Phase 2: Adding programs to Linux
The way that Ubuntu is setup is far easier than a lot of older Linux builds to add and remove programs.
There is a general section called the Synaptic Package Manager. This is an area of program groups that are recommended as stable and secure by Ubuntu. You can scroll through the programs and each one has a description. If you check the program, it will list everything to be installed. So easy.
There is one key package called "Ubuntu Studio" which contains Ardour, the major DAW, everything you need to make it work, and a bunch of recommended plugins and soft synth tools, including SuperCollider. All I had to do was click ok and everything I needed was downloaded and installed quickly.
There is another section called "Add and Remove Programs". This is very similar to the XP version of a similar title, except that the list of possible adds is huge. I could just as easily have picked out only the Audio programs I wanted and installed them that way. You definitely will need JACK, the main routing program for Ardour.
I made the mistake of initially downloading Ardour and Jack Control, both of which were giving me errors because they could not find JACK. getting the Ubuntu studio package solved this problem quickly.
Now that I can open Ardour, the GUI is mostly black and full of information. It looks like a cheap VB or Java interface with some added color. This is a good sign to me, because I don't want to be wasting valuable cpu on eye candy.
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