Is Protux trying to imitate ProTools (tm)?

No. We dont even have a copy of Protools(tm) to keep tracking of similarities. We could say that Protux is more similar to Vegas or Samplitude than ProTools itself. The name is of course kind of a joke. The initial idea was to use "Pro-AETux" that would stand for "Professional Audio Editor for the Tux (linux)", but of course that didnt catch. So, it became into "Protux" which is a combination of "Professional" and "Tux" , the Linux Penguin's name.

Why Java and GNU/Linux ?

Protux is written using state-of-art plataform independent code (Java) yet preserving the performance using very sophisticated optimization techniques. That means you can run Protux in any plataform you want, as long it provides a Java VM. But it is import to assert that we keep GNU/Linux as the target plataform, yet we offer support only for GNU/Linux users. Thats because we do believe in Free Software, and GNU/Linux ( and all the GNU/Linux "world" of software) is the most amazing software development experience in the computer history. BTW, GNU/Linux offers a solid base for applications that takes edge-benefits from the hardware. Also, because we believe that GNU/Linux users are more inteligent than non-Linux users (just kidding :-) )

What about Musical Scores Editing and or MIDI sequencing ?

No MIDI support is planned until 2.0

Why Java ??? Java is sooo slow...

This is suuuuch a myth. Javawas indeed interpreted and slow, but it was almost 2 decades ago ! Now Java performance is comparable to C++, and in some case, it beats it, since it uses highly advanced just-in-time compilation techniques, that, when combined with sophisticated programming techniques, it can reach almost the c++ performance, with the all benefits of the Java technology . For more details about this follow this link. Also, you can always upgrade your CPU ;-)

What is JMB ?

JMB (Jog Mouse Board) is a concept and an engine which offers a new way of audio editing. The user simply does not have to click lots of icons and menus anymore to perform an action. He just has to perform a JMB action that consists basically of a key press plus a mouse movement.
The idea of JMB is to speed up the audio production and avoid wrist problems. With the great help of Reinhard Amersberger (Germany), we are designing JMB a lot, so we believe that Protux will be the most pratical software for audio editing ever. Oh, BTW, JMB was invented in Protux project, you can verify that by checking the code in sourceforge.net from 2002 !

But a good interface is not enough for a professional audiotool...

We know that. Protux will also concentrate on the best audio open algorithms known in a one single place. This is a young project :-)

I don't understand... Why do you discourage the usage of standard menus / icons / combo boxes? This way, Protux would be much more intuitive and make Audio Professionals work much easier.

Protux CAN be used by tradition human-computer interation, but we believe this increases the usage performance is an ilusion. Menus/icons/clicks do not make the job easier. They make it harder. They are considered "intuitive" based on a de-facto Windoze usage culture. When you go to play a video game, you rarely use menus/icons/comboboxes. You learn -- normally prety fast -- a combination of keys to perform actions in the game, EXACTLY because games require a fast-usage approach. The Protux Team believes that it will be the most practical and most efficient tool for audio professional, exactly because the user will feel like it was operating a "videogame". It is just a matter of opening your mind.

Is Protux "reinventing the wheel ?

We believe not, since Protux is a combination of new editing concepts and a new interface style. Anyway, who cares ? Having alternatives are always good.

Alternatives are good... so that's why Protux forked into another project ?

It was, long time ago. Now they are completely different projects. Protux project aims for high coding standards, pattern based and very..I repeat... very abstract architecture. The other (forked) project code was based on Protux 0.30 code, thus it almost has nothing to do with protux right now (Except for some usage concepts which are original from Protux and some appearance details).

Will Protux deal with video ?

We plan to offer video support in the future. But it is too soon to talk about that :-)

Why Protux abandoned ALSA ?

Java has its own abstraction of audio cards. ALSA would force us to keep a plataform dependency, and we dont want that.

Do you have any projection of when Protux will reach a "studio usable" level ?

No Plans. We only know that we will keep developing forever.

Did the ProTools (tm) team contacted you ?

Not yet. But why would they ? :-)

What if Protools goes free ?

We heard something about Protools going "free". First, remember that releasing a "US$ 0.00" price downloadable version of any software does not make it free ( check www.gnu.org to understand it better). Protux is REALLY free, because it is under GPL licence.
ALSO, this question does not make much sense, since, we repeat, Protools and Protux has nothing to do.

There are many free audio tools for Windows nowadays. Why choose Protux anyway ?

Because it is GPL, and it is being done to be a state-of-art software, no matter how long it takes. We believe these are the most important reasons to choose Protux.

What about audio compression ?

Protux is intended for professional work, so compress audio is out of our plans. Anyway, we offer a way to import compressed audio using an external encoder/decoder. In this case we strongly suggest users to use OGG compression since it is free.

Are there any plans to make Protux a Jack client ?

No, at least internally. Protux won't link with any plataform dependent software.

Which hardware is recommended to professional work with Protux ?

A good hardware : Pentiun IV 2.0 Ghz 1 Gb RAM, 32 bits sound card, and fast HD's.

What cards Protux support ?

Currently, Protux can deal with any soundcard that has Java VM can deal with. Check SUN Website for more information of Java Sound Device compatibility

How to report bugs?

Please use the Bugs form at SourceForge.net. In all bug reports, please include Distribution, Kernel version, Java VM version, and paste the stack trace (the error output in the console. A more verbose error output can be produced by running "protux --d1" flag.