...
• JCself generates orc/sco files for Csound
• Meloncillo Java-based GUI front-end for audio synthesis server software with spatialization controls (SuperCollider3 or Csound)
• MU.SE.S software for transforming musical series, requires Csound and FLTK
• NetCsound an on-line rendering service for Csound CSD files
• Perlscore "an infant translation of the Cscore library to Perl", from Toby Shepard
• Pmask an implementation of Cmask in Python from Maurizio Umberto Puxeddu
• PVTool manipulates Csound phase vocoder files
• Rytmo rhythm pattern generator for Csound
• Scala a powerful software tool for experimentation with musical tunings, can save data in Csound score format
• Scheme Score preprocessor for Csound scores
• Score11 a Csound score file preprocessor from Allan Schindler and the Eastman Computer Music Center
• SoundSpace a Java GUI for Richard Karpen's space Csound opcode
• Tk-score a graphic utility for combining soundfiles and/or Csound scores into a single mega-score
• TooSkini Minc for Perry Cook's SKINI protocol for Cmix
• blue the composition environment for Csound and Java, from Steven Yi
• csound-x.el Csound-mode package for GNU Emacs
• hYdraJ Malte Steiner's editor for hetro analysis files, now available in a Java version
• jcsound a JACK wrapper for Csound, from Gerard van Dongen
• nGen Mikel Kuehn's generator for Csound scoes and Standard MIDI files
• rain is a Tcl/Tk script to convert GIF images to sound or to a Csound score
• tkdnoise nice Tcl/Tk GUI for the Csound dnoise utility, from Hudson Lacerda
• vu a very useful command-line VU-meter from Toby Shepard
• Some Csound Documentation:
  • Csound Front Page a new version from Richard Boulanger and Jacob Joaquin, updates and replaces the Leeds Csound Front Page
  • Csound Magazine Hans Mikelson's excellent ezine
  • Csound Manual in ASCII, HTML, and PDF formats, from David Boothe
  • Csound Manual an alternative reference version from Kevin Conder

Free Sounds

• Various & Sundry
  • Borealis a set of themed sounds for the Linux desktop, from composer Ivica Ico Bukvic
  • FindSounds "...a free site where you can search the Web for sound effects and musical instrument samples"
  • FreeSamples free sounds from Northeastern University and House Of Samples
  • Freesound "a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds", hosted by the Universitat Pompeu Fabra
  • Hollow Sun free samples of vintage synths, in Akai sample disc format
  • Live Music Archive freely available non-commercial live recordings
  • Musical Instrument Samples free high-quality set from The University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios
  • NS_Kit a high-quality free drum kit from the Natural Studio
  • Oneshot Samples reader Philippe says it's "... an engine dedicated to share short copyright-free sound samples amongst independent music composers"
• Soundfonts
  • HammerSound a terrific source for soundfonts
  • Steinway Piano Font free font, recorded from a Steinway Model-C grand piano
  • Analoguesque Freebies synths, drums, and some strange things

• JACK Paul Davis's professional-quality low-latency audio server and transport control interface
• ClockLoop Steve Harris's "primitive commandline loop player"
• Demeter from Steve Harris, "... a thing for showing distortion in JACK systems, AD/DA converters or whatever"
• Hearnet listen to your network traffic with Hans Fugal's "toy" for JACK
• JAAA the JACK & ALSA Audio Analyser, an audio signal generator and spectrum analyser from Fons Adriaensen
• JACE JACK-based convolution engine from Fons Adriaensen
• JACK Bitscope a diagnostic utility for JACK, from Nick Lamb
• JACK Rack another fine utility from Bob Ham
• Jackbeat audio sequencing from Olivier Guilyardi
• JackMiniMix Nicholas Humfrey's "simple mixer for the Jack Audio Connection Kit with an OSC based control interface"
• JackMix a master mixer for connected JACK apps, from Arnold Krille
• JAMin JACK Audio Mastering, "... a tool for producing audio masters from a mixed-down multitrack source"
• JJack JACK for Java, thanks to Jens Gulden
• LADCCA introducing the Linux Audio Developer's Configuration and Connection API, "... a session management system for JACK and ALSA audio applications on GNU/Linux."
• MadJACK is an "... MPEG Audio Deck for the Jack Audio Connection Kit with an OSC based control interface"
• Meterbridge more cool software from Steve Harris
• Patchage Dave Robillard's modular patch bay for JACK and ALSA
• PyJack Python module to provide an interface to the JACK server
• QJackConnect a QT-based patchbay for JACK, from Dr. Matthias Nagorni
• QJackCtrl excellent Qt-based application to control JACK and more...
• RD JACK Apps useful JACK applications from Rohan Drape
• SilentJack a silence/dead-air detector for JACK
• Time Machine Steve Harris's "simple program to record sounds that would otherwise have been lost"
• ac3jack realtime AC3 encoding for JACK audio
• jackEQ Patrick Shirkey's new project for metering and equalizing JACK audio streams
• jack.osc/midi.osc daemons for publishing JACK transport control and MIDI packets over a UDP network connection, from Rohan Drapes
• jack.plumbing a JACK connection daemon, also from Rohan Drapes
• jack_capture Kjetil Matheussen's "small simple program to capture whatever sound is going out to your speakers"
• jack_convolve "... a simple convolution engine for jackd", from Florian Schmidt
• jack_snapshot a command-line based utility to store/restore JACK connection states, from Florian Schmidt
• jacko a nice wxPython GUI for controlling JACK
• jcsound a JACK wrapper for Csound, from Gerard van Dongen
• jdelay tests soundcard latency, requires JACK
• k_jack adds JACK capability to Pd, more cool software from Kjetil Matheussen
• kluppe "... a JACK-ified GTK-based loop player for files and live-input", from d13b
• libjackasyn Günter Geiger's "... library that converts programs written for the OSS system into JACK-aware applications (sort of)"
• netjack networked JACK, from Torben Hohn
• qjackLaM Qt-based latency meter for JACK
• quickwav Michael Moritz's uncomplicated sample browser and loop player; requires JACK
• sauditor a JACK-based "simple sample auditor" from James Shuttleworth
• xjadeo limited but interesting video player that displays the video frame corresponding to the JACK timebase

• LADSPA The central site for information regarding the Linux Audio Developers Simple Plugin API, maintained by Richard W. E. Furse; also home to the CMT computer musician's toolkit collection of plugins.
  • BLOP band-limited oscillator LADSPA plugins from Mike Rawes
  • CAPS the C* Audio Plugin Suite from Tim Goetze, a collection of LADSPA plugins for amplifier emulation, effects processing, reverb, EQ and many other functions
  • Demolition is "a destruction testing tool for LADSPA plugins"
  • DLADSPA "distributed LADSPA", groups several in a chain to create a single meta-plugin, from Nelson Posse Lago
  • FIL Plugins more excellent LADSPA plugins from Fons Adriaensen
  • Jezabel "a collection of LADSPA plugins designed to be used as building blocks for GUI or text-based audio applications under Linux"
  • LCP Perl from David Riley, scripts for controlling LADSPA plugins via text-mode or graphic interfaces
  • LADSPA Plugins Moog filter, chorus, reverb, and more from Fons Adriaensen
  • NJL Plugins LADSPA goodness from Nick Lamb
  • SooperLooper excellent looping sampler LADSPA plugin from Jesse Chappell
  • Soundtank Jacob Robbins' LADSPA host designed for making and playing softsynths
  • SWH Plugins the must-have set from Steve Harris
  • TAP Tom's Audio Plugins, a set of LADSPA plugins from Tom Szilagyi
  • VLevel a "look-ahead" dynamics compressor, available as a command-line app and a LADSPA plugin
  • WASP the WAve Sculpting Plugins from Artemiy I. Pavlov
  • XMMS-LADSPA a plugin to host plugins, from Nick Lamb
  • ladspapluginmaker GUI for creating LADSPA-compatible audio plug-ins, from the makers of GDAM
  • ladspar "a Ruby module for using LADSPA plugins", from Hans Fugal
  • liblrdf Steve Harris's "...library for handling RDF descriptions of LADSPA (and potentially other format) plugins"
  • q2ladspa partial implementation of a set of plugins based on Quasimodo
• DSSI The Disposable SoftSynth Interface, a "LADSPA for instruments" API from Chris Cannam, Sean Bolton, and Steve Harris.
  • Oscilloscope scope plugin with two channels, controllable trigger, time resolution, separate amplification and DC offset for both channels
  • Sineshaper a monophonic DSSI synthesizer from Lars Luthman
  • WhySynth more DSSI synth plugin excellence from Sean Bolton
  • dssi_convolve a handy convolution plugin from Florian Schmidt
  • hexter is a "... software synthesizer that models the sound generation of a Yamaha DX7", DSSI plugin goodness from Sean Bolton
• MESS Werner Schweer's MusE Experimental SoftSynth API, designed for easily building custom softsynths. Note that MESS also enables VST support within MusE.
  • From release 0.7 onwards the MusE package includes two MESS softsynths, Nil Geisweiller's DeicsOnze, a 4-operator FM synth emulator, and Mathias Lundgren's Simpledrums, a basic drum sampler plugin.
• VST/VSTi Yes, they can be run under Linux, but only under specific conditions. See the Linux VST/VSTi Tutorial for more detailed information.
  • VSTserver Kjetil Matheussen's remarkable server for running VST plugins under Linux, FreeBSD, i386 Solaris, and others (requires WINE); this site also serves up Kjetil's vsti dedicated VSTi server, the LADSPA/VST host, and his k_vst~ object for Pd
  • VST/VSTi Plugins For Linux Database a community service project from Tim Orford
  • dssi-vst a bridge for running VST plugins with the DSSI
  • FST in-process VST/VSTi support from Torben Hohn and Paul Davis
  • libfst in-process VST/VSTi support from Torben Hohn and Paul Davis
  • jack_fst a JACK client for running VST/VSTi plugins
  • kvraudio good site for locating VST/VSTi plugins

Be sure to check out Hans Fugal's LAM, the wonderful Linux Audio Music site. If you'd like to hear what can be done with Linux sound and music software, the LAM site delivers the audible goods. Podcast and M3U streams are available. Tune in today.

