linux // audio video index

• 42 of the Best Free Linux Audio Software - A compilation of Linux audio software organized into broad subject areas. Each entry has a summary, license information, developer list, system requirements, and a link to the homepage. Last updated 2009-08-11.
• 4Front Technologies - Digital sound system for UNIX (Open Sound System - OSS).
• Advanced Linux Sound Architecture - ALSA - One of the premier Linux audio sites. It provides audio and MIDI functionality to the Linux operating system. Latest stable release is 1.0.24, 2011-01-31.
• Aglaophone - A system of interconnectable modules for the recording, processing, and playback of real-time audio; last updated August 2002. N.B.: developer no longer is updating this software, but it is stable and useable.
• Aldrin - A music production system for Linux that combines a tracker-style composition interface with audio synthesis and processing modules.
• AlsaModularSynth - A MIDI controlled real-time modular synthesizer and effect processor with support for LADSPA and JACK.
• AlsaPlayer - A PCM audio player for Linux and UNIX.
• AmaroK - A cross-platform, full-featured music player and one of the best music players available for Linux. Some of the cool features include integrated, live information from Wikipedia about the music (including photos, discographies and biographies of artists), Podcast support, and automatic playlist updates. It uses of core components from the KDE Desktop Environment, but is released independently of the central KDE release cycle. Also available in Chinese (simplified), French, German, Polish, and Spanish. Latest release is 2.4, 2011-01-15.
• Ampache - A PHP-based tool for managing, updating and playing MP3/OGG/RM/FLAC/WMA/M4A files via a web interface. Latest stable release is 3.43, 2008-08-30.
• Amuc - the Amsterdam Music Composer - A lightweight Linux application for composing (with an emphasis on composing) and playing music; works with the ALSA or OSS sound system.
• Anthem Open Source Edition - A MIDI sequencer for KDE.
• Aqualung - A music player for Linux and other platforms. It plays audio CDs, internet radio streams and podcasts as well as sound files in just about any audio format and has the feature of inserting no gaps between adjacent tracks.
• Ardour - Multichannel hard disk recorder (HDR) and digital audio workstation (DAW). Latest release is 2.8.1, 2010-07-08.
• Arkkra Enterprises - Music publication software (Mup). This software is available on Linux but the source code cannot be modified in any way; a license is required if this software is used on more than 1 computer.
• Asunder - A graphical audio CD ripper and encoder for Linux. It can save audio tracks as WAV, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AAC, and WavPack audio files. Latest release is 1.91, 2009-12-06.
• Attrk Music Sequencer - A MIDI sequencer for Linux. This software is based on Billy Bigg's Tektracker, which is no longer under active development.
• Audacious - An Advanced Audio Player - A GUI-based free software media player for Linux and other *nix platforms. Its primary focus is on audio quality and support for a wide range of audio codecs. This is a fork of the Beep Media Player (BMP), which itself forked from XMMS. Latest stable release is 2.1.0, 2009-07-06.
• Audacity - An open source, cross-platform digital audio editor and recording application. Internationalization is excellent with 20+ languages available. Latest stable release is 1.2.6, 2006-11-15, and latest beta release is 1.3.10, 2009-12-01.
• AudioLink - A music content manager with both a CLI (command-line interface) and other GUI options for data retrieval.
• Aumix - A program adjusts an audio mixer from X, the console, a terminal, the command line or a script.
• BEAST/BSE - A music composition and modular synthesis application which supports popular audio formats, such as MIDI, WAV, MP3 and Ogg.
• Bangarang - A media player for KDE 4.3 or later.
• Banshee - A music management and playback application for Gnome. Latest release is 1.6, 2010-03-31. N.B.: This software is developed with the Mono API.
• Bewdy, Maaate! - Includes Maaate, the Australian audio analysis toolkit, and Bewdy, the visualization tool for Maaate.
• Boxtream - This is a GPL-licensed streaming video and audio system plus recording studio.
• BruteFIR - A software convolution engine, a program for applying long FIR (finite impulse response ) filters to multi-channel digital audio, either offline or in real-time.
