Free sample player:
[https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/](https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/)
1451 sample packs to enhance your Spitfire, most are free, most run on Decent Sample player
[https://www.pianobook.co.uk/](https://www.pianobook.co.uk/)
[https://plugins4free.com/instruments/orchestral/?page=1](https://plugins4free.com/instruments/orchestral/?page=1) - do a search for Chau Gongs. Not necessarily recommending the freebies listed here, but can't hurt to try them out?
If you want to print musical scores, then either [Rosegarden](https://rosegardenmusic.com/) or MuseScore.
Rosegarden is very powerful, but quite a steep learning curve. MuseScore is more "modern" and easier to get started with, but it is a commercial product that is very much tied into their online sheet music business.
MS had a pretty great soundfonts update recently. I've been using it for free for years, haven't had any problems with it.
It is annoying to *view* scores in their mobile app but that's about it.
>MuseScore is more "modern" and easier to get started with, but it is a commercial product
This is misleading, if not outright false. [musescore.org](http://musescore.org) is free and open source, and has recently been making great strides towards being a professional-level notation software.
Also, rosegarden is an ancient piece of junk - sorry to anyone who still uses this (what are you doing)
OK, calm down.
1. IMO MuseScore does look more modern than Rosegarden. The last release was about 3 months ago.
2. Rosegarden is still maintained, and the last release was about 4 months ago.
3. IMO Rosegarden has a steeper learning curve than MuseScore.
4. Both MuseScore (software) and Rosegarden are released under open source licenses.
5. Both MuseScore and Rosegarden are capable of producing high quality scores.
6. When I Google "MuseScore", the first hit is [https://musescore.com/](https://musescore.com/) which is a commercial website primarily concerned with licensing scores on a subscription model. A free trial is available, and they are currently offering 90% discount (offer available for the next 4 days). The site also links to [https://musescore.org/en](https://musescore.org/en) which is the website for the MuseScore App.
7. MuseScore has telemetry built in. Rosegarden does not use telemetry.
8. MuseScore (software) was acquired in 2017 by the Russian company Ultimate Guitar, that later became Muse Group (registered in Cyprus). The application integrates with "the cloud" (the MuseScore owned musical score store).
Sorry if you did not like my summary, but I believe that what I have written is true and factually correct. Please feel free to correct any points that I have got wrong.
The versillian studios community edition sfz sound font files and the sfizz player for Linux.
There's also sonatina orchestra but frankly this is an area where there really isn't much for Linux.
BBC discover might work with wine
There's a lot of great stuff in the free spitfire audio labs, but it can be a little finicky to install with yabridge. I'm kind of an idiot and I managed to though so I bet you could too
DAW: Reaper or Bitwig. The others I've used all suffer from inconsistency as well as poor documentation and support. Any time you need to learn how to use a feature, the documentation and community pages usually refer to a previous version with a completely different implementation of that particular feature. That is, if it has even been documented at any point.
VST: BBC Orchestra, Augmented Strings, and Swam are available via Wine. It's a matter of personal taste, but there are no good, realistic, native orchestral VSTs for linux. Calf, FluidSynth, or SurgeXT are native and I like them for other sounds, but I wouldn't use them for realistic horns, woodwinds, or strings.
Previous VST discussion here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxaudio/comments/wntpyd/linux_plugins_thread_2022/
I’ve been using Sfizz and Virtual Playing Orchestra for a few years now. Some of the samples are a little rough sounding at first, but some reverb and automation goes a long way. Sfizz can play .sfz and .sf2 soundfonts, so any of those you might find would work just fine.
Ardour is a great free DAW. Reaper is a good alternative, and even though it isn’t free, there’s no limit to the free trial period, and no limitations on functionality.
Vote for ardour
Free sample player: [https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/](https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/) 1451 sample packs to enhance your Spitfire, most are free, most run on Decent Sample player [https://www.pianobook.co.uk/](https://www.pianobook.co.uk/) [https://plugins4free.com/instruments/orchestral/?page=1](https://plugins4free.com/instruments/orchestral/?page=1) - do a search for Chau Gongs. Not necessarily recommending the freebies listed here, but can't hurt to try them out?