• 9 Lieder music from Wolfgang Woehl and friends, made with help from Ardour, JAMin, and LADSPA
• And the Evening and the Morning Were the First Day live electroacoustic transformations from Joseph Sarlo and his joystick-controlled Pd
• extudes pieces composed by Frank Barknecht with the help of Pd and MusE
• dis-dot-dat music from James Shuttleworth, made with Cheesetracker and Ardour
• The Fuzzy Dice rockabilly deluxe from Jan Depner & friends, recorded and produced with Ardour, Audacity, and normalize
• GMC Music MIDI files by Guenther Sohler are included in his gmc packages
• Hostile 17/Lunar Shuttle Disaster music from Mathias Lundgren, using MusE, ZynAddSubFX, fluidsynth, plus JACK and LADSPA
• Lead Me In poetry written and performed by Joseph Zitt, processed by Pd
• MalaWhaLa music from Tom Schouten and Pd
• Miki's Music excellent MIDI music made with Rosegarden
• Music from Florian Schmidt and Ardour
• Music by Kevin Ernste the composer writes that his electroacoustic pieces have been created with a variety of Linux audio tools, including Csound, Score11, Cecilia, PVC, MiXViews, Ceres3, Mix, and Rt
• Music Made With Ardour songs and music from Dave Phillips
• NeboGeo music from Dave Griffiths, maker of the incredible SpiralSynth family of Linux music software
• Night Radio Music Collection a CD collection of music from Russia, created and produced entirely with Linux audio software (site is in Russian)
• Oracle Ben Bogart's interactive media installation utilizes Pd/GEM
• pmix & others Python scripts and Ogg and MP3 files from Eric Dantan Rzewnicki
• ruinaudio Linux-made music from Ryan (?)
• Slipstreamscapes III: The Sea impressive work (thesis and MP3) from Ivica Ico Bukvic, a live performance with treatment via RTCMix and the composer's own RTmix running on a Linux-powered laptop
• Songs music from Juan Linietksy, created with his own CheeseTracker module tracker and his ShakeTracker MIDI sequencer
• Spamatica music and sounds from Robert Jonsson, created with MusE, JAMin, ecasound, Audacity, and a wee bit of the Linuxsampler
• Theme from Chameleon and Ernie pieces performed by Stuart Reeves and friends, with percussion tracks courtesy the SoundTracker module tracker
• X-11 Songs music from Daniel James & Crew, recorded via Audacity and JAMin

• Audio Players & Recorders:
  • Audio
    • AdLib-S3M Player example program for QuickBASIC
    • AlsaPlayer "...a new type of PCM player...heavily multi-threaded...tries to exercise the ALSA library and driver..."
    • Ambisonics Player Java-based b-format player from Roger Klaveness
    • Aqualung a new music player from Tom Szilagyi
    • FMOD music and effects system, supports large variety of playback types
    • Gnomoradio media player and p2p app/project, promotes free music
    • KSoundRecord KDE utility from Mathias Zander
    • Manauton audio recorder for manual or autonomous recording
    • MPST Digital Jukebox Linux-based embedded CD/MP3/OGG ripper/player/burner box made for a non-Linux user's home entertainment system
    • MusicMatch Jukebox an "all-in-one" MP3 encoder/player with integral CD burner, requires WINE libs
    • PDAudio Recorder PDA- and laptop-based recording software from Core Sound
    • PSG Player a program for playing Atari tunes
    • QARecord "... simple multithreaded stereo recording tool" from Dr. Matthias Nagorni
    • Quark "... an audio player, for geeks, by geeks"
    • Rasca an audiofile player for MPEG2, MP3, and WAV formats
    • Sakura Player a Linux player for the TFMX music format
    • SCAR the Simple Console Audio Recorder from Seth David Johnson
    • SnackAmp multiformat player handles MP3/WAV/Ogg files, requires the SNACK toolkit
    • Songs Sed's "... little tool used to record and mix audio files"
    • Sound Recorder simple utility for recording from soundcard
    • TinySID "The world's smallest SID player", from the great Giant Sisters
    • Yarec yet another recorder/player, supports WAV and AIFF formats
    • bplay a buffered player for various soundfiles
    • erec Joel Yliluoma's "polydriving recording server", an interesting program for recording raw audio stream from the soundcard
    • flRec the fast, light recorder from the TaoLab
    • krecord simple WAV recorder/player for KDE from Gerd Knorr
    • listener a program that "... listens for sound... starts recording automatically... automatically stops when things become silent again"
    • rawrec/rawplay "...buffered raw audio recording/playing" at the Linux command prompt
    • soundgrab "interactively select and save sections of an audio file"
    • streamixer package of several audio stream tools, from Joel Yliluoma a.k.a Bisqwit
    • tplay threaded and buffering audio player (RIFF/WAV, AU, raw PCM)
    • vsr C code for a command-line sound recorder, from Serguei Patchkovskii
    • xhippo a generic playlist manager for a variety of UNIX sound players and formats
    • zgsmplay "a curses-based real-time GSM file player..."

  • Multimedia
    • Codeweaver Crossover Plugin at long last, Quicktime5 (and more) for Linux Web browsers
    • LiMp0o hardware/software Linux multimedia player
    • MpegTVPlayer also known as mtv, "...a real-time software MPEG Video Player (with audio/sync)..."
    • MPlayer media player for Linux, supports a variety of video and audio formats
    • XAnim the venerable xanim plays a wide variety of sound & video formats
    • XMMS excellent player for MP3, MOD, WAV and other formats
    • XMovie DVD and Quicktime movie player, supports JPEG Photo, YUV2, and raw RGB modes, with stereo audio in PCM, ulaw, or IMA4 formats
    • Xtheater media player for MPEG video and audio, network streams, VCDs, AVI and ASF files
    • xine a most excellent multiformat audio/video player

• CD Technology & Linux:

  Note: As of December 2005 I no longer list CD players. Here at Studio Dave I use Xmcd. AlsaPlayer and XMMS also play CD audio tracks. Consult the listings on Freshmeat for an up-to-date catalog of CD players for Linux.

• CD Burning Software
  • CDDOIT powerful CD-creation script (formerly known as grabator) from Jose L. Diaz
  • Cdrecord
    • Cdrecord CD/DVD recording for Linux, essential software from Jörg Schilling
    • BurnIT JAVA front-end for mkisofs and cdrecord
    • X-CD-Roast cdrecord front-end from Thomas Niederreiter
    • gcombust GUI for mkisofs and cdrecord
  • GnomeToaster CD creation suite for GNOME
  • XMp3Burn burn MP3 files directly to CD
  • cdrdao "records audio or data CD-Rs in disk-at-once (DAO) mode based on a textual description of the CD contents (toc-file)"
  • cdwrite CD writing software; a hardware compatibility list can be found here

• CUE/TOC Utilities
  • CD Builder generates cue sheets and subcodes
  • cuetools utilities for working with CD cue files and TOC files
  • tocgen command-line cdrdao TOC file generator
  • tocmake PERL script for generating a table of contents for cdrdao

• Rippers
  • GRip "...a Gtk-based front-end for CD-rippers such as cdparanoia and cdda2wav"
  • PhonoRipper utility for ripping and recording audio CDs, requires SNACK
  • cdda2wav Heiko Eissfeldt's "...sampling utility for cdrom drives that are capable of sending audio cd data in digital form to your host. Data can be dumped into WAV or Sun format sound files."
  • cdparanoia an improved version of the cdda2wav CD audio grabber
  • cdr "Create/Duplicate/Rip" front-end for ripping and encoding audio from CD
  • dagrab audio grabber, CD to WAV
  • jack console-based CD ripper
  • ripperX GUI to cdparanoia and other rip/encode utilities

• WAV To CD Tools
  • wav2cdr conversion utility to prepare WAV files for CD recording

• Cover Art and Jewel-box Insert Utilities
  • CDox tool for creating CD covers, requires Java 1.4
  • Disc-Cover utility for making CD cover labels
  • Kover simple KDE utility for creating inserts for CD jewel boxes
  • cdlabelgen generates frontcards and traycards for CD cases

• Miscellaneous Utilities
  • Audio Transcriber/Recorder a Perl/Tk utility for transferring audio tapes and LPs to CD
  • CDfs "...exports all tracks and boot images on a CD as normal files"
  • Vmusic good CD database software from Bob van der Poel, requires Python and Tkinter
  • cdred driver for remote audio CDs, from Hector Escolar Garcia
  • shn2make utility to automate recording CDs and encoding MP3 and Ogg files from shn files

• The Linux Demo:
  • Loop a great demo from CSR
  • Qrash another cool demo for Linux
  • Scene.org best general info/ftp site for the demo scene
  • State of Mind the other of the two best demos for Linux
  • unix scene excellent site for Linux demos and intros

• The Digital DJ
  • BeatForce a computer DJ system for two players with independent playlists, song databases, mixers, samplers, et cetera
  • BpmDj very interesting set of programs for the Linux DJ
  • DBMix software DJ digital audio mixing system
  • DJ Krazy a neat MP3/CD mixer for the Linux DJ in us all...
  • DJPlay "aims to be a high-class live DJing application for Linux"
  • Final Scratch pro-audio computerized DJ system from Stanton Magnetics
  • GDAM Geoff & Dave's Audio Mixer, a new mixer for the Linux digital DJ
  • Jay'O'Rama cool DJ tool for PCM/MP3/OGG playback and manipulation
  • Mixxx a cool DJ mixer from the Andersen brothers
  • MP3Mixer a system for mixing multiple MPEG audio streams in realtime
  • Oolaboola virtual turntable fun with Eric Tiedemann's "open-source cyber-shamanic noise-maker"
  • OpenJay dedicated site for open-source DJs
  • OpenJay Development Krew Forum a site dedicated to discussing "...problems, code, techniques, tips & tricks and all issues related to the computer DJing world"
  • UltraMixer very cool virtual DJ mixing software, requires Java
  • cdrom_speed lets the user decrease CD-ROM drive speed, "...especially suitable for playing MP3's from your CD-ROM..."
  • eMixer DJ-style mixer for two MP3 audio streams
  • remix.linux "a place for subscribers of the Linux Audio Users list to share/remix/extend/master each others work, with the freedoms offered by Creative Commons licenses"
  • terminatorX enables hip-hop style "scratching" of WAV files

• Drumming:
  • Beatfish Conrad Parker's "code challenge" drumbox/music machine
  • Beats By Design an "artificially intelligent drum machine", requires jMusic and of course Java
  • DrumPatterns a tool for learning drum rudiments and other patterns
  • Drumpiler "the Compiled Drum Machine", from Stefano Maini (aka Sty)
  • Drums++ a programming language for percussion patterns
  • FlamTastic Drumputer Web-based drum rudiments/pattern composer, translates input to MIDI file
  • Fultron 2002 a drum machine project from Curtis Lee Fulton
  • Gneutronica GTK2-based drum machine from Stephen Cameron
  • Groovit a matrix-style drum-pattern composer
  • Hydrogen
    • Hydrogen the advanced drum machine for Linux
    • Blues Box a collection of blues and rock rhythm patterns for Hydrogen
    • Rhythm Galaxy vol.1 percussion samples from Hydrogen programmer and sound designer Artemiy Pavlov
  • LDrum cool new drum machine/rhythm programmer from Peter Eschler
  • MuSing Java-based beat generation program (commercial with free demo)
  • Open Beat Box unique drum machine, requires PyQt
  • Rhythm Lab nice utility for realizing and testing polyrhythms, from Aaron Lav
  • Slag pattern-based audio sequencer/drum box from Alex Marandon
  • Smack Loki Davison's "100% sample-free" drum synthesizer
  • TK-707 excellent software emulation of the Roland TR-707 drum machine
  • Trommler
    • Trommler excellent drum machine with nice Gtk interface
    • TromVSpacer "...interface between the Trommler drum machine and the VSpace language...to "spatialize" tracks made with Trommler"
    • midi2trommler converts MIDI files to Trommler format
  • Virtual Drum Machine more interesting software from Cedric Roux
  • Xdrum a user-configurable software drum-machine for X and the Athena widget set
  • orDrumbox audio sequencer and sofware drum machine in Java
  • thud "the poor man/s drum machine", for KDE and Qt
  • Samples, Loops, and MIDI Files
    • Loopasonic good selection of audio loops
    • MIDI Drum Files beat loops in Standard MIDI File format
    • NS_Kit good drums from the Natural Studio
    • Sounddogs excellent collection of royalty-free samples and loops

• File Compression Software:
  • Audiozip lossless audio compression from Maurizio Umberto Puxeddu
  • Bonk lossy/lossless audio compression
  • FLAC the Free Lossless Audio Coder, from Josh Coalson
  • Kexis lossless compression for WAV files
  • La lossless audio compression from Michael Bevin
  • OptimFROG lossless audio compression from Florin Ghido
  • SoftSound Ltd high-quality audio and speech codecs Shorten and ATELP
  • sfArkXTc at last, a native Linux decompressor for sfArk-compressed SoundFont files
  • shorten software for the SHN compression format

• Game Things:
  • Emulation Systems
    • DGen/SDL a Sega Genesis/MegaDrive emulator with sound support
    • MAME
      • MAME the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, supports sound & music
      • X-Mame X11 port of MAME
    • Snes9x Super Nintendo Entertainment System emulator with sound support
    • TuxNES emulates the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System, with experimental support for sound
    • Virtual GameBoy emulates the popular Nintendo game console

  • Game Developers & Resellers
    • Linux Game Development Center excellent resource center for Linux game developers
    • Loki Games "...dedicated to bringing best selling computer games to Linux"
    • Tux Games your 1-stop on-line shopping center for Linux games

    Note: Although the Web site is still on-line Loki Games is no longer in business.