• CLAM - C++ Library for Audio and Music - CLAM is a full-fledged software framework for research and application development in the audio and music fields. It offers a conceptual model as well as tools for the analysis, synthesis and processing of audio signals. An interesting side note: CLAM in Catalan means something like "a continuous sound produced by a large number of people as to show approval or disapproval of a given event"
• Canorus - A music score editor for Linux. Continues NoteEdit. Latest release is 0.7, 2009-03-27.
• Cecilia - Graphic User Interface to CSound.
• Common Music - An object-oriented music composition environment. Dave Phillips, the Linux music & sound guru, rates this as one of the best free and open source music software available. Latest stable release is 3.4.0, 2009-12-09.
• Common Music Notation (CMN) - A Lisp-based language for creating, editing, and displaying traditional western musical scores.
• Converting 78rpm records to Modern Media on Linux - Documents how to convert 78rpm vinyl records to CD using Linux. There is not much information available on this subject so this is a valuable resource. Last updated in 2002.
• Csound - A sound and music synthesis system, providing facilities for composition and performance over a wide range of platforms.
• DVD Audio Tools - A set of tools for authoring and playback of unencrypted and uncompressed audio on dvd-audio discs and hybrid dvd-audio/video discs.
• DarkIce Live Audio Streamer - A cross-platform live Icecast audio streamer which can record from OSS & ALSA audio devices, Solaris interface, and Jack sources. Latest stable release is 1.0, 2010-05-09.
• Darwin Streaming Server - The open source version of Apple's QuickTime Streaming Server technology.
• Decibel Audio Player Homepage - A GTK+, open source (GPL license) audio player (no added bells and whistles -- just an audio player) with a clean and user-friendly interface. It is especially targeted at Gnome and follows Gnome HIG (Human Interface Guidelines). Latest release is 1.03, 2010-01-10.
• Denemo Homepage - A GUI musical score editor intended primarily as a front-end for GNU Lilypond. Latest release is 0.8.20, 2010-10-20.
• Ecasound - A software package designed for multi-track audio processing; can be used for audio playback, recording and format conversions, as well as for multi-track effect processing, mixing, recording, and signal recycling. Site includes extensive documentation. Latest release is 2.7.1, 2010-02-20.
• Emptytree Seedy - A distributed digital music system; designed to operate in a multi-host, automatic and batch manner to simplify the encoding of an entire CD collection.
• Exaile - A music player for Linux based on GTK+ (the GIMP toolkit). Similar to KDE's Amarok music player.
• FLAC - Free Lossless Audio Codec - An audio application for compressing and de-compressing audio files.
• FreqTweak - A sound synthesis tool for FFT-based realtime audio spectral manipulation and display. Latest release is 0.7.2, 2009-07-11.
• GLAME - GNU/Linux Audio Mechanics - Sound editor for Linux. French and German translations available. Latest release is 2.0.2, 2007-06-07.
• GNU Solfege - Music education software for GNOME. Use it to train your rhythm, interval, scale and chord skills. Latest stable release is 3.14.10, 2009-12-17.
• GStreamer - Multimedia Framework - A library that allows the construction of graphs of media-handling components, ranging from simple Ogg/Vorbis playback to complex audio (mixing) and video (non-linear editing) processing. Latest stable release is 0.10.25, 2009-10-05.
• GeeXboX HomePage - A standalone media player Linux distribution based on MPlayer and similar to MoviX. Site available in English and French.
• GiantDisc Homepage - Jukebox for mp3, flac, and ogg formats.
• Gnome Wave Cleaner from Redhawk.org - Digital audio restoration of CD quality audio wavefiles. This application is designed for the GNOME desktop. Latest stable release is 0.21-10, 2009-03-22.
• Graphical Audio Language - gAlan - A modular synthesiser - drum-machine - sequencer - effects-unit for Linux.
• Grip -- CD Ripping/MP3 Encoding for Linux - A CD player and ripper for the Gnome desktop. It also provides an automated front-end for MP3 (and other audio formats) encoders. Latest stable release is 3.2.0, 2004-04-26.
