Rosegarden-4 Major Upgrade

Fervent Software releases a major upgrade for Rosegarden - a main component of the powerful Linux music workstation Studio To Go (the world's roundest and flattest portable studio.)

I mentioned Rosegarden briefly in my Studio to Go review last August. Rosegarden is such a great application that it deserves a review unto itself. But, the best review is just to try it out yourself!

Fervent's Rosegarden is an audio and MIDI sequencer that includes full composition and recording capabilities as well as classical music notation. The 1.2.3 release of Rosegarden contains some important new features that bring it closer to (some would say "exceeds") sequencers costing hundreds of dollars:

Multi-track audio recording and simultaneous recording of audio and MIDI are now supported.

The main segment canvas has been rewritten to be faster, more responsive and more accurate.

You can now control Rosegarden's mixer using an external MIDI controller device such as the Behringer BCF2000

Rosegarden can now synchronize to MIDI Time Code in master and slave modes.

Effects plugins can now be applied to groups of audio instruments.

Rosegarden's ALSA MIDI ports can be connected and controlled using an external ALSA connection manager such as qjackctl

A new percussion matrix editor has been added. MIDI devices can have user-configurable percussion key maps, stored in the same device files as bank and program definitions.

A "project packager" has been introduced and integrated, facilitating the exchange of complete Rosegarden projects including associated audio data and other required files.

According to Fervent's press, this release includes "hundreds of bug fixes, including fixes to some long-standing issues with DSSI plugin support, JACK transport synchronisation, and punch-in recording."

BTW, the latest Studio To Go includes the updated Rosegarden. And, for those of you who have installed Studio To Go to hard disk, the Rosegarden update is available to download here.

Although there is a nominal charge for first-time purchasers of Studio To Go, Rosegarden is Free Software under the GNU General Public License and available separately. Don't let the cost for Studio To Go deter you. The single CD contains the complete operating system, system utilities, and all necessary applications and drivers to run a complete PC Digital Audio Workstation without the hassles of installation. And, if you want to start today, you can bypass the postal service and download Studio To Go direct from Fervent Software.

Visit the Rosegarden site for more information and to download your copy!