  • Game Listings & Reviews
    • The Linux Game Tome the major listing of games for the Penguin People...
    • Linux Games the other major listing of games for the Penguin People...

    Note: As of June 2002 I am no longer listing Linux games. Please see the links above for complete up-to-date catalogs of games for Linux.

  • Tools & SDK Packages
    • Allegro C/C++ game programming library with sound support
    • ClanLib a platform-independent game SDK with sound support
    • DeuTex a wad composer for Doom, Heretic, Hexen and Strife
    • GSI the General Sound Interface, an API with stereo sample play, 3D, Doppler fx, etc.
    • HawkVoice is "... a game-oriented, multiplayer voice-over-network API... designed to be a portable, free, open source code alternative to Microsoft®'s DirectPlay® Voice in DX8"
    • OpenAL open-source audio library for games and multimedia applications, sponsored by Creative Labs and Loki Entertainment
    • PenguinPlay game SDK for Linux
    • SDL the famous Simple Directmedia Layer library development project
    • SkySOUND "...is mainly a stream-oriented audio library, to...enhance your programs, games, or demos"
    • SL Sound Library library for playing, mixing, and modifying sound samples in realtime, designed especially for games and simulations
    • YIFF a sound server for UNIX games and applications
    • libgaudio sound lib for games, from Andreas Schiffler

• For Guitarists Only:
  • Tuners
    • Gstring guitar tuner with GTK interface
    • Gtune guitar tuner (console-only) by Harold Baur
    • GuiTuner very nice tuner from Fabio Checconi
    • JTuner nice Java-based guitar tuner from Michael Corlett
    • KGuiTune instrument tuner for KDE
    • gTune provides a Gtk+ interface to Gtune
    • xtune nice simple guitar tuner

  • Tablature Software
    • Dr Fermi Tabulator converts ASCII tablature to a standard MIDI file
    • Gnometab guitar tablature editor for Gnome2
    • KGuitar a guitarist's environment for KDE, includes tablature and MIDI import/export features
    • PStab "a system for typesetting guitar tablature"
    • SongWrite the latest and greatest incarnation of what was formerly Jiba's GTablature
    • Tab'n'Fret tablature and fretboard generators for X
    • eTktab excellent program for writing guitar tablature in the typical ASCII tab found on the Internet
    • ptabtools library and utilities for opening PowerTab files and converting them to LilyPond and ASCII formats

  • Fretboard Utilities
    • Fretboard a reference tool for stringed instruments, including guitar, banjo, bouzouki, bass, mandolin, violin, dulcimer, and alternate guitar tunings
    • fretboard generates 1-octave fretboard diagram of any fretted instrument
    • fretscale "...finds fret distances from the nut for stringed musical instruments based on scale length/# frets/decimal accuracy"

  • Music Preparation/Viewing Utilities
    • Chord 3.5 tool for guitarists, produces sheet music from a text file
    • ChordCast "software written to help musicians creating and printing chords", from Jonathan Houde
    • Chordpack "a system for typesetting of songs with guitar chords"
    • Chordpro2anything "... a suite of programs that convert chopro files into a range of other formats"
    • ChorTex a chord grid typesetter, outputs to LaTeX or PDF, from Éric Würbel (page in French)
    • Gnome-chord lists and illustrates guitar chords
    • GuitarTex "...takes a LaTeX file containing ChordPro directives to produce good-looking and easy-to-play song sheets for guitarists"
    • GuitarTeX On-line produces HTML output to your browser from ChordPro-style files
    • KhordPro very nice ChordPro viewer for KDE

  • Chord & Scale Utilities
    • Guitar/Bass Mode Maker "... will help the guitar player learn scales, modes, chords, and create new scales", software from Mike Wagman
    • ChordDB a database front-end that keeps track of chord files (fake sheets), accepts Chord and ChordPro input files, and creates output in PDF, text, ChordPro, and LaTeX formats
    • GuitarCodex Plus excellent tool for learning scales & chords, requires Java

  • Miscellaneous
    • ToneFree utilities for controlling Line 6 guitar amplifiers and preamps via /dev/midi
    • XStick "...a tool for viewing scales, notes, and chords on the Chapman Stick(R)", from Stew Benedict

• Java Miscellanea:
  • JARS Music/Sound a large list of applets and applications from the JARS Automatic Resource Listing
  • Java Music Projects Tom Erbe's guide to applications and tools
  • Java Sound API useful information from Sun Microsystems
  • Java Sound for Linux Netscape making it work...

• Mixers:
  • EMU10K1 Graphical Mixer mixer for Creative Labs driver
  • GNOME ALSA Mixer Dennis Huoy's soundcard mixer with support for ALSA 0.9.x
  • IRMix yes, it's an infrared-controlled audio volume control
  • QAMix MIDI-controlled mixer for ALSA, from Dr. Matthias Nagorni
  • SBLive Mixer very full-featured mixer from Kövedsi György
  • SDL Mixer from SDL developer Sam Lantinga
  • SMix a nice, highly configurable mixer, uses Xforms for its GUI
  • XAMixer a Gtk-based mixer, requires ALSA
  • aumix excellent command-line mixer, up-to-date with latest Linux kernel sound support
  • mmix nice console mixer from Tino Reichardt
  • xmmixer soundcard mixer by Ti Kan
  • See the collection at ibiblio for a full list of mixers.

• MOD Trackers/Players & Other Resources:
  • Archives and Information
    • The MOD Archive a large collection of MOD music
    • Playing MODs In UNIX dated but informative page
    • United Trackers excellent general resource from Kristian Grundström
    • Buzz Tracker On Linux how to make the popular Windows tracker work under your favorite OS

  • Trackers
    • CheeseTracker a new module tracker from reduz
    • FunktrackerGOLD a FNK module tracker from Jason Nunn
    • Sarah Tracker a new tracker in development
    • Shake Tracker a MIDI sequencer with a tracker interface
    • SkaleTracker a new module tracker similar to FastTracker2
    • SoundTracker a Gtk-based MOD tracker from Michael Krause
    • Xsoundtrack tracker for X window system, requires only Xlib graphics
    • insoTracker an Impulse Tracker 2.xx compatible tracker

  • Players
    • BassMOD MOD player based on code from the popular XmPLAY and BASS players for Windozers...
    • Flare XM module player from spectre
    • GModplay Gtk MOD player
    • MicroMod good player from Martin Cameron, requires Java
    • MikMod
      • MikMod classic MOD player for Linux with curses or X interface (Be sure to check out this page as well !)
      • KModBox another version for KDE
      • MikMod for Java is now available from Shlomi Fish
      • Mod4X MikMod with a very nice XForms interface, from Sorin Balea
      • MP/NMP a module player based on MikMod, from Gael Gence
      • adaMikMod "...a set of Ada95 bindings against libmikmod
    • Mod4Xwin player with X interface
    • MODPlug Player popular MOD player now for Linux's own XMMS
    • Open Cubic Player popular module player now available for Linux
    • S3MOD MOD/S3M module player
    • UADE is the "Unix Amiga Delitracker Emulator" (it does more than just play MODs!)
    • Xgmod MOD player in X and ncurses versions
    • modplugplay command-line module player, supports many module types
    • xmp the Extended Module Player

  • Utilities
    • GMid2Mod utility to convert General MIDI files to MOD format, from Guy Thornley
    • XmToMID converts XM tracker files to MIDI files
    • unumx extracts the MOD music files from the Unreal Tournament game

• MPEG Players & Encoders:

  Note: As of May 2002 I will no longer list many new MP3 applications. Please see the listings on Freshmeat and Linux.MP3 Tools for more up-to-date catalogs of players and other MP3 software.

  MPEG Players & Encoders

  • Encoders
    • 8Hz-MP3 a free MPEG audio encoder
    • BladeEnc an MP3 encoder from Tord Jansson
    • GOGO MP3 encoder for x86, based on LAME
    • Hannover MPEG encoder free MP3 encoder
    • LAME source code for an encoder licensed under the GPL
    • MP3 Encoder reads WAV files and encodes to MP3, from Andreas Johansson
    • NotLAME an MP3 encoder based on the LAME patch
    • TwoLAME MPEG-2 encoder from Nicholas Humfrey
    • toolame optimized encoder based on LAME

  • Players
    • MAD Robert Leslie's GPL'd MPEG audio decoder
    • MJS console-based MP3 jukebox system
    • MP3Blaster excellent console MP3 player
    • Tk3Play a Tk MP3 audio player
    • WHAMp MP3 player, uses mpglib and Gtk
    • Xtheater multiformat (including MPEG) audio/video player
    • Zinf simple powerful audio player formerly known as FreeAMP, supports MP3, Ogg/Vorbis, WAV and CD audio, SHOUTcast/Icecast HTTP streaming
    • mpg321 totally free drop-in replacement for mpg123
    • newplayer 1.1 curses-based MP3 player

  • mpg123
    • mpg123 excellent MP3 decoder (player)
    • Apollo very nice GUI for mpg123
    • GQmpeg front-end for mpg123, supports playlists
    • Moe Music WWW front-end for mpg123
    • Nmpg a front-end for mpg123
    • WindowMaker audio applets an equalizer for mpg123 and mixers for ALSA and OSS