• Grip User's Guide - A comprehensive guide to Grip, a cd-player and cd-ripper for the Gnome desktop. (2004)
• Helix Community - An open multi-format digital media platform, created to accelerate the development and deployment of digital media applications of any media, on any device, over any network, on any operating system and created in any development environment. This is an open collaborative effort among multimedia enthusiasts to develop and extend the Helix DNA platform.
• Home Page :: Speex :: Xiph.org Foundation - A royalty-free, open source free voice codec; complementary to the Ogg Vorbis code.
• Homepage of GNU GTick - A metronome application written for GNU/Linux.
• Hydrogen - GNU/Linux Drum Machine - A simple real-time Drum machine/sequencer featuring Midi I/O, OSS and Jack audio drivers, and a QT-based graphic interface. Latest release is 0.94, 2009-09-14. Also available in Italian.
• Hydrogenaudio Forums - An extensive resource site for audio technology users.
• Icecast -Open Source Streaming Audio - An open source streaming media project maintained by the creators of the Ogg media format, Xiph.org Foundation. Latest release is 2.3.2, 2008-06-01.
• Independent Music Online - A portal for independent bands and artists. Here's an online music site that "gets it" -- Free, Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) is used throughout the site; supports small, independent (non-RIAA-backed) musicians, with links to their websites; and a selection of music for download, which artists have made available.
• JAMin - JACK Audio Mastering interface - Audio mastering software designed to perform professional audio mastering of any number of input streams.
• Jack Audio Connection Kit - A low-latency audio server that can connect a number of different applications to an audio device, as well as allowing them to share audio between themselves. Latest release is 1.9.4, 2009-11-20.
• Jokosher - A simple and powerful multi-track studio application for recording, editing, mixing and exporting audio. This application has been designed specifically with usability in mind.
• JuK - A jukebox and music manager for the KDE desktop.
• KGuitar official Homepage - KDE-based music tabulature editor with support of guitar, drums, classic note scores, MIDI synthesizer output, chord, scales, modes, melody and rhythm construction and analysis tools.
• KPlayer, the KDE media player - A KDE media player based on MPlayer, with the ability to play a variety of audio and video files and streams.
• Keen little rabbit ears - An ear training program for Linux and Windows.
• Kid3 - ID3 Tagger - An easy-to-use audio tag editor for KDE. Translations available in French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, and Spanish.
• KmusicdB - A music collection manager for KDE.
• Kwave - A sound editor for the KDE desktop; documentation is also available in French and German.
• LAM - Music Made With Linux - A community aggregation service for people making music with Linux and open source software; contains a searchable song list (each entry has title, author, license information, and external links to the music), an entry form for new submissions, and connections to the RSS and M3U feeds.
• LAoE - Graphical audiosample editor.
• LMMS - Linux MultiMedia Studio - A cross-platform music studio which allows the user to produce music with their computer. This includes the creation of melodies and beats, the synthesis and mixing of sounds, and arranging of samples. Internationalization is excellent with translations available for Brazilian Portuguese, Catalan, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Persian, Russian, and Spanish. Latest stable release is 4.9,2010-12-14.
• Last.fm - An open source (GPLed) global music service available in 12 languages. Users can create custom radio stations and playlists from any of the audio tracks in the site's huge music database, and can listen to individual tracks on demand, or download tracks if the rights holder has previously authorised it. A great social music community website enabling people to make, share, and listen to music without the ubiquitous middleman.
• LilyPond - Music Notation for Everyone - Software that creates beautiful sheet music. Also available in Dutch, French, Hungarian, Japanese, and Spanish. Latest stable release is 2.12.3, 2009-12-20.
• Linabx - A software tool to aid in determining audibility of audio artifacts. Latest release is 1.99.7, 2006-08-06.
• Linux Audio Developer's Simple Plugin API (LADSPA) - The main website for LADSPA; provides links to hosts, plugins, the LADSPA code, and background information.
• Linux Audio Developers - The Linux Audio Developers mailing list whose primary focus is the development of Linux audio applications and infrastructure.