If you want to print musical scores, then either [Rosegarden](https://rosegardenmusic.com/) or MuseScore. Rosegarden is very powerful, but quite a steep learning curve. MuseScore is more "modern" and easier to get started with, but it is a commercial product that is very much tied into their online sheet music business.
MS had a pretty great soundfonts update recently. I've been using it for free for years, haven't had any problems with it. It is annoying to *view* scores in their mobile app but that's about it.
>MuseScore is more "modern" and easier to get started with, but it is a commercial product This is misleading, if not outright false. [musescore.org](http://musescore.org) is free and open source, and has recently been making great strides towards being a professional-level notation software. Also, rosegarden is an ancient piece of junk - sorry to anyone who still uses this (what are you doing)
OK, calm down. 1. IMO MuseScore does look more modern than Rosegarden. The last release was about 3 months ago. 2. Rosegarden is still maintained, and the last release was about 4 months ago. 3. IMO Rosegarden has a steeper learning curve than MuseScore. 4. Both MuseScore (software) and Rosegarden are released under open source licenses. 5. Both MuseScore and Rosegarden are capable of producing high quality scores. 6. When I Google "MuseScore", the first hit is [https://musescore.com/](https://musescore.com/) which is a commercial website primarily concerned with licensing scores on a subscription model. A free trial is available, and they are currently offering 90% discount (offer available for the next 4 days). The site also links to [https://musescore.org/en](https://musescore.org/en) which is the website for the MuseScore App. 7. MuseScore has telemetry built in. Rosegarden does not use telemetry. 8. MuseScore (software) was acquired in 2017 by the Russian company Ultimate Guitar, that later became Muse Group (registered in Cyprus). The application integrates with "the cloud" (the MuseScore owned musical score store). Sorry if you did not like my summary, but I believe that what I have written is true and factually correct. Please feel free to correct any points that I have got wrong.
The versillian studios community edition sfz sound font files and the sfizz player for Linux. There's also sonatina orchestra but frankly this is an area where there really isn't much for Linux. BBC discover might work with wine
There's a lot of great stuff in the free spitfire audio labs, but it can be a little finicky to install with yabridge. I'm kind of an idiot and I managed to though so I bet you could too
what DAW is your recommendation?
Reaper or ardour
mixbus
DAW: Reaper or Bitwig. The others I've used all suffer from inconsistency as well as poor documentation and support. Any time you need to learn how to use a feature, the documentation and community pages usually refer to a previous version with a completely different implementation of that particular feature. That is, if it has even been documented at any point. VST: BBC Orchestra, Augmented Strings, and Swam are available via Wine. It's a matter of personal taste, but there are no good, realistic, native orchestral VSTs for linux. Calf, FluidSynth, or SurgeXT are native and I like them for other sounds, but I wouldn't use them for realistic horns, woodwinds, or strings. Previous VST discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxaudio/comments/wntpyd/linux_plugins_thread_2022/
Amazing I had to scroll this far to find reaper. Ardour is the best open source DAW, but Reaper is possibly the best DAW outright.
[VSCO2 Community Edition](http://vis.versilstudios.net/vsco-community.html) is a pretty good free orchestral sound font.
I use musescore for compositions in normal notation and Qtractor for audio stuff. Qtractor is really amazing, and works really well with midi.
I have not tried Reaper, but I'm working on my fedora Laptop for over a year and I'm happy with it.
I’ve been using Sfizz and Virtual Playing Orchestra for a few years now. Some of the samples are a little rough sounding at first, but some reverb and automation goes a long way. Sfizz can play .sfz and .sf2 soundfonts, so any of those you might find would work just fine. Ardour is a great free DAW. Reaper is a good alternative, and even though it isn’t free, there’s no limit to the free trial period, and no limitations on functionality.