  • Utilities and Miscellaneous Software
    • Abcde front-end for cdparanoia, wget, cd-discid, id3, and any MP3 encoder
    • Beam-it! identifies your CDs and adds them to My.MP3.com
    • Cantus excellent tag editor for MP3, OGG, and FLAC files
    • Crystality Plugin interesting realtime MP3 remastering software from Rafal Bosak
    • DigitalDJ an SQL-based MP3 player front-end from Mike Oliphant, designed to work with his Grip
    • DigitalDJ Enhanced feature-rich version of Mike Oliphant's Linux jukebox
    • GTKmp3make Gtk front-end for mp3make, includes support for bladenc
    • GlobeCom Jukebox CD-to-MP3 ripper, database organizer, playlist coordinator and much more
    • Jooky an MP3 controller, works via ncurses, TCP/IP, or LIRC
    • KBlade a KDE front-end for BladeEnc
    • Kmp3te program for viewing and editing tags to MP3 files
    • Maaate an analysis toolkit for MPEG audio files; Bewdy is a visualization GUI for Maaate
    • Mp3Make "a program that glues together...cd-to-mp3 rippers and encoders and...a cddb database"
    • MP3SB project plans for building an MP3 server box
    • MP3c "...a front-end for every grab program and MP3 encoder"
    • MP3toWAV a converter from Detlef Krause
    • MpCut visualizes the power levels in each frame of an MP3 file, select and cut unwanted frames, then save the selected frames to a separate MP3 file
    • Mplinuxman file I/O for an MPMAN MP3 portable player (models MP-F50 and MP-F60)
    • Streamripper "...connects to streaming MP3 servers and downloads the tracks to your hard drive"
    • WMAmpMenu utility to place X11Amp playlists in Window Maker root menu
    • Xmp3Burn burn audio CDs directly from MP3 files
    • dekagen a command line tool to automate ripping CDs and converting to MP3 or OGG/Vorbis format
    • findmp3 utility to locate MP3 files by artist, title, album, genre, etc. within a directory/subdirectories, from Folkert van Heusden
    • freezetag Gtk+ based id3 tag editor for MP3 files
    • mp3tools "...a set of utilities for working with MPEG audio files"

  • Rio Utilities
    • Krio KDE interface for the Rio player
    • Rio Support software from author Steve Oualline
    • Rio500 Linux drivers for managing the Diamond Rio MP3 player
    • Snow* a GUI for the Snowblind Alliance rio utility
    • Walk500 management tool for your Rio500 player, requires the Gnome libraries
    • grio is "...a GNOME tool for managing your Diamond Rio PMP300 MP3 player"
    • rio-linux a translation of the Rio utility to K&R-formatted 8-space-tabbed C for Linux
    • riofill a Perl script to fill a Rio with a random selection of MP3s

  • Documentation Etc.
    • Linux.MP3 Tools formerly DAM's MP3 Page, aims to include everything regarding MP3 + Linux, from Damien Morel
    • Linux MP3 HOWTO new documentation from Phil Kerr
    • Linux MP3 Players Project Page a guide to the hard and the soft...
    • MP3'Tech a great source for technical information on the MP3 format

• Musician's Utilities:

  • Accompaniment & Practice Software
    • Autocomp generates simple bass/drum/keyboard accompaniment from chord sheets (requires Csound)
    • GKaraoke a Karaoke simulator for GNOME, requires TiMidity
    • MMA Bob van der Poel's neat MIDI music accompaniment generator
    • Pymprovisator Python-based program for accompaniment and improvisation assistance, from David Asorey Álvarez
    • Rhyth(M)aid + GUI a program that plays drums, bass, and piano to a given set of chord changes, from Florien Schmidt
    • YATM yet another time machine, alters soundfile playback speed without changing its pitch
    • gmorgan nice Soundfont-based accompaniment software from Josep Holborn
    • rythmaid plays swing-jazz drums/piano/bass accompinament based on user-supplied chord progressions

  • Courseware
    • A Jazz Improvisation Primer an excellent first guide from Marc Sabatella
    • Berklee Shares free music lessons from the Berklee College of Music
    • Harmony Central good site for technical information, includes some free lesson material
    • MIT OpenCourseWare "... a free and open educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners around the world", from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Ear Training
    • Big Ears an on-line ear-training utility, requires a Java-enabled browser
    • Clamor ear-training software from Ben Crowell
    • Keen Little Rabbit Ears simple ear-training program, requires Perl/Tk
    • Solfege ear training program with Gtk interface

  • Looping CD Players
    • CDLoop a CD player with looping capabilities for musicians who want to play along with parts of a CD
    • cdloop a utility to loop passages playing from an audio CD

  • Audio Transcription Software
    • Transcribe! excellent aid for transcribing recorded music, from the programmers at SeventhString

  • Temperament And Intonation
    • Scala a powerful software tool for experimentation with musical tunings, can save data in Csound score format
    • The teK Project "A project to design, manufacture, and market a Tempering Enharmonic Keyboard", from Carl Adams
    • Temperaments generates scales in user-selected temperaments (requires Java)
    • Tempered Notation "A suggested scheme for the notation of tempered scales", from Carl Adams
    • Tuning By Ratios an informative page from Robert Asmussen
    • Tunings & Temperaments demonstrates tunings and temperaments (requires Java)

  • Metronomes
    • Countbeats displays tempo when you tap the spacebar, requires Python/Tkinter
    • DiffM a Java-based metronome
    • GTick a good Gtk2-based metronome
    • Kticker nice metronome for KDE 3.1
    • Metronome a MIDI-based metronome with Gtk interface
    • ametro very nice "simple MIDI metronome using the ALSA sequencer" from Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas
    • ctronome a metronome for the Linux console
    • gMetronome a Gtk-based metronome
    • gTick a very nice Gtk metronome

  • Instrument Tuners
    • Hounddog instrument tuner and pitch identifier, requires KDE
    • Pitchtune oscilloscope-style instrument tuning program, requires GTK
    • fmit Gilles Degottex's free music instrument tuner
    • qjacktuner nice JACK-based tuner from Karsten Wiese
    • tuneit command-line instrument tuner for ALSA and JACK, from Mario Lang
    • tuneroid instrument tuner for KDE

  • Software For Song Lyrics
    • Asaph "... a tool for Christian music groups and worship leaders for managing song databases", from Daniel Azuma
    • Lyman song lyrics collection management software, requires Java
    • Lyric Display System an application "...to edit/display lyrics on a second screen/projector for use at singing events such as church services", from Chris Debenham
    • jLyrics nice Java-based program for storing and editing lyrics

  • Music And Tablature Paper
    • Printable Manuscript Paper useful music stuff in PostScript and PDF formats
    • score Troy Henderson's utility to print PostScript-printable music manuscript paper

  • Score Recognition Software
    • Klearnnotes2 nice music education program for KDE
    • Score Reading Trainer improves musical score reading skills by practice with random scores, from Jose Pablo Ezequiel Fernandez

  • Other Neat Things
    • FTAP software for beat-tapping and music-performance experiments, from Steve Finney
    • PhatBeat a neat tap-tempo beat counter from Postreal Media
    • Songforge "...a means of making music in an open source environment.... allows users to upload and download audio files (MP3/OGG), add their own instrumentation to the tracks or remix the tracks, then upload the new file as a 'child' song of the original..."

• Network Audio:
  • Audio and Apache a paper from Sander van Zoest describing the use of Apache as a server for streaming media
  • BGM a background music player for PBX systems
  • Cyber Radio 1 a system for live Internet audio broadcast
  • EsounD the Enlightened Sound Daemon does network audio too
  • Flash plug-in for Linux Netscape, plays Flash files on Shockwave-enabled Web sites
  • Fluid Streaming Server streaming MP3 server for network broadcast
  • Freecast peer-to-peer streaming system for Ogg/Vorbis audio and video
  • GStreamer
    • GStreamer streaming media framework that "...allows the construction of graphs of media-handling components, ranging from simple MP3 playback to complex audio and video processing"
    • GStreamer Pipeline Editor "allows easy, graphical construction, inspection, and operation of media processing pipelines", requires GStreamer
  • Helix DNA Producer "a multi-format media-encoding engine for creating streaming broadcasts, on-demand streaming content, and downloadable audio/video files", supports RealAudio/RealVideo and OGG Vorbis
  • Ice Sound Manager sound server software for the IceWM window manager
  • Icecast
    • Icecast is an MP3 audio broadcasting system
    • IceDJ "...is a set of scripts for running an Icecast radio station with tight integration with an accompanying website"
    • ices a JACK-aware module for Icecast
  • Internet Radio Toolkit a suite of command-line tools for uni/multi/broadcasting MP3 streams over the Internet (HTTP and RTP protocols supported)
  • Kickarts simple KDE panel applet to control the aRts sound server
  • LDAS the Low Delay Audio Streamer, software from Asbjørn Saebø
  • LiveMix audio streams mixing program, requires PostgreSQL
  • MAS the Multimedia Audio Server, a network audio server for X, from Shiman Associates
  • MozPlugger autoplay embedded audio and MIDI files in the Mozilla Web browser
  • MPD the Music Player Daemon, whose "... design focus is on integrating a computer into a stereo system that provides control for music playback over a local network"
  • MPEG4IP "...provides an end to end system to explore MPEG-4 multimedia"
  • MuSE application for mixing, encoding, and streaming of MP3 audio
  • NAS the Network Audio System (Another descriptive page is located here)
  • NetStreamer streaming audio over LAN and ISDN networks
  • Network Audio Front-end a streaming-audio alternative to RealAudio
  • Now Playing ! network server for MP3 audio
  • Open Mash "...supports the Mash streaming media toolkit and...applications based on the Internet Mbone tools and protocols"
  • Peep! a network monitoring tool that represents network information via audio output
  • PeerCast P2P audio/video broadcasting for everyone
  • Polypaudio advanced sound server for *NIX-like systems, from Lennart Poettering
  • R-BOSS is the Radio Broadcasting Open Source System, a project from Radio Free Asia
  • RadioSuite HD a Linux-based hard-disk storage system (hard/software) for high-performance network broadcasting
  • RAP plays RealAudio without X, excellent for the Lynx browser
  • RAT the Robust Audio Tool for Internet audio conferences
  • RaWrapper controls X11-based streaming-audio (such as RealPlayer) from the command line
  • RealAudio the "Real" thing, for Linux too...
    • RealPlayer G2 alpha version available for Linux
  • RPlay feature-rich UDP/TCP network audio system
  • Sabre Flight Simulator now has a Linux sound server
  • Shoutcast
    • Shoutcast streaming audio system
    • Shout plugins enables listening to Shoutcast from Netscape
    • ShoutCastProxy ShoutCast multiplexer, lets multiple clients listen to the same ShoutCast session using only single-client bandwidth
    • javashout "...a program for shouting MP3s to a shoutcast server"
    • scrEamer takes sound played through EsounD, encodes it to MP3 in real time, and sends it to a Shoutcast server
    • shout_tools three CGI programs which provide real-time information about the current song playing on a Shoutcast server
  • Sound Server Ideas some thoughts from Fredrik Ohrstrom
  • Soundshame a free implementation of the SGI sound server, from Guenter Geiger
  • TeraCast a lightweight server for streaming multimedia, from Entera
  • USound the "Useful Sound Daemon" from Matt Campbell, "... provides low-latency mixing of multiple audio streams with resampling and limited format conversion, as well as audio recording"
  • WWR World Wide Radio, a low-bandwidth Internet radio client/server
  • X Audio System specifications for "platform-independent, device-independent, network transparent audio services", a development project from The X Consortium
  • WSoundTools audio server software for the Window Maker window manager
  • aRts
    • aRts the well-known sound server for KDE
  • mod_mp3 a module that gives MP3 streaming capabilities to the Apache Web server
  • ninjam network jam session software from Torben Hohn
  • pongserver "...a bunch of client/server programs that talk to one another...about the current location of the client objects in the server's playing field", from Douglas Irving Repetto
  • qVIX/CU30 audio/visual conferencing software