• Linux Audio Users Guide - A comprehensive site of HOWTOs and FAQs and other basic documentation. The documentation found on this site mostly deals with sound drivers, recording, MIDI and music production techniques for a GNU/Linux environment.
• Linux HTPC Howto - A detailed HOWTO on setting up a Home Theatre PC (LTPC) with all the expected functionality: CD and DVD player, TV tuner, photo gallery, Ogg & MP3 collection, game console, e-mail client, web browser, and more. A must read.
• Linux Media Labs, LLC - Motion video solutions for GNU/Linux OS.
• Linux Open Source Sound (L.O.S.S.) Project - The purpose of this project is to encourage and promote music created with open source software and Linux. The website has a music repository and forum where people can post their open source audio works as well as descriptions of their work.
• LinuxMCE - An open source software platform designed to allow a computer to act as a home theater PC (HTPC), personal video recorder, full-featured VOIP-compatible phone system, and a home automation system.
• LinuxMusicians - A Linux audio forum site with emphasis on music production. Recommended by Dave Phillips, the Linux audio guru.
• Linuxaudio.org - A non-profit consortium to produce professional audio tools with free/opensource software. Click on the "Resources" link on the left-hand side to view all the websites hosted under the linuxaudio.org umbrella.
• Listen - A music management and audio player for GNOME. Some of the use ful features are: podcast management, browsing Shoutcast directory, direct access to lyrics, Last.fm, and wikipedia information. Latest release is 0.6.5, 2010-03-08.
• MAS - Media Application Server - Audio server and multimedia framework.
• MIDI Database - A massive database of free and commercial MIDI files.
• MIDI Manufacturer's Association - A good technical resource site for MIDI.
• MIDI Randomizer - A neat Java-based utility for the production of musical phrases through a weighted selection of parameter values for pitches and rhythms.
• MIDI Technical Fanatic's Brainwashing Center - An excellent resource site for everthing MIDI, including tutorials, documentation, MIDI files, software programs.
• MMA Home Page - A MIDI musical accompaniment generator.
• MOC - Music on Console - A console-based, Linux audio player designed to be easy-to-use, fast, and functional with lots of features except a fancy GUI (a plus for those who prefer a rodent-free application).
• MiMo - A simple MIDI monitor utility written in Java. Latest version is 1.1.2, 2007-02-01. Also available in Polish.
• MikMod Sound System - A module player and library supporting many formats, including mod, s3m, it, and xm.
• Minicomputer - An industrial grade digital synthesizer for Linux.
• Moovida - A free and open source media centre for Linux. It has an elegant interface that provides the user the best of internet video, music and images to play on their HDTV, laptop or PC. Latest stable release is 1.0.6, 2009-08-06. Formerly known as Elisa.
• Movix - Three small, related Linux CD distributions that allow the user to boot from a CD and play multimedia files through the MPlayer. A multilingual site.
• Mscore - A MIDI scoring tool for Linux designed to be compatible with Csound and the Ascore utility.
• MusE - Linux Music Editor - A Qt-based MIDI/audio sequencer with editing and recording capabilities. Also available in German and Swedish. Latest stable release is 1.0, 2010-01-12.
• MuseScore: Linux Music Score Typesetter - A cross-platform WYSIWYG music composition and notation program, licenced under GNU GPL. Internationalization is excellent: translated into 12 languages.
• Music Player Daemon (MPD) - Remote access for playing music (MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AAC, and wave files) and managing playlists.
• Musix GNU+Linux - A Knoppix-based, multilingual distribution with a 100% free (as in freedom) multimedia operating system intended for music production, graphic design, audio and video editing.
• Musopen - Free Public Domain Classical Music - The mission of this organization is to set music free. Both classical music and sheet music are available on this site.
• Noatun - The KDE Media Player - The super-modular media player for KDE.
• Normalize - An audio file volume normalizer.
• NoteEdit - Musical Score Editor for Linux - A music score editor for KDE. No more development is planned. Last stable release is 2.8.1, 2006-08-14. Most core developers have now moved to Canorus (https://canorus.berlios.de/wiki/index.php/Main_Page).
