Because Ardour on Windows (the largest potential platform by far) is not really promoted especially not by the developers… Many Windows inquiries are met with (I’m paraphrasing) “we make Ardour builds for Windows but none of the developers use it on Windows and we’re pretty ambivalent about how it will work on Windows but we may try to help you”. I completely understand the reasons for this but it doesn’t come across as exactly warm and fuzzy and then when your average Windows User goes to install Ardour it’s not certified or notarized or whatever and gives the expected potentially unsettling warnings. Although I’ve never used a Mac, it’s also a niche platform and from the outside looking in it seems a significant number of Mac Users live in a commercial platform silo where open-source software only gets attention from true geeks or software hipsters and I would guess that Mac has less geek-curious Users than the other two platforms and actual top-tier professional production facilities are probably 100% Mac-based and value making money with production hours over experimenting with unvetted software.
I mainly use Bitwig on Linux and Windows. I think it’s the most versatile, especially for electronic music production and modulation. Bitwig also offers plenty of great built-in instruments and effects that can be freely modified. I used to use Ableton Live and I still use it occasionally, but Bitwig has moved up to par and even passed.
I have no coding skills. I mainly use the Novation Launchpad and the Akai MIDI controller, but for example Renoise, which I also like a lot, the computer keyboard works best with Renoise. I also use the keyboard and mouse a lot in Ardour.
I agree with @josander. Loop recording in Ardour is one of its less elegant features and especially when it comes to editing a (multi layer) loop recorded midi part, it’s a bit clunky.
It would be really useful to be able to loop record parts like drums and get it all in one when the recording is stopped, like the way people wrote parts with traditional hardware drum machines. It should be possible to plug a drum box into Ardour and obtain the same midi/musical result without extra steps.
Getting basic functions like this really smooth and easy would be a major step forward. Many DAW reviews say Ardour has a tough learning curve.
Having said that I wouldn’t swap Ardour for any other DAW.
(small rant about the learning curve, nothing against you @merryl0 - felt smart, might delete later)
People suggesting they can actually compare learning curves never cease to amaze me. The learning curve of a DAW is a function of the integral over time of its differences with the rest of the existing DAWs, divided by its user base (or something like it), or a function of the differences between another DAW you know and this one.
When Live came, there was nothing like it. Its learning curve was hard. Nowadays this is an “industry standard” in many productions that i encounter. Is it still hard now ? No, it’s so common that it’s almost weird when a DAW doesn’t have clip launching/grid interface (erm ᵃʳᵈᵒᵘʳ). Plethoras of controllers are based on it. Is it perfect, logical, natural ? No. Don’t get me started with the dummy clips trick, the 12 return tracks limit and the whole set of issues resolved with the inclusion of M4L.
Loop recording is hard. What works for audio might not work for midi. People have different workflows, come from different DAWs. Should Ardour be for everyone and aim to cover extensively every workflow with each minute variation required by each individual ? Maybe. If yes, is it feasible though, or simply worth the energy ?
Disclaimer : i am SO used to Live’s midi loop recording i’m in shock each time i have to use something else.
No problem @baptiste. I’m not trying to knock Ardour, its great. I have noticed that reviewers seem to say that (ardour has a steep learning curve), quite frequently, maybe they’re all just copying what was written previously, or cant be bothered to spend a bit of time getting used to something different.
Back to the single layer loop recording and editing, maybe in V9 such functionality could become part of the clip feature?
Its already mostly figured out.
That is fabulous! thanks Paul
Its great that you listen to and care about the users so much. 