• OggVorbis
  • Freecast peer-to-peer streaming system for Ogg/Vorbis audio and video
  • JOrbis Vorbis decoder in pure Java
  • OggVorbis Player file player with GTK interface
  • OggVorbis Tag Editor includes a patch for editing tags in XMMS
  • Vocoditor comment editor for OggVorbis files, requires Perl and Gtk
  • Vorbis.com the home site for "...a music compression format similar to if not better than MP3..."
  • Vorbis Development the place for Vorbis developers
  • Vorbis Xtreme site dedicated to news about OggVorbis
  • Vorbix is a "multi-file Ogg/Vorbis comment editor/encoder..."
  • mp32ogg a PERL script to convert MP3s to Ogg Vorbis files
  • squelch nice OggVorbis audio player with playlist and tag editor, requires Qt

• Radio !
  • GRadio GTK application for interfacing with Video4Linux radio cards
  • HamFax sends and receives faxes broadcast over amateur radio frequencies
  • KDE Radio KDE program to control Video4Linux radio cards
  • LinRadio "Celebrating the marriage of Linux and radio"
  • OZradio simple application to play/record FM radio on BTTV compatible cards
  • QtPCR software for controlling the PCR-1000 radio receiver
  • RadioActive radio application for Video4Linux-compatible radio tuner cards
  • Rivendell beta release of "... a complete radio broadcast automation solution", from Fred Gleason and Salem Radio Labs
  • fmio console-based control of many radio cards
  • gtuner "...is a highly configurable radio card tuner" from Carl van Schaik
  • libradio library for control of the Aztech/Packard Bell FM tuner card
  • radio-spase C source for kernel module supporting the SPASE PCRadio-003 radio card
  • xmradio Motif-based radio tuner, uses Video4Linux

• Telephony & A/V Conferencing
  • Asterisk open-source PBX for Linux, from Mark Spencer and others
  • Bayonne the GNU voice server/telephony project
  • Call Commander "... a high-performance call screening and management system targeted for use in professional talk radio environments"
  • CCFAudio Internet audio conferencing for Linux, check the README for a full description
  • FreePhone Internet telephony tool from INRIA
  • GnomeMeeting "... H.323 compatible videoconferencing and VOIP/IP-telephony application that allows you to make audio and video calls to remote users with H.323 hardware or software (such as Microsoft Netmeeting)"
  • Intercom "a simple voice over IP (VoIP) utility"
  • JVOIPLIB Jori's Voice over IP Library is an object-oriented VoIP library written in C++
  • KPhone "... is a SIP user agent for Linux, with which you can initiate VoIP connections over the Internet"
  • Linux Telephony "bridging the Linux and telephony paths..."
  • Open Mash "...supports the Mash streaming media toolkit and...applications based on the Internet Mbone tools and protocols"
  • Robust Audio Tool open-source streaming audio and conferencing
  • Speak Freely Internet telephony for UNIX/Linux
  • SpkrPhone enables use of a USR Sportster modem as a speaker phone
  • VOCP System neat Perl-based TAM/fax system, runs on top of vgetty
  • Whisper modular software for handling local or remote data streams, includes a VoIP application
  • Ztalk low-bandwidth voice communication over TCP/IP networks
  • efone a distributed Internet telephone system
  • erikyyyphone Internet audio conferencing application, uses very little bandwith and handles network lags intelligently
  • linphone more VoIP for Linux, from Simon Morlat
  • openphone.org "...dedicated to the development of high-quality, low-density Internet telephony solutions..."
  • qVIX/CU30 audio/visual conferencing software

• AIX
  • AIX Ultimedia multimedia support for the IBM RS/6000 family

• FreeBSD
  • FreeBSD Audio Driver from Luigi Rizzo
  • FreeBSD Audio Software a list of ported applications
  • MTP Driver for FreeBSD from John Galbraith, a driver for the Midi Express XT from Mark Of The Unicorn

• HP-UX
  • HP-UX Porting and Archive Centre search for audio/sound/MIDI applications for Hewlett-Packard systems

• NeXTStep
  • Sound and Music Programs for NeXTStep The NeXT lives on ! (But will this software ever run under GNUStep ?)
  • Software from the Princeton Sound Kitchen offerings from Paul Lansky and crew
  • cmusic for the NeXT is here

• SGI
  • Audio & Music Applications For Silicon Graphics Systems an excellent list
  • CAST additive synthesis tools for the SGI IRIX operating system
  • Cecilia for IRIX just what it says...
  • Ceres3 beautiful version of this FFT processor/editor from Stanko Juzbasic
  • Csound for SGI an enhanced version is now available from Michael A. Thompson
  • Mi_D a high-level MIDI library for SGI iron, from Tobias Kunze
  • PRIZVUK Stanko Juzbasic's site for his excellent SGI audio software
  • RingMod "a high-performance standalone concert ring modulator" for IRIX machines, from Stanko Juzbasic
  • SculptTool utility to import, modify, convert, export and synthesize various audio analysis formats; more software from Stanko Juzbasic
  • SGI Audio FAQ everything you want to know...
  • Software from the Princeton Sound Kitchen offerings from Paul Lansky and crew
  • Strange Software from Tom Benoist, homepage for the Chaos MIDI sequencer and the amazing Theramouse
  • Unwinder MIDI solutions for SGI computers
  • jMax MAX for Java, from IRCAM (Now available in beta for SGI machines)

• Sun
  • AMOS homepage for an audio tool for the Sun SPARCstation
  • Antares CoolAudio PCI soundcard for SPARC machines running Solaris
  • IMG Peter Langston's Incidental Music Generator for the SPARCstation
  • Software from the Princeton Sound Kitchen offerings from Paul Lansky and crew
  • SunPlay C code for threaded sound playback for Solaris, from Tom Erbe
  • Stephen Uhler's Homepage home for the original Sun version of SparcOmatic
  • cmusic for Sun machines is here

• Various
  • RENDERSON "...is a dynamic, object-oriented programming language...to define audio signal processing tasks...[and] can be thought of as the PostScript for the audio domain." (for various UNIX systems, no Linux version)
  • UNIX MIDI libraries useful code from John Stone
  • Zonavar's Unix Audio Hardware/Software Compendium put together by Craig Dewick

• 64 Studio Daniel James's "collection of software for digital content creation on x86_64 hardware... based on the pure 64-bit port of Debian GNU/Linux"
• AGNULA a GNU/Linux audio and multimedia distribution
• APODIO is an "...audio computer on a live CD bootable distribution"
• AudioSlack audio packages for Slackware users, from Luke Yelavich, inspired by PlanetCCRMA
• Demudi the Debian Multimedia Distribution
• Dynebolic a GNU/Linux distribution "... shaped on the needs of media activists, artists and teachers"
• Free!Music from Russia with love, a CD of OGG files from more than 30 artists in various musical styles
• JackLab an openSuSE media-optimized Linux distribution
• Linux Audio Live CD published by the German magazine Keyboards, now freely available on-line
• Linux Music Apps CD a great collection from John Littler
• Low-latency RPMs packages from Udo Jocher that include a 2.4.18 kernel patched for low-latency and preemptive operation
• Medialinux at OSL a Knoppix-based Linux distribution focused on multimedia
• Musix GNU+Linux a "live" music & sound distro from Marcos Guglielmetti and friends
• Planet CCRMA At Home RPM packages of the Linux sound and music software used at CCRMA, thanks to Fernando Pablo Lopez-Lezcano
• Studio To Go! a commercially available Linux distribution optimized for audio work and including a large selection of some of the best current Linux sound and music software, from the guys at Fervent Software, aka the Rosegarden gang
• Thac's RPMs For Mandrake includes a large collection of Linux music and sound packages
• Turn-Key Linux Audio a new Linux audio distro from Kevin Ernste at the Eastman Computer Music Center
• Tux Power! an entirely Linux-produced CD of music made with libre software
• m-dist a SlackWare-based "live" Linux system specially tuned for MIDI and audio use

• Primary Resources
  • 4Front offers commercially available sound drivers for UNIX/Linux
  • ALSA advanced Linux sound architecture project
    • AlsaBuild a script to build a preemptive 2.4 kernel with ALSA sound support
    • Kasound Marc Brooker's GUI for defining the ALSA .asoundrc file, requires up-to-date KDE
    • Configuration Pages [Out of date ! Please see the ALSA site for current information]
      • Configuring the SoundBlaster 128 PCI on RedHat 6.0/Linux 2.2.14 with ALSA Drivers a guide from Jason L. Buberel
      • ESS Maestro 2E Linux Driver for ALSA from Matthias Braun
      • Yamaha OPL3-SA2 a guide from James Tappin
    • Contributed Drivers and Patches [Out of date ! Please see the ALSA site for current information]
      • ALSA Software & Patches a list from Steve Ratcliffe
      • Zefiro ZA2 driver from Martin Pahl
  • OSS/Free information about the pre-2.5 Linux kernel sound driver

• Cards & Chipsets
  • AudioScience HPI Drivers now available for Linux
  • Aureal Open-source Driver Project keeping Vortex development alive
  • CMI8338/8738 Driver official Linux drivers from C-Media
  • Crystal Sound CS4232 Configuration for OSS/Free more advice from Steve Crowder
  • Echoaudio ALSA Driver a driver for the Gina, Layla, Darla, Mia and Mona cards
  • Emagic Audiowerk8 Linux driver a low-level Linux kernel driver and user-space JACK driver from Martijn Sipkema
  • ESS18n8
    • ESS1868 Plug and Play Soundcard Brian Miller's page
    • ESS1868 PnP card set-up information from George Dau
  • Gravis Ultrasound Project dedicated to improved Linux support for the Gravis soundcards
  • HDSP Utilities a mixer, a configurator, and a loader for the RME hardware, from Thomas Charbonnel
  • Hollywood Plus/DXR3 Driver kernel drivers for two popular DVD playback cards
  • OPTi 82C931-based soundcards info from Donald Burns
  • Roland MPU-401 an alternate driver
  • SAM9407
    • Dream SAM9407 Driver Project development project for DSP chip used in TerraTec EWS64XL, Guillemot Maxisound, and Hoontech SoundTrack 128 cards
    • SAM9407 kernel module from Gerd Rausch
    • SoundTrack 128 Ruby a report on a Hoontech card built with the SAM9407 and CS4237B chipsets
  • SoundBlaster
    • Creative Open Source open-source drivers and other material from Creative Labs
    • Direct SB Patch runs Sound Blaster compatible devices from DOSemu, from Valery Shchedrin
    • SBLive!/Audigy
      • 10K1Box Project very interesting hardware mods for the SBLive
      • Project: Emu10K1 drivers for the SBLive and the new Audigy cards
      • SBLive for Linux an unofficial and very informative page
      • SBLive On Linux FAQ (unofficial) everything you wanted to know...
      • SBLive Setup instructions for compiling the CVS code, from Morganth
    • SFVbm X front-end for creating and manipulating virtual bank files for Creative Labs AWE32/64 soundcards
    • SoundBlaster-16 PnP mini-HOWTO by Eric Z. Ayers
    • SoundBlaster-AWE32/64 Driver Page by Takashi Iwai
    • SoundBlaster-AWE32/64 mini-HOWTO by Marcus Brinkmann
    • SoundBlaster-AWE64/Gold a configuration HOWTO for Linux and OSS/Free, from Steve Crowder
  • SRND Linux driver for the miroMEDIA Surround Dolby Pro Logic decoder, includes KDE and XViews GUIs
  • Turtle Beach MultiSound/Tahiti/Monterey cards are supported by a package from Markus Mummert
  • VIA 82Cxxx Audio Driver from Jeff Garzik
  • Via 686A native OSS-compatible driver from Jeff Garzik
  • dma sound driver for LinuxPPC software from Iain Sandoe