• NtEd - A musical score editor for Linux. Also available in Dutch, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Swedish.
• Ogg Vorbis - An open, patent-free, professional audio encoding and streaming technology; this is the main Ogg Vorbis site.
• Open Media Now! Foundation | Implementing the future! - This non-profit foundation promotes an infrastructure that enables the creation, the streaming, and the viewing of digital content (using free software) in a legally conforming way.
• Pawfal v3.0.1 - A wiki site for audio/visual foolishness for Linux.
• PeerCast - Peer-to-peer broadcasting software; audio streaming server and client. A multilingual site.
• Pitchtune homepage - A oscilloscope-style musical instrument tuning program; also can be used to find the frequency of sounds.
• Planet CCRMA at Home - A collection of rpms for RedHat 9 or Fedora Core 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 to create an audio/video-oriented workstation with a low-latency kernel, current ALSA audio drivers and a set of music, midi, audio and video applications.
• Puddletag - An audio tag editor primarily created for Linux. A unique feature is the spreadsheet-like layout so that all the tags to be changed by hand are visible and easily edited. Latest release is 0.97. 2010-10-30.
• PulseAudio - A cross-platform, networked sound server project. Formerly called PolypAudio. Latest release is 0.9.21, 2009-11-23.
• Quick Toots - Articles about Linux audio applications.
• Quod Libet - A GTK+-based audio player written in Python with support for many plugins. Also includes Ex Falso, a program that uses the same tag editing backend as Quod Libet, but isn't connected to an audio player (for those who just want tag editing with a different audio player). Latest release is 2.0, 2008-09-13.
• Rakarrack Guitar Effects - This is a guitar effects processor for Linux. It is simple, easy to use, and has many unique features, including 17 different guitar effects.
• ReZound Homepage - Graphic audio file editor.
• Rhythmbox - An integrated music management application for GNOME; features include: comprehensive audio format support through GStreamer, Internet radio support, and playlists.
• Rockbox - Open Source Jukebox Firmware - An open source firmware for mp3 players, written from scratch. Latest stable release is 3.7, 2010-10-30.
• Rosegarden music software for Linux - A KDE-based audio and MIDI sequencer, score editor, and general-purpose music composition and editing environment for Linux. Multilingual support. Current stable release is 10.02, 2010-02-18.
• SMPlayer - A cross-platform multimedia player that uses the MPlayer engine. Internationalization is excellent - translated into 25+ languages. Latest release is 0.6.9, 2010-02-22.
• Sloop.splitter - Real-time sound effect program.
• SnackAmp Tcl/Tk Music Player - A multi-platform music player with normal music player abilities, multi-user support, integrated web server, and an AutoPlaylist feature; supports MP3, wav, ogg vorbis and plays mp3 and ogg streams.
• Snd - A sound editor modelled loosely after Emacs and an old, sorely-missed PDP-10 sound editor named Dpysnd. It can accommodate any number of sounds each with any number of channels, and can be customized and extended using either Guile or Ruby.
• SoX - Sound eXchange - The Swiss Army Knife of sound processing utils. It can convert audio files to other popular audio file types and also apply sound effects and filters during the conversion.
• Sonic Visualiser - An application for viewing and analysing the contents of music audio files. Latest release is 1.7, 2009-10-05.
• Sound & MIDI Software for Linux - One of the top sites for Linux sound & MIDI software.
• Sound Juicer - The official GNOME CD extraction utility. It can rip to WAV, MP3. OGG, and FLAC through the Cdparanoia library. This application also includes a simple built-in, preview CD player. Latest release is 2.28.1, 2009-11-25.
• SoundTracker - A music tracking tool for Unix / X11 similar in design to the DOS program FastTracker and the Amiga legend ProTracker. Latest version is 0.6.8, 2006-02-25.
• Spiral Synth Modular Homepage - Object oriented modular softsynth / sequencer / sampler.
• Subsonic - Free Music Streamer - A Web-based music streamer, jukebox and Podcast receiver. It provides access to your entire music collection wherever you are. Latest release is 3.8, 2009-10-23.
