And yes, when I was mentioning commercial software looking like toys, I was really talking about dataflow programming languages, seeing as he was after 'advanced' tools. I suppose it all depends what you mean by advanced. In a way, pd does make cubase & protools etc. look like toys, but only because it takes a completely different approach to audio design.

"for starters, there’s no DAW that matches the big commercial apps in terms of functionality"

My eye is on ardour. I just hope it doesn't go to a wierd pseudo proprietary model before it gets really good (read the website).

"Also, most of the OSS plugins I’ve tried, be it softsynths or basic stuff like EQs, reverb, dynamic processors,
also feel a bit like textbook implementations from EE students – not bad, and certainly up to par with the so-so stuff that’s built into most DAWs, but not anywhere near the quality of a lot of dedicated commercial plugins."

Have you looked at Steve Harris' set of plugins? (Or was this the one you were implying?) I was very impressed last time I looked.

Besides, you've got Pd and jMax, which both can use jack – there's nothing stopping you from implementing your own very advanced reverbs etc. ;)

That's right, I used a bunch of custom-made Reaktor ensembles – albeit only for some special effects I couldn't achieve with other tools.

@Robert:
While I agree that most of the programs you've mentioned make for a wider range of possibilities than Reaktor, I feel that environments like csound or Max/MSP are entirely different beasts, and it's a bit unfair comparing them solely on the grounds of what you can do with them in theory. Take csound – it's a turing complete programming language with focus on DSP, so you can do pretty much anything with it. But then again, so you can with pure C code. I think that it has to be taken into account how fast you can yield usable results aswell. I've found that while it's kind of a CPU hog, Reaktor's modular-synth-on-speed UI approach lets me design and test DSP structures very rapidly, and what's more important, they can be integrated into the production workflow in a very straightforward manner. This is not to say that Reaktor is the best choice for every case – for example, you're approaching its limits very fast if you want to build very CPU-efficient stuff, or structures that rely on external data.

> There is a huge amount of serious open source audio software. In
> fact most of it makes commercial software look like simplified toys.

Oh lord, I wish this were true – I'm serious, I've been using OSS software almost exclusively for the past 10 years for everything – except in the studio. And I can't count how many times I've cursed unbelievably stupid bugs in my proprietary software, and the developer's often arrogant persistence in denying their existence, and wished I could just take the code and sit down for a weekend to fix it myself. So take my word that I'm watching the OSS audio world VERY closely, and I'm constantly re-evaluating what's being done there in search of every occasion to eliminate a bit of proprietary stuff from my studio.
The sad truth, however, is that with the notable exception of some peripheral stuff (the sounddesign-from-scratch tools you've mentioned, or excellent audio codecs like FLAC and ogg), the offering is still lacking in many departments – for starters, there's no DAW that matches the big commercial apps in terms of functionality. Also, most of the OSS plugins I've tried, be it softsynths or basic stuff like EQs, reverb, dynamic processors, also feel a bit like textbook implementations from EE students – not bad, and certainly up to par with the so-so stuff that's built into most DAWs, but not anywhere near the quality of a lot of dedicated commercial plugins.

As said, I'll be the first in line to adopt OSS stuff in the studio environment (as I've done before – Audacity, sox or flac are tools I'm using daily), but to state that most of today's OSS audio apps make commercial stuff look like toys – well, sorry, but that's pretty far out. No offense ;)

It was done with Reaktor, not Reason. No, it's not open source. But Reaktor is really just a (slightly simplified) derivative of the pd and max audio programming environments.

Pd (pure data) is GPL and very very advanced. It's one of the top tools of choice of experimental musicians (along with MAX/MSP and Reaktor and others – it's a question of taste). jMax (a variant of max, duh) is also Free software. Oh, and there's also Supercollider and Csound. They're both Free software too.

There is a huge amount of serious open source audio software. In fact most of it makes commercial software look like simplified toys. And the best thing is almost all Free audio software uses (or can use) jack, which means you can plug signals from pieces of software into each other ad infinitum.

A good place to start looking at Free audio software is the jack apps page. http://jackit.sourceforge.net/apps/

The really powerful (yet very complex) pieces of software are the ones I've mentioned. The others on that page are generally prettier and simpler. Also look at some of the advanced ladspa plugins available.

I'm very curious about the DVD release date considering that Ton pushed the production schedule back a month. I also wonder if the "making-of" will be narrated. I hope so!

Lastly, it's very exciting to think what features will start to be implimented by Ton and the others when they start thinking in retrospect, instead of for a deadline. They'll say "Hey, we never would have run into the problem of ABC if Blender had an XYZ. I'm going to start building it right now!"

One feature that I hope will be expanded upon is SOUND!!! As Jan Morgenstern pointed out in the Orange Blog, all of the music and sound effects including the 3D surround sound filtering was done with Reason, which is far from Open Source. (found for $130 USD retail on Froogle)

Where are my open source Sound Bugs? If you're as curious as me, you may have stumbled upon Planet CCRMA [ http://ccrma.stanford.edu ] and that's about as high tech as open source audio can get, my friends — especially considering the way CCRMA operates.

Well, that's all my 2 cents for now. Peace doods.
Bmud

For those who like to see another Dark and Sureal 3D Animated Fulllenght Film from France Team…go to your Videostore and Rent "Kaena the Prophecy"!
made with 3ds max,Realflow,….and other Tools you can Read about the 3d Film and Tools Used… here:

http://cgw.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=Articles&Subsection=Display&ARTICLE_ID=174585

For me this 3D Film Kaena was Boring to see and the Story is Bulshit!
Very Interesting Sureal Scenerys (Science Fiction Scenes)…some nice Characters (Kaena- very Sexy)…..but very Interesting to see the Fluids made with Realflow and Great made Aliens (like in the Real Alien Film) and some other Fx´s and Textures used -from a 3D Programm User Point!

…waiting for DVD!!…to see "Elephants Dream"

seeYA