• Laptop Configurations
  • Acer Travelmate 722TX Setup For Linux includes essential information on sound setup
  • ESS Maestro3/Allegro useful information from Zach Brown
  • ESS Maestro Info mail list for users
  • HP OmniBook 800 a survey of this notebook computer, includes a mini-HOWTO on setting up its sound support
  • IBM ThinkPad
    • Linux sound drivers for the ThinkPad 390e an overview from Allin Cottrell
    • IBM ThinkPad 390e configuring audio and multimedia
    • IBM ThinkPad i1411 a HOWTO for configuring the sound system
    • ThinkPad 390e Allin Cottrell's configuration page
    • ThinkPad i1411 a HOWTO from Patrick Stoddard
  • Toshiba Tecra sound a guide for installing Linux on the popular laptop series, with a section on setting up audio support

• PC Speaker
  • PC Speaker Driver old driver from Humboldt University in Berlin
  • PC Speaker Driver Patch from Erik Inge Bolso

• PCMCIA Audio/MIDI
  • PDAudio-CF high-quality card/software for PDA or laptop, from Core Sound

• Serial Port MIDI
  • MIDIator serial port MIDI hardware from Key Electronics, with links to UNIX/Linux drivers
  • NOTEMIDI kernel module for MIDI output via the RS-232 serial port
  • PortMan PC/S Driver new PC serial port MIDI driver from Olivier Delhaye
  • Serial Port MIDI a driver from George Hansper

• USB Audio/MIDI
  • Midiman/Tascam Firmware Loader for MidiSport USB MIDI interfaces and Tascam USB Audio interfaces
  • Tascam US-428 Driver a patch for ALSA CVS, adds new driver for the Tascam USB interface controller
  • USB-MIDI Driver new code from Nagano Daisuke
  • USBUA100 "device driver and console program for the Roland UA-100 USB MIDI/audio desktop music production device...also supports MIDI i/o for the Roland UM-1 USB MIDI adapter, and the Roland SC-8850 MIDI sound module"

• Various
  • Soundcard Attrition Page Richard Dobson's torture tests: Can your board withstand the challenge ?
  • Zoltrix Nightingale S/PDIF a guide to modifying the hardware, from Abhijit Dasgupta
  • sounddriver utility to start the proper sound driver (OSS or ALSA)

• Creox a JACK-friendly real-time sound processor
• ELE the "Excellent Low-latency Effects" processor
• ExEf Tom Olexa's cool "extreme effects" processor
• GNUitar guitar effects processing software from Max Rudensky
• GTKgep another neat guitar effects processor, requires Gtk
• Guitar FX Processor software from Marin Vlah
• Jesusonic "God's own effects processor", it must be good...
• Linux Realtime Effect Processor a LADSPA-based fx, aimed at embedded systems (i.e., no GUI)
• Lack Of Invention a realtime signal processor based on LADSPA plugins
• StompBoxes guitar fx processor with Gtk interface
• Tapiir sweet multi-tap delay with FLTK GUI, from Maarten de Boer
• Ultra Power Effects Max II a realtime processor for full-duplex soundcards
• ViaGratt guitar fx rack simulator
• arcangel distortion effect, requires JACK, from James Shuttleworth
• ecamegapedal Kai Vehmanen's great virtual guitar-fx/studio effect box

Tools To Make Tools...

• Linux audio tools:
  • AAF is the Advanced Authoring Format, a cross-platform multimedia file format for easy exchange of digital media and metadata
  • Advanced Sound Daemon project to supply a drop-in replacement for EsounD
  • Audio File Library an implementation of the SGI libaudiofile from Michael Pruett
  • Audio Formats a great resource from Guido van Rossum, now maintained by Chris Bagwell
  • Audio::DSP "Perl extension for interfacing with digital audio devices under *NIX"
  • AviDemux multiplex and demultiplex audio to/from AVI videos
  • ClearScale Stephan Bernsee's "... open-source GPL-based project to bring high quality time-stretching and pitch-shifting to the Linux platform"
  • Common Sound Layer a portable audio initiative from the aRts project
  • Das_Watchdog monitors realtime processes so they won't hang your machine
  • DIVA Libraries C++ classes for multiplatform multimedia programming on UNIX/Linux systems
  • Dolby AC3 to IEC958 Converter does just what it says...
  • DSSI the Disposable Soft Synth Interface, a plugin API proposal from Steve Harris, Chris Cannam, and Sean Bolton
  • EsounD
    • EsounD the Enlightened Sound Daemon, "can mix several audio streams into one device"
    • EsounD Controller shell script for managing the EsounD server
    • JEsd a Java implementation of EsounD
    • polypaudio a sound server intended as an improved drop-in replacement for the Enlightened Sound Daemon (esd)
  • GIVERTCAP small program to give Linux applications real-time priority
  • GNOME Media Framework "...for recording, processing, and playing back media data in a type-independent manner...designed to be used for professional audio processing and realtime performance"
  • GNU 3DKit frameworks for rendering 3D graphics and sound with GNUstep
  • GtkWaveform excellent audio widget library
  • Hardware Documentation another useful page for developers from Dan Hollis
  • Icon Sound Library a technical write-up from Robert R. Shenk
  • IMD4Linux Eric Masson's project to rework SGI's Indigo Desktop (and apps!) to run on Linux
  • IzSound is "... a C++/STL stream-oriented sound processing library"
  • JGenerator emulates the Macromedia Generator to create Flash content
  • Juce "cross-platform GUI + everything else library", from Julian Storer, developer of Tracktion
  • Khagan interface builder for OSC-based applications, from Loki Davison
  • Lakai Frank Neumann's "tools for data exchange between a Linux PC and AKAI samplers"
  • LinuX Multimedia Project a powerful API designed especially for audio/video playback and editing
  • Linux Sound Hacker's Guide for programming the OSS/Free driver from Hannu Savolainen
  • Linux Sound Programming a tutorial page from Eelke Klein
  • Linux Sound System a page describing soundcard support and some sound-specific features of the 2.2.n and 2.3.n kernels
  • Maudio "...is a simple audio mirroring device (a sort of audio pipe)"
  • MFFM 3D Audio Library a library for driving 3D speaker arrays
  • MFFM Bit Stream a library for streaming bits to/from audio files
  • MFFM Multimedia Time Code C++ headers for managing time code
  • MFFM Time Scale Modification for Audio time-stretches audio without changing pitch
  • MIDAS multichannel sound & music system for multimedia applications
  • MPEG4IP "...an end-to-end system to explore MPEG-4 multimedia"
  • MuCoS an ambitious API for Linux audio, from David Olofson
  • MVIP "...enables shared VRML worlds with audio proximity"
  • Nord Modular G2 Patch Format informative page from Michael Dewberry
  • OCTAL a project to integrate tracker-style composition with unit generator synthesis, from David O'Toole and the GNU project
  • Oggz API for reading and writing OGG files and streams
  • Open Source Audio Library Bruce Forsberg's project for C++ classes to handle audio functions
  • OpenAL
    • OpenAL open-source audio library for games and multimedia applications, sponsored by Creative Labs and Loki Entertainment
    • OpenAL++ is "an object-oriented API for spatial sound" based on OpenAL from Tomas Hämälä
    • ALPY a layer between OpenAL and Python
  • PenguinSound cross-platform audio library with applications suite (includes a sample editor and a MOD tracker)
  • Perl audio processing modules just what it says...
  • PHAT "a collection of GTK+ widgets geared toward pro-audio apps", from Pete Bessman and friends
  • PHPAudioFile "...a class that is designed to recognize attributes of audio files"
  • PKAudio Patrick Stinson's "...sound library that uses a TCP socket to communicate with its daemon process"
  • PLib a suite of game libraries with OpenGL and C++ interfaces, from Steve Baker
  • Programmer's Guide To OSS excellent resource for Linux sound & MIDI device programming, from 4Front
  • PyXAudio Python wrapper for the XAudio MP3 library
  • Q-Audio/Q-MIDI useful extensions to the Q programming language
  • Radio Hard Disk unique application from the MidiShare team
  • Realtime Linux Security Module (LSM) "... an installable kernel module that enables realtime capabilities for any 2.6.x kernel without needing to directly patch the kernel", from Jack O'Quin and Torben Hohn
  • Revolution-12 a package that implements a network-transparent control framework for the Revolution 12 Digital Audio Engine
  • RPC Code Generator useful code from dyne:org developer Jaromil
  • RTS Tools tools for setting and getting realtime priority
  • Ruby/Audio Hans Fugal's "library that makes dealing with audio data a little easier...in Ruby"
  • SBEmu brief description of SoundBlaster emulation in DOSemu
  • SDL Simple DirectMedia Layer, an excellent multimedia library development project
  • SDL_sound a library to handle decoding of soundfile formats such as WAV and MP3
  • Secret Rabbit Code a sample rate conversion library from Erik de Castro Lopo
  • SL Sound Library library for playing, mixing, and modifying sound samples in realtime, designed especially for games and simulations
  • Snack a module to add sound I/O and visualization commands to Tcl/Tk
  • Snd utils soundfile utilities from the CARL cmusic distribution, revived by Charlie Baker
  • Sound Object Library "a set of object-oriented cross-platform audio development tools and sample programs...for the quick design of sound processing applications"
  • SoundMan a Tcl/Tk soundfile utility, provides GUI for simple file management
  • SoundTouch a library for high-quality time-stretching and pitch-shifting
  • SQ80 Toolkit utility to read/write Ensoniq SQ80 disks under Linux
  • SSSD the Simple Sound for Small Devices library, "... a portable, cross-platform API for sound playback on small and embedded devices"
  • Tritonus an implementation of the JavaSound API, from Matthias Pfisterer, Florian Bomers, and others
  • UTIME micro-second resolution timing for Linux
  • Vsound creates a virtual audio loopback cable
  • WAV-PRG and Audiotap utilities for working with Commodore C64 tapes and TAP files
  • XAP "an audio plugin API for instruments and effects... currently in the process of being designed by members of the Linux Audio Developers mailing list"
  • XVolume "...a simple Xlib volume control..."
  • ameter audio level meter (requires ALSA) from Laurent Georget
  • aubio a library for audio labelling, from Paul Brossier
  • audiofs emulates a file system for audio CDs
  • ccAudio "a portable general purpose C++ class library for manipulating audio files and audio data"
  • ccAudio2 an improved version of the former ccAudio, from the Bayonne GNU/Linux telephony project
  • dmSDK the digital media SDK from SGI, now for Linux
  • gtkVUmeter software from the Wet Toad
  • hdrbench measures high-performance audio multitrack recording/playback
  • latency test analyzes scheduling latencies of programs running in realtime under high system loads
  • libaio a platform abstraction layer for digital audio I/O
  • libakai library useful for extracting samples from Akai sound discs
  • libaudiooss transparent OSS/Free emulation on top of NAS
  • libfilth digital/analog filter design library from Anders Johansson
  • libfishsound "... a simple programming interface for decoding and encoding audio data using the Xiph.Org codecs Vorbis and Speex", from Conrad Parker
  • libgdither Steve Harris's "...library for performing audio dithering on PCM samples"
  • libgig is "... a C++ cross-platform loader library for Gigasampler and DLS files"
  • liblo Steve Harris's "easy to use OSC (Open Sound Control) implementation written in C"
  • liboggz "... provides a simple programming interface for reading and writing Ogg files and streams", from Conrad Parker & Friends
  • libsndfile library for reading and writing many different soundfile formats, from Erik de Castro Lopo
  • media_api a forum for discussing portable sound and MIDI programming interfaces
  • paulstretch high-quality time-stretching software from the industrious Paul Nasca
  • rt-script finds and reorders audio process IRQs and IDs to increase priority, from Emanuel Rumpf
  • rt_watchdog Florian Schmidt's "watchdog daemon that kills runaway SCHED_FIFO tasks"
  • set_rlimits Jonathan Woithe's software that "gives unpriviledged users access to realtime scheduling via the new rlimits added to kernel 2.6.12"
  • sndlib is Bill Schottstaedt's library for the Snd soundfile editor
  • soundd simple sound system for adding background sound to applications
  • tichstuff is a collection of headers and libraries needed to port SGI sound apps to Linux
  • tkSound is Dan Ellis's Tcl/Tk toolkit for waveform display and manipulation
  • tranzport Arthur Choung's documentation and code for programming Frontier Design's Tranzport wireless USB device
  • wdat Wayne Hoxie's utility that "reads and writes to an audio capable SCSI DDS DAT drive"

