When I’m not designing websites with Kompozer or writing articles like this on OpenOffice.org’s word processor, I love playing and listening to music. While the numerous Linux distros tailored to multimedia have their own arrangements and unique quirks, they’ve got a few common threads in the software they use.

Drumming Without a Drumkit

With most music it’s preferable to record real live instruments with skilled musicians behind them, but that’s not always a viable option — be it for financial or practical reasons. I’ve always been a bassist primarily and guitarist when needed, but when it comes to drumming I’ve no equipment and really, no clue either. All I know is how I want my drums to sound.

Enter Hydrogen, the free, open source advanced drum machine built for Linux. It comes bundled with a good variety of pre-installed drumkit sample sets, all modifiable and expandable. After you’ve chosen a drum set to use, you’ve got a pattern editor. Drum patterns can be as fast or long as you desire; from there, the program’s song editor can be used to string multiple patterns together to create a complete drum track for use in a song, which can then be exported to WAV for any other program to use.

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