Indamixx Linux Netbook Aims to Be Your Open Source Recording Studio

These days, computers and software are central to how a lot of the music that you hear is produced. Many top recording artists use ProTools and other proprietary applications to edit and mix songs, and there are newfound opportunities for garage musicians to make professional quality recordings using customized hardware and software. As noted on the Musician's Friend site, Linux fans with musical abilities may want to take note of the new $499 Indamixx Netbook MKII. It runs a Linux multimedia operating system called Transmission 3.0 that has a pre-loaded, ready-to-go set of applications for editing, mixing, and recording music.

A handheld version ofthe Indamixx Netbook MKII, running the Transmission 3.0 operating system, was the winner of Remix Magazine's "Remix Technology 2009 Award." According to Musician's Friend, the netbook provides a "multitrack recording environment that allows you to record, edit, equalize, audition, and mix audio, songs, or sound files (WAV, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, AIFF) at sample rates up to 32-bit at 96kHz" It features an advanced ProTools-like audio workstation app called Ardour, seen at left, and the Transmission operating system:

"includes 3 DAWs [Digital Audio Workstations], 260 plug-ins, a drum machine, digital DJ software, analog synths, Internet radio station, old-school style sequencer, VST host, music player, Firefox browser, and more. The 3 digital audio workstation applications range in complexity from a basic one for beginners to a much more complex one for professionals."

The netbook weighs 2.6 pounds, has a high-quality Intel HD codec for on-board sound, and plays over 2,800 drum tracks and over 350 DJ samples and scratches. There is a 160GB hard drive, 802.11g Wi-Fi, and a 10-inch display. Especially since a full-blown laptop running ProTools would cost many hundreds of dollars more, for the garage music producer who favors open source, this looks like a cool tool, or gift idea.