• Swami - Sampled Waveforms And Musical Instruments - An advanced instrument editor for MIDI music composition and a sampler front-end. Continues the Smurf SoundFont Editor project. Latest release is 2.0.0, 2010-10-25.
• Sweep - Full-featured digital audio editor with a live playback tool. Support for French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, and Russian languages available. Latest release is 0.9.3, 2008-04-12.
• TK Ecasound - A TCL/TK front-end for Ecasound. Latest release is 4.4.0, 2009-05-13.
• The ABC Music Project - ABC is a text-based music notation language. This project aims to promote the ABC music notation language by providing cross-platform, open-source tools for manipulating, displaying and playing (via MIDI) ABC files. Latest release is abcMIDI-2009-10-28.
• The JAZZ Plus Plus Midi Sequencer - A full-featured, audio capable, cross-platform midi sequencer; now ported to wxWidgets 2.4.
• The Linux Sampler Project - A free, open source pure software audio sampler with professional grade features.
• The Mutopia Project - Over 850 pieces of classical and contemporary sheet music available for download.
• The Network Audio System (NAS) - A network-transparent, client/server audio transport system. Latest stable release is 1.9.2, 2009-03-07.
• The PROTUX Digital Media Workstation - A complete digital media production tool that runs on any GNU/Linux workstation; an integrated environment for audio, video and midi production.
• The amSynth Homepage - Analogue Modelling SYNTHesizer - Provides virtual analogue synthesis in the style of the classic Moog Minimoog/Roland Junos; an easy-to-use interface and synth engine, while still creating varied sounds. Latest stable release is 1.2.1, 2009-04-08.
• The freedb.org Homepage - GPL'd database of artists and cds.
• The gmorgan Home Page - An organ for play in real time and for use like a sequencer; other features include recording, loading and saving music as midi files.
• The libsndfile Homepage - A C library for reading and writing different audio formats.
• The wxMusik Homepage - A cross-platform multimedia player and library.
• TiMidity++ - An open source MIDI to WAVE converter and player; also available in Japanese.
• Traverso Digital Audio Workstation - A cross-platform, multi-track, audio recording and editing application, with an easy-to-master user interface. It's suitable for both the professional and home user.
• Trommler - GTK Drum Machine - An X11/GTK-based Linux drum machine.
• TuxGuitar - A cross-platform composition tool for guitarists that can be used to create tablature from ordinary notation. Latest release is 1.2, 2009-11-01.
• VortexBox - An open source, quick install ISO that turns an unused computer into an easy-to-use music server/jukebox. It will automatically rip CDs to FLAC and MP3 files, ID3 tag the files, and download the cover art.
• WaveSurfer Homepage - Tool for sound visualization and manipulation.
• Welcome to MusicBrainz! - This site is an enormous user-maintained metadatabase of music album information. The user can use the MusicBrainz data either by browsing this web site, or accessing the data from a client program. In addition, users can utilize the MusicBrainz Tagger software to automatically identify and clean up the metadata tags in digital music collections.
• XBMC - A free and open source (GPLv2) software media player and entertainment hub for digital media for Linux and other platforms. Excellent multilingual support - available in 30+ languages. Latest stable release is 10.0, 2010-12-18.
• XMCD: Motif CD Player - A full-featured CD player and ripper software package.
• XMMS2 - An audio player for Linux. It has a modular framework and plugin architecture for audio processing, visualisation, and output. It also has support for many audio formats. XMMS2 ia a redesign of the XMMS music player, which has been discontinued. It is currently (2010) under active and heavy developement.
• Xiph.Org Foundation - A non-profit corporation dedicated to protecting the foundations of Internet multimedia from control by private interests; end-user download links for Vorbis, FLAC, Theora, Speex, and Icecast can be found here; documentation links to these projects as well as links to other multimedia open source projects.
• Zinf Audio Player - Supercedes the FreeAmp project.
• eXtace - A 3D audio visualization tool for the X Window System. Latest release is 1.9.9, 2008-02-02.

---