• freesoftware@IRCAM site dedicated to free software available from IRCAM
• funet repository in Finland
• ibiblio the famous site formerly known as SunSite

• On-line articles
  • 2181 Audio DSP Dev Kit Price Set to Rise price hikes courtesy Analog Devices
  • 64 Studio: Building a native 64-bit creative distribution another fine article from Daniel James
  • A Sound Server For X the Slashdot crowd opines
  • A Streaming Media Player For The Rest Of Us Joe Barr's review of Xine
  • AAC at 128kbps Public Listening Test an on-line listening test to "... find what encoder performs best encoding AAC at 128kbps CBR"
  • AGNULA Libre Music A project to help spread "... sensibility on the topics of Libre Software, with specific attention paid to audio/video applications and content distribution"
  • ALSA Wiki Page good tutorial on writing an ALSA client
  • Apple Sues Sorenson Over QuickTime Codec Linus exclaims "Gott in Himmel!"
  • Audio Libre a PDF file of the first installment from Daniel James's new column for Linux User & Developer
  • Audio Processing Pipelines Adrian J. Chung tells how it's done
  • Best Soundcard For DJing With Linux poll results at OpenJay.org
  • Broadcast2000 Brings DV Editing To Linux Curtis Lee Fulton tells us how it's done
  • Build It: Digital Audio Workstation Dave Salvator tells how its done for readers of ExtremeTech
  • Building A Solid-state Mini-ITX Linux Recording Studio Henry Kingman describes his experience to readers of LinuxDevices.com
  • Building Sounds for your Applications with SoundTracker sage advice from the experts at LinuxPlanet
  • Community-Based Recording Studios: A Look into the Future a Linux Journal article by Tom Poe
  • Converting 78 rpm Records to Modern Media on Linux a descriptive text from James Tappin
  • CreamWare Wants You! experienced programmers needed by CreamWare for porting their SFP to Linux and OSX
  • CrossOver Brings QuickTime to Linux describes the excellent plugin from CodeWeavers
  • Delta/Terratec/Hoontech Audio Card Comparison the view from Jan Depner's site
  • Der Pinguin auf dem Weg ins Tonstudio Frank Barknecht interviews Paul Davis for DeutschlandRadio (in German)
  • Der Pinguin Singt Frank Barknecht reports on the state of Linux audio for readers of c't (Note: Reference entry only, article not yet on-line)
  • Digital Rights Management & Music: A barrier to creativity? Daniel James asks the question in Sound On Sound
  • Drivers, IRQs, and PCI latency excellent article by Dan Robbins (of Gentoo Linux) delivers the straight story
  • Driving One's Own Audio Device Alessandro Rubini tells us how it's done
  • Editing Audio In Linux Ian Smith-Heisters shows us how to do it
  • FAVE raves: A new event for free software creativity Daniel James covers the event
  • Fervent Software's Studio To Go! a review from Brad Fuller
  • Final Scratch Starts Hitting Store Shelves a report from Harmony Central
  • FLAC Joins Xiph.org lossless compression format joins the free software world (you might also want to read the Slashdot readers comments)
  • FOSS Audio Tools a survey of by Vedran Vucic
  • Free Music Homepage a manifesto regarding music as a free commodity a la Linux and the GPL
  • GNU/Linux DVD Player Review a look-see from Jon Kent
  • Hardware Review: Rio Central a Slashdot review of the ultimate MP3 machine
  • Hot On The Wire - The FreeBoB Project news from Daniel James
  • Inside a Luxury Synth: Creating the Linux-Powered Korg OASYS Peter Kim takes a look within
  • Interview With Andrew Morton KernelTrap talks with the author of the low-latency patches
  • Interview with Iain Duncan from John Littler's Mstation, a very good report on recent developments in Csound
  • Interview With Dr. Richard Boulanger one the leading lights of Csound is interviewed by The Linux Gazette
  • Interview with Robert Love discusses the latest preemptible kernel patches
  • Interview with Steve Harris John Littler speaks with the famed LADSPA plugin developer
  • Introduction to Linux Audio Filippo Pappalardo spills the facts for readers of OSNews
  • L'heure de Jazz++ excellent hands-on article from Katja Socher in LinuxFocus
  • LAC2004: A Report From Karlsruhe Daniel James gives us the scoop
  • Linux 2.6: A Breakthrough for Embedded Systems Brandon White gives us the low-down
  • Linus Merges ALSA Into 2.5.4 O frabjous day !
  • Linux Audio Software Review Alexandre Prokoudine sends the straight story to Russian readers
  • Linux Computer Music Survey a list of software and other projects related to Linux as a platform for computer music
  • Linux in the Professional Recording Studio Steve Cook relates his exhilarating experiences
  • Linux MIDI Demonstration excellent descriptive pages from George Hansper
  • Linux Multimedia a brief survey by Sander van Vugt
  • Linux Plays Starring Role in 'Sinbad' a brief description of the first all-made-with-Linux movie from DreamWorks
  • The Linux Reconfigurable DAW news about a very interesting project from R. W. Hawkins
  • The Linux Recording Studio Aaron Trumm reveals his plans in the May 2004 issue of the Linux Journal
  • Linux Scheduler Latency Clark Williams compares and contrasts the preemptive kernel and the low-latency patches
  • Linux Sound Support Jeff Trantner's report from 1994
  • Linux User & Developer includes a series of excellent articles on Linux audio by Daniel James
  • Linux-Soundeditoren Frank Barknecht reviews Linux sound editors for c't, issue 11/2004
  • Linux-based Musical Keyboard Workstation Debuts a Slashdot report on new hardware from Lionstracs
  • Linux-based Radio Timeshifting Li Yan-fa tells how to do it with ecasound
  • Listening Comparisons For Audio Codecs At 64kbps interesting results from an on-line public test from Hydrogen Audio
  • Mackie Digs In with Tracktion and promises a Linux version is on the way...
  • Making A Song With Festival Juan Linietsky relates his experiences
  • Mediastation at MusikMesse2004 video demo of the Lionstracs Mediastation at MusikMesse2004
  • Michael Iber: On Free Software And Contemporary Music Goetz Dipper's radio transcript; text in German only
  • MIDI Wire Packetization Protocol brought to you by SAOL guru John Lazzaro
  • Mirror Image Sound on Sound profiles Ron Parker's use of Linux audio software at his Mirror Image Studios
  • MMidi describes tools for MIDI over the MBONE multicast network
  • Mplayer: The Project from Hell Joe Barr's less-than-satisfactory experience with my favorite MPEG/AVI/ASF player
  • Mstation Interviews John Littler chats with Conrad Parker of Sweep fame and Erik de Castro Lopo, author of libsndfile and the Secret Rabbit Code
  • Multiple ICE1712 Sound Cards + ALSA valuable information from Petter Sundlöf
  • Museum Sound Powered By Linux notes on a project from Benno Senoner
  • Music Journals, Magazines, Newspapers and Periodicals not Linux-specific, but a great resource
  • Music to Feed Your Soul nice article by Marcel Gagné from his Cooking With Linux column in The Linux Journal
  • Music Typesetting on Linux: The People Behind LilyPond Chris Cannam interviews Han-wen Nienhuys and Jan Nieuwenhuizen
  • NetMIDI an interesting proposal from David Slomin for using TCP/IP as a basis for a MIDI network protocol
  • Network Musical Performance perspectives from sfront's John Lazzaro and John Wawrzynek
  • Noisy Python brief overview of some soundapps for Python
  • Notation Editors Under Linux a look at notation editors for producing sheet music under Linux (especially focused on MUP), by Bob van der Poel
  • One Cable To Rule Them All - mLAN Audio Networking a report from Daniel James
  • Open Source Music Software & The AGNULA Project very good article by Daniel James now in Sound On Sound's on-line archive
  • Opening Up the PlayStation 2 with Linux very brief look at a new development kit from Sony
  • PCMCIA Audio for NetBSD report on a driver now available for Eiger Labs PCMCIA sound card
  • Preemptible Kernel Patch Accepted more kernel good news
  • Professional Audio Closer to Linux heads-up article on OSNews
  • Putting Together A Complete Multimedia Architecture For UNIX an interesting discussion on the linuxpower site
  • RealNetworks Announces Helix "the first comprehensive, open standard for digital media delivery", or so they say...
  • RealNetworks releases Helix DNA Producer source code big news from the Real people
  • Ron Parker & Mirror Image Studios Sound On Sound article by Daniel James focuses on the use of Ardour, JACK, and JAMin in a professional studio environment (Note: Currently requires a subscription to read)
  • Rosegarden Developers Interview Howard Wen chats with the minds behind the software
  • RTcmix for Linux: Part 1 Dave Topper's excellent introductory article for The Linux Journal
  • RTMix/Linux in Organised Sound article includes mention of Ivica Bukvic's excellent software
  • Sculptor: A Real Time Phase Vocoder Nick Bailey describes his very cool software
  • Setting Up A Multitrack Audio Recording Studio Alex Heizer describes a basic Linux home recording system
  • Snake dance: The Kamaelia streaming media system a description from Daniel James
  • Songs in the Key of F12 nice Wired article with reference to Geoff Matters of GDAM
  • Sound And Vision: Max Matthews brief heads-up article from SFweekly.com
  • Sound Savings: Portable Audio Recorder Takes On Tape good article regarding PDAudio from Len Moskowitz's CoreSound
  • Soundings: Explorations In Linux Sound good article by Larry Ayers for the Linux Gazette
  • Sounds Expo: Linux DAW - A Reality an interview/video with Daniel James and Damien Cirotteau at the London Sounds Expo
  • Sounds from Another Planet Allan Metts introduces Planet CCRMA to the readers of Electronic Musician
  • The State Of Recordable DVDs pointers from Slashdot readers
  • The Trouble with Vorbis interesting propositions, with commentary from the Kuro5hin crowd
  • Tux In The Studio instructions on home recording with Linux, from Dave Fancella
  • WayBack Machine this link (and this one too) connects you to a listing of old issues of the Linux Soundapps site
  • Which Sounds Better, MP3 or Ogg ? very good comparison notes from Slashdot readers
  • Yamaha Validates MontaVista Vision for Next-Generation Digital Audio Products good news for modern penguins...

