Podcast – Episode 2: Rakarrack
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This episode is about Rakarrack, the guitar effects software that is available on Linux. In this episode, we will discuss the software, and Ryan will show off not only the software, but also his skills as a guitarist.
News
- May 3: The latest version of the GIMP, version 2.8, has just been released! Download the GIMPy goodness at www.gimp.org… regardless of how good the phrase sounds…
- May 1: The B-Surfaces add-on for Blender, originally a proprietary add-on sold for $39, is now available under the GNU GPL. Check it out at www.bsurfaces.info.
- May 8: Rosegarden is now at version 12.04. This includes a lot of bugfixes, but also removes the fixed association between MIDI channels and MIDI instruments. You can find more information at www.rosegardenmusic.com.
Main Topic
Rakarrack is a digital effects program, capable of creating complex filters (“stompboxes”) that can be used with guitars. The software is available at rakarrack.sourceforge.net. A number of the effects are based on the ZynAddSubFX digital synthesizer. Rakarrack has a large number of filters that can be combined to make a single sound. If you like the sound you’re getting, you can save it as a preset. Additionally, Rakarrack comes with 180 presets by defaults, including the following demonstrated examples.
- Presets demonstrated:
- Tight Rock (default, with MuTroMoJo switched on, and with Analog Phaser turned on)
- Floyd Trip
- Bass Simulation
- Mooore (Yes, spelled exactly this way)
- Satriani (1 and 2)
- Hendrix
- Heaven Garden (Reverb version of 12-string)
- Slap Echo
- Metal Amp Overloaded (the extremely overdriven one)
- Stereo Tremolo
If you have an idea for a topic, or a comment/question/criticism of anything presented in this show, feel free to send an email to
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Perfect time for a new Linux podcast since all major software are releasing major versions, well here you have a new listener!
I am one of the developers for Rakarrack. Really liked your podcast
It is fun to hear somebody using it.
Some questions you asked that Ryan didn’t have an immediate answer for:
1) MIDI: You can control most everything with MIDI. You can assign a MIDI pedal to the wah wah (or MutroMojo) to control it like a real wah pedal. You can switch the presets, you can individually turn the stompboxes on and off, you can change parameters by assigning things. There is also a Tap Tempo to synchronize echoes with the tempo of the song you’re using. I use Behringer’s FCB1010 MIDI controller pedal, which is approx $140 USD. There are less expensive MIDI controllers available. There are also many keyboard shortcuts assigned in such a way to make it easy for the DIY-types to modify a number-pad or keyboard for controlling things.
2) Random presets — There is a “Random Preset” button that randomly selects a group of effects to create a new random preset.
3) To demo the vocoder, you can connect a podcast or similar voice recording to the “Aux” input in Rakarrack. Using the microphone is cooler, but you can certainly route any audio source to it. In fact, I have seen some musicians use non-voice audio sources to cross-code instruments. Very interesting things I would never have thought to do
Take care
1: Okay, so in this case, the MIDI controls are for the individual stompboxes, not entire presets? Or is that selectable?
2: We found that one afterwards. Much embarassment was had… at least on my part. :-/
3: To demo the vocorder, we would have had to disconnect Ryan’s microphone from the recording software, which would have been more work just to demo one preset, so we decided against it in this case; if we decide later to try again, I’ll probably have him pre-record the vocorder example, and I’ll just mix it into the podcast during post.
In any event, thanks for the information; that should be helpful in future episodes!
1: Both. MIDI can be configured to select entire presets. It can also be used to individually control stompboxes. It can also be used to adjust most individual parameters. The MIDI learn option allows a person to right click on something they want to control, move the MIDI control, and make MIDI assignments per preset, or globally. It’s very flexible. All that said, if you have a MIDI floor controller, a computer + Rakarrack can be used as a replacement for a rack-mounted multi-FX unit.
You guys did great on the podcast, so I don’t think there is anything to be embarrassed about
. It is a complex piece of software that lends a lot of flexibility to technically-minded people (like synth/electronic musicians who like to tweak), yet the presets are for making things simple for people who just want to rock.
That being said, anybody who is not aware of all the features and options is actually a better person to introduce the software via podcast, because you focus on the things that an ordinary person will be interested in knowing. The rest of these things you find out by installing it and playing with it.
For guitar players, I also strongly recommend Guitarix. It is more of an amp/head/speaker cabinet modeler, which definitely has better amp/cab (real) sounds than Rakarrack. Combine Guitarix+Rakarrack and you have a software replacement for several thousands of dollars worth of gear…and I think for most people, a software solution is acceptable at the price of (as StongBad may put it) “cheap as free”.
Take care, and thanks again for introducing the world to free artistic production software.