music making?

[wakyct]

Maybe this is an uncommon use for the Pinephone, but does anyone know of software for music making that works well on the Pinephone? Like midi controllers, samplers, sequencers, synths, etc.

I haven't seen many (any?) Linux music making programs that fit well on the phone UI/function-wise. Thanks in advance!

[marcih]

First off, if you're looking for music making software with a mobile UI on Linux à la GarageBand on iOS then you're going to be disappointed, the DAW selection for Linux is sparse as is. That said, if you're thinking of plugging in your MIDI controller then you're going to have to use the dock for its USB ports anyway, so the lack of mobile UI shouldn't bother you that much. A preliminary warning for anyone wanting to do any kind of pro audio work on Linux: forget about the vast majority of plugins, virtual instruments, synths or proprietary sound banks (think FabFilter, UAD, Kontakt, Serum), none of them support Linux.

The only DAWs that you can really take into consideration are Reaper, Ardour and LMMS, out of which the latter two are free software (GPLv2+). While Bitwig does have Linux support, I don't think they have ARM builds available. Since you mention MIDI, samplers, sequencers and synths, your only real option left is LMMS. While both Reaper and Ardour have MIDI editing capabilities, they don't have any built in synthesizers and the selection of Linux plugin synths is anemic to say the least. LMMS is an electronic music production DAW in concept (akin to Ableton) while Ardour and Reaper are best for editing and mixing recorded audio (Pro Tools).

I encourage you to try out LMMS on your computer, it's also available for Windows and OS X (no MacVST support, unfortunately), see if it fits your needs. In all honesty though, even if you get it running on the PinePhone, I wouldn't expect it to be a pleasant experience given the PinePhone's general lack of computing power.

Update: Out of curiosity, I took my PinePhone and installed LMMS on it. Not only was the installation quick and painless, it actually works quite well in docked mode on a computer monitor. What's more, using Phosh's "scale-to-fit" made it possible to use it undocked, although the controls were still small and not very practical for a small touchscreen.

[wakyct]

Thank you for the info! I'll give LMMS a try, I have used it but a while ago on my Windows PC.

My main use case right now though is using my PP as a midi controller, and I've found that the ARM build of TouchOSC actually works on the device with the right scaling (about 1.6) applied in settings. Even though TouchOSC seems to work I'm still trying to get MIDI out of the PP into my host synth. So far I have the PP recognized as a MIDI gadget but that's it -- I'm puzzling out how to have the midi event generated in TouchOSC sent to the host.

Yes I agree that the Linux audio world is no iOS/Mac/Windows, on the other hand the flexibility and open-ended nature of it seems promising

[ryo]

It might be a good idea to use the dock and connect the PinePhone to a monitor, mouse, and keyboard.
Simply because software like this is never designed for a tiny protrait-mode touch screen, always for big screens with access to a mouse and keyboard.
Though admitted, being able to run Vocaloid or Voiceroid on a PinePhone would be great, but it's Windows-only software which Wine can never figure out how to run, so it will never happen.

[wakyct]

It might be a good idea to use the dock and connect the PinePhone to a monitor, mouse, and keyboard.

I do have the dock, but I haven't got around to using  it with a monitor and keyboard yet (well...it's been what, over a year? ). That actually was the plan originally but I've been getting so many other uses out of the PP I haven't had a need.

I'm happy to report I now have TouchOSC sending midi to my synths (though it's not multi-touch on their "Touchkeys" example...haven't figured that one out yet).

I think the PP has great potential actually to integrate with music gear, if as you say the software question can be answered.

After looking into it there may be some other apps that could work, I'm going to look at Bespoke and Sunvox next.

I'd also like to write some simple controller/synth apps that fit the PP UI/UX, but it's a bit confusing/intimidating to see how to get started simply.

[ryo]

I do have the dock, but I haven't got around to using  it with a monitor and keyboard yet (well...it's been what, over a year? ). That actually was the plan originally but I've been getting so many other uses out of the PP I haven't had a need.

I have a dock, but I have barely any space for yet another keyboard and mouse on my already massive desk.
But I did give it a try, and the phone gets blazing hot really fast, and the OS itself might become extremely buggy until the next reboot.
It can be mitigated by just disabling the phone's screen while docked, which at least in the case of Phosh can easily be done through the settings app.