• On-line articles by Dave Phillips
  • A Profile of SoundTracker a look at Michael Krause's excellent music module tracker
  • About the MOD history and other information about making and playing music in the MOD format
  • Achieving Low-Latency Response Times Under Linux a guide for the perplexed...
  • Computer Music and the Linux Operating System: A Report from the Front freely available PDF of my article for the Computer Music Journal
  • Creating Audio CDs With Linux an in-depth hands-on HOWTO
  • Csound for Linux how it was back in 1999...
  • Developing and Using Snd: Editing Sound Under Linux a descriptive tutorial
  • Free Software and Multimedia 2001: A Report from Firenze notes on the proceedings from yours truly
  • Interview with Hannu Savolainen and Dev Mazumdar getting to know the OSS/Linux guys at 4Front Technologies
  • Linux Audio Development: A Report from Karlsruhe notes from the first meeting of the Linux Audio Developers group
  • Linux Audio Plug-Ins: A Look Into LADSPA introductory text for users and developers
  • Linux DVD Players DLP (that's me) looks at what's out there
  • Linux Laptop Sound Configuration an O'ReillyNet article describing sound setup for an HP Omnibook 4150
  • Linux Multimedia with PD and GEM a report on using the Pd/GEM powerhouse for audio/video processing
  • The Linux Softsynth Roundup the shape of things in May 2003, another Linux Journal article from yours truly
  • The Linux Soundfile Editor Roundup a survey of the field from DLP's point of view...
  • Linux Soundcard Drivers a brief guide for users and developers
  • OpenAL Explained a survey of the project's status in the year 2000
  • Porting SGI Audio Applications to Linux a report on some early work
  • Product Review: The CodeWeavers CrossOver Plugin a look at a remarkable plugin that brings QuickTime support to Linux
  • Rockin' in the Free (Software) World a look at the software available for Linux guitarists
  • Sound and Music Software a category review for freshmeat
  • Streaming Media With Linux in-depth article on using software for both the client and server sides
  • Using VST Plugins In Linux a new Quick Toot from yours truly

• HOWTOs and FAQs
  • AGNULA/DeMuDi + Pd (Pure Data) Installation Notes instructions from Derek Holzer and friends
  • ALSA + Delta 66 briefly describes how to install and use the Midiman Delta 66 audio card with the ALSA driver
  • ALSA 0.9.0 Programming HOWTO a guide for the perplexed, from Dr. Matthias Nagorni
  • An introduction to compressed audio with Vorbis excellent article by Graham Mitchell
  • Audio Quality HOWTO another contribution from Paul Winkler; also available in a French translation here
  • Fine-tuning MPlayer Arpad Gereoffy shows us how
  • Installing and configuring ALSA, JACK, & Ardour on Red Hat 7.3 sage advice from Jan Depner
  • Introduction to MIDI programming in Linux excellent information from Craig Stuart Sapp
  • Learning to use Audacity Joe Barr makes the attempt for readers of NewsForge
  • Linux Audio Basics a tutorial AVI video from Christoph Eckert
  • Linux Audio Users Guide solid information collected and organized by Patrick Shirkey
  • Linux MIDI HOWTO valuable advice from Phil Kerr
  • Live Music Taper's Linux HOWTO sage advice from Dave Maley
  • The Mandrake Audio Workstation HOWTO useful advice from Austin Acton
  • Modular synthesis with AlsaModularSynth 1.5.4 good general overview of modular synthesis and its implementation in Dr. Matthias Nagorni's excellent synthesizer
  • Playing with Pd Jim Aikin tells the readers of Electronic Musician how it's done
  • The Project Studio Handbook documentation and HOWTOs related to music and sound engineering, mastering, processing, etc.
  • Quick Toots tutorials for users of Linux sound and MIDI software
  • Realtime Audio on SuSE Linux Pro 9.2 HOWTO the straight scoop from Dan Harper
  • Sound HOWTO by Jeff Tranter
  • Sound Playing HOWTO by Yoo C. Chung
  • Sound Card Support for Linux with Laptops a survey from Werner Heuser
  • Using the Hammerfall HDSP on Linux outstanding HOWTO from Peter Todd
  • Writing Audio Applications With JACK - A Tutorial/Journal excellent instruction from James Shuttleworth
  • ltsb Julian Classen's guide to the Linux text-based studio project

• Hard copy
  • The Book Of Linux Music & Sound a book/CD by yours truly, published by No Starch Press
  • Computer Music: Synthesis, Composition, and Performance famous excellent introductory text by Charles Dodge and Thomas Jerse
  • Computer Music Tutorial exhaustive tome by Curtis Roads
  • The Csound Book Rick Boulanger's dream come true, a thorough treatment of Csound by its community of users and developers
  • Linux Multimedia Guide a book by Jeff Tranter, published by The O'Reilly Press
  • Notes From The Metalevel Rick Taube's excellent book on his Common Music, a must-have for all students and users
  • Virtual Sound excellent introduction to Csound from Riccardo Bianchini and Alessandro Cipriani

• AGNULA/Demudi Wiki
• ALSA Wiki
• Audacity Wiki
• jMax/SDIF/OpenMusic Wiki
• Linux Audio Blog
• Linux Audio Software Wiki Hans Fugal's project to translate these pages into a community supported wikibase
• Linux VST/VSTi Compatibility Page
• LinuxMAO is "a French-speaking wiki for worldwide Linux audio users"
• L.O.S.S. - Linux Open Source Sound "aims to encourage and promote music created with open source software and the Linux operating system"
• MusE Wiki
• OpenJay Development Krew Forum
• Pd Wiki
• Sound On Sound Linux Forum
• Ruccas.org a wiki-based site for "unconventional computer and electronic art"
• SuperCollider3 Wiki

• Devdsp.net good site for news for computer musicians
• LAU-es a Linux audio users mail-list in Spanish
• Linux Artist a resource for artists (including the sonic types) using Linux
• Linux Audio Blog "collected news, musings, ramblings with regard to Linux audio"
• Linux Audio Developers the LAD list is dedicated to "discussion of topics relevant to audio under Linux, with an accent on development issues"
• Linux Audio Users a mail-list for people focused on using rather than hacking Linux audio applications
• Linux Sound Software mail-list for focused discussion, in French
• linart is Michael Stutz's discussion group concerned with Linux and artistic issues
• linux.dev.sound is a rather low-traffic newsgroup available from news.fuller.edu and other news hosts
• linuxaudio.org Daniel James's brainchild, "... a not-for-profit consortium of companies and libre [audio] software projects"
• linuxmusician.com a new community site from the Rosegarden team, for users of any & all Linux music software

• Applications for OSS/Linux a list from 4Front Technologies
• GNUsic "An Open Studio on the Network for Electronic Musicians"
• Linux Multimedia Homepage "All about Sound, TV, Video, DVD with Linux", an excellent site from Holger Klemm (This site is in German.)
• Linux Music Station dedicated to Linux music matters
• Linux Telephony "bridging the Linux and telephony paths..."
• Polish Linux Sound & Music excellent Web site (Polish only!)
• The Shareware Music Machine

• Programs running under dosemu (an MS-DOS emulator)
  • Sequencer Plus Gold and Sideman D/TX from Voyetra
  • M/pc (a beautiful port of M 2.0), also from Voyetra
  • the MIDI programming environment RAVEL by Jim Binkley
  • Cool Shoes Software's excellent Drummer 2.0 (no longer available)
  • MusicBox and other algorithmic MIDI programs from John Dunn
  • Temporal Acuity Products' Music Printer Plus 4.1, one of the best notation packages for MS-DOS
  • pcmusic is the DOS version of the software sound synthesis language cmusic
  • Jesus Villena's Convert 1.4 is an excellent format conversion utility especially good for working with various commercial sampler formats (e.g., Ensoniq ASR, Yamaha TX16W, Kurzweil K2000, etc.)

• Programs running under Basilisk II, a Macintosh 68K emulator which supports sound
  • Basilisk II for Linux - Getting it Going From Start to Finish excellent HOWTO from Marc Hoffman
  • I've heard that Finale will run under this one. Does anyone have any other reports ?

• Programs running under the demo version of Executor (a Macintosh emulator for Linux)
  • CMask Csound score generation environment
  • CornBucket granular synthesis score generator for Csound
  • Phonogramme I think you just have to see this one...(This page is in French)
  • Sound Sculptor II a very nice soundfile editor
  • SoundHack is Tom Erbe's famed package for soundfile analysis/resynthesis and more...
  • Syd very neat software synthesizer from Jim Bumgardner

• Programs running under UAE, an Amiga emulator for UNIX, with support for full stereo sound (4 x 8bit channels)
  • Jonas Minnberg reported (Sept 1998) that sound emulation is perfect and that he uses the software to run Delitracker with no problems.
  • I have experimented with the Cloanto: Amiga Forever package. Sound support is good, I was able to run some trackers (Octamed, ProTracker) and some MIDI applications.

  E-UAE is an experimental development track for UAE that is based on the WinUAE enhancements. Sound support is included, but as of January 2005 I have not yet tested this software.

• Programs running under STEEM, an Atari ST emulator with MIDI and sound support
  • Electronic Cow formerly commercial MIDI & audio software for the Atari, now all freeware
  • Tim's Atari MIDI World large collection of excellent Atari MIDI software, most of which runs well under Xsteem (the Linux version of STEEM)
  • Ultimate TOS Software Index includes a hefty section of audio & MIDI programs

  Hatari is another Atari emulation system, but it utilizes technology from the UAE project.

• Commodore C64/128 emulators
  • ComeBack64 a free Commodore C64 emulator
  • KSidplay KDE front-end for SIDPLAY
  • SIDPLAY emulates the soundchip of the Commodore C64 (Hey, it works, what more can I say ?)
  • Zsid a C64 music player with FLTK interface

• Programs running under Tim Mann's xtrs, a TRS-80 emulator with sound support
  • Update 10 Sept 2000: Tim reports that "...all programs that play sound through the cassette port or the Model 4 speaker work. The Orchestra 85/90 hardware is emulated too, and the software for it works well and will play all the songs I've tried."

• Programs running under WINE (a Windows emulator)
  • Cool Edit 1.50 from Syntrillium Software
  • Gold Wave very nice soundfile editor
  • Granulab Rasmus Ekman's realtime audio granulator
  • PatchWork for Windows GUI for Csound instrument design
  • Dr T's original XoR "universal" patch editor/librarian for MIDI synthesizers (XoR is now known as Unisyn, which will not run under WINE)
  • The WINE Applications Support page rates an application's success on a scale from 0 to 5, with a higher number indicating greater viability. On March 25 1998 the page listed the following sound and MIDI applications and their ratings:
    • Cakewalk 5.0 demo (3)
    • Cubase (4)
    • Finale (4)
    • Sound Forge XP (4)

I have also read that Encore will open under WINE, but I have been unable to confirm that report. Please note that WINE is very much in development and cannot yet be considered a stable environment. Nevertheless, all of these emulators open Linux to even more useful software, and I recommend them highly to any Linux users desiring the best of all possible sound & music worlds.